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Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database is a database of bibliographic information on science fiction and related genres such as fantasy fiction and horror fiction. It is widely viewed as an authoritative source of information, and is constantly being updated. While out-of-date FAQs at the ISFDB indicate that only a small fraction of authors and works have been cataloged by the site, in reality the ISFDB has cataloged most of the field's authors and works. The database contains roughly 30,000 author entries tracking over 35,000 novels and 100,000 works of short fiction; by comparison, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (John Clute, Peter Nicholls, 1993) has roughly 2900 author entries. The major strength of the ISFDB is its integrated approach to author information, combining variant titles, pseudonyms, series, and awards information into a single bibliography. It also contains the largest online collection of content listings to magazines published prior to 1984. Major alternatives to the ISFDB include:
- [http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/index.html The LOCUS Index to Science Fiction Awards], edited by Mark R. Kelly.
- [http://www.locusmag.com/index/ The Locus Index to Science Fiction], edited by William Contento. This site catalogs genre-related magazines, novels, anthologies, and collections published since 1984.
- [http://contento.best.vwh.net/ Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections], edited by William Contento. This site catalogs genre-related anthologies and collections published prior to 1984.

History

During the period of 1984-1994, a series of speculative fiction author bibliographies were posted to the USENET newsgroup [news:rec.arts.sf.written]. These were begun by Jerry Boyajian (1984-1986), continued by Gregory J.E. Rawlins (1985-1988), and then finally picked up by John Wenn (1988-1994). Over the lifetime of this series, a defacto bibliographic format evolved for SF-related authors. The bulk of these bibliographies still exist and can be found at The Linköping Science Fiction Archive. In 1993, Al von Ruff created a database of awards information that could be searched via command line tools. These tools were modified to emit HTML and installed as Common Gateway Interface applications on a private web server. Over the course of 1993 and 1994, the awards database was fleshed out with data from the private database of David G. Grubbs. In 1994, John R. R. Leavitt created the Speculative Fiction Clearing House (SFCH), arguably the first SF-related portal on the Web. In late 1994, he asked for help in the creation of online tools that could display awards information, and the pre-ISFDB tools were offered for use there. Leavitt declined to use the tools, looking for something that could be integrated with other aspects of the site - such as magazine content listings. In 1995, Al von Ruff began communicating with Wikipedian Ahasuerus (a prolific rec.arts.sf.written author) and began to construct the ISFDB, using lessons learned with the SFCH and the bibliographic format finalized by John Wenn. The ISFDB went online in Sept 1995, and a URL was published in January 1996. Initially launched as a home page at a small ISP in Champaign Illinois, the ISFDB suffered from limitations in disk space and database support that limited its growth. In October 1997 the ISFDB moved to [http://www.sfsite.com SF Site], a major SF portal and review site. Due to the rising costs of remaining with SF Site, the ISFDB moved to its own domain in December 2002. The site was quickly shut down by the hosting ISP due to high resource usage. Soon afterwards, Texas A&M University responded by providing hosting for the ISFDB at a new address, www.isfdb.org. Originally, the data and source code associated with the ISFDB was not available to the public, primarily due to disk space constraints. In May 2002, the source code was made available under the BSD license, while the datasets were made available under the OpenContent License, giving the site status as OSI Certified Open Source. On 27 February 2005, both the source code and the bibliographic data from the ISFDB was released under the Creative Commons Attribution License, and the OSI Certified Open Source designation was removed. Al von Ruff says that this change will not have much practical effect. Von Ruff has said that he plans to give up his editing duties at the end of 2005. See this [http://isfdb.blogspot.com/2005/01/anything-good-happen-while-i-was-out.html ISFDB Blog Entry]. He is currently seeking volunteers to take over the project, either continuing the single-maintainer model he's used, or moving to a more collaborative style. He's currently rewriting the site to use a MySQL backend, planned to be in operation June 30th, 2005. User submissions to the database are currently down, but they will return when the new version, dubbed ISFDB2, debuts.

Contents

The ISFDB contains:
- Author bibliographies
- Publication bibliographies
- Award listings
- Magazine content listings
- Anthology and collection content listings
- Yearly fiction indexes
- Forthcoming books
- Numerical statistics of data contained in the database
- Graphed statistics of data contained in the database
- A discussion board As of 1 March 2005 the ISFDB contains data on 30476 authors, 26743 awards and 137356 titles (including 37899 novels and 61916 unique pieces of short fiction). Compare with these other online sources:
- the Locus Index to Science Fiction
- the Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Weird Fiction Magazine Index

External links


- [http://www.isfdb.org The Internet Speculative Fiction Database]
- [http://isfdb.blogspot.com/ ISFDB blog]
- [http://www.isfdb.org/sql.html ISFDB2 documentation]
- [http://sf.www.lysator.liu.se/sf_archive/sub/jwenn.html The Linköping Science Fiction Archive] Category:Online databases Category:Science fiction websites Category:Speculative fiction

Database

A database is an organized collection of data. The term originated within the computer industry, but its meaning has been broadened by popular use, to the extent that the European Database Directive (which creates intellectual property rights for databases) includes non-electronic databases within its definition. This article is confined to a more technical use of the term; though even amongst computing professionals, some attach a much wider meaning to the word than others. One possible definition is that a database is a collection of records stored in a computer in a systematic way, such that a computer program can consult it to answer questions. For better retrieval and sorting, each record is usually organized as a set of data elements (facts). The items retrieved in answer to queries become information that can be used to make decisions. The computer program used to manage and query a database is known as a database management system (DBMS). The properties and design of database systems are included in the study of information science. The central concept of a database is that of a collection of records, or pieces of knowledge. Typically, for a given database, there is a structural description of the type of facts held in that database: this description is known as a schema. The schema describes the objects that are represented in the database, and the relationships among them. There are a number of different ways of organizing a schema, that is, of modelling the database structure: these are known as database models (or data models). The model in most common use today is the relational model, which in layman's terms represents all information in the form of multiple related tables each consisting of rows and columns (the true definition uses mathematical terminology). This model represents relationships by the use of values common to more than one table. Other models such as the hierarchical model and the network model use a more explicit representation of relationships. Strictly speaking, the term database refers to the collection of related records, and the software should be referred to as the database management system or DBMS. When the context is unambiguous, however, many database administrators and programmers use the term database to cover both meanings. Many professionals would consider a collection of data to constitute a database only if it has certain properties: for example, if the data is managed to ensure its integrity and quality, if it allows shared access by a community of users, if it has a schema, or if it supports a query language. However, there is no agreed definition of these properties. Database management systems are usually categorized according to the data model that they support: relational, object-relational, network, and so on. The data model will tend to determine the query languages that are available to access the database. A great deal of the internal engineering of a DBMS, however, is independent of the data model, and is concerned with managing factors such as performance, concurrency, integrity, and recovery from hardware failures. In these areas there are large differences between products.

History

The earliest known use of the term data base was in June 1963, when the System Development Corporation sponsored a symposium under the title Development and Management of a Computer-centered Data Base. Database as a single word became common in Europe in the early 1970s and by the end of the decade it was being used in major American newspapers. (Databank, a comparable term, had been used in the Washington Post newspaper as early as 1966.) The first database management systems were developed in the 1960s. A pioneer in the field was Charles Bachman. Bachman's early papers show that his aim was to make more effective use of the new direct access storage devices becoming available: until then, data processing had been based on punched cards and magnetic tape, so that serial processing was the dominant activity. Two key data models arose at this time: CODASYL developed the network model based on Bachman's ideas, and (apparently independently) the hierarchical model was used in a system developed by North American Rockwell, later adopted by IBM as the cornerstone of their IMS product. The relational model was proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. He criticized existing models for confusing the abstract description of information structure with descriptions of physical access mechanisms. For a long while, however, the relational model remained of academic interest only. While CODASYL systems and IMS were conceived as practical engineering solutions taking account of the technology as it existed at the time, the relational model took a much more theoretical perspective, arguing (correctly) that hardware and software technology would catch up in time. Among the first implementations were Michael Stonebraker's Ingres at Berkeley, and the System R project at IBM. Both of these were research prototypes, announced during 1976. The first commercial products, Oracle and DB2, did not appear until around 1980. The first successful database product for microcomputers was dBASE for the CP/M and PC-DOS/MS-DOS operating systems. During the 1980s, research activity focused on distributed database systems and database machines, but these developments had little effect on the market. Another important theoretical idea was the Functional Data Model, but apart from some specialized applications in genetics, molecular biology, and fraud investigation, the world took little notice. In the 1990s, attention shifted to object-oriented databases. These had some success in fields where it was necessary to handle more complex data than relational systems could easily cope with, such as spatial databases, engineering data (including software engineering repositories,) and multimedia data. Some of these ideas were adopted by the relational vendors, who integrated new features into their products as a result; the independent object database vendors largely disappeared from the scene. In the 2000s, the fashionable area for innovation is the XML database. As with object databases, this has spawned a new collection of startup companies, but at the same time the key ideas are being integrated into the established relational products. XML databases aim to remove the traditional divide between documents and data, allowing all of an organization's information resources to be held in one place, whether they are highly structured or not.

Database models

Various techniques are used to model data structure. Most database systems are built around one particular data model, although it is increasingly common for products to offer support for more than one model. For any one logical model various physical implementations may be possible, and most products will offer the user some level of control in tuning the physical implementation, since the choices that are made have a significant effect on performance. An example of this is the relational model: all serious implementations of the relational model allow the creation of indexes which provide fast access to rows in a table if the values of certain columns are known. A data model is not just a way of structuring data: it also defines a set of operations that can be performed on the data. The relational model, for example, defines operations such as selection, projection, and join. Although these operations may not be explicit in a particular query language, they provide the foundation on which a query language is built.

Flat model

Some would disagree that this qualifies as a data model, as defined above. The flat (or table) model consists of a single, two-dimensional array of data elements, where all members of a given column are assumed to be similar values, and all members of a row are assumed to be related to one another. For instance, columns for name and password that might be used as a part of a system security database. Each row would have the specific password associated with an individual user. Columns of the table often have a type associated with them, defining them as character data, date or time information, integers, or floating point numbers. This model is, incidentally, a basis of the spreadsheet.

Network model

The network model (defined by the CODASYL specification) organizes data using two fundamental constructs, called records and sets. Records contain fields (which may be organized hierarchically, as in COBOL). Sets (not to be confused with mathematical sets) define one-to-many relationships between records: one owner, many members. A record may be an owner in any number of sets, and a member in any number of sets. The operations of the network model are navigational in style: a program maintains a current position, and navigates from one record to another by following the relationships in which the record participates. Records can also be located by supplying key values. Although it is not an essential feature of the model, network databases generally implement the set relationships by means of pointers that directly address the location of a record on disk. This gives excellent retrieval performance, at the expense of operations such as database loading and reorganization.

Relational model

The relational model was introduced in an [http://www.acm.org/classics/nov95/toc.html academic paper] by E. F. Codd in 1970 as a way to make database management systems more independent of any particular application. It is a mathematical model defined in terms of predicate logic and set theory. The products that are generally referred to as relational databases (for example, Ingres, Oracle, DB2, and SQL Server) in fact implement a model that is only an approximation to the mathematical model defined by Codd. The data structures in these products are tables, rather than relations: the main differences being that tables can contain duplicate rows, and that the rows (and columns) can be treated as being ordered. The same criticism applies to the SQL language which is the primary interface to these products. There has been considerable controversy, mainly due to Codd himself, as to whether it is correct to describe SQL implementations as "relational": but the fact is that the world does so, and the following description uses the term in its popular sense. A relational database contains multiple tables, each similar to the one in the "flat" database model. Relationships between tables are not defined explicitly; instead, keys are used to match up rows of data in different tables. A key is a collection of one or more columns in one table whose values match corresponding columns in other tables: for example, an Employee table may contain a column named Location which contains a value that matches the key of a Location table. Any column can be a key, or multiple columns can be grouped together into a single key. It is not necessary to define all the keys in advance; a column can be used as a key even if it was not originally intended to be one. A key that can be used to uniquely identify a row in a table is called a unique key. Typically one of the unique keys is the preferred way to refer to row; this is defined as the table's primary key. A key that has an external, real-world meaning (such as a person's name, a book's ISBN, or a car's serial number), is sometimes called a "natural" key. If no natural key is suitable (think of the many people named Brown), an arbitrary key can be assigned (such as by giving employees ID numbers). In practice, most databases have both generated and natural keys, because generated keys can be used internally to create links between rows that cannot break, while natural keys can be used, less reliably, for searches and for integration with other databases. (For example, records in two independently developed databases could be matched up by social security number, except when the social security numbers are incorrect, missing, or have changed.)

Relational operations

Users (or programs) request data from a relational database by sending it a query that is written in a special language, usually a dialect of SQL. Although SQL was originally intended for end-users, it is much more common for SQL queries to be embedded into software that provides an easier user interface. (Many web sites — including MediaWiki which is the engine that runs Wikipedia — perform SQL queries when generating pages.) In response to a query, the database returns a result set, which is just a list of rows containing the answers. The simplest query is just to return all the rows from a table, but more often, the rows are filtered in some way to return just the answer wanted. Often, data from multiple tables gets combined into one, by doing a join. Conceptually, this is done by taking all possible combinations of rows (the "cross-product"), and then filtering out everything except the answer. In practice, relational database management systems rewrite ("optimize") queries to perform faster, using a variety of techniques. The flexibility of relational databases allows programmers to write queries that were not anticipated by the database designers. As a result, relational databases can be used by multiple applications in ways the original designers did not foresee, which is especially important for databases that might be used for decades. This has made the idea and implementation of relational databases very popular with businesses.

Dimensional model

The dimensional model is a specialized adaptation of the relational model used to represent data in data warehouses in a way that data can be easily summarized using OLAP queries. In the dimensional model, a database consists of a single large table of facts that are described using dimensions and measures. A dimension provides the context of a fact (such as who participated, when and where it happened, and its type) and is used in queries to group related facts together. Dimensions tend to be discrete and are often hierarchical; for example, the location might include the building, state, and country. A measure is a quantity describing the fact, such as revenue. It's important that measures can be meaningfully aggregated - for example, the revenue from different locations can be added together. In an OLAP query, dimensions are chosen and the facts are grouped and added together to create a summary. The dimensional model is often implemented on top of the relational model using a star schema, consisting of one table containing the facts and surrounding tables containing the dimensions. Particularly complicated dimensions might be represented using multiple tables, resulting in a snowflake schema. A data warehouse can contain multiple star schemas that share dimension tables, allowing them to be used together. Coming up with a standard set of dimensions is an important part of dimensional modeling.

Object database models

In recent years, the object-oriented paradigm has been applied to database technology, creating a new programming model known as object databases. These databases attempt to bring the database world and the application programming world closer together, in particular by ensuring that the database uses the same type system as the application program. This aims to avoid the overhead (sometimes referred to as the impedance mismatch) of converting information between its representation in the database (for example as rows in tables) and its representation in the application program (typically as objects). At the same time object databases attempt to introduce the key ideas of object programming, such as encapsulation and polymorphism, into the world of databases. A variety of ways have been tried for storing objects in a database. Some products have approached the problem from the application programming end, by making the objects manipulated by the program persistent. This also typically requires the addition of some kind of query language, since conventional programming languages do not have the ability to find objects based on their information content. Others have attacked the problem from the database end, by defining an object-oriented data model for the database, and defining a database programming language that allows full programming capabalities as well as traditional query facilities. Object databases suffered because of a lack of standardization: although standards were defined by ODMG, they were never implemented well enough to ensure interoperability between products. Nevertheless, they have been used successfully in many applications: usually specialized applications such as engineering databases or molecular biology databases rather than mainstream commercial data processing. However, object database ideas were picked up by the relational vendors and influenced extensions made to these products and indeed to the SQL language.

Database Internals

Indexing

All of these kinds of database can take advantage of indexing to increase their speed, and this technology has advanced tremendously since its early uses in the 1960s and 1970s. The most common kind of index is a sorted list of the contents of some particular table column, with pointers to the row associated with the value. An index allows a set of table rows matching some criterion to be located quickly. Various methods of indexing are commonly used; B-trees, hashes, and linked lists are all common indexing techniques. Relational DBMSs have the advantage that indices can be created or dropped without changing existing applications, the application which indices to use. The database chooses between many different strategies based on which one it estimates will run the fastest. Relational DBMSs utilize many different algorithms to compute the result of an SQL statement. The RDBMs will produce a plan of how to execute the query, which is generated by analysing the run times of the different algorithms and selecting the quickest. Some of the key algorithms that deal with joins are Nested Loops Join, Sort-Merge Join and Hash Jo

Transactions and concurrency

In addition to their data model, most practical databases ("transactional databases") attempt to enforce a [[database transaction]] model that has desirable data integrity properties. Ideally, the database software should enforce the [[ACID rules, summarized here:
- Atomicity - Either all the tasks in a transaction must be done, or none of them. The transaction must be completed, or else it must be undone (rolled back).
- Consistency - Every transaction must preserve the integrity constraints -- the declared consistency rules -- of the database. It cannot place the data in a contradictory state.
- Isolation - Two simultaneous transactions cannot interfere with one another. Intermediate results within a transaction are not visible to other transactions.
- Durability - Completed transactions cannot be aborted later or their results discarded. They must persist through (for instance) restarts of the DBMS after crashes. In practice, many DBMS's allow most of these rules to be selectively relaxed for better performance. Concurrency control is a method used to ensure that transactions are executed in a safe manner and follow the ACID rules. The DBMS must be able to ensure that only serializable, recoverable schedules are allowed, and that no actions of committed transactions are lost while undoing aborted transactions.

Replication

Replication of databases is closely related to transactions. If a database can log its individual actions, it is possible to create a duplicate of the data in realtime. The duplicate can be used to improve Performance or Availability of the whole database system. Common replication concepts include:
- Master/Slave Replication: All write requests are performed on the master and then replicated to the slaves
- Quorum: The result of Read and Write requests is calculated by quering a "majority" of replicas.
- Multimaster: Two or more replicas sync each other via a transaction identifier.

Applications of databases

Databases are used in many applications, spanning virtually the entire range of computer software. Databases are the preferred method of storage for large multiuser applications, where coordination between many users is needed. Even individual users find them convenient, though, and many electronic mail programs and personal organizers are based on standard database technology. Software database drivers are available for most database platforms so that application software can use a common application programming interface (API) to retrieve the information stored in a database. Two commonly used database APIs are JDBC and ODBC.

Common Database Brands

(In alphabetical order)
- 4D
- Corel Paradox
- DB2
- FileMaker Pro
- FirebirdSQL
- Informix
- MS Access
- MS SQL Server
- MySQL
- Oracle
- PostgreSQL
- Sybase SQL Server

See also


- Client-Server
- Database dump
- Database management system
- Data Manipulation Language
- Database normalization
- Databases in the United Kingdom
- Deadlock
- Deductive database
- Dimensional database
- Distributed database
- Entity-relationship model
- Flat file database
- Hierarchic Database
- Key field
- Main Memory database
- MUMPS
- Multidimensional hierarchical toolkit
- Multidimensional database
- OLAP
- Recordset : dynaset, snapshot
- Relational model
- SQL (Structured Query Language)
- Object database
- Important publications in databases
- Redundancy (databases)
- Software engineering and List of software engineering topics
- Temporal database
- Very large database

References


- The Codasyl Approach to Data Base Management. T. William Olle. Wiley, 1978. ISBN 0471995797
- Readings in Database Systems. Michael Stonebraker (ed). Morgan Kaufmann, 1988. (A collection of the most influential early papers on database technology from 1969 to 1988, with a preface analyzing their impact.)
- CNET News.com article, [http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5171543.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news Study: Open-source databases going mainstream]
- [http://www.sprog.asb.dk/sn/lexicographicalbasis.htm Sandro Nielsen: Lexicographical Basis for an Electronic Bilingual Accounting Dictionary: Theoretical Considerations]
- [http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/trove_list.php?form_cat=66 Database @ sourceforge.net]
- [http://www.geocities.com/mailsoftware42/db/index.html Open Source database comparison] Category:Information technology Category:Data_management Category:Digital Revolution ko:%EB%8D%B0%EC%9D%B4%ED%84%B0%EB%B2%A0%EC%9D%B4%EC%8A%A4 ja:データベース th:ฐานข้อมูล

Science Fiction

Science fiction

Horror fiction

Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the reader. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of an evil, or occasionally misunderstood, supernatural element into everyday human experience. Since the 1960s, any work of fiction with a morbid, gruesome, surreal, exceptionally suspenseful or frightening theme has come to be called "horror." Horror fiction often overlaps with science fiction and/or fantasy, all of which have sometimes been placed under the umbrella category speculative fiction. See also supernatural fiction.

Early horror fiction

Fictional characters have found themselves in horrifying situations from the earliest recorded tales. Many myths and legends feature scenarios and archetypes used by later horror writers. Tales collected by the Grimm Brothers are often quite horrific. Modern horror fiction found its roots in the gothic novels that exploded into popularity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, typified by Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. A variation on the Gothic formula that remains one of the most enduring and imitated horror works is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818, revised version 1831). Frankenstein has also been considered science fiction or a philosophical novel by some literary historians. Later gothic horror descendants included seminal late 19th century works like Bram Stoker's Dracula and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. Early horror works used mood and subtlety to deliver an eerie and otherworldly flavor, but usually eschewed extensive explicit violence. Other early exponents of the horror form number such luminaries as H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, who were considered to be masters of the art. Among the writers of classic English ghost stories, M.R. James is often cited as the finest. His stories avoid shock effects and often involve an Oxford antiquarian as their hero. Algernon Blackwood's The Willows and Oliver Onions's The Beckoning Fair One have been called the best ghost stories. Lovecraft and Sheridan le Fanu called some of their writing weird fiction or weird stories. Some stories in highbrow literature could arguably be regarded as horror fiction: examples include Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) and In the Penal Colony (In der Strafkolonie).

Contemporary horror fiction

Modern practitioners of the genre have often resorted to progressively greater extremes of violence, often recalling grand guignol theatre. (See splatterpunk) This has given horror fiction a stigma as base entertainment devoid of literary merit. Other writers, such as Ramsey Campbell and Thomas Ligotti, are cited as rejecting such violence in favor of more subtle, psychological writing. Nevertheless, contemporary writers such as Clive Barker in The Books of Blood and Stephen King in his more considered works, such as Misery, are capable of bringing off the horror effect without the excessive violence that characterises much of the current mainstream of this genre. As well, in more recent years, the subgenre of erotic horror, which combines both erotic and horrific imagery and subject matter, has gained a substantial foothold. Thought to have been originated by the late Ed Wood of B movie fame during the mid 1960's, modern authors such as Alex Severin, Hertzan Chimera (aka Mike Philbin) and others continue to use this shocking combination to scare a new generation of readers. The rise of the Internet has allowed horror authors and fans to create new subsets of the genre. Numerous Web-based fanzines and podcasts have provided a market for both amateur and professional writers, which is unfettered by the tastes and judgments of the professional publishing houses.

See also


- Horror film
- List of horror fiction authors
- Ghost story
- Psychological horror
- Body horror
- Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase

External links


- [http://www.horrorreader.com Horror Reader, blog and podcast dedicated to horror fiction]
- [http://www.movie-monsters.co.uk "Monsters in film" Details of cinematic monsters]
- [http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/superhor.htm "Supernatural Horror in Literature" essay by H. P. Lovecraft on horror fiction antecendents]
- [http://www.theharrow.com The Harrow horror zine]
- [http://book.awardannals.com/genre/horror/ Most Honored Horror Books] at [http://book.awardannals.com/ Book Award Annals]
- [http://freezenerve.proboards32.com/ Carnival of Wicked Writers]
- [http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3289 The Modern Monster or The Dismantlement of Old Monster Archetypes] Category: Speculative fiction
- Category:Literary genres ja:ホラー小説

John Clute

John Clute is a Canadian born author and critic who lives in Britain. His articles on science fiction have appeared in various publications since the 1970s and are erudite and witty, though some readers have complained that they are also rendered needlessly difficult by what Clute himself describes as their "studiously flamboyant obscurities," i.e., the use of complex and obscure phrases. He is a co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (with Peter Nicholls) and of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (with John Grant), as well as The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction, all of which won Hugo Awards for Best Non-Fiction. He is also author of the critical essay collections Strokes, Look at the Evidence, and Scores. His first novel Appleseed was published in 2001, followed by another, Earth Bound. His grandson, Christopher Clute, is enrolled at Ohio University (Athens), where he is studying to be a gym teacher. Seriously.

External links


- The [http://www.geocities.com/canadian_sf/ Made in Canada] Website has a page on [http://www.geocities.com/canadian_sf/clute/index.htm John Clute]. Clute, John Clute, John

Common Gateway Interface

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is an important World Wide Web technology that enables a client web browser to request data from a program executed on the Web server. CGI specifies a standard for passing request data between a web server and the program used to service that request. Originally, CGI was invented by NCSA for the NCSA HTTPd web server in 1993. This web server used Unix environment variables to store parameters passed from the web server execution environment before spawning the CGI program as a separate process. The programming language Perl is often associated with CGI, but one of the aims of CGI is to be language-neutral. The Web server does not need to know anything about the language in question. In fact, CGI programs can be written in any scripting language or a full-fledged programming language, as long as that language can be executed on the system. Besides Perl, examples include Unix shell scripts, Python, Ruby, PHP, Tcl, C/C++, Pascal, and Visual Basic. An example of a CGI program is the one implementing a wiki. You hand it the name of an entry; it will retrieve the source of that entry's page (if one exists), transform it into HTML, and send the result back to the browser or tell it that you want to edit a page. All wiki operations are managed by this one program. The way CGI works from the Web server's point of view is that certain locations (e.g. http://www.example.com/wiki.cgi) are defined to be served by a CGI program. Whenever a request to a matching URL is received, the corresponding program is called, with any data that the client sent as input. Output from the program is collected by the Web server, augmented with appropriate headers, and sent back to the client. Because this technology generally requires a fresh copy of the program to be executed for every CGI request, the workload could quickly overwhelm web servers, inspiring more efficient technologies such as mod_perl that allow script interpreters to be integrated directly into web servers as modules, thus avoiding the overhead of repeatedly loading and initializing language interpreters.

Workarounds for scripting languages

The overhead of spawning new processes to compile the server code can be easily handled if the code is occasionally changed. One example is FastCGI while others include programming accelerators that take a web script when initially called and store a compiled version of the script in system location so that further requests for the file are automatically directed to the compiled code instead of invoking the script interpreter every time the script is called. When scripts are changed the temporary accelerator cache can be emptied to ensure that the new script is called instead of the old one. Thus for languages such as C or Pascal, which are usually compiled anyway, CGI programs are no different from other programs in this regard, and require no special processing. Another approach used for scripting languages is to embed the interpreter directly into the web server so that it can be executed without creating a new process. The Apache web server has a number of modules such as mod_perl, mod_php, mod_python, mod_ruby, and mod_mono which do this.

See also


- CGI.pm
- Simple Common Gateway Interface

External links


- The [http://www.w3.org/CGI/ CGI standard] at w3.org.
- The [http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/ CGI/1.1 specification].
- The complete list of CGI variables is at http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/env.html.
- The [http://www.mems-exchange.org/software/scgi/ SCGI] protocol is a replacement for the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) protocol. Category:World Wide Web ja:Common Gateway Interface

Wikipedian

A Wikipedian is a person who is a registered user of Wikipedia. Their true identity may or may not be known. For non-exported versions of Wikipedia, you can see if the user has a homepage by looking in the User: namespace for a page with the username. A few Wikipians are well known and even have a page about themselves in Wikipedia, the obvious case being Jimmy Wales. His Wikipedia username is "Jimbo Wales".

External links


- [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedian Wikipedian] Category:Wikipedia

Champaign

Champaign is a city located in Champaign County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 67,518. The mayor is Gerald Schweighart, whose term will expire in 2007. The city is notable for sharing the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign along with its twin city of Urbana.

History

Urbana in the city's historic 'Sesquicentennial Neighborhood', is the oldest church in town.]] Champaign was founded in 1855, when the Illinois Central Railroad laid its track two miles west of downtown Urbana. Originally called "West Urbana," it was renamed Champaign when it acquired a city charter in 1860. Both the city and county name were derived from Champaign County, Ohio.

Geography

Champaign is located at (40.112981, -88.261227). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 44.1 km² (17.0 mi²). 44.0 km² (17.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.12% water. Champaign shares a border with the neighboring town of Urbana; together the two cities are often referred to as Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, or Chambana. The joint town is the site of the main campus of the University of Illinois. Champaign, Urbana, and the bordering village of Savoy form the Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 67,518 people, 27,071 households, and 12,452 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,534.4/km² (3,974.6/mi²). There are 28,556 housing units at an average density of 648.9/km² (1,681.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 73.16% White, 15.62% African American, 0.24% Native American, 6.83% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.94% from other races, and 2.19% from two or more races. 4.03% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 27,071 households out of which 22.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.4% are married couples living together, 9.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 54.0% are non-families. 36.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.23 and the average family size is 2.95. In the city the population is spread out with 17.8% under the age of 18, 31.7% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 15.4% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 25 years. For every 100 females there are 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 101.9 males. The median income for a household in the city is $32,795, and the median income for a family is $52,628. Males have a median income of $36,574 versus $27,186 for females. The per capita income for the city is $18,664. 22.1% of the population and 8.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.0% of those under the age of 18 and 5.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Economy

In addition to the University of Illinois, Champaign is also home to Parkland College. A Kraft Foods plant (and adjacent AC Humko plant) and Herff-Jones (formerly the Collegiate Cap and Gown) form part of the city's industrial base. The city also features a large technology and software industry mostly focusing around research and development of new technologies. The Research Park, located in southern Champaign and backed by the University of Illinois, is home to many companies including iCyt (a biotechnology company), the Illinois Natural History Survey, the Illinois State Geological Survey, Motorola, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Phonak, Power World, and Science Applications International Corporation. Numerous other software and technology companies also have offices in Champaign including Wolfram Research, Sun Microsystems, Intel, IBM, Amdocs, and Volition; and the University of Illinois is the alma mater of Founder and former CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) W. J. (Jerry) Sanders, graduated from the Electrical Engineering Departement (Today's ECE) in 1958. The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains a Construction and Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in Champaign.

Partial list of mayors


- Dannel McCollum (1987-1999)
- Joan Severns (1979-1983)
- O.B. Dobbins (1913-1914)

Landmarks and districts

Champaign City Building

1914 The Champaign City Building serves as the City Hall and is a recognizable landmark. As one of the most visible buildings in the downtown district, it serves as a city symbol, with its likeness featured on the city seal. The ornate decoration, unique architecture, and copper roof distinguish the building.

The Tower on 3rd

The newly-renamed Tower on 3rd (formerly Quality Inn, University Inn, Presidential Tower) is located in the Campustown district and is over twenty stories high. A hotel until 2001, it currently houses student apartments and several University of Illinois offices, including the Office of Continuing Education. The Tower and a massive orangish-reddish apartment complex a few blocks away form a scenic duo in the central of Campustown with a city feel to it.

Champaign Park District

Champaign is known for its extensive city parks. Most houses in the city don't have sizable backyards by typical U.S. standards; instead the city has zoned several large city parks to create common areas for recreation and relaxation of its citizens under the Champaign Park District.

Downtown

The downtown area of Champaign was recently the target of a largely successful revitalization effort designed to bring more businesses into the area and return the downtown district to the center of city life. In addition to efforts which restored the facades on many of the historic buildings, additional construction projects including restaurants, bars, shops, office space, and condominums, have recently increased the size of the downtown area, while still maintaining the distinct turn-of-the-century architecture associated with the city. The new growth in downtown Champaign has coincided with the larger growth of the "north Prospect" area of the city, similar in a smaller scale to the sprawl famous with areas like the Chicago suburbs, Atlanta, and Houston. The growth in the north Prospect area relies in part on leapfrogging, moving out to the countryside and developing more remote farm land that eventually connects to the main development. Given the overwhelming success of such suburban shopping areas nationally, new development within any city center represents an important and hopeful alternative to the dominant movement out and away from the cities.

Boardman's Art Theatre

Boardman's Art Theatre, which shows critically acclaimed independent and foreign films, was built in 1921 as the Park Theatre. It has since undergone extensive remodeling and was equipped with state-of-the-art technology. The theatre is the only single-screen movie theater still in existence operating daily as a movie theatre in Champaign-Urbana. The Historic Virginia Theatre, which hosts Roger Ebert's Annual Overlooked Film Festival, is also single-screened. However, it only opens for special showings and events.

Transportation

Champaign is served by I-57, I-72, and I-74. The city is also served by two railroad lines and Willard Airport (CMI), which is operated by the University of Illinois and located 5 miles (8 km) south in Tolono Township. The local bus system, which is supported by the taxpayers of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) and the University of Illinois, serves Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and surrounding areas. The former Illinois Central Railroad line — now part of the Canadian National system — runs north to south through the city. A spur line from the Canadian National line provides service to several large industries, including two large food processing plants, on the west edge of Champaign and two grain elevators in outlying communities to the west. The Norfolk Southern operates an east to west line through Champaign. The NS line connects industries in eastern Urbana to the Norfolk Southern main line at Mansfield, Illinois, west of Champaign. The line now operated by Norfolk Southern is the former Peoria & Eastern, later operated as part of the Big Four (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad), New York Central, Penn Central, and Conrail systems, being sold by Conrail to Norfolk Southern in 1996. Amtrak operates four daily passenger trains through Champaign using the Canadian National line — one train connecting Chicago and New Orleans and the other running between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois. Greyhound Lines and Illini Swallow bus companies also serve Champaign. In 1999, a newly designed intermodal transportation center, aptly named Illinois Terminal by historic reference to the defunct electric interurban rail line that once ran through Champaign, was completed and serves as a central facility for intercity passenger rail and bus services as well as the MTD's local bus network.

Famous people from Champaign


- Bonnie Blair, olympic gold-medalist speed skater
- Hum, rock group
- Alison Krauss, bluegrass singer
- Ludacris, rapper
- Lewis Hastings Sarett, inventor of synthetic cortisone
- REO Speedwagon, rock group
- George Will, political columnist

Points of interest


- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Illinois Arboretum

External links


- [http://www.city.champaign.il.us/ City of Champaign Web Site]
- [http://www.champaign.com/ Champaign-Urbana Home Page]
- [http://www.uiuc.edu/ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Main Page]
- [http://www.parkland.edu/ Parkland College Home Page]
- [http://www.livejournal.com/community/chambana/ Champaign Livejournal community]
- [http://www.downtownchampaign.com Downtown Champaign]
- [http://www.sexualoffenderslist.org/illinois/champaign/champaign/ Champaign Illinois Sexual Offenders Map] Category:Cities in Illinois Category:Champaign County, Illinois

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University logo
Texas A&M University

Established 1876
(first public college in Texas)
School type Flagship State University
Endowment $4.3 billion (Systemwide)
Grants Land, Sea, Space
President Dr. Robert M. Gates
Campus College Station, Texas
Enrollment 44,647 total (Fall 2005)
Faculty 2,500+
Sports team Texas A&M Aggies
Campus 5,200 acres (21 km²)
Website [http://www.tamu.edu/ www.tamu.edu]
Texas A&M University, often "Texas A&M", "A&M" or "TAMU" for short, is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. Texas A&M's rare triple designation as a Land-, Sea-, and Space-Grant institution reflects a broad range of research, with ongoing projects funded by agencies such as NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

Academics

Texas A&M University is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the nation and is currently ranked 21st among public universities in the United States. The university's enrollment includes 44,647 students on its 5,200 acre (21 km²) campus studying for degrees in 10 academic colleges. The fall semester of 2002 set a record of 45,083 students, making Texas A&M the fastest growing university in the nation. Since that time, an enrollment-management plan has been initiated to maintain a high standard of teaching excellence. Recently, Texas A&M was invited to become a member of the highly selective Association of American Universities and now ranks first in Texas and among the top 10 U.S. institutions in enrollment of National Merit Scholars. Led by Texas A&M University president Dr. Robert M. Gates, the university recently has also started diversity recruitment initiatives.Dr. Robert M. Gates The Dwight Look College of Engineering is ranked 8th among public universities and is tied for 14th nationally when including private institutions. Four specialty areas in the college are ranked among the top five in the nation. Petroleum engineering and Agricultural engineering rank first in their field nationally, with nuclear engineering placing third in its area and industrial engineering fifth in its category. The industrial distribution program administered by the department of engineering is ranked number one in the United States. In all, 10 of Texas A&M's 12 engineering disciplines are ranked among the top 20 in the nation. The Texas A&M College of Architecture, one of the largest architectural colleges in the United States (2,000 students), is ranked third in Texas, behind the University of Texas and Rice University, and 10th among public institutions. The Mays Business School is ranked 18th among public institutions and tied for 29th overall (tied for best in Texas). The Mays MBA program is now ranked 1st in Texas and 24th nationally, up three spots from last year. The department ranks 9th among public institutions according to Forbes Magazine. Other colleges at Texas A&M include: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Education, College of Geosciences, College of Liberal Arts, College of Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, and the George Bush School of Government and Public Service
- Worldwide
  - Ongoing research projects on all seven continents
  - More than 85 formal research, student and faculty exchange or other partnerships with institutions in more than 35 nations
  - One of only two U.S. university partnerships with CONACYT, Mexico's equivalent of the National Science Foundation
  - Home of "Las Americas Digital Research Network," world's largest online academic architecture network: 26 universities in 12 nations
  - Operates a study center in Santa Chiara, Italy, and a multi-purpose center in Mexico City
  - More than 1,000 students participated in study abroad or exchange programs between September 1999 and August 2000
  - Center for International Business Research and Education one of only 28 in United States supported by U.S. Department of Education
  - Number 1 in nation for number of outgoing Fulbright Scholars

Campus

Texas A&M University is one of the largest universites by area (with 5,200 acres (21 km²) in all) in the nation (behind the United States Air Force Academy and Stanford University, among others) with approximately 200 buildings and a value of over $1 billion. The Texas A&M campus is home to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The campus is divided into two parts separated by a set of railroad tracks that run through its center. The portion of the campus east of the railroad tracks is known as the Main Campus while the portion of the campus west of the railroad tracks is known as West Campus. Also, the area west of White Creek is known as Research Park. George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
- See Also:
  - Texas A&M Facilities - a listing of buildings on the Texas A&M University Campus
  - [http://www.tamu.edu/map/gifs/campus1.pdf Official Texas A&M University Map]

Aggieland

Texas A&M University's Main Campus is located in College Station, Texas, also known as Aggieland. The metropolitan area of Bryan-College Station, Texas is located in Brazos County, Texas, population 152,415 (Census 2000), in East Texas. The city is centrally located, approximately equidistant from three of the 10 largest cities in the United States. It is 95 miles north of Houston, 166 miles northeast of San Antonio and 169 miles south of Dallas. It is 104 miles east of Austin, the state capital of Texas. Seventy five percent of the Texas and Louisiana populations (13.1 million people) live within 3.5 driving hours of College Station.

Notable buildings

Of the over 200 buildings on Texas A&M University Campus some of the most recognized include the Academic Building, the Albritton Bell Tower, the Administration Building, Kyle Field, the Memorial Student Center (MSC) and recently the George Bush Presidential Library.
- [http://www.tamu.edu/buildings/academic.html Academic Building]
  - One of the most recognized images of Texas A&M University, the Academic Building stands at the heart of the campus. Completed in 1914, it stands on the site of Old Main, the first campus building that burned in 1912. Of note is its copper dome, which was once polished, but since the polished dome's glare caused too great of danger for pilots landing at nearby Easterwood Airport, the university stopped polishing it. Now the dome has become green, much like the Statue of Liberty is presently. Academic Plaza, which is in front of the Academic Building, is the site of a wide range of campus events, including Silver Taps.
- [http://www.tamu.edu/buildings/albritton.html Albritton Bell Tower]
  - Donated to Texas A&M University and dedicated on October 6, 1984 by Martha and Ford D. Albritton, the Albritton Tower is 138 feet tall and contains Westminster chimes which ring every quarter hour. There are 49 carillon bells, the largest of which weighs more than six thousand pounds, that can be programmed to play music such as the "Spirit of Aggieland". The bells also play hymns during Silver Taps, a memorial service for Aggies who have died during the past month. The clock faces of Albritton Tower bear the Roman numeral IIII rather than IV because Mr. Albritton believed that IV bore too much resemblance to "t.u.", Texas A&M's rival.
- [http://www.tamu.edu/vpa/administration Administration Building]
  - For many years home to all of Texas A&M's administrative offices, the Jack K. Williams Administration Building opened its doors in 1932 and continues to house several Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University System offices and agencies. Designed by Professor C.S.P. Vosper and built by Campus Architect F.E. Giesecke, the monumental classical structure's features include intricate Ionic columns, polished brass handrails along its marble staircases and stained-glass windows.
- [http://www.tamu.edu/easterwoodairport/ Airport]
  - Texas A&M University owns Easterwood Airport on the western portion of its campus. Easterwood provides multiple scheduled flights daily to Dallas, Texas and Houston, Texas.
  - See also:
    - [http://www.tamu.edu/easterwoodairport Easterwood Airport Website]
- Kyle Field
  - Since 1929 the home to the Fightin' Texas Aggies, Kyle Field is considered by many to rank among the nation's premiere football facilities.
- [http://www.msc.tamu.edu Memorial Student Center (MSC)]
  - For more than 50 years the Memorial Student Center has been a living memorial, a living room, and a living tradition at Texas A&M University.
- George Bush Presidential Library
  - Operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is the tenth Presidential Library in the United States. Former President George Bush remains actively involved with both the Bush Library and the nearby George Bush School of Government and Public Service, frequently visiting the campus and participating in special events.
- [http://library.tamu.edu Texas A&M Libraries]
  - Texas A&M University is ranked in the top 10 for its library collections in Engineering & Technology, Military and Naval Science, Nautical Archaeology, Oceanography and Transportation. Libraries on campus include the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, the Cushing Memorial Library, the Medical Sciences Library, the Policy Sciences & Economics Library, Sterling C. Evans Library, West Campus Library and the Biological Collections Library.
- [http://www.tamu.edu/00/academic/bbbbba.html Laboratories]
  - Laboratories on the Texas A&M University campus include the Energy Systems Laboratory, Fiber Optic Lab, Hypermedia Research Lab, Materials and Structures Testing Lab, Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab, Turbomachinery Laboratory and the Wave Propagation and Damping Laboratory. Texas A&M was involved in a bid to operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the US Department of Energy but dropped its bid in December 2004. Texas A&M is the only academic institution to clone five different species: cattle, goats, pigs, a cat, and a white-tailed deer.

Endowment

Texas A&M University System endowment totals approximately $4.3 billion; 10th in the nation and third among public university systems. The University receives income from an endowment known as the Permanent University Fund. The PUF principal in the fall 2000 was approximately $10 billion, second only to Harvard's endowment. The PUF serves 15 Texas universities in the Texas A&M University System and the University of Texas System. Other Texas public universities outside these two systems, notably University of Houston and Texas Tech University, are prohibited by law from sharing in the income from this endowment. At one time, the PUF was the chief source of income for Texas A&M, today its revenues account for less than 10 percent of the university's annual budget. This has challenged the university to increase sponsored research and private donations.

Traditions

As the oldest public college in the state, Texas A&M University has many time-honored traditions, many of which are discussed in full detail at traditions of Texas A&M University.

Athletics

traditions of Texas A&M University A charter member of the Southwest Conference until its dissolution in 1996, Texas A&M now competes in the Big 12 Conference (South Division) of the NCAA's Division I-A. The sports teams are known as the Aggies and the colors are maroon and white. The University's major rival is the University of Texas, known to Aggies as "texas university" or simply "t.u.". In 2004, sporting events between Texas A&M and the University of Texas became known as the "Lone Star Showdown". The most-watched part of this rivalry is the annual football game held on the day after Thanksgiving. The football team is currently coached by Dennis Franchione.
- See also:
  - [http://www.aggieathletics.com/ Texas Aggie Athletics Website]

Titles

Some of the titles won by Aggie athletic teams include:
- National titles
  - Football
    - 1939
  - Softball
    - 1982 (AIAW), 1983 (NCAA), 1987 (NCAA)
- Conference titles
  - Big 12 Conference
    - Football
      - 1998
    - Baseball
      - 1993 (College World Series), 1998, 1999 (College World Series)
    - Men's Outdoor Track & Field
      - 2001
    - Women's Soccer
      - 2004, 2005
  - Southwest Conference
    - Football
      - 1917, 1919, 1921, 1925, 1927, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1956, 1967, 1975, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993
    - Men's Basketball
      - 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1950, 1963, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1985
    - Baseball
      - 1931, 1934, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1989, 1993

Notable facilities


- Football: Kyle Field (Largest Crowd: 87,555 vs. Texas (Nov. 23, 2001)
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=17 Bright Football Complex]
    - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=19 Bright Building Athletic Training Room]
    - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=18 Bright Building Center for Student-Athlete Services]
    - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=8 Bright Building Locker Room]
    - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=29 Bright Building Players' Lounge]
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=9 Netum Steed Laboratory]
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=27 Grass Practice Fields]
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=4 Turf Practice Field]
- Basketball: Reed Arena (Largest Crowd: 13,151)
- Baseball: Olsen Field (Largest Crowd: 11,052)
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=21 Batting/Pitching Facility]
- Volleyball: G. Rollie White Coliseum (Largest Crowd: 8,608)
- Soccer: [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=1 Aggie Soccer Complex] (Largest Crowd: 5,447)
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=23 Soccer Building]
- Track and Field: [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=3 Anderson Track and Field Complex] (Capacity: 3,500)
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=24 Track Building]
- Tennis: [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=15 George P. Mitchell Tennis Center] (Largest Crowd: 2,339)
- Softball: [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=2 Aggie Softball Complex] (Largest Crowd: 2,341)
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=22 Softball Building]
- Equestrian: [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=16 Freeman Arena]
- Natatorium: [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=12 Student Rec Center Natatorium]
- Golf: [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=13 Traditions Club Championship Golf Course]
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=28 Wahlberg Aggie Golf Learning Center]
  - [http://sports.tamu.edu/facilities.php?FID=14 University Golf Course]
- See also:
  - [http://www.aggieathletics.com/facilities.php Texas A&M Athletic Facilities]

Student publications and media


- The Battalion [http://www.thebatt.com/ The Battalion (TAMU Online Newspaper)]
- [http://kamu-fm.tamu.edu/serv/hdtv.php KAMU-DT Student High Definition Television Station]
- [http://kamu-fm.tamu.edu/tvindex.php KAMU-TV Student Television Station]
- [http://kamu-fm.tamu.edu/ KAMU-FM Public Radio Station]
- [http://kanm.tamu.edu/ KANM Student Radio Station]
- [http://aggieland.tamu.edu/ Aggieland Yearbook (formerly known as The Longhorn)]
- [http://bsc.tamu.edu/bsc3/edge/ The Edge (student-run professional business publication)]
- [http://kanm.tamu.edu/frequency/ Frequency KANM music zine]

Notable people


- List of Texas A&M University people

External links


- [http://www.tamu.edu/ Texas A&M website]
- [http://sports.tamu.edu/ Official Aggie Athletics Website]
- [http://aggietraditions.tamu.edu/ Texas Aggie Traditions Website]
- [http://fishcamp.tamu.edu Official Fish Camp Website]
  - [http://www.tamu.edu/map/gifs/campus1.pdf Texas A&M University Map]

Notes


- Source: U.S. News and World Report. [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php ]
- Source: A&M Systemwide Campus News. [http://tamusystem.tamu.edu/systemwide/05/09/campus/tamu.html]
- Source: Texas A&M Facts & Stats. [http://www.tamu.edu/univrel/sheets/]
- Source: US News & World Report: America's Best Colleges 2006. [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drglance_10366_brief.php]
- Source: 2004 NACUBO Endowment Study. [http://www.nacubo.org/documents/research/FY04NESInstitutionsbyTotalAssetsforPress.pdf ] Category:Texas A&M University Category:Land-grant universities Category:Sea-grant universities Category:Space-grant universities Category:Universities and colleges in Texas Category:Association of American Universities Category:College Station, Texas Category:College Station sports Category:Texas A&M University System

27 February

February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 307 days remaining, 308 in leap years.

Events


- 1560 - The Treaty of Berhick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland
- 1594 - Henry IV is crowned King of France.
- 1617 - Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea
- 1700 - The island of New Britain is discovered.
- 1793 - The Giles resolutions are introduced to the United States House of Representatives asking the House to condemn Alexander Hamilton's handling of loans.
- 1801 - Washington, DC is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
- 1812 - Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
- 1827 - The first Mardi Gras is celebrated in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- 1844 - The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
- 1860 - Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that was largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
- 1861 - A crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland is fired upon by Russian troops, killing five protesters.
- 1864 - American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
- 1879 - Announcement of the discovery of artificial sweetener saccharin.
- 1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
- 1900 - The British Labour Party is founded
- 1900 The FC Bayern München (Munich) is founded
- 1921 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.
- 1922 - A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
- 1933 - Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.
- 1939 - American Civil Rights Movement: Sit-down strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
- 1942 - World War II: the USS Langley, the first United States aircraft carrier, is sunk by Japanese warplanes.
- 1943 - The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, United States explodes, killing 74 men.
- 1948 - The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia.
- 1951 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
- 1961 - The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.
- 1963 - The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.
- 1964 - The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
- 1967 - Dominica gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1971 - Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform abortus provocatus
- 1973 - The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
- 1974 - People magazine is published for the first time.
- 1976 - The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
- 1986 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
- 1989 - Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo.
- 1990 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on five criminal counts.
- 1991 - Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated."
- 1999 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
- 1999 - Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.
- 2002- Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire in London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.
- 2002 - 2002 Gujarat violence: a train catches fire a few minutes after it leaves the Godhra railway station, killing an estimated 58 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya and triggering riots that lead to the death of 1000 people, mostly Muslims.
- 2003 - Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican church.
- 2004 - A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines kills 116, its worst terrorist attack.
- 2004 - Former BPMC general secretary Ordrick Samuel launches a new party in Barbuda, Barbudans for a Better Barbuda.
- 2005 Pre - pay price capping on the Transport for London Oyster card was introduced.

Births


- 1691 - Edward Cave, English editor and publisher (d. 1754)
- 1807 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (d. 1882)
- 1861 - Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (d. 1925)
- 1886 - Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1971)
- 1888 - Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)
- 1890 - Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (d. 1933)
- 1891 - David Sarnoff, Russian-born broadcasting pioneer (d. 1971)
- 1892 - William Demarest, American actor (d. 1983)
- 1897 - Marian Anderson, American contralto (d. 1993)
- 1899 - Charles Best, American medical scientist (d. 1978)
- 1902 - Gene Sarazen, American golfer (d. 1999)
- 1902 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- 1903 - Grethe Weiser, actress (d. 1970)
- 1905 - Franchot Tone, American actor (d. 1968)
- 1907 - Mildred Bailey, American singer (d. 1951)
- 1910 - Joan Bennett, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1910 - Peter De Vries, American writer (d. 1993)
- 1910 - Kelly Johnson, American aircraft engineer (d. 1990)
- 1912 - Lawrence Durrell, British writer (d. 1990)
- 1913 - Irwin Shaw, American writer (d. 1984)
- 1917 - John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
- 1923 - Dexter Gordon, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1990)
- 1925 - Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (d. 2004)
- 1926 - David H. Hubel, Canadian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1927 - Lynn Cartwright, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1927 - Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
- 1928 - Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel
- 1929 - Djalma Santos, Brazilian football player
- 1930 - Peter Stone, American writer (d. 2003)
- 1930 - Joanne Woodward, American actress
- 1932 - Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress
- 1933 - Raymond Berry, American football player
- 1934 - N. Scott Momaday, American writer
- 1934 - Ralph Nader, American consumer activist
- 1934 - Van Williams, American actor
- 1935 - Mirella Freni, Italian soprano
- 1937 - Barbara Babcock, American actress
- 1940 - Howard Hesseman, American actor
- 1941 - Paddy Ashdown, British politician
- 1942 - Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1942 - Charlayne Hunter-Gault, American journalist
- 1943 - Mary Frann, American actress (d. 1998)
- 1943 - Morten Lauridsen, American composer
- 1945 - Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (d. 2004)
- 1947 - Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist
- 1954 - Neal Schon, American musician (Journey)
- 1957 - Viktor Markin, Russian athlete
- 1957 - Adrian Smith, English musician (Iron Maiden)
- 1962 - Adam Baldwin, American actor
- 1962 - Grant Show, American actor
- 1966 - Donal Logue, Canadian actor
- 1970 - Michael A. Burstein, American writer
- 1971 - Derren Brown, British psychological illusionist
- 1971 - Rozonda Thomas, American singer (TLC)
- 1978 - James Beattie, English footballer
- 1981 - Josh Groban, American singer
- 1985 - Fefe Dobson, Canadian singer
- 1988 - JD Natasha, American musician

Deaths


- 1659 - Henry Dunster, first President of Harvard College (b. 1609)
- 1699 - Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton, English politician
- 1706 - John Evelyn, English diarist (b. 1620)
- 1720 - Samuel Parris, English-born Puritan minister (b. 1653)
- 1735 - John Arbuthnot, English physician and writer (b. 1667)
- 1844 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (b. 1786)
- 1887 - Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (b. 1833)
- 1921 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871</