title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: Communications equipment includes HF, VHF, and UHF radios, Link 11 and Link 16 tactical data exchange uplinks, ASTIS MCE (Advanced SATCOM Terrestrial Infrastructure System Maritime Communications Elements) terminals, and Inmarsat equipment.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: The control system for this class is provided by Navantia and is a version of the Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS) designed specifically for the Hobart Class Destroyers. The implementation of Navantia's IPMS uses COMPLEX / SIMPLEX, a framework developed by Navantia for new ship builds and all future modernisations. This system allows for the automation, control, and supervision of all the equipment that is installed on the ship with the exception of the combat system.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: Currently within the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the IPMS is installed on the "Canberra"-class landing helicopter docks, "Hobart"-class guided missile destroyers, and the "Supply"-class replenishment oiler platforms, as well as on-board more than 60 ships across multiple navies.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: Each ship is assembled from 31 pre-fabricated modules or 'blocks', averaging in weight and in size. The nine blocks making up the forward superstructure of each destroyer, containing the most sensitive or classified equipment, are manufactured by ASC's shipyard at Osborne, South Australia, where the final assembly of each destroyer will occur. The other 22 blocks for each ship were subcontracted out. On 9 May 2009, two companies were selected to fabricate the additional blocks: NQEA Australia (building the twelve blocks of each ship's hull) and Forgacs Group (building the ten aft superstructure blocks per ship). However, during June, NQEA advised the AWD Alliance that the shipbuilder was undergoing restructuring and may have difficulty in meeting its contracted obligations. The Department of Defence went into negotiations with NQEA and BAE Systems Australia (which had been shortlisted during the initial subcontractor selection process), and at the end of June, transferred all of NQEA's work to BAE.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: In October 2010, the central keel block manufactured by BAE for "Hobart" was found to be distorted and incompatible with other hull sections. The cause of the fabrication errors is unknown: BAE blamed incorrect drawings from designer Navantia, while the AWD Alliance claimed the other two shipyards have not experienced similar problems, when in fact they had, and suggested first-of-kind manufacturing errors were made by BAE. However, a report in 2014, by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) confirmed that 'errors resulting from a sub-standard technology transfer procedure (passing on specific techniques relative to the design) & drawings that were not localised by designer Navantia' were to blame. The delay in reworking the keel block was predicted to set construction back by at least six months. Other major issues during "Hobart"s construction included the need to replace 25% of the internal pipework due to faulty manufacture, and the initial rejection of the ship's mainmast block because of defects in the cabling and combat system equipment. "Brisbane"s construction has been marred by numerous defects requiring rework.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: In late May 2011, the government announced that the delay in building "Hobart" had increased to between one and two years, and would attempt to reduce the workload on BAE (which is also responsible for superstructure work on the "Canberra"-class amphibious ships) by redistributing up to 13 of the 24 hull blocks the company was slated to build for the first two ships to the other two shipyards. In addition, the three blocks containing each destroyer's hull-mounted sonar are being assembled by Navantia in Spain and the United Kingdom, with the possibility another two hull blocks could be assigned to the Spanish shipyard. An additional nine-month delay was announced in September 2012; this was intended to create a better transition of labour from the destroyers to following shipbuilding projects (replacements for the "Collins"-class submarines and the "Anzac"-class frigates), and achieve some savings in the federal budget.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: A March 2014 report by the ANAO heavily criticised the DMO and the AWD Alliance for underestimating the risks in redesigning the ships for Australian operations, and building them in shipyards with no recent warship construction experience. The ANAO report also criticised designer Navantia and the shipyards involved in block construction over poor drawings, repeated errors, and bad building practices. As a result of further delays and growing costs, the "Hobart"-class destroyer project was added to the government's "Projects of Concern" list in June 2014. Follow-up government reports identified unrealistic time and cost estimates as additional factors. The overarching alliance concept has been repeatedly denounced, with no effective management structure or entity in charge, (allowing for repeated blame-passing between the individual alliance partners, Navantia, and the subcontracted shipyards), and the DMO locked in a contradictory role (simultaneously acting as supplier, build partner, and customer).


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: "Hobart"s keel was laid down on 6 September 2012, and the ship was launched on 23 May 2015, with 76% of construction complete. "Brisbane" was laid down on 3 February 2014, and by October 2015 was 68% complete. "Sydney" was laid down on 19 November 2015 (two weeks after the "Adelaide"-class frigate of the name was decommissioned, and on the anniversary of the loss of the second "Sydney" during World War II), with block fabrication due to complete in early 2016.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: Originally, the "Hobart"-class destroyers were to be operational between December 2014 and June 2017. In September 2012, the ongoing delays prompted revision of the entry-to-service dates to March 2016, September 2017, and March 2019. In May 2015, the DMO announced additional schedule slippage, with "Hobart" to be handed over to the RAN in June 2017, "Brisbane" due in September 2018, and "Sydney" by December 2019. The original contract cost was about A$7.9 billion for the three ships. By March 2014, the project was running A$302 million over budget. By May 2015, this had increased to A$800 million, with a predicted minimum cost overrun by project end of A$1.2 billion.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: In February 2018, the "Hobart"-class was removed from the "Projects of Concern" list, after long-term reform arrangements were put in place. In May 2018, the third and final "Hobart"-class ship, "Sydney", was launched.


title: Hobart-class destroyer

text: It has been announced that the three ships of the class will be upgraded at the cost of AU$5.1 billion. This includes the upgrade of the Aegis Weapon System to Baseline 9 or 10, the possible replacement of the current AN/SPY-1D(V) radar with a more powerful radar and the integration of new missiles, namely the SM-6 surface to air missile, Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile, and the Naval Strike Missile.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Babylon A.D. is a 2008 science fiction action film based on the 1999 novel "Babylon Babies" by Maurice Georges Dantec. The film was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and stars Vin Diesel in the lead role, Mélanie Thierry, Michelle Yeoh, Lambert Wilson, Mark Strong, Jérôme Le Banner, Charlotte Rampling, and Gérard Depardieu. It was released on 29 August 2008 in the United States. It is an international co-production between France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: In a dystopian near-future, Russian mobster Gorsky (Depardieu) hires the mercenary Toorop (Diesel) to bring a young woman known only as Aurora (Thierry) from Asia to New York City. Gorsky gives Toorop a variety of weapons and a subdermally implanted UN passport. Toorop, the girl, and her guardian Sister Rebeka (Yeoh), travel from the Noelite Convent in Kyrgyzstan to reach New York via Russia.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Unlike in the technologically advanced U.S., war and terrorist activity have transformed Russia's cities into dangerous, overpopulated slums. The stress of humanity's situation causes Aurora to act out in strange ways and display clairvoyance abilities. On one such occasion, Aurora, seemingly for no reason, panics and runs from a crowded train station, just before it explodes in a terrorist attack.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: The protagonists must also evade an unknown group of mercenaries claiming to have been sent by Aurora's supposedly dead father. Later, they board a submarine that carries refugees to Canada. To avoid satellite detection, the Captain of the submarine orders his crew to dive and he shoots some of the refugees still trying to get on board. Aurora, infuriated by the loss of life, operates the 30-year-old submarine without training. Sister Rebeka tells Toorop that Aurora could speak nineteen different languages by the age of two, and always seems to know things she has never learned. Three months before leaving with Toorop, she began acting differently. This occurred after a Noelite doctor administered a pill. The doctor told her to go to New York City and arranged for Toorop to escort them.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: After arriving in Alaska with help from Toorop's associate Finn (Strong), the protagonists are attacked by weaponized drones. Toorop manages to destroy all the drones, but also gets wounded. These perils cause Finn to betray the group, so Toorop shoots him dead.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Once in Harlem, a news broadcast about the bombing of the Kyrgyzstan convent causes the group to realize there is more going on than they know. The Noelites have become a major new salvationist religion, which vast numbers of people cling to as the world spirals out of control. However, in private meetings, it is seen that their High Priestess (Charlotte Rampling) only desires power and uses invented miracles to court converts. Gorsky, working for the Noelites, had planted a tracking device in Toorop's passport and bombed the convent when he knew they were in the United States. The doctor who earlier saw Aurora examines her again in a hotel room. When he leaves, Aurora reveals (without being told) that she is pregnant with twins despite being a virgin.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Looking outside the hotel, Toorop sees Gorsky's men and the Noelite group, heavily armed and waiting for them on the street. The High Priestess calls Toorop and asks him to bring Aurora outside. Just before they take her away, Toorop changes his mind and starts a firefight with the two groups to get the two women to safety. Gorsky's men fire guided missiles at Toorop that track his subdermal passport. Rebeka gets killed defending Aurora, who in turn shoots Toorop, saying, "I need you to live." Toorop's clinical death causes the guided missile to go off target (missing Toorop) and explode near Aurora instead; she inexplicably survives.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Dr. Arthur Darquandier (Lambert Wilson) revives Toorop using advanced medical techniques, but several of Toorop's body parts are replaced with cybernetics to undo the damage of being dead for over two hours. Darquandier explains that when Aurora was a fetus, he implanted a supercomputer into her brain. It is also implied that the Noelite group had him create Aurora to become pregnant at a certain time to use her as a "virgin birth". After she was born, the Noelites hired Gorsky to kill Darquandier, but he failed. Darquandier remained "dead" until he found his daughter in Russia with Toorop.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Darquandier uses a machine to scan Toorop's memory to find out what Aurora said to him before and shortly after shooting him. In Toorop's memory, Aurora tells Toorop to "go home". Toorop and several of Darquandier's men leave the facility. En route to Darquandier's lab, Gorsky calls the High Priestess, demanding payment; during the subsequent videocall the High Priestess kills Gorsky by nuclear missile. The High Priestess confronts and kills Darquandier, but Toorop has already escaped. Toorop goes to his old house in the forest, finds Aurora, and takes her to a hospital, where, 6 months later, she dies after giving birth. Aurora was "designed to breed", not to live, so her death after childbirth was preprogrammed. Toorop takes care of her two children.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: In a scene that is only present in the theatrical cut but was removed from the director's cut, the twins are shown to be one that looks like Aurora and the other like Toorop.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Mathieu Kassovitz worked on an English-language film adaptation of Maurice Georges Dantec's French novel "Babylon Babies" for five years; in June 2005, this project got financing from StudioCanal and Twentieth Century Fox. The adapted screenplay was written by Kassovitz and screenwriter Éric Besnard. Production was initially slated to begin in February 2006 in Canada and Eastern Europe.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: French actor Vincent Cassel was initially sought to be cast in the lead role. In February 2006, actor Vin Diesel entered negotiations to star in the film, titled "Babylon A.D.", dropping out of the lead role of "Hitman" in the process.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: The shooting schedule was slated to begin in June 2006. By February 2007, filming was slated to wrap in April to release "Babylon A.D." in time for the coming Thanksgiving. In February, filming took place at Barrandov Studios. In March 2007, the filming crew, having shot in the Czech Republic, took a two-week hiatus to deal with uncooperative weather, such as the lack of snow, and problems with set construction. Crew members scouted Iceland for locations with snow to shoot six to eight days of footage, which was supposed to be done in February. Filming was also done with the leads Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, and Mélanie Thierry in Ostrava in March. The French visual effects company BUF Compagnie was contracted to develop the film's effects under the supervision of Stephane Ceretti.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: In April 2007, "Babylon A.D." was reported to be over-budget and three weeks behind schedule. A lack of snow meant a skiing sequence to be shot in Eastern Europe had to be moved to Sweden. Later in the month, actor Lambert Wilson was cast into the film. Filming was completed in May 2007.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: American artist Khem Caigan designed the sigil that appears as a tattoo on the right side of Toorop's neck – an emblem which originally appeared in the Schlangekraft "Necronomicon" in 1977.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Mathieu Kassovitz said that 20th Century Fox interfered throughout production, and he never had a chance to shoot a scene the way it was scripted, or the way he wanted it to be. A French language documentary of the troubled creation of the film entitled "Fucking Kassovitz" was released in 2011.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: The music of "Babylon A.D." was written by Icelandic composer Atli Örvarsson. The music supervisor of the movie was Jérôme Hadey. The musical alliance Achozen, represented by Shavo Odadjian and RZA performed the score for the film. Music producer Hans Zimmer described the intended style: "Musically, our objective was to merge the sounds and energies of hip hop with classical music, seamlessly melting them into an unusual soundscape."


title: Babylon A.D.

text: "Babylon A.D." was originally stated to be released in the United States on 29 February 2008, but its release was postponed to 29 August 2008. As of 31 January 2009, the film had grossed $72,105,690 worldwide. In the US the film was placed #2 behind "Tropic Thunder" with $9,484,267 in 3,390 cinemas with a $2,798 average.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: On Metacritic it has a score of 26% based on 15 reviews, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 6% approval rating based on 104 reviews (96 negative, 6 positive) with the consensus calling it "a poorly constructed, derivative sci-fi stinker with a weak script and poor action sequences." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade D+ on scale of A to F.


title: Babylon A.D.

text: Jordan Mintzer of "Variety" called it "A noisier, costlier version of "Children of Men," yet lacking that film's social-political significance and jaw-dropping direction."


title: Babylon A.D.

text: "Babylon A.D." was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Europe (Region 2) on 29 December 2008, and in the United States (Region 1) on 6 January 2009. At the same time, the French 101-minute version was released on Blu-ray in the US as "Babylon A.D. – Raw and Uncut".


title: Corporate finance

text: Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize or increase shareholder value.


title: Corporate finance

text: Correspondingly, corporate finance comprises two main sub-disciplines. Capital budgeting is concerned with the setting of criteria about which value-adding projects should receive investment funding, and whether to finance that investment with equity or debt capital. Working capital management is the management of the company's monetary funds that deal with the short-term operating balance of current assets and current liabilities; the focus here is on managing cash, inventories, and short-term borrowing and lending (such as the terms on credit extended to customers).


title: Corporate finance

text: The terms corporate finance and corporate financier are also associated with investment banking. The typical role of an investment bank is to evaluate the company's financial needs and raise the appropriate type of capital that best fits those needs. Thus, the terms "corporate finance" and "corporate financier" may be associated with transactions in which capital is raised in order to create, develop, grow or acquire businesses.


title: Corporate finance

text: Although it is in principle different from managerial finance which studies the financial management of all firms, rather than corporations alone, the main concepts in the study of corporate finance are applicable to the financial problems of all kinds of firms.


title: Corporate finance

text: Financial management overlaps with the financial function of the accounting profession. However, financial accounting is the reporting of historical financial information, while financial management is concerned with the deployment of capital resources to increase a firm's value to the shareholders.


title: Corporate finance

text: Corporate finance for the pre-industrial world began to emerge in the Italian city-states and the low countries of Europe from the 15th century.


title: Corporate finance

text: The Dutch East India Company (also known by the abbreviation “VOC” in Dutch) was the first publicly listed company ever to pay regular dividends.


title: Corporate finance

text: The VOC was also the first recorded joint-stock company to get a fixed capital stock. Public markets for investment securities developed in the Dutch Republic during the 17th century.


title: Corporate finance

text: By the early 1800s, London acted as a center of corporate finance for companies around the world, which innovated new forms of lending and investment; see .


title: Corporate finance

text: The twentieth century brought the rise of managerial capitalism and common stock finance, with share capital raised through listings, in preference to other sources of capital.


title: Corporate finance

text: Modern corporate finance, alongside investment management, developed in the second half of the 20th century, particularly driven by innovations in theory and practice in the United States and Britain.


title: Corporate finance

text: Here, see the later sections of History of banking in the United States and of History of private equity and venture capital.


title: Corporate finance

text: The primary goal of financial management is to maximize or to continually increase shareholder value. Maximizing shareholder value requires managers to be able to balance capital funding between investments in "projects" that increase the firm's long term profitability and sustainability, along with paying excess cash in the form of dividends to shareholders. Managers of growth companies (i.e. firms that earn high rates of return on invested capital) will use most of the firm's capital resources and surplus cash on investments and projects so the company can continue to expand its business operations into the future. When companies reach maturity levels within their industry (i.e. companies that earn approximately average or lower returns on invested capital), managers of these companies will use surplus cash to payout dividends to shareholders. Managers must do an analysis to determine the appropriate allocation of the firm's capital resources and cash surplus between projects and payouts of dividends to shareholders, as well as paying back creditor related debt.


title: Corporate finance

text: Choosing between investment projects will thus be based upon several inter-related criteria. (1) Corporate management seeks to maximize the value of the firm by investing in projects which yield a positive net present value when valued using an appropriate discount rate in consideration of risk. (2) These projects must also be financed appropriately. (3) If no growth is possible by the company and excess cash surplus is not needed to the firm, then financial theory suggests that management should return some or all of the excess cash to shareholders (i.e., distribution via dividends).


title: Corporate finance

text: This "capital budgeting" is the planning of value-adding, long-term corporate financial projects relating to investments funded through and affecting the firm's capital structure. Management must allocate the firm's limited resources between competing opportunities (projects).


title: Corporate finance

text: Capital budgeting is also concerned with the setting of criteria about which projects should receive investment funding to increase the value of the firm, and whether to finance that investment with equity or debt capital. Investments should be made on the basis of value-added to the future of the corporation. Projects that increase a firm's value may include a wide variety of different types of investments, including but not limited to, expansion policies, or mergers and acquisitions. When no growth or expansion is possible by a corporation and excess cash surplus exists and is not needed, then management is expected to pay out some or all of those surplus earnings in the form of cash dividends or to repurchase the company's stock through a share buyback program.


title: Corporate finance

text: Achieving the goals of corporate finance requires that any corporate investment be financed appropriately. The sources of financing are, generically, capital self-generated by the firm and capital from external funders, obtained by issuing new debt and equity (and hybrid- or convertible securities). However, as above, since both hurdle rate and cash flows (and hence the riskiness of the firm) will be affected, the financing mix will impact the valuation of the firm, and a considered decision is required here. See Balance sheet, WACC.


title: Corporate finance

text: Finally, there is much theoretical discussion as to other considerations that management might weigh here.


title: Corporate finance

text: Corporations may rely on borrowed funds (debt capital or credit) as sources of investment to sustain ongoing business operations or to fund future growth. Debt comes in several forms, such as through bank loans, notes payable, or bonds issued to the public. Bonds require the corporations to make regular interest payments (interest expenses) on the borrowed capital until the debt reaches its maturity date, therein the firm must pay back the obligation in full. Debt payments can also be made in the form of sinking fund provisions, whereby the corporation pays annual installments of the borrowed debt above regular interest charges. Corporations that issue callable bonds are entitled to pay back the obligation in full whenever the company feels it is in their best interest to pay off the debt payments. If interest expenses cannot be made by the corporation through cash payments, the firm may also use collateral assets as a form of repaying their debt obligations (or through the process of liquidation).


title: Corporate finance

text: Corporations can alternatively sell shares of the company to investors to raise capital. Investors, or shareholders, expect that there will be an upward trend in value of the company (or appreciate in value) over time to make their investment a profitable purchase. Shareholder value is increased when corporations invest equity capital and other funds into projects (or investments) that earn a positive rate of return for the owners. Investors prefer to buy shares of stock in companies that will consistently earn a positive rate of return on capital in the future, thus increasing the market value of the stock of that corporation. Shareholder value may also be increased when corporations payout excess cash surplus (funds from retained earnings that are not needed for business) in the form of dividends.


title: Corporate finance

text: Preferred stock is an equity security which may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock including properties of both an equity and a debt instrument, and is generally considered a hybrid instrument. Preferreds are senior (i.e. higher ranking) to common stock, but subordinate to bonds in terms of claim (or rights to their share of the assets of the company).


title: Corporate finance

text: Preferred stock usually carries no voting rights, but may carry a dividend and may have priority over common stock in the payment of dividends and upon liquidation. Terms of the preferred stock are stated in a "Certificate of Designation".


title: Corporate finance

text: Similar to bonds, preferred stocks are rated by the major credit-rating companies. The rating for preferreds is generally lower, since preferred dividends do not carry the same guarantees as interest payments from bonds and they are junior to all creditors.


title: Corporate finance

text: Preferred stock is a special class of shares which may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock.


title: Corporate finance

text: As mentioned, the financing mix will impact the valuation of the firm: there are then two interrelated considerations here:


title: Corporate finance

text: Much of the theory here, falls under the umbrella of the Trade-Off Theory in which firms are assumed to trade-off the tax benefits of debt with the bankruptcy costs of debt when choosing how to allocate the company's resources. However economists have developed a set of alternative theories about how managers allocate a corporation's finances.


title: Corporate finance

text: One of the main alternative theories of how firms manage their capital funds is the Pecking Order Theory (Stewart Myers), which suggests that firms avoid external financing while they have internal financing available and avoid new equity financing while they can engage in new debt financing at reasonably low interest rates.


title: Corporate finance

text: Also, the capital structure substitution theory hypothesizes that management manipulates the capital structure such that earnings per share (EPS) are maximized. An emerging area in finance theory is right-financing whereby investment banks and corporations can enhance investment return and company value over time by determining the right investment objectives, policy framework, institutional structure, source of financing (debt or equity) and expenditure framework within a given economy and under given market conditions.


title: Corporate finance

text: One of the more recent innovations in this area from a theoretical point of view is the market timing hypothesis. This hypothesis, inspired in the behavioral finance literature, states that firms look for the cheaper type of financing regardless of their current levels of internal resources, debt and equity.


title: Corporate finance

text: In general, each "project's" value will be estimated using a discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation, and the opportunity with the highest value, as measured by the resultant net present value (NPV) will be selected (first applied in a corporate finance setting by Joel Dean in 1951). This requires estimating the size and timing of all of the "incremental" cash flows resulting from the project. Such future cash flows are then discounted to determine their "present value" (see Time value of money). These present values are then summed, and this sum net of the initial investment outlay is the NPV. See for general discussion, and Valuation using discounted cash flows for the mechanics, with discussion re modifications for corporate finance.


title: Corporate finance

text: The NPV is greatly affected by the discount rate. Thus, identifying the proper discount rate – often termed, the project "hurdle rate" – is critical to choosing appropriate projects and investments for the firm. The hurdle rate is the minimum acceptable return on an investment – i.e., the project appropriate discount rate. The hurdle rate should reflect the riskiness of the investment, typically measured by volatility of cash flows, and must take into account the project-relevant financing mix. Managers use models such as the CAPM or the APT to estimate a discount rate appropriate for a particular project, and use the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) to reflect the financing mix selected. (A common error in choosing a discount rate for a project is to apply a WACC that applies to the entire firm. Such an approach may not be appropriate where the risk of a particular project differs markedly from that of the firm's existing portfolio of assets.)


title: Corporate finance

text: In conjunction with NPV, there are several other measures used as (secondary) selection criteria in corporate finance; see . These are visible from the DCF and include discounted payback period, IRR, Modified IRR, equivalent annuity, capital efficiency, and ROI. Alternatives (complements) to NPV, which more directly consider economic profit, include residual income valuation, MVA / EVA (Joel Stern, Stern Stewart & Co) and APV (Stewart Myers). With the cost of capital correctly and correspondingly adjusted, these valuations should yield the same result as the DCF. See also "list of valuation topics".


title: Corporate finance

text: In many cases, for example R&D projects, a project may open (or close) various paths of action to the company, but this reality will not (typically) be captured in a strict NPV approach. Some analysts account for this uncertainty by adjusting the discount rate (e.g. by increasing the cost of capital) or the cash flows (using certainty equivalents, or applying (subjective) "haircuts" to the forecast numbers; see Penalized present value). Even when employed, however, these latter methods do not normally properly account for changes in risk over the project's lifecycle and hence fail to appropriately adapt the risk adjustment. Management will therefore (sometimes) employ tools which place an explicit value on these options. So, whereas in a DCF valuation the most likely or average or scenario specific cash flows are discounted, here the "flexible and staged nature" of the investment is modelled, and hence "all" potential payoffs are considered. See further under Real options valuation. The difference between the two valuations is the "value of flexibility" inherent in the project.


title: Corporate finance

text: The two most common tools are Decision Tree Analysis (DTA) and real options valuation (ROV); they may often be used interchangeably:


title: Corporate finance

text: Given the uncertainty inherent in project forecasting and valuation, analysts will wish to assess the "sensitivity" of project NPV to the various inputs (i.e. assumptions) to the DCF model. In a typical sensitivity analysis the analyst will vary one key factor while holding all other inputs constant, "ceteris paribus". The sensitivity of NPV to a change in that factor is then observed, and is calculated as a "slope": ΔNPV / Δfactor. For example, the analyst will determine NPV at various growth rates in annual revenue as specified (usually at set increments, e.g. -10%, -5%, 0%, 5%...), and then determine the sensitivity using this formula. Often, several variables may be of interest, and their various combinations produce a "value-surface" (or even a "value-space"), where NPV is then a function of several variables. See also Stress testing.


title: Corporate finance

text: Using a related technique, analysts also run scenario based forecasts of NPV. Here, a scenario comprises a particular outcome for economy-wide, "global" factors (demand for the product, exchange rates, commodity prices, etc.) "as well as" for company-specific factors (unit costs, etc.). As an example, the analyst may specify various revenue growth scenarios (e.g. -5% for "Worst Case", +5% for "Likely Case" and +15% for "Best Case"), where all key inputs are adjusted so as to be consistent with the growth assumptions, and calculate the NPV for each. Note that for scenario based analysis, the various combinations of inputs must be "internally consistent" (see discussion at Financial modeling), whereas for the sensitivity approach these need not be so. An application of this methodology is to determine an "unbiased" NPV, where management determines a (subjective) probability for each scenario – the NPV for the project is then the probability-weighted average of the various scenarios; see First Chicago Method. (See also rNPV, where cash flows, as opposed to scenarios, are probability-weighted.)


title: Corporate finance

text: A further advancement which "overcomes the limitations of sensitivity and scenario analyses by examining the effects of all possible combinations of variables and their realizations" is to construct stochastic or probabilistic financial models – as opposed to the traditional static and deterministic models as above. For this purpose, the most common method is to use Monte Carlo simulation to analyze the project's NPV. This method was introduced to finance by David B. Hertz in 1964, although it has only recently become common: today analysts are even able to run simulations in spreadsheet based DCF models, typically using a risk-analysis add-in, such as "@Risk" or "Crystal Ball". Here, the cash flow components that are (heavily) impacted by uncertainty are simulated, mathematically reflecting their "random characteristics". In contrast to the scenario approach above, the simulation produces several "thousand" random but possible outcomes, or trials, "covering all conceivable real world contingencies in proportion to their likelihood;" see Monte Carlo Simulation versus "What If" Scenarios. The output is then a histogram of project NPV, and the average NPV of the potential investment – as well as its volatility and other sensitivities – is then observed. This histogram provides information not visible from the static DCF: for example, it allows for an estimate of the probability that a project has a net present value greater than zero (or any other value).


title: Corporate finance

text: Continuing the above example: instead of assigning three discrete values to revenue growth, and to the other relevant variables, the analyst would assign an appropriate probability distribution to each variable (commonly triangular or beta), and, where possible, specify the observed or supposed correlation between the variables. These distributions would then be "sampled" repeatedly – incorporating this correlation – so as to generate several thousand random but possible scenarios, with corresponding valuations, which are then used to generate the NPV histogram. The resultant statistics (average NPV and standard deviation of NPV) will be a more accurate mirror of the project's "randomness" than the variance observed under the scenario based approach. These are often used as estimates of the underlying "spot price" and volatility for the real option valuation as above; see . A more robust Monte Carlo model would include the possible occurrence of risk events (e.g., a credit crunch) that drive variations in one or more of the DCF model inputs.


title: Corporate finance

text: Dividend policy is concerned with financial policies regarding the payment of a cash dividend in the present or paying an increased dividend at a later stage. Whether to issue dividends, and what amount, is determined mainly on the basis of the company's unappropriated profit (excess cash) and influenced by the company's long-term earning power. When cash surplus exists and is not needed by the firm, then management is expected to pay out some or all of those surplus earnings in the form of cash dividends or to repurchase the company's stock through a share buyback program.


title: Corporate finance

text: If there are no NPV positive opportunities, i.e. projects where returns exceed the hurdle rate, and excess cash surplus is not needed, then – finance theory suggests – management should return some or all of the excess cash to shareholders as dividends. This is the general case, however there are exceptions. For example, shareholders of a "growth stock", expect that the company will, almost by definition, retain most of the excess cash surplus so as to fund future projects internally to help increase the value of the firm.


title: Corporate finance

text: Management must also choose the "form" of the dividend distribution, as stated, generally as cash dividends or via a share buyback. Various factors may be taken into consideration: where shareholders must pay tax on dividends, firms may elect to retain earnings or to perform a stock buyback, in both cases increasing the value of shares outstanding. Alternatively, some companies will pay "dividends" from stock rather than in cash; see Corporate action. Financial theory suggests that the dividend policy should be set based upon the type of company and what management determines is the best use of those dividend resources for the firm to its shareholders.


title: Corporate finance

text: As a general rule, then, shareholders of growth companies would prefer managers to retain earnings and pay no dividends (use excess cash to reinvest into the company's operations), whereas shareholders of value- or secondary stocks would prefer the management of these companies to payout surplus earnings in the form of cash dividends when a positive return cannot be earned through the reinvestment of undistributed earnings. A share buyback program may be accepted when the value of the stock is greater than the returns to be realized from the reinvestment of undistributed profits. In all instances, the appropriate dividend policy is usually directed by that which maximizes long-term shareholder value.


title: Corporate finance

text: Managing the corporation's working capital position to sustain ongoing business operations is referred to as "working capital management". These involve managing the relationship between a firm's short-term assets and its short-term liabilities.


title: Corporate finance

text: In general this is as follows: As above, the goal of Corporate Finance is the maximization of firm value. In the context of long term, capital budgeting, firm value is enhanced through appropriately selecting and funding NPV positive investments. These investments, in turn, have implications in terms of cash flow and cost of capital.


title: Corporate finance

text: The goal of Working Capital (i.e. short term) management is therefore to ensure that the firm is able to operate, and that it has sufficient cash flow to service long-term debt, and to satisfy both maturing short-term debt and upcoming operational expenses. In so doing, firm value is enhanced when, and if, the return on capital exceeds the cost of capital; See Economic value added (EVA). Managing short term finance and long term finance is one task of a modern CFO.


title: Corporate finance

text: Working capital is the amount of funds that are necessary for an organization to continue its ongoing business operations, until the firm is reimbursed through payments for the goods or services it has delivered to its customers. Working capital is measured through the difference between resources in cash or readily convertible into cash (Current Assets), and cash requirements (Current Liabilities). As a result, capital resource allocations relating to working capital are always current, i.e. short-term.


title: Corporate finance

text: In addition to time horizon, working capital management differs from capital budgeting in terms of discounting and profitability considerations; decisions here are also "reversible" to a much larger extent. (Considerations as to risk appetite and return targets remain identical, although some constraints – such as those imposed by loan covenants – may be more relevant here).


title: Corporate finance

text: The (short term) goals of working capital are therefore not approached on the same basis as (long term) profitability, and working capital management applies different criteria in allocating resources: the main considerations are (1) cash flow / liquidity and (2) profitability / return on capital (of which cash flow is probably the most important).


title: Corporate finance

text: Guided by the above criteria, management will use a combination of policies and techniques for the management of working capital. These policies aim at managing the "current assets" (generally cash and cash equivalents, inventories and debtors) and the short term financing, such that cash flows and returns are acceptable.


title: Corporate finance

text: Use of the term "corporate finance" varies considerably across the world. In the United States it is used, as above, to describe activities, analytical methods and techniques that deal with many aspects of a company's finances and capital. In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, the terms "corporate finance" and "corporate financier" tend to be associated with investment banking – i.e. with transactions in which capital is raised for the corporation. See under for a listing of the various transaction-types here, and for a description of the role.


title: Corporate finance

text: Financial risk management, generically, is focused on measuring and managing market risk, credit risk and operational risk.


title: Corporate finance

text: focusing on the financial exposures and opportunities arising from business decisions, and their link to the firm’s appetite for risk, as well as their impact on share price.


title: Corporate finance

text: The discipline is thus related to corporate finance, both re operations and funding, as below; and in large firms, the risk management function then overlaps "Corporate Finance", with the CRO consulted on capital-investment and other strategic decisions.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Jailhouse Rock is a 1957 American musical drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy, Vaughn Taylor and Jennifer Holden. Adapted by Guy Trosper from a story written by Nedrick Young, the film tells the story of Vince Everett (Presley), a convict who learns the guitar while in prison and later becomes a star following his release.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: The film's iconic soundtrack was written by songwriters Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber. The dance sequence to the film's title song is often cited as "Presley's greatest moment on screen."


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: "Jailhouse Rock" premiered in Memphis, Tennessee on October 17, 1957, and was released nationwide on November 8, 1957. It peaked at #3 on the "Variety" box-office chart and finished #14 for the year, grossing $4 million. The film initially earned mixed reviews, with much of the negative targeted at Presley. In 2004, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, aesthetically or historically significant."


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Construction worker Vince Everett accidentally kills a drunken, belligerent man in a barroom brawl and is sentenced to 10–14 months in the state penitentiary for manslaughter. His cellmate, washed-up country singer Hunk Houghton, in jail for bank robbery, teaches Vince a few guitar chords. Hunk then convinces Vince to participate in an inmate show that is broadcast on nationwide television. After his appearance, Vince receives many fan letters, but the jealous Hunk prevents their delivery.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Hunk convinces Vince to sign a pact to become equal partners in his act when they are both free. Later, during an inmate riot in the mess hall, a guard shoves Vince, who retaliates by striking the guard. As punishment, the warden orders Vince to be lashed with a whip. Vince later learns that Hunk attempted to bribe the guards to forgo the punishment but did not have enough money.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Upon Vince's release 14 months later, the warden gives him his withheld fan mail from the TV show. Hunk promises Vince a singing job at a nightclub owned by a friend, where Vince meets Peggy Van Alden, a promoter for pop singer Mickey Alba. Vince is surprised when the club owner denies him a job as a singer but offers him a job as a bar boy. To prove himself to the club owner, Vince takes the stage to sing when the house band takes a break, but a customer laughs obnoxiously throughout the performance, enraging Vince, who smashes his guitar and leaves the club. Peggy then persuades Vince to record a demo so that he can listen to himself sing. Vince records "Don't Leave Me Now," and Peggy takes the tape to Geneva Records. The manager seems unimpressed, but he reluctantly agrees to play the tape for his boss in New York. The next day, Peggy informs Vince that the song has been sold. Later, Peggy takes Vince to a party at her parents' home, but Vince leaves after he offends a guest whom he mistakenly believes is belittling him. Angry and offended, Peggy confronts Vince, who kisses her brutally. Peggy resentfully calls the gesture "cheap tactics," to which Vince replies, "They ain't tactics, honey; it's just the beast in me." Later, Vince and Peggy are shocked to discover that Geneva Records gave the song to Mickey Alba, who recorded and released the song, thereby stealing Vince's song. Infuriated, Vince storms into the label's office and confronts the manager, violently slapping him around.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: To avoid a similar misfortune, Vince convinces Peggy to form their own label, which they name Laurel Records, and hire an attorney named Mr. Shores to oversee the business. Vince then records "Treat Me Nice" and begins pitching it, but the song is universally rejected. However, Peggy convinces her friend Teddy Talbot, a disc jockey, to air the song, and it becomes an immediate hit. Vince asks Peggy out to celebrate but is disappointed to learn that she had already accepted a dinner date with Teddy.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Later, Vince makes arrangements for another television show. At a party, Hunk, who has been granted parole, persuades Vince to give him a part in the upcoming show in an effort to revive his own music career. Prior to taping, Vince rehearses "Jailhouse Rock" in a stylized cell block. But Hunk's number is cut because of his outdated music style. Vince later informs Hunk that the pact that they had signed in prison is worthless. However, indebted to Hunk for having tried to bribe the prison guards, Vince offers Hunk a job with his entourage.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Vince soon becomes a major star. However, Peggy no longer speaks with Vince, as his success has made him arrogant. Vince signs a movie deal, and the studio head asks him to spend the day with his conceited costar Sherry Wilson for publicity purposes. Sherry then falls in love with Vince after shooting a kissing scene.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Hunk grows tired of Vince's egotism. Peggy appears unexpectedly to discuss business. At the same time, Mr. Shores approaches Vince with an offer from Geneva Records to purchase Laurel Records and sign him to a rich contract. Peggy refuses to sell and is devastated when Vince wants to close the deal anyway. Enraged by Vince's attitude and treatment of Peggy, Hunk starts a fight with Vince and strikes him in the throat, endangering Vince's voice and singing ability. At the hospital, Vince forgives Hunk and realizes that he loves Peggy and that she loves him. Vince's doctor later informs him that his vocal cords are fully recovered, and in the living room, Vince tests his voice by singing "Young and Beautiful" to Peggy to confirm that his singing voice is intact and his worries are unfounded before the two put their arms around each other for comfort as the film ends.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: "Jailhouse Rock" was Presley's third film and his first for MGM. It was filmed at MGM Studios (now Sony Pictures Studios) in Culver City, California. Filmed in black-and-white, the film was the first MGM production to use the recently developed 35 mm anamorphic lens by Panavision. The film was originally titled "The Hard Way" and was changed to "Jailhouse Kid" before MGM finally settled on "Jailhouse Rock". The film was not listed with the studio's planned releases for the year because it was based on a story by Nedrick Young, a blacklisted writer. During production, producer Pandro Berman was more focused on another of his productions, the 1958 film "The Brothers Karamazov." He allowed studio head Benny Thau and William Morris Agency president Abe Lastfogel to select the cast. Richard Thorpe, who had a reputation for quickly finishing projects, was chosen to direct the film.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: The first scene filmed was the title dance sequence to the song "Jailhouse Rock." Presley was not initially pleased with the direction of choreographer Alex Romero, so Romero asked Presley to try his own moves to for the final sequence. The scene has often been cited as Presley's greatest musical moment on screen. Filming began on May 13, 1957 with the newly created choreography.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Presley's characteristic hairstyle and sideburns were covered with a wig and makeup for the musical and jail scenes. During the performance, one of Presley's dental caps detached and became lodged in his lung, and he spent a night in the hospital before filming resumed the next day.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Before production began, rock-and-roll songwriting partners Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were commissioned to create the film's soundtrack, but they did not send any material to MGM for months. In April 1957, the studio summoned the writers to New York and Jean Aberbach, director of the Hill & Range music publishing company, confronted them demanding to see the songs. When told that there was no material, Aberbach locked the songwriters in their hotel room and would not allow them to leave until they had written songs. Four hours later, Leiber and Stoller had written "I Want to Be Free", "Treat Me Nice", "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care", and "Jailhouse Rock."


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Presley recorded the finished songs at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on April 30 and May 3, 1957, with an additional session at the MGM soundstage in Hollywood on May 9 for "Don't Leave Me Now." Leiber and Stoller were invited to the recording session of April 30, where they met Presley, who convinced MGM to cast Stoller as the band's pianist in the film. During filming, Presley mimed the words for film's musical numbers, and the music was later added to the finished scenes.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: "Jailhouse Rock" premiered on October 17, 1957 at Loews State Theater in Memphis. Female lead Judy Tyler had been killed in an automobile accident soon before the film's release, and a devastated Presley did not attend the premiere. The film opened nationally on November 8.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: According to MGM records, the film earned $3.2 million in the U.S. and Canada and $1,075,000 elsewhere during its initial theatrical run, resulting in a profit of $1,051,000.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: In 1957, Presley was ranked the fourth-leading box-office commodity in the film industry. According to "Variety", by 1969, "Jailhouse Rock"s gross income in the U.S. and Canada was comparable to that of "The Wizard of Oz" (1939).


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: "Jailhouse Rock" earned mixed reviews from critics. Some felt it scandalous when released because it portrayed Vince Everett as an antiheroic character, presented a convict as a hero, used the word "hell" as a profanity and included a scene with Presley in bed with Tyler. The Parent-Teacher Association described the film as "a hackneyed, blown-up tale with cheap human values." "The New York Times" criticized Guy Trosper for writing a screenplay in which the secondary characters were "forced to hang on to the hero's flying mane and ego for the entire picture." "Cue" magazine called the film "[an] unpleasant, mediocre and tasteless drama."


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Some publications criticized Presley. "Time" panned his onstage personality, while "The Miami News" compared the film with horror pictures and wrote, "Only Elvis Presley and his 'Jailhouse Rock' can keep pace with the movie debut of this 'personality,' the records show. In estimating the lasting appeal of their grotesque performer." Jazz magazine "Down Beat" wrote that Presley's acting was "amateurish and bland." British magazine "The Spectator" described Presley's evolution from his "silly" performance in "Loving You" to "dangerously near being repulsive."


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Other reviewers responded positively to the film. Louise Boyca of "The Schenectady Gazette" wrote that "it's dear Elvis that gets the soft focus camera and the arty photography." Boyca remarked upon the low production costs of the film, and said that Presley was "in top singing and personality form." "The Gadsden Times" said, "Elvis Presley not only proves himself as a dramatic actor ...  but also reveals his versatility by dancing on the screen for the first time. The movie ... also contains Elvis' unique style of singing."


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: "Look" favored the film, describing how one audience "registered, loud and often, its approval of what may accurately be described as the star's first big dramatic singing role."


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: Author Thomas Doherty wrote in his 2002 book "Teenagers and Teenpics: The Juvenalization of American Movies in the 1950s:" "In "Jailhouse Rock", the treatment of rock 'n' roll music, both as narrative content and as cinematic performance is knowing and respectful ... The elaborate choreography for the title tune, the long takes and uninterrupted screen time given to the other numbers, and the musical pacing—the rock 'n' roll builds in quality and intensity—all show an indigenous appreciation of Presley's rock 'n' Roll." Critic Hal Erickson of "AllRovi" wrote that the film "is a perfect balance of song and story from beginning to end." Mark Deming, also of "AllRovi", wrote that "Jailhouse Rock" was "one of [Presley's] few vehicles which really caught his raw, sexy energy and sneering charisma on film."


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: The review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes lists the film with an overall 81% "Fresh" approval rating based on 16 reviews.


title: Jailhouse Rock (film)

text: In 1991, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were awarded with an ASCAP Award for Most-Performed Feature Film Standards for the song "Jailhouse Rock". In 2004, "Jailhouse Rock" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film is famous for the dance sequence (also choreographed by Presley) in which Presley sings the title track while on stage, cavorting with other inmates through a set resembling a block of jail cells. The sequence is widely acknowledged as the most memorable musical scene in Presley's 30 narrative films, and is credited by some music historians as the prototype for the modern music video. "Jailhouse Rock" ranked 495th on "Empire"s 2008 list of the 500 greatest films of all time.


The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, also known as Tristram Shandy, is a novel by Laurence Sterne, inspired by "Don Quixote". It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others following over the next seven years (vols. 3 and 4, 1761; vols. 5 and 6, 1762; vols. 7 and 8, 1765; vol. 9, 1767). It purports to be a biography of the eponymous character. Its style is marked by digression, double entendre, and graphic devices. The first edition was printed by Ann Ward on Coney Street, York.


title: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

text: Sterne had read widely, which is reflected in "Tristram Shandy". Many of his similes, for instance, are reminiscent of the works of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century, and the novel as a whole, with its focus on the problems of language, has constant regard for John Locke's theories in "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding". Arthur Schopenhauer called "Tristram Shandy" one of "the four immortal romances."


text: While the use of the narrative technique of stream of consciousness is usually associated with modernist novelists, "Tristram Shandy" has been suggested as a precursor.


text: As its title suggests, the book is ostensibly Tristram's narration of his life story. But it is one of the central jokes of the novel that he cannot explain anything simply, that he must make explanatory diversions to add context and colour to his tale, to the extent that Tristram's own birth is not even reached until Volume III.


text: Consequently, apart from Tristram as narrator, the most familiar and important characters in the book are his father Walter, his mother, his Uncle Toby, Toby's servant Trim, and a supporting cast of popular minor characters, including the chambermaid Susannah, Doctor Slop and the parson Yorick, who later became Sterne's favourite "nom de plume" and a very successful publicity stunt. Yorick is also the protagonist of Sterne's second work of fiction, "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy".


text: Most of the action is concerned with domestic upsets or misunderstandings, which find humour in the opposing temperaments of Walter—splenetic, rational, and somewhat sarcastic—and Uncle Toby, who is gentle, uncomplicated, and a lover of his fellow man.


text: In between such events, Tristram as narrator finds himself discoursing at length on sexual practices, insults, the influence of one's name and noses, as well as explorations of obstetrics, siege warfare and philosophy, as he struggles to marshal his material and finish the story of his life.


text: Though Tristram is always present as narrator and commentator, the book contains little of his life, only the story of a trip through France and accounts of the four comical mishaps which shaped the course of his life from an early age. Firstly, while still only a homunculus, Tristram's implantation within his mother's uterus was disturbed. At the very moment of procreation, his mother asked his father if he had remembered to wind the clock. The distraction and annoyance led to the disruption of the proper balance of humours necessary to conceive a well-favoured child. Secondly, one of his father's pet theories was that a large and attractive nose was important to a man making his way in life. In a difficult birth, Tristram's nose was crushed by Dr. Slop's forceps.


text: Thirdly, another of his father's theories was that a person's name exerted enormous influence over that person's nature and fortunes, with the worst possible name being Tristram. In view of the previous accidents, Tristram's father decreed that the boy would receive an especially auspicious name, Trismegistus. Susannah mangled the name in conveying it to the curate, and the child was christened Tristram. According to his father's theory, his name, being a conflation of "Trismegistus" (after the esoteric mystic Hermes Trismegistus) and "Tristan" (whose connotation bore the influence through folk etymology of Latin "tristis", "sorrowful"), doomed him to a life of woe and cursed him with the inability to comprehend the causes of his misfortune.


text: Finally, as a toddler, Tristram suffered an accidental circumcision when Susannah let a window sash fall as he urinated out of the window because his chamberpot was missing.


text: Sterne's presence inside the narrative changed the course of traditional novelistic interpretations as his narrative structure digresses through many jumbled and fragmentary events into a non-traditional, dual overlapping plot. These digressive methods reflect his inability to simply explain each event as it occurs, as he frequently interrupts these events with commentary about how the reader should understand and follow each event.


text: He relies heavily on his reader's close involvement to the text and their interpretations of the non-traditional plot. Tristram's presence inside of the narrative as the narrator engages the imagination and his use of visual strategies, such as the marbled and blank pages, reflects the importance of the reader's participation in the novel.


text: Sterne incorporated into "Tristram Shandy" many passages taken almost word for word from Robert Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy", Francis Bacon's "Of Death", Rabelais and many more, and rearranged them to serve the new meaning intended in "Tristram Shandy". "Tristram Shandy" was highly praised for its originality, and nobody noticed these borrowings until years after Sterne's death. The first to note them was physician, poet and Portico Library Chair John Ferriar, who did not see them negatively and commented:


text: Ferriar believed that Sterne was ridiculing Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy", mocking its solemn tone and endeavours to prove indisputable facts by weighty quotations.


text: Victorian critics of the 19th century, who were hostile to Sterne for the alleged obscenity of his prose, used Ferriar's findings to defame Sterne, and claimed that he was artistically dishonest, and almost unanimously accused him of mindless plagiarism. Scholar Graham Petrie closely analysed the alleged passages in 1970; he observed that while more recent commentators now agree that Sterne "rearranged what he took to make it more humorous, or more sentimental, or more rhythmical", none of them "seems to have wondered whether Sterne had any further, more purely artistic, purpose". Studying a passage in Volume V, chapter 3, Petrie observes: "such passage...reveals that Sterne's copying was far from purely mechanical, and that his rearrangements go far beyond what would be necessary for merely stylistic ends".


text: A major influence on "Tristram Shandy" is Rabelais' "Gargantua and Pantagruel". Rabelais was by far Sterne's favourite author, and in his correspondence he made clear that he considered himself Rabelais's successor in humorous writing. One passage Sterne incorporated pertains to "the length and goodness of the nose". Sterne had written an earlier piece called "A Rabelaisian Fragment" that indicates his familiarity with the work of the French monk and doctor.


text: Sterne was no friend of gravitas, a quality which excited his disgust. "Tristram Shandy" gives a ludicrous turn to solemn passages from respected authors that it incorporates, as well as to the "consolatio" literary genre.


text: Among the subjects of such ridicule were some of the opinions contained in Robert Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy", a book that mentions sermons as the most respectable type of writing, and one that was favoured by the learned. Burton's attitude was to try to prove indisputable facts by weighty quotations. His book consists mostly of a collection of the opinions of a multitude of writers (he modestly refrains from adding his own) divided into quaint and old-fashioned categories. It discusses everything, from the doctrines of religion to military discipline, from inland navigation to the morality of dancing schools.


text: Much of the singularity of "Tristram Shandy"s characters is drawn from Burton. Burton indulges himself in a Utopian sketch of a perfect government in his introductory address to the reader, and this forms the basis of the notions of "Tristram Shandy" on the subject. And Sterne parodies Burton's use of weighty quotations. The first four chapters of "Tristram Shandy" are founded on some passages in Burton.


text: In Chapter 3, Volume 5, Sterne parodies the genre of "consolatio", mixing and reworking passages from three "widely separated sections" of Burton's "Anatomy", including a parody of Burton's "grave and sober account" of Cicero's grief for the death of his daughter Tullia.


text: His text is filled with allusions and references to the leading thinkers and writers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift were major influences on Sterne and "Tristram Shandy". Satires of Pope and Swift formed much of the humour of "Tristram Shandy", but Swift's sermons and Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" also contributed ideas and frameworks Sterne explored throughout the novel. Other major influences are Cervantes and Montaigne's "Essays", as well as the significant inter-textual debt to "The Anatomy of Melancholy", Swift's "Battle of the Books", and the Scriblerian collaborative work "The Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus".


text: The shade of Cervantes is present throughout Sterne's novel. The frequent references to Rocinante, the character of Uncle Toby (who resembles Don Quixote in many ways) and Sterne's own description of his characters' "Cervantic humour", along with the genre-defying structure of "Tristram Shandy", which owes much to the second part of Cervantes' novel, all demonstrate the influence of Cervantes.


text: The novel also makes use of John Locke's theories of empiricism, or the way we assemble what we know of ourselves and our world from the "association of ideas" that come to us from our five senses. Sterne is by turns respectful and satirical of Locke's theories, using the association of ideas to construct characters' "hobby-horses", or whimsical obsessions, that both order and disorder their lives in different ways. Sterne borrows from and argues against Locke's language theories (on the imprecision and arbitrariness of words and usage), and consequently spends much time discussing the very words he uses in his own narrative—with "digressions, gestures, piling up of apparent trivia in the effort to get at the truth".


text: There is a significant body of critical opinion that argues that "Tristram Shandy" is better understood as an example of an obsolescent literary tradition of "Learned Wit", partly following the contribution of D. W. Jefferson.


text: Some of Sterne's contemporaries did not hold the novel in high esteem, but its bawdy humour was popular with London society. Through time, it has come to be seen as one of the greatest comic novels in English. Arthur Schopenhauer called "Tristram Shandy" one of "the four immortal romances."


text: Samuel Johnson in 1776 commented, "Nothing odd will do long. "Tristram Shandy" did not last." Schopenhauer privately rebutted Samuel Johnson, saying: "The man Sterne is worth 1,000 Pedants and commonplace-fellows like Dr. J." The young Karl Marx was a devotee of "Tristram Shandy", and wrote a still-unpublished short humorous novel, "Scorpion and Felix", that was obviously influenced by Sterne's work. Goethe praised Sterne in "Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years", which in turn influenced Nietzsche. Writing in "The Times" in January 2021, critic Michael Henderson disparaged the novel, stating that it "honks like John Coltrane, and is not nearly so funny."


text: "Tristram Shandy" has also been seen by formalists and other literary critics as a forerunner of many narrative devices and styles used by modernist and postmodernist authors such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Carlos Fuentes, Milan Kundera and Salman Rushdie. Novelist Javier Marías cites "Tristram Shandy" as the book that changed his life when he translated it into Spanish at 25, claiming that from it he "learned almost everything about novel writing, and that a novel may contain anything and still be a novel."


text: The success of Sterne's novel got him an appointment by Lord Fauconberg as curate of St Michael's Church in Coxwold, Yorkshire, which included living at Sterne's model for Shandy Hall. The medieval structure still stands today, and is under the care of the Laurence Sterne Trust since its acquisition in the 1960s. The gardens, which Sterne tended during his time there, are daily open to visitors.


text: The novel's success has resulted in permanent additions to the English lexicon; within the text of "Tristram Shandy" Sterne describes the novel as "Shandean", coining a term which still carries the meaning that Sterne originally attached to it when he wrote, "I write a careless kind of a civil, nonsensical, good humoured "Shandean" book..." Strongly influenced by Cervantes' "Don Quixote", Sterne's "Tristram Shandy" also gave rise to the term "cervantic" (which Sterne at the time spelled "cervantick").


text: In 1766, at the height of the debate about slavery, Ignatius Sancho wrote a letter to Sterne encouraging the writer to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade. "That subject, handled in your striking manner, would ease the yoke (perhaps) of many—but if only one—Gracious God!—what a feast to a benevolent heart!" he wrote.


text: In July 1766 Sancho's letter was received by Sterne shortly after he had just finished writing a conversation between his fictional characters Corporal Trim and his brother Tom in "Tristram Shandy", in which Tom described the oppression of a black servant in a sausage shop in Lisbon, which he had visited. This "tender tale" was published in Chapter 65 (Vol. IV) of "Tristram Shandy". Sterne's widely publicised 27 July 1766 response to Sancho's letter became an integral part of 18th-century abolitionist literature.


text: In 2005, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation by Graham White in ten 15-minute episodes directed by Mary Peate, with Neil Dudgeon as Tristram, Julia Ford as Mother, David Troughton as Father, Adrian Scarborough as Toby, Paul Ritter as Trim, Tony Rohr as Dr Slop, Stephen Hogan as Obadiah, Helen Longworth as Susannah, Ndidi Del Fatti as Great-Grandmother, Stuart McLoughlin as Great-Grandfather/Pontificating Man and Hugh Dickson as Bishop Hall.


text: Michael Nyman has worked sporadically on "Tristram Shandy" as an opera since 1981. At least five portions of the opera have been publicly performed and one, "Nose-List Song", was recorded in 1985 on the album "The Kiss and Other Movements".


text: The book was adapted on film in 2006 as "A Cock and Bull Story", directed by Michael Winterbottom, written by Frank Cottrell Boyce (credited as Martin Hardy, in a complicated metafictional twist), and starring Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Keeley Hawes, Kelly Macdonald, Naomie Harris, and Gillian Anderson. The movie plays with metatextual levels, showing both scenes from the novel itself and fictionalised behind-the-scenes footage of the adaptation process, even employing some of the actors to play themselves.


text: In February 2014, a theatrical adaptation by Callum Hale was presented at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick.


text: "Tristram Shandy" has been translated into many languages, including German (repeatedly, beginning in 1769), Dutch (repeatedly, by Munnikhuisen, 1779; Lindo, 1852 and Jan & Gertrude Starink, 1990), French (repeatedly, beginning in 1785; by Guy Jouvet, 2004), Russian (repeatedly, beginning 1804–1807; by Adrian Antonovich Frankovsky, 1949), Hungarian (by Győző Határ, 1956), Italian (by Antonio Meo, 1958), Czech (by Aloys Skoumal, 1963), Slovene (by Janez Gradišnik, 1968), Spanish (by José Antonio López de Letona, 1975; Ana María Aznar, 1976 and Javier Marías, 1978), Portuguese (by José Paulo Paes, 1984), Catalan (by Joaquim Mallafré, 1993), Norwegian (by Bjørn Herrman, 1995–96), Finnish (by Kersti Juva, 1998).


text: "Tristram Shandy" was adapted by Martin Pearlman in 2018 as a comic chamber opera, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy".


text: Well known in philosophy and mathematics, the so-called "paradox of Tristram Shandy" was introduced by Bertrand Russell in his book "The Principles of Mathematics" to evidentiate the inner contradictions that arise from the assumption that infinite sets can have the same cardinality—as would be the case with a gentleman who spends one year to write the story of one day of his life, if he were able to write for an infinite length of time. The paradox depends upon the fact that "the number of days in all time is no greater than the number of years". Karl Popper, on the other hand, came to the conclusion that Tristram Shandy—by writing his history of life—would never be able to finish this story, because his last act of writing: that he is writing his history of life could never be included in his actual writing.


text: Heinrich Heine (1796–1856) mentioned the book in his writings. "The author of Tristram Shandy reveals to us the profoundest depths of the human soul; he opens, as it were, a crevice of the soul; permits us to take one glance into its abysses, into its paradise and into its filthiest recesses; then quickly lets the curtain fall over it. We have had a front view of that marvellous theatre, the soul; the arrangements of lights and the perspective have not failed in their effects, and while we imagined that we were gazing upon the infinite, our own hearts have been exalted with a sense of infinity and poetry."


text: At the start of his novel "La Peau de chagrin", Honoré de Balzac includes an image from "Tristram Shandy": a curvy line drawn in the air by a character seeking to express the freedom enjoyed "whilst a man is free". Balzac never explained his purpose behind the use of the symbol, and its significance to "La Peau de chagrin" is the subject of debate.


text: A historic site in Geneva, Ohio, called Shandy Hall, is part of the Western Reserve Historical Society. The home was named after the house described in "Tristram Shandy".


text: The "Perry Mason" episode "The Case of the Bogus Books" involves a bookseller selling stolen copies of rare books, in particular a first edition of "Tristram Shandy".


text: In Anthony Trollope's novel "Barchester Towers", the narrator speculates that the scheming clergyman, Mr Slope, is descended from Dr Slop in "Tristram Shandy" (the extra letter having been added for the sake of appearances). Slope is also called "Obadiah", a reference to another character in Sterne's novel.


text: Russian writer Alexander Zhitinsky made multiple references to "Tristram Shandy" in his novel "The Flying House, or Conversations with Milord" (the "milord" of the title being Sterne).


text: In "Surprised by Joy", C. S. Lewis refers to "Tristram Shandy" in the context of trying to describe his interactions with his own father:


text: Christopher Morley, editor of "The Saturday Review of Literature", wrote a preface to the Limited Editions Club issue of Sterne's classic. That preface appears in Morley's book "Streamlines" published by Doubleday, Doran, in 1932, and is titled "Tristram Shandy".


text: In the Hermann Hesse novel "Journey to the East", Tristram Shandy is listed as one of the co-founders of The League.


text: A short story, "Oh Most Cursed Addition Engine", by H. S. Donnelly, was published in the Canadian science fiction magazine "On Spec" #86. In it, Walter Shandy attempts to build an addition engine, while Toby and Corporal Trim re-enact in miniature Wellington's great victory at Vitoria.


text: Trim was the adventurous ship's cat of the explorer Matthew Flinders, named after Corporal Trim, and a minor (yet titular) character in Bryce Courtenay's novel "Matthew Flinders' Cat".


text: In the 1976 film "The Missouri Breaks", with Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, Braxton, a rancher, has just hanged an alleged cattle rustler without a trial and is defending himself to his daughter who vehemently disapproves of the hanging. Finishing his justification he prepares to relax in his library and asks his daughter to fetch him his copy of "Tristram Shandy".


text: In the 2019 film "The Professor and the Madman", Muncie gives Dr. Minor a gift for saving another guard's life. It is a book and is later revealed by Dr. Minor to be "Tristram Shandy".


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Ahmed Husein Deedat (; Arabic: احمد حسين ديدات), also known as Ahmed Deedat (1 July 1918 – 8 August 2005), was a self-taught Muslim thinker, author, and orator on Comparative Religion from South Africa. He was best known as a Muslim missionary, who held numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as video lectures on Islam, Christianity, and the Bible.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Deedat established the IPCI, an international Islamic missionary organisation, and wrote several widely distributed booklets on Islam and Christianity. He was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in 1986 for his fifty years of missionary work. He wrote and lectured in English.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Deedat was born in the town of Tadkeshwar, Surat, Bombay Presidency, British India in 1918. His father had emigrated to South Africa shortly after his birth. At the age of 9, Deedat left India to join his father in what is now known as Kwazulu-Natal. His mother died only a few months after his departure. Arriving in South Africa, Deedat applied himself with diligence to his studies, overcoming the language barrier and excelling in school, even getting promoted until he completed standard 6. However, due to financial circumstances, he had to quit school and start working by the time he was at the age of 16.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: In 1936, while working as a furniture salesman, he met a group of missionaries at a Christian seminary on the Natal South Coast who, during their efforts to convert people of Muslim faith, often accused the Islamic prophet Muhammad of having "used the sword" to bring people to Islam. Such accusations offended Deedat and created his interest in comparative religion.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Deedat took a more active interest in religious debate after he came across the book "Izhar ul-Haqq" ("Truth Revealed"), written by Rahmatullah Kairanawi, while he was rummaging for reading material in his employer's basement. This book chronicled the efforts of Christian missionaries in India a century earlier. The book had a profound effect on Deedat, who bought a Bible and held debates and discussions with trainee missionaries, whose questions he had previously been unable to answer.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: He started attending Islamic study classes held by a local Muslim convert named Mr. Fairfax. Seeing the popularity of the classes, Mr. Fairfax offered to teach an extra session on the Bible and how to preach to Christians about Islam. Shortly thereafter, Fairfax had to pull out and Deedat, by this point quite knowledgeable about the Bible, took over teaching the class, which he did for three years. Deedat never formally trained as a Muslim scholar.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Deedat's first lecture, entitled "Muhammad: Messenger of Peace", was delivered in 1942 to an audience of fifteen people at a Durban cinema named Avalon Cinema.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: A major vehicle of Deedat's early missionary activity was the 'Guided Tours' of the Jumma Mosque in Durban. The vast ornamental Jumma Mosque was a landmark site in the tourist-friendly city of Durban. A program of luncheons, speeches and free hand-outs was created to give an increasingly large number of international tourists what was often their first look at Islam. Deedat himself was one of the guides, hosting tourists and giving introductions to Islam and its relationship with Christianity.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: In 1949, Deedat moved to Pakistan with his family and lived in Karachi for three years near Pakistan Chowk. According to an interview on Pakistan Television, he had been a strong proponent of the idea of an Islamic state.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Among Deedat's close friends were Goolam Hoosein Vanker and Taahir Rasool, whom many refer to as 'the unsung heroes of Deedat's career'.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: In 1957, these three men founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) with the aim of printing a variety of books on Islam and offering classes to new Muslims converts. The next year Deedat established an Islamic seminary called As-Salaam Educational Institute on a donated piece of land located in Braemar in the south of Natal province. The experiment was not a success, however, because of the IPC's lack of manpower and paucity of funds, and was taken over by the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa in 1973. Deedat then returned to Durban and expanded the IPC's activities.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: By the early 1980s Ahmed Deedat's work was beginning to be known outside his native South Africa. His international profile grew in 1986, when he received the King Faisal Award for his services to Islam in the field of Dawah (Islamic missionary activity).


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: As a result, at age of 66, Deedat began a decade of international speaking tours around the world. His tours included:


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: On the other hand, Deedat received heavy criticism from liberal Muslim groups in South Africa which felt he inaccurately represented Islam and was intolerant of people of other religions, including Christians, Hindus, Jews and Jains. Several monthly editions of the Muslim Digest of South Africa (July, August, September, October) in 1986 were almost entirely devoted to criticising Deedat's stance and "his various dangerous activities".


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Problems arose after the publication of "From Hinduism to Islam" (1987), a critique of Hindu beliefs and practices. Among others, Deedat criticised South African Hindus for praying to their various deities and being easily moved to convert to Christianity. Hindus and Christians had respected his oratory skills and arguments until then. But now, they rejected Deedat and united with other South African Muslim organisations in denouncing his attacks on other religions. Two years later, Jews joined the criticism after Deedat published "Arab and Israel – Conflict or Conciliation?"


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: In 1988, following the publication of Salman Rushdie’s fictional work "The Satanic Verses", Deedat supported the fatwā of the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for Rushdie's death. He said that Rushdie "is a hypocrite and has blasphemed holy personalities. He should not be pardoned."


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: In his last tour to Australia, the publicity resulting from the presence of Deedat caused Franca Arena, member of the Legislative Council of the government of New South Wales to comment in her speech concerning racism:


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: On 3 May 1996, Ahmed Deedat suffered a stroke which left him paralysed from the neck down because of a cerebral vascular accident affecting the brain stem, leaving him unable to speak or swallow. He was flown to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, where he was reported to be fully alert. He learned to communicate through a series of eye-movements via a chart whereby he would form words and sentences by acknowledging letters read to him.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: He spent the last nine years of his life in a bed in his home in South Africa, looked after by his wife, Hawa Deedat, encouraging people to engage in Da'wah (proselytizing Islam). He received hundreds of letters of support from around the world, and local and international visitors continued to visit him and thank him for his work.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: On 8 August 2005, Ahmed Deedat died at his home on Trevennen Road in Verulam in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He is buried at the Verulam cemetery. Hawa Deedat died on Monday 28 August 2006 at the age of 85 at their home. His funeral prayer was led by Ismail ibn Musa Menk.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: With funding from the Gulf states, Deedat published and mass-produced over one dozen palm-sized booklets focusing on the following major themes. Most of Deedat's numerous lectures, as well as most of his debates in fact, focus on and around these same themes. Often the same theme has several video lectures to its credit, having been delivered at different times and different places.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Capitalizing on his popularity in the Middle East following his receipt of the King Faisal Award, Deedat secured a grant to print a collated volume of four of his popular booklets. 10,000 copies of this book titled "The Choice: Islam and Christianity" were initially printed in April 1993; this book was very popular in the 1990s, available for free at many missionary outlets across North America. Subsequently, several printing houses offered to print more, and within two years another 250,000 copies had been printed in several print runs across the Middle East.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Later, a second paperback volume entitled "The Choice: Volume Two" containing six more of Deedat's booklets was published. Deedat also widely promoted a South African printing of "" by Abdullah Yusuf Ali with commentary and a detailed index. This was widely sold at subsidised cost to the general public, and is often mentioned in Deedat's speeches.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Deedat also produced a booklet entitled "Al-Qur'an: the Ultimate Miracle" featuring the theory of 'the Number 19' that was popularised by Arizona-based Egyptian computer analyst Dr. Rashad Khalifa. However, this booklet was withdrawn after Dr. Khalifa disclosed some controversial beliefs, including his rejection of the entire Hadith literature of Islam.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: According to one scholar, Brian Larkin, "Deedat's da’wa is of a particular kind. He has little to say about the errancy of Sufism or Shi’ism, for instance, and makes no particular demand for establishing an Islamic state (though he was supportive of these efforts in Nigeria). Rather his entire effort is directed at undermining and refuting Christian evangelism and arming Muslims against Christian attacks. His fame is thus based not on the mastery of Islamic sciences but on his thoroughgoing knowledge of the Bible. As one Nigerian characterized him, Deedat opened the eyes of millions of Muslims in the fine art of inter-religious dialogue." His knowledge of English, his skill at debating, and his mastery of other scriptures "endeared him to the millions who have seen his videos or read his tracts, millions of which are sent free of charge all over the world. ... Deedat's source of authority, then, is an unusual one, drawing on the mastery of Christian rather than Muslim texts and his skill at English rather than Arabic."


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: It emerged that his dawah centre, IPCI, was financed by the Bin Laden family and that he had met Osama Bin Laden, whom he described positively.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Deedat's debates and writings have been labelled as a form of "Apologetics through Polemics" by David Westerlund, an associate professor at the department of comparative religion, Stockholm University and an expert on Islam in Africa.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Muslim scholar Farid Esack has criticised Deedat, comparing him to such fundamentalists as Rabbi Meir Kahane and Jerry Falwell, and writing:


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: Deedat's multitude of anti-Christian, anti-Jewish and anti-Hindu videotapes have told us all that there is to be told about the other, and we are comfortable with that. There are times, of course, when questions surface about the importance of correct dogma, about the importance of labels to a God whom we believe sees beyond labels and looks at the hearts of people. Instead of pursuing these questions, we hasten back and seek refuge in "the known." We order another of those Deedat tapes.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism called Deedat "anti-Jewish" without providing any explanation. In France sale and distribution of his books has been forbidden since 1994 as they are said to be violently anti-western, antisemitic and inciting to racial hate.


title: Ahmed Deedat

text: His supporters, among them his son maintain that he was "a promoter of free speech and dialogue," while Abdulkader Tayob of University of Cape Town comments that he was only responding to Christian proselytization in a manner that was "not good or bad – but worth reflecting on."


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Buchanan, Andrew, and DeKalb counties in Missouri and Doniphan County, Kansas. As of the 2020 census, St. Joseph had a total population of 72,473, making it the eighth largest city in the state, and the third largest in Northwest Missouri. St. Joseph is located roughly thirty miles north of the Kansas City, Missouri, city limits and approximately 125 miles (201 km) south of Omaha, Nebraska.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: The city was named after the town's founder Joseph Robidoux and the biblical Saint Joseph. St. Joseph is home to Missouri Western State University. It is the birthplace of rapper and songwriter Eminem, who grew up in and has made his career in Detroit, Michigan. In the nineteenth century, it was the death place of American outlaw Jesse James. It was also the starting point of the Pony Express serving the West.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: St. Joseph was founded on the Missouri River by Joseph Robidoux, a local fur trader of French Canadian descent. It was officially incorporated in 1843. In its early days, it was a bustling outpost and rough frontier town, serving as a last supply point and jumping-off point for travelers on the Missouri River toward the "Wild West". It was the westernmost point in the United States accessible by rail until after the American Civil War.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: The main east–west downtown streets were named for Robidoux's eight children: Faraon, Jules, Francois (Francis), Felix, Edmond, Charles, Sylvanie, and Messanie. The street between Sylvanie and Messanie was named for his second wife, Angelique.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: St. Joseph, or "St. Joe", as it was called by many, was a "Jumping-Off Point" for those migrants headed to the Oregon Territory in the mid-1800s. Such cities, including Independence, and St. Joseph, were where pioneers would stay and purchase supplies before they headed out in wagon trains across the Great Plains. The town was a very lively place.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Between April 3, 1860, and late October 1861, St. Joseph was one of the two endpoints of the Pony Express, which operated for a short period over the land then inaccessible by rail, to provide fast mail service. Along with the mail, the riders carried a small personal Bible. Today the Pony Express Museum hosts visitors in the former stables of the company. St. Joseph is identified by the slogan, "Where the Pony Express started and Jesse James ended."


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: The town's main hotel was Patee House. In the post-Civil War years, when the economy was down, the hotel was used for a time by the Patee Female College. It was occupied by the St. Joseph Female College up to 1880.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Outlaw Jesse James lived here under the alias "Mr. Howard". The song, "Jesse James", includes the lines, "...that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard has laid poor Jesse in his grave." On April 3, 1882, James was killed at his home, originally located at 1318 Lafayette. It has been relocated next to the Patee House and still has the visible bullet hole from the fatal shot. It is now operated as the Jesse James Home Museum.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: The Heaton-Bowman-Smith Funeral Home maintains a small museum about Jesse James. Their predecessors conducted his funeral.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: St. Joseph was the second city in the US to install electric streetcars; regular service was initiated on July 4, 1888.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Among properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places are Robidoux Row, buildings owned by the founder and used for his family trading and mercantile business; the Patee House, now serving as a museum of transportation, and the Missouri Theatre, an ornate movie palace. The Walnut Park Farm Historic District near St. Joseph was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: St. Joseph's population peaked in 1900, with a census population of 102,979. This population figure is questionable, as civic leaders were known to have tried to raise the numbers for that census. At the time, it was the home to one of the largest wholesale companies in the Midwest, the Nave & McCord Mercantile Company, as well as the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and the C.D. Smith & Company. This has become C.D. Smith Healthcare.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Prior to 1954 and desegregation, Batlett High School served St. Joseph's African American students. It became Horace Mann Elementary with desegregation. St. Joseph's African American community leaders and Nathaniel C. Bruce were involved in and supported the establishment of Bartlett Agricultural and Industrial School in Dalton, Missouri. It was modeled after Tuskegee Institute and Hampton Institute.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Saint Joseph is located at (39.757944, -94.836541), on the Missouri/Kansas border in northwestern Missouri, also close to Nebraska; Iowa is another 70 miles farther north. The nearest major metropolitan area to St. Joseph is the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, which begins approximately to the south. The nearest major airport is Kansas City International Airport, which is approximately to the south. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Under the Köppen climate classification, St. Joseph has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa") bordering on a humid continental climate ("Dfa"), although under United States isotherms of the station is firmly continental. The monthly weather averages listed below are taken from National Weather Service 1981-2010 Normals recorded at Rosecrans Airport. Because of the Airport's location near the Missouri River and at a low elevation, official overnight lows during wintertime especially are often several degrees colder than at other places within the city. Snowfall is not recorded at the St Joseph weather station although surrounding reporting stations typically receive 12-20 inches of snowfall annually.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 76,780 people, 29,727 households, and 18,492 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 33,189 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 87.8% White, 6.0% Black, 0.5% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 2.0% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.7% of the population.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: There were 29,727 households, of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.0% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.8% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.01.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.6% under the age of 18; 11.7% between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.1% from 25 to 44; 24.9% from 45 to 64; and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age in the city was 35.6 years. The gender makeup of the city was 49.8% male and 50.2% female.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 73,990 people, 29,026 households, and 18,460 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,687.7 people per square mile (651.6/km). There were 31,752 housing units at an average density of 724.2 per square mile (279.6/km). The racial makeup of the city was 91.9% White, 5.0% Black, 0.5% Native American, 0.5% Asian, <0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.7% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.6% of the population.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: There were 29,026 households, out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.4% were single-family households. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.98.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.1% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.7 males.