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A breeder is a person who practices the vocation of mating carefully selected specimens of the same breed to reproduce specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics.
This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist, or hobbyist, and can be practiced on a large or small scale, for food, fun, or profit.
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In agriculture and in the hobby of animal fancy, a breeder is an individual animal used for selective breeding. Usually a breeder is a purebred animal bred with the intent of producing purebred or even show-quality animals. However, in some cases, a breeding animal is crossbred with another breed or a mixed breed with the intent of combining aspects of two or more different breeds.
If the breeding is for a purebred animal that will be used for exhibition or future breeding (pets or livestock), the animal must be registered and conform to the criteria laid out for that breed in a breed standard kept by a central authority, such as a kennel club for dogs. In addition, the breed club, kennel club, or other governing authority may have other restrictions on the type of animal that can be used for breeding to produce offspring that can be registered.
For example, some equine societies allow backbred and crossbred individuals to be bred from; most dog clubs do not except in exceptional circumstances, by permission. Most kennel clubs allow any registered individual to be bred from; the individual breed club may have additional, stricter criteria. The Mini Foxie Club of Australia, Inc., for example, requires adult dogs to be classified before being certified eligible for breeding of purebred Miniature Fox Terriers. Some Jack Russell Terrier and Greater Swiss Mountain Dog clubs have similar requirements.
Breeder is a derogatory term for people who have children, particularly for parents who purportedly overfocus on their children and (allegedly) abandon their previous friends and lifestyle; or to women who give birth to many children, often with the derisive implication that they have "too many" offspring. The term is also used by antinatalists to pejoratively refer to anyone who has procreated, an act which they consider immoral. The phrases "breeder, not parent" (BNP) or "parent, not breeder" (PNB) are used by some childfree individuals to differentiate between what they regard as positive and negative parenting.
The use of "breeder" in this way is not new. It appears, for example, in Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, widely acknowledged as the preeminent English satirical essay, in which Swift repeatedly uses the term.
Some parents resent being referred to as "breeders", and feel that the word unduly reduces the process of child-raising to animal husbandry.
The term was part of a 2006 controversy in the heavily gay resort town of Provincetown, Massachusetts, when petitioners against same-sex marriage whose identity was published complained of having been called "breeders". The San Francisco Chronicle described the term as "a joking or derogatory slur used by gays to describe heterosexuals".
A séance /ˈseɪ.ɑːns/ or seance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat", "session" or "sitting", from the Old French seoir, "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma" ("a movie session"). In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or to listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits; many people, including skeptics and non-believers, treat it as a form of entertainment. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance.
One of the earliest books on the subject of communication amongst deceased persons was Communitation With the Other Side by George, First Baron Lyttelton, published in England in 1760. Among the notable spirits quoted in this volume are Peter the Great, Pericles, a "North-American Savage", William Penn, and Christina, Queen of Sweden. The popularity of séances grew dramatically with the founding of the religion of Spiritualism in the mid-nineteenth century. Perhaps the best-known series of séances conducted at that time were those of Mary Todd Lincoln who, grieving the loss of her son, organized Spiritualist séances in the White House, which were attended by her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, and other prominent members of society. The 1887 Seybert Commission report marred the credibility of Spiritualism at the height of its popularity by publishing exposures of fraud and showmanship among secular séance leaders. Modern séances continue to be a part of the religious services of Spiritualist, Spiritist, and Espiritismo churches today, where a greater emphasis is placed on spiritual values versus showmanship.
Seance is the third album by the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church, released in 1983. More atmospheric and brooding than its predecessor The Blurred Crusade's jangling psychedelia and upbeat rock, it shows a greater use of keyboards, with the guitars taking largely textural roles on many songs. While numerous tracks have become fan favorites over the years, the album saw considerably less success in Australia than previous releases and had limited exposure internationally. Apart from the psychedelic noise experiment "Travel By Thought", which prefigures the band's extended improvised tracks of the 1990s and beyond, all songs were written solely by Steve Kilbey.
The album's most notorious aspect, both amongst the fan base and the band members themselves, is the heavy use of gated reverb on the drum sound, particularly on the single "Electric Lash" where the snare fills have been likened to a "machine gun". This was the work of mixing engineer Nick Launay who refused to remove the effect despite the disapproval of the band. Despite this frequent criticism, the tracks "One Day," "It's No Reason" and "Now I Wonder Why" are often considered stand-outs in the band's repertoire. The album yielded two minor hits - "It's No Reason" and "Electric Lash" - and stayed in the British independent charts for several months.
Seance is a Swedish death metal band. The band was formed in March 1990 when two local Linköping bands, Orchriste and Total Death, fused. They split up after two albums in 1998. Most band members were also involved in the bands Satanic Slaughter and Witchery. Patrik Jensen later joined the band The Haunted. They reunited in early 2008 and released a 2009 album, Awakening of the Gods, through Pulverised Records.