Wagner like to describe "Parsifal" as "ein Bühnenweihfestspiel" ("A Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage"). At Bayreuth, it has become tradition that there is to be no applause after the first act of the opera.
The conductor of the first performance was Hermann Levi, the court conductor at the Munich Opera. Wagner objected to Parsifal being conducted by a Jew (Levi's father was in fact a rabbi). Wagner first suggested that Levi should convert to Christianity, which Levi declined to do. Wagner then wrote to King Ludwig that he had decided to accept Levi. This despite the fact that (he alleged) he had received complaints that "of all pieces, this most Christian of works" should be conducted by a Jew. The King expressed his satisfaction at this. He said that "human beings are basically all brothers". Wagner wrote to the King that he "regard[ed] the Jewish race as the born enemy of pure humanity and everything noble about it".
Kana
Kana is the name for syllable-based writing systems used in the Japanese language.
There are three types of kana:
Although manyogana is the oldest of the three types of kana, being used as early as the seventh century, it was soon replaced by hiragana and katakana. Both of these characters came from the kanji characters that made up manyogana.
Today, there are 46 basic sounds in Japanese that are each represented by a hiragana and a corresponding katakana character as seen in the chart below. (The characters for the sounds "wi" and "we" are no longer used.) There are 25 other sounds that can be made by adding one of two diacritics: a dakuten or a handakuten. Also, 12 of the kana come in a smaller size to make other combinations of syllables.
Japanese sentences are usually written using a mix of hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Although it is possible to write a sentence in only hiragana or katakana characters, it is hard for most Japanese people to understand because the kanji symbols represent a concept which the kana do not show. Small kana symbols, however, can be put above kanji to show how it is pronounced (this is called furigana and is used a lot in karaoke).
Besides kana, Japanese sounds can also be written in Romaji (using the Roman alphabet) to help people who do not speak Japanese learn the language.
Tropical Storm Erin (2007)
Tropical Storm Erin was the second tropical cyclone to make landfall on the United States in the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. It was also the fifth named storm of the season. Erin formed in the Gulf of Mexico on August 14 from an area of convection which was becoming stronger. It became stronger and changed into a tropical storm the next day, and on August 16 Erin made landfall near Lamar, Texas and was able to not die as it moved over land across Texas before moving towards the north into Oklahoma. The storm killed at least 17 people and made an already-severe flooding problem in Texas even worse. Another different storm that Erin went into killed at least 18 people.
On August 9, an area of convection formed just south of Jamaica in association with a trough of low pressure. The system moved west-northwestward, and by August 10, the system had a broad surface trough with a little shower activity. Convection increased on August 11, and by August 12 the contact between a tropical wave and an upper-level low in the area resulted in a large area of disorganized thunderstorms extending from the western Caribbean Sea into the central Bahamas. Upper-level winds slowly became more helpful for development, and on August 13 a large low pressure area formed about 90 miles (145 km) north-northeast of Cancún, Quintana Roo. Late on August 14, a NOAA Hurricane Hunters plane that flew into the system reported a small circulation center, but at the time was not well-defined enough to begin tropical cyclone advisories. However, deep convection was kept near the increasingly organizaing center, and at 0300 UTC on August 15 the National Hurricane Center named it as Tropical Depression Five about 425 miles (685 km) southeast of Brownsville, Texas.
In the overnight hours after formation, the storm was disorganized with a shabby and abstracted center of circulation. Located to the south of a mid to upper-level ridge over the southern United States, the system moved to the west-northwest into an area ideal for further strengthening; an upper-level anticyclone formed over the central Gulf of Mexico, and sea surface temperatures along its track were warm. The cloud pattern became better organized, keeping a large area of convection with curved rainbands and well-established outflow. Based on reports from Hurricane Hunters, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Erin at 1530 UTC on August 13 about 250 miles (400 km) east of Brownsville, Texas. As it continued northwestward, Erin remained disorganized and was not able to strengthen above minimal tropical storm status. At 1200 UTC on August 16 the cyclone made landfall near Lamar, Texas as it weakened to tropical depression status. Three hours later, the National Hurricane Center stopped giving out advisories on Erin as warning responsibility was switched to the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center.
Slowly moving northwestward through Texas, Tropical Depression Erin managed to keep an area of convection near the center, with its widespread, but scattered rainbands dropping moderate to heavy precipitation. By August 17, the winds decreased to 20 mph (30 km/h), with higher gusts. The system turned to the north-northeast on August 18, while heavy bands of thunderstorms continued to spin around the center of Erin. Early on August 19 after entering Oklahoma, Erin suddenly re-intensified to maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) a short distance west of Oklahoma City. The Norman, Oklahoma National Weather Service remarked the intensification "[resulted] in what amounts to an inland tropical storm;" at 0930 UTC the system showed an eye-like feature and a spiral rainband, and produced wind gusts of over 80 mph (130 km/h). However, a few hours later, the system began weakening again, and late on August 19 Erin degenerated into a remnant low pressure area as the circulation dissipated over northeastern Oklahoma. The low continued into southeastern Kansas before dissipating, feeding moisture northward toward a frontal system extending from the Midwestern United States through the Mid-Atlantic States. Its remnant mid-level circulation then moved eastward across Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia before losing identity as it moved out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Instantly after Erin become a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center gave out a tropical storm watch from Freeport, Texas to the United States/Mexico border; at the same time, the government of Mexico issued a tropical storm watch southward to Rio San Fernando. Shortly before achieving tropical storm status, the watch in Texas was upgraded to a tropical storm warning. Late on August 15, the warning was extended to San Luis Pass, while the watch in Mexico was cancelled. As Erin made landfall, the warnings was cancelled, and several flood watches and warnings were given out for counties across southeastern Texas. Upon moving into Oklahoma, flood and flash flood warnings were issued for several counties.