title: Vault (architecture)

text: The researches of M. Choisy ("L'Art de bâtir chez les Romains"), based on a minute examination of those portions of the vaults which still remain "in situ", have shown that, on a comparatively slight centering, consisting of trusses placed about apart and covered with planks laid from truss to truss, were laid – to begin with – two layers of the Roman brick (measuring nearly square and 2 in. thick); on these and on the trusses transverse rings of brick were built with longitudinal ties at intervals; on the brick layers and embedding the rings and cross ties concrete was thrown in horizontal layers, the haunches being filled in solid, and the surface sloped on either side and covered over with a tile roof of low pitch laid direct on the concrete. The rings relieved the centering from the weight imposed, and the two layers of bricks carried the concrete till it had set.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: As the walls carrying these vaults were also built in concrete with occasional bond courses of brick, the whole structure was homogeneous. One of the important ingredients of the mortar was a volcanic deposit found near Rome, known as pozzolana, which, when the concrete had set, not only made the concrete as solid as the rock itself, but to a certain extent neutralized the thrust of the vaults, which formed shells equivalent to that of a metal lid; the Romans, however, do not seem to have recognized the value of this pozzolana mixture, for they otherwise provided amply for the counteracting of any thrust which might exist by the erection of cross walls and buttresses. In the tepidaria of the Thermae and in the basilica of Constantine, in order to bring the thrust well within the walls, the main barrel vault of the hall was brought forward on each side and rested on detached columns, which constituted the principal architectural decoration. In cases where the cross vaults intersecting were not of the same span as those of the main vault, the arches were either stilted so that their soffits might be of the same height, or they formed smaller intersections in the lower part of the vault; in both of these cases, however, the intersections or groins were twisted, for which it was very difficult to form a centering, and, moreover, they were of disagreeable effect: though every attempt was made to mask this in the decoration of the vault by panels and reliefs modelled in stucco.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: A rib vault is one in which all of the groins are covered by ribs or diagonal ribs in the form of segmental arches. Their curvatures are defined by the bounding arches. Whilst the transverse arches retain the same semi-circular profile as their groin-vaulted counterparts, the longitudinal arches are pointed with both arcs having their centres on the impost line. This allows the latter to correspond more closely to the curvatures of the diagonal ribs, producing a straight tunnel running from east to west.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: Reference has been made to the rib vault in Roman work, where the intersecting barrel vaults were not of the same diameter. Their construction must at all times have been somewhat difficult, but where the barrel vaulting was carried round over the choir aisle and was intersected (as in St Bartholomew-the-Great in Smithfield, London) by semicones instead of cylinders, it became worse and the groins more complicated. This would seem to have led to a change of system and to the introduction of a new feature, which completely revolutionized the construction of the vault. Hitherto the intersecting features were geometrical surfaces, of which the diagonal groins were the intersections, elliptical in form, generally weak in construction and often twisting. The medieval builder reversed the process, and set up the diagonal ribs first, which were utilized as permanent centres, and on these he carried his vault or web, which henceforward took its shape from the ribs. Instead of the elliptical curve which was given by the intersection of two semicircular barrel vaults, or cylinders, he employed the semicircular arch for the diagonal ribs; this, however, raised the centre of the square bay vaulted above the level of the transverse arches and of the wall ribs, and thus gave the appearance of a dome to the vault, such as may be seen in the nave of Sant'Ambrogio, Florence. To meet this, at first the transverse and wall ribs were stilted, or the upper part of their arches was raised, as in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes at Caen, and the "Abbey of Lessay", in Normandy. The problem was ultimately solved by the introduction of the pointed arch for the transverse and wall ribs – the pointed arch had long been known and employed, on account of its much greater strength and of the less thrust it exerted on the walls. When employed for the ribs of a vault, however narrow the span might be, by adopting a pointed arch, its summit could be made to range in height with the diagonal rib; and, moreover, when utilized for the ribs of the annular vault, as in the aisle round the apsidal termination of the choir, it was not necessary that the half ribs on the outer side should be in the same plane as those of the inner side; for when the opposite ribs met in the centre of the annular vault, the thrust was equally transmitted from one to the other, and being already a broken arch the change of its direction was not noticeable.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The first introduction of the pointed arch rib took place at Cefalù Cathedral and pre-dated the abbey of Saint-Denis. Whilst the pointed rib-arch is often seen as an identifier for Gothic architecture, Cefalù is a Romanesque cathedral whose masons experimented with the possibility of Gothic rib-arches before it was widely adopted by western church architecture. Besides Cefalù Cathedral, the introduction of the pointed arch rib would seem to have taken place in the choir aisles of the abbey of Saint-Denis, near Paris, built by the abbot Suger in 1135. It was in the church at Vezelay (1140) that it was extended to the square bay of the porch. As has been pointed out, the aisles had already in the early Christian churches been covered over with groined vaults, the only advance made in the later developments being the introduction of transverse ribs' dividing the bays into square compartments. In the 12th century the first attempts were made to vault over the naves, which were twice the width of the aisles, so it became necessary to include two bays of the aisles to form one rectangular bay in the nave (although this is often mistaken as square). It followed that every alternate pier served no purpose, so far as the support of the nave vault was concerned, and this would seem to have suggested an alternative to provide a supplementary rib across the church and between the transverse ribs. This resulted in what is known as a sexpartite, or six-celled vault, of which one of the earliest examples is found in the "Abbaye-aux-Hommes" at Caen. This church, built by William the Conqueror, was originally constructed to carry a timber roof only, but nearly a century later the upper part of the nave walls were partly rebuilt, in order that it might be covered with a vault. The immense size, however, of the square vault over the nave necessitated some additional support, so that an intermediate rib was thrown across the church, dividing the square compartment into six cells, and called the sexpartite vault


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The intermediate rib, however, had the disadvantage of partially obscuring one side of the clerestory windows, and it threw unequal weights on the alternate piers, so that in the cathedral of Soissons (1205) a quadripartite or four-celled vault was introduced, the width of each bay being half the span of the nave, and corresponding therefore with the aisle piers. To this there are some exceptions, in Sant' Ambrogio, Milan, and San Michele, Pavia (the original vault), and in the cathedrals of Speyer, Mainz and Worms, where the quadripartite vaults are nearly square, the intermediate piers of the aisles being of much smaller dimensions. In England sexpartite vaults exist at Canterbury (1175) (set out by William of Sens), Rochester (1200), Lincoln (1215), Durham (east transept), and "St. Faith's chapel", Westminster Abbey.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: In the earlier stage of rib vaulting, the arched ribs consisted of independent or separate voussoirs down to the springing; the difficulty, however, of working the ribs separately led to two other important changes: (1) the lower part of the transverse diagonal and wall ribs were all worked out of one stone; and (2) the lower horizontal, constituting what is known as the tas-de-charge or solid springer. The tas-de-charge, or solid springer, had two advantages: (1) it enabled the stone courses to run straight through the wall, so as to bond the whole together much better; and (2) it lessened the span of the vault, which then required a centering of smaller dimensions. As soon as the ribs were completed, the web or stone shell of the vault was laid on them. In some English work each course of stone was of uniform height from one side to the other; but, as the diagonal rib was longer than either the transverse or wall rib, the courses dipped towards the former, and at the apex of the vault were cut to fit one another. In the early English Gothic period, in consequence of the great span of the vault and the very slight rise or curvature of the web, it was thought better to simplify the construction of the web by introducing intermediate ribs between the wall rib and the diagonal rib and between the diagonal and the transverse ribs; and in order to meet the thrust of these intermediate ribs a ridge rib was required, and the prolongation of this rib to the wall rib hid the junction of the web at the summit, which was not always very sightly, and constituted the ridge rib. In France, on the other hand, the web courses were always laid horizontally, and they are therefore of unequal height, increasing towards the diagonal rib. Each course also was given a slight rise in the centre, so as to increase its strength; this enabled the French masons to dispense with the intermediate rib, which was not introduced by them till the 15th century, and then more as a decorative than a constructive feature, as the domical form given to the French web rendered unnecessary the ridge rib, which, with some few exceptions, exists only in England. In both English and French vaulting centering was rarely required for the building of the web, a template (Fr. "cerce") being employed to support the stones of each ring until it was complete. In Italy, Germany and Spain the French method of building the web was adopted, with horizontal courses and a domical form. Sometimes, in the case of comparatively narrow compartments, and more especially in clerestories, the wall rib was stilted, and this caused a peculiar twisting of the web, where the springing of the wall rib is at K: to these twisted surfaces the term ploughshare vaulting is given.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: One of the earliest examples of the introduction of the intermediate rib is found in the nave of Lincoln Cathedral, and there the ridge rib is not carried to the wall rib. It was soon found, however, that the construction of the web was much facilitated by additional ribs, and consequently there was a tendency to increase their number, so that in the nave of Exeter Cathedral three intermediate ribs were provided between the wall rib and the diagonal rib. In order to mask the junction of the various ribs, their intersections were ornamented with richly carved bosses, and this practice increased on the introduction of another short rib, known as the lierne, a term in France given to the ridge rib. Lierne ribs are short ribs crossing between the main ribs, and were employed chiefly as decorative features, as, for instance, in the "Liebfrauenkirche" (1482) of Mühlacker, Germany. One of the best examples of Lierne ribs exists in the vault of the oriel window of Crosby Hall, London. The tendency to increase the number of ribs led to singular results in some cases, as in the choir of Gloucester Cathedral, where the ordinary diagonal ribs become mere ornamental mouldings on the surface of an intersected pointed barrel vault, and again in the cloisters, where the introduction of the fan vault, forming a concave-sided conoid, returned to the principles of the Roman geometrical vault. This is further shown in the construction of these fan vaults, for although in the earliest examples each of the ribs above the tas-de-charge was an independent feature, eventually it was found easier to carve them and the web out of the solid stone, so that the rib and web were purely decorative and had no constructional or independent functions.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: This form of vaulting is found in English late Gothic in which the vault is constructed as a single surface of dressed stones, with the resulting conoid forming an ornamental network of blind tracery.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The fan vault would seem to have owed its origin to the employment of centerings of one curve for all the ribs, instead of having separate centerings for the transverse, diagonal wall and intermediate ribs; it was facilitated also by the introduction of the four-centred arch, because the lower portion of the arch formed part of the fan, or conoid, and the upper part could be extended at pleasure with a greater radius across the vault. These ribs were often cut from the same stones as the webs, with the entire vault being treated as a single jointed surface covered in interlocking tracery.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The earliest example is perhaps the east walk of the cloister at Gloucester, with its surface consisting of intricately decorated panels of stonework forming conical structures that rise from the springers of the vault. In later examples, as in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, on account of the great dimensions of the vault, it was found necessary to introduce transverse ribs, which were required to give greater strength. Similar transverse ribs are found in Henry VII's chapel and in the Divinity School at Oxford, where a new development presented itself. One of the defects of the fan vault at Gloucester is the appearance it gives of being half sunk in the wall; to remedy this, in the two buildings just quoted, the complete conoid is detached and treated as a pendant.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The vault of the Basilica of Maxentius, completed by Constantine, was the last great work carried out in Rome before its fall, and two centuries pass before the next important development is found in the Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) at Constantinople. It is probable that the realization of the great advance in the science of vaulting shown in this church owed something to the eastern tradition of dome vaulting seen in the Assyrian domes, which are known to us only by the representations in the bas-relief from Nimrud, because in the great water cisterns in Istanbul, known as the Basilica Cistern and Bin bir direk (cistern with a thousand and one columns), we find the intersecting groin vaults of the Romans already replaced by small cupolas or domes. These domes, however, are of small dimensions when compared with that projected and carried out by Justinian in the Hagia Sophia. Previous to this the greatest dome was that of the Pantheon at Rome, but this was carried on an immense wall thick, and with the exception of small niches or recesses in the thickness of the wall could not be extended, so that Justinian apparently instructed his architect to provide an immense hemicycle or apse at the eastern end, a similar apse at the western end, and great arches on either side, the walls under which would be pierced with windows. Unlike the Pantheon dome, the upper portions of which are made of concrete, Byzantine domes were made of brick, which were lighter and thinner, but more vulnerable to the forces exerted onto them.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The diagram shows the outlines of the solution of the problem. If a hemispherical dome is cut by four vertical planes, the intersection gives four semicircular arches; if cut in addition by a horizontal plane tangent to the top of these arches, it describes a circle; that portion of the sphere which is below this circle and between the arches, forming a spherical spandril, is the pendentive, and its radius is equal to the diagonal of the square on which the four arches rest. Having obtained a circle for the base of the dome, it is not necessary that the upper portion of the dome should spring from the same level as the arches, or that its domical surface should be a continuation of that of the pendentive. The first and second dome of the Hagia Sophia apparently fell down, so that Justinian determined to raise it, possibly to give greater lightness to the structure, but mainly in order to obtain increased light for the interior of the church. This was effected by piercing it with forty windows – the effect of which, as the light streaming through these windows, gave the dome the appearance of being suspended in the air. The pendentive which carried the dome rested on four great arches, the thrust of those crossing the church being counteracted by immense buttresses which traversed the aisles, and the other two partly by smaller arches in the apse, the thrust being carried to the outer walls, and to a certain extent by the side walls which were built under the arches. From the description given by Procopius we gather that the centering employed for the great arches consisted of a wall erected to support them during their erection. The construction of the pendentives is not known, but it is surmised that to the top of the pendentives they were built in horizontal courses of brick, projecting one over the other, the projecting angles being cut off afterwards and covered with stucco in which the mosaics were embedded; this was the method employed in the erection of the Périgordian domes, to which we shall return; these, however, were of less diameter than those of the Hagia Sophia, being only about 40 to instead of The apotheosis of Byzantine architecture, in fact, was reached in Hagia Sophia, for although it formed the model on which all subsequent Byzantine churches were based, so far as their plan was concerned, no domes approaching the former in dimensions were even attempted. The principal difference in some later examples is that which took place in the form of the pendentive on which the dome was carried. Instead of the spherical spandril of Hagia Sophia, large niches were formed in the angles, as in the Mosque of Damascus, which was built by Byzantine workmen for the Al-Walid I in CE 705; these gave an octagonal base on which the hemispherical dome rested; or again, as in the Sassanian palaces of Sarvestan and Firouzabad of the 4th and 5th century, when a series of concentric arch rings, projecting one in front of the other, were built, giving also an octagonal base; each of these pendentives is known as a squinch.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: There is one other remarkable vault, also built by Justinian, in the Church of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople. The central area of this church was octagonal on plan, and the dome is divided into sixteen compartments; of these eight consist of broad flat bands rising from the centre of each of the walls, and the alternate eight are concave cells over the angles of the octagon, which externally and internally give to the roof the appearance of an umbrella.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: Although the dome constitutes the principal characteristic of the Byzantine church, throughout Asia Minor are numerous examples in which the naves are vaulted with the semicircular barrel vault, and this is the type of vault found throughout the south of France in the 11th and 12th centuries, the only change being the occasional substitution of the pointed barrel vault, adopted not only on account of its exerting a less thrust, but because, as pointed out by Fergusson (vol. ii. p. 46), the roofing tiles were laid directly on the vault and a less amount of filling in at the top was required.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The continuous thrust of the barrel vault in these cases was met either by semicircular or pointed barrel vaults on the aisles, which had only half the span of the nave; of this there is an interesting example in the Chapel of Saint John in the Tower of London – and sometimes by half-barrel vaults. The great thickness of the walls, however, required in such constructions would seem to have led to another solution of the problem of roofing over churches with incombustible material, viz. that which is found throughout Périgord and La Charente, where a series of domes carried on pendentives covered over the nave, the chief peculiarities of these domes being the fact that the arches carrying them form part of the pendentives, which are all built in horizontal courses.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The intersecting and groined vault of the Romans was employed in the early Christian churches in Rome, but only over the aisles, which were comparatively of small span, but in these there was a tendency to raise the centres of these vaults, which became slightly domical; in all these cases centering was employed.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: One good example of the fan vault is that over the staircase leading to the hall of Christ Church, Oxford, where the complete conoid is displayed in its centre carried on a central column. This vault, not built until 1640, is an example of traditional workmanship, probably in Oxford transmitted in consequence of the late vaulting of the entrance gateways to the colleges. Fan vaulting is peculiar to England, the only example approaching it in France being the pendant of the Lady-chapel at Caudebec-en-Caux, in Normandy.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: In France, Germany, and Spain the multiplication of ribs in the 15th century led to decorative vaults of various kinds, but with some singular modifications. Thus, in Germany, recognizing that the rib was no longer a necessary constructive feature, they cut it off abruptly, leaving a stump only; in France, on the other hand, they gave still more importance to the rib, by making it of greater depth, piercing it with tracery and hanging pendants from it, and the web became a horizontal stone paving laid on the top of these decorated vertical webs. This is the characteristic of the great Renaissance work in France and Spain; but it soon gave way to Italian influence, when the construction of vaults reverted to the geometrical surfaces of the Romans, without, however, always that economy in centering to which they had attached so much importance, and more especially in small structures. In large vaults, where it constituted an important expense, the chief boast of some of the most eminent architects has been that centering was dispensed with, as in the case of the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, built by Filippo Brunelleschi, and Ferguson cites as an example the great dome of the church at Mousta in Malta, erected in the first half of the 19th century, which was built entirely without centering of any kind.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: It is important to note that whereas Roman vaults, like that of the Pantheon, and Byzantine vaults, like that at Hagia Sophia, were not protected from above (i.e. the vault from the inside was the same that one saw from the outside), the European architects of the Middle Ages protected their vaults with wooden roofs. In other words, one will not see a Gothic vault from the outside. The reasons for this development are hypothetical, but the fact that the roofed basilica form preceded the era when vaults begin to be made is certainly to be taken into consideration. In other words, the traditional image of a roof took precedence over the vault.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The separation between interior and exterior – and between structure and image – was to be developed very purposefully in the Renaissance and beyond, especially once the dome became reinstated in the Western tradition as a key element in church design. Michelangelo's dome for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, as redesigned between 1585 and 1590 by Giacomo della Porta, for example, consists of two domes of which, however, only the inner is structural. Baltasar Neumann, in his baroque churches, perfected light-weight plaster vaults supported by wooden frames. These vaults, which exerted no lateral pressures, were perfectly suited for elaborate ceiling frescoes. In St Paul's Cathedral in London there is a highly complex system of vaults and faux-vaults. The dome that one sees from the outside is not a vault, but a relatively light-weight wooden-framed structure resting on an invisible – and for its age highly original – catenary vault of brick, below which is another dome, (the dome that one sees from the inside), but of plaster supported by a wood frame. From the inside, one can easily assume that one is looking at the same vault that one sees from the outside.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: There are two distinctive "other ribbed vaults" (called "Karbandi" in Persian) in India which form no part of the development of European vaults, but have some unusual features; one carries the central dome of the Jumma Musjid at Bijapur (A.D. 1559), and the other is Gol Gumbaz, the tomb of Muhammad Adil Shah II (1626–1660) in the same town. The vault of the latter was constructed over a hall square, to carry a hemispherical dome. The ribs, instead of being carried across the angles only, thus giving an octagonal base for the dome, are carried across to the further pier of the octagon and consequently intersect one another, reducing the central opening to in diameter, and, by the weight of the masonry they carry, serving as counterpoise to the thrust of the dome, which is set back so as to leave a passage about wide round the interior. The internal diameter of the dome is , its height and the ribs struck from four centres have their springing from the floor of the hall. The Jumma Musjid dome was of smaller dimensions, on a square of with a diameter of , and was carried on piers only instead of immensely thick walls as in the tomb; but any thrust which might exist was counteracted by its transmission across aisles to the outer wall.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: The 20th century saw great advances in reinforced concrete design. The advent of shell construction and the better mathematical understanding of hyperbolic paraboloids allowed very thin, strong vaults to be constructed with previously unseen shapes. The vaults in the Church of Saint Sava are made of prefabricated concrete boxes. They were built on the ground and lifted to 40 m on chains.


title: Vault (architecture)

text: When made by plants or trees, either artificially or grown on purpose by humans, structures of this type are called tree tunnels.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: The Last Days of Disco is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman, and loosely based on his travels and experiences in various nightclubs in Manhattan, including Studio 54. Starring Chloë Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale, the film follows a group of Ivy League and Hampshire College graduates falling in and out of love in the disco scene of New York City in the early 1980s.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: "The Last Days of Disco" is the third film (following "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona") in what Stillman calls his "Doomed-Bourgeois-in-Love series". The three films are independent of each other except for cameo appearances of some common characters. According to Stillman, the idea for "Disco" was originally conceived after the shooting of "Barcelona" disco scenes. In 2000, Stillman published a novelization of the film.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: The film was released theatrically in the United States on June 12, 1998; its DVD and video releases followed in 1999. The DVD releases eventually went out of print, and the film was widely unavailable for home video purchase until it was picked up by The Criterion Collection and released in a director-approved special edition on August 25, 2009. Along with "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona", a print of "The Last Days of Disco" resides in the permanent film library of the Museum of Modern Art.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: In the "very early 1980s", Alice Kinnon and Charlotte Pingress, recent Hampshire College graduates, work as poorly paid readers for a New York City publisher. After work one night, they enter an exclusive disco nightclub where Alice hopes to socialize with Jimmy Steinway, who uses the club to entertain his advertising clients. Barred from bringing clients, Jimmy is eventually kicked out by his friend Des McGrath, a manager at the club whose job is in jeopardy for allowing in Jimmy and his clients. After Jimmy leaves, Alice takes Charlotte's advice to go home with her second choice, Tom Platt. At work the next morning, Alice and Charlotte ask other editors how to fast-track their careers. Unable to afford rent on their own, they move in together with a third girl, Holly; despite Alice's reluctance, they settle on a railroad apartment.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Returning to the club, Alice is upset to learn Charlotte has designs on Jimmy, and that Tom was separated from a long-term girlfriend when he slept with Alice, but their one-night stand convinced him to return to her. Des begins to pursue Alice.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: At work, Alice pursues the publication of a book on Buddhism, written by the Dalai Lama's brother, that Charlotte had previously recommended rejecting, and gains the editors' respect. Though it is discovered that the author is not the Dalai Lama's brother, Alice maintains the book is one of the best she has ever read. Charlotte, now dating Jimmy, is openly insecure about his and Alice's apparent friendliness.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Charlotte loudly announces to various friends at the club that Alice has gonorrhea, deducing it when Alice refuses to drink. She immediately apologizes, but tells Alice it will make men view her as more accessible. Des does become more interested in being with Alice, and they start dating casually.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Alice has dinner with Tom and confronts him about giving her gonorrhea, which he initially denies, but Alice reveals he was her first sexual partner. He admits he also gave her herpes.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Josh Neff, a district attorney and friend of Jimmy's who frequently attends the club, asks Alice to lunch to pitch a book. He confesses he is actually interested in Alice, and they go on a real date, where he tells her he is on medication for manic depression. Returning home, Alice discovers Charlotte being taken away in an ambulance, and is told by Jimmy that he is moving to Barcelona. At the hospital, Charlotte asks Alice if Jimmy ever expressed interest in being with her; when Alice admits that he did, Charlotte reacts with tears and tells her she will be moving out.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Police raid the club for tax fraud, and Des tries to run away despite Josh's promise to protect him, believing Josh's interest in Alice will cause him to act unfairly. They later discover that disco records were no longer selling and attendance was already down.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Alice and Charlotte learn their employer has merged with a larger publishing house and layoffs are expected. Some time later, Charlotte, Josh, and Des are seen leaving the unemployment office. Josh announces he is going to Lutèce for lunch, treated by Alice, who is celebrating her promotion; her book was published after she switched it from nonfiction to self-help. Des and Charlotte discuss how their big personalities are too much for normal personalities like Alice, Josh, and Jimmy. Des says that pairing off monogamously detracts from their glamorous lifestyle, and Charlotte agrees.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Taking the subway to Lutèce, Alice and Josh discuss their future prospects and then dance to "Love Train", joined by the rest of the passengers on the train and at the subway station.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: The idea for the film reportedly came to Stillman after filming the disco scenes in his previous film, "Barcelona". Stillman, who had frequented the New York discos in the 1970s and 1980s, announced the project soon thereafter, and interest from a handful of film distributors and actors sprouted before the film had been written. According to Stillman in the 2009 audio commentary for the film, various actors (many of them reportedly "big names") were interested in the project from its original conception; Ben Affleck was originally looking into playing the role of Des, but Stillman, who had worked with Chris Eigeman before, gave him the role instead. Beckinsale, who was living in England at the time, mailed an audition tape to Stillman; he was immediately mesmerized and cast her in the role of Charlotte. The leading role of Alice Kinnon took the longest to cast—it originally was going to go to an unnamed European actress, but according to Stillman, she resembled Beckinsale too much and also had a non-American accent that caused complications. Winona Ryder was subsequently offered the role through her agent. The call was placed by studio executives on a Monday. The film's editor, Chris Tellefsen, who had previously worked as the editor of "Kids", recommended Chloë Sevigny after seeing her performance in that film. Two days after the phone call was placed to Ryder's agent, Sevigny, who had been given the script through her agent, auditioned for the role and won it. By the time Ryder's agent returned the call, Sevigny had already been cast.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Principal photography began on August 12, 1997, and ended on October 27, 1997. Filming took place in various New York City locations, and the structure used for the disco was Loew's Jersey Theatre in Jersey City, New Jersey, which was being renovated. The filmmakers had to share the location with another film production that took place there beforehand. The other production paid for the red carpeting used in the building, and the rest of the interior was designed and paid for by Stillman's crew.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: The film's distributor had also pushed the filmmakers to complete the film and get it released before the Miramax disco club film "54", and it was; "54" was released in US cinemas in late August 1998, two months after the theatrical debut of "The Last Days of Disco".


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Like Stillman's other films, "The Last Days of Disco" deals with social structure, sexual politics, and group dynamics. The relationships that bloom from the club are often expressed through long dialogue sequences, with Stillman's trademark dry humor and "sharp lines" often blurted, especially by Charlotte and Josh.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: "The Last Days of Disco" was theatrically released on June 12, 1998, in US theaters, where it grossed $277,601 on its opening weekend. It went on to make $3 million in North America. With a production budget of $8 million, the film was considered a financial failure, although it was well received by many critics. It was received better than the critically panned "54", which dealt with the Manhattan disco Studio 54.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: "The Last Days of Disco" received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 73% based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. Metacritic gives it a 76 out of 100 rating, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of four and wrote, "If [F.] Scott Fitzgerald were to return to life, he would feel at home in a Whit Stillman movie. Stillman listens to how people talk, and knows what it reveals about them". In her review for "The New York Times", Janet Maslin praised Eigeman's performance: "Mr. Eigeman makes the filmmaker a perfect mouthpiece who can brood amusingly about anything, no matter how petty. Here he plumbs the psychological subtext of "Lady and the Tramp"". In his review for "The New York Observer", Andrew Sarris wrote, "Mr. Stillman's free ticket with the critics for the seemingly magical minimalism of "Metropolitan" has long since expired. In his future projects, all the charm and buoyancy in the world may not compensate for a lack of structure and bedrock reality".


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film an A− grade; Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote, "Stillman's gang may be maturing precariously close to middle age, but it's lovely to know the important pleasures of conversation and intellectual discussion endure". In his review for the "Los Angeles Times", Kenneth Turan praised the "exceptional acting ensemble" for being "successful at capturing the brittle rituals of this specific group of genteel, well-spoken young people on the cusp of adulthood who say things like 'What I was craving was a sentient individual' and 'It's far more complicated and nuanced than that'."


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: According to Sevigny in a 2009 audio commentary track for the film, her performance in "The Last Days of Disco"—particularly the upbeat dance sequence finale in the subway—got the attention of director Kimberly Peirce, who cast Sevigny in "Boys Don't Cry" (1999). Sevigny received an Oscar nomination for her performance in that film, but said that of all the films she's made, "The Last Days of Disco" is the one "people come up to me about" the most.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Sevigny also said that she became good friends on set with co-star Subkoff, with whom she remained close after shooting. The two worked together on a fashion line called "Imitation of Christ" in 2003, along with Scarlett Johansson.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: The film was accessioned by the film library at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, where it is sometimes screened to the public. It was last shown at the museum's "Pop Rally" event in August 2009, with Stillman, Eigeman, and Subkoff present for a question-and-answer session after the screening. An after-party in celebration of the screening was also advertised and held that evening.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: Stillman wrote a novelization of the film published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux under the same title, with the added subtitle ""...With Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards"". It won the 2014 Prix Fitzgerald Award.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: The film was released on VHS and DVD in 1999 through Image Entertainment. The DVD release included the film's original theatrical trailer as its sole bonus feature.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: After being unavailable for home media purchase for some time, the film was rereleased in 2009 for the Criterion Collection DVD series in a restored version Stillman approved. It was the 485th film in the series. Stillman's first film, "Metropolitan", was also released in the Criterion series. The Criterion release of "The Last Days of Disco" included audio commentary by Stillman, Sevigny, and Eigeman; four deleted scenes; a promotional making-of featurette; an audio recording of Stillman reading a passage from his novelization; a still gallery with a text narrative by Stillman; and the original theatrical trailer. A liner essay by novelist David Schickler was also included as a paper insert.


title: The Last Days of Disco

text: The Criterion DVD's cover features an illustration by French artist Pierre Le-Tan, depicting Beckinsale and Sevigny preparing themselves in the powder room before entering the disco; the painting is a replication of a scene in the film. Criterion released a Blu-ray on July 24, 2012.


title: Edge detection

text: Edge detection includes a variety of mathematical methods that aim at identifying edges, curves in a digital image at which the image brightness changes sharply or, more formally, has discontinuities. The same problem of finding discontinuities in one-dimensional signals is known as "step detection" and the problem of finding signal discontinuities over time is known as "change detection". Edge detection is a fundamental tool in image processing, machine vision and computer vision, particularly in the areas of feature detection and feature extraction.


title: Edge detection

text: The purpose of detecting sharp changes in image brightness is to capture important events and changes in properties of the world.


title: Edge detection

text: It can be shown that under rather general assumptions for an image formation model, discontinuities in image brightness are likely to correspond to:


title: Edge detection

text: In the ideal case, the result of applying an edge detector to an image may lead to a set of connected curves that indicate the boundaries of objects, the boundaries of surface markings as well as curves that correspond to discontinuities in surface orientation.


title: Edge detection

text: Thus, applying an edge detection algorithm to an image may significantly reduce the amount of data to be processed and may therefore filter out information that may be regarded as less relevant, while preserving the important structural properties of an image.


title: Edge detection

text: If the edge detection step is successful, the subsequent task of interpreting the information contents in the original image may therefore be substantially simplified.


title: Edge detection

text: However, it is not always possible to obtain such ideal edges from real life images of moderate complexity.


title: Edge detection

text: Edges extracted from non-trivial images are often hampered by "fragmentation", meaning that the edge curves are not connected, missing edge segments as well as "false edges" not corresponding to interesting phenomena in the image – thus complicating the subsequent task of interpreting the image data.


title: Edge detection

text: Edge detection is one of the fundamental steps in image processing, image analysis, image pattern recognition, and computer vision techniques.


title: Edge detection

text: The edges extracted from a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional scene can be classified as either viewpoint dependent or viewpoint independent.


title: Edge detection

text: A "viewpoint independent edge" typically reflects inherent properties of the three-dimensional objects, such as surface markings and surface shape.


title: Edge detection

text: A "viewpoint dependent edge" may change as the viewpoint changes, and typically reflects the geometry of the scene, such as objects occluding one another.


title: Edge detection

text: A typical edge might for instance be the border between a block of red color and a block of yellow. In contrast a line (as can be extracted by a ridge detector) can be a small number of pixels of a different color on an otherwise unchanging background. For a line, there may therefore usually be one edge on each side of the line.


title: Edge detection

text: Although certain literature has considered the detection of ideal step edges, the edges obtained from natural images are usually not at all ideal step edges. Instead they are normally affected by one or several of the following effects:


title: Edge detection

text: A number of researchers have used a Gaussian smoothed step edge (an error function) as the simplest extension of the ideal step edge model for modeling the effects of edge blur in practical applications.


title: Edge detection

text: Thus, a one-dimensional image formula_1 that has exactly one edge placed at formula_2 may be modeled as:


title: Edge detection

text: formula_5. The scale parameter formula_6 is called the blur scale of the edge. Ideally this scale parameter should be adjusted based on the quality of image to avoid destroying true edges of the image.


title: Edge detection

text: To illustrate why edge detection is not a trivial task, consider the problem of detecting edges in the following one-dimensional signal. Here, we may intuitively say that there should be an edge between the 4th and 5th pixels.


title: Edge detection

text: If the intensity difference were smaller between the 4th and the 5th pixels and if the intensity differences between the adjacent neighboring pixels were higher, it would not be as easy to say that there should be an edge in the corresponding region. Moreover, one could argue that this case is one in which there is more than one edge.


title: Edge detection

text: Hence, to firmly state a specific threshold on how large the intensity change between two neighbouring pixels must be for us to say that there should be an edge between these pixels is not always simple. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why edge detection may be a non-trivial problem unless the objects in the scene are particularly simple and the illumination conditions can be well controlled (see for example, the edges extracted from the image with the girl above).


title: Edge detection

text: There are many methods for edge detection, but most of them can be grouped into two categories, search-based and zero-crossing based.


title: Edge detection

text: The search-based methods detect edges by first computing a measure of edge strength, usually a first-order derivative expression such as the gradient magnitude, and then searching for local directional maxima of the gradient magnitude using a computed estimate of the local orientation of the edge, usually the gradient direction.


title: Edge detection

text: The zero-crossing based methods search for zero crossings in a second-order derivative expression computed from the image in order to find edges, usually the zero-crossings of the Laplacian or the zero-crossings of a non-linear differential expression. As a pre-processing step to edge detection, a smoothing stage, typically Gaussian smoothing, is almost always applied (see also noise reduction).


title: Edge detection

text: The edge detection methods that have been published mainly differ in the types of smoothing filters that are applied and the way the measures of edge strength are computed. As many edge detection methods rely on the computation of image gradients, they also differ in the types of filters used for computing gradient estimates in the "x"- and "y"-directions.


title: Edge detection

text: A survey of a number of different edge detection methods can be found in (Ziou and Tabbone 1998); see also the encyclopedia articles on edge detection in "Encyclopedia of Mathematics" and Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering.


title: Edge detection

text: John Canny considered the mathematical problem of deriving an optimal smoothing filter given the criteria of detection, localization and minimizing multiple responses to a single edge. He showed that the optimal filter given these assumptions is a sum of four exponential terms. He also showed that this filter can be well approximated by first-order derivatives of Gaussians.


title: Edge detection

text: Canny also introduced the notion of non-maximum suppression, which means that given the presmoothing filters, edge points are defined as points where the gradient magnitude assumes a local maximum in the gradient direction.


title: Edge detection

text: Looking for the zero crossing of the 2nd derivative along the gradient direction was first proposed by Haralick.


title: Edge detection

text: It took less than two decades to find a modern geometric variational meaning for that operator that links it to the Marr–Hildreth (zero crossing of the Laplacian) edge detector.


title: Edge detection

text: Although his work was done in the early days of computer vision, the Canny edge detector (including its variations) is still a state-of-the-art edge detector. Edge detectors that perform better than the Canny usually require longer computation times or a greater number of parameters.


title: Edge detection

text: Vladimir A. Kovalevsky has suggested a quite different approach. He uses a preprocessing of the image with the Sigma filter and with a special filter for the dilution of the ramps. This method uses no brightness of the image but only the intensities of the color channels which is important for detecting an edge between two adjacent pixels of equal brightness but different colors. The method scans the image two times: first along the horizontal lines and second along the vertical columns. In each horizontal line six consequent adjacent pixels are considered and five color difference between each two adjacent pixels are calculated. Each color difference is the sum of absolute differences of the intensities of the color channels Red, Green, and Blue of the corresponding adjacent pixels. If this sum is greater than a given threshold, then the sign of the color difference is set equal to the sign of the difference of the green intensities. If the green difference is zero, then the sign of the color difference is set equal to the sign of the difference of the red intensities. If, however, both the green and the red differences are zero, then the sign of the color difference is set equal to the sign of the blue difference which in this case cannot be zero since the sum is greater than the threshold.


title: Edge detection

text: Certain conditions for the values and signs of the five color differences are specified in such way that if the conditions are fulfilled, then a short vertical stroke is put between the third and the fourth of the six pixels as the label of the edge.


title: Edge detection

text: Similar calculations are performed for the vertical columns. In this case a short horizontal stroke is put between the third and the fourth of the six subsequent pixels. The vertical and horizontal strokes (being the one-dimensional cells of an abstract cell complex corresponding to the image) mostly compose a connected sequence representing the edge.


title: Edge detection

text: This method is robust and very fast and, what is more important, it can detect edges between adjacent pixels of equal brightness’s if the color difference between these pixels is greater than the threshold.


title: Edge detection

text: The Canny–Deriche detector was derived from similar mathematical criteria as the Canny edge detector, although starting from a discrete viewpoint and then leading to a set of recursive filters for image smoothing instead of exponential filters or Gaussian filters.


title: Edge detection

text: The differential edge detector described below can be seen as a reformulation of Canny's method from the viewpoint of differential invariants computed from a scale space representation leading to a number of advantages in terms of both theoretical analysis and sub-pixel implementation. In that aspect, Log Gabor filter have been shown to be a good choice to extract boundaries in natural scenes.


title: Edge detection

text: Different gradient operators can be applied to estimate image gradients from the input image or a smoothed version of it. The simplest approach is to use central differences:


title: Edge detection

text: Other first-order difference operators for estimating image gradient have been proposed in the Prewitt operator, Roberts cross, Kayyali operator and Frei–Chen operator.


title: Edge detection

text: It is possible to extend filters dimension to avoid the issue of recognizing edge in low SNR image. The cost of this operation is loss in terms of resolution. Examples are Extended Prewitt 7×7.


title: Edge detection

text: Once we have computed a measure of edge strength (typically the gradient magnitude), the next stage is to apply a threshold, to decide whether edges are present or not at an image point. The lower the threshold, the more edges will be detected, and the result will be increasingly susceptible to noise and detecting edges of irrelevant features in the image. Conversely a high threshold may miss subtle edges, or result in fragmented edges.


title: Edge detection

text: If the edge is applied to just the gradient magnitude image, the resulting edges will in general be thick and some type of edge thinning post-processing is necessary. For edges detected with non-maximum suppression however, the edge curves are thin by definition and the edge pixels can be linked into edge polygon by an edge linking (edge tracking) procedure. On a discrete grid, the non-maximum suppression stage can be implemented by estimating the gradient direction using first-order derivatives, then rounding off the gradient direction to multiples of 45 degrees, and finally comparing the values of the gradient magnitude in the estimated gradient direction.


title: Edge detection

text: A commonly used approach to handle the problem of appropriate thresholds for thresholding is by using thresholding with hysteresis. This method uses multiple thresholds to find edges. We begin by using the upper threshold to find the start of an edge. Once we have a start point, we then trace the path of the edge through the image pixel by pixel, marking an edge whenever we are above the lower threshold. We stop marking our edge only when the value falls below our lower threshold. This approach makes the assumption that edges are likely to be in continuous curves, and allows us to follow a faint section of an edge we have previously seen, without meaning that every noisy pixel in the image is marked down as an edge. Still, however, we have the problem of choosing appropriate thresholding parameters, and suitable thresholding values may vary over the image.


title: Edge detection

text: Edge thinning is a technique used to remove the unwanted spurious points on the edges in an image. This technique is employed after the image has been filtered for noise (using median, Gaussian filter etc.), the edge operator has been applied (like the ones described above, Canny or Sobel) to detect the edges and after the edges have been smoothed using an appropriate threshold value.


title: Edge detection

text: This removes all the unwanted points and if applied carefully, results in one pixel thick edge elements.


title: Edge detection

text: Some edge-detection operators are instead based upon second-order derivatives of the intensity. This essentially captures the rate of change in the intensity gradient. Thus, in the ideal continuous case, detection of zero-crossings in the second derivative captures local maxima in the gradient.


title: Edge detection

text: The early Marr–Hildreth operator is based on the detection of zero-crossings of the Laplacian operator applied to a Gaussian-smoothed image. It can be shown, however, that this operator will also return false edges corresponding to local minima of the gradient magnitude. Moreover, this operator will give poor localization at curved edges. Hence, this operator is today mainly of historical interest.


title: Edge detection

text: A more refined second-order edge detection approach which automatically detects edges with sub-pixel accuracy, uses the following "differential approach" of detecting zero-crossings of the second-order directional derivative in the gradient direction:


title: Edge detection

text: Following the differential geometric way of expressing the requirement of non-maximum suppression proposed by Lindeberg, let us introduce at every image point a local coordinate system formula_12, with the formula_13-direction parallel to the gradient direction. Assuming that the image has been pre-smoothed by Gaussian smoothing and a scale space representation formula_14 at scale formula_15 has been computed, we can require that the gradient magnitude of the scale space representation, which is equal to the first-order directional derivative in the formula_13-direction formula_17, should have its first order directional derivative in the formula_13-direction equal to zero


title: Edge detection

text: while the second-order directional derivative in the formula_13-direction of formula_17 should be negative, i.e.,


title: Edge detection

text: Written out as an explicit expression in terms of local partial derivatives formula_23, this edge definition can be expressed as the zero-crossing curves of the differential invariant


title: Edge detection

text: where formula_26 denote partial derivatives computed from a scale space representation formula_27 obtained by smoothing the original image with a Gaussian kernel. In this way, the edges will be automatically obtained as continuous curves with sub-pixel accuracy. Hysteresis thresholding can also be applied to these differential and subpixel edge segments.


title: Edge detection

text: In practice, first-order derivative approximations can be computed by central differences as described above, while second-order derivatives can be computed from the scale space representation formula_27 according to:


title: Edge detection

text: A recent development in edge detection techniques takes a frequency domain approach to finding edge locations. Phase congruency (also known as phase coherence) methods attempt to find locations in an image where all sinusoids in the frequency domain are in phase. These locations will generally correspond to the location of a perceived edge, regardless of whether the edge is represented by a large change in intensity in the spatial domain. A key benefit of this technique is that it responds strongly to Mach bands, and avoids false positives typically found around roof edges. A roof edge, is a discontinuity in the first order derivative of a grey-level profile.


title: Edge detection

text: The phase stretch transform or PST is a physics-inspired computational approach to signal and image processing. One of its utilities is for feature detection and classification. PST is a spin-off from research on the time stretch dispersive Fourier transform. PST transforms the image by emulating propagation through a diffractive medium with engineered 3D dispersive property (refractive index). The operation relies on symmetry of the dispersion profile and can be understood in terms of dispersive eigenfunctions or stretch modes. PST performs similar functionality as phase contrast microscopy but on digital images. PST is also applicable to digital images as well as temporal, time series, data.


title: Edge detection

text: To increase the precision of edge detection, several subpixel techniques had been proposed, including curve-fitting, moment-based, reconstructive, and partial area effect methods. These methods have different characteristics. Curve fitting methods are computationally simple but are easily affected by noise. Moment-based methods use an integral-based approach to reduce the effect of noise, but may require more computations in some cases. Reconstructive methods use horizontal gradients or vertical gradients to build a curve and find the peak of the curve as the sub-pixel edge. Partial area effect methods are based on the hypothesis that each pixel value depends on the area at both sides of the edge inside that pixel, producing accurate individual estimation for every edge pixel. Certain variants of the moment-based technique have been shown to be the most accurate for isolated edges.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Ireland is a parliamentary, representative democratic republic and a member state of the European Union. While the head of state is the popularly elected President of Ireland, it is a largely ceremonial position, with real political power being vested in the Taoiseach, who is nominated by the Dáil and is the head of the government.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Executive power is exercised by the government, which consists of no more than 15 cabinet ministers, inclusive of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste (the deputy head of government). Legislative power is vested in the Oireachtas, the bicameral national parliament, which consists of Dáil Éireann, Seanad Éireann and the President of Ireland. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The head of the judiciary is the Chief Justice, who presides over the Supreme Court.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Ireland has a multi-party system. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, historically opposed and competing entities, which both occupy the traditional centre ground, trace their roots to the opposing sides of the Irish Civil War. All governments since 1932 have been led by one or the other party, with Fianna Fáil having had sufficient support at many elections to govern alone. Fluctuations in seat levels allowed changes in governments through different coalitions. From 1932 to 2011, the parties were stable in their support, with Fianna Fáil the largest at each election, Fine Gael the second largest, and on all but two occasions, the Labour Party the third party. The last three elections, however, have each had more volatile results. At the 2011 election, the largest parties in order were Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil; at the 2016 election, the largest parties in order were Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin; and at the 2020 election, the largest parties were Fianna Fáil first in seats (second in votes), Sinn Féin second in seats (first in votes), and then Fine Gael. The result was historically good for Sinn Féin.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: In June 2020, leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, became the new Taoiseach (head of government). He formed a historic three-party coalition consisting of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. It was the first time in history that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were in the same government. The previous Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar, became the Tánaiste (deputy head of government). Martin led the country as Taoiseach until 17 December 2022, when he changed posts with Varadkar.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The state operates under the Constitution of Ireland () which was adopted in 1937 by means of a plebiscite. The constitution falls within the liberal democratic tradition. It defines the organs of government and guarantees certain fundamental rights. The Constitution can only be amended by means of a referendum. Important constitutional referendums have concerned issues such as abortion, the status of the Catholic Church, divorce, the European Union and same-sex marriage.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The head of state is the President of Ireland. In keeping with the state's parliamentary system of government, the President exercises a mainly ceremonial role but does possess certain specific powers. The presidency is open to all Irish citizens who are at least 35. They are directly elected by secret ballot under the alternative vote. A candidate may be nominated for election as president by no fewer than 20 members of the Oireachtas or by four or more of Ireland's 31 County and City Councils. A retiring President may nominate themselves as a candidate for re-election. If only one valid candidate is nominated for election, for example if there is consensus among the political parties to nominate a single candidate, it is unnecessary to proceed to a ballot and that candidate is deemed elected. The President is elected to a seven-year term of office and no person may serve more than two terms.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: In carrying out certain of their constitutional functions, the President is aided by the Council of State. There is no vice-president in Ireland. If for any reason the President is unable to carry out their functions, or if the Office of President is vacant, the duties of the President are carried out by the Presidential Commission.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The President may not veto bills passed by the Oireachtas but may, after consultation with the Council of State, refer them to the Supreme Court of Ireland for a ruling on whether they comply with the constitution. The President may refuse a request of the Taoiseach for a dissolution of Dáil Éireann, although no request for a dissolution has ever been refused.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Article 15 of the Constitution of Ireland established the Oireachtas as the national parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the President of Ireland and two elected houses: Dáil Éireann (the House of Representatives) and Seanad Éireann (the Senate). As the Oireachtas also consists of the President, the title of the two law-making houses is the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Dáil is by far the dominant house of the legislature.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Members of the Dáil are directly elected at least once in every five years under the single transferable vote form of proportional representation from multi-seat constituencies. Membership of the house is open to all Irish citizens who are at least 21 and permanently resident in the State. The electorate consists of all Irish and British citizens resident in Ireland over the age of 18. Members of the Dáil are known as Teachta Dála or TDs. As of 2021, there are 160 TDs, of which one, the Ceann Comhairle (Presiding Officer), is automatically returned at an election. The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance must be members of the Dáil. The Dáil is the only House which can introduce and amend money bills (i.e. financial and tax legislation). Since the early 1980s, no single party has had a majority in Dáil Éireann, so that coalition governments have been the norm.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The Seanad is a largely advisory body. It consists of sixty members called Senators. An election for the Seanad must take place no later than 90 days after a general election for the members of the Dáil. Eleven Senators are nominated by the Taoiseach while a further six are elected by certain national universities. The remaining 43 are elected from special vocational panels of candidates, the electorate for which consists of the 60 members of the outgoing Senate, the 160 TDs of the incoming Dáil and the 883 elected members of 31 local authorities. The Seanad has the power to delay legislative proposals and is allowed 90 days to consider and amend bills sent to it by the Dáil (excluding money bills). The Seanad is only allowed 21 days to consider money bills sent to it by the Dáil. The Seanad cannot amend money bills but can make recommendations to the Dáil on such bills. No more than two members of a government may be members of the Seanad, and only twice since 1937 have members of the Seanad been appointed to government.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Executive authority is exercised by a cabinet known simply as "the Government". Article 28 of the Constitution states that the Government may consist of no less than seven and no more than fifteen members, namely the Taoiseach (prime minister), the Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) and up to thirteen other ministers. The Minister for Finance is the only other position named in the Constitution. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President, after being nominated by Dáil Éireann. The remaining ministers are nominated by the Taoiseach and appointed by the President following their approval by the Dáil. The Government must enjoy the confidence of Dáil Éireann and, in the event that they cease to enjoy the support of the lower house, the Taoiseach must either resign or request the President to dissolve the Dáil, in which case a general election follows.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Ireland is a common law jurisdiction. The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the High Court established by the Constitution and other lower courts established by statute law. Judges are appointed by the President after being nominated by the Government and can be removed from office only for misbehaviour or incapacity, and then only by resolution of both houses of the Oireachtas. The final court of appeal is the Supreme Court, which consists of the Chief Justice, nine ordinary judges and, the Presidents of the Court of Appeal and the High Court. The Supreme Court rarely sits as a full bench and normally hears cases in chambers of three, five or seven judges.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The courts established by the constitution have the power of judicial review and may declare to be invalid both laws and acts of the state which are repugnant to the constitution.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The Government, through the civil and public services and state-sponsored bodies, is a significant employer in the state; these three sectors are often called the "public sector". Management of these various bodies vary, for instance in the civil service there will be clearly defined routes and patterns whilst among public services a sponsoring minister or the Minister for Finance may appoint a board or commission. Commercial activities, where the state involves itself, are typically through the state-sponsored bodies which are usually organised in a similar fashion to private companies.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: A 2005 report on public sector employment, showed that in June 2005 the numbers employed in the public sector stood at 350,100; of these by sector they were 38,700 (civil service), 254,100 (public service) and 57,300 (state-sponsored). The total workforce of the state was 1,857,400 that year, thus the public sector represents approximately 20% of the total workforce.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The civil service of Ireland consists of two broad components, the "Civil Service of the Government" and the "Civil Service of the State". Whilst these two components are largely theoretical, they do have some fundamental operational differences. The civil service is expected to maintain the political impartiality in its work, and some sections of it are entirely independent of Government decision making.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The public service is a relatively broad term and is not clearly defined and sometimes is taken to include the civil service. The public service proper consists of Government agencies and bodies which provide services on behalf of the Government but are not the core civil service. For instance local authorities, Education and Training Boards and Garda Síochána are considered to be public services.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Article 28A of the constitution of Ireland provides a constitutional basis for local government. The Oireachtas is empowered to establish the number, size and powers of local authorities by law. Under Article 28A, members of local authorities must be directly elected by voters at least once every five years.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Local government in Ireland is governed by a series of Local Government Acts, beginning with the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. The most significant of these is the Local Government Act 2001, which established a two-tier structure of local government. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 abolished the bottom tier, the town councils, leaving 31 local authorities. There are 26 County Councils (County Dublin having been divided into three council areas), 3 City Councils (Dublin, Cork and Galway), and 2 City and County Councils (Limerick and Waterford).


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: A number of political parties are represented in the Dáil and coalition governments are common. The Irish electoral system has been historically characterised as a two-and-a-half party system, with two large catch-all parties, this being the centre-right Fine Gael and the centrist Fianna Fáil, dominating, and the "half-party", being Labour. This changed after the 2011 general election, following the large drop in support for Fianna Fáil and the rise in support for other parties. Ireland's political landscape changed dramatically after the 2020 general election, when Sinn Féin made gains to become the joint-largest party in the Dáil, making Ireland a three party system.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Fianna Fáil, a traditionally Irish republican party founded in 1927 by Éamon de Valera, is the joint-largest party in the Dáil and considered centrist in Irish politics. It first formed a government on the basis of a populist programme of land redistribution and national preference in trade and republican populism remains a key part of its appeal. It has formed government seven times since Ireland gained independence: 1932–1948, 1951–1954, 1957–1973, 1977–1981, 1982, 1987–1994, and 1997–2011. Fianna Fáil was the largest party in the Dáil from 1932 to 2011. It lost a huge amount of support in the 2011 general election, going from 71 to 20 seats, its lowest ever. Its loss in support was mainly due to its handling of the 2008 economic recession. It has since regained some support, but is yet to recover to its pre-2011 levels.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The other joint-largest party is Sinn Féin, established in its current form in 1970. The original Sinn Féin played a huge role in the Irish War of Independence and the First Dáil. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil trace their origins to that party. The current-day party has been historically linked to the Provisional IRA. The party is a Republican party which takes a more left wing stance on economics and social policy than the Labour Party. Sinn Féin received the highest percentage vote in the 2020 general election.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The third-largest party in the Dáil is Fine Gael, which has its origins in the pro-treaty movement of Michael Collins in the Irish Civil War. Traditionally the party of law and order, it is associated with strong belief in pro-enterprise and reward. Despite expressions of Social Democracy by previous leader Garret FitzGerald, today, it remains a Christian democratic, economically liberal party along European lines, with a strongly pro-European outlook. Fine Gael was formed out of a merger of Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Centre Party and the Blueshirts. In recent years it has generally been associated with a liberal outlook. It has formed government in the periods 1922–1932 (Cumann na nGaedheal), 1948–1951, 1954–1957, 1973–1977, 1981–1982, 1982–1987, 1994–1997, and 2011 to present. Fine Gael made massive gains at the 2011 general election, winning 78 seats, its highest ever.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The fourth-largest party in the Dáil is the Green Party, which made significant gains at the 2020 general election.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The fifth largest party in the Dáil is the centre-left Labour Party which was founded by James Connolly and Jim Larkin in 1912. Labour have formal links with the trade union movement and have governed in seven coalition governments – six led by Fine Gael and one by Fianna Fáil. This role as a junior coalition partner has led to Labour being classed as the half party of Ireland's two and a half party system. Labour won a record number of seats, 37, at the 2011 general election, becoming the second-largest party for the first time. It went into coalition with Fine Gael, who also won a record number of seats. Labour was Ireland's third party or "half-party" up until the 2016 general election, when it suffered the worst general election defeat in its history, gaining just 7 seats. A lot of this was due to its being in government with Fine Gael, who introduced austerity measures to deal with the economic crisis.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The sixth-largest Dáil party is the Social Democrats. The Social Democrats were founded in 2015 and made gains at the 2020 general election.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: The Solidarity–People Before Profit electoral alliance, consisting of the Solidarity and People Before Profit are the 7th-largest party grouping within Dáil Éireann. Formed in 2015, the group represents a left-wing, socialist viewpoint.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Ireland's foreign relations are substantially influenced by its membership of the European Union, although bilateral relations with the United States and United Kingdom are also important to the country. It is one of the group of smaller nations in the EU, and has traditionally followed a non-aligned foreign policy.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Ireland tends towards independence in foreign policy, thus it is not a member of NATO and has a longstanding policy of military neutrality.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: This policy has helped the Irish Defence Forces to be successful in their contributions to UN peace-keeping missions since 1960 (in the Congo Crisis ONUC) and subsequently in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Lebanon (UNIFIL), Iran/Iraq Border (UNIIMOG), Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR & EUFOR Althea), Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), Liberia (UNMIL), East Timor (INTERFET), Darfur and Chad (EUFOR Tchad/RCA).


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Northern Ireland has been a major factor in Irish politics since the island of Ireland was divided between Northern Ireland and what is now the Republic in 1920. The creation of Northern Ireland led to conflict between northern nationalists (mostly Roman Catholic) who seek unification with the Republic and Unionists (mostly Protestant) who opposed British plans for Irish Home Rule and wished for Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. After the formation of Northern Ireland in 1921 following its opt out from the newly formed Irish Free State, many Roman Catholics and Republicans were discriminated against. The abolition of Proportional Representation and the gerrymandering of constituency boundaries led to Unionists being over-represented at Stormont and at Westminster. Even James Craig who was prime minister of Northern Ireland boasted of his Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People. In the 1960s NICRA was set up to end discrimination between Catholics and Protestants. There was a massive backlash to this from sections of the Unionist community. This conflict exploded into violence in the late sixties with the beginning of the Troubles, involving groups such as the Provisional IRA, loyalist paramilitaries, the police and the British army, the latter originally drafted in to protect Catholic communities from loyalist violence. These clashes were to result in the suspension of the Stormont Parliament and unsuccessful efforts by the British Government to encourage a power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland which were only realised following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The Troubles caused thousands of deaths in Northern Ireland but also spilled over into bombings and acts of violence in England and the Republic.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Since its foundation it has been the stated long-term policy of governments of what is now the Republic to bring an end to the conflict in Northern Ireland and to bring about a united Ireland. Northern Ireland has also, in the past, often been a source of tension between the Irish Government and the government of the United Kingdom. To find a solution to the Troubles the Irish Government became a partner in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: While Sinn Féin have long organised in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, Fianna Fáil have recently opened a "cumann" (branch) in Derry and begun recruiting members at Queen's University, Belfast although both are extremely small.


title: Politics of the Republic of Ireland

text: Under the Good Friday Agreement and Article 3 of the Constitution a North-South Ministerial Council and six North-South Implementation Bodies co-ordinate activities and exercise a limited governmental role within certain policy areas across the whole island of Ireland. The Implementation Bodies have limited executive authority in six policy areas. Meetings of the Council take the form of meetings between ministers from both the Republic's Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. The council was suspended from 2002 to 2007. However, with the resumption of devolved government in Northern Ireland in May 2007, the council has now re-assumed its duties.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: Marcellus Vernon Wiley Sr. (born November 30, 1974) is an American sportscaster and former American football defensive end who played 10 seasons in the National Football League. He played for the Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars, making the Pro Bowl in 2001.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: He currently hosts the "More To It" podcast, as part of the Dan Patrick Podcast Network. He formerly co-hosted "SportsNation" on ESPN, as well as an afternoon drive-time sports talk radio show on ESPN 710AM in Los Angeles, and Fox Sports 1's "Speak For Yourself". Wiley also published a book "Never Shut Up: The Life, Opinions, and Unexpected Adventures of an NFL Outlier" in 2018.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: At Saint Monica Catholic High School in Santa Monica, California, Wiley starred in both football and track and field. In football, he was an All-Conference pick. Wiley was a teammate of Adrian Klemm. He was his school's valedictorian and a member of the National Honor Society. In 1988, he was a national typewriting champion, with 82 words per minute.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: At Columbia University, Wiley played tailback, defensive end, and kick returner for the Lions. Starting as running back his freshman and sophomore years, he converted to defensive end in his senior season, recording 63 tackles (17 for loss), 6.5 sacks, eight pass breakups and three blocked field goals. As a team captain, he helped lead the team to an 8-2 season, the Lions' most wins since 1945. Wiley was a first-team All-American and All-Ivy League pick, and graduated from Columbia in 1997 with a degree in sociology.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: He was selected with the 52nd pick of the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft out of Columbia University by the Buffalo Bills.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: Wiley started his professional career primarily as a situational pass rusher, recording nine sacks through his first three years. In 2000, Wiley underwent disc-repair surgery, missing the preseason. However, when Hall-of-Famer Bruce Smith left for the Washington Redskins, Wiley replaced him at defensive end for the Bills, making the opening day roster.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: Wiley was a cofounder of Prolebrity (a portmanteau of professional and celebrity), a sports community where pro athletes express viewpoints, publicize their businesses, charities and events, and connect with other athletes, fans and business opportunities.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: Wiley worked for ESPN's "NFL Live" and was a substitute co-host for "Mike and Mike in the Morning". He also co-hosted "SportsNation". Wiley co-hosted "Winners Bracket" with Michelle Beadle from 2010 to 2012. Later, he co-hosted "Afternoons on ESPNLA with Marcellus Wiley and Travis Rogers" on ESPN LA.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: In January 2013, he became co-host of "SportsNation" on a full-time basis, taking over for Colin Cowherd.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: On July 13, 2018 Wiley left his position at ESPN and joined FS1 as co-host of "Speak for Yourself" alongside Jason Whitlock, when Whitlock's contract was not renewed by Fox Sports in June 2020, Emmanuel Acho replaced Whitlock and joined Wiley as the new co-host. In July 2022 Wiley left "Speak For Yourself" as it’s host, for another role at FS1.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: In 2018, Wiley's book "Never Shut Up: The Life, Opinions, and Unexpected Adventures of an NFL Outsider" was released.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: In 2022, Wiley began hosting the "More To It" podcast, as part of the Dan Patrick Podcast Network. His first guests were Lil' Wayne, Bruce Smith, and LaDainian Tomlinson. He is also hoping to start a new show on Fox in the future.


title: Marcellus Wiley

text: Wiley appeared on a November 2011 episode of Bravo's "Millionaire Matchmaker". Season 5, Episode 12: "The Player and the Piano Player" ended when Wiley successfully found a romantic interest.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: Indo-Mauritians are Mauritians who trace their ethnic ancestry to Indian subcontinent or other parts of South Asia.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: During the administration of the French East India Company (until 1767) and subsequent French rule at least 12,000 workers arrived from India between 1721 and 1810 before the abolition of slavery. These first Indian immigrants came from various parts of India such as Pondicherry, Karikal, Yanaon, Bengal and others. They worked under contract as skilled stonemasons, blacksmiths, and carpenters although hundreds of them were slaves. After the legislative changes of 1767 these Indian immigrants were allowed to start businesses, buy land and own slaves.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: Following the November 1810 British Invasion from the northern coast, the island came under British rule. With the liberation of about 65,000 African and Malagasy slaves after the 1833 abolition of slavery the Franco-Mauritian plantation owners and sugar oligarchs resorted to indentured labourers, or Coolies, from various parts of India to work in their fields. Between 1834 and 1920, nearly 700,000 Indian indentured laborers arrived at Aapravasi ghat, an embankment located in the harbor of Port-Louis. Mauritius thus became the British colony's largest recipient of indentured migrants. Indentured labourers were mostly brought from the Bhojpuri speaking regions of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with a large number of Tamils, Telugus and Marathis amongst them. The descendants of these indentured labourers make up two-thirds of the island's current population.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: As free immigrants, these later arrivals were commonly employed by the British in the armed forces, police forces, as security personnel with a substantial portion of immigrants from Gujarat and Sindh arriving as traders, businessmen, and merchants.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: In the late 19th to early 20th century, Chinese men in Mauritius married Indian women due to both a lack of Chinese women and the higher numbers of Indian women on the island. The 1921 census in Mauritius counted that Indian women there had a total of 148 children fathered by Chinese men. These Chinese were mostly traders.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: Today the population consists of mainly Hindus with Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Baháʼí Faith minorities. The mother tongue of almost all Mauritians is the Mauritian Creole, while a minority of Indo-Mauritians still use both their ancestral language and Creole at home. Indo-Mauritian use their ancestral languages mostly in religious activities, some of them include Bhojpuri, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and Urdu.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: As from age six, all Mauritian children must learn a third language at school (French and English are already compulsory). The languages learnt in decreasing order are Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu and Bhojpuri. Mauritian Creoles can opt for Mauritian Creole as the third language. Choice is usually based on ethno-religious background with Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi chosen by Hindus who belong to the respective ethnicities and Urdu by Muslims from the Indian Subcontinent.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: Indo-Mauritians have influenced Mauritian culture, dominating the economic, public sector and political faces of the island. Mauritian politics have been historically dominated by the Indo-Mauritian community due to their majority as a whole on the electoral platform. All presidents except Karl Offmann and all prime ministers except for Paul Berenger have been members of the community. Most Hindu celebrations are public holidays. Indian influence is felt in religion, cuisine and arts. Indian influence is also felt on music wherein the island has its own groups of Bhojpuri and Tamil bands. Indian films are also widely popular.


title: Mauritians of Indian origin

text: Football is the most popular sport amongst Mauritians. Vikash Dhorasoo, who played for French football team, is of Indo-Mauritian origin.


title: Self-publishing

text: Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author without the involvement of an established publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (print on demand) technology. It may also apply to albums, pamphlets, brochures, games, video content, artwork, and zines. Web fiction is also a major medium for self-publishing.


title: Self-publishing

text: In the traditional publishing model, the publisher bears all the costs and risks of publication, but retains most of the profit if the book is successful. In self-publishing, the author bears all the costs and risks, but earns a higher share of the profit per sale.


title: Self-publishing

text: Self-publishing is not a new phenomenon, dating back to the 18th century with an experimental increase in the early 20th century. Self-publishing transformed during the internet age with new technologies and services having provided increasing alternatives to traditional publishing, becoming a $1 billion market. Self-publishing is increasingly becoming the first choice for writers. Most self-published books sell very few copies. Those which sell large numbers are newsworthy because they are so rare. The quality of self-published works varies considerably, because there are no barriers to publication and no quality control.


title: Self-publishing

text: While most novels were distributed by established publishers, there have been authors who chose to self-publish, or even start their own presses, such as John Locke, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Martin Luther, Marcel Proust, Derek Walcott, and Walt Whitman. In 1759, British satirist Laurence Sterne's self-published the first two volumes of "Tristram Shandy". In 1908, Ezra Pound sold "A Lume Spento" for six pence each. Franklin Hiram King's book "Farmers of Forty Centuries" was self-published in 1911, and was subsequently published commercially. In 1931, Irma S. Rombauer, the author of "The Joy of Cooking" paid a local printing company to print 3000 copies; the Bobbs-Merrill Company acquired the rights, and since then the book has sold over 18 million copies. In 1941, writer Virginia Woolf chose to self-publish her final novel "Between the Acts" on her Hogarth Press, in effect starting her own press.


title: Self-publishing

text: Until the advent of ebooks and POD technology, most self-published books were published through a vanity press, so called because such authors were assumed to be egotistical writers, unable to accept their work was not good enough to be accepted by traditional publishers. James D. Macdonald claimed that vanity publishing violated "Yog's Law" which states that "Money should flow toward the author." Vanity publishing usually required a one-time payment of $5,000 to $10,000 to do a print run of 1000 books; these books usually ended up in boxes in a garage.


title: Self-publishing

text: Photographer-turned-publisher Max Bondi said that "investing in a project shows that you believe in it". Nevertheless, part of the reason for the negative stigma is that many self-published books are of dubious quality, because they are written by authors who are still learning their craft, and have never been edited or even proof-read. For example, in 1995, a retired TV repairman self-published his autobiography in which he described how he had been stepped on by a horse when he was a boy, how he had been almost murdered by his stepfather when he was a young man in Mexico, and how his ex-wife had clawed his face with her fingernails. The repairman spent $10,000 to have his 150-page masterpiece printed up, and, for promotion purposes, he sent copies to a local library, to the White House, and to everybody with the repairman's same last name. These efforts did not lead anywhere; today, the book is largely forgotten.


title: Self-publishing

text: Self-publishing is still seen as a "mark of failure" by many. The image of self-publishing has been improving and some feel the stigma is gone entirely, while others feel it still has a way to go to cultivate respectability. "No, I don't want to read your self-published book", the book critic Ron Charles complained in "The Washington Post"," arguing that self-published books lacked quality and were typically published by authors with little understanding of the literary marketplace.


title: Self-publishing

text: However, rare breakaway bestsellers such as "Fifty Shades of Grey" and "The Martian" were self-published, helping to lend respectability to self-publishing in general. Furthermore, with new avenues of self-publishing, there are more opportunities for authors to break through directly to audiences.


title: Self-publishing

text: A huge impetus to self-publishing has been rapid advances in technology, particularly the exponential growth of the Internet and a general shift from analog to digital technology. The Internet has been described as a "great equalizer" in the publishing world, since it enables an author to put their books out there and "stand naked before the world." Costs for printing and distributing a book have fallen dramatically. Advances in e-book readers and tablet computers have improved readability; such devices allow readers to "carry" numerous books in a small portable device. These technologies make it possible to have a book printed or digitally delivered after an order has been placed, so there are no costs for storing inventory. Print-On-Demand (or POD) technology, which became available in the mid-1990s, can produce a high quality product equal to those produced by traditional publishers; in the past, one could easily identify a self-published title by its lack of quality. Print-on-demand was easy, since an author could simply upload a manuscript, choose an interior file format and a cover, and the book could be printed as needed, avoiding warehousing costs, and reducing the risk of being stuck with a huge unsold inventory.Further, the Internet provides access to global distribution channels via online retailers, so a self-published book can be instantly available to book buyers worldwide. A Canada-based firm named Wattpad offers streaming video productions based on the stories of self-published authors as of 2017.


title: Self-publishing

text: Internet transmission of digital books was combined with print-on-demand publishing with the invention of the Espresso Book Machine which was first demonstrated at the New York Public Library in 2007. This machine prints, collates, covers, and binds a single book. It is in libraries and bookstores throughout the world, and it can make copies of out-of-print editions. Small bookstores sometimes use it to compete with large bookstore chains. It works by taking two Internet-delivered pdf files, one for the text and one for the cover, and then prints an entire paperback book in a matter of minutes, which then drops down a chute.


title: Self-publishing

text: Amazon's introduction of the "Kindle" and its self-publishing platform, "Kindle Direct Publishing" or KDP, in 2007 has been described as a tipping point in self-publishing, which "opened the floodgates". It was an "exclusively electronic self-publishing platform" which was e-book only, free for authors to upload their books, and gave authors control over how their books were priced as well as access to the same distribution channels as major publishers.


title: Self-publishing

text: In recent times the publishing industry as a whole has been in a great deal of flux, in a sort of "Wild West" state. The online retailing giant, Amazon, has had a huge impact on the book-selling industry, driving many brick-and-mortar bookstores out of business and making inroads into publishing as well. Amazon has enticed readers away from bookstores and into an online environment, and its KDP and CreateSpace distribution channels have spawned a huge growth in self-publishing. As a result, the numbers of self-published authors are ever-increasing.


title: Self-publishing

text: There is an anti-establishment aspect to self-publishing, in that it has been seen historically as a way to defy authority or resist oppression. The self-publishing movement can also be viewed as a part of the Do-it-yourself culture which "flourishes in environments of communitarian support." A writer who is rejected by the usual system can find solace in self-publishing. Some struggling authors complained that the traditional publishing model was too "insular", keeping out different ideas about stories as well as ones with unusual characters or plotlines, or which dealt with minorities, and self-publishing was a way for these formerly outcast writers to connect with readers. Libraries have also become involved with self-publishing; the "Library Journal" and Biblioboard worked together to create a self-publishing platform called Self-e in which authors submit books online which are made available to readers. These books are reviewed by "Library Journal", and the best ones are published nationwide; authors do not make money this way but it serves as a marketing tool.


title: Self-publishing

text: The dramatic changes have impacted the standard publishing industry as well, which is controlling a smaller share of the overall publishing market, forcing many traditional publishers to consolidate to reduce costs. The squeeze has been applied to such authors, some of whom have complained that traditional publishers have often asked for the author to contribute part of the start-up expenses personally, in effect deviating from the usual model of the publisher providing all upfront expenses. Self-publishing is still a "difficult and demanding way to go" but is increasingly becoming a respectable, if alternative, choice for a writing career. Self-publishers who are savvy, motivated and hard-working, can build audiences and make money.