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Q1253020 | S&P Dow Jones Indices
Indices defined
A market index (plural: indices) follows a certain market and gives investors a single number to summarize its ups and downs. It enables the world's institutional (and retail) investors to track a market or market sector without having to aggregate the underlying components. It is a convenient way for someone interested in a broad, narrow, or extremely narrow group of securities to track them.Pension funds and other money managers often use indexes as benchmarks. This means that "active" investors (those who pick various securities to buy and hold for their returns) track their own returns against a benchmark index (an index that typifies its market) to see if they are out- or under-performing that market. Investors who do not want to do this (those who buy into indexes or securities that use indexes as their basis) are called "passive" investors. They are known to link their portfolios to the broad market and do not try to outguess conventional market wisdom. Passive investors argue that almost no active investors can beat the overall markets in the long-term. This choice is described by a theory in investing called the efficient market hypothesis.
Indices by S&P Dow Jones
The DJI has over 130,000 indexes, although many are used by only relatively few people. Most are principally equity (stock) indexes but also contain fixed-income, futures, options, private equity, commodity, currency, bond, and other alternative asset class metrics. Dow Jones Indexes says that all its products are maintained according to clear, unbiased, and systematic methodologies that are fully integrated within index families.DJI and Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), launched the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices in 1999. These indexes track performance of sustainability-driven companies around the world. There are currently 70 DJSI licensees held by asset managers in 16 countries to manage a variety of financial products, including active and passive funds, certificates and segregated accounts.DJI partnered with AIG to create the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index. It tracks trades on futures contracts for physical commodities, like energy (petroleum, gas), precious metals (gold, silver), industrial metals (zinc, copper), grains (corn, wheat), livestock (lean hogs, live cattle), among others.UBS Securities LLC has acquired AIG Financial Product Corp.'s commodity business as of May 6, 2009. As such, the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Indexes have been re-branded as the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Indexes effective May 7, 2009.The Dow Jones Select Dividend Indexes reflects the performance of leading dividend-yielding stocks. It includes global and regional indexes. It was DJI's first fundamentals-driven index.Dow Jones Indexes also does "specialty" indexes for specific markets or interests. It has the Dow Jones U.S. Economic Stimulus Index, the Olympic-inspired Dow Jones Summer/Winter Games, the race-car centric Dow Jones Formula 1 Index and the closely followed Dow Jones Luxury Index, among others.Companies can also request that specific indexes be created to suit their clients' interest or for publicity purposes. This is popular with smaller asset management and public relations firms.
Recent history
DJI launches an average of one index or index family per week. It often creates an index for a specific event (i.e. Dow Jones 2008 Summer Games Index, launched December 2007), a specific market (Dow Jones Luxury Index, launched June 2008), or a very small market (Dow Jones Cyprus Titans 10 Index). In some instances it cooperates with other entities to create a custom index (Barron’s 400 Index, launched September 2007).Dow Jones Industrial Average historical data (along with several other major indexes) recently became available on a new website, www.djaverages.com. The company also has a widely read quarterly newsletter called Insights that covers the industry.
Research information
The company produces a quarterly news magazine called Insights. The company has topical Market Commentary videos, video interviews and press events for researchers, academia and market makers to use. | 8425207444615974726 | 839 |
Q5682076 | The Sean Hannity Show
Syndication
Syndication began through the ABC Radio Networks on September 10, 2001, one day before the September 11 attacks. The program is carried on WSB in Atlanta, Georgia (third hour delayed two hours), KFYI in Phoenix, Arizona, WOKV in Jacksonville, Florida, WDTK in Detroit, WCBM in Baltimore, Maryland and WKRC in Cincinnati, Ohio, among others. The show is carried in most markets by a Citadel Broadcasting radio station; the show is owned by Citadel Broadcasting, which acquired the ABC Radio networks in 2006. Hannity's first version of his radio show was in the late 1980s as a volunteer broadcaster for the University of California, Santa Barbara's radio station, KCSB-FM. He was dismissed from the station in 1989 following a controversial interview about AIDS in which he insulted a lesbian caller. Later, Hannity would bring his program to WVNN in Athens, Alabama and NewsRadio WGST in Atlanta, Georgia.Hannity is the second highest rated talk program, only behind The Rush Limbaugh Show, which leads into Hannity on many stations. The show is carried on 530 stations. He is a three-time consecutive winner of Radio & Records National Talk Show Host of The Year Award from 2003-2005, as well as the National Association of Broadcasters' 2003, 2004 and 2005 Marconi awards for Talk Show Host of the Year, and the Talkers Magazine 2017 Freedom of Speech Award. In 2004, Hannity signed a US$25 million, five-year contract extension with ABC Radio to continue the show through 2009; however, ABC Radio's acquisition by Citadel Broadcasting on June 12, 2007 gave Hannity an opportunity to leave one year after the acquisition. In July 2008, it was announced that Hannity's show would be co-managed by Citadel's ABC Radio Networks and Premiere Radio Networks, a division of Clear Channel Communications. Premiere Radio would handle advertising sales and distribution to all non-Citadel owned stations, including Clear Channel-owned stations. Hannity already had agreements with approximately 80 Clear Channel stations in a separate agreement. The two networks would cooperate for special circumstances.
Radio show
The show primarily features a mixture of monologues, conversations with callers, and interviews with those in the news.
Content
Hannity's frequent political targets include terrorism, illegal immigration, weapon of mass destruction in Iraq,and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. He frequently characterizes American liberalism as a movement more in line with democratic socialism than classical liberalism.The show frequently features "man on the street" interviews (Man On The Street Thursday), where New York pedestrians are stopped and questioned about politics. Hannity will sometimes debate the answers with participants.The show also features the occasional inclusion of behind the scenes staff, including producers Elisha, Lynda, "Sweet Baby" James, and animal-rights proponent "Flipper". "Gregster" is the engineer who typically plays the audio clips.The show used to close daily with the segment "Trash the Lines" where calls were taken unscreened, with callers given approximately five seconds to say whatever they wanted. The segment, which had its roots in a late-night show Hannity hosted earlier in his career, has been used less frequently since the summer of 2006.Following the election victory of Democrat Barack Obama, Hannity has hyperbolically referred to his show as "conservatism in exile", "the conservative resistance," "the conservative underground."
The "Hate-Hannity Hotline"
Hannity provides a phone line for people who disagree with him to call in. He plays some of these clips at the beginning of the bottom half-hour segment of the show. He usually supplements these clips with the explanation that he is performing a service to the American people by "Absorbing the hate and bitterness of the angry left so that they will be nicer to you when you meet them along your way." This has appeared with less frequency in the radio show, though on the revamped Hannity on the Fox News Channel, this has become a regular segment (usually airing on Thursday).
Guest hosts
WABC personality Mark Levin frequently filled in for Hannity during the host's absence until Levin obtained his own syndicated program. Guest hosts have included Barry Farber, Mike Gallagher, Curtis Sliwa, Kirby Wilbur, Dennis Miller, and Mark Simone.
Guests on his show
The frequent guests on his radio show included John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, Fred Thompson and other politicians from both sides of the political aisle.
Book club
The Hannity show also has a book club with author interviews and discussions on topics. More recent books have included Strategery by Bill Sammon and Fight Back by G. Gordon Liddy. Hannity has also authored three New York Times bestsellers on politics and current events.
Show website
Hannity's website offers subscribers to the "Hannity Insider" subscription service live and recorded streaming audio of the program, available for download to an iPod or other MP3 player. In addition, the program was added to the Armed Forces Radio Network in December 2005. Audio streams of The Sean Hannity Show average more than 190,000 subscribed listeners per month. There is also Hannidate, a chat room for conservative singles, both heterosexual and gay. The website also includes a forum to discuss political topics. Respectful conversation and debate is encouraged. | 15612090603263792995 | 1,137 |
Q503880 | Takeda Sōkaku
Life
Born in the Aizu domain (Fukushima Prefecture), Sōkaku grew up in the time of the Boshin War. The second son of Takeda Sōkichi, a samurai of the Takeda clan who worked his farm and taught at a local school in a Buddhist temple. His mother, Tomi Kurokochi, was a daughter of Dengoro Kurokochi, a Yari and Kenjutsu master. It is believed that Sōkaku received his first martial arts training from his father who had a dojo on their property.Sōkichi was apparently expert in the use of both sword and spear, and had once been a sumo wrestler of ozeki rank. It is believed that Sōkaku was exposed to the teachings of Hōzōin-ryū Takada-ha and Ono-ha Ittō-ryū, schools of spear and swordsmanship respectively.Sōkaku then left to go on a period of austere training where he travelled, fought and trained at the schools of many teachers, a not uncommon practise of the time. Reputedly, Sōkaku spent some time as a live-in student of Kenkichi Sakakibara, headmaster of the Jikishinkage-ryū and considered to be one of the most famous and skilled swordsmen of the era. Unfortunately there exist no known historical documents to confirm this relationship and so it is a matter of debate. What is known, however, is that Sōkaku engaged in many matches and duels with both shinai and live blades and was considered a swordsman of great skill in a period of time when such things were beginning to be forgotten.With the outlawing of the samurai class and the prohibition against carrying swords (Haitōrei Edict) apparentally Sokaku decided to emphasize the empty handed, jujutsu oriented, techniques of his ancestor's art. These apparently were 'oshiki-uchi', or secret teachings of the Aizu clan, up to that point. These, along with other skills he had acquired, were combined to create an art which he christened first 'Daitō-ryū jūjutsu' and later 'Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu'.In about 1875, rumor reached Sōkaku that Saigō Takamori had launched his rebellion in Satsuma against the forces of the new Meiji government. He decided immediately that he would go to lend his support. He made it as far as Kyushu but was unable to reach his destination, so he returned to Osaka where he spent the next ten years as a guest in the Kyōshin Meichi-ryū dojo of swordsman Momonoi Shunzo.Sōkaku lived a somewhat itinerant life, travelling the length and breadth of the country giving seminars in martial arts to military officers, police officers and martial arts enthusiasts, often of high social standing. He left extensive records of those he taught in his eimeiroku and shareikoku - attendance and fee ledgers.
Important students
Taking over the role of headmaster of the art was Sōkaku's son, Tokimune Takeda, who established the Daitokan school in Hokkaidō to promote the art and re-christened it 'Daitō-ryū Aiki Budō'. Tokimune is said to have contributed much of the teaching system which exists for the art today; naming and classifying the techniques and further simplifying the weapons component of the system. He emphasized the Ona ha Itto-ryu portion of the weapons curriculum over other elements that Sōkaku taught to some advanced students.Sokaku's highest ranking students were Hisa Takuma and Masao Tonedate, both high executives of the Asahi newspaper in Osaka, whose own students established the Takumakai and the Daibukan.Other important students of Sōkaku's were Yukiyoshi Sagawa, who some believe was the most talented of his early students, Kodo Horikawa (Kotaro), whose students established the Kodokai and the Roppokai, Kōtarō Yoshida, Hosaku Matsuda and Tomekichi Yamamoto.
Sōkaku's far-reaching influence
His most famous student was the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba and it is the popularity of this modern martial arts form that is responsible for much of the interest in Daitō-ryū today.Hosaku Matsuda was taught by Sōkaku, who in turn taught Yoshiji Okuyama, who in turn founded the Hakkō-ryū Jujutsu school. Okuyama taught Michiomi Nakano, who later as Dōshin Sō, founder of Nippon Shorinji Kempo. Choi Yong-Sool, the founder of Hapkido was adopted by Sokaku and trained with him as well.The influence of the teachings of Sokaku Takeda are readily discernible in the physical techniques of aikido, Hakko Ryu, Nippon Shorinji Kempo, hapkido and judo's goshin jutsu self-defense kata (via Kenji Tomiki) today. | 2900076009161665138 | 1,111 |
Q2094257 | Pieter Hugo
Education
Hugo was born 1976 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He began his career working in the film industry in Cape Town, before undertaking a two-year residency at Fabrica research centre, Treviso, Italy.
Work
Hugo’s work is governed by an autodidactic approach to photography and a deep scepticism of the role of the photographic medium. He is one of a generation of post-Apartheid photographers that seeks to confront photography’s history of representing marginalised and disempowered people. His work aims to challenge preconceptions around the representation of groups of people ‘other’ to the Western European norm.Hugo's first major work Looking Aside (2006) depicts portraits of people "whose appearance makes us look aside" – the blind, people with albinism, the aged, his family and himself. Each man, woman and child poses in a sterile studio setting, under crisp light against a blank background. His Rwanda 2004: Vestiges of a Genocide (2011) was described by the Rwanda Genocide Institute as offering "a forensic view of some of the sites of mass execution and graves that stand as lingering memorials to the many thousands of people slaughtered." Hugo's most recognized work is The Hyena & Other Men (2007), which has received a great deal of attention.His series Messina/Mussina (2007) was made in the town of Musina on the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa, after Colors magazine asked Hugo to work on an AIDS story. Nollywood (2009) consists of pictures of the Nigerian film industry. For Permanent Error (2011) Hugo photographed the people and landscape of an expansive dump of obsolete technology in Ghana. There is a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends (2012) depicts Hugo’s family and friends from South Africa in digitally manipulated black and white portraits that aim to explore the contradictions of racial classification based on skin colour. Kin (2014) places even greater emphasis on the photographer’s family and community which Hugo describes as “an engagement with the failure of the South African colonial experiment and my sense of being ‘colonial driftwood’.”In the Spring of 2014, Hugo was commissioned by Creative Court to work in Rwanda for its "Rwanda 20 Years: Portraits of Forgiveness" project. The project was displayed in The Hague in the Atrium of The Hague City Hall for the 20th commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. A selection of the photos have also been displayed in New York at the exhibition Post-Conflict which was curated by Bradley McCallum, artist in residence for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. The project served as the impetus for the photographic series 1994 (2017) which explores the post-revolutionary era in both South Africa and Rwanda through a series of portraits of children from both countries.Flat Noodle Soup (2016) chronicles Hugo’s lengthly engagement with the city of Beijing, exploring how concerns with expressing personal identity within societal norms and pressures are universal and trans-national.
Fashion
Hugo has produced fashion photography features for various publications. These include Arena Homme Plus, Re-Edition Magazine, Document Journal, System Magazine and AnOther Man. He has also collaborated on publications with Louis Vuitton and Hood By Air.
Editorial
Hugo is a regular contributor to titles such as the New Yorker, Zeit magazine, Le Monde and The New York Time’s magazine. He has written extensively about his own work and that of other photographers with his article on Garth Walker being featured in Aperture magazine, Winter, 2013. In May 2015 he was invited to guest edit the supplement DeLuxe for the Dutch newspaper NRC.nl.
Film
In 2011 Hugo collaborated with Michael Cleary, co-directing the music video for South African musician Spoek Mathambo's cover version of Joy Division's "She's Lost Control". For the video, Hugo won the Young Director Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In 2015 he directed the music video for "Dirty", a song by controversial South African musical artists Dookoom. | 12004054725095969089 | 855 |
Q4929489 | Blue Mountain (Brandon Heath album)
Release
Blue Mountain was released on October 9, 2012, through Reunion Records in the United States. It debuted at No. 5 on the Top Current Contemporary Christian Chart, and at No. 97 on the Billboard 200 chart, which both positions were taken on October 27, 2012.
Music and lyrics
At Christianity Today, Andy Argyrakis wrote that "The Nashville native taps into childhood trips throughout Appalachia to visit his grandparents, resulting in a laid back, roots-centered record (with an ever so slight penchant for hip-hop rhythms) that's never short on pop sensibility. Topically, Heath blends tributes to his grandfather (a war veteran and church elder) and mentor Bob Goff (founder of social justice non-profit Restore International) with a fictional farmer, coal miner, and death row inmate—with a redemptive thread masterfully tying all of these compelling tales together." Alpha Omega News' Tom Frigoli said that "Throughout the record messages of hope, redemption, and love are underlined through the stories of Blue Mountain's residents", and told that "listeners will experience the stories of a wise sage, a coal miner, and even a prisoner on death row, to name a few. Even though many of the stories are fictional, it's easy for listeners to claim those stories as their own and relate to the themes in a very profound way. This is a testament to Brandon's incredible song (and story) writing talents." At Allmusic, Robert Ham noticed that "in place of the brash histrionics and overwrought production that mark the work of so many of his peers, Heath keeps things tempered, only allowing the dramatics to wander in for, well, dramatic effect." Joshuan Andre of Christian Music Zine said that "coming up from left field, Brandon's 4th album is pleasantly good and refreshing", and noted that the album contains "a smorgasbord of genres attached to this varied project, inclusive of sombre and uplifting ballads, personal stories of characters revealing the human condition, as well as upbeat guitar twangy southern melodies". At Cross Rhythms, Tony Cumming said that "Brandon's reflections on what he feels about life, love, hurt and everything in between is elegantly executed".Jonathan Andre of Indie Vision Music wrote that "his bold release of a country record is an interesting move by Brandon, yet he is able to win the doubters [...] over with reflective ballads, ingenious writing and hopeful stories of the characters providing inspiration to this album called Blue Mountain." Louder Than the Music's Jono Davies wrote that "there is a real maturity in the songwriting that flows in the creative lyrics of the songs", and the album to him was one "that [the artist] has always wanted to write" and produce. Furthermore, Davies wrote that "there is a very laid back feel to the album [...] these aren't just good songs, they are also great stories about how Brandon feels about life, love, God, hurt and everything else in-between." Jesus Freak Hideout's Bert Gangl said that "What do Keith Urban, the Alan Parsons Project (APP) and the Book of James have in common? The surprising answer to this unlikely question is that all three arguably had some influence on Brandon Heath's latest release, Blue Mountain." To this, Gangl wrote that "Like the APP, whose name during the '70s and '80s was veritably synonymous with what has now become known as the concept album, Blue Mountain is built around the central themes of living and dying." Larry Stephan highlighted that some production was scaled back, and felt that this was "beneficial, however, not universal." Lastly, Stephan told that "Blue Mountain contains a mix of Americana leaning songs and typical CCM type music.", but that "while more of the Americana leaning [would] have been welcome," he felt that "the album as a whole is still a cut above typical CCM style music." | 16159913222207885652 | 826 |
Q5938830 | Human trafficking in Iran
Human trafficking spill
There are many widespread evidences that shows the increasing of prostitution and trafficking in women and children in Iran, especially in the northern areas of Tehran and other larger cities. However, after the 1979 anti-monarchy revolution, this was banned. But, women's self-sale was prevalent due to economic crises and the spread of unemployment.
The State Department’s statement
According to a yearly report by the U.S. State Department on June 27, 2017, "Iranian girls aged 13 to 17 are targets of human trafficking gangs that are forcibly transmitted for sale and sexual services outside of Iran.".
The Iranian authorities’ acknowledgments
According to a report from the National Security Police of the Tehran Grand Command, as well as reports from the Center of Women's Affairs and the Committee of the Organization for the Defense of Victims of Violence in 2003, the smuggling of border women and girls to the Gulf States, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and even to European countries has expanded. Smugglers transmitted their victims from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to Iran and then sent them to Europe. In 2003, the number of gangs detected and defused in the West Azerbaijan Province reached to 200. News shows that Iran is a source of trafficking in human beings, but the officials of the Iranian government refrain from providing accurate statistics for political and security reasons.In this regard, Ali Sadeghi, the head of the Immigration Police and the Iranian government's police law enforcement passport, admitted in February 2013 that Iranian girls were being trafficked to the Arab countries of the southern margin of the Persian Gulf. At the same time, Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, commander of the country's police forces, said that the main destination is human trafficking from Iran, European countries, Australia and Canada. On the other hand, every year in Iran, the situation of children is worse and the age of prostitution is lower.
Black market of selling human beings
The prostitutes are originally from Iran and a high percentage are smuggled into Arab countries. Many of these women are taken to tourist spots in the country, specially places like Mazandaran, Gilan, Pars province Tehran and Mashhad to service both Iranian and foreign sex tourists.The government reportedly prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons through its 2004 Law on Combating Human Trafficking, which prescribes severe penalties, often including death sentences for convicted traffickers. However, border officials may be complicit in trafficking offenses and Iran has not reported any disciplinary action taken against officials suspected of facilitating trafficking. Furthermore, victims are arrested and may be punished for violations of morality standards such as adultery, defined as sexual relations outside marriage.According to the United States, the Government of Iran does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Lack of access to Iran by U.S. Government officials prohibits the collection of full data on the country’s human trafficking problem and the government’s efforts to curb it. Iran has not provided evidence of law enforcement activities against trafficking to the US government.
Human transit pathways
Iran is a country where traffickers are male and female for child labor. Organized groups are trafficked for women, girls and women for sexual exploitation in Iran itself, as well as in the United Arab Emirates and Europe. In 2013, smugglers trafficked women and girls to Kurdistan, Iraq for prostitution.Based on reports from 2009 to 2015 (2009-2012), smuggling and transferring girls through Iran and from Iran itself to the Gulf states and sending them to organized gangs to force them into prostitution and forced marriage.
Behavior towards Afghan refugees
On June 27, 2017, the U.S. State Department released its annual report on human trade. According to this report, Iranian authorities and the Revolutionary Guards force Afghan refugees to fight in Syria and Iraq. The report also notes that Iran has become the source and destination of men, women, and children exposed to trafficking in women and forced labor over the past five years.
Smuggling girls to Kurdistan, Iraq
In the annual report of the U.S. State Department on June 27, 2017, mentions the trafficking of human beings to Iranian girls who have houses in Kurdistan, Iraq, especially in Sulaimaniyah, for sex trade, and some have been taken there by smugglers. | 16155780900262720341 | 895 |
Q39057754 | John Aisance
Early Life and Land Treaties
Aisance's father, also called Aisance, preceded him as chief and clan leader. Their identical names have created confusion and debate among historians. The family's principal territorial interests seem to have lain in Penetanguishene and the surrounding area. It was the elder Aisance, apparently, whose name is recorded among the five Ojibwe chiefs who authorized the surrender of the area to the provincial government in the Penetanguishene Bay Purchase in 1798. In 1815, the younger Aisance participated alongside two other chiefs, including Musquakie, the future head chief, in authorizing the Lake Simcoe–Lake Huron Purchase, surrendering 250,000 acres of territory extending from the Penetanguishene area to the north shore of Kempenfelt Bay (present-day North Simcoe).
Coldwater
In 1817, Musquakie succeeded his father Yellow Head as head chief of the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe. The next year, he four other chiefs authorized the Lake Simcoe–Nottawasaga Purchase, surrendering 1,600,000 acres of territory west of Lake Simcoe to the government. Aisance was not involved in this purchase—the Otter clan was represented instead by Muskigonce—which left the Ojibwe with virtually no territory of their own, although they reserved the right to continue to range and hunt across the land they had relinquished.In 1828, the Ojibwe reportedly "expressed a strong desire to be admitted to Christianity, and to adopt the habits of civilized life". When they converted to Methodism later that year, Aisance, the foremost of Musquakie's subordinate chiefs, set an example by dismissing two of his three wives. Presumably it was now that he adopted the Christian name John. In 1830, the Ojibwe were induced by Lieutenant Governor John Colborne to settle permanently in two purpose-built villages, one at Atherley Narrows between Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching, where Musquakie settled with a part of his people, and the other at Gissinausebing, or Coldwater, where Aisance settled with the remainder of the Ojibwe. The house built for him there by the government was the only frame house in a village otherwise made up of log houses, in recognition of his chiefly status.Although Colborne's agents considered that this settlement and "civilizing" experiment was succeeding, Aisance quickly became disillusioned with the government agents and Methodist missionaries with whom he was obliged to deal. In 1832 he even converted to Roman Catholicism, his band following suit. In 1836, Francis Bond Head replaced Colborne as Lieutenant Governor and soon brought the experiment to an end. He opened talks with Musquakie and Aisance and persuaded them to leave the Simcoe-Coldwater corridor (which had remained Crown land), enticing them with the promise of one-third of the proceeds of the anticipated sales of lots there to European settlers. In 1842, Aisance joined four other chiefs in signing Musquakie's complaint to Governor General Charles Bagot, protesting that Bond Head had not fully explained the 1836 purchase agreement, and had, in particular, not made it clear that it did not involve an upfront, lump-sum payment, nor that the Ojibwe would receive only one-third of the sale proceeds. At their request, the proceeds of the piecemeal sales of lots in the Simcoe-Coldwater corridor were subsequently banked so that the Ojibwe could receive an annual income from the interest, which they divided three ways between Musquakie's band, Aisance's band and a third band led by Joseph Snake settled on the islands of Lake Simcoe. The chiefs also claimed ongoing Ojibwe ownership of the grist mill at Coldwater, which finally passed from their hands in 1849.
Upper Canada Rebellion
Towards the end of 1838, Bond Head called the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe to arms to help keep the peace in the wake of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837-38. Aisance dutifully assembled twenty-one warriors, abandoning the autumn hunt in the process, and followed Musquakie to an encampment at Holland Landing. The Ojibwe were soon dismissed, at which they complained "most bitterly" to government agents that the small stipend paid to them for this brief period of service was too little to offset the economic blow of having been compelled to abandon their hunting. In response to this outcry, the government approved the payment of rations to the Ojibwe until the end of February 1839.
Beausoleil Island
As a consequence of the 1836 purchase agreement with Bond Head, the Ojibwe were required to abandon the villages built for them by Colborne. In 1842, Aisance and his band left Coldwater and relocated to Beausoleil Island in Georgian Bay, a move that brought them closer to their chief's native country around Penetanguishene. Henceforth the Chippewas of Beausoleil Island conducted themselves as a distinct people from Musquakie's band, who had settled at Rama.Under Aisance's leadership, the Beausoleil settlement prospered modestly in stark contrast to the decay that reportedly took place at Rama. The Ojibwe, numbering 232 persons in 1842, grew steadily more able at growing corn and potatoes, rearing livestock, and making sugar, and their settlement grew slowly, eventually adding a school house. Notwithstanding a promising beginning, Aisance, frustrated by the poor soils on the island (which some blamed on the Ojibwe's cultivating technique), almost immediately hatched a plan for relocating westwards to the more fertile Christian Island which the chief did not live to see come to fruition. In 1856, the Chippewas of Beausoleil Island joined "a few Pottawatamies and Ottawas" already settled on Christian Island, their arrival marking the beginnings of the present-day Beausoleil First Nation, whose main reserve is still on Christian Island.
Death
John Aisance died in 1847, reportedly drowning in a canoeing accident. | 15730516632475840924 | 1,332 |
Q1762476 | Rusty-bellied brush-furred rat
Habitat
The range of L. sikapusi species extends from Sierra Leone to the Ivory Coast, Uganda, North Angola, Tanzania, Benin, West Kenya, and Zaire. This species is also found on the northern bank of the Congo River in Zaire.Out of the Lophuromys rodents, they occupy the largest geographical range. They are highly flexible to adapt to a wide range of habitats of life. Tropical lowland and subtropical land with adequate moisture is their usual habitat. They are dependent on moist grass land habitats, and are absent in very dry land or closed forests. These rodents are also Savannah dwellers that prefer habitat with some brushes.
Morphology
The rusty-bellied brush furred mice have a dark color coat with stiff textured fur. Their overall body built is a stubby body with short legs. Between the male and females, there is very little sexual dimorphism. The only significant dimorphism is that the males are larger in size in comparison to their female counterparts. An average rusty-bellied brush-furred rat weighs from 45 to 90 grams. They possess a short tail length in comparison to most African rodentia species. L.sikapusi has a shorter tail length than L.angolensis. L.sikapusi possesses an approximately similar head to tail body length ratio in comparison with other African rodents. Compared to Lemniscomys striatus specimens, L. sikapusi has relatively a shorter tail length and hind foot length. Their average tail length is 69 mm, and can be at a maximum of 82 mm. The rostrum resembles a shrew-like appearance. Their rostrums are slightly longer than the species L.flavopunctatus. Their cheek teeth have three rows of cusps, not only two as seen in Cricetidae (the family consisting of voles, lemmings, and New world rats).
Diet
The diet of L. sikapusi is characterized by insects such as ants, reptiles, seeds, palms, fibre, soft-bodied invertebrates, and vegetable materials that are abundant in the tropical land environments. Their food resources are limited by dry habitat. The dry habitat may also expose these rodents to predators by depriving them of the shelter they need. On the other hand, the wet season increases disease rate while increasing the abundance of food sources. Approximately 98% of food consumed is used toward maintaining a steady body temperature. Only 2% is used toward building new tissue. The energy dynamic of this animal is characteristic of rodents and mammals that are constantly losing energy through respiratory heat loss. Therefore, they need a high energy source to maintain a stable body temperature.
Digestive system
The digestive system of this species is unique. There is a distinctive bump along the great curvature in the stomach. It is considered to be a bilocular stomach, that aids in digesting plant-based diets. It allows adaptation to a variety of food sources. The digestive system of L.sikapusi, especially the stomach structure is very similar to Onychomys. The stomach of L.sikapusi does not show insectivorous diet anatomical arrangements. It is thought to aid the young to absorb large amount of milk in their stomach during period of growth. The stomach of L.sikapusi lacks pyloric glands. Their large stomach allows for heavy mixing of bolus after eating.Their stomach also maintains a relatively high pH range so the enzyme salivary amylase may continue to digest carbohydrates, starch, and glycogen from the food consumed. When there is inadequate water intake due to dry climates in the environment, these rodents produce concentrated urine and dry fecal matter to retain water so they may keep themselves hydrated.
Behavior
L. sikapusi have territorial behavior similar to many African rodents, that engage in fights when placed in close proximity to other rodents. There are bodily damages such as torn ears, and mutilated tails from fights among themselves. This species of rodents prefer to be alone. Species such as the Mastomys rat are discovered to be competitors to the Lophuromys species.
Growth and reproduction
This type of brush-furred mice produces large pups, but generally small litters. The young grow very rapidly, and may grow from 8 to 20 grams within the first five days after birth. The average amount of offspring from each litter is two, and it can go up to four pups. The infant rusty-bellied brush-furred mice become active in four to seven days, and their eyes begin to open. The coat is completed growing in a week after birth. The infants weigh about 25 grams by the tenth day. A young rusty bellied brush furred rat is called a pup, nestling, or pinkie. Females are “doe” and males are “buck".They have a gestation period of about 21 days. They may begin breeding at around 2 months of age. | 17217019790986084681 | 1,031 |
Q795057 | Cabozantinib
Medical use
Cabozantinib is used in two forms. A capsule form is used since 2012 to treat medullary thyroid cancer and a tablet form is used since 2016 as a second line treatment for renal cell carcinoma.
Contraindications
Cabozantinib has not been tested in pregnant women; it causes harm to fetuses in rodents. Pregnant women should not take this drug, and women should not become pregnant while taking it. It is not known if cabozantinib is excreted in breast milk.The drug should be used with caution in people with a history of heart rhythm problems, including long QT interval.
Adverse effects
In the US, the capsule formulation (Cometriq) carries a black box warning of the risk of holes forming in the stomach or intestines as well as formation of fistulas (tunnels between the GI tract and the skin). The black box also warns against the risk of uncontrolled bleeding. The tablet formulation (Cabometyx) warns of these effects as well.The labels also warn of the risk of clots forming and causing heart attacks or strokes, high blood pressure including hypertensive crisis, osteonecrosis of the jaw, severe diarrhea, skin sloughing off the palms and soles, a syndrome with headaches, confusion, loss of vision, and seizures, and protein appearing in urine.Very common adverse effects (greater than 10% of people) include decreased appetite; low calcium, potassium, phosphate, and magnesium levels; high bilirubin levels; distorted sense of taste, headache, and dizziness; high blood pressure; distorted sense of hearing, earaches and sore throat; diarrhea, nausea, constipation, vomiting, stomach pain and upset stomach, and inflammation of the mouth and lips and a burning sensation in the mouth; skin sloughing off the palms and soles, hair color changes and hair loss, rash, dry skin, and red skin; joint pain and muscle spasms; fatigue and weakness; weight loss, elevated transaminases, higher cholesterol levels, and loss of red and white blood cells.Common adverse effects (between 1% and 10% of people) include abscesses (inside the body, on the skin, and in teeth skin), pneumonia, inflamed hair follicles, fungal infections, low thyroid levels, dehydration, loss of albumin, anxiety, depression, and confusion, peripheral neuropathy, tingling, and tremor, tinnitus, atrial fibrillation, low blood pressure, blocked veins, paleness, chills, fistulas forming in the trachea and esophagus, blood clots in the lungs, and bleeding in the respiratory tract, GI perforation, bleeding in the stomach and intestines, pancreatitis, hemorrhoids, anal fissure, anal inflammation, gallstones, hard skin growths, acne, blisters, abnormal hair growth, loss of skin color and skin flaking, chest pain, blood or protein in urine, wounds that don't heal well, and facial swelling.
Interactions
Grapefruit and grapefruit juice should be avoided as they may increase the concentration of the drug in the blood.Cabozantinib is a substrate of CYP3A4 and multidrug resistance-associated protein 2; drugs that inhibit these enzymes will increase the half-life of cabozantinib and potentially increase its adverse effects; drugs that activate them may cause cabozantinib to be less effective.It inhibits P-glycoprotein, so will change the availability of other drugs that depend on this transporter.
Pharmacology
It inhibits the following receptor tyrosine kinases: MET (hepatocyte growth factor receptor protein) and VEGFR, RET, GAS6 receptor (AXL), KIT), and Fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3).
History
Cabozantinib (previously XL184) was granted orphan drug status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2011. Exelixis filed a new drug application with the FDA in the first half of 2012, and on November 29, 2012 cabozantinib in its capsule formulation was granted marketing approval by the U.S. FDA under the name Cometriq for treating patients with medullary thyroid cancer. The capsule form was approved in Europe for the same purpose in 2014.In March 2016 Exelixis licensed to Ipsen worldwide rights (outside the US, Canada, and Japan) to market cabozantinib.Exelixis' Phase III trial results of testing the drug in renal cancer published in the NEJM in 2015. In April 2016 the FDA granted approval for marketing the tablet formulation as a second line treatment for kidney cancer and the same was approved in Europe in October of that year.
Brand names
In Bangladesh under the trade name Cabozanix. | 9613695275557699357 | 1,023 |
Q57707716 | Falling Down (Lil Peep and XXXTentacion song)
Background
"Falling Down" was originally recorded as "Sunlight on Your Skin" during a London studio session between iLoveMakonnen and Lil Peep as part of a collaboration project. The producer claimed the lyrics "Let's watch the rain while it's falling down" was described that at the time Lil Peep recorded the song, it was pouring outside. In November 2017, Lil Peep died from an accidental Fentanyl–Xanax overdose, leaving the project unfinished. The song was played on livestream by iLoveMakonnen following his death and then was uploaded to YouTube as a snippet, where XXXTentacion heard it. iLoveMakonnen never met XXXTentacion but he did once speak with him once over the phone in late 2016 when he was in prison dealing with aggravated battery charges. XXXTentacion contacted iLoveMakonnen and recorded a verse over Makonnen's in tribute of Lil Peep, the rapper is quoted as saying that if he had seen the better side of Peep before he died then they would have been good friends. XXXTentacion was shot and killed on June 18, 2018, leaving the verse to be one of the last he ever recorded.
Release and promotion
The song was released on September 19, 2018, after a long delay, being announced by Lil Peep's and XXXTentacion's mothers. XXXTentacion's mother, Cleopatra Bernard, uploaded the preview on Instagram, captioning it with "From Peep's mom and I" with Makonnen claiming it was the mothers' wishes.
Controversy
While the single became a commercial success, its initial announcement was met by controversy among Peeps friends and fans, many of whom were upset regarding the inclusion of XXXTentacion. Leading up to his own death, XXXTentacion had accrued an extensive history of violence, including an incident in which he assaulted a gay cellmate for staring at him while naked. Moreover, at the time of the posthumous collaboration, XXXTentacion was facing multiple domestic abuse charges. This indicated that despite sharing similar musical tastes, his values ran counter to those lived by Lil Peep, a bisexual man. Fish Narc, a fellow member of GothBoiClique with Lil Peep, opposed XXXTentacion's inclusion on the song. In August 2018, Fish Narch posted a story onto Instagram in which he disavowed the collaboration. He stated, "[Peep] explicitly rejected XXX for his abuse of women, spent time and money getting XXX's songs removed from his Spotify playlists, and wouldn't have co-signed that song. Don't listen to it." Likewise, one of Lil Peep's closest collaborators, Lil Tracy said that the two artists were "never even friends [and] didn't even like each other." During an interview with XXL, Makonnen defended his decision to include XXXTentacion, saying, "If Lil Peep was alive, and me and Peep are friends, and I guess I can speak for Lil Peep since it's our project together, I would say that we would be very open to talking with whoever and to making any sort of creative things happen." Makonnen mentioned the role that Lil Peep and XXXTentacion's mothers had in conception of the song. He said, "I definitely think it was like the mothers' wish. [X] had just been tragically taken away and Peep passed away as well. I think it’s something both the mothers have in common. The mothers have the final say because these are their children at the end of the day." However, his statement conflicts with a comment Lil Peep's mother Liza Womack made in August in response to a fan's concerns on Instagram. She stated that releasing the song with XXXTentacion added onto to it was "Makonnen's choice" and not hers. The rights to Lil Peep's unreleased music are owned by Columbia Records. | 11722178051434452229 | 840 |
Q1331376 | Elliott P. Joslin
Early life
Elliott Joslin was born to wealthy parents in 1869 in Oxford, Massachusetts where his father was a mill owner. He was educated at Leicester Academy, Yale College and Harvard Medical School. After graduating from Yale, Elliott Joslin extended his time at the university by enrolling in a master's degree in physiological chemistry. This interest in chemistry, along with his aunt's recent diagnosis of diabetes, led him to an interest in diabetes and metabolic disease.
Medical career
From the beginning of his medical practice he kept a diabetes registry, the first of its kind in the world. His carefully assembled data from his medical ledgers eventually allowed him to predict a global diabetes epidemic that is evident today. In 1908, in conjunction with physiologist Francis G. Benedict, Joslin carried out extensive metabolic balance studies examining fasting and feeding in patients with varying severities of diabetes. His findings would help to validate the observations of Frederick Madison Allen regarding the benefit of carbohydrate- and calorie-restricted diets. The patients were admitted to units at New England Deaconess Hospital, helping to initiate a program to help train nurses to supervise the rigorous diet program.Joslin was an educator at heart and advocated total immersion of his patients and families in classroom education. He felt that careful monitoring of diabetes that rendered good control would allow the patient to avoid chronic complications of diabetes along with prevention of acute acidosis. Joslin included the findings from 1,000 of his own cases in his 1916 monograph The Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus, the first textbook on diabetes in the English language. Here he noted a 20 percent decrease in the mortality of patients after instituting a program of diet and exercise. This physician's handbook had 10 more editions in his lifetime and established Joslin as a world leader in diabetes.Two years later, Joslin wrote Diabetic Manual — for the Doctor and Patient, detailing what patients could do to take control of their disease. This was the first diabetes patient handbook and became a best seller. There have been 14 editions of this pioneering handbook, and a version is still published today by the Joslin Diabetes Center under the title The Joslin Guide to Diabetes.When insulin became available as therapy in 1922, Joslin's corps of nurses became the forerunners of certified diabetes educators, providing instruction in diet, exercise, foot care and insulin dosing, and established camps for children with diabetes throughout New England. With insulin available, Joslin enlarged his medical practice into a team that evolved into the Joslin Clinic, which was affiliated with the New England Deaconess Hospital and the Harvard Medical School.Joslin's associates were chosen to expand his interests in foot salvage for the middle aged diabetic prone to peripheral vascular disease as well as group education for diabetics in the hospital setting. This later expanded to include the first nurse educator service and children's diabetic camps. His proteges, including Drs. Alexander Marble and Priscilla White, followed his mandate to investigate problems in diabetes and metabolism. Marble became Joslin's first research director, and White created the first "high risk" pregnancy clinic aimed at improving outcomes for infants and the insulin-dependent woman during pregnancy and at delivery.The first hospital blood glucose monitoring system for pre-meal testing was developed under Joslin's direction before 1940 and was the forerunner of the modern glucometer era. Joslin was also the first to name diabetes a serious public health issue. Just after WWII, he expressed concern to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service that diabetes was an epidemic, and challenged the government to do a study in his hometown, Oxford, Massachusetts. The study was started in 1946 and soon confirmed the true incidence of diabetes in the general population (including a percentage of cases that went undetected). The study was carried out over the next 20 years. The results would later confirm Joslin's fear that the incidence of diabetes in the United States was approaching epidemic proportions. He has been named as being, with Frederick Madison Allen, one of the two leading diabetologists from the period between 1910 and 1920. In 1952, Joslin's group practice became officially known as the Joslin Clinic. In 1956, the office moved to its current location at One Joslin Place in Boston. It was the world’s first diabetes care facility, and today maintains its place as the largest diabetes clinic in the world.Joslin was adamant in his position that good glucose control, achieved through a restricted carbohydrate diet, exercise, and frequent testing and insulin adjustment, would prevent complications. This was debated for decades by other endocrinologists and scientists, and the American Diabetes Association was divided on this subject from its inception. The opposing point of view, led by Dr. Edward Tolstoi, held that tight control had little long term effect, but a profound effect on lifestyle.Joslin's tight control approach wasn’t validated until 30 years after his death, when in 1993, a 10-year study, the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial Report was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study showed significant reduction in retinopathy among a group of patients following tight control of their glucose as compared to those who underwent their usual routine. Furthermore, these patients reported no reduction in their lifestyle.
Controversy
Before the discovery of insulin, Joslin and Frederick Madison Allen promoted fasting and undernutrition to treat diabetic patients. Critics referred to this as "starvation dieting," and some patients starved to death. | 15157852298627145321 | 1,138 |
Q1647575 | Bañares
History
The first references to the village of Bañares confirm its existence as early as 1051: (Scemeno Munioz de Cerratón in his letter about a donation that he makes to Saint Millán, when Garsea was King of Pamplona in 1089, where he stands witness before Lope Enecores de Vaniares).In the year 1133 King Alfonso the Battler, who ruled over La Rioja, donated to Pedro, Archdeacon and rector of the Church of El Salvador, all the estates that touched upon the castle of Bilibio, along with all the land of the King in the village of Bañares, by Royal Decree.In 1157, on the plain of Valpierre, near Bañares, two battles were fought between the troops of Sancho III of Castile and Sancho III of Navarre, the latter having tried to take advantage of the death of Alfonso VII to acquire Castilian territory.By 1200, Pedro Fernández de Villegas I (hero of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212) was lord of the behetría (benefactor) of Bañares.The town was the scene of bloody battles in the 12th and 13th centuries between the kingdoms of Navarre and Castile.In 1478, the title of the Earl of Bañares was granted in favor of Alvaro de Zúñiga y Guzmán, owner of the castle, of which some ruins remain today, and the town remained in its domain until the abolition of this jurisdictional system in 1811 .It was part of the province of Burgos until the province of Logroño was created, and today it belongs to the autonomous community of La Rioja.The village has had a hospital since 1837.
Etymology
In the papal bull of 1199 which granted privileges to the Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla, it appears as "Bannares", with the collective suffix -ar and the Mozarabic feminine plural -es. The name of the place makes reference to baths, widely used in the Roman period.
Chapel of Santa Cruz or Santa Maria la Antigua (Saint Mary the Ancient)
An ancient, Romanesque parish church that was constructed around the 12th century.After a new church was built with the name Santa Cruz, the older one was renamed as Santa Maria la Antigua (Saint Mary the Ancient).It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Heritage of Cultural Interest) in the Monument category on 9 April 1964.
Parish church of the Holy Cross (Iglesia parroquial de la Santa Cruz)
It is a Gothic building. Construction began around 1490 and ended around 1510.In the interior of the church, one finds the ark of San Formerio. It is one of the jewels of Spanish Romanesque art; scholars place it halfway through the 12th century. It is made of wood covered with copper plates enameled with different motifs.It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Heritage of Cultural Interest) in the Monument category on 9 April 1964.
Castle of Bañares
This castle is now in ruins; since the stone was sold for construction. It is known that it had thick walls, a keep, and a moat that defended it.Currently only the Banares castle ruins are preserved, situated on the exit road toward Hervias, which allows reconstruction of a rectangular floor plan, with an entrance, facing east, on one of the long sides, flanked by cylindrical turrets, that also reinforce the corners of the rectangle. The walls were of great thickness and sloped. In its interior, one found the keep, attached to the southern section of the wall. Rectangular in form, it was constructed with massive cobblestone and pebble core masonry walls, reaching approximately 3.5 m in thickness. The interior space of this tower is divided longitudinally (E-W) in two naves, by two semi-circular arches which support a square pillar in the center and two corbels on the eastern and western walls.
Cuisine
The people use many products from the garden, examples being vegetable stew (called Menestra Riojana, or Riojan Stew), potatoes with sausage, potatoes with beef, piquillo peppers. Additionally, the meat is excellent, good examples being the local chorizo, sausages, and chuletillas al sarmiento (lamb chops with vine shoots), taking advantage of the wood that is a result of the pruning of the abundant vineyards in the area.
Sports facilities
Municipal pelota court, swimming pools and soccer fields of the Salceda. In addition there is a tourist cycling route that runs along the old railroad track path included in the catalog of greenways. | 15566859599596247376 | 1,027 |
Q1399563 | Maor Melikson
Early life
Melikson was born in Yavne, Israel, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. His mother was born in Legnica, Poland, and immigrated to Israel as a child. Melikson holds both Israeli and Polish citizenship.
Israel
Born in Yavne, Melikson started in the youth department of Maccabi Yavne. During the 2001–02 season, he made his senior debut in Liga Alef in a match against Ironi Ramat HaSharon. At the end of that season Maccabi Yavne were relegated to Liga Bet, and Melikson moved to Beitar Jerusalem. At the end of 2005–06 season after not reaching a financial settlement with Beitar, Melikson decided to join Ligat ha'Al champions, Maccabi Haifa on a three-year contract. During the 2007–08 season, Maccabi Haifa sold Melikson to Hapoel Kfar Saba. After just six months which included a relegation to Liga Leumit, he signed in June 2008 a five-year contract with Hapoel Be'er Sheva, and later was appointed as the team captain.
Wisła Kraków
On 31 January 2011, Melikson joined Polish Ekstraklasa side Wisła Kraków on a four-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee from Hapoel Be'er Sheva. He won the Ekstraklasa championship in his debut season. He was also named the Ekstraklasa Revelation of the Season, even though he only played for one half of the season. On 27 July, Melikson scored his first goal in European Cups in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League third qualifying round match against Litex Lovech, giving a vital 2–1 win to Wisła. Melikson scored again twice in the second leg and helped Wisła secure qualification for the play-off round, where they eventually lost to APOEL. He picked up an injury in September's league match against Ruch Chorzów, which ruled him out of play until December. Melikson returned to play the last two UEFA Europa League group stage matches and helped his team to qualify for the round of 32. He was chosen the biggest discovery of Ekstraklasa by other players in Polish Footballers' Association voting, as well as named to the Ekstraklasa Best XI in 2011.
Valenciennes
On 15 January 2013, Melikson joined Ligue 1 club Valenciennes on a two-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee from Wisła Kraków. He made his debut on 25 January in a 0–2 loss against Lyon, coming on as a substitute in the second half.
Return to Beer Sheva
On 10 July 2014, it was announced that Melikson would return to Beer Sheva.
International career
Melikson played in Israel national under-21 football team for several years, and helped the team qualify for the 2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship, but missed out on the final tournament due to injury.He made his debut for the Israeli senior national team in a friendly match against Uruguay on 26 May 2010. On 10 August 2011, in his second appearance for the national side Melikson scored two goals for Israel in the 3–4 loss against Ivory Coast.On 20 September 2011, the Polish Football Association chairman Grzegorz Lato revealed that Melikson in a conversation with him expressed his desire to play for the Poland national football team. Melikson is eligible to play for Poland based on a FIFA ruling allowing players to switch their national teams if the player had not yet played in an official FIFA competitive match with the senior team despite having played at the youth level. The next day, Israel Football Association issued a statement that Melikson is a member of Israel national football team and he is called for the upcoming match against Malta in the last fixture of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying phase. Melikson, however, refrained from making any comment for the Polish media, but Wisła Kraków manager Robert Maaskant confirmed his intentions to switch to Poland national team. Later Melikson said to Israeli media that he chose to play for Poland, but subsequently on 22 September declared that he has decided not to play for either national side for the time being. In January 2012 Melikson met with the new coach of Israel national team, Eli Guttman, and declared his desire to continue playing for Israel.In his first appearance in 2012, Melikson assisted Ben Sahar's goals in a 2–3 home loss to Ukraine in a friendly match. | 14720313562776910561 | 994 |
Q1878412 | Sum and Product Puzzle
The Sum and Product Puzzle, also known as the Impossible Puzzle because it seems to lack sufficient information for a solution, is a logic puzzle. It was first published in 1969 by Hans Freudenthal, and the name Impossible Puzzle was coined by Martin Gardner. The puzzle is solvable, though not easily. There exist many similar versions of puzzles.
Explanation
The problem is rather easily solved once the concepts and perspectives are made clear. There are three parties involved, S, P, and O. S knows the sum X+Y, P knows the product X·Y, and the observer O knows nothing more than the original problem statement. All three parties keep the same information but interpret it differently. Then it becomes a game of information.Let us call the split of a number A into two terms A=B+C a 2-split. There is no need for any advanced knowledge like Goldbach’s conjecture or the fact that for the product B·C of such a 2-split to be unique (i.e. there are no other two numbers that also when multiplied yield the same result). But if you know Goldbach’s conjecture, though, your work is cut in half since you know immediately that the sum x+y cannot be even, since every even number can be written as the sum of two prime numbers. The product of those two numbers would then be immediately possible to factorise uniquely by the property of prime numbers. Step 1. S (Sue), P (Pete), and O (Otto) make tables of all products that can be formed from 2-splits of the sums in the range, i.e. from 5 to 100 (X > 1 and Y > X requires us to start at 5). For example, 11 can be 2-split into 2+9, 3+8, 4+7, and 5+6. The respective products are 18, 24, 28, and 30 and the players put a tick mark beside each of these products in their tables (Table 1). When they are done, some numbers have no tick marks, some have one, and some have more than one.Step 2. Sue now looks at her sum and all its 2-splits. She sees that all 2-splits have products that are not unique, i.e. there is at least one other multiplication of two numbers that yield the same result. She sees this from the table in Step 1 where all her products have more than one tick mark. She realises that because of this fact, Pete will be unable to uniquely determine the factors X and Y by looking at the product (that would have required at least one of the candidate products to have only one tick mark). Thus she exclaims “P cannot know X and Y”. When Pete and Otto hear this, they get the information that none of the products associated with Sue’s sum are unique. By going through the possible sums, one by one, Sue, Pete, and Otto can now, each one by themselves, make a list of all eligible sums (Table 2). The table contains those sums whose all 2-splits have products that are non-unique, i.e. have more than one tick mark in Table 1. In no time at all, Sue, Pete, and Otto have created the table of candidate sums (Sue of course already knows her sum but needs to trace Pete’s thinking).Step 3. Considering the new information in Table 2, Pete once again looks at his product. To his surprise, the sums of all of the possible 2-splits of his product except one have disappeared from Table 2 compared to all numbers between 5 and 100 that were considered as sums from the outset. The only one that remains must be the sum of the two hidden numbers X and Y whose product X·Y he knows. From the sum and the product, it is easy to know the individual numbers and thus he tells Sue that “Now I know X and Y”. Pete is now done and exits the game.Step 4. Sue and Otto recalculates Table 1, this time only counting products of 2-splits from sums that are in Table 2 instead of from all numbers in the range 5 to 100 as in the original Table 1. This updated table is called Table 1B. Sue looks at all the products of the 2-splits of her sum and finds that only one of them appears exactly once in Table 1B. This must then be the product Pete has, and she can infer the two numbers from their sum and product as easily as Pete did. Thus, she tells Otto (Pete is already gone) that “Now I also know X and Y”. Sue is now also done and exits the game, only Otto remains. Step 5. From the information in Step 4, Otto scans all sums in Table 2 in search for one who among its all 2-splits, only one has a single tick mark in Table 1B. The desired one can only have one tick mark, else Sue would not have been able to know X and Y with certainty. Finally, Otto arrives at the desired sum which also happens to be the only one with these properties, making the original problem solvable with a unique solution. Otto’s task is now done as well.
Discourse analysis
The above analysis rests on mathematicians' arguments and conclusions where the statements by S and P are taken at face value. But a discourse analysis reveals other facts. Since both S and P are able mathematicians, they start to examine their sum and product respectively. Assume that they are given the problem at the same time and can communicate freely with each other. P will look to see if the product is unique, i.e. could be factorized into two factors in only one way. S will look to see if this property holds for all 2-splits of the sum. One of these 2-splits is the product that P has, but S does not know which. But it is clear that S, having to factorize all 2-splits, must do considerably much more work than P has to. Hence, if P would succeed in factorizing uniquely into only two factors, P would have announced that prior to S being able to complete its larger task. Since the dialogue does not contain a statement by P "I know the answer", one can safely assume that the product X·Y is not possible to factorize uniquely into only two factors. The silence (non-statement) by P is a message in this discourse. S will of course take advantage of this message and cancel out all 2-splits that are possible to factorize uniquely into only two factors. With those 2-splits cancelled out, S's statement that "P does not know X and Y" is now much less of a powerful discriminator. This discourse analysis leads to eight possible solutions to the original problem, of which one is the original solution and the smallest being X=4, Y=5. | 15393418590665219260 | 1,455 |
Q7597211 | Stalag XXI-D
Stalag XXI-D was a German World War II PoW Camp based in Poznań (Posnan), Poland.
Description
Following the invasion of Poland in 1939 and the establishment of the Reichsgau Wartheland, Poznań became the administrative centre of 'Wehrkreis XXI' (Military District XXI). Some of Poznań's eighteenth century forts were used as prison camps. Most notorious of these was the concentration camp, Fort VII, which was predominately used to house Polish prisoners.Some other forts, along with labour camp locations in the surrounding countryside, were used to hold PoWs. These collectively formed Stalag XXI-D and accommodated just over 3000 prisoners in total.
Camps
In Poznań itself, three forts were used to house PoWs; Rauch, IIIA and VIII.On the eastern, right, bank of the River Warta, near to the present day St. Roch bridge, stood Fort Rauch, the most southern of the right bank fortifications. Although partially demolished during the 1920s, it was used to accommodate about 750 men. An ICRC report of August 1941 described the fort as being "a circular building, made of red brick with three floors each with its windows facing an interior court which acts as the hub of the fort. There is no overcrowding and the rooms are not so large that they become noisy when filled with prisoners." Prisoners lived in many of the 50 basement rooms of the brick built redoubt, with 30-46 beds per room. Other rooms were used as a common room and theatre. After the war Fort Rauch was completely demolished and a college now stands on the site. Further to the north-east, Fort IIIA (Fort Prittwitz) was used to hold Gaulist French soldiers. In 1993 Fort IIIA was converted for use as a crematorium. It is set in what are now grounds of the Milostow cemetery, which contains graves and memorials to Poznań's many war dead. 52°25′0.62″N 17°0′5.69″EOf the west, left bank forts, Fort VIII (Fort Grolman) was also used to house British and French prisoners.; The fort still stands, located to the south of Stadion Miejski, home to Lech Poznań football club. 52°23′42″N 16°51′25.2″EWork camps were established in a wide area in and around Poznań. These included; Working Camp 4, Ostrowo Krotoszyn d14; Kuhndorf(possibly located at or near Sołacki Park renamed 'Kuhndorfpark' during the occupation in the Niestachów, Jeżyce area of north west Poznań.); XXI-D/Z Schildberg June–December 1943 (about 130 km south-west of Poznań), XXI-D/Z Montwy September–December 1943 (near Hohensalza about 107 km north-east of Poznań), and even as far away as Litzmannstadt/Łódź (Lodz) about 200 km to the east and closer to Warsaw than Poznań. Despite the distance, administration of the work camp at Łódź fell under Stalag XXI-D for part of the war. One group of PoWs were billeted in a disused textile dye works and worked in engineering workshops under the control of the German Ordnance Corps, supplying repair services for the Russian Front. This Ordnance Corps was known as H.K.P 20 (translated as Rearguard Vehicle Repair Park).The German Army training area at Warthelager a few miles north of Poznan, was the location of a PoW working camp between July 1940 and June 1942. Initially a sub-camp of Stalag XXI-B, by September 1941 became camp 11 of Stalag XXI-D. Prisoners moved between three locations within a few kilometres during that period, including a disused Polish Cavalry stables. Prisoners worked, for example, filling bomb craters. | 7991571826776521834 | 888 |
Q127568 | Daniel Hollie
Ohio Valley Wrestling (1998–2003)
Holle made his wrestling debut in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), as the Damaja. On January 6, 1999, he and David C. were awarded the OVW Tag Title when Nick Dinsmore no-showed and Rob Conway was counted out. He was also a three-time OVW Champion, defeating the likes of Dinsmore, Flash Flanagan, and Nova.In 2000 Danny Holle made a few appearances on WWF Jakked and in dark matches under the ring name Danny Holliday. In 2003, he was given the managerial services of Tough Enough II winner Shaniqua.
Tag Team Champions (2003–2004)
In late 2002 through early 2003 Hollie worked dark matches before the Raw and SmackDown tapings under his OVW gimmick and ring name, The Damaja. On May 29, 2003, Danny made his WWE television debut (as Danny Basham), teaming with Doug Basham to form the heel tag team, the Basham Brothers. The Bashams were later aligned with the valet, Shaniqua. As well as being portrayed with a bondage-based S&M gimmick, the "brothers" often switched places mid-match, so the "fresher" wrestler was always in the ring. In almost all cases, the referee acted oblivious to the switch, despite their easily differentiated faces and they won their first WWE Tag Team Championship from Los Guerreros on the October 23 episode of SmackDown!, after they switched places behind the referee's back, and hit Eddie Guerrero with a foreign object. The team lost the titles in February 2004 to Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty. The Basham Brothers and Shaniqua faced Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi at No Way Out 2004 in a handicapped match for the tag team titles but lost when Shaniqua was pinned. Right after this match, Shaniqua was sent to OVW for training and was eventually released.
The Cabinet (2004–2005)
The Basham Brothers joined John "Bradshaw" Layfield's cabinet stable on November 25, 2004. They were known as JBL's Co-Secretaries of Defense. The Bashams once again won Tag Team gold by defeating four other teams including Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam, Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak, and Eddie Guerrero and Booker T on January 13, 2005 in a four team elimination match by last eliminating Mysterio and Van Dam. The Basham Brothers lost the titles to Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero at No Way Out on February 20, 2005. From here on, The Bashams either acted as jobbers on SmackDown! or defeated any team that came in their path on Velocity. The Basham Brothers quit Layfield's Cabinet on the June 16 episode of SmackDown!, claiming that they were tired of being "JBL's crash test dummies" and not getting enough respect.
Raw (2005–2006)
On June 30, 2005 Basham became one of the last-minute trades in the 2005 WWE Draft, which saw him leave SmackDown! for Raw. This marked the end of the partnership with his "twin brother," who remained on SmackDown!. On the July 18 episode of Raw, Basham made his first appearance on the Raw brand as one of Chris Jericho's hand picked lumberjacks in the Lumberjack match between John Cena and Gene Snitsky.In August 2005, Hollie worked dark matches during Raw tapings under his former gimmick, The Damaja and made his televised debut on the September 11 episode of WWE Heat (as Danny Basham) under his Damaja gimmick, only more gothic and Raven like. Danny came out with new music, black face paint, and ring attire consisting of black boots and baggy black pants with hooks and chains on them.Hollie soon disappeared from television to grow his hair out but continued to work squash matches under this gimmick very sporadically at house shows or in dark matches over the next several months before completely disappearing from in-ring competition in 2006 before signing a new deal with WWE in April of that year.
ECW and departure (2006–2007)
Danny and Doug reunited in WWE's revived ECW brand during July 2006 at several house shows. They re-debuted on television on the July 18 episode of ECW, as personal security guards under helmets. However, when Danny was injured with a torn biceps, he was later replaced by Derek Neikirk, who continued Danny's role as the second masked enforcer. Danny's final WWE appearance was on the December 12 episode of ECW, where he and Doug were quickly defeated by Bobby Lashley. Holle was released by WWE on January 18, 2007.
Return to Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006–2007)
On November 18, 2006, Hollie made a surprising return when OVW owner Danny Davis introduced Danny Basham as the "OVW TroubleShooter" (similar to a General Manager), granting him the power to direct each OVW show. On March 7, 2007, The Basham Brothers returned to OVW and defeated Wyatt Young and Mike Tolar in a dark match.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007)
On April 20, 2007, Damaja and Doug Basham took on Rhino in a Derby City Street Fight, which Doug Basham lost. Basham and Damaja both appeared alongside Christy Hemme at the April 30 TNA Impact! TV Tapings. They were then revealed on the May 10 Impact! to be the mystery team facing the Voodoo Kin Mafia at Sacrifice 2007 in a match which they won.
Later career (2007-2008)
They would participated in the Chris Candido Cup 2007 tournament in IWA Mid-South defeating Silas Young and Dysfunction on May 25, and Axl Rotten and Mickie Knuckles on May 26 before losing to the The Thomaselli Brothers in the semi-finals that same night.That same year they appeared in Juggalo Championship Wrestling losing in an eight team elimination match for the JCW Tag Team Titles to Necro Butcher and Mad Man Pondo on August 11. Their last match together was on April 26, 2008 as they defeated Adam Rich and Shorty Biggs at JCW Slam TV Tour in Sauget, Illinois.He wrestled his last match for Insanity Pro Wrestling losing to Joey Owens in Indianapolis on July 5, 2008. | 14526443142306653366 | 1,396 |
Q1739391 | Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
Construction and operation
The facility was constructed in stages between 1981–1993 by the provincial Crown corporation, Ontario Hydro. Unit 2 was brought online in 1990, Unit 1 in 1992, and Units 3 and 4 in 1993. In April 1999 Ontario Hydro was split into 5 component Crown corporations with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) taking over all electrical generating stations. The Darlington reactors have been among the best performing in OPG's CANDU fleet, including a top year in 2008 in which the plant achieved a combined 94.5% capacity factor. In June 2016, the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) named Darlington one of the safest and top performing nuclear stations in the world - for the third time in a row.After public hearings, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission announced in December 2015 the renewal of Darlington’s power reactor operating licence, for a 10 year period from Jan. 1, 2016 until Nov. 30, 2025, to allow for the refurbishment of the Darlington station, which began in October 2016.In March 2017, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and its venture arm, Canadian Nuclear Partners, announced plans to produce Plutonium-238 as a second source for NASA. Rods containing Np-237 will be fabricated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington State and shipped to OPG's Darlington Nuclear Generating Station where they will be irradiated with neutrons inside the reactor's core to produce Pu-238.
Cost overruns
The Darlington station incurred massive cost overruns during its construction.The initial cost estimate for the station was $3.9 billion CAD in the late 1970s, which increased to $7.4 billion in 1981 when construction was started. A year-long period of public hearings and study by an Ontario government all-party committee finished in 1986 with the decision to proceed with the project, which had then risen to $7 billion in actual and committed costs. The final cost was $14.4 billion CAD, almost double the initial construction budget. The project was adversely affected by declining electricity demand forecasts, mounting debt of Ontario Hydro, and the Chernobyl disaster which necessitated safety reviews in mid-construction. Each delay incurred interest charges on debt, which ultimately accounted for 70% of the cost overruns. Inflation during 1977 to 1981 was 46 percent, according to Canada's Consumer Price index. In addition interest rates were running at 20 percent. Improper choice of equipment and a six-month labour stoppage of electrical workers also yielded some of these costs and delays. Discussion of who is to blame for the costs and subsequent debts associated with Darlington often arise during provincial election campaigns, and are often mentioned in anti-nuclear literature.
Refurbishment project
On October 14, 2016, OPG began Canada’s largest clean infrastructure project – the refurbishment of all four of Darlington’s reactors. According to the Conference Board of Canada, the $12.8 billion investment will generate $14.9 billion in economic benefits to Ontario, including thousands of construction jobs at Darlington and at some 60 Ontario companies supplying components for the work. The project is scheduled for completion by 2026, and will ensure safe plant operation through 2055.
New build proposal
In 2006, OPG started the federal approvals process to build new nuclear units at the site of its Darlington Nuclear Station. The project proposal involved the construction and operation of up to four nuclear units, with capacity of up to 4,800 MW.A request for proposals (RFP) process for design and construction resulted in bids from Areva NP, Westinghouse, and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). In June 2009, the Government of Ontario put the RFP process on hold, citing unexpectedly high bids, and the uncertainty surrounding the future of the only compliant bidder (AECL).In August 2011, the three-member Joint Review Panel (mandated by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission) released a report finding that the Darlington new build project would not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts (after taking into account mitigation measures). Following the report, the federal government approved the Environmental Assessment.In October 2013, the Ontario government declared that the Darlington new build project would not be a part of Ontario's long term energy plan, citing the high capital cost estimates and energy surplus in the province at the time of the announcement.
Waste
Low and intermediate level waste from Darlington is stored at the Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF) at the Bruce nuclear site near Kincardine, Ontario. OPG has proposed the construction and operation of a deep geologic repository for the long-term storage of this low and intermediate level waste on lands adjacent to WWMF.On May 6, 2015 the Joint Review Panel issued the Environmental Assessment (EA) Report recommending the approval of the Deep Geologic Repository for Ontario’s low and intermediate level waste to the federal government.In February 2016, the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change delayed a decision on OPG’s DGR, causing a pause in the timeline for the environmental assessment decision to be issued. OPG has since committed to completing further DGR studies by the end of 2016.The Darlington Waste Management Facility provides dry storage for the used fuel from Darlington, after an initial period in a water-filled storage bay. The facility was opened in 2007, reportedly on schedule and on budget. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is seeking a site in Canada for a permanent repository for used fuel from all of Canada's nuclear reactors.
Awards and recognition
2016: Corporate Community Leadership Award (Community Care Durham - Clarington) 2014: Local Economic Impact Award (Clarington Board of Trade) 2012: Environmental Achievement Award (Environmental Earth Angels) 2011: In December 2011 Darlington achieved 12 million hours without a lost time injury 2009: William H. Howard Conservation, Education and Outreach Award (Wildlife Habitat Council) 2008: International Corporate Habitat of the Year Award (Wildlife Habitat Council) 2007: Performance Improvement Award (Institute of Nuclear Power Operators) 2007: 20th Anniversary Signatures of Sustainability Award (Wildlife Habitat Council)2005: International Corporate Habitat of the Year Award (Wildlife Habitat Council)
Spill
On Dec. 21, 2009, Darlington nuclear staff over-filled a storage tank with lake water. The tank already contained purified (demineralized) water. This resulted in an overflow of about 210,000 litres of water to the environment. The amount of tritium released to the environment was less than 1 per cent of the regulatory limit and consistent with normal operational activities. | 12410191637725381237 | 1,439 |
Q35671 | Australian Kriol
History
European settlement in the Northern Territory was attempted over a period of about forty years. Settlement finally succeeded in 1870, and an influx of both English and Chinese speakers followed. In order to communicate between these two groups and the local Aboriginal people, pidgins developed throughout the territory based on Port Jackson Pidgin English. By 1900, Northern Territory Pidgin English (NTPE) was widespread and well understood.It creolised first in the Roper River Mission (Ngukurr), where cattle stations were established and a township developed.During this period, the relations between the native and European people were strained. Aboriginal people fiercely defended their lands. However, the control of lands was eventually seized by the settlers, when a cattle company acquired much of the area. The settlers became more determined to take full control of the land from the native people and carried out a campaign to do so.The resettlements and land seizures nearly annihilated the indigenous population and also provided one major factor in the development of the creole: drastic social change accompanied by severe communication difficulties.The second requirement for the development of the creole was a new community, which came about when Anglican missionaries set up a refuge in the Roper River region in 1908. This brought together around 200 people from 8 different aboriginal ethnic groups, who spoke different native languages. Although the adults were multilingual because of frequent meetings and ceremonies, the children had yet to acquire their native language skills and so used the only common language they had: the NTPE. In their lifetime, these children were almost totally responsible for developing the pidgin into a full language.Although the relations between the missionaries and Aboriginal people were friendly, the missions were not responsible for the development of Kriol. In fact, they tried to introduce Standard English as the official language for the mission, which the Aboriginal children used in class and with the missionaries, but Kriol still flourished.Kriol was not recognised as a language until the 1970s, as it was regarded as a dialect of English rather than a language in its own right.
Varieties
Kriol is very widely spoken in the Katherine area, but there are minor differences between the varieties of Kriol spoken in particular areas. Some speakers of Kriol prefer to refer to their language by their unique name. However, the varieties are quite similar. Debate is ongoing about whether the varieties should be named differently to highlight their different social significance or the varieties should all be lumped into one big category of Kriol.The differences are not actually that large: Mari Rhydwen compares the distinction to the distinction between American and British English.Roper River (Ngukurr) Kriol is also spoken in Barunga, and in the Daly River area a mutually intelligible variety is spoken, but Daly River speakers do not consider themselves to be Kriol speakers. There is the question of whether the varieties should be understood as different forms of Kriol to strengthen the identities of the respective region or they all should be seen as Kriol and potentially have a better chance of funding for bilingual education programs.
Kriol Bible translation
On 5 May 2007, the first complete edition of the Bible in the Kriol language was launched at Katherine in the Northern Territory. Translation took over 29 years. It was undertaken by a team of native Kriol speakers led by Rev. Canon Gumbuli Wurrumara and specialists from the Society for Australian Indigenous Languages.The Kriol Bible is the first complete edition of the Bible in any indigenous Australian language. The publication was a joint venture of The Bible Society, Lutheran Bible Translators, The Church Missionary Society, the Anglican church, Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Australian Society of Indigenous Languages. The following is Genesis 1:1,2 from this translation: "Orait, longtaim wen God bin stat meigimbat ebrijing, nomo enijing bin jidan. Imbin jis eniwei, nomo garram enijing. Oni strongbala woda bin goran goran ebriwei, en imbin brabli dakbala, en det spirit blanga God bin mubabat ontop langa det woda."
Dialects
Dialects of the Kriol includes Roper River Kriol (Roper River Pidgin), Bamyili Creole, Barkly Kriol, Fitzroy Valley Kriol, and Daly River Kriol.
Current issues
A problem facing many communities in Northern Australia is that creole-speaking children are treated as though they speak English, but speak it badly; so they do not receive education in English as a second language. On the other hand, because they are not regarded as having a native mother tongue, they are denied access to education in their traditional language.The only official bilingual language program in Kriol is at Barunga, which was established during the Whitlam government, and has successfully included Kriol as both a medium and an object of study. Funding is scarce for any further development of programs. Although Kriol is widely spoken, its literal translation is minimal, with the exception of the Bible, and stories produced for the bilingual program which are available through the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages. This means that literacy rates of Kriol are quite low. Apart from practical implications of this, especially if English literacy is also low (i.e., written communication, education opportunities), it means that traditional stories are either not recorded in written form, or the Ngukurr people must rely on texts from Barunga, which may lessen the identity distinction between the two groups. However, Aboriginal cultures are not traditionally rooted in written records, so the lack of written versions of texts may be a function of the oral nature of Aboriginal storytelling. | 13969305459654086016 | 1,203 |
Q20155387 | Rafael Cruz
Early life
Cruz was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1939. His father, Rafael Cruz, was a salesman for RCA, originally from the Canary Islands, Spain. His mother, Emilia Laudelina Díaz, was a teacher.Cruz attended Arturo Echemendia primary school in Matanzas. Cruz states he joined the Cuban Revolution as a teenager and "suffered beatings and imprisonment for protesting the oppressive regime" of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Cruz enrolled at the age of 17 at the University of Santiago in September 1956. According to Cruz, as a teenager, he "didn't know Castro was a Communist". Cruz has stated in interviews that he was jailed by Batista for several days in June or July 1957 and after he was released he applied to and was accepted by the University of Texas in August 1957. He obtained a student visa after an attorney for the family bribed a Batista official to grant him an exit permit. Cruz said he left with $100 sewn into his underwear taking a two-day bus ride from Florida, arriving with little or no English to enroll at the University of Texas.He graduated from UT with a degree in mathematics and chemical engineering four years later in 1961. Cruz states he worked his way through college as a dishwasher, making 50 cents an hour and learned English by going to movies. When he arrived in Austin he gave dozens of speeches in support of the Revolution to various clubs, but later after a visit back to Cuba in the summer of 1959 he became a harsh critic of Castro after "the rebel leader took control and began seizing private property and suppressing dissent". Upon returning he revisited the same groups to give lectures opposing Castro and the Revolution. Cruz recounts that his younger sister fought against the new regime in the counter-revolution and was consequently tortured. He remained regretful for his early support of Castro and expressed his remorse to his son on numerous occasions.
Religious and political beliefs
Cruz left the Catholic Church in 1975 and became an Evangelical Protestant after attending a Bible study with a colleague and having a born again experience. Explaining his leaving the Catholic church, Cruz stated in an interview with National Review, "The people at the Bible study had a peace that I could not understand, this peace in the midst of trouble. I knew I needed to find that peace by finding Jesus Christ." Following his conversion, his son and wife also became born-again Protestants. In the Cruz home, talk at dinner time was frequently about the Bible. He was ordained as a pastor in 2004.Cruz works from his home in Carrollton, a suburb of Dallas, as a traveling preacher and public speaker, campaigning as a surrogate for his son during the 2016 Presidential campaign season. In a 2014 Associated Press story, Cruz was quoted as saying, "I have a burden for this country and I feel that we cannot sit silent." He went on to say that he feels "It's time we stop being politically correct and start being biblically correct."About his political involvements in the 1980s, Cruz reflected, "I was on the state board of the Religious Roundtable, a Christian and Jewish religious organization that worked to elect Ronald Reagan." At the time, he told his son, "God has destined you for greatness."At the New Beginnings Church in Irving, Texas, in August 2012, Cruz delivered a sermon where he described his son's senatorial campaign as taking place within a context where Christian "kings" were anointed to preside over an "end-time transfer of wealth" from wicked people to the righteous. Cruz urged the congregation to "tithe mightily" to achieve that result. During an interview conducted by The Christian Post in 2014, Cruz stated, "I think we cannot separate politics and religion; they are interrelated. They've always been interrelated."Salon described Cruz as a "Dominionist, devoted to a movement that finds in Genesis a mandate that 'men of faith' seize control of public institutions and govern by biblical principle."On Labor Day 2015, Cruz was hosted at the annual "Turning Hearts" celebration in Kalona, Iowa, by the Bontrager Family Singers, a gospel and bluegrass group which became active in the ongoing Ted Cruz presidential campaign.
Personal life
In 1959, Cruz married Julia Ann Garza (August 22, 1939 – May 18, 2013), but divorced after a few years. She later became a professor at California State University, Stanislaus. They had two daughters, Miriam Ceferina Cruz (born November 22, 1961) and Roxana Lourdes Cruz (born November 18, 1962), a Greenville, Texas, physician. Miriam died in 2011. He has three grandchildren.After Cruz graduated from the University of Texas in 1961, he was granted political asylum in the United States following the expiration of his student visa. In his twenties, Cruz moved to New Orleans. In 1969, at his new oil company job, he met his second wife, Eleanor Elizabeth Darragh Wilson, a computer programmer from Wilmington, Delaware. Cruz and Wilson were sent to and lived in Calgary, Canada, where their only child, Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz, was born on December 22, 1970. While in Calgary, the couple owned a seismic-data processing firm for oil drillers. Cruz earned Canadian citizenship in 1973. The family then moved to Houston, Texas. In 2005 Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Cruz now retains only Cuban and American citizenships. Eleanor and Rafael Cruz divorced in 1997.From 1993 to 2009, Cruz was a top salesman for Mannatech.
Politics
Cruz was involved with his son's 2016 presidential campaign, playing what The Boston Globe described as "a crucial—if sometimes divisive—element of the Texas senator’s campaign to win over conservative Christian voters." During the campaign, Cruz underwent emergency eye surgery, but returned to campaigning after several weeks' recovery. Cruz refused to say that he would endorse the Republican presidential candidate (and eventual winner) Donald Trump. | 18401000272247330088 | 1,307 |
Q15488337 | Olive Risley Seward
Early life
Olive F. Risley, was born in Fredonia, New York. She was the daughter of the former Harriet C. Crosby and Hanson A. Risley, a prominent civil servant who later worked for the Secretary of the Treasury and resided in Washington, D.C. She was the fourth of five children, though her three elder siblings died young. She attended local schools and grew up in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the capital.
Relationship with Seward
Former Secretary of State William Henry Seward, widowed in 1865, took such an interest in Olive Risley beginning in 1868 that Gideon Welles wrote in his diary: "There is much gossip in relation to a projected marriage between Secretary Seward and a Miss Risley. He is in his sixty-eighth year and she in her twenty-eighth. I give the rumor no credit. Yet his conduct is calculated to make gossip. For the last six week he had passed my house daily to visit her." Hanson Risley and his family had known the Sewards for years. Seward had also lost his daughter Fanny in 1866, a close friend and contemporary of Olive, whose mother died the same year. Olive and her younger sister Harriet Risley (born 1850) and their father, traveled together to California in the summer of 1870 with Seward, where Hanson left the group. His daughters continued with Seward and two other married couples to Japan and China. In Shanghai, when one couple left the group to return home and George Seward, accompanied by his wife, took up his post as the new U.S. consul general in Shanghai, Seward and the two young women faced the prospect of continuing as a gossip-provoking trio. Hanson Risley expressed his concerns by letter to Seward. In order to curtail gossip and family worries that they might marry, Seward formally adopted Olive as his daughter in 1870, though her father was still alive. Seward altered his will to recognize his and Olive's new relationship. Seward's sons wrote letters of support to their father, one saying that they all thanked Olive for "her kind care and affection" for their father, adding: "I see no better or delicate way than this of rewarding its continuance". Seward wrote of Olive to her father: "it seems almost indelicate for me to speak her just praise even to you. She had ripened into a noble, impressive, intellectual and attractive womanhood. All women we meet must give her their love and seek her confidence. All the intelligent and distinguished men converse with her as their equal or superior."The trio proceeded to visit the Middle East and Europe in 1870-1871. When they returned to New York, Risley and Seward began work on a travel book about their experiences, drawing largely on her journal from the trip. Seward died before the book was finished. Published by D. Appleton & Co. in 1873, William H. Seward's Travels Around the World became a best seller. Risley received credit as the volume's editor and was identified as Seward's executrix. The Seward estate made $50,000 from the sales.
Inheritance and later life
Seward named Risley and his son William as his executors. His sons shared the principal family homestead, while the remainder of the estate was shared equally by Risley and Seward's three sons. Risley's portion was valued at $50,000. She moved back to Fredonia to be with her birth father. By 1874, she had moved to Washington D.C., where she and her lifelong companion Sara Carr Upton co-founded the Literary Society of Washington. She was also a member of the Washington Club and the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1889, she wrote a book of stories for children based on her travels with Seward called Around the World Stories that was published by D. Lothrop Company. About 1888 she became a Roman Catholic and spent several years in Rome. She led the fundraising to found a Catholic women's college, Trinity College, now Trinity Washington University, as the first president of its Auxiliary Board.She died in 1908 at her home on Nineteenth Street, NW, in Washington. She was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Fredonia, N.Y., the town where she was born.
Memorial
In 1971, sculptor John Cavanaugh created a statue honoring her. Lacking a photograph, Cavanaugh sculpted his idea of an idealized Victorian lady instead. The statue stands in front of a private residence on North Carolina Avenue and Sixth Street, SE, in Washington, D.C.. Risley's head is turned to the left as if gazing toward nearby Seward Square, named for her adoptive father. | 16324578271668686796 | 1,000 |
Q25303433 | Counterfeit Cat
Development
On December 3, 2010, Aardman Animations originally started the development for the show for Disney. The series is Aardman's first series to use traditional animation. The development was in co-production with Wildseed Studios to complete the development for the project together while Atomic Cartoons was hired to serve animation production and Tricon Films & Television committed to distribute the series until Sonar Entertainment had taken over its distribution.The designs for the show were provided by Antoine Birot and Raphael Chabassol based on original designs by Nick Edwards. The series is directed by Ben Marsaud and produced by Sarah Mattingley. The first season consisted of 52 episodes at ten minutes each and coincided with 11 two-minute shorts.Ben Marsaud (who is the director of the series) was a former storyboard artist of seasons 1–3 of Cartoon Network's original British-American children's animated series, The Amazing World of Gumball and is the current director of Netflix's original animated sitcom, F is for Family. Miles Bullough (who is the executive producer of the series) is also an executive producer on the animated shows, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time, Chop Socky Chooks & the Wallace & Gromit direct-to-video movie, A Matter of Loaf and Death for Aardman.
Animation
The animation services for the series is handled by Atomic Cartoons. The animation company also been known for Atomic Betty, Captain Flamingo and as well currently as the sixth and seventh seasons of Max & Ruby and Angry Birds Toons. The animation is being made on Adobe Animate.
Home Media
In Canada the first season was released on iTunes under two volumes, the first on November 1, 2016 (the same day that the series premiered on Teletoon) and the second on November 23, 2016.On March 17, the show began streaming on U.S. based streaming site Hulu.
Shorts
Counterfeit Cat also premiered with the shorts were originally shown on Disney XD's UK YouTube channel on May 12, 2016 and on Teletoon's YouTube on November 30, 2016 respectively to help keep the show going, But it concluded with 11 two-minute shorts and ended on March 22, 2017 on Disney XD France's YouTube.
2-Part Special
A 2-part episode, "Gone Gark", is released on January 30, 2017 on Disney XD in the United States. It also served as the 26th segment and the 52nd episode, making it the series finale. It aired on Teletoon on February 9, 2017. In the UK, It was released on January 22, 2017. And it was the last episode to be in distribution with Tricon Films and Television before Sonar Entertainment took over distribution.
Online Game
On May 27, 2017, An online game based on a show itself called "Counterfeit Cat: Nine Lives" was developed and released onto Teletoon's website. The game was developed by Bell Fund and Redspace in co-conjunction with Wildseed Kids for Teletoon. It is also based on the episode of the same name.The game was one of the final "Counterfeit Cat" properties to be in production with Tricon Films and Television before Sonar Entertainment acquired the rights to distribute the entire show.
Critical response
Since the show's debut in the middle of 2016, The series reached its rating of 8/10 (later a 7.9/10) on IMDb. Emily Ashby (of Common Sense Media) stated that her TV review is that Counterfeit Cat is a "Funny buddy comedy has mischief, feline-flavored humor" and gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.
Broadcast
In the United Kingdom, the series first aired on Disney XD on May 12, 2016, it also premiered on Pop on 1 October 2018. Counterfeit Cat debuted on Teletoon on May 12, 2016, In Latin America, it began airing on Nickelodeon on April 6, 2018, In Germany, it began airing on Disney XD on October 17, 2016 | 4582372681500878788 | 881 |
Q5316958 | Dust: A Tale of the Wired West
Story
Set in 1882, the game opens by introducing the mysterious protagonist "the Stranger," who is playing cards with a fictionalized version of Billy the Kid in an unknown town in the American West. The Stranger discovers that The Kid is cheating, and The Kid draws his gun and begins firing. After stabbing the Kid with an ornate Plains Indian dagger, the Stranger runs out of the saloon and escapes. In the early morning hours, the Stranger finds himself in the desert town of Diamondback, New Mexico, whose inhabitants treat him with suspicion. The Stranger discovers that there is a target range, a general store, a saloon, a brothel, and a mining camp with a cockfighting ring (but the mining camp cannot be visited). The Mayor's daughter, Marie Macintosh, recognizes the Stranger. It is revealed that the Stranger has some renown for fighting in the Comanche Wars.The Stranger trades for a new pair of boots which were recovered from a corpse. He then learns that local sheriff William Purvis was recently murdered, and that a local resident who immigrated from Malmo, Sweden has Purvis' six-shot revolver concealed in the bucket of the well from which he waters his pigs. During the night, the Stranger takes the stolen revolver for himself. Later, the Stranger uses a distraction to steal a cache of ammunition from Levon Deadnettle by giving him some risqué burlesque photographs to put in his collection. The Stranger has to save "Help," a Chinese storekeeper, whose shop is about to be burnt down by brothers Cobb and Dale Belcher, drunkard troublemakers who come from a battered family. The two were motivated to drive out "Help" because US President Chester A. Arthur had recently signed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Stranger uses force to stop the two men, winning support from much of the town and receiving the post of town sheriff. In doing so, however, the Stranger attracts the attention of The Kid, who travels to Diamondback.A woman whom locals call "Sonoma," one of the few remaining members of the fictional Yunni Tribe, asks The Stranger to recover five sacred objects belonging to her tribe, in exchange for helping him find the legendary Devil's Breath gold mine. Other tasks for the Stranger include helping Nate Trotter, a local rancher, treat his melancholia and saving the life of Herodotus Mezamee. Mezamee is an African-American poker player who is being hunted by corrupt bounty hunters because he killed a white man in self-defense.The Kid arrives, sending in gunmen ahead of him to kill the Stranger, but the Stranger eliminates the attackers and kills The Kid in the duel that follows. Then he returns the Yunni objects to "Sonoma." Keeping her word, Sonoma helps the player character to gain access to the Devil's Breath gold mine, the entrance to which is hidden under the town's abandoned schoolhouse.In the mine, the Stranger encounters a mysterious Guardian who reveals that the Stranger's actual name is Ahote -- in reality a Hopi name meaning "restless one." The Guardian discloses that the Strange a member of the Yunni tribe who was separated at birth, and is destined to help restore the Yunni tribe. The Guardian tasks him with one final puzzle while also urging Ahote to remove a box that appears. He explains that early Spanish colonists massacred much of the Yunni Tribe in their attempt to steal the box. Ahote solves a puzzle, which reveals that the box is filled with treasure, but then Ahote is held a gunpoint by Radisson Bloodstone-Hayes, a wealthy English aristocrat who seeks to take the treasure for his own gain. Making use of mystical Yunni rituals, Ahote performs an invocation to summon the Yunni Thunderbird. The apparition strikes Hayes down and kills him.Upon leaving the mine with the treasure, Ahote finds the town gathered to meet him. He is offered five choices on what to do with the treasure. The game's five endings depend on what choice the player picks. Ahote can go into the ranching business with Nate Trotter, go into the lead business with Mayor Cosimo Macintosh, run away with Marie to live in opulence, leave town with the treasure, or give the treasure to Sonoma to help rebuild the Yunni tribe.
Development
Dust was built from a script of 400 pages. | 10337331645691464081 | 905 |
Q20714477 | Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission
Background
The Arizona Constitution (Art. IV, pt. 1, §1) lets voters adopt laws and constitutional amendments by ballot initiative. Arizona voters adopted Proposition 106 in 2000 to address the problem of gerrymandering by creating the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC). The Arizona Legislature sued in 2012, arguing that the creation of the AIRC violated the Elections Clause of the U. S. Constitution, which says “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”The United States District Court for the District of Arizona, dividing two to one, rejected the Legislature's complaint, finding that prior Supreme Court decisions “demonstrate that the word ‘Legislature’ in the Elections Clause refers to the legislative process used in [a] state, determined by that state's own constitution and laws,” and that the lawmaking power in Arizona “plainly includes the power to enact laws through initiative”.
Opinion
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan joined. The Court affirmed the District Court's ruling, holding that "[r]edistricting is a legislative function to be performed in accordance with the State’s prescriptions for lawmaking, which may include the referendum, Ohio ex rel. Davis v. Hildebrant, 241 U.S. 565, 567, and the Governor’s veto, Smiley v. Holm, 285 U. S. 355, 369. While exercise of the initiative was not at issue in this Court’s prior decisions, there is no constitutional barrier to a State’s empowerment of its people by embracing that form of lawmaking."The court also noted that in 1911, Congress amended section 2a(c) of Title Two of the United States Code, which provided for federal redistricting if states fail to act. Recognizing "that States had supplemented the representative legislature mode of lawmaking with a direct lawmaking role for the people," Congress "replaced the reference to redistricting by the state 'legislature' with a reference to redistricting of a State 'in the manner provided by the laws thereof.'"In support of its holding, the court reviewed several dictionaries from the approximate time of the framing of the US Constitution. Instead of a narrow definition of "legislature" meaning a state's senators and representatives these dictionaries defined "legislature" broadly, as "the power that makes laws".
Dissents
Chief Justice John Roberts filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito. Scalia and Thomas each wrote additional dissents which the other joined. Roberts concluded that the term “the Legislature” in the Elections Clause unambiguously refers to a representative body as "confirmed by other provisions of the Constitution that use the same term in the same way. When seeking to discern the meaning of a word in the Constitution, there is no better dictionary than the rest of the Constitution itself."Justice Scalia explained at length why he would not have granted standing in this case, then added "[n]ormally, having arrived at that conclusion, I would express no opinion on the merits unless my vote was necessary to enable the Court to produce a judgment. In the present case, however, the majority’s resolution of the merits question ('legislature' means 'the people') is so outrageously wrong, so utterly devoid of textual or historic support, so flatly in contradiction of prior Supreme Court cases, so obviously the willful product of hostility to districting by state legislatures, that I cannot avoid adding my vote to the devastating dissent of the Chief Justice."Justice Thomas contrasted the court's support for direct democracy in this case with the overturning of many state voter referenda opposing same sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges, decided days earlier.
Impact
The case has formed the basis of action by the Supreme Court in at least one other case, Hickenlooper v. Kerr.Hickenlooper was a petition for certiorari brought by John Hickenlooper in his capacity as governor of Colorado, as part of a long-running litigation over the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. On June 30, 2015, the Court issued a grant, vacate, remand order in the case, in which it granted the petition, vacated the decision below by the Tenth Circuit, and remanded it to the lower court for reconsideration in light of Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. | 13411454096805814608 | 988 |
Q976296 | Hayyim Selig Slonimski
Biography
Ḥayyim Selig Slonimski was born in Bialystok, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Poland), the oldest son of Rabbi Avraham Ya'akov Bishka and Leah (Neches) Bishka. His father belonged to a family of rabbis, writers, publishers and printers, and his mother was the daughter of Rabbi Yeḥiel Neches, an owner of a well-known beit midrash in Bialystok. Slonimski had a traditional Jewish upbringing and Talmudic education; without a formal secular education, Slonimski taught himself mathematics, astronomy, and foreign languages.An advocate for the education of Eastern European Jews in the sciences, Slonimski introduced a vocabulary of technical terms created partly by himself into the Hebrew language. At age 24, he finished writing a textbook on mathematics, but due to lack of funds, only the first part of which was published in 1834 under the title Mosedei Ḥokhmah. The following year, Slonimski released Sefer Kokhva de-Shavit (1835), a collection of essays on Halley's comet and other astronomy-related topics such as the laws of Kepler and Newton's laws of motion.In 1838, Slonimski settled in Warsaw, where he became acquainted with mathematician and inventor Abraham Stern (1768–1842), whose youngest daughter Sarah Gitel he would later marry in 1842. There he published another astronomical work, the highly popular Toldot ha-Shamayim (1838).He also tried his hand at the applied sciences, and a number of his technological inventions received recognition and awards. The most notable of his inventions was his calculating machine, created in 1842 based on his tables, which he exhibited to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and for which he was awarded the 1844 Demidov Prize of 2,500 rubles by the Russian Academy of Sciences. He also received a title of honorary citizen, which granted him the right to live outside of the Pale of Settlement to which Jews were normally restricted. In 1844, he published a new formula in Crelle's Journal for calculating the Jewish calendar. In 1853 he invented a chemical process for plating iron vessels with lead to prevent corrosion, and in 1856 a device for simultaneously sending multiple telegrams using just one telegraphic wire. The system of multiple telegraphy perfected by Lord Kelvin in 1858 was based on Slonimski's discovery.Slonimski lived between 1846 and 1858 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, an industrial town in central Poland. He corresponded with several scientists, notably Alexander von Humboldt, and wrote a sketch of Humboldt's life.In February 1862 in Warsaw, Slonimski launched Ha-Tsfira, the first Hebrew newspaper in Poland, and was the publisher, editor, and chief contributor. It ceased publication after six months due to his departure on the eve of the January Uprising from Warsaw to Zhitomir, the capital of the Ukrainian province Volhynia. There Slonimski was appointed as principal of the rabbinical seminary in Zhitomir and as government censor of Hebrew books. After the seminary was closed by the Russian government in 1874, Slonimski resumed the publication of Ha-Tsfira, first in Berlin and then again in Warsaw, after he obtained the necessary permission from the tsarist government. The newspaper would quickly become a central cultural institution of Polish Jewry.He died in Warsaw on May 15, 1904.
The Stalin controversy
In 1952, Josef Stalin made a speech in which, among other things, he claimed that it was a Russian who had beat out America in the 19th century in the development of the telegraph. While Stalin's claim was mocked in the United States, Slonimsky's grandson, the musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky, was able to confirm the accuracy of some of Stalin's claims. | 7203867059790182936 | 863 |
Q30122844 | Robert L. Ord
Career
In 1995 Ord was promoted as Deputy Director of the United States Police Defensive Tactics Association and developed training courses for Law Enforcement organizations around the world. During this time frame, Ord also graduated from the South West Florida Criminal Justice Academy in 2000 and was a Deputy Sheriff for a Florida Sheriffs Department. Ord moved to Culpeper, Virginia and became a Deputy Sheriff with the Culpeper County Sheriffs Department.In 2003 Ord founded the Virginia Security company Falken Industries with under $600.00 . He was divorced, living his parents basement and was committed to restarting his life. By 2017 Ord had made over 10 million dollars with his company. Ord provided private law enforcement officers under the Virginia Statute affording Private Security Law Enforcement Power and the tile “Police”. His authority and experience of private police, Police training and Sheriffs office training have been called to examine the VA code on the special powers of the Special Conservator of the Peace, or SCOP. Robert Ord sued the District of Columbia in 2008 and the case gathered national attention. Ord was a Law Enforcement Officer threatened by prosecution of The District of Columbia's gun laws. Ord pursued DC under appeal. United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. Robert L. ORD, Appellant v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellee. No. 08-7094.Decided: December 4, 2009 Attorney The amicus curiae lawyers, Alan Gura of Gura & Possessky and Art Spitzer of the ACLU National Capital Area, say the D.C. Circuit has adopted too narrow a standard to prove standing, effectively limiting access to the courts.Attorney Gura had become famous for another firearms case decided in the US Supreme court. District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), is a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held in a 5–4 decision that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. Ord’s original case was dismissed and upon appeal the U.S. District court found that Ord had sufficient cause to pursue his case."this circuit has offered a wary allegiance to the imminence standard, first articulated in Navegar, Inc. v. United States, 103 F.3d 994, 998 (D.C.Cir.1997). Today's opinion labors to extend that line of cases, barring preenforcement claims for declaratory relief unless the plaintiff can show a threat of imminent prosecution, and thus denying access to Article III courts to District of Columbia litigants seeking vindication of civil rights claims-access they would have under applicable Supreme Court precedent. Whether Ord's allegations meet Navegar's stringent standard is a close question, but this controversy demonstrates why litigants should not be required to jump through such hoops to get past the courthouse door. Consequently, while I agree Ord has standing to bring his claim for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 198"His case was supported by the ACLU and The Second Amendment Foundation. Ord vs DC is also a duly noted case and foundation for filings under pre enforcement standing and case law.
Falken
On September 4, 2011, The Washington Post highlighted Ords company, Falken Industries and the unique connection and employment for returning US Veterans. Ord later lost this contract due to an employee who subversively stole the contract and was sued by Ord.In December 2015, Ord was called as a subject matter expert of Police and Defensive tactics for the Washington Post. The article and its contents later won a Pulitzer prize.In July 2016, Falken Industries became a leader in employee treatment and was awarded the number 1 small business organization in 2016 by the Washington Post. In January 2017, Falken Industries was awarded a 5-year contract for Security Services for the General Service Administration (GSA) for 2.7 million dollars under contract 'GS07F027GA.' Ords story was highlighted on I Heart Radio in May 2017. | 13901151091032265713 | 865 |
Q5147724 | Colman McCarthy
Peacework
Since 1982, he has been teaching courses on nonviolence and the literature of peace. In the fall semester of 2006, he taught at seven schools: Georgetown University Law Center, American University, The Catholic University of America, the University of Maryland, The Washington Center for Internships, Wilson High School, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and School Without Walls. In 25 years, he has had more than 7,000 students in his classes. In 1985, he founded the Center for Teaching Peace, a nonprofit that helps schools begin or expand academic programs in Peace studies. He is a regular speaker at U.S. colleges, prep schools, high schools, and peace conferences, and gives an average of 50 lectures a year. The titles of his lectures range from "How To Be a Peacemaker" to "Nonviolence In a Time of War." Including lectures and interviews, McCarthy has had more than 30 appearances on C-SPAN.For his courses on nonviolence and the literature of peace, McCarthy's course texts include "Solutions To Violence" and "Strength Through Peace: the Ideas and People of Nonviolence." Both books are anthologies of peace essays edited by McCarthy and published by the Center for Teaching Peace. The purpose of the courses is to expose students to the philosophy of pacifism and the methods of nonviolent conflict resolution. His former students include Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), one of the most liberal members of Congress; Mark Gearan, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges and former director of the Peace Corps; John McCarthy, director and founder of Elementary Baseball; Anthony Shriver, director and founder of Best Buddies International; Andy Shallal, founder and owner of Busboys and Poets restaurant-bookstores in DC. The advisory board of the Center for Teaching Peace includes Robert Coles, Joan Baez, Arun Gandhi, Muhammad Yunus, Sen. Ron Wyden, Marian Wright Edelman, Jack Olender, Sydney Wolfe and Ronald Dellums.McCarthy's educational philosophy has attracted some controversy in the past, with two Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School students calling in 2006 for a more balanced presentation of the issues covered by the class. McCarthy's classes are discussion-based and well known for lively debates and challenges that McCarthy issues to his students. On many Friday mornings since 1991, he and his Peace Studies students at Bethesda-Chevy High School have taken to the highway fronting the campus to protest the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Students wield signs, from “Bring “Em Home” to “Honk for Peace.” An avid teetotaler, McCarthy often challenges his students to stop drinking alcohol for the semester and document their experiences and observations of those around them. He also lectures at many universities and institutes. In October 2009, McCarthy lectured The Politics of Peace at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.Over the years, hundreds of guest speakers have spoken in his classes. They have included Nobel Peace Prize winners (Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Muhammad Yunus and Mairead Maguire), Peace Corps volunteers, Sufi mystics, Army psychiatrists, members of Congress, school custodial workers, former death row inmates, murder victims' families, social workers, corporate executives, rabbis, priests, Special Olympics athletes, Olympians, former political prisoners, parents, homeless individuals, folk singers, presidential candidates, and activists for human rights, civil rights, gay and lesbian rights, victims' rights, prisoners' rights, Native Americans' rights, and animal rights.In 2009, McCarthy wrote an article in The Washington Post about the life of Thomas, a peace activist, who undertook a 27-year antinuclear vigil in front of the White House.
Film
Colman's son, John, has made a full-length documentary titled Bandit about peaceful anarchy in Colman. The film contains a wide variety of interviews Colman did that centered on his views on pacifism and animal rights. Notable examples are his discussion of Thanksgiving and a debate with Pat Buchanan. It premiered at the Avalon Theatre in Washington, D.C. | 1185931504278548436 | 869 |
Q2551754 | Thesprotians
The Thesprotians (Greek: Θεσπρωτοί, Thesprōtoí) were an ancient Greek tribe and kingdom of Thesprotis, Epirus, akin to the Molossians. The poet Homer frequently mentions Thesprotia which had friendly relations with Ithaca and Doulichi. On their northeast frontier they had the Chaonians and to the north the kingdom of the Molossians. The Thesprotians originally controlled the Dodona oracle, the oldest in Greece. Later, they were part of the Epirus until they were annexed into the Roman Empire.
Geography
Strabo puts the Thesprotians' territory, Thesprotis, on the coast of southwest Epirus. Thesprotis stretched between the Ambracian Gulf in the south to the River Thyamis (modern-day Kalamas) in the north, and between the Pindus mountains and the Ionian Sea. According to legend, the nation got its name from the Pelasgian leader and first governor Thesprotos, who built Cichyrus (Cichorus), which later was called Ephyra, the capital of Thesprotia. Other important cities of Thesprotia include Pandosia, Titani, Cheimerium, Toryne, Phanote, Cassope, Photice, Boucheta and Batiai. There was a city called Thesprotia sharing the same name with the tribe itself.
Tribe
According to Strabo, the Thesprotians (along with the Chaonians and the Molossians) were the most famous among the fourteen tribes of Epirus, as they once ruled over the whole region. The Chaonians ruled Epirus first while the Thesprotians and Molossians ruled afterwards. Plutarch tells us that the Thesprotians, the Chaonians and the Molossians were the three principal clusters of Greek tribes that had emerged in Epirus, and all three were the most powerful among all other tribes. Strabo also records that the Thesprotians, Molossians, and Macedonians referred to old men as pelioi and old women as peliai (PIE: *pel- means grey; Ancient Greek: pelitnós – "grey", peleia – "dove", so-called because of its dusky grey color, poliós – grey, and pollós – "dark"). Their senators were called Peligones, similar to the Macedonian Peliganes. A mid-4th century BC inscription from Goumani indicates that the organisation of the Thesprotian state was similar to that the other Epirotes. Terms for office were prostates (Greek: Προστάτες) literally meaning "protectors" like most Greek tribal states at the time. Other terms for office were grammateus (Greek: Γραμματέυς) meaning "secretary", demiourgoi (Greek: Δημιουργοί) literally meaning "creators", hieromnemones (Greek: Ιερομνήμονες) literally meaning "of the sacred memory" and synarchontes (Greek: Συνάρχοντες) literally meaning "co-rulers".
Sub-tribes
The Thesprotians were divided into many sub-tribes. These included: The Elopes, Graeci, Kassopaeoi, Dryopes, Dodonians (Greek: Δωδωναίοι), Aegestaeoi, Eleaeoi, Elinoi, Ephyroi, Ikadotoi, Kartatoi, Kestrinoi, Klauthrioi, Kropioi, Larissaeoi, Onopernoi, Opatoi, Tiaeoi, Torydaeoi, Fanoteis, Farganaeoi, Parauaei, Fylates, and the Chimerioi. There was a migration to Thessaly since early Antiquity. Some of these tribes in later times moved and further colonized Ithaca, Leucas, Acarnania, parts of southern Greece, Thessaly, and Italy.
Mythology
According to the Telegony (Epic Cycle), Odysseus came upon the land of Thesprotia where he stayed for a number of years. He married Thesprotia's queen, Kallidike (Callidice, Kallidice), and had a son with her named Polypoetes. Odysseus led the Thesprotians in the war against the Brygoi (Brygi), but lost the battle because Ares was on the side of the Brygoi. Athena went to support Odysseus, by engaging the war god in another confrontation until Apollo separated them. When Kallidike died, Odysseus returned home to Ithaca, leaving their son, Polypoetes, to rule Thesprotia. | 11398245354822636176 | 1,036 |
Q5259299 | Dense Pack
Dense Pack is a strategy for basing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the purpose of maximizing their survivability in case of a surprise nuclear first strike on their silos conducted by a hostile foreign power. The strategy was developed under the Reagan administration as a means of safeguarding America's inventory of MX missiles during the final decade of the Cold War. It was never used; MX was deployed in existing silos and then removed from service as the Cold War ended.
MX basing debate
The U.S. commitments under the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty prevented the development and construction of adequate ABM installations around its nuclear missile silos. Therefore, it was decided that new and unconventional strategies for protecting these military assets from a sneak-attack had to be developed.The original concept had been to place the MX missile silos on the reverse side of tall hills or mesas. Enemy warheads approach at an angle of about 25 degrees above horizontal, so if the slope of the hill was greater, the warhead would impact the hill short of the silo. However, as the Soviet ICBMs introduced their Fractional Orbital Bombardment System and high-angle "lofted" trajectories, this no longer offered any extra protection.In 1979, after a long debate on the topic, President Jimmy Carter selected the "multiple protective shelters" concept for basing the MX. In this system, the 200 MX missiles would be partnered with many thousands of silos, and the missiles would be moved among the silos so the Soviets would not know where they were. In order to attack the MX fleet and do any significant damage, they would have to attack every silo. With enough silos, they would use up much of their warhead inventory to destroy only 200 missiles, a cost that was so high they would not contemplate it. Derided as the "racetrack" proposal, the primary problem was that it required huge tracts of land. It was immediately opposed in Nevada, and finally fell out of favor in Utah when the Mormons turned against it as well.
Dense Pack
When Ronald Reagan took over in 1981 he agreed to reexamine the basing question, as opposition by Nevada senator Paul Laxalt had become overwhelming by this point. For the immediate future, 60 MX's would be placed in surplus Titan II missile silos while a final basing solution was chosen. After an equally long and contentious debate, the Dense Pack system was chosen. The new strategy was mentioned in a speech by President Ronald Reagan in 1982.According to the Dense Pack strategy, a series of ten to twelve hardened silos would be grouped closely together in a line. This line of silos would generally run north-to-south, as the primary flight path for Soviet inbound nuclear missiles would be expected to come from the north over the North Pole. Each "super-hardened" silo would require an almost direct hit ground burst to destroy the missile within. When the first warhead went off, it would create a huge cloud of debris that was ejected thousands of feet into the sky. When the next warhead arrived it would hit this debris and be destroyed. Even if a warhead was successful in reaching the ground, it would create more dust and then lower the chance of the next one working.This basic idea had been considered during the Minuteman missile era under the name dust defense. In this case, it was US nuclear bombs buried near the silos that created the cloud of debris. This was abandoned because the "dust" would be extremely radioactive and millions would die when the resulting fallout fell back to the ground. In this case, however, it was Soviet warheads causing the fallout, which was politically acceptable.The proposed Dense Pack initiative met with strong criticism in the media and in the government, dismissed as "duncepack" or "sixpack". Detractors of the Dense Pack strategy pointed out a number of flaws.First, the advent of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRV, negated the concept due to their ability to conduct a time-on-target barrage. Since all the warheads were arriving from a single missile, they could easily be launched to arrive within seconds of each other. In this case, the explosions would not yet have created the massive cloud of dirt, and they would all fall largely unimpeded.Secondly, there were widespread doubts at the time that the hardened nature of the armored missile silos were as robust as the military claimed. If the silos could not survive a near-miss, then clustering the silos would allow a single warhead to destroy multiple silos, perhaps all of them. If the silos were not as hard as claimed, Dense Pack actually lowered their survival rate.Finally, Dense Pack was perceived by some to be a provocative, if not overtly hostile measure at a time when nuclear warfare seemed to be a distinct possibility. Ultimately, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected using the Dense Pack strategy by a 245–176 vote.The U.S. Air Force reconsidered the use of the Dense Pack strategy in 1986, at least in part to find a way to add 50 additional missiles authorized by Congress only if a "safe" basing strategy could be found. There is no evidence that the Dense Pack strategy was ever implemented. | 12060219137323898375 | 1,096 |
Q6648778 | Litter in the United States
Litter in the United States is an environmental issue and littering is often a criminal offense, punishable with a fine as set out by statutes in many places.Litter laws, enforcement efforts, and court prosecutions are used to help curtail littering. All three are part of a "comprehensive response to environmental violators", write Epstein and Hammett, researchers for the United States Department of Justice. Littering and dumping laws, found in all fifty United States, appear to take precedence over municipal ordinances in controlling violations and act as public safety, not aesthetic measures. Similar from state-to-state, these laws define who violators are, the type or "function" of the person committing the action, and what items must be littered or dumped to constitute an illegal act. Municipal ordinances and state statutes require a "human action" in committing illegal littering or dumping, for one to be "held in violation." Most states require law enforcement officers or designated, authorized individuals, to "...witness the illegal act to write a citation." Together, prosecutions and punitive fines are important in fighting illegal littering and dumping.A significant portion of litter along roadways in the U.S. is now being attributed to improperly tarped vehicles such as open-bed vehicles as well as trash and recycling collection vehicles that have not been properly secured.A national survey of United States prosecutors noted the most important factor in prosecuting an offense was the "degree of harm" a violation posed and the "criminal intent" of the offender. America's most prosecuted littering offense involve illegal hazardous waste disposals. Civil and criminal fines are the "most common strategy governments use to control environmental behaviors." Most offenders settle outside of court. For small littering, a monetary penalty and/or a specified number of hours picking up litter or community service is the typical punishment. Going to jail for a littering/dumping conviction is rare.For example, in California the punishment for first-time littering starts at a $100 fine and eight hours of picking up roadside litter. A defendant's third offense and all subsequent offenses are punished with a minimum penalty of a $750 fine and 24 hours of litter cleanup (per offense). Such penalties are often prominently posted on roadside signs.In Idaho, the Comprehensive Litter Prevention and Abatement Act was signed into law in 2006. Litterers can be fined up to $180 when including a subcharge of US$80 and be ordered to clean a littered area in the community.In Washington State, the littering of (especially lit) cigarettes can incur a fine of up to $500. During the summer months, drought-like conditions and tinder-dry forests, lit or smoldering debris have started many wildfires. State litter surveys have shown that an average of 352 pounds of litter is picked up for every mile of highway including about 3,000 cigarette butts. In 2002, some 350 car accidents involved litter or road debris.In the state of Oregon, throwing a lighted cigarette or other tobacco product is a Class B misdemeanor, and is punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and 5 years in prison. This is in addition to penalties for "placing offensive substances in waters, on highways or other property" which is a Class A misdemeanor and carries with it a maximum fine of $6,250 and 10 years in prison.
Littering Surveys and Rankings
Since the 1970s, over 70 studies measuring littering, its contents and impacts on local and state governments, have taken place in both the United States and Canada, according to Reducing Litter on Roadsides by the Transportation Board of the National Research Academies.More recently, litter has been identified as a problem for storm water systems, prompting litter surveys to determine the characterization of storm water trash and the extent to which various components of litter contribute to this problem.
Citizens Combating Litter
The "Caught Doing Good!" campaign, started by the Pennsylvania Resources Council, implemented a system that rewarded citizens who were caught using proper receptacles to dispose of their trash in city streets. | 17686304182841842191 | 838 |
Q7321758 | Rhys Adrian
Radio dramatist
Rhys Adrian worked in stage management before becoming a writer, contributing material to summer shows, revues, pantomimes and West End musicals. His first radio play, The Man on the Gate, was broadcast by the BBC Home Service in November 1956.By the early 1960s he was beginning to develop the dramatic style that would become a hallmark of his subsequent work. A Nice Clean Sheet of Paper (1964) features a talkative and condescending job interviewer (played by Donald Wolfit) whose attempts to communicate with an unresponsive applicant (John Wood) drive him to incoherent blathering.Evelyn (1969), which starred Ian Richardson and Pauline Collins as a couple trapped in an extra-marital and over-crowded affair, won the RAI Prize for Literary and Dramatic Programmes at the Prix Italia and was later adapted for television.Buffet (1976) saw Richard Briers playing a borderline alcoholic city gent unwinding at a railway buffet at the end of a long and exhausting day. In an introduction to the broadcast, John Tydeman, then head of Radio 4 drama, and the producer of 27 of Adrian's plays, paid tribute to the author – referring to him as "one of the great unknown British playwrights [...] very much a language man rather than a man who used whizzy, 'show-offy' radio."1982's Watching the Plays Together was one of Adrian's most experimental works. Consisting largely of a conversation between a middle-aged married couple troubled by the trend towards social realism in television drama, the play won the Giles Cooper Award for outstanding writing for radio. As a mark of his status as a playwright, Adrian's plays throughout the 1980s boasted casts made up of distinguished actors – including, amongst others, John Gielgud (Passing Time; 1983), Michael Aldridge (Outpatient; 1985) and Peter Vaughn (Toytown; 1987). His last radio play, Upended, was broadcast in 1988.
Screenwriter
In addition to his work on radio, Adrian wrote a number of television plays. Big Time (1961), his first piece for television, was co-written with Julian Pepper under the pseudonym 'J. MacReady'. 1963's Too Old for Donkeys was an adaptation of his own radio play broadcast earlier that year. Adrian reworked several of his radio scripts for television, often to varying levels of success. His adaptation of Evelyn for the BBC's Play for Today strand was deemed "unsatisfying" by critic David Wade, who felt that Adrian's stylised dialogue clashed with the physicality of the piece, leaving the play at a disadvantage. Buffet also suffered upon its transition to television. Adrian, however, wrote a number of original works for the medium, often as part of anthology series such as The Wednesday Play, Theatre 625, Armchair Theatre, ITV Playhouse and the aforementioned Play for Today; his 1971 play The Foxtrot marked an early departure from the latter series' emphasis on socially aware, issue-based drama towards broad comedy and non-naturalism. In 1973, his play The Withered Arm was transmitted, alongside contributions from Dennis Potter and David Mercer, as part of the Wessex Tales series for BBC2, a group of plays based on the short stories of Thomas Hardy.
Style and themes
Adrian's plays are driven by character and dialogue rather than narrative; they are conversation pieces, usually between two characters, which feature highly stylised language used to a jarring, sometimes surreal, effect. In No Charge for the Extra Service (1979), the bereaved central characters, Elizabeth Spriggs and Nigel Stock, brought together by a dating agency, converse in a formal, almost artificial manner that belies the uncomfortable and disturbing truths they reveal about themselves throughout the course of the play. This emphasis on dialogue leaves Adrian's characters constantly seeking a connection with each other, bolstered by the desire to be understood. 'The Man' in Evelyn desperately wants his declarations of love towards his mistress to be acknowledged, while Hugh Burden's disturbed mental patient in 1981's Passing Through attempts to piece together his broken past by engaging lonely signalman Patrick (Harry Towb) in meandering conversation. Similarly, the two down-and-outs in The Clerks (1978), Freddie Jones and Hugh Burden, seek to reclaim their lost past as intelligence agents by scrupulously poring over the events that led to them being homeless and derelict. While highly articulate, both men challenge the other's story, almost as if attempting to expose lies and half-truths. By the end of the play, perhaps owing to their alcohol consumption throughout the piece, their testimonies have become so outrageous as to be nothing but fabrication. Adrian frequently raises the question of his characters' reliability as 'narrators', their recollections viewed only through the prism of personal experience. The two nonagenarians in Passing Time (John Gielgud and Raymond Huntley) constantly back-pedal when recalling their dim and distant pasts, one memory bumping into the next, often cancelling out the previous remembrance. This is also explored in Watching the Plays Together, which examines the relationship between audience and playwright by creating an imaginary dialogue between the two, balancing the fine line between fiction and reality and providing the listener with an active role in the drama instead of a passive one.
Legacy
Of Rhys Adrian's 32 radio plays, only 13 exist in the BBC archive. The surviving pieces were largely sourced from off-air recordings. Many of his television plays also no longer exist. In February 2010, BBC Radio 7 broadcast several of Adrian's plays to mark the twentieth anniversary of his death. The plays were Evelyn, Buffet, No Charge for the Extra Service, The Clerks, Passing Through and Passing Time. | 75146739750469764 | 1,216 |
Q3164284 | Jean-Baptiste Meynier
Career
Meynier enlisted in the French royal army in 1765 and later fought in the American Revolutionary War. He returned to France in 1785 and was promoted to sous-lieutenant in 1788, lieutenant in 1791, and captain in 1792.While serving in the army of Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine on the Rhine River, Meynier was ordered to defend Königstein Fortress with a few soldiers. On 5 January 1793 the French suffered a local defeat at the hands of the Prussians. When the Prussians summoned Meynier to surrender the place, he refused and put on such a display of bravado that his enemies did not dare to attack the tiny garrison. He held out until it was finally obvious that no help would ever arrive, surrendering on 9 March. For this exploit, Meynier was jumped in rank from captain to general of brigade.He was appointed commander of Landau on 7 April 1793.On 20 May 1793, Meynier was promoted to general of brigade and on 27 September that year he became a general of division. Meynier led the Avantgarde of the Army of the Rhine at the First Battle of Wissembourg on 13 October 1793. Augustin Joseph Isambert's brigade included the 6th, 48th, and 105th Line Infantry Regiments and the Corrèze, Lot-et-Garonne, and Jura National Guard Battalions. Ferette's brigade was made up of the 93rd and 95th Line Infantry Regiments. Jean-François Combez commanded the 1st and 2nd Grenadier Battalions, and the 7th Hussars, 8th and 10th Chasseurs à Cheval, and 8th, 11th, and 17th Dragoons.A 30 October 1793 order of battle shows Meynier's Avantgarde consisting of the same units as at Wissembourg, with the 93rd and 95th Line subtracted and the 12th Line added. In addition, the cavalry regiments were regrouped under the command of Jean Claude Loubat de Bohan. On 17 to 20 September 1794, Meynier led a division in the battle of Kaiserslautern. In the Coalition victory, both sides lost about 1,000 killed and wounded, but the Coalition forces captured 3,100 Frenchmen, four guns, and three colors.A muster roll for Napoleon Bonaparte's Army of Italy on 9 April 1796 shows Meynier in command of one of two divisions in André Masséna's Advance Guard. Under his leadership were 9,526 troops in the 11th and 27th Light Infantry Demi-Brigades, the 25th, 51st, old 51st, and 55th Line Infantry Demi-Brigades. He led these troops during the Montenotte Campaign. On 22 April 1796, Bonaparte broke up his division and attached Meynier to headquarters. On 14 August 1796, Bonaparte wrote a brutally frank assessment of his generals. He considered Meynier, Pierre Dominique Garnier, and Raphael Casabianca as, "incapable; not fit to command a battalion in a war as active as this one."Meynier was appointed commander of the 18th Military District in 1800. He was named governor of the fortress of Mainz in 1803. He received the Commander's Cross of the Légion d'Honneur in 1804. He died at Mainz on 3 December 1813.Meynier's death occurred during the Allied blockade of Mainz, which lasted from 21 November 1813 and ended on 4 May 1814 after Emperor Napoleon's abdication. Charles Antoine Morand was the general in command of the 17,000 defenders. | 6581487646463326972 | 843 |
Q5537998 | George Coates
Early life
George Coates was born in Philadelphia in 1952 and spent his childhood in New Jersey and later Rhode Island. His father was an Irish Catholic rotogravure operator at the Providence Journal. In 1969, at the age of 17, Coates hitched a ride to California and eventually settled in Berkeley.Coates auditioned for and was cast in numerous productions at the University of California, Berkeley theater department as an unregistered student. He then traveled to New York where he signed a year contract with the National Shakespeare Company, touring the country in character roles in "As You Like It," "Julius Caesar" and George Bernard Shaw's "St. Joan."When the contract ended, Coates returned to Berkeley, where he joined the Berkeley Stage Company and later the experimental theater group the Blake Street Hawkeyes, where he became fascinated by improvisation and the ensemble.
Early work
In 1976, Coates began creating original works with performers including movement artists, opera and gospel singers presented non-traditional formats in a theatrical context. His first major piece, 2019 Blake, was the story of a performer who can't keep a linear train of thought, performed by mime Leonard Pitt with a few props. His next one-man show, Duykers The First, featured operatic tenor John Duykers. The Way of How, performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in 1983, included the same performers, operatic tenor Rinde Eckhert, and a real time analog sound processing system invented by composer Paul Dresher that created the sound of an ensemble playing when a performer laid down multiple tracks on a tape loop.
Notable work
Coates' Rare Area was seen by 35,000 people in a sold-out, three-month run at San Francisco's Theater Artaud and in a one-month series at the Museum of Modern Arts' Herbst Theater.Commissioned in 1986 by William Cook and "American Inroads" for their San Francisco New Performance Festival, Actual Sho was created through eight months of improvisation, utilized an original design of a tilting, rolling stage. Actual Sho premiered in Stuttgart, West Germany on June 25, 1987 before its inclusion in the 1987 New Performance Festival. It was performed in Yugoslavia, Poland, the Kennedy Center's San Francisco Festival in Washington, DC, the Pepsico Summerfare Festival in Purchase, NY, the BITEF Festival in Belgrade and Herbst Theater in San Francisco.Coates collaborated with Steve Jobs in 1988 to create a multimedia production for the unveiling of Jobs' NeXT Computer System and was featured for this production in the 2015 film, Steve Jobs, directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin.Coates' Right Mind opened the American Conservatory Theater's 1989-1990 season. It was brought to a close October 17, 1989 when the Loma Prieta earthquake caused extensive damage to the landmark Geary Theater, with the set for Right Mind on stage.A year to the day after the earthquake, Coates’ show Architecture of Catastrophic Change opened in his new theater, a renovated neo-gothic cathedral at 110 McAllister St. in San Francisco.In 1999, Coates became the first to acquire the rights to Valerie Solanas' long-lost work Up Your Ass, which had been lost by Andy Warhol (for which Solanas shot him) and discovered at the Andy Warhol Museum thirty years later. The production, which was retitled Up Your A$$ by Coates and made its world premiere in 2000 at his San Francisco theater, was regarded one of the raunchiest and most controversial shows around, with an all-female cast, many of which were dressed in drag. The play was mounted on alternate nights with a production of Arthur Miller's The Archbishop's Ceiling, for which Coates had received funding from National Endowment for the Arts, to make a production examining censorship. Coates' production of the Miller play incorporated gender bending by including five of the performers from Up Your A$$, some in drag, some not. Up Your A$$ later premiered in New York at PS 122.
Recent Activity
From 2004-2011, Coates ran an online video blog, Better Bad News, a scripted video series with a cast of performers. He has hosted Twit Wit Radio, a weekly political satire program with a cast of actors, on Pacifica Radio, KPFA 94.1 FM, since 2011.
Influences
George Coates cited the participatory scientific displays of Frank Oppenheimer as a major influence. The brother of Robert J. Oppenheimer, Frank founded the Exploratorium, San Francisco's hands-on, interactive people's science museum. | 15534379109794443564 | 991 |
Q4200625 | Daniel H. H. Ingalls Sr.
Early life
Ingalls was born in New York City and raised in Virginia. He received his A.B. in 1936, at Harvard majoring in Greek and Latin. and his A.M. in 1938 studying symbolic logic under Willard Van Orman QuineHe was appointed a junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows in 1939 after which he set off for Calcutta for the study of Navya-Nyāya logic with Kalipada Tarkacharya (1938–41).His fellowship was interrupted by the Second World War during which he served as an Army code breaker decoding Japanese radio messages for the Office of Strategic Services (1942–44).After the war, Ingalls returned to Harvard as Wales Professor of Sanskrit. He was particularly known for his translation and commentary in An Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry, which contains some 1,700 Sanskrit verses collected by a Buddhist abbot, Vidyākara, in Bengal around AD 1050. Ingalls was a student of the Indian grammarian Shivram Dattatray Joshi, and the teacher of many famous students of Sanskrit, such as Wendy Doniger, Diana Eck, John Stratton Hawley, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Bimal Krishna Matilal, Robert Thurman, Sheldon Pollock, Karl Harrington Potter, Phyllis Granoff, Indira Viswanathan Peterson, David Pingree, and Gary Tubb. He was renowned for the rigor of his introductory Sanskrit course. He was the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series from 1950 to 1983.Ingalls was the father of the computer scientist Dan Ingalls and the author Rachel Ingalls.He was also chairman of the department of Sanskrit and Indian studies and president of the American Oriental Society.
An Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry
Volume 44 of the Harvard Oriental Series, 'An Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry', is the acclaimed English translation by Ingalls of the Sanskrit text 'Subhasitaratnakosa' of Vidyakara. The book has a lengthy introduction by Ingalls containing an incisive analysis of the structure of the Sanskrit language, and also of Ingalls's perspective on Sanskrit literature in general, and Sanskrit poetry in particular. It also has a section titled 'On the Passing of Judgements' in which Ingalls criticizes some critics of Sanskrit poetry.
Criticism of nineteenth and twentieth century western Sanskritists
Ingalls writes that after the initial excitement at the discovery of Sanskrit literature, which produced the enthusiastic and positive reviews of British Sanskritists like Hastings and Sir William Jones, there was a long period in which English writers subjected Sanskrit literature to the literary canons of their own land. By doing this their judgements were sometimes "monstrous" according to Ingalls. The Sanskritist Fitzedward Hall, writes Ingalls, being troubled by the sometimes erotic imagery in the poetry of the Sanskrit poet Subandhu, exclaimed that Subandhu "was no better, at the very best, than a specious savage" and A. A. Macdonell according to Ingalls found nothing to say of the great Sanskrit poets Bharavi and Magha except that they favored 'verbal tricks and metrical puzzles". The judgement of these scholars, explains Ingalls, was clouded with bias in as much as it was based on nineteenth century western morals and nineteenth century western notions of literature. "At no point was it enlightened by reference to the critical literature of Sanskrit itself", writes Ingalls. Ingalls then goes on to criticize the British scholar Arthur Berriedale Keith of whom Ingalls writes that although Keith was a great scholar of Vedic studies and modern Indian law, 'it is obvious from his works that for the most part he disliked Sanskrit literature' and that 'of Keith's reading, it seems to me, no word ever passed beyond his head to the heart'. Ingalls notes that when criticizing Sanskrit poets, Keith never applies the remarks of any Sanskrit critic to the work he is judging. | 491657020643328909 | 852 |
Q1928054 | Michael Jordan's Restaurant
Michael Jordan's Restaurant was a multi-level restaurant and sports bar located at 500 N. LaSalle Street in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America. Named after Michael Jordan, a basketball player with the Chicago Bulls, the restaurant was once one of the most popular tourist spots in Chicago. It operated from 1993 until 1999, closing shortly after Jordan's second retirement.
Menu and attractions
Michael Jordan's Restaurant billed itself as "sporty and casual", with an American menu. Dishes included steak, sole, pasta, hamburgers, ribs, chicken, pork chops, and salads, along with "Juanita's Macaroni and Cheese", which was based on a recipe from Jordan's wife.The restaurant was housed in a three-story red brick building, which had formerly served as part of a cable car powerhouse. The building was adorned with a 25-foot (7.6-m) high cutout basketball on its roof and a 30-by-30 foot (9.1-by-9.1 m) banner of Michael Jordan. The first floor comprised a 150-person capacity sports bar, a 6-by-20-foot (1.8-by-6.1-m) video wall, and a gift shop that sold a large variety of Jordan merchandise, including licensed apparel and collectibles custom made for the restaurant by companies such as Nike and Wilson Sporting Goods. It also contained a large collection of Michael Jordan memorabilia, such as jerseys, trophies, shoes, photographs, Sports Illustrated magazine covers, and children's drawings of the basketball star. The 200-seat main dining room, which featured a portrait of Jordan by Chicago artist Ed Paschke, was on the second floor. The Jordan family had their own private room on the second floor, and the restaurant staff said that Jordan visited as often as three times a week. The third floor of the building was a meeting and banquet hall. The design firm Zakaspace worked on the restaurant.Michael Jordan's received mixed reviews from critics. Eleanor Lee Yates of the Fayetteville Observer said the restaurant was "a pleasant surprise", while Sandra Kallio of the Wisconsin State Journal praised it for "excellent food, superb staff and relaxing atmosphere". However, the Chicago Tribune's Phil Vettel described the restaurant as "mediocre".
History
Michael Jordan's Restaurant was the brainchild of Joe and Gene Silverberg, owners of the Bigsby & Kruthers clothing store. They obtained the rights to use Jordan's name in 1990 and spent $6 million developing the restaurant. Jordan himself never had ownership stakes in the restaurant, though he provided input in terms of the decor and the menu. He said he wanted it to be the "kind of place where I can bring my family and friends to eat".The restaurant opened on April 28, 1993, in the former location of Burhop's Seafood on LaSalle Street in Chicago. Guests at the grand opening included Illinois governor Jim Edgar, Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, actor Mickey Rooney, and comedian Jackie Mason. During the first few months of operation, the restaurant received up to 1,500 visitors and 7,000 telephone calls each day. Many waited several hours to get a table, since the restaurant did not take dinner reservations. Michael Jordan's remained a popular tourist attraction throughout the 1990s and became a major gathering spot for Chicago Bulls fans during the team's championship runs.Gene Silverberg said he and his brother began feuding with Jordan in 1996, when Jordan reportedly attempted to change the restaurant from a family-oriented business to a more upscale establishment. In 1997, Jordan opened his own Chicago restaurant, the more formal One Sixtyblue, and generally stopped appearing at the other except for charity events. Jordan's namesake restaurant continued to draw crowds despite his absence, but after Jordan's second retirement in January 1999, the Silverbergs announced that they would remodel the site as Sammy Sosa's Restaurant, a family attraction named after the Chicago Cubs baseball player. They planned to reopen Michael Jordan's Restaurant in a smaller building. Michael is lit...….In October 1999, Jordan asked a federal judge to terminate his contract with the Silverbergs, explaining that he had not received adequate information about the proposed move. Jordan was also angry that the Silverbergs told the press he was not appearing at their restaurant on a regular basis. He argued that he was never obligated to do so, and that the Silverbergs tarnished his image. The Silverbergs closed the restaurant for good in December 1999, and in June 2000 Jordan won exclusive rights to use his name for restaurants in Chicago. Sammy Sosa's Restaurant never materialized, in part because Sosa did not want to "step on Michael's toes".Memorabilia from Michael Jordan's Restaurant was auctioned in mid-June 2000. Twenty-six items had once belonged to the Silverbergs' private collection. | 9521354818754326227 | 1,018 |
Q28054216 | David William Pua
Life
He was born c. 1836, on the island of Niihau. He married Mary Nahakuelua (1832–1922) on Niihau in March 1867, and settled in Honolulu on the island of Oahu after the marriage. The couple had two sons: Samuel K. Pua (1867–1932) and William K. Pua and two daughters: Mele Pua, later Mrs. Vivichaves, and Susan Pua, later Mrs. John Henry Nye. His eldest son Sam later served on the legislative assembly with his father. In Honolulu, Pua worked as a businessman and owned property and a large homestead in the Palama area of Honolulu.Pua ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the legislature, in 1884. After the signing of the Bayonet Constitution in 1887, membership in the House of Nobles, the upper house of the legislature, was changed from the traditional life-appointments to limited elected terms.In the election of 1890, Pua ran and was successful elected to the House of Nobles for a four-year term. He sat in the legislative assemblies of 1890 during the reign of King Kalākaua and during the 1892–93 session under his successor Queen Liliʻuokalani.In July 1891, Pua with other legislators and dignitaries accompanied the queen on her customary royal tour of the island of Kauai.He was a member of the Hawaiian National Reform Party in the 1890 election and possibly became a National Liberal in 1892, although he was listed as a National in the later Blount Report in 1893.From May 28, 1892 to January 14, 1893, the legislature of the Kingdom convened for an unprecedented 171 days, which later historian Albertine Loomis dubbed the "Longest Legislature". This session was characterized by a series of resolutions of want of confidence ousting a number of Queen Liliʻuokalani's appointed cabinet ministers, debates over the passage of the controversial lottery and opium bills and also attempts to replace the unpopular Bayonet Constitution by means of a constitutional convention. During this session, Pua was one of legislators to submit petitions from the people requesting for a new constitution.Following the proroguing of the legislature and the unsuccessful attempts of the queen to promulgate a new constitution, the monarchy was overthrown on January 17, 1893. After a brief transition under the Provisional Government, the oligarchical Republic of Hawaii was established on July 4, 1894. During this period, the de facto government, which was composed largely of residents of American and European ancestry, sought to annex the islands to the United States against the wish of the Native Hawaiians who wanted to remain an independent nation and for the monarchy to continue. Pua and his son Sam protested against the new de facto government. He became an executive member of Hui Aloha ʻĀina (Hawaiian Patriotic League), a patriotic group founded to protest the attempt of Hawaiian annexation to the United States, and represented the case of the monarchy and the Hawaiian people to the United States Commissioner James H. Blount who was sent by President Grover Cleveland to investigate the overthrow. His son was arrested and convicted of treason during the unsuccessful 1895 Counter-revolution of Hawaii to restore the monarchy.Pua retired from politics around this time. He died unexpectedly, in his sleep, at his Palama residence in Honolulu, on October 13, 1896. He was about sixty years old at the time of his death. He was survived by his father, wife, four children, and grandchildren. His funeral was held at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace and he was buried at the Honolulu Catholic Cemetery. His widow Mary Nahakuelua died in 1922. A grave marker at Diamond Head Memorial Park bears their name, although it isn't certain if their remains were removed at a later date. Pua Lane in Honolulu is named after him. | 14378695550728336905 | 860 |
Q560676 | Ransom E. Olds
Early life
Olds was born in Geneva, Ohio, the youngest son of blacksmith and pattern-maker Pliny Fiske Olds and his wife, Sarah Whipple Olds. His parents moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio, when Olds was still a boy. He eventually settled in Lansing, Michigan, where he married Metta Ursula Woodward on June 5, 1889. He was of English ancestry with the first paternal line coming from Dorset, England in 1667.
Oldsmobile
He founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing, Michigan, on August 21, 1897. The company was bought by a copper and lumber magnate named Samuel L. Smith in 1899 and renamed Olds Motor Works. The new company was relocated from Lansing to Detroit. Smith became President while Olds became vice president and general manager.By 1901 Olds had built 11 prototype vehicles, including at least one of each power mode: steam, electricity and gasoline. In 1934, he received a patent for a diesel engine. He was the only American automotive pioneer to produce and sell at least one of each mode of automobile.On March 9, 1901, the Olds Motor Works factory burned to the ground. Only one model, the little Curved Dash runabout, was saved from the flames. Ransom Olds claimed it was the fire that made him select the runabout, from among his many other models, to put into production. His biographer questions the veracity of this story. He points to an Olds advertising blitz that had already led to more than 300 Curved Dash orders even before the fire took place. "Olds did not need the one rescued car from which to reconstruct the plans and patterns for the runabout."Later that year, Olds had his company's test driver, Roy Chapin, drive a Curved Dash runabout to the second annual New York Automobile Show. Along the way, Chapin opted to drive up onto the Erie Canal tow path to escape the mire of New York state roads. After eight days of driving, he reached the Waldorf Astoria hotel but was turned away at the door. His mud-spattered attire was so disreputable that he was sent to the servants' entrance in back.During the auto show Olds pushed hard to make sales. When one dealer offered to purchase 500, Olds retorted, "I would like to see you make this order for a thousand cars. Then the public would drop its jaw and take notice." The deal was signed, and though the dealer ended up selling only 750 to the public, it was the original number that everyone remembered.The Curved Dash Oldsmobile sold for $650, equal to $19,575 today. About 600 were sold in 1901, about 3,000 in 1902 and at least 4,000 in 1904. It was this car, rather than Henry Ford's Model T, that was the first mass-produced, low-priced American motor vehicle.As Smith's son, Frederic L. Smith, came into the business, he and Olds clashed frequently until Fred Smith removed Olds from the position of vice president and general manager in 1904, and Olds left his company. He went on to form the R.E. Olds Motor Car Company. Its name was quickly changed to REO Motor Car Company to avoid a lawsuit from the Olds Motor Works. The name REO came from the initials of his name as an acronym, but was pronounced as a word. Sometimes it was spelled Reo to emphasize this pronunciation. Olds served as president (until 1925) and later chairman of REO. The band REO Speedwagon took their name from the REO Speed Wagon light delivery truck, an ancestor of pickup trucks, though the band pronounces REO as letters rather than as a word.The Olds Motor Works was bought by General Motors in 1908. General Motors discontinued the Oldsmobile brand in 2004, after a production run of 96 years.
Assembly line
Olds was the first person to use a stationary assembly line in the automotive industry. Henry Ford came after him, and was the first to use a moving assembly line to manufacture cars. This new approach to putting together automobiles enabled Olds to more than quintuple his factory's output, from 425 cars in 1901 to 2,500 in 1902.
Oldsmar
In 1916, Olds purchased 37,547 acres (152 km²) of land by the northern part of Tampa Bay in Florida and developed the area into what is now the city of Oldsmar.He traded his land for the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida in 1926.
Other Lansing businesses
In 1906, Olds organized the Capital National Bank, later called Lansing National Bank, and Michigan National Bank. Olds was also involved in the organization of the Michigan Screw Company and Atlas Drop Forge Company, all in Lansing, Michigan.Olds was the primary financier of the Olds Tower. When completed in 1931 it was the tallest office building in Lansing and retains that distinction today. Located at 124 West Allegan Street, the building is now called the Boji Tower.Olds was also involved in the Hotel Olds at 111 South Capitol Avenue in Lansing. Today this is known as the George W. Romney Building, where the office of the governor of Michigan is located.
Racing
Olds was also famous for his auto racing on the beaches of Florida at Ormond and Daytona. He had the first timed run on the beach in a solo run sometime between 1894 and 1897. In 1896 or 1897, rich automobile pioneers Olds and Alexander Winton (Winton Motor Carriage Company) staged an unofficial event; Winton beat Olds by 0.20 second.
Politics
Olds was a Republican and served as a delegate from Michigan's 6th District to the 1908 Republican National Convention, which nominated William Howard Taft for president.
Residence
In the early 1900s, Olds built an elaborate Queen Anne-style mansion on South Washington Avenue in Lansing. Among the home's many technological innovations was a turntable in the garage which allowed Olds to pull in at night and leave again the next morning without driving in reverse. The mansion was demolished in 1966 to make way for Interstate 496, which was then named for Olds himself. The architectural drawings of that house are in the archives of the State of Michigan. | 4580836469511389967 | 1,369 |
Q6824909 | Metropolis (British TV series)
Critical reception
The Guardian described the series as a "stylish but trashy thriller", noting mixed reviews from other critics. A 2012 review of the fellow ITV series Love Life also described the series as "ITV's failed attempt to replicate the Cold Feet magic", and a "fairly standard flat share drama."Eddie Holt of the Irish Times said of the first episode; "Metropolis is much more plot-driven than This Life and its narcissism is not as screaming. Written by Peter Morgan, who has travelled the drugs and rehab circuit, it displays an admirable knowingness in parts. Alastair, a sad buffoon really, has stolen cheques from his parents and is about to check into an expensive rehab clinic. But the thriller aspect of the series, pivoting on Nathan's stalking of Tanya, is too daft. More credible, given Charlotte's bedding by the wealthy sleazebag, is Matthew's loutish pursuit of frightened, but flattered, Sophie. Atmospheric "big city" shots – trains snaking between high-rise buildings; offices overlooking the bustle of the streets; commuters swarming from the Underground – supply mood and context. Likewise, individual scenes, such as Tanya's accident, partly shot from inside the crashed car.""However, the social context of dynamic, thrusting females and work-shy, parasitic males seems overstated. Perhaps, as hyperbole, this is valid, but as actuality the gender contrast is hardly that stark yet, even among London's graduate twentysomethings. An eight-parter, airing twice weekly, Metropolis presents a cast of characters with obvious similarities to the first-year lawyers of This Life. Charlotte, stuck with a feckless, live-in lover, does a Milly by becoming involved with a powerful, older man. But her ambition also means that she's not unlike Anna, the Scottish siren whose appetite for men was surpassed only by her ruthlessness for career success.""No doubt it was tempting to add a thriller dimension to the old formula. But the implausibility of the stalker sub-plot detracts from the aimed-for realism. Of the women, only Sophie, despite reneging spectacularly on her student vow to remain a lifelong socialist, elicits sympathy. The gap between university ideals and job-market realities has always hit twentysomethings, and the atomisation of student friends when career concerns kick-in is a valid theme. Even if you might envy the youth of this sextet, you'd be glad not to have to live their lives."
Plot
We are introduced to the six-pack of Metropolis as they leave Leeds University. Cut to five years later. The three women, Charlotte (Louise Lombard), Sophie (Flora Montgomery) and Tanya (Emily Bruni) are respectively, a junior financial hackette on a magazine, a researcher for the Conservative Party and an agony aunt. Only one of the men, Frank (Kris Marshall), works and he feels compelled to turn the tables on his insurance company employers. As an implausibly idealistic loss adjustor, he is disgusted by the company's scams to avoid pay-outs. He fiddles the claims in favour of the claimants. Matthew (Matthew Rhys) and Alastair (Jason Barry) have remained dope-smoking slackers. Ambitious Charlotte lives with indolent Matthew. Charlotte acts like a junior Sue Ellen Ewing – lots of lip gymnastics and soulful stares.Mind you, unlike the richter-scale efforts of Texan Sue Ellen, Charlotte's lip tremors are tiny English quivers. Anyway, she cheats on Matthew and takes up with sixty-two-year-old billionaire lecher Milton Friedkin (James Fox). He feeds her career-enhancing stories and she feeds him her twenty-seven-year-old nubility. Primed by her sugar daddy, she gets her "first official byline". Meanwhile, Tanya is in a car crash. When she wakes up in hospital, a stalker, Nathan (James Purefoy) is managing, quite successfully and utterly unbelievably, to convince her that he is her boyfriend. The crash must have caused selective amnesia, he tells her. Fancying the nutter, she goes along with it in spite of the warnings of Sophie. As an agony aunt, she'd better write a letter to herself pretty quickly, because this one looks like it's going to end in tears if not worse. | 2197678686942629795 | 917 |
Q7273135 | QwaQwa National Park
History
The QwaQwa National Park area is the historical home of the Bakoena and the Batlokoa people. QwaQwa was established as a park in 1992 during South Africa's transition to democracy. The goal of the park’s creation was to involve the local community in national projects.The park was reincorporated into the Free State province in 1994. The South African Development Trust (SADT) had already purchased additional land to the north and northwest of QwaQwa in 1984 to reduce localised overcrowding. Additional land of the QwaQwa Farms was leased to black farmers or taken over by the QwaQwa agricultural development corporation. Under the South African Government's Land Reform Programme, the QwaQwa Bantustan was dissolved. The remaining SADT was proclaimed as the QwaQwa National Park in January 1992 according to section 18(1) of the Qwaqwa Nature Conservation Act (No. 5) of 1976. The 22 000 hectare park was previously enclosed with fencing before being removed to allow for the free movement of 3 000 game animals. QwaQwa National Park was initially managed by the Highlands Development Corporation (HDC), a government business enterprise. The HDC headed the Rand Water Project which has various economic development proposals in QwaQwa as well as the eastern Free State.Agrico, another government-owned enterprise, took over the QwaQwa National Park in 1995. As the farm occupies the former Bantustan, agricultural labourers remained in the area when the park was proclaimed. The residents resisted attempts by the park managers to reduce their domestic animal stocks and to relocate residents to areas outside of the park perimeter. The majority of the residents living in QwaQwa were descendants of farm labourers on white-owned farms until the land was purchased by the SADT. Conflict between the Park management and community members arose when no formal recognition was made of the cultural and economic relevance of the land occupied by the residents. Their resistance was also related to various ancestral grave sites which residents refused to move. Eventually, with the rise in the number of game animals, the Park management managed to limit domestic livestock levels to 15 large stock units per household to control soil erosion and other associated environmental problems. Residents were also requested to cut down their use of water and the harvesting of indigenous medicinal plants. As the park was also a site for the Rand Water project that employed many residents, residents suffered conflicts with the QwaQwa Park management. Eventually some community residents decided to relocate their cattle to graze on the land of black beneficiaries of the land reform programme. However, most residents continue to graze their cattle in the Park.
Climate
The area is located in a summer rainfall area with rainfall and thunderstorms occurring between November and April. Summers are warm with temperatures averaging 26 °C. Winters, from May to October, are dry and cold with temperatures dropping to 13 °C (55 °F). Thick frost is common in the region during the winter months, and snowfall can occur in mid winter due to the altitude.
Vegetation
The park is in the highveld region with the Lesotho highlands in the south. The vegetation comprises species of the Grassland biome. Many species of flora found in these biomes are endemic to South Africa. The area is filled with a large variety of flora found mostly during spring and autumn. The grassy plains of the area are filled with indigenous lilies such as watsonia, gladioli, arums and scilla.
Wildlife
There is a large variety of mammals found in the reserve, namely Springbok, Burchell's zebra, Eland, Black Wildebeest, Blesbok, and Red Hartebeest. The bird life is equally diverse, and the park is a breeding ground to the endangered Cape Vulture. In addition, there are numerous species of reptiles and insects.
Mammals
Mammals in the area include the:
Activities
The park offers bird watching, game tours, guided horse riding and a two-day hiking trail which spans 27 kilometres. There is also a tour of the Basotho Cultural Village.
Basotho Cultural Village Tour
The Basotho Cultural Village offers an opportunity for visitors to experience South Sotho culture and history, including the household implementation and symbolism in traditional attire. Traditional homesteads from the 1700s have been reconstructed and are on site. | 8822812961850409951 | 940 |
Q842461 | Happily Ever After (Lost)
2007 (original timeline)
After being shot by Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) in the episode "Dead Is Dead", Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) awakens to discover that Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) has brought him back to the Island. Desmond attacks Charles, who tells him the Island is not done with him, and that unless Desmond helps him, everyone he loves will be gone forever. He has his team prepare an electro-magnetic test, which kills a team member in the path of the toroids as they set up. Desmond is bound to a chair and locked in with the toroids as the test is run. After the test has finished, Desmond agrees to help Charles. As Charles' team lead him away, they are ambushed by Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), who takes a willing Desmond away with him.
2004 (flash-sideways timeline)
Desmond arrives in Los Angeles at the behest of his employer, Charles Widmore. After helping the heavily pregnant Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) to get her luggage, Desmond goes to Charles' office. Charles informs Desmond that his son Daniel Widmore (Jeremy Davies), a classical musician, has invited the rock band Driveshaft to perform alongside him that evening. The band's bass guitarist, Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan), has been arrested for possessing drugs, and Charles requires Desmond to collect and deliver him to Daniel's event.Upon their meeting, Charlie tells Desmond that he recently almost died after swallowing a bag of heroin (As seen in "LA X"), and in his near-death state experienced an intense, blissful vision in which he was with a blonde woman. He causes Desmond to crash his car into a nearby marina, and while Desmond attempts to rescue Charlie from the water, he too experiences a vision, seeing Charlie drowning with the words "Not Penny's Boat" written on his palm. The two are taken to a hospital, where Desmond has a short series of visions of Penny (Sonya Walger), a stranger to him, during an MRI test.After discharging himself from the hospital, Desmond apologizes to Charles' wife Eloise Widmore (Fionnula Flanagan) for being unable to ensure the attendance of Driveshaft. Nearby employees are discussing the guest-list for Daniel's concert, and Desmond hears the name Penny mentioned. Eloise refuses to let him see the list, and warns him off of pursuing his inquiries.As Desmond prepares to leave, he is stopped by Daniel, who tells him that he recently saw a red-haired woman in a local museum that he strongly felt he already knew and loved. Daniel states that after the encounter, he made a series of notes in his journal which a mathematician friend has identified as advanced quantum mechanics, a topic he knows nothing about. Daniel shows his notes which contain a graph with imaginary time on one axis, and hypotheses that the world as he and Desmond are experiencing is not their correct path, and something massive, like a nuclear explosion, has altered their realities. Desmond questions Daniel as to whether he intends to set off a nuclear bomb, to which Daniel replies he believes he already has.Daniel tells Desmond that Penny is his half-sister, and tells him where he can find her. Desmond locates Penny running the steps of an athletics stadium, and introduces himself. After shaking Penny's hand, Desmond passes out. When he awakens, he asks Penny out for coffee, an invitation which she accepts. As his driver George Minkowski (Fisher Stevens) takes him to their meeting point, Desmond asks him to acquire the flight manifest for Oceanic 815, the flight which brought him to Los Angeles. When Minkowski asks why he needs it, Desmond responds, "I just need to show them something".
Reception
"Happily Ever After" was met with critical acclaim. Review aggregate website Metacritic gave the episode a score of 93 out of 100, indicating "Universal Acclaim". The score was up on the previous week's score of 72. Emily VanDerWerff of Los Angeles Times gave the episode a perfect score, calling it "a sublime episode of television." Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly also rated "Happily Ever After" perfect, deeming it "the episode we’ve been waiting for all season." IGN's Chris Carbot stated "while not necessarily on the same level as "The Constant" or even "Flashes Before Your Eyes", "Happily Ever After" does deliver many game changing moments that will alter the way we view the alternate universe from this point forward." Overall, he gave the episode a rating of 9.5. James Poniewozik of Time also praised the episode, stating "I am finally fully confident that [the alternate universe] means something, and this leaves me feeling very good about the remaining episodes."In its original American broadcast, "Happily Ever After" was viewed by 9.45 million viewers and received an 18-49 Nielsen Rating of 3.8 and a share of 8% ranking second in its timeslot after American Idol. | 4520012524641350805 | 1,055 |
Q7321246 | Rhodri Philipps, 4th Viscount St Davids
Rhodri Colwyn Philipps, 4th Viscount St Davids (born 16 September 1966) is a British hereditary peer.A businessman and company director, as of July 2017, Philipps had been declared bankrupt three times, had a criminal conviction for financial mismanagement and two further convictions for menacing communications. On 13 July, he was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for one of them.
Titles and family
He is the eldest son and heir of British peer Colwyn Philipps, 3rd Viscount St Davids (d.2009), and Augusta Victoria Correay Larraín (a Chilean national, from Santiago).Besides his viscountcy, which he inherited on the death of his father, he holds the older titles of Baron Strange of Knockin (1299), Baron Hungerford (1426), and Baron de Moleyns (1445), and the baronetcy of Picton Castle (1621). He is also a co-heir to the barony of Grey de Ruthyn.Philipps is married to the interior decorator Sarah Louise Butcher, who holds the title Lady St Davids. The heir presumptive to the viscountcy is his younger brother Roland.
Financial matters
Philipps has received attention since at least the early 2000s, in relation to his business and legal affairs. He was first declared bankrupt in 2002, and subsequently held directorships in several companies. In September 2008, having been denied bail as a flight risk, Philipps spent more than a year in prison in Nuremberg. Claims were investigated that he used more than £350,000 of company funds on promoting an opera singer, £12,000 to rent a private jet and £5,000 on a shotgun from James Purdey. He was eventually given a two-year suspended prison sentence by a German court for mismanagement of funds related to his construction company Hans Brochier, from which he transferred a seven-figure sum to a newly registered company in the UK in 2005. In 2009 he appealed against the sentence.In September 2010, Philipps' West Sussex property, Strange Place, in Northchapel, was repossessed by Barclays Bank. In March 2011, he was declared bankrupt for a second time, and in November 2011 his wife, Viscountess St Davids, was sued for unpaid debts.In March 2012, Philipps unsuccessfully sued offshore legal advisors Corporate & Chancery Group for £110 million in the Supreme Court of Mauritius, alleging fraud and mismanagement. In February 2016, he was declared bankrupt for a third time.
Menacing communications
Following a complaint made in November 2016, Philipps was arrested in January 2017 by Metropolitan Police officers investigating online abuse against a 51-year-old woman. In March 2017, he was charged with malicious communications with racially aggravated factors, over alleged threats against Gina Miller, who was behind a successful legal challenge against the UK government's intention to give notice to leave the European Union without an act of parliament. Among other communications, he posted on Facebook: "£5,000 for the first person to 'accidentally' run over this bloody troublesome first generation immigrant" and "If this is what we should expect from immigrants, send them back to their stinking jungles" ]]. He pleaded 'not guilty' to three charges of menacing communication under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 2 May 2017. At the May hearing, the prosecution said the crown would seek an extended sentence because of the racial aggravation factor. He was found guilty of two charges at his trial on 11 July 2017, at which he defended himself. Philipps was also convicted for comments made in response to a news article about an immigrant, in which he had written: "I will open the bidding. £2,000 in cash for the first person to carve Arnold Sube into pieces. Piece of shit". Philipps, who described his own comments as "satire", was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison. He was released on bail, pending an appeal. The appeal was abandoned by Philipps on 25 August 2017 some fifteen minutes after Judge Deborah Taylor informed Southwark Crown Court that there was a risk his sentence could be increased. Philipps will now serve the remainder of his original sentence. | 7512332664548994205 | 935 |
Q574593 | Warri
History
Warri was once a provincial capital to British rule. The Lagos and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria was formally united as Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria on 28 February 1906 and Walter Egerton was appointed as the Governor of new Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, holding office until 1912.[3] In the new Southern Nigeria, the old Lagos Colony became the Western Province, and the former Southern Nigerian Protectorate was split into a Central Province with capital at Warri and an Eastern Province with capital at Calabar.Warri sits on the bank of River Warri which joined River Forcados and River Escravos through Jones Creek in the lower Niger Delta Region. The city has a modern seaport which serves as the cargo transit point between the Niger River and the Atlantic Ocean for import and export. The city's history dates back to the 15th century, when it was visited by Portuguese missionaries. Subsequently, it served as the base for Portuguese and Dutch slave traders. Warri became a more important port city during the late 19th century, when it became a centre for the palm oil trade and other major items such as rubber, palm products, cocoa, groundnuts, hides, and skins.Warri was then established as a provincial headquarters by the British in the early 20th century. There have been a tremendous growth in the population; it has grown from being a rural area to an urban area.
Demographics
Warri is regarded as a modern metropolitan area with expanded infrastructural development in other local government areas such as Uvwie, Udu, and Okpe in recent years, with various road networks linking these places into one. Each of these areas has its own administrative structure. Warri City is residence to four monarchs namely the Olu of Warri (Itsekiri), Orosuen (Ovie) of the Okere-Urhobo Kingdom (Urhobo), the Ovie of Agbarha Kingdom (Urhobo) and the Pere of Ogbe Ijaw Kingdom (Ijaw).The major people in Warri comprise the Urhobos, Ijaws and Itsekiris. However, due to its urban status, there is a large influx of people from all over the country, most notably the Igbos.
Economy and infrastructure
There is the Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals located at Ekpan with the majority of international and local oil companies operating in Nigeria having their operational offices close by. One of the nation's major seaports is sited within Ugbuwangue, Warri. Delta Steel Company located at Aladja and Otorogu Gas Plants at Otor-Udu, near Warri.After the crisis in 1999, it made most of the oil companies relocate out of the town
Security
Warri is garrisoned by the Amphibious Infantry battalion (Effurun Army Base) located in Effurun, a twin city to Warri and is administratively under the Brigade HQ in Port Harcourt.The Nigerian Navy operates from its facilities in Warri.The 61 Nigerian Air force Detachment also operates from its facilities in Warri
Sports
Warri has an international stadium with a capacity of 30,000 which is the home of Warri Wolves football club, which has hosted two editions of the African Women Football Championship in 2002 and 2006 respectively and was in contention as one of the venues to be used for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria in 2009. The stadium was used to host the African Youth Athletics Championship (AYAC) in 2013.Warri Wolves, a professional football team based in Warri plays in the Nigeria National League. Their prominent former players include Best Ogedegbe, Wilson Oruma, Efe Ambrose, Victor Ikpeba and Ekigho Ehiosun.
Manufacturing and raw materials
The economic base of the city lies in the presence of a refinery and other oil and gas companies. Also, there is the steel company, Delta Steel Company, which is located in Ovwian–Aladja area of Udu. The Beta Glass Plant is located nearby, outside the town of Ughelli, where the land is rich in silica and silicates, raw materials required for the manufacture of glass, ceramics and cement. The Transcorp Power Distribution, one of Nigeria's power generating stations, is also located at Ughelli, which is just 15 minutes away by car.
Rail
In 1991, construction started on a standard gauge railway from the steel mills at Ajaokuta to the port of Warri, about 275 km away. By 2006, the standard gauge lines had reached 329 km in length, but the final 27 km Warri section is still incomplete. In 2010, work recommenced to complete that final section to Warri.
Road
Major road networks within Warri Metropolis has been improved upon by the state government to improve the image of the city. Transportation within the city is mainly by bus and tricycle. The federal government has completed the Warri-Benin Road road expansion project and major parts of the East-West Road Project which will connect Warri-Uyo.
Air
Transport by air into the city is through Osubi Airstrip (also known as Warri Airport) which is located in Osubi, a nearby town. There's also the presence of a smaller airstrip located at Ugborikoko, which served as the only airport until a bigger airport was built at Osubi. Arik Air and Aero Contractors are some of the main airlines operating commercial flights on this route while major oil companies like Shell and Chevron use the airport for transportation of their staff to offshore locations.
Sea
Movement of goods by sea is through the Nigerian Ports Authority (Delta Ports) at which is mainly for export and import of goods by major companies. Also located on the main Warri riverside are markets and jetties used by local traders, which act as a transit point for local transport and trade. There are local boats which are used for movement from one location to another.
Religion
Notable Nigerian ministers from Warri include Ayo Oritsejafor and Jeremiah Omoto Fufeyin. | 7691871381856606966 | 1,293 |
Q6409498 | Kim Taylor
Music career
Originally from Florida, Taylor played instruments in school bands and sang in church as a child. She began performing professionally at age 18. "I have always done music in some fashion," Taylor said. "I played piano as a kid and played flute in the marching band at Murray Middle School." In 1996, she relocated to Cincinnati to pursue an English degree, and entered the local music scene of the city.After garnering positive word-of-mouth and promising reviews and radio play for her earliest releases, So Black, So Bright (2002) and Extended Play (2004), Kim began work on what would become I Feel Like a Fading Light (2006). She also self-released a live album, Live at the Miramar (2002), around the release of her debut "So Black, So Bright".I Feel Like A Fading Light was recorded in New York City alongside Jimi Zhivago, former guitarist for the Roots music purveyors Ollabelle. The music was performed almost entirely by Kim and Zhivago, except for drums (which were provided by Mars Volta's Blake Fleming, Devon Ashley of The Lemonheads and Those Young Lions, and local musician Josh Seurkamp). The album was released digitally, as well as on CD (however, they were only sold at shows). It was released on vinyl in December 2008. The album was at one point dubbed an "Album of the Week" on NPR's World Cafe (via WXPN/NPR Music).After touring in support of the record, Taylor began work on a set of songs that would become the EP, The Greatest Story (2008). She recorded the EP with producer Mike Deneen (known for his work with Fountains of Wayne, Howie Day, and Aimee Mann)"That project is part of a bigger picture that I'll finish and release as a full length." Taylor told Paste magazine after being named "Best of What's Next" in 2009.She continued playing shows and festivals such as NYC's CMJ Music Marathon and returned to Austin's SXSW Music, this time promoting the EP. She toured extensively with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Ron Sexsmith, as well as with her friend, Lexington cellist Ben Sollee. Taylor and Sollee had done occasional shows together since 2007, but this tour found them playing both solo material, and accompanying one another during each other's sets.In 2010, Kim released her most notable album to date, Little Miracle. Written and recorded in just three days, it too was recorded with Jimi Zhivago. However, this time, all instruments were played by Taylor and Zhivago: "I always write on both piano and guitar. Piano was my first instrument. The new project is just me and my friend Jimi Zhivago (out of NYC and plays with the band Ollabelle.) We play everything on it: guitars, piano, organs, percussion, etc."Regarding the recording process, Taylor said: I learned from The Greatest Story what works best for me vocally and I learned a lot from Mike Deneen... I tried to bring that to Little Miracle. I like how broken down it is, and the organ and piano pairing and that it feels almost unfinished. I didn't go to New York intending to make a record. I go there two or three times a year to my friend's studio to write, and I ended up making enough songs that I was like, 'Why don't I put out a record?'The album was released in the fall of 2010, and opened the door for licensing/placement in many notable television shows.
Music in film and television
Taylor's songs have been included in such shows as Smallville, Justified, Eli Stone, One Tree Hill, Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint, Army Wives, Hawthorne, The Unit, All My Children, and Days of Our Lives.Her songs "No More War" and "A Good Man" can also be found on the soundtrack for the 2005 film, My Brother's War.In 2009, she signed a nonexclusive licensing agreement with MTV so that the network can use her songs on some of their hit shows. Additionally, she struck a deal with Revlon in 2010, for her song "Little Miracle" to be used in an ad campaign.Taylor has expressed satisfaction with having her songs used in film and television, having stated "It feels like I'm doing something worthwhile when I hear my music in conjunction with a dramatic scene. I enjoy the process of connecting a song to a story that people are following".
Film
Taylor recently starred in director Matthew Porterfield's independent film, I Used to Be Darker, about a pregnant Northern Irish runaway who seeks refuge with family in Baltimore, MD, only to find her aunt on the verge of divorce. Taylor plays the aunt (who like Taylor, is a singer-songwriter named Kim). The film premiered in January 2013, at the Sundance Film Festival. It then gave its international film premier at the Berlinale in Berlin, Germany in February 2013. To accompany the launch of the film, Taylor also performed at Sundance's ASCAP Cafe in January 2013.The film was funded by use of the pledge-platform Kickstarter and began filming in August 2011.The film was ranked as one of IndieWire's "Most Anticipated Indie Films of 2012" and is #27 on IONCINEMA's "Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2012" list. Post-premier, the film received positive reviews from such publications as The New Yorker and Time Out Chicago.
Personal life
Kim was born in Miami, Florida. Her father grew up in Alexandria, Virginia and her mother in Lakeland, Florida. Taylor's father was a PATCO air-traffic controller and is now president of the re-formed Union. Kim is an only child.Taylor has also pursued a science degree from the University of Cincinnati. She is married and has one son.For several years, she also owned a much-loved coffee shop, Pleasant Perk, in Cincinnati. "The shop serves a lot of purposes for me," she says. "It quickly relieves the tension when I come back from playing music. It's a small community, and we're in each other's business all the time." | 18186294989258448386 | 1,311 |
Q6708625 | Lynde Point Light
First light
Out of a need for a lighthouse to mark the Old Saybrook harbor, the government paid $225 for William Lynde's land at its entrance to erect a light. Abisha Woodward was contracted to build a 35 feet (11 m) wooden tower for $2,200 and it was completed in 1803. Due to erosion threatening the foundation of the lighthouse, a seawall was constructed in 1829, and it was reinforced and widened in 1831. Also constructed was a six-room frame structure to serve as the keeper's quarters. The keeper's building was replaced in 1933. The light was criticized by many sailors for being too short to be seen at an effective distance, a problem exacerbated by a local fog from the marshland that obscured the light. A petition was made to have the tower raised 25 feet (7.6 m), but it was deemed a replacement would be better.
Current light
The United States Congress appropriated funds for the tower's replacement by 1832. On July 7, 1838, Congress appropriated an additional $2,500.00 to add to the other $5,000.00 appropriated for the new lighthouse. The contract for the lighthouse was awarded to Jonathan Scranton, Volney Pierce, and John Wilcox of Madison, Connecticut, on August 18, 1838. A new 65-foot (20 m) octagonal brownstone tower was constructed in 1838 and lit in 1839. The walls of the base of the light are 5 feet (1.5 m) thick, tapering to 2 feet (0.61 m) at the top. The lighthouse is painted white and has six windows, all facing the water. The lighthouse has been described as being "similar to the masonry towers built earlier, (New London Harbor Light, New Haven Harbor (Five Mile Point) Light, and Faulkner's Island Light), but Lynde Point is considered to represent the finest work of the three". The wooden staircase was likely replaced in an 1868 renovation of the light. In 1886, the Saybrook Breakwater Light was built. Lynde Point then became commonly known as the "Saybrook Inner Light" and Saybrook Breakwater became known as the "Saybrook Outer Light".The keeper's house from 1833 had a frame kitchen addition that connected to the lighthouse, but it was replaced in 1858 with a Gothic Revival gambrel-roofed wood-frame house. In 1966, the house was torn down and replaced by a duplex house. In 1852, a fourth-order Fresnel lens from Barbler and Fenestre replaced the original ten lamps and 9-inch (230 mm) reflectors. In 1890, a fifth-order Fresnel lens, which is still in the tower today, was installed. An appropriation of $800 was made for a fog bell in 1850, and it was installed in 1854 at a cost of $1000. Two years later the machinery to automatically strike the fog bell was completed. The 1867 renovation saw the addition of a fog siren, but it was removed and replaced with the fog bell in 1874 and a new fog bell was later installed in 1883. Lynde Point Lighthouse used whale oil until 1879 when it switched to kerosene, it was electrified in 1955 and fully automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1978.
Importance
In 1990, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Templeton writes, "Lynde Point exhibits superior stone work in the tapering brownstone walls. Of the three early masonry Lighttowers in the nominated group, Lynde Point is the latest and its construction is the best documented: two advertisements for construction proposals survive, containing the government's specifications, and the construction contract as well. Lynde Point also is significant as part of the federal government's early efforts to improve aids to navigation in Long Island Sound, when the mouths of important harbors and rivers were among the first sites chosen for lighthouse appropriations." Lynde Point is an active aid to navigation and is not open to the public. The Lynde Point Light was used in the 2005 horror movie Predator Island. | 4427829533380744827 | 897 |
Q55611942 | Four Seasons Orchestra
1990s
The orchestra was founded in 1991 by Carolyn Waters Broe and started with its first performance in January 1992 at Phoenix Civic Center with an audience of 2,000 people at the first MLK Arts and Education Concert on Arizona's first MLK Day. The orchestra started performing regularly in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The orchestra has been reported to comprise 25 to 30 members.In 1992, the Four Seasons Orchestra and Indian Women in Progress performed the Native American play "The Indians Discover Columbus" of Jefferson Award Winning storyteller Jean Chadhuri for the 500th anniversary of Native American Hospitality Day (also known as Columbus Day). World Premiere of Carolyn Broe's "Rebirth of the Goddess" and an Arizona premiere of Native American composer Brent Michael Davids' "Indian Overture" for flute and orchestra were also given.
2000s
The Four Seasons Orchestra performed at a 9-11 Tribute Concert in 2002 at the St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church as well as gave the world premieres of Tucson composer Thomas Woodson's "Fanfares for the Fallen Heroes and the Victims of 9-11".The Four Seasons Orchestra was nominated for the Governor's Arts Award in 2003 and 2004 for Arts Education and Community Service. In 2005, the orchestra gave the Phoenix premiere of Gwyneth Walker's Bassoon Concerto as part of their "Baroque and Classical Women Composer's Concert" in downtown Phoenix at the Trinity First Episcopal Church. This concert was funded in part by a grant from the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture.The Four Seasons Orchestra toured to Austria in 2009 for their Haydn Bicentennial Festival. The orchestra performed the European premiere of ASU Professor Catalin Rotaru's transcription of Haydn's Cello Concerto in C for string bass with Rotaru as the bass soloist. They gave the World Premier of Professor Rotaru's transcription of Haydn's concerto at a concert in Phoenix before leaving for Europe. The orchestra also performed the European Premiere of Arizona composer Louise Lincoln Kerr's "Enchanted Mesa" for Orchestra and Soprano at the Konzerthaus in downtown Vienna on that concert.
2010s
In 2012, the Four Seasons Orchestra was granted official Arizona Centennial Legacy Project status by the Arizona Historical Foundation in 2012 for "Arizona Profiles" CD of Louise Lincoln Kerr's chamber music. This was the first CD ever recorded of Kerr's music. It is now in a time capsule at the Arizona State Library Archives, which will be opened in one hundred years on February 14, 2112 for the bicentennial of Arizona as a State.They performed a Spanish Concert in 2013 featuring works by Classical Spanish composers and composers who were inspired by Spanish music. The Four Seasons Orchestra featured Los Angeles guitar solo artist Christopher Carelli performing Rodrigo's famous "Aranjuez Concerto for Guitar" on that concert. This concerto is rarely performed in the Phoenix area due to its difficulty level. Carelli was a protege of Angelo Romero.In 2015, the orchestra performed their Vivaldi Four Seasons Concert featuring five young solo artists, three of whom were from ASU, performing all four of his Four Seasons Concertos. In January 2018, the Four Seasons Orchestra gave their "Mozart, Chopin & Friends Concert" featuring three young solo artists and the Rice Brothers. Johnny and Chris Rice performed Chopin's epic piano concertos on a nine-foot Steinway grand piano. They also performed Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante transcribed for two cellos. Tyler Clifton-Armenta performed Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. Rina Kubota performed Mozart's Violin Concerto in G, and Audrey Wang performed Hoffmeister's Viola Concerto. The orchestra was given a grant from the General Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles for performing Chopin's music in Arizona.The Four Seasons Orchestra has performed for the Ambassador's Ball in Phoenix numerous times hosted by various consulates here in Arizona and delivered numerous notable performances around the world with positive reviews.
Grammy nominations
In the year, 2000, the Four Seasons Orchestra was nominated in two Grammy Award categories; "Best Small Ensemble" and "Best New Composition". | 16386191443592184877 | 882 |
Q158062 | Max Liebermann
Biography
The son of a Jewish fabric manufacturer turned banker from Berlin, Liebermann grew up in an imposing town house alongside the Brandenburg Gate. He first studied law and philosophy at the University of Berlin, but later studied painting and drawing in Weimar in 1869, in Paris in 1872, and in the Netherlands in 1876–77. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), Liebermann served as a medic with the Order of St. John near Metz. After living and working for some time in Munich, he finally returned to Berlin in 1884, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was married in 1884 to Martha Marckwald (1857–1943).He used his own inherited wealth to assemble an impressive collection of French Impressionist works. He later chose scenes of the bourgeoisie, as well as aspects of his garden near Lake Wannsee, as motifs for his paintings. In Berlin, he became a famous painter of portraits; his work is especially close in spirit to Édouard Manet. In his work he steered away from religious subject matter, with one cautionary exception being an early painting, The 12-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple With the Scholars (1879). His painting of a Semitic-looking boy Jesus conferring with Jewish scholars sparked debate. At the International Art Show in Munich it stirred up a storm for its supposed blasphemy, with one critic describing Jesus as "the ugliest, most impertinent Jewish boy imaginable." Noted for his portraits (he did more than 200 commissioned ones over the years, including of Albert Einstein and Paul von Hindenburg), Liebermann also painted himself from time to time.On the occasion of his 50th birthday, Liebermann was given a solo exhibition at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, and the following year he was elected to the academy. From 1899 to 1911 he led the premier avant-garde formation in Germany, the Berlin Secession. In his various capacities as a leader in the artistic community, Liebermann spoke out often for the separation of art and politics. In the formulation of arts reporter and critic Grace Glueck he "pushed for the right of artists to do their own thing, unconcerned with politics or ideology". His interest in French Realism was offputting to conservatives, for whom such openness suggested what they thought of as Jewish cosmopolitanism. He did contribute regularly to a newspaper put out by artists during World War I. Beginning in 1920 he was president of the Prussian Academy of Arts. On his 80th birthday, in 1927, Liebermann was celebrated with a large exhibition, declared an honorary citizen of Berlin and hailed in a cover story in Berlin's leading illustrated magazine. But such public accolades were short lived. In 1933 he resigned when the academy decided to no longer exhibit works by Jewish artists, before he would have been forced to do so under laws restricting the rights of Jews. While watching the Nazis celebrate their victory by marching through the Brandenburg Gate, Liebermann was reported to have commented: "Ich kann gar nicht soviel fressen, wie ich kotzen möchte." ("I could not possibly eat as much as I would like to throw up.").In 1909 Liebermann bought property in Wannsee, a wealthy suburb of summer homes on the outskirts of Berlin, and designed a villa with gardens there. From the 1910s until his death, images of the gardens dominated his work. Liebermann recruited also Lovis Corinth, Ernst Oppler and Max Slevogt for the Berlin Secession, together they were the most famous painters of the German Impressionism.Liebermann died on February 8, 1935, at his home on Berlin's Pariser Platz, near the Brandenburg Gate. According to Käthe Kollwitz, he fell asleep about 7 p.m. and was gone.Although Liebermann had been famous, his death was not reported in the media, now controlled by the Nazis, and there were no representatives of the Prussian Academy of Arts or the city at his funeral in the Jewish Cemetery on Schönhauser Allee. However, despite official strictures by the Gestapo, more than 100 friends and relatives attended the funeral. Among the mourners were Kollwitz, Hans Purrmann, Otto Nagel, Ferdinand Sauerbruch, Bruno Cassirer, Georg Kolbe, Max J. Friedländer and Adolph Goldschmidt.
Commemoration
In 2005/2006, the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and the Jewish Museum in New York mounted the first major museum exhibition in the United States of Liebermann's work.On 30 April 2006 the Max Liebermann Society opened a permanent museum in the Liebermann family's villa in the Wannsee district of Berlin. The artist's wife, Martha Liebermann, was forced to sell the villa in 1940. On 5 March 1943, at the age of 85 and bedridden from a stroke, she was notified to get ready for deportation to Theresienstadt concentration camp. Instead, she committed suicide in the family home, Haus Liebermann, hours before police arrived to take her away. There is a stolperstein for her in front of their former home by the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.In 2011, the Israel Museum returned a painting to the Max Liebermann estate, decades after the masterpiece was looted from a Jewish museum in Nazi Germany. Liebermann had loaned his painting to the Jewish Museum in Berlin in the 1930s. The work, along with many others, disappeared from the museum during World War II.His painting Riders on the Beach was found as part of the Munich Art Hoard. | 18189473972326605077 | 1,225 |
Q578813 | Labrador duck
Description
The female plumage was grey. Although weakly patterned, the pattern was scoter-like. The male’s plumage was black and white in an eider-like pattern, but the wings were entirely white except for the primaries. The trachea of the male was scoter-like. An expansion of the tracheal tube occurred at the anterior end, and two enlargements (as opposed to one enlargement as seen in scoters) were near the middle of the tube. The bulla was bony and round, puffing out from the left side. This asymmetrical and osseus bulla was unlike that of scoters; this bulla was similar to eiders and harlequin duck's bullae. The Labrador duck has been considered the most enigmatic of all North American birds.The Labrador duck had an oblong head with small, beady eyes. Its bill was almost as long as its head. The body was short and depressed with short, strong feet that were far behind the body. The feathers were small and the tail was short and rounded. The Labrador duck belongs to a monotypic genus.
Habitat
The Labrador duck migrated annually, wintering off the coasts of New Jersey and New England in the eastern United States, where it favoured southern sandy coasts, sheltered bays, harbors, and inlets, and breeding in Labrador and northern Quebec in the summer. John James Audubon's son reported seeing a nest belonging to the species in Labrador. Some believe that it may have laid its eggs on the islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.The breeding biology of the Labrador duck is largely unknown.
Diet
The Labrador duck fed on small molluscs, and some fishermen reported catching it on fishing lines baited with mussels. The structure of the bill was highly modified from that of most ducks, having a wide, flattened tip with numerous lamellae inside. In this way, it is considered an ecological counterpart of the North Pacific/North Asian Steller's eider. The beak was also particularly soft and may have been used to probe through sediment for food.Another, completely unrelated, duck with similar (but even more specialized) bill morphology is the Australian pink-eared duck, which feeds largely on plankton, but also mollusks; the condition in the Labrador duck probably resembled that in the blue duck most in outward appearance.Its peculiar bill suggests it ate shellfish and crustaceans from silt and shallow water. The Labrador duck may have survived by eating snails.
Extinction
The Labrador duck is thought to have been always rare, but between 1850 and 1870, populations waned further. Its extinction (sometime after 1878) is still not fully explained. Although hunted for food, this duck was considered to taste bad, rotted quickly, and fetched a low price. Consequently, it was not sought much by hunters. However, the eggs may have been overharvested, and it may have been subject to depredations by the feather trade in its breeding area, as well. Another possible factor in the bird's extinction was the decline in mussels and other shellfish on which they are believed to have fed in their winter quarters, due to growth of population and industry on the Eastern Seaboard. Although all sea ducks readily feed on shallow-water molluscs, no Western Atlantic bird species seems to have been as dependent on such food as the Labrador duck.Another theory that was said to lead to their extinction was a huge increase of human influence on the coastal ecosystems in North America, causing the birds to flee their niches and find another habitat. These ducks were the only birds whose range was limited to the American coast of the North Atlantic, so changing niches was a difficult task. The Labrador duck became extinct in the late 19th century. The duck disappeared soon after the first wave of European settlement. | 16718037460403138369 | 808 |
Q5037881 | Carbohydrate sulfotransferase
Biological function
Carbohydrate sulfotransferases are transmembrane enzymes in the Golgi that modify carbohydrates on glycolipids or glyoproteins as they move along the secretory pathway. They have a short cytoplasmic N-terminal, one transmembrane domain, and a large C-terminal Golgi luminal domain. They are distinct from cytosolic sulfotransferases in both structure and function. While cytosolic sulfotransferases play a metabolic role by modifying small molecule substrates such as steroids, flavonoids, neurotransmitters, and phenols, carbohydrate sulfotransferases have a fundamental role in extracellular signalling and adhesion by generating unique ligands through the modification of carbohydrate scaffolds. Since the substrates of carbohydrate sulfotransferases are larger, they have larger active sites than cytosolic sulfotransferases.There are two major families of carbohydrate sulfotransferases: heparan sulfotransferases and galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine/N-acetylglucosamine 6-O-sulfotransferases (GSTs).
Heparan Sulfotransferases
Heparan sulfate is a glycosaminoglycan (GAG) that is linked by xylose to serine residues of proteins such as perlecan, syndecan, or glypican. Sulfation of heparan sulfate GAGs helps give diversity to cell surface proteins and provides them with a unique sulfation pattern that allows them to specifically interact with other proteins. For example, in mast cells the AT-III-binding pentasaccharaide is synthesized with essential heparan sulfate sulfation steps. The binding of the heparan sulfate in this pentasaccharide to AT-III inactivates the blood-coagulation factors thrombin and Factor Xa. Heparan sulfates are also known to interact with growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, lipid and membrane binding proteins, and adhesion molecules.
GSTs
GSTs catalyze sulfation at the 6-hydroxyl group of galactose, N-acetylgalactosamine, or N-acetylglucosamine. Like heparan sulfotransferases, GSTs are responsible for post-translational protein sulfation that assists in cell-signaling. GSTs are also responsible for the sulfation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins that assist with maintaining the structure between cells For example, GSTs catalyze the sulfation of glycoproteins displaying the L-selectin binding epitope 6-sulfo sialyl Lewis x, which recruits leukocytes to areas of chronic inflammation. GSTs are also responsible for the proper function of the ECM in the cornea; improper sulfation by GSTs can lead to opaque corneas.
Disease Relevance
Carbohydrate sulfotransferases are of great interest as drug targets because of their essential roles in cell-cell signalling, adhesion, and ECM maintenance. Their roles in blood coagulation, chronic inflammation, and cornea maintenance mentioned in the Biological Function section above are all of interest for potential therapeutic purposes. In addition to these roles, carbohydrate sulfotransferases are of pharmacological interest because of their roles in viral infection, including herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1). Heparan sulfate sites have been shown to be essential for HSV-1 binding that leads to the virus entering the cell. In contrast, heparan sulfate complexes have been shown to bind to HIV-1 and prevent it from entering the cell through its intended target, the CD4 receptor.Mutation in Carbohydrate sulfotransferases 6 (CHST6) is associated with Macular Corneal Dystrophy (MCD) Inheritance: Autosomal recessive. Genetic Locus: 16q22 Online Mendelian Inheritance in man (OMIM) Entry OMIM #217800 | 17497779898023199247 | 844 |
Q24883576 | Irvinebank School of Arts Hall
History
The Irvinebank School of Arts Hall was constructed in about 1900, as the third building of the Irvinebank School of Arts Committee. The building reflects the growth of Irvinebank during a period of its prosperity as a base metal mining district.In 1880 the Great Northern tin lode was discovered in the Herberton area and prominent businessman, John Moffat, and his company, the Glen Smelting Company, soon secured a monopoly over mining and reduction works in the area. Moffat arrived in Queensland from Scotland in 1862, where he soon opened his own business, from which grew his empire. Whilst Moffat was overseas in 1883, his partner, George Young, bought mines in what was then Gibb's Camp, in the Herberton district. Gibb's Camp was renamed Irvinebank after Moffat's birthplace in Scotland, and the Loudoun Mill, comprising a five headed crushing battery and tin smelter, was opened there on December 10, 1884. Moffat envisaged Irvinebank as a major industrial region of the Atherton Tablelands, and established both his business interests and his home (Loudoun House) in the town.A School of Arts Committee was established in Irvinebank by March 1885, at which time a subscribed sum of £100, along with a subsidy, was used to construct a building. This first building, which no longer stands, was opened by July 1885.Schools of Arts were popular institutions in many Queensland towns, the first School of Arts was established in 1849 in Brisbane. They were based on an English model, which provided opportunities for the education of wider sections of the community; this being a popular nineteenth century social concern. Typically, in Queensland, the schools were set up by the local community who received a government subsidy. The building usually provided a reading room, subscription library and a public hall for lectures and debating. Upon its opening in 1885, the Irvinebank School of Arts was well patronised "...(with) sound judgement...been displayed...in expending a good portion of the funds on books, papers and leading weekly journals...instead of putting too much into the building".Irvinebank experienced rapid development during the late 1880s and 1890s, when tin mining was successful, particularly after the opening of the Vulcan Tin Mine in 1889, subsequently purchased by Moffat, which became one of the most successful tin mines in the district. Irvinebank was further boosted after 1894 when low silver prices lead to adjacent towns, such as Montalbion, experiencing severe downturns.This prosperity at Irvinebank is reflected in the various Schools of Arts buildings that were built as previous buildings became inadequate. In 1890 there is evidence of the renovation of the first building that was vacated for a larger and more substantial second School of Arts building. This may have been constructed adjacent to where the Queensland National Bank would be built and across the street from where the third School of Arts building would stand. This second building was a simple rectangular timber building, with exposed stud framing and gabled roof.In 1900 a third building was required, and a School of Arts Hall was planned, with a proposal drawn in September 1900 by an unknown author with initials H.H.P., possibly Henry Pope, an architect who was doing work in North Queensland at the time. The new building was planned with a large hall that the previous buildings lacked. Visiting vaudeville and dramatic companies were now able to frequent the town, as provision was made in the new building for stage accommodation. Alterations were carried out to the School of Arts Hall in 1912, enclosing the projecting entrance bay and altering the stage which was to be one of the largest in the north "...(to) suit the largest company which comes around".However, Irvinebank continued in prosperity only until the First World War, when the metal markets fell. John Moffat had retired to Sydney in 1912, and the Irvinebank smelters were sold to the Queensland Government in 1918, since when the town has steadily declined. The School of Arts Hall continues as a community hall and focal point of Irvinebank activities, to this day.
Description
The Irvinebank School of Arts Hall is a one storeyed timber building, located on a prominent intersection in the Northern Queensland town of Irvinebank. Close to the School of Arts Hall are the Queensland National Bank and John Moffat's House, both of which are culturally significant elements of the townscape. The Hall is surrounded by established trees including several figs.The building which is raised from the ground on round timber stumps, has a rectangular plan and a corrugated iron gabled roof. The timber-framed building has exposed timber studwork, with horizontal timber lining in some sections which are protected by verandahs. The symmetrically composed north-eastern facade features three projecting gabled bays, enclosed with weatherboards, with simple decorative barge boards, finials and vertical sash windows. These bays emphasise the central entrance and two end corners of this facade. Between the projecting elements is a bull-nosed verandah with diagonally crossed balustrading. The principal entrance, through the projecting central bay, is accessed via a straight timber stair from the east. High level openings, above the verandah awning, provide light and ventilation to the internal hall as do round openings on the gables of the north-eastern and south-western facades.Internally, the building features a large hall with stage and semi-enclosed verandah spaces running along the two long sides. The hall is fully lined with unpainted red cedar timber boards, on the floor, walls and partially raked ceiling. A timber arch, featuring moulded and reeded sections, forms the proscenium over the elevated stage, which is lined with diagonal timber boarding as are some of the doors.
Heritage listing
Irvinebank School of Arts Hall was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 29 May 1995 having satisfied the following criteria.The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.The Irvinebank School of Arts Hall provides evidence of the growth and prosperity of Irvinebank, as a result of the successful base metal mining industry, encouraged by the prominent Queensland businessman, John Moffat.The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.The building is on a prominent site in Irvinebank, and is an integral part of a precinct including the Queensland National Bank and Moffat's house. The Irvinebank School of Arts is a landmark in the town.The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.The Irvinebank School of Arts Hall has been continuously used as a school of arts hall since its construction in about 1900. As the only public hall in Irvinebank, the building has been the focal point of social life in the town.The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.The building has associations with Moffat who reputedly financed its construction.The School of Arts Hall provides intact evidence of the workings of a school of arts, a common institution of many Queensland towns in the nineteenth century. | 12650475995739954468 | 1,488 |
Q7612719 | Steve Grissom
Early years
Grissom began his racing career as a youth, working on cars with his father Wayne, who was a sponsor of short track drivers in their homestate of Alabama. He soon began racing cars himself, balancing that with being captain of his high school football and basketball teams in 1981. He eventually joined the Winston All-Pro Series, and won the championship in 1985. The next season, he was nominated for Alabama Pro Athlete of the Year.
Busch Championship
Grissom made his Busch Series debut in 1986 at the Freedlander 200, in the #31 Oldsmobile owned by his father. He started 16th but finished 30th due to engine failure. He ran three more races over the next two years, his best finish being an 11th. In 1988, he moved into the series full-time. Despite a lack of major sponsorship, Grissom had four top-tens and finished 13th in points. In 1989, he landed funding from Texas Pete Sauces, and moved to twelfth in points.In 1990, Grissom won four races, including two straight, and finished third in points behind Chuck Bown and Jimmy Hensley. During the season, Grissom ran one Winston Cup race for Dick Moroso at the Atlanta Journal 500, starting 23rd and finishing 24th. A lack of funding kept Grissom from competing for the championship in 1991, as he had one win and slid back to tenth in points. After Channellock and Roddenberry's came on board in 1992, Grissom regained his success of 1990, winning two races. He clinched the Busch Series championship in 1993 for his family-owned team. Grissom won the championship by 253 points over Ricky Craven.
Winston Cup
In 1993, Grissom ran an additional Cup race for Diamond Ridge Motorsports at New Hampshire International Speedway, finishing 29th. Grissom signed with Diamond Ridge to compete for Rookie of the Year honors in 1994. Despite struggles in qualifying, Grissom had three top-tens and was narrowly defeated by Jeff Burton for Rookie of the Year. Diamond Ridge also bought Grissom's Busch Series operation, and running a part-time schedule Grissom won twice and finished 26th in points in 1995. Grissom had four top-tens in the 1995 Cup season, finishing 27th in points; he started the season running in the top-10 points early on in the year. Grissom started 1996 off on a high note, winning the season-opening Busch Series race driving the WCW car, but he was released from Diamond Ridge after the Miller 400 race midway through the season.For 1997, Grissom signed on with Larry Hedrick Motorsports. Grissom started the year winning the outside pole for the Daytona 500. As the season progressed, he finished in the top-ten six times and finished a career-high 21st in points. After he struggled throughout the 1998 season, he was released from his ride and ended the season driving the #96 for American Equipment Racing.Grissom's #41 Chevrolet had a major crash during the Primestar 500. Grissom's car slid into the inside wall and flipped on the roof. The gas tank was detached by the impact, which flew across the racetrack, spilling gasoline. Which later ignited a fire by friction with Mike Wallace's car. Grissom was taken to the infield medical center, and released 45 minutes later. The fire was extinguished and the racing resumed about an hour later with 44 laps remaining.After American Equipment closed its doors, Grissom started the 1999 season with LJ Racing in a four-race deal. After his contract was not renewed, he spent the season doing fill-in duty for Carroll Racing, Travis Carter Motorsports, and Hensley Motorsports, among others.In 2000, Grissom was hired by Petty Enterprises to drive their #43 Dodge Ram in the Craftsman Truck Series. This year was best known as when Tony Roper turned into Grissom's bumper and hit the wall head-on at Texas Motor Speedway, then hitting Roper's truck as it slid down the track. Roper died of injuries he sustained from the crash the next morning. While he did not visit victory lane, Grissom finished in the top-five six times and finished tenth in points. He also ran in the Cup series, filling in for Kyle Petty in the #44 Hot Wheels Pontiac Grand Prix. After spending virtually all of 2001 on the sidelines, he was called back to Petty in 2002 to replace Buckshot Jones in the #44. In ten starts, he posted one top-ten at Richmond International Raceway. He has not run a Cup race since. That season, Grissom ran seven Nationwide Series races for Frank Cicci Racing, then spent 2003 at DCT Motorsports. After being released from DCT midway through 2004, he finished the year at GIC-Mixon Motorsports. He finished 28th in points that season.
Presently
In 2005, Grissom joined with Jay Robinson Racing to drive the #49 Advil Ford Taurus. Despite not finishing in the top-ten Grissom was able to land a 23rd-place finish in points. Unfortunately, he and his team came under controversy due to their tendency to qualify for races on the "Past Champion's Provisional", a starting spot set aside for past champions in the Busch Series who fail to qualify on time. Grissom ran two races for Robinson on a part-time basis in 2006, and drove the season opening races in 2007 and 2008, for Cicci Racing and MSRP Motorsports respectively. In 2009, he drove for Davis Motorsports in the #0 Chevy at Bristol.Grissom's son, Kyle, is also a racing driver, having competed in the ARCA Racing Series.
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) | 6668711835872742089 | 1,307 |
Q7271004 | Queensland School for Travelling Show Children
The Queensland School for Travelling Show Children (QSTSC) was a publicly funded co-educational primary (K-7) school that provided distance education services to the children and families of itinerant business proprietors and workers on the agricultural show circuits in all states and territories of Australia except Western Australia.Families whose incomes were dependent on the employment opportunities provided by the shows had traditionally found it difficult to access mainstream educational services leading in some cases to interruption or abandonment of education at an early age and in others either the splitting up of families as one parent or carer stayed on the circuit whilst another settled in one place on a permanent basis or cessation of the occupation by parents and carers.A sub-section of the Brisbane School of Distance Education (BSDE), the actual school consisted of two mobile classrooms which were transported separately each week to a new location (usually the grounds of a primary school). The site of the temporary locations was dictated by the routes followed by the show circuits. The school maintained an administrative office on the BDSE campus in the Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo.
Genesis
In Australia distance education is both well established and well regarded. Standard distance education programs had been regularly utilised by show people up to degree level but it was felt that it was necessary to provide an educational methodology that both followed a mainstream formal curriculum and allowed the students to maintain a distinctive cultural identity. After sustained lobbying by representatives of the Australian Romani community and the Showman's Guild of Australia, the Queensland government agreed to establish a specially developed distance learning curriculum for the children in 1989. Following the success of this program it was decided in 1999 to set up a mobile school with transportable classrooms which could accompany the show people on their circuits and provide a more structured learning environment. The school first opened its doors to pupils for an initial trial period in January 2000.
Operation
The school operated three "runs". Two of which, the "Northern" and the "Lower", conducted classes in specially adapted semi-trailers which were hauled from location to location by a prime mover driven by a staff member. Each Prep (i.e. "K") to Year 7 semi trailer travelling classroom was staffed by two teachers and supported by one operations officer. A third run operated as and when required at locations where there were sufficient students whose families were working off the main show circuits who could attend classes. This run typically conducted classes in rooms at a local host school. For example, in one week in October 2011, one trailer was located in the Mount Gambier Showgrounds in South Australia, the other was at a school in Bendigo, Victoria whilst the "third run" conducted classes in a classroom provided by a school in Hobart, Tasmania.Whilst at a location the operation of the QSTSC was autonomous from a host school though it may have been physically located within the school grounds and the pupils may have been invited to participate in activities with those of the host school.In 2010 the school had a total enrolment of 40 of whom 15% were self identified as indigenous. There were 7 teaching staff and 3 non-teaching staff. The attendance rate was 95%. In 2011 enrolments had risen to 54 of whom 7% were indigenous. The number of teachers on staff was 6 supported by 4 non-teaching staff.QSTSC attempted, so far as was practicable, to provide students with an emulation of school life as experienced by students who attended a "normal" school. Thus students followed a curriculum which conforms to the standards laid down by Education Queensland and participated in activities such as "Learn to Swim" schemes and NAPLAN testing, as well as being expected to conform to the usual uniform, attendance, punctuality and behavioral standards.
Parents and Citizens Association
As with most state schools in Australia, QSTSC was supported by an active P&C which raised funds to buy additional equipment and facilities for the use of the school community. Typically the actual meetings were to be held in the locations being used by one of the runs and parents on the other run or at remote locations participated through a teleconferencing facility provided by the school.
Closure
The school closed in at the end of the 2012 school year, despite reported offers of funding from the Australian Federal Government and Government of New South Wales. The education minister cited poor attendance, poor results in standardized testing and the fact that most students were from outside Queensland as primary reasons for closing the school. | 8102237698006255766 | 928 |
Q7739178 | The Heart of Princess Joan
"The Heart of Princess Joan" is a 19th-century fairy tale published in 1880 as part of the collection The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde and other Stories. This was the second of three published collections of fairy tales by popular children's author, Mary De Morgan. Illustrations for the stories were provided by Walter Crane.
About the Author
Mary De Morgan was born in 1850 into an intellectual and creative British family. She perfected her literary style by telling uniquely crafted fairy tales to the children of family and friends, who included the Burne-Jones, the Morrises, and the Kiplings. In fact, “The Heart of Princess Joan” is dedicated, with the other stories in the collection, to her nephews and nieces. James Fowler remarks that “she seems to represent a full flowering of the Victorian fairy-tale genre[…].”
Plot summary
The fairy tale opens with a wealthy King and Queen who lived happily. The Queen was prideful and disdained the fairies, and so when she had a baby girl named Joan, the vengeful fairies stole the young child's heart. Joan grew up to be the most beautiful girl in the land, but loved nobody. In the neighboring country, there lived a Prince named Michael – the most gracious man of all. He came across a picture of Joan in an old wizard’s tower, but the wizard warned him to avoid Joan. Regardless of the wizard's warning, Michael wished to marry Joan. Even though Prince Michael's love for Joan grew, he was curious and so disguised himself as a beggar in order to discover what was wrong with the Princess; he soon found she was cold-hearted and ruthless. He spoke to the Queen and learned about her missing heart. He told her he would retrieve Joan's heart, and if he failed to return in seven years, Joan could marry someone else. The wizard learned of these plans and gave Michael a special piece of glass. If he followed the blood-red star through the glass, he would be led to Joan’s heart.Michael traveled for ages, across land and water. His boat eventually drifted to a land which housed a castle he could not enter. Beside the castle there was an old man and a snake. The old man offered to show Michael the way into the castle, if Michael consented to be his slave until the snake hatched its eggs; Michael agreed. Years and years passed and Michael became angry because the eggs never hatched. He attempted to destroy the eggs but was not successful. As he cried, his tears fell upon them and the shells cracked open. Michael found his way into the castle, and vowed to accept nothing else but the heart of his beloved. A fairy of many disguises encouraged Michael to eat enchanted food, but he was never fooled, since he could see who she really was through his piece of glass. Finally, the fairy gave him the heart of Joan along with some magical words to repeat when seeing her. When Michael returned he was mistakenly imprisoned, but as soon as he saw the Princess through the bars of his cell, he repeated the words, and the heart in his hand fluttered into Joan’s chest. She immediately recognized Michael, insisted they get married, and kissed him in front of all to see. They were wed and the people were happy. “For now we are sure of a good King,” the people said. “See, he has already shown what he can do. Surely no one else could ever have found the heart of Princess Joan.”
Themes
Although De Morgan's stories, including “The Heart of Princess Joan,” have a folk-like feel, they are original and recorded in a style similar to that of Hans Christian Andersen. This might be due to the fact that these stories were told to children before their final form was decided on and then published. This story, in particular, draws on the themes of enduring love and personal sacrifice, which are manifested by the hero, Prince Michael; these are reoccurring themes in De Morgan's stories. Although De Morgan's fairy tales usually comment on Victorian culture, of which she was a part, there is a lack of scholarly discussion about such parallels in “The Heart of Princess Joan.” De Morgan's stories are also said to “question the value of wealth and power.” This is clearly seen in “The Heart of Princess Joan” when Prince Michael is tempted by the sumptuous appearance of the Yellow Fairy's castle, which in truth, turns out to be as hideous and grotesque as the fairy herself.
1880 Release Announcement in the London Times
“Ready this day, extra fep., 8 vo., 6s, The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde, and other Stories, By Mary De Morgan. With 25 Illustrations by Walter Crane. Also an edition on large paper, the illustrations on India paper, limited to 100 copies.” | 7732232015064800924 | 1,003 |
Q2071827 | Persan (grape)
Persan is a red French wine grape variety that is grown primarily in the Savoie region. While the name hints at a Persian origins for the grape, it is most likely native to the Rhône-Alpes region with the name "Persan" being a corruption of the synonym "Princens" which is also the name of a small hamlet by Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in Savoie which has been noted since the 17th century for the quality of its vineyards.
History
The exact origins of Persan is unknown. The name of the grape lends itself to the theory that it originated in the Middle East and worked its way west via Cyprus. One legend has it that Prince Louis of Savoy had the vine brought to France from Cyprus where he reigned as king in the 15th century. Another theory that Master of Wine Jancis Robinson puts forth is that the name Persan is a corruption of Princens which combined two words from the local dialect meaning prin (or prime) and cens (a fee due to landowners from their vassals). Records indicate in the 17th century there was a vineyard located in the small hamlet of Princens by Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne east of Grenoble that was highly regarded and could have been home to the "Princens" grape that late became known as Persan.The earliest mention of the name Persan itself occurred in 1846 when Albin Gras, then secretary of the Statistical Society of Isère and a board member for the Agricultural Society of Grenoble noted plantings of the variety in the Isère department. Gras said that the grape was known as Etraire on the right bank of the Isère and as Persan on the left bank.
Viticulture
Persan is known as an early budding, mid-ripening vine that produces small bunches of tiny berries. It can be very vigorous and usually needs to be pruned heavily in order to maintain reasonable yields. The vines seems to thrive particularly well on stony, calcareous soils with the main viticultural hazard being a susceptibility to powdery and downy mildew.
Wine regions
In the 19th century, Persan was widely planted throughout the Savoie region and Isère region until the phylloxera epidemic at the end of that century greatly reduced its numbers. It is still found in the Savoie region today where it is a permitted variety in the appellation d'Origine Contrôlée wines of the Vin de Savoie AOC as well as the Vin de Pays d'Allobrogie zone but plantings were down to just 22 acres (9 hectares) in 2012. There have been some efforts to revive the variety with Michel Grisard of Domaine Prieuré St-Christophe in Fréterive increasing his planting to make a varietal style of the grape. Grisard, along with other local Savoie producers such as Domaine de Méjane and Domaine Saint-Germain have also been spearheading a local movement to have Persan replanted in the esteemed Princens vineyard of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.Across the border from Savoie in Switzerland, more than 1500 vines of Persan were planted in a vineyard outside Geneva that should be in full production by the 2016 vintage.In 2001, DNA testing confirmed that the local Bécuet grape growing in the Susa Valley of Piedmont around Pinerolo was, in fact, the Persan grape of Savoie. Today it is often blended with the local grape variety Avanà to make a wine known as Ramiè. Some varietal examples of Bécuet are also made in the province of Turin in the communes of Gravere and Giaglione.
Confusion with and relationship to other varieties
Due to the similarities in synonyms it was long thought that Persan was the same grape as Étraire de la Dui which is also found in the Savoie wine region. In 1902, L. Rougier, an ampelographer writing for Pierre Viala and Victor Vermorel's catalog of grape varieties, determined that the two were separate varieties with Étraire de la Dui likely being an offspring of Persan. Over a 100 years later, DNA testing conducted by Swiss geneticist José Vouillamoz "strongly suggested" that there was, indeed, a parent-offspring link between Persan and Étraire de la Dui but in what direction (i.e. who is the parent and who is the offspring) is not yet known.Other varieties that Persan has been confused with over the years include Mondeuse noire, Syrah and Pinot noir. In 1876, French viticulturist Jules Guyot even speculated that Persan may have been a local mutation of the Burgundian Pinot noir that developed in Savoie. However, DNA testing has dismissed that theory.Persan was used to crossed with Peloursin to create the red grape variety Joubertin.
Synonyms
Over the years Persan has been known under a variety of synonyms including Aguyzelle, Aguzelle, Bâtarde, Bâtarde longue, Beccu (in Savoie), Becouet, Becuet (also spelled as Bécuet or Becuét in the Val di Susa region of Piedmont), Becuette (sometimes spelled as Bécuette), Begu, Berla'd Crava Cita, Berla Cita, Berlo Citto (in the Val Chisone region of Piedmont), Biquet, Bucuet, Cul de Poule, Étraire (in Isère), Étrière, Étris (in Isère), Guzelle, Moirans, Persan Noir, Petit Becquet, Posse de Chèvre, Pousse de Chèvre, Presan, Pressan, Princens (in Savoie), Prinsan, Prinssens, Rives, Sérine (in Isère), Sérinne pointue, Siranèze pointue, Siranne (in Isère) and Siranne pointue. | 3789837214876530606 | 1,317 |
Q7839181 | Trevor Grimshaw
Life and work
Grimshaw was born in Hyde, Cheshire in 1947 and studied at the Stockport College of Art from 1963 to 1968. He developed a unique style working in oils, charcoal and graphite to produce atmospheric, stylised images of the Northern industrial landscape, mainly in monochrome.As a child he had a passion for steam engines and trainspotting, which continued into adulthood; for example he made the journey to the scrapyard at Barry in South Wales which held hundreds of steam locomotives awaiting scrapping, and made a personal photographic record of the occasion, 34 photo images being used in his publication "Stilled Life". Much of his work overall features steam engines.He spent much of his working career at Manchester advertising agency Stowe Bowden Ltd.
Artistic career
Grimshaw exhibited widely in the UK (including at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy in the 1970s) and in the US and Germany. His work was included in the private collections of L.S. Lowry, Edward Heath (two drawings purchased in 1973), the Warburton (Bread) Family and Gerald Kaufman MP., and he is represented in a number of public collections, including The Tate Gallery, Salford Art Gallery, Stockport Art Gallery and Bury Art Gallery.He illustrated The Singing Street, a book of poems by Mike Harding, and executed limited edition lithographs for Christie's Contemporary Art. He also did the title slide images for the early BBC Great Railway Journeys of the World series. Artist Geoffrey Key described Grimshaw, a long time friend, as "one of the most important graphic artists working in the north during the last half of the 20th century".While Grimshaw is most celebrated for his black and grey graphite portrayal of post-industrial Britain (e.g. canals, cityscapes, viaducts, steam trains) his portfolio included diverse other subjects such as megaliths, Stonehenge, quarries in North Wales, motorway construction and the solstices (often in combination). Colour treatment was largely reserved for Cheshire landscapes, and pictures of Clarice Cliff ceramics.L.S.Lowry attended one of his earliest exhibitions, buying three of his major early works to hang alongside his small collection of Pre-Raphaelites. Grimshaw became a regular visitor to Lowry’s home in Mottram.In 1973 the North West Arts Association published Townscape: Trevor Grimshaw, a book reproducing 30 drawings.In 2004 a major retrospective exhibition was held at Stockport Art Gallery.In December 2011 viewers of the BBC programme "Flog It!" witnessed two large graphite drawings sell for £3,200 and £3,800 (plus buyer's premium) at an auction held at Adam Partridge's auction rooms in Congleton.
Final exhibitions and death
By the time of his death, in a house fire in November 2001, Grimshaw had become an alcoholic and a reclusive figure. He held his last show in 1997 in the County Museum and Art Gallery at Prostejov, Moravia, Czech Republic, his 50th show in his 50th year.Grimshaw's daughter organised a retrospective exhibition of her father's work, which took place from February to May 2004 at Stockport Art Gallery.In June 2014 an exhibition of his paintings, organised by family friend (and owner of the collection).Ceridwen Grimshaw (Trevor's youngest daughter) recently discovered negatives taken from Grimshaw's 1970's 3 trips to Barry Scrapyard (see above). Almost 100 of these images were unused and 90 will be exhibited at Stockport War Museum and Art Gallery from 11 May 2019 to June 15, titled "Trevor Grimshaw - Unseen Barry Photographs". Grimshaw's intention was to show the effects of Barry's salt air on over 100 steam locomotives awaiting scrapping (although most were eventually saved). | 18081257191858864627 | 828 |
Q43080892 | Tehipite Valley
Tehipite Valley, a glacial valley of the Middle Fork Kings River, is located in Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada of California. The valley is in Fresno County about 45 miles (72 km) southwest of Bishop and 60 miles (97 km) east of Fresno and is known for its Yosemite-like scenery and its extreme isolation.
Geography
The valley, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and up to three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) wide, is characterized by high, extremely steep granite walls, side canyons and waterfalls. The valley's scenery has been frequently compared to that of Yosemite Valley, starting with John Muir who first visited the area in the 1870s. It is situated just inside the western boundary of Kings Canyon National Park and on the northern edge of the Monarch Wilderness. The Middle Fork flows swiftly from northeast to southwest through the valley. The valley floor is at an elevation of 4,200 feet (1,300 m) while the surrounding peaks rise to heights of 8,000 feet (2,400 m) or more.On a 1917 National Park Service expedition to Tehipite Valley, Robert Sterling Yard described the place as thus:Tehipite Dome, now outlined against the sky, and the neighboring abrupt castellated walls, towered more hugely than ever. We did not need the map to know that some of these heights exceeded Yosemite's. The skyline was fantastically carved into spires and domes, a counterpart in gigantic miniature of the Great Sierra of which it was the valley climax. The Yosemite measure of sublimity, perhaps, lacked, but in its place was a more rugged grandeur, a certain suggestion of vastness and power that I have not seen elsewhere.The north side of Tehipite Valley is dominated by Tehipite Dome, the largest granite dome in the Sierra Nevada, rising 3,500 feet (1,100 m) above the valley floor. Notable features of the valley include Silver Spray and Blue Canyon Falls, both cascades hundreds of feet high and the rugged, nearly inaccessible Gorge of Despair formed by Crystal Creek which provides "some of the finest technical rock climbing in the Sierra".
History
The valley was named in 1869 by Frank Dusy, taking the Native American name for Tehipite Dome meaning "high rock". Dusy's expeditions were also the first to photograph the valley, doing so in 1879. Although Dusy is credited with being the first non-native person to visit the valley, he recorded in his journal that he followed a trail possibly used by prospectors in search of gold, several years earlier. Lilbourne A. Winchell, a member of the 1879 Dusy expedition, wrote of his initial impression of the valley:...At 4 o'clock P.M. of Sunday, July 13th, we stood on the brink of the cliff and gazed with wonder and awe upon one of the grandest views to be found in the Sierras. A grassy slope reaches to the very edge of the chasm, the bottom of which is more than a vertical mile below, and as one looks shudderingly down the giddy abyss he sees the majestic stream of the Middle Fork, appearing no larger than a brook, as it glistened in the sun. To the east we beheld mountains of solid rock, capped with snow, and increasing in grandeur and height as they near the summit, which was dimly outlined against the sky, in the far distance. Lingering with enraptured visions we were loth to withdraw our eyes from a scene at once sublime and awe-inspiring, at the warning by the lengthened shadows, that our time was limited, so with reluctance we left the spot and pursued our way down the steep and difficult route that led to the bottom of the valley."In 1897 Theodore S. Solomon made one of the first maps of the valley, on which was also the first recorded mention of "Gorge of Despair".In the 1920s the City of Los Angeles proposed the Tehipite Valley as the site of a hydroelectric dam. This was one of the key controversies before, and for many years after the establishment of Kings Canyon National Park. The initial dedication of the park on March 4, 1940 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not include Tehipite Valley; it was not until 1965 when Tehipite Valley and Cedar Grove were finally added to the park, making them forever off-limits to industrial development.
Access
The valley is known for its extreme remoteness, and is many miles from the nearest paved road (Highway 180). On some days, it receives no visitors at all. One of the major trails to the valley is the Tehipite Valley Trail, which begins at the access road for Wishon Dam. The National Park Service describes the hike to the valley rim as "moderate" and the descent into the valley as "very strenuous". Due to the high elevation of the incoming trails and heavy snows in winter, Tehipite Valley is inaccessible for up to eight months of the year. The difficulty of access is compounded by the fact that many trails have deteriorated. In addition the area is known for rattlesnakes.There are primitive campsites in the valley, along the Middle Fork. | 7272901308492951034 | 1,121 |
Q3375899 | Danish Emergency Management Agency
History
By the Danish Preparedness Act (Beredskabsloven), which came into force on 1 January 1992, the former WW2 era wartime civil defense corps was changed into a peacetime "Emergency Management Agency", that could primarily work in peacetime.The Danish Emergency Management Agency was created out of the two agencies responsible for these former services, namely "Civilforsvarsstyrelsen" (Civil Defense Agency) and "Statens Brandinspektion" (Governmental Fire Inspection Agency).The Civil Defence was created on 1 March 1938, as the State Civil Air Defence (Statens civile luftværn) and was under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior. The name Civil Defence dates from the first Civil Defence law of 1 April 1949.The municipal fire services and the Governmental Fire Inspection Agency was under the Ministry of Justice.The new Danish Emergency Management Agency came under the responsibility of Ministry of the Interior, however as of 1 February 2004 it is under the Ministry of Defence.By means of a number of political agreements supported widely by the parties in the Danish Parliament, the rescue preparedness has been continuously developed and adapted to the changing demands made by the society and the changes in the security-policy situation.
DEMA and the public
When the Civil Air Defense was created the vehicles were old gray trucks, and this truck-color was kept for many years. The uniform of the Civil Air Defense, and later the Civil Defense was also kept gray, with orange shoulders and blue triangles - The international icon for civil protection. Later the vehicles were painted orange to show that it is a true Civil Defense agency and still are this color - Denmark being one of the only nations left still using the Civil Defense colors and logo to this extent. The uniforms were modernized in the year 2000, and the old gray uniform was replaced by a new dark blue uniform, called M/2000. The uniform has been edited sometimes, and a new rescue-uniform was created in 2009 for USAR teams. The M/2000 is being replaced by a new uniform currently under development.When on international deployment the DEMA often uses discrete civilian clothing, mostly in a sand/brown color. Experiences have shown that the dark blue uniform may often be mistaken as military or police in other countries, and this has given some unfortunate situations.The only current deployment where the uniform is used is the UNIFIL deployment in Lebanon, where a special uniform has been developed for the hot climate.Although DEMA hasn't been called Civil Defense (Civilforsvaret) for more than 15 years, the general public still often refers to it as the Civil Defense, and a lot don't know what DEMA is.
Municipal fire departments
The primary firefighting work in Denmark are done by municipal fire departments and all municipalities are required by law to have a fire department. Before 1992 the municipal fire department were controlled by "Statens Brandinspektion" (Governmental Fire Inspection Agency), but with the law-change in 1992 the responsibility was given to the Civil Preparedness Division of DEMA.The municipalities does not have to do the firefighting themselves, and a large part of the fire department services are done by the private firm Falck A/S.
Civil Preparedness Division
The Danish Preparedness Act stipulates that each ministry, agency, or other authority in the Danish government is required to carry out relevant planning within their respective sector to deal with a serious adverse impact on critical functions of society. CPD helps facilitate planning within the different sectors and the coordination between the different sectors. This includes responsibility for national emergency planning, publication of guidance materials, courses, and other activities to strengthen the cooperation between the different actors in the Danish civil preparedness establishment.Most recently the education for both firefighters and fire chiefs has been completely revised in 2009 and 2010. | 17577131510195878230 | 802 |
Q16026978 | Charles M. Clement
Early life
Charles M. Clement was born in Sunbury, Pennsylvania on October 28, 1855, the son of John Kay Clement and Mary S. (Zeigler) Clement. He was educated at academies in Sunbury and Burlington, New Jersey, afterwards working as a clerk in the Northumberland County Prothonotary's office. He read law, attained admission to the bar, and commenced practice in Sunbury in 1878.
Career
Clement was also active in business, including serving as President of the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania and attorney for or board of directors member of several utilities and other corporations.A Republican, he served in various local and county party positions, including Chairman of the Northumberland County Republican Committee. He also held local office, including member of Sunbury's City Council, Assistant Burgess, school board member, and City Solicitor. In the 1890s he served as Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Military service
Clement was an organizer of the Sunbury Guards, a unit which was incorporated into the National Guard as Company E, 12th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Enlisting as a Private in 1877, he was soon commissioned as a Captain, and he commanded the company for several years.In 1896 he was promoted to Major of the 12th Infantry. In 1898 he became the regiment's Lieutenant Colonel and second in command. He served in this position when the regiment was mustered into federal service for the Spanish–American War, and remained until the regiment was discharged in October, 1898.Remaining in the National Guard after the war, he was promoted to Colonel as commander of the 12th Infantry.In 1910 he was promoted to Brigadier General as commander of Pennsylvania’s 3rd Infantry Brigade.Clement was promoted to Major General in 1915 and assigned to succeed Charles B. Dougherty as commander of the 28th Infantry Division, then known as the 7th Division. He led the division during its service on the border with Mexico as part of the Pancho Villa Expedition.At the start of World War I Clement was still in command, though he was nearing retirement age. When the 28th Division was called to active duty, Clement traveled to France to observe front line combat and obtain information on trench warfare techniques so that he could incorporate them into the division's training.Clement returned to the United States and trained the 28th Division until shortly before it embarked for France. He retired for medical reasons in late 1917, completing over 40 years of military service.
Awards
When the United States Army created the Spanish War Service and Mexican Border Service Medals, Clement was designated as the first official recipient of each, in recognition of his status as the longest-tenured National Guard officer eligible for the medals at the time they were authorized.
Retirement, death and burial
Clement was active in the Masons, Sons of the American Revolution and other fraternal, civic and veterans organizations. In retirement he wrote several articles and gave many speeches on Pennsylvania history, military history and other topics.He died in Sunbury on September 9, 1934, and was buried in Sunbury’s Pomfret Manor Cemetery.
Family
In 1879 Clement married Alice Virginia Withington (1855–1933). They had four sons, John Kay (1880-1971), Martin Withington (1881–1966), Charles Frances (1884–1963) and Theron Ball (1896–1965).John Kay Clement (Trinity College, 1901, Ph.D. in chemistry, University of Göttingen, 1904) was a career Army officer who served in the Spanish–American War, World War I and World War II, and retired as a Colonel.Martin W. Clement (Trinity College, 1901) was a prominent railroad executive who served as President of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was a veteran of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 12th Regiment. During World War I he was an advisor to the U.S. Railroad Administration, and he performed a similar function for the War Department during World War II.Charles F. Clement (Trinity College, 1905, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1908) was an attorney and business executive who served as President of Philadelphia's Winslow-Knickerbocker Coal Company and attained the rank of Colonel as a Pennsylvania National Guard member, including commanding the 28th Infantry Division’s Military Police Battalion and serving on the division staff during World War I.Theron B. Clement (Trinity College, 1917) served in the Pennsylvania National Guard and was a Captain and Assistant Quartermaster with the 28th Infantry Division in World War I. He later pursued a business career, and was an executive with the International Mercantile Marine Company, Transcontinental and Western Air, Union Switch & Signal, and the General Grinding Wheel Corporation. | 9111565174554473413 | 1,018 |
Q7373398 | Roy Staiger
Draft
Staiger was born & raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was a standout athlete at Will Rogers High School. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifteenth round of the 1969 Major League Baseball Draft, but opted to attend Bacone College in nearby Muskogee, Oklahoma, instead. Seven months later, he was drafted by the New York Mets in the first round (24th overall) of the 1970 January Secondary Amateur Draft.
Minor League career
After a subpar first season with the California League's Visalia Mets in 1970 (.239 avg., 7 HR, 34 RBI in 76 games), Staiger displayed the power that led the Mets to make him a first round pick his second season in Visalia. In 139 games, he clubbed nineteen home runs & eighteen doubles, while driving in 83 runs with a .282 batting average & .445 slugging percentage.As a franchise, the Mets were notoriously unstable at third throughout their brief history. This improved production prompted the Mets to use Staiger, who had split the 1970 season pretty evenly amount second, third & shortstop, primarily at third base in 1971. Likewise, he was used exclusively at third in 1972 with the double A Memphis Blues. Injuries limited Staiger to just 81 games, in which he hit three home runs & once again batted .282 with 38 runs batted in. His slugging percentage dropped to .379, and he registered an on-base percentage of .306.Staiger would spend the next three seasons stuck at triple A. In 1973, his first season with the International League's Tidewater Tides, he appeared in 136 games. He had a batting average of .249, a slugging percentage of .339 and an on-base percentage of .302. Although the Mets had several injuries to their infielders on the Major League team, Staiger was passed up in favor of other Tidewater infielders — Brian Ostrosser & Lute Barnes — and did receive time in the majors that season.In 1974, he again played in 136 games, and improved his batting average to .272, his slugging percentage to .343 and his on-base percentage to .343. In his third consecutive season at Tidewater in 1975, he improved his batting average and slugging percentage again to .282 and .418, respectively. This earned Staiger a promotion to the Mets major league team that September.
New York Mets
When Staiger made his major league debut on September 12, against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, he became the fiftieth third baseman in Mets history. He went 0-for-4 in his debut, however, the following day, he got his first major league hit, a double off Cards closer "The Mad Hungarian" Al Hrabosky, and scored his first major league run on a Mike Phillips single the next batter. He collected just two more hits, both singles, over the rest of the season, giving him three hits in nineteen at bats for a .158 batting average.Staiger began the 1976 season in a platoon with Wayne Garrett at third until midway through the season, when Garrett was dealt to the Montreal Expos with Del Unser for Pepe Mangual and Jim Dwyer. At the time of the trade, Staiger was batting an even .200 with no home runs & six RBIs in 34 games, however, Mets manager Joe Frazier had managed Staiger at Tidewater the previous season, and believed in Staiger's ability to serve as the Mets' full-time third baseman. He showed modest improvement following the trade, batting .230 with twenty RBIs over the rest of the season. He hit his first career home run off Expos pitcher Woodie Fryman on August 2. Three days later, he hit his only other home run of the season off the Pittsburgh Pirates' Kent Tekulve.After the 1977 Mets got off to a 15-30 start, Frazier was fired as manager, and replaced with player/manager Joe Torre. Under Frazier, Staiger was the Mets' starting third baseman, and batted .236 with two home runs & eight RBIs. Torre, however, favored Lenny Randle, acquired from the Texas Rangers earlier in the season. Staiger garnered just two more plate appearances before being demoted to Tidewater. In 73 games with Tidewater he batted .287 with fifteen home runs to earn a call back up to the Mets that September. In fifteen at bats, he collected six hits, three RBIs & three runs scored.
New York Yankees
During the 1977 Winter Meetings, Staiger was traded by the Mets to their cross-town rival New York Yankees in exchange for shortstop Sergio Ferrer. Staiger spent the entire 1978 season with the Yankees' triple A affiliate, the Tacoma Yankees. Though he batted .283 with nineteen home runs & 85 RBIs, it was not enough to earn him a call up to the World Series champions that September. He did, however, receive a brief call up to the Yankees in September 1979. In his second game as a Yankee, Staiger missed a hit & run call, resulting in a triple play. He appeared in four games for the Yankees, getting three hits in eleven at-bats. In 1980 Staiger played once again for the Columbus Clippers. After batting .234 in 90 games, he ended his professional baseball career. | 11622679587388414797 | 1,156 |
Q111087 | Ofra Haza
Early life
Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Yemeni-Jewish parents who immigrated to Israel. She was the youngest of nine children (six sisters and two brothers) to Yefet and Shoshana Haza. They were raised in a Masorti household in the Hatikva Quarter, then an impoverished neighborhood of Tel Aviv. At age 12, Haza joined a local theater troupe, and manager Bezalel Aloni noticed her singing talent. He staged many of his productions around her, and later became her manager and mentor. At 19, she was Israel's foremost pop star, and music journalists retrospectively described her as "the Madonna of the East".Haza completed her Israeli military service in 1979.
International artist
Her major international breakthrough came in the wake of the album Shirei Teiman ("Yemenite songs"), which she recorded in 1984. The album consisted of songs that Haza had heard in childhood, using arrangements that combined authentic Middle Eastern percussion with classical instruments. Further recognition came with the single "Im Nin'alu", taken from the album Shaday (1988), which won the New Music Award for Best International Album of the Year. The song topped the Eurochart for two weeks in June that year and was on heavy rotation on MTV channels across the continent. In the annals of classical hip-hop this song would be extensively re-released, re-mixed and sampled, for example on Coldcut's remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full". The single made only a brief appearance in the UK top 40 singles chart, but became a dance floor favorite across Europe and the USA, topping the German charts for nine weeks. Subsequent singles were also given the dance-beat / MTV-style video treatment, most notably, Galbi, Daw Da Hiya and Mata Hari, but none quite matched the runaway success of her first hit. Im Nin'alu would go on to be featured on an in-game radio playlist of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, released in 2005 and featured on Panjabi MC's album "Indian Timing" in 2009.Haza also received critical acclaim for the albums Fifty Gates of Wisdom (1988), Desert Wind (1989), Kirya (1992), Ofra Haza (1997) and for her collection of children's songs, L'Yeladim (1982).In 1992, Kirya (co-produced by Don Was) received a Grammy nomination.In 1994, Haza released her first Hebrew album in seven years, Kol Haneshama ("The Whole Soul"). Though not an initial chart success, the album produced one of her biggest hits to date, Le'orech Hayam ("Along The Sea"), written by Ayala Asherov. The song did not have any substantial chart success upon its release to radio but became an anthem after Haza performed it on the assembly in memorial to deceased Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a week after he was assassinated. Radio stations around the country began to play it. Its lyrics became even more symbolic following Haza's own death in 2000.
Marriage
On July 15, 1997, Haza married businessman Doron Ashkenazi. The couple had no children, but Ashkenazi had an adopted son, Shai, and a biological daughter from his first marriage.
Death
Ofra Haza died on February 23, 2000, at the age of 42, of AIDS-related pneumonia. While the fact that she was HIV positive is now generally known, the decision by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz to report it shortly after her death was controversial in Israel.After Haza's death was announced, Israeli radio stations played non-stop retrospectives of her music and then Prime Minister Ehud Barak praised her work as a cultural emissary, commenting that she also represented the Israeli success story — "Ofra emerged from the Hatikvah slums to reach the peak of Israeli culture. She has left a mark on us all."The fact that Haza died because of an AIDS-related illness added another layer to the public mourning. The revelation of Haza's illness caused much surprise among fans, along with debate about whether the media invaded her privacy by reporting it. There was also speculation about how she had acquired the virus. Immediately after her death, the media placed blame on her husband, Tel Aviv businessman Doron Ashkenazi, for infecting her with the disease. Haza's manager Bezalel Aloni supported this belief, writing in his book that Haza acquired AIDS through sex with her husband. Later, it was revealed that her husband believed Haza became infected because of a blood transfusion she received in a hospital following a miscarriage. Ashkenazi himself died of a drug overdose roughly one year later on April 7, 2001, leaving a daughter from a prior marriage and a 14-year-old adopted son, Shai Ashkenazi.Haza is buried in the Artists section of Yarkon Cemetery in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv.
Legacy
Bezalel Aloni, Haza's manager and producer of 28 years, published a book Michtavim L'Ofra (Letters to Ofra) in 2007. The book is partly Aloni's autobiography and partly a biography of Haza, and includes letters written by Aloni.On 22 March 2007, on the seventh anniversary of her death, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and the Tel Aviv Development Fund renamed part of the public park in the Hatikva Quarter Gan Ofra (Ofra's Park) in her honor. The park is placed at the end of Bo'az street where Haza's childhood home was. The park features a children's playground, symbolizing her love for children and the old quarter she grew up in and always came back to. | 14942035520228028845 | 1,231 |
Q76368 | Konstantin Thon
Early life
Konstantin, born in St. Petersburg to the family of a German jeweller, was one of three Thon brothers who all rose to become notable architects. He studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1803–15) under the Empire Style architect Andrey Voronikhin, best remembered for his work on the Kazan Cathedral, situated right in the middle of the Nevsky Prospekt. He studied Italian art in Rome from 1819 to 1828, and on his return home was admitted to the academy as its member (1830) and professor (1833). In 1854, he was appointed rector of the architectural division of the academy. Thon first attracted public attention with his sumptuous design for the interiors of the Academy building on the Neva embankment. In 1827, he submitted to the tsar his project of St Catherine church at the Obvodnyi Canal, the first ever design in the Russian Revival style. Nicholas I, who felt disaffected with the prevailing Neoclassicism of Russian architecture, remarked that "Russians have their own great art traditions and don't need to cringe before Rome". Thon's project was to become a revered model for other churches in St Petersburg and across Russia.
Russian-Byzantine Revival
In 1830, Thon completed his most ambitious design to date, that of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. The Russian-Byzantine Revival style of his project, intended to underline similarity of the new church with old cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, displeased many of his fellows, who wanted to see the cathedral built in the severe Neoclassical style. Nevertheless, the emperor personally approved his design. Thon and his disciples continued to work on the cathedral for the next 50 years, until the master's death in 1881.In 1836–42, Thon supervised the construction of another ponderous church with a spacious interior, that of Presentation to the Temple for the Semenovsky regiment in St Petersburg. He followed this with dozens of Neo-Russian-Byzantine designs for churches and cathedrals in provincial towns, including Sveaborg, Yelets, Tomsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Krasnoyarsk. Some of his revivalist projects were assembled in the Model Album for Church Designs (1836). From 1838 to 1851, Thon was employed in construction of the Neo-Russian Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. The grandiose palace, famed for opulent interiors of its 700 rooms and halls, was meant to symbolize the grandeur of the Russian state. It was a daring design which incorporated parts of earlier structures that had been standing on the spot. The palace has served successively as an official residence for the Russian tsars, Soviet rulers, and the Presidents of the Russian Federation. At the same time, Thon rehabilitated the abandoned Izmaylovo Estate into an almshouse for the veterans of the Napoleonic Wars.
Later years
Thon's last important commissions were the Nikolaevsky railway stations in Moscow and Saint Petersburg (1849–51). In his design for the stations the architect implemented some of the newest construction technologies. Despite large pieces of steelwork used in the construction, Venetian facades and medieval clock towers of the stations cleverly masked their modern function. Both structures, although extensively reconstructed, are still standing.After the death of his patron, the Emperor, Thon's failing health prevented him from working on other projects apart from the great cathedral in Moscow. He died at St. Petersburg in 1881.Even during his lifetime, the more radical of his contemporaries, such as Alexander Herzen, dismissed his architecture as "reactionary manifestation of the tyrant's rule". The Soviet authorities, labelling Thon's churches ugly chests of drawers, systematically destroyed as many of them as possible, including all his churches in St Petersburg and vicinity and the work of his life, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The fall of the Soviet rule in 1991 brought about a renewed interest in the work of the Neo-Russian-Byzantine master. | 4247744546954562786 | 877 |
Q652511 | Swanwick, Derbyshire
History
The name Swanwick is derived from the Old English "Swana" meaning herdsmen, and "wic" meaning a group of buildings. The settlement is thought to have begun in the vicinity of the farm above The Hayes (meaning "enclosure"), on which a number of ancient footpath routes converge. It is first mentioned in 1304 in Sir Thomas Chaworth's grants to Beauchief Abbey. Sir Thomas was the Lord of the Manor of Alfreton, which encompassed Swanwick. The area was exploited for coal from early times, first with small pits in the locality known as The Delves (meaning 'diggings') and later with a major colliery in the north of the parish, which closed in the 1960s.Several families figure highly in Swanwick's long history. The Turners, beginning with George Turner in 1620, owned the local mineral rights and became coal magnates, until the death of Charles Turner in 1736. John Turner built Swanwick Hall around 1690. Elizabeth Turner had a school built in 1740 to provide education for 20 children from poor families. The school house is now a private residence. The other most significant family was the Woods, who occupied the original Swanwick Hall ('The Old Hall') in what is known as Wood's Yard. It was a substantial yeoman's residence of 1678, as evidenced by a datestone high up on the dormer gables, along Derbyshire County Council having bought it two years earlier after the death of Hugo Wood.Swanwick Hayes – now the Hayes Conference Centre – was constructed in the 1850s as the home of Mr Fitzherbert Wright. In the early 1900s, it was converted into a conference centre, and operates as such to this day. The Hayes gained notoriety during World War II, when it served as a prisoner of war camp for both German and Italian prisoners. Franz von Werra, a Luftwaffe officer, escaped from here; he was recaptured at nearby RAF Hucknall, while trying to steal an aircraft. A film entitled The One That Got Away, and starring Hardy Krüger, was made of his exploits.
St Andrew's Church
The History of St Andrew'sIn 1856 the Revd John Wood gave land for a church to be built in Swanwick, at which time the village's industries consisted of coal mining, farming, the Butterley ironworks, framework knitting, shoemaking and a newly established silk stocking maker.with the crest adopted by the Wood family. The Woods succeeded the Turners as owners of most of the local mineral rights, and Hugo Wood later moved into the newer Hall with his family; a painting of his children, by Joseph Wright of Derby, used to hang in its dining room. The Hall opened as a secondary school in 1922, theWith the aid of a donation of £3,230 from Francis Wright the building was completed in 1859 with a nave of five bays, north and south aisles, north porch and bell turret over the west gable. The pointed arches on both sides of the nave and in the chancel imply that the architect, Benjamin Wilson, had Early English architecture in mind when he designed the building.The Church celebrated its 150th Anniversary on Sunday 26 September 2010. The Bishop of Derby, the Rt Revd Dr. Alastair Redfern, presided at a celebratory service.The anniversary was also marked by the publishing of "Swanwick 1304–2010 – the Story of our Village" which sold over 600 copies.The church has been important in village life for over one and a half centuries and continues to make important contribution to the community. Many have been christened and married here and many have worshipped here in the past and there is still a vibrant congregation today with two or more services every Sunday.See the church website for further details and a downloadable history http://swanwick-pentrich-cofe.btck.co.uk/
Schools
The village has four schools: Swanwick Hall, Swanwick Primary School, Swanwick Pre-School and Swanwick School & Sports College.
The Alfreton Learning Community Talent Contest
On 27 March 2008, Swanwick Hall hosted The Alfreton Learning Community Talent Contest (later renamed as The Contest for 2009 editions and onwards). The neighbouring schools of Tibshelf Community and Alfreton Park participated as well as the host school. The winner was Tibshelf Community School, who will host the 2009 edition of The Contest. This contest was founded by a student of Swanwick Hall. | 4361208420765917247 | 966 |
Q6963959 | NanoIntegris
Process
The process through which these technologies emerged is called Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation (DGU). DGU has been used for some time in biological and medical applications but Dr. Mark Hersam utilized this process with carbon nanotubes which allowed for those nanotubes with semi-conductive properties to be separated from those with conductive properties. While the DGU method was the first one to convincingly produce high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes, the rotation speeds involved limit the amount of liquid, and thus nanotubes, that can be processed with this technology. NanoIntegris has recently licensed a new process using selective wrapping of semiconducting nanotubes with conjugated polymers. This method is scalable thus enables the supply of this material in large quantities for commercial applications.
Semiconducting SWCNT
Enriched Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (sc-SWCNT) using either a density-gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) or a polymer-wrapping (conjugated polymer extraction(CPE)) method. While the DGU method is used to disperse and enrich sc-SWCNT in an aqueous solution, the CPE method disperses and enriches sc-SWCNT in non-polar aromatic solvents
Conducting SWCNT
Enriched Conducting carbon nanotubes
PlasmaTubes SWCNT
Highly graphitized single-wall carbon nanotubes grown using an industrial scale plasma torch. Nanotubes grown using a plasma torch display diameters, lengths and purity levels comparable to the arc and laser method. The nanotubes measure between 1 and 1.5 nm in diameter and between 0.3-5 microns in length.
Pure and SuperPureTubes SWCNT
Highly purified carbon nanotubes. Carbon impurities and metal catalysts impurities below 3% and 1.5% respectively.
PureSheets/Graphene
1-4+ layer graphene sheets obtained by liquid exfoliation of graphite
HiPco SWCNT
Small-diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes
Applications
Field-Effect TransistorsBoth Wang and Engel have found that NanoIntegris separated nanotubes "hold great potential for thin-film transistors and display applications" compared to standard carbon nanotubes. More recently, nanotube-based thin film transistors have been printed using inkjet or gravure methods on a variety of flexible substrates including polyimide and polyethylene (PET) and transparent substrates such as glass. These p-type thin film transistors reliably exhibit high-mobilities (> 10 cm^2/V/s) and ON/OFF ratios (> 10^3) and threshold voltages below 5 V. Nanotube-enabled thin-film transistors thus offer high mobility and current density, low power consumption as well as environmental stability and especially mechanical flexibility. Hysterisis in the current-voltage curves as well as variability in the threshold voltage are issues that remain to be solved on the way to nanotube-enabled OTFT backplanes for flexible displays.Transparent ConductorsAdditionally, the ability to distinguish semiconducting from conducting nanotubes was found to have an effect on conductive films.Organic Light-Emitting DiodesOrganic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) can be made on a larger scale and at a lower cost using separated carbon nanotubes.High Frequency DevicesBy using high-purity, semiconducting nanotubes, scientists have been able to achieve "record...operating frequencies above 80 GHz."
Researchers Who Have Published Using NanoIntegris Materials
Chongwu ZhouMark HersamBruce WeismanCraig E. BanksFwu-Shan SheuPeter John BurkeSaiful I. KhondakerMartin PumeraAchim HartschuhLu-Chang QinPhaedon Avouris,Ralph KrupkeJong-Hyun AhnPartha HazraLain-Jong LiMenachem ElimelechChad D. VecitisJonas I. GoldsmithSamuel GrahamRobert C. Haddon | 7741035330643501796 | 861 |
Q42156733 | Hamish Munro
Hamish Nisbet Munro FRSE (1915–1994) was a Scottish biochemist and expert in protein metabolism at Glasgow University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as president of the American Institute of Nutrition in 1978, and was first director of the USDA Human Nutrition Research Centre on Ageing at Tufts University.
Life
Munro was born in Edinburgh on 3 July 1915, the son of a bank clerk. He was educated first at George Watson's College. However, in 1923 his father was transferred to manage the Bank of Scotland branch in the small village of Bonar Bridge in Sutherland, close to his family home in Dornoch. Hamish was then educated in the one-room village school. In 1932 he was Dux (top pupil) of the county of Sutherland. Wishing to study medicine but needing qualifications which could not be provided in his village school he crammed physics and chemistry alone and passed the university entrance examination, but as medicine was oversubscribed, he first studied for a Bachelor of Science degree at Glasgow University. During this course he spent the summers with Edward Provan Cathcart and David Cuthbertson and acquired an interest in metabolism and nutrition. He graduated BSc in 1936 with First Class Honours, publishing that year the first of over 700 scientific papers. He returned to the medical course and qualified MB ChB in September 1939.He began as a medical resident at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow, and was promoted to clinical tutor the following year, a role he held for the duration of the Second World War. In 1945 he left clinical work for a lecturership in physiology at Glasgow University, transferring as senior lecturer to the newly separate Department of Biochemistry in 1947. The head of the department was James Norman Davidson, but Munro established his own reputation in studies of protein metabolism and nucleic acids, receiving a doctorate (DSc) in 1956, and being appointed full professor in 1964.[2] In 1956 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, proposed by Davidson, Cuthbertson, Robert Campbell Garry, and Hugh Garven. During this time, he completed the first two volumes of his major work, Mammalian Protein Metabolism, with J.D. Allison.In 1966 he moved to Boston in America as professor of physiological chemistry at MIT. In this laboratory he continued his studies of protein metabolism, including his major interest in ferritin, but also important studies in RNA polymerases, and methylated histidine as a measure of muscle breakdown. In 1972 he was offered, but declined, directorship of the Dunn Nutrition Centre in Cambridge.[4] From 1977 he joined a US Department of Agriculture task force which led to the construction of the USDA Human Nutrition Research Centre on Ageing at Tufts University, a 15-storey building in downtown Boston. Munro was its first director from 1982, also serving as Professor of Medicine at Tufts.He received many awards, including the Osborne-Mendel Award (1969) and the Borden Award (1978) from the American Institute of Nutrition, the Bristol-Myers Award for Distinguished Achievements in Nutrition (1981), the Rank Prize for Nutrition (1982) and the Corson Medal, Franklin Institute (1987). In 1983 he compiled publications on ferritin into an MD thesis for which he was awarded the Bellahouston Medal by Glasgow University. He was a member of the US National Academy of Sciences from 1974, and had an honorary doctorate from the University of Nancy, France.Although he continued to work until the age of 75, and added to his scientific publications even in his last years, he was increasingly disabled by Parkinson’s disease and died of complications of this in Glasgow on 28 October 1994.
Family
During a study of scurvy he met a medical colleague, Dr Edith Little, whom he married in 1946. They had one daughter and three sons, brought up in Glasgow and Boston. After the children had left home, Edith returned to the UK where she pursued her own career as a psychiatrist, but the family remained integrated. | 6363157349229866321 | 883 |
Q691747 | Pyay
Etymology
The name "Pyay" means "country" in Burmese, and refers to the ruins of the main city of the Pyu city-states, Sri Ksetra (Burmese: သရေခေတ္တရာ, Sanskrit Śrīkṣetra "blessed place, country"), which is located 8 km (5.0 mi) to the south-east of modern Pyay and is in the village of Hmawa.
History
Much debate surrounds the construction of Sri Ksetra. Htin Aung suggests that Pyu might have been founded in 78 CE, based on the Sanskrit / Pyu Era. D. G. E. Hall and Gordon Luce, however, claim that civilisation of the Irrawaddy Valley could not have been possible before the 4th century, thus, attributing the founding of Sri Ksetra to 638, from which the current Burmese Kawza Era begins.Sri Ksetra was the capital of the Pyu dynasty of Vikrama. The city was circular with walls enclosing about 46 km² (18 sq mi), making it the largest walled city in Southeast Asia during its peak. The city contained both housing and farms, as is evident from the remains of waterways and tanks which have been discovered.The Chinese pilgrims Xuanzang and Yijing mentioned Sri Ksetra in their mid-7th-century accounts. It is not known when precisely the Pyu abandoned Sri Ksetra and moved northward. It is speculated that their decline was due to the growth of the Irrawaddy river delta, cutting it off from coastal trade, and also from Mon and later Tai Shan incursions. Burmese chronicles state that when Anawrahta invaded the southern parts of modern-day Myanmar in 1057, he ordered the ruins of Sri Ksetra to be destroyed to prevent rebels from sheltering there. The Burmese came to call the old Pyu center Pyi. The extensive ruins have been the subject of intensive archaeological investigation.Called Prome by the British (after the name that appears in the Portuguese texts of the XVIIth century), the city became part of British territory after the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1853. The town was taken by the British in 1825 during the Battle of Prome and again in 1852, on both occasions with hardly any opposition. In 1862, it was almost entirely destroyed by fire, and was afterwards relaid out in straight and broad streets. It was erected into a municipality in 1874, and since then great improvements have been made, including waterworks.During World War II the city was the site of the Battle of Prome. The city was later retaken by the British Army in May 1945.To the south and south-east, the town is closed in by low pagoda-topped hills, on one of which stands the conspicuous gilded Shwesandaw Pagoda. The Shwesandaw Pagoda is a pagoda in the center of Pyay. It is the terminus for a railway from Yangon, which runs through the district.To the west of Pyay, crossing Irrawaddy river through Nawaday bridge, stands the Shwebontha Muni Pagoda. The Buddha statue is one of three replica of the Maha Myat Muni Buddha statue, believe to date back 554 B.C. when the king Sandar Thuriy rules.
Geography
The north and north-east of the district is forest-covered, and contains numerous valleys and ravines, which unite in one large stream called the Naweng River. The most important of the plains lie in the south and south-west portions of Pyay, and extend along the whole length of the railway that runs between. There are, in addition large tracts of land covered by jungle, which are available for cultivation. The principal river is the Irrawaddy, which intersects the district from north to south; next in importance are the Thani and its tributaries and the Naweng system of rivers. In the hills near the capital the soil is of Tertiary formation, and in the plains it is an alluvial deposit.
Economy
The main crop is rice, but some cotton and tobacco are grown, while the custard apples are famous. Sericulture is extensively carried on by a special class. The forests yield teak and cutch, cotton and silk-weaving are important industries; there are also manufactures of ornamental boxes, coarse brown sugar and cutch.
Education
Pyay City has three universities. The universities are Pyay University (PU), Pyay Technological University(PTU), and Computer University, Pyay. Pyay University is situated near to the town centre of Pyay. PTU is situated near to Hnawgone village and Latkhoukpin village, a few miles away from Pyay. CU,Pyay is also quite a far distance from downtown. | 7291586520619481549 | 1,048 |
Q40889185 | War of Qi's succession
Background
The state of Qi was dominant during the Western Zhou period (1046–771 BC), and as the Zhou dynasty's authority collapsed at the Spring and Autumn period's beginning, Qi grew into the dominating power of eastern China. As result, Qi was in an ideal position to expand its influence when Zheng's short-lived dominance over China declined. Nevertheless, Qi's development into China's predominant state was not just because of this favorable situation, but due to the efforts of two highly capable individuals: Duke Huan and his chancellor and advisor Guan Zhong. Under their leadership, Qi was reformed and became primus inter pares among the Chinese states, with Duke Huan rising to Hegemon of China. Toward the end of Huan's long reign (685–643 BC), however, Qi's dominance began to crumble. A military alliance led by Qi failed to stop the growth of the expansionist state of Chu, and even suffered defeat against it during the Battle of Loulin. Duke Huan's authority over the other states declined, a development accelerated by Guan Zhong's death in 645 BC. Having grown ill, the elderly duke also proved to be no longer able to keep the various political factions in his own realm under control.These factions were led by six of his sons: Zhao, Wukui, Pan, Shangren, Yuan, and Yong. Since all of them were the children of different concubines instead of Duke Huan's three main wives (who bore him no sons), each of these six considered himself entitled to the throne. The officially designated heir was Prince Zhao, and Duke Huan and Guan Zhong even charged the ruler of neighboring Song, Duke Xiang to ensure his succession. With Guan Zhong's death and the old duke of Qi's health worsening, however, Wukui, Pan, Shangren, Yuan, and Yong increasingly voiced their opposition to Zhao's position as designated heir. Their pleas to make one of them the next ruler failed to sway Duke Huan, but he could not prevent them from plotting against each other. In consequence, the brothers gathered followers and prepared for the inevitable showdown between them.
Wukui's ascendancy and chaos
Duke Huan finally died in late 643 BC. According to the Guanzi and some other texts from the Warring States period, he was starved to death by four conspiring officials. Other notable sources for these events, such as the Zuo Zhuan and the Records of the Grand Historian, do not mention this. With the duke dead, the situation at the court escalated. The factions of crown prince Zhao and his rival brothers all took up arms against each other, and the capital city of Linzi descended into violent chaos. Wukui, however, had two powerful allies at the court: Diao, chief of the eunuchs, and Wu (also called Yiya), the chief cook. The Guanzi claims these two were among the conspirators who murdered Duke Huan. A party led by Diao and Wu managed to take control of the palace and murdered all rival officials they could capture; the other princes fled for their lives. On 11 November 643 BC, Wukui was crowned the new duke of Qi. Only then was the late Duke Huan finally encoffined; according to different accounts his corpse had laid unattended in his bedchamber for between seven days and three months due to the prevailing chaos, and already began to rot.Despite his coronation, however, Wukui's rule proved far from secure. While Pan, Shangren, Yuan, and Yong all remained at large, it was Zhao who presented the greatest threat as he had fled to Duke Xiang of Song and asked for assistance. The ruler of Song promptly assembled an alliance against Wukui, consisting of Song, Cao, Wey, and Zou. The armies of these states, led by Duke Xiang and Prince Zhao, proceeded to invade Qi in March 642 BC. Wukui, on the other side, had won the support of the state of Lu, which sent an expeditionary army in order to aid him against the invaders. In the end, however, Wukui was murdered before the conflict could be decided on the battlefield. Growing fearful upon hearing about the Song-led invasion, the people of Qi revolted and put the usurper to death so that they could to welcome Prince Zhao as new duke.
Battle of Yan
As the news about Wukui's death spread, it was assumed that Zhao's ascendancy to throne had become inevitable, whereupon Cao, Wey and Lu withdrew their armies from Qi. In truth, however, the crown prince's position was not yet secured: As he was about to be enthroned by the people in the capital, Pan, Shangren, Yuan, and Yong returned with their adherents and attacked his party. Thus, Zhao was again forced to escape from Linzi as his rival brothers took control of the government and formed an alliance against him. The crown prince fled to Duke Xiang of Song who still remained in Qi with his army, and requested his help. Meanwhile, the united army of the four brothers sallied forth from Linzi in order to drive the troops of Song from Qi. The two forces met on the battlefield at Yan (modern-day Licheng District, Jinan), where the army of Song won a decisive victory. The four brothers fled from Qi, while Duke Xiang of Song enthroned Zhao at Linzi; from then on, Zhao became known as Duke Xiao of Qi. With the succession war seemingly concluded, the army of Song returned home.Pan, Shangren, Yuan, and Yong were still active, however, and continued to conspire against the newly crowned duke. Soon after their defeat at Yan, the Beidi invaded and ravaged Qi, probably in order to aid the four brothers. This was not enough to weaken Duke Xiao, however, and Qi was restabilized. Soon after the Beidi attack, the situation had become calm enough for late Duke Huan to be finally buried with a proper ceremony, months after his death.
Aftermath
After his ascendancy to the throne, Duke Xiao attempted to restore Qi's former predominance in China. This led to a rift in his relationship with Duke Xiang of Song, as he too wanted to become hegemon. Though the two former allies even went to war over this issue, both failed in their efforts and Duke Wen of Jin became the next hegemon. Duke Xiao's line would also not last on Qi's throne, as his son and heir was murdered. The succession crisis thus continued until Prince Yuan took the throne in 608 BC. His descendants would rule Qi until 386 BC, when they were toppled by the Tian clan. | 5851570167657793923 | 1,405 |
Q5287583 | Doctrine of Labyrinths
Vey Coruscant
Last and greatest pupil of Brinvillier Strych. She practiced blood witchcraft, a form of wizardry outlawed by the Cabaline School. There isn't much known about blood witchcraft except blood and death are used to focus and power the spells. Participants are always asked before being used. Although she never becomes a main character, fear of her permeates the lower city. She is killed by Mildmay the Fox in The Virtu.
Malkar Gennadion
Wizard, affiliated with no formal School of wizardry. Former master, lover and torturer of Felix Harrowgate, on whom he had cast the obligation de sang. It's theorized that he used the 'binding by blood' to circumvent the protection wards that all wizards of the Mirador have in order to use Felix to break The Virtu and burn the palace (Mélusine, 2005).
Bernard Heber
Illegitimate half-brother and man-at-arms of Mavortian von Heber. Initially considers Felix to be no more than a nutcase, and has a prickly relationship with Mildmay, with whom he can yet work harmoniously when need requires.
Mavortian von Heber
Wizard of the Fressandran School from Norvena Magna; practitioner of divination using the Sibylline, cards akin to the Tarot. One-time employer of Mildmay the Fox. He might have been a fairly decent fellow if not for the monomania that consumes him—the desire for revenge against Beaumont Livy, an evil wizard who seduced his fiancée, bringing about her death many years ago.
Robert of Hermione
Brother of Stephen Teverius' late wife. A wizard of mediocre ability and an enemy of Felix.
Keeper (Kolkhis)
Mildmay's former thief-keeper, lover, and trainer in the art of assassination. He escaped her at around age 17-18, but memories of her continue to haunt his nightmares.
Thaddeus de Lalage
Wizard, formerly of the Eusebian School in the Bastion. After defecting to the Mirador, converted to the Cabaline School. One-time friend of Felix, and enemy of Gideon Thraxios.
Cardenio Richey
A cade-skiff, or river-dragger, and best friend of Mildmay the Fox.
Shannon Teverius
Younger half-brother of Stephen and Victoria, and lover of Felix; however, their relationship was severed after Felix's ignominious past as a teenage whore was revealed to the court.
Stephen Teverius
Lord Protector of Marathat, succeeding his father Gareth and grandmother Jane.
Victoria Teveria
Wizard of the Cabaline school in the Mirador, and sister of the Lord Protector.
Gideon Thraxios
Wizard of the Eusebian School in the Bastion. Defected to the Mirador but not accepted as a Cabaline. Lover of Felix.
Thamuris
Troian wizard and Celebrant Celestial of the Euryganeic Covenant, now dying of consumption. Practitioner of divination using Pythian casting. Friend of Mildmay and later of Felix.
Ginevra Thomson
A beautiful shop-girl and the discarded mistress of a Melusinien nobleman. Having hired Mildmay to steal back the jewels the nobleman had given her, she subsequently became his lover.
Gloria Aestia
Second wife of Gareth Teverius, and mother of Shannon Teverius. The only annemer in the history of Marathat to be burnt for treason.
The Cordelii
The last reigning Kings of Marathat, comprising Paul, Matthias, Sebastian, Edmund, Laurence, Charles, Claudius, Jasper, and John, who was killed in a revolution that brought his cousin, Michael Teverius, to power. The crypt of the Cordelii, in the Mirador, figures in each of the first three books.
Porphyria Levant
A blood-witch, known to have cast the obligation d'âme on a man named Silas Altamont.
Brinvillier Strych
A blood wizard, mainly known for his assassination of Jane Teveria. Pupil of Porphyria Levant.
Gareth Teverius
Son of Jane Teveria, and father of Stephen Teverius and Victoria Teveria (by Dulcinea Polydoria), and Shannon Teverius (by Gloria Aestia).
Jane Teveria
Mother of Lord Gareth Teverius, and therefore grandmother of Victoria Teveria, Stephen Teverius and Shannon Teverius. Burnt to death by Brinvillier Strych in the Hall of Chimeras in the Mirador.
The Bastion
The center of power of the Kekropian empire, and home of the Eusebian wizards, rivals and enemies of the Cabalines. Once the sister citadel to the Mirador, it houses the only remaining Titan Clock in existence.
The Norvenas
Magna and Parva, they are countries that lie far to the north of Mélusine. Norvenan wizards follow the Fressandran school of magic.
Marathat
Formerly a kingdom, now a protectorate ruled by the Lord Protector. Geographically it lies west of the Kekropian Empire and east of the Coeurterre, and is in constant danger of being subsumed by one or other of its more powerful neighbors.
Mélusine
The capital of Marathat.
The Mirador
The center of power of Marathat and of Mélusine, it is part citadel, part palace, and part research institute for the Cabaline wizards. Immensely old in places, it is notable for having no windows. Its central audience hall-cum-throne room, the Hall of the Chimeras, also houses the Virtu, a magical artifact that concentrates the wizards' power and is the chief safeguard of the city.
Troia
A country across the eastern sea, in ancient times the center of an empire that extended to Kekropia. Troian wizards are especially skilled at healing. Troian people are of a distinct physical type: tall and slender, with pale skin, red hair, and yellow eyes; Troians have no facial hair. | 16591226711785640583 | 1,357 |
Q16010795 | Ascension (Star Wars novel)
Plot
On their home planet of Kesh, the Lost Tribe of the Sith gathers to decide how best to use Abeloth, the powerful Force entity, for their own uses. They meet successfully with the arrogant female deity and announce a welcome parade and masquerade in Tahv, the "City of Glass", their capital. Abeloth takes advantage of the festivities to dazzle the Sith with her shape-shifting powers, then slips into Grand Lord Darish Vol's dreams, threatening to kill him for taking advantage of her. Vol uses the Force to uncover the being's desperate need for love and companionship, and uses it in the Force as a psychological weapon. Abeloth loses control of her powers as a result, lashing out in extreme pain and destroying Tahv and its inhabitants via the Force. Gavar Khai, father of Vestara Khai, survives the assault by spending the night on his ship, mistakenly believed to have turned against the Lost Tribe. Khai flees Kesh with the other survivors, effectively in exile. Abeloth, while weakened, holds control of Ship, the Sith meditation sphere, using him to gather information from around the galaxy. One newsvid catches her attention, an interview with a Jessar leader Rokari "Roki" Kem, who liberated her people from the enslavement under the Minyavish. Roki speaks as a gentle, truthful being who wants the best for her people, taking on the role of liberator and then Senator of the Galactic Alliance out of need, rather than ambition.Aboard the Jade Shadow, Luke and Ben Skywalker, Vestara Khai, and Jaina Solo pick up Jedi Natua Wan from Coruscant for help in finding planets the ancient Sith were known to have occupied, in hopes of finding Ship and taking him back from Abeloth. Their first one is Korriban, a desert planet steeped in dark-side energy. The group find no Sith, nor any trace of Ship, but when they face a pack of tuk'ata, or "Sith hounds", Vestara orders them not to harm the group in the ancient Sith language, which the beasts understand. Next, on Dromund Kaas, they enter an ancient Sith settlement and are cornered by a group of Sith and Gavar Khai, furious at his daughter for falling in love with Ben, and threatening to kill her. Vestara kills him to save herself, and lies on the Jade Shadow in horror at what she did that night. Ben finds her writing a letter to her imaginary "father", reacting with angry suspicion until he understands the situation. Vestara finally asks him to help her become a Jedi, to his delight.Han, Leia, and Allana Solo travel to Roonadan to meet Sligh, Emala, and Grees, a trio of Squibs who have known Han and Leia for decades. The creatures strike a deal with the Solos for some "information", but are interrupted by unknown attackers wielding blasters. Upon Luke's return to Coruscant from exile, Jaina and Jagged Fel rejoin the Solos. Han and Leia become suspicious of the Squibs' youthful appearance, persuading them to reveal their part in the testing of Moff Tol Getelles' youth serum illegally developed from drochs.Leia is suddenly arrested by GAS on trumped-up charges. Vestara reveals to Luke and Ben that one of the new Senators, Kameron Suldar, is really High Lord Ivaar Workan of the Lost Tribe, exposing the Sith infiltration of Coruscant. The Jedi are instructed by Luke to vacate Coruscant to lure the Lost Tribe, who head for the Jedi Temple to explore and take it for themselves.Moff Getelles accepts a dinner invitation from Jag Fel and attempts to assassinate him, reporting to the escaped Daala until Jag reveals himself, alive, having been warned of the attempt by Getelles, who faked it. Daala flees to the moon Boreleo and destroys it, pulling the pieces into a makeshift blockade. Jag gives up on attacking her and instead tricks Getelles by taking a sample of the youth serum.Lord Workan meets the Senate and Roki Kem, planning secretly to discredit her, until he realizes she is putting on a mask to appear kind and compassionate, but in reality is sly and devious. He warns Grand Lord Vol, causing the latter to plot her murder. However, Roki kills Vol and persuades Workan to help her become "The Beloved Queen of the Stars", and then a goddess. Workan organizes an election to make her Chief of State, but it is nearly abandoned with a long speech from interim Chief of State and Klatooinian Senator Padnel Ovin, until Roki causes him to die of a heart attack. Roki is elected, but is incensed to hear of Han, Lando Calrissian, Wynn Dorvan, and Taryn Zekk breaking Leia out of prison. Dorvan is captured in the attempt and brought before Roki, who reveals herself to actually be Abeloth.Luke, Ben, Vestara, Natua, and many of the Jedi land on Upekzar to explore its caves, which are former sites of Sith rites of passage. The tunnels contain rhak-skuri, also known as "Dream Singers", insect-like creatures that induce terrifying hallucinations. Ben, Vestara, and Natua encounter a gargantuan, mutated form of a Dream Singer that communicates with Vestara, telling her to join it and sacrifice Ben to it. Vestara kills Natua in place of her boyfriend, and that night realizes that she can never be a Jedi, and she must someday kill Ben.
Reception
Ascension reached 7 on the New York Times bestseller list on August 28, 2011. | 15254278532502367076 | 1,197 |
Q28232466 | 1988 IRA attacks in the Netherlands
Background
1988 was one of the worst years of the Troubles conflict in terms of violence during the 1980s. It saw an increase in IRA activity, a new campaign of sectarian killings by loyalist paramilitaries, and a heavy response by the British Army to IRA attacks. On 6 March the SAS shot dead 3 IRA members in Gibraltar. On 16 March at the funerals of the IRA volunteers shot in Gibraltar, a loyalist UDA volunteer killed an IRA member, Kevin Brady, as well as 2 civilians and injured dozens of other people in a grenade and gun attack at Milltown cemetery in Belfast. At Brady's funeral, two plain clothed, off-duty, British Army corporals were cornered by an angry crowd who assumed they were under attack and the IRA killed both of them. In May, the UVF killed 3 Catholic civilians and injured 9 in a gun attack in a Belfast pub. On 15 June, 7 people were killed, first 6 British soldiers were killed in the Lisburn van bombing and then the IRA shot dead a UVF member.On 7 July, an IRA member and 2 civilians were killed in a premature bomb explosion. Later that month on 23 July the IRA killed a family of three in a botched operation in Armagh. On 20 August the IRA killed 8 British soldiers and injured a further 28 in the Ballygawley bus bombing, this was the worst attack suffered from the British army since 1982. Ten days later on 30 August the SAS shot dead 3 more IRA Volunteers at Drumnakilly. One day later 3 civilians were killed when somebody triggered an IRA booby-trap bomb by mistake. Twenty-nine people were killed in the month of August alone. 104 people died in 1988 compared to 61 in 1986 and 57 in 1985. It was the worst year since 1982 when 110 people were killed.
The attacks
The first attack took place in the market of Roermond city, a popular social centre for British military personnel in the southeastern part of the Netherlands on the West German border. Two enlisted Royal Air Force members from the RAF Regiment based at RAF Wildenrath in Germany were sitting in a parked car near their base at around 01:00 am when IRA members fired shots from an automatic rifle into their car, killing one of the soldiers (SAC Ian Shinner, 20) and badly injuring his companion. Police on the scene said that at least 23 bullets were fired into the vehicle.Half an hour later in Nieuw-Bergen, about 30 miles north of Roermond, a booby-trap bomb that was placed under the car of four other RAF soldiers exploded while they were parked outside a discotheque. The bombing killed two more RAF soldiers (John Miller Reid and John Baxter) and injured two others. "The bodies were in such a condition that they could not immediately be identified," police spokesman Louis Steens told The Associated Press in Nieuw Bergen. The soldiers were based at RAF Laarbruch, about 3 miles away across the border in West Germany.The IRA were able to identify the British military personnel due to the number plates on the cars. In both attacks, the cars being driven by the RAF members had British military licence plates.The IRA issued a statement from Belfast in relation to the attacks saying: "We have a simple message for [Prime Minister Margaret] Thatcher. Disengage from Ireland and there will be peace. If not, there will be no haven for your military personnel and you will regularly be at airports awaiting your dead." Both the British and Irish governments condemned the attacks.Many Irish Republicans saw the attacks as revenge for the killings of the three IRA volunteers in Gibraltar two months before (see Operation Flavius). In 1990, two Australian tourists were shot dead by the IRA in Roermond. | 9232320766877734092 | 815 |
Q806251 | Bandai-Asahi National Park
Dewasanzan-Asahi Region
The Dewasanzan-Asahi Region is the most northern unit of the park. The northern portion of the Region consists of mountains called the Three Mountains of Dewa (出羽三山 Dewasanzan). The southern section of the region resides on the Asahi Range. National Route 112 separates these two mountain areas.
Asahi Range
The Asahi Range is located on the border between Niigata Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture and constitutes the most northern segment of the Echigo Range. The main peak, Ōasahi Dake, rises to 1,870 m above sea level and is ranked among the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains. The range is a massif stretching 60 km from north to south and 30 km from east to west. It is one of the snowiest places in Japan and snowpacks stay in summer. The mountains feature deep canyons with alpine plants on their ridges and pristine Japanese beech forests on their lower slopes.The source of the Sagae River, famous for its clear water, is located in the Yamagata Prefecture side. The river, a tributary of the Mogami River, flows out of Ōasahi Dake toward north and changes course to the east after passing Sagae Dam. The National Highway Route 112 and the Yamagata Expressway run parallel to the river. The massive dam scales 112 m tall, the largest in the prefecture, and started its operation in 1990. Prior to its construction, the negotiation over the relocation issue between the government and residents derailed, and it took 19 years from the initial planning to the start of its operation. The Gassan Reservoir covers 340 ha of area and has a large population of ayu, rainbow trout, salvelinus, and seema. The reservoir is equipped with the Gassan Reservoir Large Fountain, from which water can reach as high as 112 m. From April to November, the fountain shoots up water once at each hour between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The village of Sage is the setting for the NHK TV drama series Oshin.A deciduous forest mainly consisting of Japanese beech covers the mountains up to 1200 m above sea level. The vegetation shifts to shrubs from 1200 m. The area, designated as wildlife refuge by the government in 1984, is inhabited by a wide variety of animals including Japanese dormouse, Japanese serow, Asian black bear, golden eagle, mountain hawk-eagle, goshawk, and peregrine falcon.
Iide Region
The Iide Region is the south-western unit of the park.The Iide mountain range comprises the northern portion of the Echigo Range. The largest land mass of the range is the Iide Massif and surrounded by the Arakawa River to the north, National Highway Route 121 to the east, the Agano River to the south, and the Echigo Plain to the east. From the range visible on sunny days are the Asahi Range, Mt. Azuma, and Aizu Basin, Mt. Nasu and the Sea of Japan. The highest peak is Mt Dainichi, 2128 m in height, followed by other 2000 m peaks: Mt. Iide (2105 m), Mt. Eboshi (2017 m), Mt Kitamata (2025 m), and Mt. Onishi (2013 m). The mountain range has readily-available trails on all four sides, but large snowpacks remain all year on many of its peaks, as they sometimes called the Tōhoku Alps. The site also draws attention because of its blooming alpine flowers. Mt. Iide ranks among Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains.Mt. Iide is also famous as a sacred place to the ascetic religion of Shugendō along with the Three Mountains of Dewa. In 652, En no Ozunu started the practice of the teachings on this mountain, since then many Yamabushi have visited this location. During the Meiji period, the Iide Shrine located on the summit was worshipped by local residents. Till the Pacific War, the climbing to the mountain was prohibited to women. The region used to have a local custom of considering only men who climbed the mountain before the age of 15 as grown men.
Bandaiazuma-Inawashiro Region
The Bandaiazuma-Inawashiro Region is the south-eastern unit of the park.
Gassan Visitor Center
The Gassan Visitor Center is located in the Dewasanzan area. It takes one hour from Sakata and forty minutes from Tsuruoka by car. By bus, ride the Shōnai Kōtsu Bus that heads to the Mt Haguro summit at JR Tsuruoka Station for 50 minutes and get off at the Arasawa Temple. The center can provide information on the landscapes, geography, geology, flora and fauna, and environment of the region. The building contains exhibits and a theater where slides are shown. | 1721518762573684759 | 1,072 |
Q4879332 | Bedok-class mine countermeasures vessel
Platform
The ship's design incorporates a number of features important for mine countermeasures – low acoustic and magnetic signatures, as well as shock resistance to underwater explosions.The Bedok class is made of glass-reinforced plastic, designed by the Swedish Navy and Kockums (then known as Karlskronavarvet). Its low magnetic and acoustic signatures reduces the possibility of setting off mines. It is highly durable, fire- and shock-resistant, easy to repair and is maintained only by painting. The ship's bridge, major combat equipment and engines are also shock-mounted to cushion against underwater explosions.Each Bedok-class MCMV is powered by two independent vertical Voith Schneider Propellers, designed specifically to ensure excellent manoeuvrability and low noise signature.The first ship, RSS Bedok, was built by Kockums in Sweden based on the Landsort-class design. The hulls of the remaining three ships were prefabricated in Sweden and transferred to Singapore for final assembly by Singapore Technologies (ST) Marine.
Mine countermeasures
Each ship operates the ECA K-STER expendable mine disposal system from France, for the identification and destruction of mines. The MCMVs also work closely with the explosive ordnance disposal divers from the Naval Diving Unit for mine disposal.The Bedok class is equipped to operate the Kockums remote-controlled catamaran minesweepers, and are also capable of laying a defensive minefield.It has also been reported that the Bedok class operate two REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles as part of their mine countermeasures suite.
Sensors
The Bedok class is equipped with a Thales Underwater Systems TSM 2022 MkIII hull-mounted minehunting sonar. The sonar has a detection range of 2 km (6,600 ft) for submarines and 500 m (1,600 ft) for mines. The classification range for a mine is typically 200 to 300 m (660 to 980 ft).The ships are also equipped with a Thales Underwater Systems towed synthetic aperture sonar.The ship's navigation radar is the Norcontrol DB2000 operating at I band.
Upgrade
In November 2007, it was reported that three companies were shortlisted to compete for the supply of a new one-shot mine disposal system to equip the Bedok class. Atlas Elektronik, ECA and Gaymarine were selected for detailed technical and commercial evaluation following an initial assessment of five candidate systems. Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and L-3 Ocean Systems, offering their Minesniper system and Mk 8x Expendable Mine Destructor respectively, were eliminated from consideration. BAE Systems was unable to provide its Archerfish system for evaluation within the required timescale.In November 2008, the Bedok-class upgrade programme was revealed. Of the four vessels, two are planned to be fully refitted with modifications to the hulls and mine-hunting systems, while the other two will receive partial refits. A decision between two competing European bids was expected to be made by April 2009, with completion of the first platform expected 18 months later.On 12 May 2009, Thales announced that the Defence Science and Technology Agency of Singapore awarded it as the prime contractor for the Bedok-class Life Extension Programme. Thales will provide an integrated mine countermeasure combat system, including the mine information system, a hull-mounted sonar, a towed synthetic aperture sonar and expendable mine disposal systems. The towed synthetic sonar array is the DUBM 44, an unmanned underwater vehicle that uses onboard processing of digital signals to provide high-resolution imagery. The DUBM 44 is not autonomous and is connected by cable to the surface ship. Thales will also be in charge of making any structural alterations to the vessels in relation to the integration of new systems and equipment.
Operational history
After the crash of SilkAir Flight 185 on 19 December 1997 in the Musi River near Palembang, RSS Bedok, RSS Kallang and RSS Punggol were deployed as part of a Singapore Armed Forces contingent to assist Indonesian authorities in their search and recovery operations near the crash site.The RSN was the first navy invited by the Indonesian Navy to conduct mine countermeasure operations to clear World War II mines off Tanjung Awar Awar, 70 km (38 nmi) north-east of Surabaya in February 1997. RSS Bedok and RSS Kallang, together with two Indonesian Navy vessels, successfully neutralised eight buried mines.The ships were also involved in search and rescue operations after a Royal Navy Westland Lynx helicopter crashed into the South China Sea together with its two personnel onboard during a training exercise on 23 September 1998.The RSN was the first navy in the world to fire a deployed expendable mine disposal vehicle, during a live firing on 23 April 2012.In December 2014, RSS Kallang was deployed in the search for Airasia Flight QZ8501 after it crashed into the Java Sea on 28 December 2014; along with RSS Supreme, RSS Valour, RSS Persistence, MV Swift Rescue, and two Lockheed C-130H Hercules. | 7020573195233104550 | 1,079 |
Q60755201 | Got Your 6
History
In May 2012, it was announced that a collection of various entertainment industry and media companies were joining together with twenty-four nonprofit organizations for a campaign whose goal was to create awareness of veterans' issues such as employment, health, housing, and education. Some of these issues also formed the six "pillars" of the organization which included jobs, education, housing, health, family, and leadership. Focusing on each of these "pillars", the organization set out various goals and targets related to them such as 500,000 jobs for veterans, housing 10,000 chronically homeless veterans, and the completion of 1.5 million volunteer service hours by veterans. All of the commitments were expected to be formalized by Clinton Global Initiative. Participating entertainment companies consisted of A+E Networks, American Broadcasting Company, Bad Robot Productions, Creative Artists Agency, CBS Corporation, Directors Guild of America, Entertainment Industries Council, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Fox Audience Strategy, foursquare, Funny or Die, HBO, International Creative Management, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Producers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, Shine America, Showtime Networks, Sony Pictures Entertainment, United Talent Agency, Viacom Media Networks, Warner Bros., William Morris Endeavor, and Writers Guild of America, West. The organization was expected to use their partner organizations' resources such as ilm, television, gaming, print, radio, outdoor media and social media platforms to further their message. A public service announcement publicizing the organization was released alongside the announcement which included appearances from Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, Tom Hanks, Milla Jovovich, Bradley Cooper, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tracy Morgan, Brian Williams, Pharrell Williams, and Wendy WilliamsA year later, the organization partnered with Macy's for a new "American Icons" campaign where the retailer offered a "Got Your 6" logo pin and a special savings pass for $6 at their stores nationwide. Additionally, the also released a new PSA featuring singer Gavin DeGraw. By 2017, Macy's reported that they had raised more than $8.3 million dollars for the organization. That Veterans Day, the organization recruited country music singers who attended that year's Country Music Association Awards to take part in another PSA for the non-profit. Artists included Taylor Swift, Florida Georgia Line, Kenny Rogers, and Cassadee Pope.In January 2014, it was announced that the organization was receiving funds from the Lone Survivor Fund, created by Lone Survivor director Peter Berg, along with two other veterans organizations. The fund raised over $100,000 during the opening weekend of that film largely through private screenings. Later that October, it was reported that MTV had partnered with the organization on a new documentary titled MTV's Got Your 6 that follows four military veterans as they return from Afghanistan and attempt to return to their communities and past lives. The documentary was produced by Karga Seven Pictures and executive producers included Dave Sirulnick, Jonathan Mussman, Sarah Wetherbee, Kelly Mcpherson, Emre Sahin and Kim Kanter. The film premiered on MTV on November 11, 2014.Beginning in 2017, the organization began to release a list of films, television programs, and theatrical productions that they say portray veterans in a more accurate light. The list of productions from 2016 included One Day at a Time, Patriots Day, Six, The War Horse News, and Blueprint Specials. The list of productions from 2017 included The Gifted, Disjointed, Last Flag Flying, The Long Road Home, and Returning the Favor. In November 2017, it was also announced that the organization had partnered with Veterans in Media and Entertainment on a new fellowship program, the Veterans Fellowship Program, designed to help military veterans build careers in the entertainment industry. The initiative was expected to be funded by Got Your 6 and Macy's. The fellowship includes the pairing of veterans with mentors, monthly educational and training sessions, and networking events. Media companies taking part in the fellowship included 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal, CBS, HBO, Viacom, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, A+E Networks, Live Nation Entertainment, United Talent Agency, 44 Blue, The Ebersol Lanigan Company, DreamWorks Animation, Endemol Shine North America, and Valhalla Entertainment.In July 2018, it was announced that the organization had been acquired by the Bob Woodruff Foundation. Later that November, Got Your 6 reported on the success of the Veterans Fellowship Program in its first year citing the placement of 35 veterans with various media partners and the addition of Hollywood Foreign Press Association, TNT, TBS, and A Really Good Home Pictures as new collaborators. | 11834923697847286740 | 971 |
Q5282791 | Dissociation of sensibility
Dissociation of sensibility is a literary term first used by T. S. Eliot in his essay “The Metaphysical Poets”. It refers to the way in which intellectual thought was separated from the experience of feeling in seventeenth century poetry.
Theory of dissociation of sensibility
The theory of dissociation of sensibility rests largely upon Eliot’s description of the disparity in style that exists between the metaphysical poets of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century and the poets of the late seventeenth century onward. In “The Metaphysical Poets,” Eliot claims that the earlier grouping of poets were “constantly amalgamating disparate experience” and thus expressing their thoughts through the experience of feeling, while the later poets did not unite their thoughts with their emotive experiences and therefore expressed thought separately from feeling. He explains that the dissociation of sensibility is the reason for the “difference between the intellectual and the reflective poet.” The earlier intellectual poet, Eliot writes, “possessed a mechanism of sensibility which could devour any kind of experience.” When the dissociation of sensibility occurred, “[the] poets revolted against the ratiocinative, the descriptive; they thought and felt by fits, unbalanced; they reflected.” Thus dissociation of sensibility is the point at which and the manner by which this change in poetic method and style occurred; it is defined by Eliot as the loss of sensation united with thought.Eliot uses John Donne’s poetry as the most prominent example of united sensibility and thought. He writes, “[a] thought to Donne was an experience; it modified his sensibility.” Eliot’s apparent appreciation of Donne’s ability to unify intellectual thought and the sensation of feeling demonstrates that he believes dissociation of sensibility to be a hindrance in the progression of poetry. Eliot asserts that despite the progress of refined language, the separation between thought and emotion led to the end of an era of poetry that was “more mature” and that would “wear better” than the poetry that followed.Eliot, later on in his career, was challenged with the thought that the dissociation within literature had been caused by the English Civil War in the mid 17th century. He did not agree or disagree to this theory but rather stated, ‘cryptically that he thought it might have been caused by the same factors as those which brought about the Civil War’.
Alternative literary interpretations
In his article “T. S. Eliot’s Theory of Dissociation,” Allen Austin describes dissociation of sensibility as a concept that “involves not only the integration of sensation and idea…but also a special kind of thought—a detached intellectuality combined with passion.” Austin asserts that Eliot defines this term in order to provide a rationale for the combination of wit and emotion. He explains that Eliot sees the dissociation of wit and emotion as not only the separation of intellect and sensibility, but also the separation of the conceptual image from the intellectual idea. Austin claims that Eliot uses dissociation of sensibility to describe more than just the dissociation of thought from feeling; he asserts that Eliot also explains the separation of “language from sensibility,” using Eliot’s claim that “while the language became more refined, the feeling became more crude” as evidence. He also cites “The Metaphysical Poets” and the concept of dissociation of sensibility in claiming that Eliot’s appreciation of thought united with emotion is also a method of defending his own poetry, as his writing reflects the metaphysical poets’ style of combining wit and feeling.Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in his essay “Writing ‘Race’ and the Difference It Makes,” uses Eliot’s dissociation of sensibility in reference to the presence of race in literature. Gates claims that race has lost its voice in contemporary literature, and that modern critics do not see race as a factor of more than intrinsic value in literary theory. He writes: “For millions who originated outside Europe, however, this dissociation of sensibility has its origins in colonialism and human slavery.” Gates goes on to infer that, in this context, dissociation of sensibility reflects the way in which literature, in this sense analogous to thought, is dissociated from race and otherness (which parallel Eliot’s idea of feeling). | 13040106990075820609 | 889 |
Q8073324 | Zoellner Quartet
Formation and European career
Joseph Zoellner founded the quartet, most likely in 1903 but possibly in 1904, in Brooklyn, where he operated a music school. From the group's founding until 1906 the members lived in Stockton, California, where he had opened a similar school or music store. Under sponsorship of Ethel Crocker, wife of San Francisco banking magnate William Henry Crocker, the Zoellners then went to Belgium for several years to hone their skills with the celebrated Belgian pedagogue César Thomson, who had also taught three members of the group's contemporary, the Flonzaley Quartet.The Zoellner Quartet's first European appearances were at César Thomson's private soirees, but the group soon began performing more widely in Belgium and in Paris and Berlin. Of particular note, late in the period of its European residency, the mother of King Albert I of Belgium presented the quartet with a gold medal specially struck by goldsmith C.H. Samuels after the group performed as royal guests of the Belgian king and queen in 1911.
Outside activities
Unlike their colleagues of the Flonzaley Quartet, who agreed to restrict themselves to performing as a group, various members of the Zoellner Quartet engaged in extensive outside activities. Besides individual undertakings, as noted above the family as a whole opened a music conservatory, eventually with locations in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Burbank.Joseph, Jr. for three years was a member of the Symphony Concerts Durand in Brussels, and later served as dean and head of the piano department at the family's conservatory. He also was heard as accompanist for other artists; for instance, he and pianist/composer Charles Gilbert Spross performed with Gina Ciaparelli in the Lyceum at New York's Carnegie Hall on March 5, 1912. On that occasion he played two solos and the obbligato part in Courtlandt Palmer's Lethe.Joseph, Sr. also was a member of the Durand orchestra. He headed the violin department at the Ecole Communale in Etterbeek, now Brussels, from 1907 to 1912 and later the same department at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California. As in Brooklyn and Stockton, he was proprietor of a music school in Brussels.Amandus taught violin at the Ecole Communale when his father was director there, and like his father and brother he was a member of the Durand orchestra. Also like his father, Amandus served as university violin department director, first at Pomona College in Claremont, California and then at Occidental College in Los Angeles. At the latter he performed solo recitals as well as with the quartet. He helped found the Zoellner Conservatory of Music and eventually served as its president.Joseph, Sr. and Amandus together compiled The Zoellner Quartette Repertoire Album, a collection of music published by Carl Fischer Music. In addition, Joseph, Sr.; Amandus; and Antoinette all contributed essays regarding quartet playing to an omnibus volume on string instruments.
The New Zoellner Quartet
Joseph, Jr. followed his father's example by founding a quartet of his own, although it was not made up of relatives. This ensemble was based in Chicago, home town of Joseph, Jr.'s wife; the other members, all with previous connections to artistic organizations in that city, were Charles Buckley and Michael Rill, first and second violinists, respectively, and violist Jose Marones. A family account dated the founding to 1950, but promotional literature cited a review in 1938. In either event, sources agree that the new group was active through the 1950s, although it appears not to have achieved its predecessor's level of widespread recognition. | 10674210859287902248 | 810 |
Q5470264 | Formula 16
The Formula 16 (F16) sport catamaran is an ISAF recognised 5 m long beach catamaran with an asymmetric spinnaker setup.It is actively sailed in two modes: doublehanded with a jib (2-up), and singlehanded without a jib (1-up).Its class rules setup is very similar to those of the Formula 18 class of beach catamarans.In effect any boat that adheres to a certain limited set of general design specifications may participate in all the official class races. The two classes, F18 and F16, govern the racing of their own class compliant boats.The F16 class was founded in the spring of 2001, after it had become clear by the overwhelming success of the F18 class that formula classes would be the future in sport/beach catamarans and that a more versatile formula class was desired.In handicap racing, the F16 uses a D-PN of 63.0
Design goals
The F16 class was from its inception engineered towards a dual-role sports catamaran with certain remarkable qualities. A careful balancing act between the major components of the F16 boats allows this result.The result being that the same craft is used for both doublehanded sailing/racing as singlehanded sailing/racing; the craft has a very similar performance in both modes (doublehanded and singlehanded); and the F16 boats share as good as identical performance with their intellectual parent, the Formula 18 class.Several modifications were made to the early F16 class rules to achieve this result. The founders believed this result to be important to the growth and success of the F16 class. Additionally, both the doublehanded and singlehanded F16s race each other for being first across the line as well. They are simply that close in overall performance around the race course.The other goal that the F16 class was engineered towards was the ease of handling the boat by any singlehanded or doublehanded crew. By far most sport catamarans are designed for use in only one mode, either as doublehanders or as singlehanders, which makes flexible use of these boats cumbersome and in some cases even risky, as quite a few boats require the combined effort of two crew to right it after a capsize. This design goal forced the F16 setup towards a generally smaller and lighter setup so that an average-sized solo sailor can both handle the boat well while sailing and when taking it out of the water and onto a trailer. By increasing further the lightweight character of the design and incorporating several technological advances, the boat could again be made to perform well when sailed by two average-sized adults. In this respect the F16 class had found its own unique character and has set itself apart from its mentor the F18 class.
Class development
The F16 class has a modest following in the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia and class associations have been formed there. The key areas within these regions are Florida/Maryland/California, UK/Netherlands/Belgium/Germany, Singapore/Thailand, New South Wales and Victoria. But during the years 2005 and 2006 the class grew in unlikely places like Shanghai (China), Finland, Arab Emirates and places in the USA like Arizona and New Mexico. The class grows as much in areas new to beach cat sailing as well growing in volume in the traditional beach cat regions. The F16 class is therefore trail blazing a path for a large beach catamaran scene in these places. This is to a large extent due to low-cost home-buildable plans being available next to commercially sold ready-to-sail boats. A good number of these homebuilt wood/epoxy boats race and are very competitive with the glass/vinylester production boats.The most notable event for F16s in their short history was held in April 2007 where the best 20 teams of the various US sport catamaran classes were invited to compete on Blade F16s for the Alter Cup. The Alter Cup is a long-running annual championship of catamaran champions named after Hobie Alter who made beach catamaran sailing a very popular sport worldwide in the 1970s.In October 2009, the F16s were again used for the Alter Cup event. This time AHPC provided Viper F16s to the organisation for their use. An unprecedented honor for a class that is still as young as the F16 class.In November 2010 the Formula 16 Class was granted Recognised Status by the International Sailing Federation the world governing body for the sport. The Formula 16 catamaran had effectively completed its journey from a quirky, enthusiast's catamaran to the mainstream of international sailing. | 6473436109003031062 | 966 |
Q8020245 | William J. Whaling
Early years
Whaling was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and enlisted in the Marine Corps in May 1917. He served as non-commissioned officer during the Battle of Belleau Wood, where he was wounded by the effects of the combat gas. Whaling was later commissioned second lieutenant in August 1918 and assigned to the staff of the 6th Marine Regiment. He distinguished himself during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in September 1918 and was decorated with the Silver Star for gallantry in action.
World War II
At the time of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Whaling was serving in the Marine Barracks there. He was transferred back to the 5th Marine Regiment, where he commanded the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, at the end of December 1941. Whaling was appointed executive officer of the 5th Marine Regiment on March 28, 1942.During the Guadalcanal Campaign, Whaling was assigned as operations and plans officer to the staff of the 1st Marine Division under the command of Major General Alexander Vandegrift in September 1942. General Vandergrift was an admirer of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rogers, who had organized and trained raider units skilled in close combat and reconnaissance behind enemy lines during the French and Indian War. Thus he tasked Whaling with the organization of scout-sniper detachment and training of specially selected groups trained in scouting stalking and ambush tactics. Whaling developed his ideas for reconnaissance units and created the basics for Marine Scout and sniper Company and for Marine Recon itself.While served at Guadalcanal, he was wounded by enemy fire and remained in hospital until February 1943. For his merits in developing of the recon units of the 1st Marine Division, Whaling was promoted to the rank of colonel and awarded the Legion of Merit. He also received the Navy Presidential Unit Citation. Whaling was subsequently transferred to take command of the 1st Marine Regiment, where he succeeded Colonel Clifton B. Cates. He later took part in the Battle of Cape Gloucester, where he distinguished himself again and was decorated with a second Legion of Merit with Combat "V".Whaling was relieved by Colonel Chesty Puller on 28 February 1944 and sent back to the United States. After his arrival, he was assigned to the Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C., until he was transferred to Camp Pendleton, California, where he took command of the 2nd Training Regiment. Whaling remained in San Diego until the spring of 1945, when he was sent overseas again.He served in the 6th Marine Division, which was fighting at Okinawa under the command of Major General Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr.. Whaling was ordered to relieve the commanding officer of the 29th Marine Regiment, Colonel Victor Bleasdale, who was struggling with the enemy. He took command of the 29th Marines on April 15, 1945, and distinguished himself in the Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill, for which Colonel Whaling was awarded the Navy Cross.
Navy Cross citation
His Navy Cross citation reads follows:The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Colonel William J. Whaling (MCSN: 0-1049), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of the Twenty-Ninth Marines, SIXTH Marine Division in action against the enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, from 15 April to 21 June 1945. Assuming command of a regiment committed to extensive operations over an exceptionally broad zone of action on Motobu Peninsula, Colonel Whaling skillfully maneuvered elements of his command through rugged and precipitous mountain terrain to aid in driving the enemy to a final defensive position on Mount Yaetake. Though his forces were widely dispersed during this phase of the campaign, he unhesitatingly exposed himself to direct hostile fire among the most advanced elements of his Regiment, thereby obtaining maximum coordination which resulted in crushing the last enemy resistance. By his conspicuous bravery in personally directing assault units, Colonel Whaling contributed materially to the seizure of the desperately defended Sugar Loaf Hill. His aggressive and inspiring leadership during the subsequent landing on Oroku Peninsula was an important factor in the successful reduction of one of the most heavily fortified Japanese strongholds encountered. Colonel Whaling's gallant conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Later career
Whaling remained in command of the 29th Marine Regiment after the surrender of Japan and participated in the occupation duties in Tsingtao, China, during the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War. After the disbandment of the 6th Marine Division and its units in April 1946, he returned to the United States. For his service in China, Whaling was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Chinese Order of the Cloud and Banner, 4th Class.His subsequent assignment was as chief of staff of the Marine barracks at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he served until end of June 1949. Whaling stayed at Camp Lejeune and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on July 1, 1949, and appointed assistant division commander of the 2nd Marine Division under the command of Major General Thomas E. Watson.He was transferred to the 1st Marine Division in May 1951 and served in the same capacity as the deputy of Major General Gerald C. Thomas. Whaling went to Korea and participated in combat until June 1952, when he returned to the United States. After his return, he was temporary assigned commanding general of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in April 1952, succeeding Major General William T. Clement.Whaling remained as commanding general until September 1952, when he was relieved by Major General John T. Walker and appointed deputy commanding general of this depot. He remained in this capacity until 1 July 1954, when he finally retired from the Marine Corps. Following his retirement, Whaling was advanced to the rank of major general on the retired list for having been specially commended in combat.Whaling died on November 20, 1989, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. | 17324692208705908471 | 1,301 |
Q54270 | Heisenbug
In computer programming jargon, a heisenbug is a software bug that seems to disappear or alter its behavior when one attempts to study it. The term is a pun on the name of Werner Heisenberg, the physicist who first asserted the observer effect of quantum mechanics, which states that the act of observing a system inevitably alters its state. In electronics the traditional term is probe effect, where attaching a test probe to a device changes its behavior.Similar terms, such as bohrbug, mandelbug, hindenbug, and schrödinbug (see the section on related terms) have been occasionally proposed for other kinds of unusual software bugs, sometimes in jest; however, unlike the term heisenbug, they are not widely known or used.
Examples
Heisenbugs occur because common attempts to debug a program, such as inserting output statements or running it in a debugger, usually modify the code, changing the memory addresses of variables and the timing of its execution.One common example of a heisenbug is a bug that appears when the program is compiled with an optimizing compiler, but not when the same program is compiled without optimization (as is often done for the purpose of examining it with a debugger). While debugging, values that an optimized program would normally keep in registers are often pushed to main memory. This may affect, for instance, the result of floating-point comparisons, since the value in memory may have smaller range and accuracy than the value in the register. Similarly, Heisenbugs may be caused by side-effects in test expressions used in runtime assertions in languages such as C and C++, where the test expression is not evaluated when assertions are turned off in production code using the NDEBUG macro.Other common causes of heisenbugs are using the value of a non-initialized variable (which may change its address and/or initial value during debugging), or following an invalid pointer (which may point to a different place when debugging). Debuggers also commonly provide watches or other user interfaces that cause additional source code (such as property accessors) to be executed stealthily, which can, in turn, change the state of the program.Time can also be a factor in heisenbugs, particularly with multi-threaded applications. Executing a program under control of a debugger can change the execution timing of the program as compared to normal execution. Time-sensitive bugs such as race conditions may not occur when the program is slowed down by single-stepping source lines in the debugger. This is particularly true when the behavior involves interaction with an entity not under the control of a debugger, such as when debugging network packet processing between two machines and only one is under debugger control.Heisenbugs can be viewed as instances of the observer effect in information technology. Frustrated programmers may humorously blame a heisenbug on the phase of the moon, or (if it has occurred only once) may explain it away as a soft error due to alpha particles or cosmic rays affecting the hardware.
Related terms
A bohrbug, by opposition, is a "good, solid bug". Like the deterministic Bohr atom model, they do not change their behavior and are relatively easily detected.A mandelbug (named after Benoît Mandelbrot's fractal) is a bug whose causes are so complex it defies repair, or makes its behavior appear chaotic or even non-deterministic. The term also refers to a bug that exhibits fractal behavior by revealing more bugs (the deeper a developer goes into the code to fix it the more bugs they find).A schrödinbug or schroedinbug (named after Erwin Schrödinger and his thought experiment) is a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.A hindenbug (named after the Hindenburg disaster) is a bug with catastrophic behavior.A higgs-bugson (named for the Higgs boson particle) is a bug that is predicted to exist based upon other observed conditions (most commonly, vaguely related log entries and anecdotal user reports) but is difficult, if not impossible, to artificially reproduce in a development or test environment. The term may also refer to a bug that is obvious in the code (mathematically proven), but which cannot be seen in execution (yet difficult or impossible to actually find in existence).
History of the term
The term was also used in 1985 by Jim Gray, in a paper about software failures (and is sometimes mistakenly attributed to him because of this publication) and also in 1986 by Jonathan Clark and Zhahai Stewart on the mailing list (later Usenet news group) comp.risks.Bruce Lindsay, a researcher at IBM, affirmed in a 2004 ACM Queue interview that he was present when the Heisenbug was originally defined.An earlier appearance in ACM publications is from 1983.
Resolution
Heisenbugs are difficult to identify and fix; often attempting to resolve them leads to further unexpected behavior. Because the problem manifests as the result of a separate, underpinning bug, the behavior can be hard to predict and analyze during debugging. Overall the number of heisenbugs identified should decrease as a piece of software matures. | 3585834921364642132 | 1,059 |
Q6233941 | John Francis Uncles
Early life
Uncles was born on September 18, 1898 in Chillicothe, Missouri. His family moved to Kansas City when he was six, and he was educated at St. Vincent's parochial school and De La Salle Academy, graduating with special honors in 1916 and receiving the Bishop's medal for finishing with first honors in the literary-scientific course. After graduation, he joined the Missouri National Guard, enlisting a few days following the declaration of war for World War I. Uncles was assigned to the unit which was federalized as Battery D, 129th Field Artillery, and he served in France under battery commander Harry S. Truman.
Early Military Career
Chosen by Truman when unit commanders were asked after the armistice to help replenish the Army's supply of junior officers by nominating candidates from the enlisted ranks, in 1918 Uncles began attendance at the United States Military Academy. He graduated in 1922 with a commission as a second lieutenant of Artillery.Uncles served in Artillery assignments of increasing responsibility and rank throughout the United States and overseas.In 1927, he graduated from the Field Artillery Officer Course.From 1930 to 1934 Uncles was an instructor at the United States Military Academy.Uncles served with the 11th Field Artillery Regiment in Hawaii from 1934 to 1937.In 1938, Uncles graduated from the Command & General Staff College, afterwards being assigned as instructor in the Department of Tactics & Communications at the Fort Sill, Oklahoma Field Artillery School, where he served until 1940.Uncles served as assistant personnel officer, G-1, in the office of the Chief of Field Artillery from 1940 to 1942.
World War II
In 1942, Uncles was assigned as assistant personnel officer, G-1, at Headquarters, Army Ground Forces, where he remained until 1943.Uncles was assigned to the staff of the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill in 1943, and later that year, he attended the New Division Officers Course, also at Fort Sill.At the end of 1943, Uncles was assigned as commander of the 404th Field Artillery Group, serving until 1944, when he assumed command of the 34th Field Artillery Brigade, which he led in combat throughout France, Belgium and the Netherlands until the end of World War II.
Post World War II
In 1945 Uncles was appointed to command the 32nd Field Artillery Brigade in Germany, serving until 1946.He served as Chief of Field Artillery in the Army’s Career Management Branch from 1946 to 1948.In 1948, Uncles became Chief of Staff of United States Constabulary in Europe, serving until 1950, when he was named commander of the 4th Infantry Division Artillery, which he led until 1951.Uncles was commander of Seventh Army Artillery from 1951 to 1952, after which he was assigned to the staff of the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, G-4, as deputy assistant chief of staff for research and development, where he served until 1953.From 1953 to 1954 Uncles was the Army’s Chief of Research & Development.Uncles was appointed Chief of Staff for United States Army, Europe in 1954, and served in this assignment until 1956.In 1956 Uncles was assigned as commander of the VII Corps, serving until his 1958 retirement.
Awards and decorations
Uncles’ awards included two Distinguished Service Medals, the Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star.
Retirement and death
General Uncles retired in 1958, afterwards residing in Washington, D.C. He died at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 1967. Uncles was buried at Arlington National Cemetery Section 3, Grave 8982-C.
Personal
In 1926 Uncles was married to Elizabeth Bowman Banks (1902–1999). Their daughter Margaret U. "Marka" Huffman (1930–2009), was married to Army Major General Burnside E. Huffman (1920–2005).
External sources
Find A Grave page, John F. Uncles, accessed January 13, 2011Arlington Cemetery web site page, John Francis Uncles, accessed January 13, 2011 | 10859881150921024613 | 935 |
Q47523924 | Savannah McCaskill
Early life
McCaskill was raised in Chapin, South Carolina where she attended Irmo High School. She was twice-named to the All-State team and was the team's highest-scoring player in 2012 with 33 goals. As a senior, she was ranked by Top Drawer Soccer in the top 100 players and top 20 midfielders nationwide.McCaskill played club soccer for CESA 95 in the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) and captained the team. She played for the South Carolina Olympic Development Program (ODP) team from 2008–2012 and the regional ODP team from 2010–2013.
Collegiate career
McCaskill attended the University of South Carolina where she played for the Gamecocks from 2014–2017. As a freshman, she started in all 25 matches and tied for the most points (15) on the team playing as a forward (though initially recruited as a defender). She was named as Freshman of the Year by the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and was named to the conference's second-team and all-freshman teams.As a sophomore starting in all 25 games, McCaskill led the team in points and goals (29 and 10 respectively) while her nine assists ranked second. She ranked in the top five in the SEC for points and assists per game as well as total assists. She was named to the All-SEC First Team, NSCAA All-South Region First Team and was voted the team's Offensive Player of the Year.In 2016, McCaskill's 45 points and 17 goals set new school records for a single season. Her ten game-winning goals ranked second in Division 1 and first in the SEC. She was named the SEC's Offensive Player of the Week in early September. She scored a hat-trick against Tulsa in August marking the first time one had been scored by a player on the team since 2010.
Sky Blue FC, 2018–2019
McCaskill was selected by the Boston Breakers as the number two overall pick at the 2018 NWSL College Draft. After the team folded due to failed buyout negotiations in late January, McCaskill was selected by Sky Blue FC with the second pick in the 2018 NWSL Dispersal Draft. She scored her first career goal on April 21 against the Chicago Red Stars. McCaskill was a finalist for 2018 NWSL Rookie of the Year, alongside Andi Sullivan and Imani Dorsey.McCaskill made six appearances for Sky Blue in 2019.
Loan to Sydney FC
McCaskill signed with Sydney FC for the 2018-19 W-League season, joining fellow Americans Sofia Huerta, Danielle Colaprico and Aubrey Bledsoe in Sydney.McCaskill scored her first goal for Sydney FC in a 5-2 win over Adelaide United in December 2018, before scoring a brace the following month against Newcastle Jets in a 3-1 win.Sydney FC advanced to the 2019 W-League Grand Final, Sydney won 4-2. McCaskill scored two goals and recorded an assist, she was named Player of the Match award for her performance.
Chicago Red Stars, 2019–present
On June 19, 2019 McCaskill was traded to the Chicago Red Stars in exchange for a first and second round draft pick at the 2020 NWSL College Draft.
International career
McCaskill has represented the United States on the under-23 national team and was nominated for U.S. Soccer’s 2017 Young Female Athlete of the Year award. She made her debut for the senior national team on January 21, 2018 during an international friendly against Denmark. McCaskill was named to the U.S. roster for the 2018 SheBelieves Cup. She appeared in all three games as the United States won the tournament for the second time.On August 23, 2018 she was named to the United States U-23 team for the 2018 Nordic tournament.McCaskill was named to the provisional U.S. Roster for the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship but she was not named to the final 20-player squad. | 1572390674672256071 | 900 |
Q24207659 | Bull (2016 TV series)
Premise
The series follows the employees at Trial Analysis Corporation (TAC), a jury consulting firm headed by Dr. Jason Bull, who is a psychologist and trial science expert. Bull uses his skills and those of his team not only to select the right jurors for his clients, but to help his clients' lawyers decide which type of argument will win over jurors best.
Development
On February 2, 2016, it was announced that CBS had given the production a pilot order. The episode was written and author by Paul Attanasio who were expected to executive produce alongside Phil McGraw, Jay McGraw, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Mark Goffman, Steven Spielberg, Rodrigo Garcia. Production companies involved with the pilot include Amblin Television, Atelier Paul Attanasio, Stage 29 Productions and CBS Television Studios. On May 13, 2016, CBS officially ordered the pilot to series. A few days later, it was announced that the series, would premiere in the fall of 2016 and air on Tuesdays at 9:00 P.M. On November 4, 2016, CBS picked up the series for a full season of 22 episodes. An additional episode was ordered in November. On March 23, 2017, CBS renewed the series for a second season. which premiered on September 26, 2017. On April 18, 2018, CBS renewed the series for a third season which is set to premiere on September 24, 2018. On May 9, 2019, it was announced that CBS renewed the series for a fourth season. On May 9, 2019, following the renewal it was announced that executive producers Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey and Steven Spielberg along with his production company Amblin Television would be departing the series after the third season following the harassment controversy surrounding series star Michael Weatherly.
Casting
Michael Weatherly, Geneva Carr, Freddy Rodriguez, Chris Jackson and Jaime Lee Kirchner were part of the pilot's main cast. Annabelle Attanasio did not return for season three in order to direct an independent film.Eliza Dushku appeared in the final three episodes of the first season in a recurring role that was intended to become a regular role in season 2. However, following a complaint Dushku made about Weatherly making sexually suggestive comments, she was fired. In December 2018, The New York Times reported that CBS reached a confidential settlement with Dushku which would pay her $9.5 million, her anticipated salary over four seasons as a regular cast member. In May 2019, Amblin Television announced they will no longer produce the series, with Spielberg, Falvey, and Frank no longer serving as executive producers.
Broadcast
Internationally, the series premiered in the UK on FOX UK on January 13, 2017. The series premiered in Australia on Network Ten on March 5, 2017. It debuted in New Zealand on Prime Television New Zealand on January 19, 2017. The second season was premiered in Australia on Network Ten on October 15, 2017. In Italy, it debuted on Rai 2 on November 13, 2016. In France, it debuted on M6 on June 22, 2018.The first two seasons aired on Tuesday nights, but starting from season 3 the show was moved to Monday nights.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 26% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 3.99/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Michael Weatherly's performance is top-notch, but not enough to save a show that relies too heavily on a well-worn series of legal show tropes and an off-putting premise." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 40 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". | 1859853527966546430 | 837 |
Q7150971 | Paul Goydos
Early life
Goydos was born and raised in Long Beach, California and is the youngest of three brothers. He began golfing at a very young age, winning his local course championship while still in junior high school. He attended Woodrow Wilson Classical High School, and went on to attend Long Beach State University on a golf scholarship. He graduated with a BA in finance and worked for a short time as a substitute teacher at an inner city high school. He turned pro in 1989 and started out as a struggling mini-tour player, supplementing his income by continuing to work as a substitute teacher.
Professional career
In 1991 and 1992, he played on the Ben Hogan Tour (now Web.com Tour), earning one victory at the 1992 Ben Hogan Yuma Open. He earned his PGA Tour card for 1993 by going through Qualifying School.Goydos won two PGA Tour events – the 1996 Bay Hill Invitational and the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii. He has amassed more than 40 top-10 finishes and has more than $10 million in career earnings. His best finish in a major was a T-12 at the 1999 U.S. Open.Goydos had only two starts in 2004, both coming at the end of the year, because of sinus surgery and hip problems; he played in 2005 under a Major Medical Exemption. His victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2007 elevated Goydos into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.Goydos lost in a playoff at The Players Championship in 2008 to Sergio García when he put his tee shot on the par-3 17th (the first playoff hole) in the water.During the first round of the 2010 John Deere Classic, Goydos became the fourth, and oldest player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59. His round included 12 birdies and 6 pars.Goydos played in six events in 2012 before bone spurs in his left wrist and subsequent surgery forced him out of action for 15 months. He missed the cut in two events in 2013. He started the 2014 season on a Major Medical Extension, but was unable to satisfy the requirements and was demoted to the Past Champions category. At the same time, Goydos became eligible for the Champions Tour.
PGA Tour Champions career
On September 21, 2014, he earned his first Champions Tour victory in the Pacific Links Hawai'i Championship with a tournament record score of 19-under-par. He became the eighth player to win on all the PGA Tour sponsored major tours (PGA Tour, Web.com Tour, and Champions Tour).On February 8, 2015, he won his second Champions Tour event, the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Florida. He finished his 2015 season with over 1 million dollars earned.On July 10, 2016, he won his third PGA Tour Champions event, the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, New York. He shot 67-66-69, to win by two shots over Wes Short, Jr. The signature shot for the tournament was his drive of the sub-300 yard, par-4 16th hole, in which on Saturday, his drive landed less than 10 feet from the hole and he would make the putt for an eagle 2. With this victory, in addition to earning a $300,000 first prize check, vaulted him to collect over 15 million dollars from his combined earnings on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.He would win his fourth PGA Tour Champions event, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship by posting scores of 62-67-66 to hold off the late charges of Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie. This win put him over the million dollar mark in earnings for the second consecutive year, and he finished the overall Charles Schwab Cup Championship points chase in third place.At the end of July 2017, Goydos had two top-10 finishes to his credit for the season. During the first round of the 3M Championship, he shot a 2-under-par 70, but over the weekend, he had rounds of 60 (a course record) and 66 to finish at 20-under-par and in a tie with Gene Sauers. Then on the first playoff hole, Sauers hit his second shot in the water and had to take a drop. With Goydos safely on in two shots, he two-putted for a birdie and his fifth win on the PGA Tour Champions. For his last 37 holes played, he shot 19-under-par. By the end of 2017, he had earned $878,168 for the season; which was good enough to finish in the top 20 of the 2017 PGA Tour Champions Tour money list (19 place overall).In the 2018 season, Goydos had a very solid year of performance which included seven top-10 finishes, amassing over 1 million dollars earned (for the third time in four full seasons on the tour), and finishing the Charles Schwab Cup standings in 12th place. As of the end of the 2018 season, he has earned just under five million dollars in his PGA Tour Champions career ($4,997,332).
Ryder Cup
Goydos has not played in the Ryder Cup but was selected by U.S. team captain Corey Pavin as one of his vice-captains for the 2010 event.
Awards
Goydos was inducted into the inaugural class of the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame in 1996 and was inducted into the Long Beach State 49er Athletic Hall of Fame the same year. The golf ball that was used when he shot 59 is at the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Goydos has two children, Chelsea and Courtney. Ex-wife Wendy (Medak) died of a possible drug overdose (pending toxicology report) while attempting to treat migraines in 2009. | 16104985384850869880 | 1,262 |
Q6700611 | Luis G. Abbadie
Career
Abbadie was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco.During his literary development, he participated in workshops coordinated by Flaviano Castañeda Valencia, Víctor Manuel Pazarín, Gabriel Gómez, and others.When El último relato de Ambrose Bierce (1995) was first published, only 250 copies were issued. In 1996, a new edition of this work was announced, but it was supposedly canceled before it was ever brought to fruition. The journal El Informador (January 3, 1996) mentioned that this second edition was published and sold out.El grito de la máscara (1998) contains El último relato de Ambrose Bierce, edited and expanded. It was re-edited by Cibermancia Editores retitled as El último relato de Ambrose Bierce (2007).Since 1992, Abbadie has worked on his exhaustive story of the Necronomicon, based on and continuing the stories he wrote for the Cthulhu Mythos. El Necronómicon: un comentario (2000) is a synthesis of his work compiled up to that time. Due to his various writings on the subject, he is considered an expert in the Necronomicon.Códice Otarolense (2002) with the subtitle of Sumario de la historia de la formación del mundo y de los dioses y diablos de la Nueva España, con una exposición de las hechicerías y alabanzas de los indios naturales de esta tierra, hecho y recopilado por Fray Guillermo de Otarola y Guzmán, de la orden de San Francisco, en el mes de Agosto del año de 1548, para el muy reverendísimo Señor Don Fray Juan de Zumárraga, Obispo de la muy leal y gran Ciudad de México was published by the Apoyo a Jóvenes Creadores, Subdivisión Literatura, del Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes (FECA) del Estado de Jalisco (Support for Young Creators, Literary Subdivision of the Jalisco State Fund for Culture and the Arts, 1999-2000 edition.Of Gods and Time (2007) is his first book in English.His most recent book is 2012: El código secreto del Necronomicón (Rémora Editorial, 2010).Within the novel there appear personalities from the past and present of the city of Guadalajara, such as Enrique González Martínez, Álvaro Leonor Ochoa, Raffles, the Mataindigentes (Indigents' Killer) or Juan Kraeppellin; in the author's words, "the three subjects overlapping are: Guadalajara, its places and personalities; the Necronomicon and its mythology; and New Age doctrines, concerning aliens and 2012. — Luis G. Abbadie, La Jornada Jalisco, August 28, 2010He is the author of an essay about horror literature that has been published several times in Mexico, Argentina and Spain.
Paganism
Luis G. Abbadie has studied paganism and neopaganism. He has focused on the study of Wicca for some time. His participation in the Primer Encuentro Nacional Wicca México (First National Meeting of Wicca, Mexico), Beltane 2003, an event organized by the now-defunct Círculo Gaia was controversial, as well as in the subsequent reply from Carmen Orellana (Tarwe Nén), and was his first major participation in the neopagan community.Although he initially favored the use of the word Wicca to refer to the different manifestations of modern witchcraft, including more indigenous types, he became uncomfortable with the eclectic, hybrid nature of what he calls 'Neo-Wicca.' He distanced himself from it and completely changed his position. He outlined connections between what he chose to call 'Stregoneria' and paganism. 'Stregheria' is represented in published works such as Raven Grimassi as 'popular neopaganism'.Abbadie wrote El Sendero de los Brujos (2004), a book directed toward young readers as they are the ones recently attracted to neopaganism. In it, he tries to clarify very basic misunderstandings that he has observed among Latin American neopagans. He also attempts to give orientation to neophytes in Wicca and neopaganism. He has formed a small group studying reconstructed Stregoneria.Upon discovering other forms of traditions European witchcraft, he began his formal apprenticeship of Scottish witchcraft, called Hedgewitch o Circle Magic, which he has dubbed Crossways Craft or rather Oficio del Cruce de Caminos, adopting an already-existing phrase to designate his personal preference. | 2657528959814310216 | 1,038 |
Q7507575 | Sick Mother Fakers
1980s
The band was formed in 1989 as a side project of musicians, who beside playing with their own bands, wanted to create a one-off band which would perform at a festival held at Belgrade's SKC. Influenced by Stormtroopers of Death, Charged GBH and Suicidal Tendencies, they wanted to create a hardcore band with simple, humorous and sarcastic lyrics written by themselves. The first lineup consisted of former Brainstorm and Overdose guitarist Zoran "Đura "Đuroski, former Karizma and Amnesia bass guitarist Dejan "Francuz" Lukić who played the drums, former Genocid, Heller and Brainstorm guitarist Dare who played bass guitar, and Amnesia and Kerozin guitarist Kokan who did the vocals.The set list, performed at the festival, consisted of eight songs written in one day. Due to the positive audience reaction, the band continued working but without Đuroski and Kokan who left the band after the first gig and were replaced by Sale on vocals and Brainstorm drummer Šola. Lukić and Dare returned to their original instruments. This lineup of Sick Mother Fakers worked until 1994.After a few live appearances, the band recorded a demo consisting of nine songs, which ought to have been released as an EP by the Start Today Records, but it never happened. Even though never released, this demo made the band popular and got the audience interested in the band's work. The band performed until 1991 when the war broke out.
1990s
Due to the political situation in the country, the band did not perform live, but they wrote material for their debut album. Dalje nećeŠ moći... plati pa ćeš proći! (You Are not Going further... Pay and You'll Come Through) featured the rerecorded versions of the songs which appeared on the demo and fifteen new songs. The album was recorded in early August 1994 in the Focus Studio for about thirty hours and was released by ITV Melomarket in 1995. The band demonstrated inspiration by Slobodan Šijan's movies Who's That Singing Over There and The Marathon Family in the songs "Dalje nećes moći...", "Daj pare" ("Give the Money"), "Đenka", "Opljačkani smo" ("We Have Been Robbed") and "Vozi, Miško" ("Drive, Miško"), featuring the Who's That Singing Over There theme. The political and social situation in the country was described in the songs "Vreme krize" ("Chrisis Times"), "Bus", "'Oću moju platu" ("I Want My Salary"), and others. The album also featured a hardcore punk/turbo-folk cover of the Suicidal Tendencies song "I Saw Your Mommy". A promotional video was recorded for the track "Cvikam žicu" ("I'm Cutting the Wire").In 1995, the movie director Dejan Zečević, and a friend of the band members, used the band's songs in his movie Dečak iz Junkovca. In the meantime, Šola left the band and joined Đuroski's doom metal band Svarog. His replacement was the former Brainstorm drummer Boris. Since his arrival, the lineup has not changed.The following year the band started writing new material. Lako ćemo (It'll Be Easy) was released in 1998 and featured seventeen songs including the cover of the Riblja Čorba hit "Odlazak u grad" ("Going to the City"). "Doktore, pomagaj" ("Doctor, Help"), "Propade mi pos'o" ("My Business Is Ruined"), "Šoferska tuga" ("Driver's Sorrow") i "Majstori" ("Artizans") represented the image of the social situation in Serbia, but through a grotesque note. The album was also a multimedia CD, as it contained a short video. After the album release and the live presentation of the album, Sale joined the punk rock band Šaht as a new drummer.
2000s
In 2000, the band started preparing their new album, but stopped performing live. The album recording was finished in 2006. The band went further with their music and beside the influences of crossover, metal, punk rock and funk, used elements of industrial music, break beat, drum & bass, techno and trance.During the same year the band started performing live again and played as an opening act for Soulfly at SKC in Belgrade. The band continued the concert activity and in November 2007, PGP-RTS released the third album Ma kome majku? (Whose Mother?). A promotional video was recorded for the track "'Ajde" ("C'mon"). The album featured a cover of the song "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive. After the album release, the band went on a tour, visiting major Serbian and former Yugoslav cities. | 17312970025848565392 | 1,060 |
Q1138263 | Japan Air System
Formation
The company was originally formed as Toa Domestic Airlines (東亜国内航空 Tōa Kokunai Kōkū) (TDA) in a merger between Toa Airways and Japan Domestic Airlines on May 15, 1971. It adopted the Japan Air System (JAS) name on April 1, 1988.
Start of international service
In 1988 Japan Air System began service from Narita to Seoul, South Korea, and by 1993 JAS was also flying to Singapore and Honolulu. In 1995 the airline had 99 domestic routes, some international routes, 64 offices in Japan, one office in Seoul, and one office in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.JAS entered into a partnership with Northwest Airlines in 1999 following several years of negotiations, allowing Northwest to codeshare on JAS domestic routes from Kansai Airport in Osaka and JAS to codeshare on Northwest flights between Japan and the US. On Northwest's fifth freedom flights between Japan and Asia, JAS was limited to codesharing on Northwest routes that JAS also had the authority to fly, such as Tokyo-Seoul.
Boeing 777 livery design contest
In 1996, Japan Air System held a contest for designing the livery of the Boeing 777. The youngest entrant was three years of age while the oldest was 84. A total of 10,364 participants from 42 countries submitted entries. The judges included Akira Kurosawa, Masuo Ikeda, Kenshi Hirokane, Yoshiko Sakurai, and Yusuke Kaji (梶 祐輔 Kaji Yūsuke). Thirteen-year-old Masatomo Watanabe (渡部 真丈 Watanabe Masatomo), a male second year (Grade 8) junior high school student living near Chitose Airport, won the award. The Japan Air System Boeing 777, painted in Watanabe's design, premiered in April 1997 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Japan Air System.
Merger with Japan Airlines
JAS and Japan Airlines announced their merger in November 2001. It was the first major airline industry realignment in Japan in three decades, and partly a consequence of the slump in worldwide air traffic following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. At the time, JAL had only a 25% share of the Japanese domestic air travel market, half that of rival All Nippon Airways, and saw the merger as a means of providing stronger competition to ANA domestically.JAS and JAL prepared an integrated timetable in August 2002. On October 2, 2002, they established a new holding company, Japan Airlines System (日本航空システム Nihon Kōkū Shisutemu), with Isao Kaneko as CEO. A new "Arc of the Sun" livery for the JAL group was announced in September 2002 and the first aircraft with the livery rolled out in November. On April 1, 2004, Japan Airlines (old JAL) changed its name to Japan Airlines International and Japan Air System (JAS) changed its name to Japan Airlines Domestic, officially ending the JAS brand.At the time of its integration into JAL, JAS operated Airbus A300, Boeing 777, McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and McDonnell Douglas MD-90 aircraft. Most continued flying as part of the JAL fleet, but three A300s were scrapped at Sendai Airport in 2002, while two others were transferred to Fly Air in Turkey.
Corporate affairs
When Toa Domestic Airlines was originally established on May 15, 1971, its headquarters were located at the Japan Airlines Haneda Maintenance Center (羽田日本航空メンテナンスセンター Haneda Nihon Kōkū Mentanensu Sentā) at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) in Ōta, Tokyo. On February 28, 1972, its headquarters were moved to Mori Building No. 18 (第18森ビル Dai-jūhachi Mori Biru) in Minato, Tokyo. On July 31, 1990, the headquarters moved from Mori Building No. 18 to Mori Building No. 37 (第37森ビル Dai-sanjūshichi Mori Biru), located in Toranomon. On April 18, 1998, the head office moved to Haneda Maintenance Center 1 (羽田メンテナンスセンター1 Haneda Mentanansu Sentā, or JAS M1 Building) at Haneda Airport. On August 11, 2003, as JAS was being merged into Japan Airlines, the JAS headquarters moved from Haneda Maintenance Center 1 to the JAL Building in Shinagawa, Tokyo.
Credit cards
In association with Visa, MasterCard, and Japan Credit Bureau JAS had "JAS Card" credit cards. In addition JAS had "Sky Merit" cards.
Special liveries
Japan Air System, for a period, painted a Douglas DC-10 in a Peter Pan color scheme. | 15726657426070808067 | 1,066 |
Q2879483 | Padrón Real
The Padrón Real ([paˈðɾon reˈal], Royal Register), known after 2 August 1527 as the Padrón General (Spanish: [paˈðɾon xeneˈɾal], General Register), was the official and secret Spanish master map used as a template for the maps present on all Spanish ships during the 16th century. It was kept in Seville, Spain by the Casa de Contratación. Ship pilots were required to use a copy of the official government chart, or risk the penalty of a 50 doblas fine. The map probably included a large-scale chart that hung on the wall of the old Alcázar of Seville. Well-known official cartographers and pilots who contributed to and used the map included Amerigo Vespucci, Diogo Ribeiro, Sebastian Cabot, Alonzo de Santa Cruz, and Juan Lopez de Velasco.
Origins
The Padrón Real was constantly improved from its first version in 1507/08. It was produced by the Seville-based Spanish organization, the Casa de Contratación, established in 1503. All returning ships had to report any details of new lands or discoveries they had made to the Casa de Contratación, together with latitudes and longitudes. The ship's officers were put under oath before they testified. The pilots at the Casa de Contratación then plotted this information on their maps. When a new ship was setting out, they would then be given charts which were copied from the master map, the Padrón Real, which was later called the Padrón General.Diego Ribeiro, who entered Spanish service in 1518, prepared several versions of the chart, during 1525 to 1532, after Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe or after Spanish explorations in North America. Other revisions to the royal chart were directed by royal chartmakers Alonso de Chaves during 1536 and by Alonzo de Santa Cruz in 1542.Almost none of these maps have survived, but there were occasionally copies made for foreign princes and dignitaries, and some of them still exist. For example, in the Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana in Florence, there is a map believed to be copied from the Padrón Real called the "Salviati Planisphere". This planisphere map was probably given by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to Cardinal Giovanni Salviati, the papal nuncio, in 1526. In the archive of the Marchesi Castiglione in Mantua, there is another similar world map, produced about the same time and given by the Emperor to Count Baldassare Castiglione.There are a few other examples of these world maps copied from the Padrón Real that were given to various German princes. The mostimpressive copy of the Padrón Real is in the Vatican Library, and was given to the Pope by Charles V of Spain in 1529. The large Vatican map (83.8 cm x 203.2 cm.) is on vellum, and thought to be one of the presentation copies made in the 1520s when Spain and Portugal were in a boundary dispute. The chart has a number of rhumb lines and compass roses found in medieval portolan navigation charts of the Mediterranean. The coastlines have many toponyms identifying particular places as well as claiming them for Spain. Ribeiro's map also has rudimentary latitude lines, a line marking the equator, the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, as well as the Arctic and Antarctic circles all of which are relatively new innovations of the era. It contains no imagined information where none was available. The Padrón Real was similar in principle to the Portuguese secret master map, the Padrão Real, developed by the Portuguese organization Casa da Índia, or House of Índia, which had been established in Lisbon in 1500 (or 1501 according to some sources), and lasted until 1755.
Mapmakers
This enterprise was a huge undertaking, and it was taken very seriously. Without good navigational aids, the ability of Spain to exploit and profit from its discoveries would have been limited. The Casa de Contratación had a large number of cartographers and navigators (pilots), archivists, record keepers, administrators and others involved in producing and managing the Padrón Real.The famous Amerigo Vespucci, who made at least two voyages to the New World, was a pilot working at the Casa de Contratación until his death in 1512. A special position was created for Vespucci, the "pilot major" (chief of navigation) in 1508. He had the responsibility of training new pilots for ocean voyages. His nephew Juan Vespucci inherited his famous uncle's maps, charts, and nautical instruments, and was appointed to Amerigo's former position as official Spanish government pilot at Seville. In 1524, Juan Vespucci was appointed Examiner of Pilots, replacing Sebastian Cabot who was then leading an expedition in Brazil.In the 1530s and 1540s, the principal mapmakers (known as "cosmographers") in the Casa de Contratación working on the Padrón General included Alonso de Santa Cruz, Sebastian Cabot, and Pedro de Medina.Mapmaker Diego Gutiérrez was named cosmographer in the Casa de la Contratación by royal appointment on October 22, 1554, after the death of his father Diego in January 1554, and worked on the Padrón General. In 1562 Diego Gutierrez, published a remarkable map entitled "Americae ... Descriptio" in Antwerp. The reason it was published in Antwerp instead of Spain was that the Spanish engravers did not have the necessary skill to print such a complicated document. Other cosmographers included Alonso de Chaves, Francisco Falero, Jerónimo de Chaves, Sancho Gutiérrez (Diego's brother).In the late 16th century, Juan Lopez de Velasco was cosmographer major in Seville. He produced a master map and twelve subsidiary maps portraying the worldwide Spanish Empire in cartographic form. This feat surpassed anything done by other European powers at that time. However, this marked the end of Spain's supremacy in mapmaking. After the work of Velasco, others such as the English, Dutch and French were better able to organize and present geographic information. | 8154821785948499550 | 1,357 |
Q14439446 | Chor Chor Super Chor
Storyline
Small time theft and robbery is the central theme of this drama set in Delhi. Shukla (Avtar Sahni) runs a photo studio, which in reality is an undercover agency employing a collection of young petty thieves who work the streets committing petty crime.The story revolves around Satbir (Deepak Dobriyal), one of the young thieves who wants to get out of the life of crime and become a good citizen. In his attempts to find normal employment, he stumbles across a young attractive woman Neena (Priya Bathija), whom he then attempts to court. When his friends from the agency notice his new love interest, they steal Neena's purse in the mall where Satbir is now working. Satbir gets the purse back and returns it to Neena the next time they meet.When Neena discovers that Satbir knows some petty thieves personally, she is very curious to meet some. She promises Satbir to spend the day with him on the streets of Delhi, if he can show her some of the action. Satbir thinks about the offer, but has misgivings about the idea of letting an outsider onto the inner workings of the petty crime scene. However, the temptation of Neena's company is too strong to resist, and he agrees. But Satbir does not know that Neena works at the local TV station as an investigative reporter.Neena then disappears and Satbir next sees her on the local TV channel in an ad announcing next week's investigative report on street crime in Delhi. Much to his horror, the ad also features Satbir himself, who has been secretly recorded all day as he goes about town showing Neena various incidents of petty crime taking place. Satbir now realizes that he has been set-up by Neena and as a result of his folly, all of his friends are going to be exposed to the public on TV.As a result, Satbir has to go into hiding, but he is soon caught by Shukla and brought to the studio, where he explains his innocence. While he is forgiven for his folly, that does not really help the cause of the gang, who now face public humiliation and likely arrest. Satbir vows to Shukla that 'no matter what, the TV episode will not air next week.'Things, however, look grim for the small street gang trying to take down a nationally advertised ready-to-run episode off the air with only a week to go. But Satbir has an inspiration, that leads to a plan which revolves around creating doubt in the TV station manager's mind about the authenticity of Neena's recordings.To make the plan work, the gang first break into the TV station and steal a copy of the recording that is going to be aired. They then cut each of the several incidents of street theft in the recording and repackage them as part of a false reality TV show called "Chor, Chor, Super Chor". After each incident, the gang (masquerading as a TV crew) is now shown going to the home of the victim and returning the stolen items along with a "surprise you are on TV" ending. So what was originally footage of several incidents of petty street theft, now resembles a series of episodes of a reality TV show where the "supposed" petty theft is followed by a visit to the victim and a happy ending.To make this work more effectively, the gang tracks down the manager of the TV station and robs him off his car on the street in an elaborately planned scam. Recording the event on camera all this time, they then show up outside the TV station later in the day, pretending to be a TV crew. They then proceed to return the car to the TV manager as he finally arrives to work after his long frustrating day on the streets of Delhi.Initially, the manager is upset and confused, more so since he has never heard of the reality show "Chor, Chor, Super Chor". The crew explain that they are new on the scene and are in fact looking for a station that would want to air the show. The manager, unaware that the crew are actual petty criminals in real life, is impressed with their performance.He invites Satbir and the crew inside. Once in his office, the crew is able to convince him that Neena is a fraud and her entire episode on street crime was supposedly their own film work which she must have stolen from them. She is accused of having cut-up their work and then passed it off to the station manager as real investigative reporting. The manager is initially skeptical of their claim, but is convinced in the end since he himself has just been the victim of the supposed show's prank. He now decides to abort the airing of the report.The manager now fires Neena and hires the crew and their reality show instead. The show becomes a big hit across Delhi. In a bizarre and ironic twist, petty crime, instead of going down as Neena hoped, goes up across the city as people on the street become openly receptive to being robbed of their possessions, hoping the person robbing them is perhaps part of the TV show and will show up at their door later on with a prize and a chance to be on national TV. | 8885523568165657656 | 1,068 |
Q596662 | Mengerskirchen
Neighbouring communities
Mengerskirchen borders in the north on the community of Greifenstein (Lahn-Dill-Kreis), in the east on the community of Löhnberg, in the south on the communities of Merenberg and Waldbrunn (all three in Limburg-Weilburg), and in the west on the communities of Neunkirchen, Elsoff and Oberrod (all three in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate).
Constituent communities
Mengerskirchen’s Ortsteile are, Dillhausen, Mengerskirchen, Probbach, Waldernbach and Winkels.The community administration’s seat is the market centre of Mengerskirchen. Each of the constituent communities is represented on a municipal advisory board (Ortsbeirat) by a community head (Ortsvorsteher).
Sport
Around the Knoten, the highest elevation in the community of Mengerskirchen, those who are interested can give themselves over to cross-country skiing during the winter months. In summer, the two man-made lakes, Seeweiher and Waldsee, offer the opportunity to bathe.
History
Mengerskirchen had its first documentary mention in a document from the monastery St. Lubentius, Dietkirchen, in 1279. The outlying community of Winkels had already been mentioned in 1243, Waldernbach in 1296, Probbach in 1299 and Dillhausen in 1307. Mengerskirchen was described in 1307 as an “oppidum”. Town rights are documentarily confirmed only on 18 February 1321. In 1481 came market rights, too.Near Mengerskirchen ran the hill fort wall Rentmauer, affording the community dwellers at that time some protection. There is proof that the community had its own priest and that it also served as the centre of the Calenberg tithing area in 1313, in which year it is believed building work began on Mengerskirchen Castle. Together with the courts of Beilstein, Haimau (today Löhnberg) and Nenderoth, a tithing court was kept on the Kalenbergskopf, a high ridge between Arborn, Mengerskirchen and Nenderoth. In 1481 Friedrich III conferred the privilege for a yearly fair to be held on 14 September near Mengerskirchen.From 1343 to 1561, Mengerskirchen lay under Nassau-Beilstein rule, then passing along with all Nassau-Beilstein’s holdings back to Nassau-Dillenburg. Count Otto II of Nassau-Dillenburg bequeathed Mengerskirchen to his wife, Adelheid von Vianden as a widow’s seat.At the crossroads where the two old trade roads, the Hohe Straße (“High Road”) from Herborn to Limburg, and the Rheinstraße from Cologne to Frankfurt, meet, an important customs place was built. Its territory comprised Almenrod, Arborn, Cödlingen, Dillhausen, Helmenrod, Nenderoth, Nieder- and Oberprobbach (today simply Probbach), Obershausen, Odersberg and Winkels, thereby making Mengerskirchen bigger than the actual Residence of Beilstein. The castle in Mengerskirchen housed the Amt of Mengerskirchen with many interruptions until 1816. The last Amtmann retired in this year and the Amt was united with the Amt of Weilburg.In 1867, Prussia created through a new ordering of the Duchy of Nassau, which it had annexed the year before this, among others, the district of Oberlahnkreis to which Mengerskirchen thereafter belonged. In the administrative reform in Hesse in 1974, it was grouped into the district of Limburg-Weilburg. On 1 January 1971, the market town of Mengerskirchen became the administrative seat of the like-named greater community.
Transport
Mengerskirchen is not directly linked to the long-distance road network. The nearest interchanges with Bundesstraße 49 are found in the communities of Merenberg and Löhnberg (about 5 km or 3 miles away). The nearest interchanges with the A 45 (Dortmund–Aschaffenburg) are found in the town of Herborn (about 18 km or 11 miles away). Ever since the narrow-gauge Kerkerbachbahn (railway) was closed in 1958, there has been no railway line. Frankfurt and Frankfurt Airport lies some 85 km (53 mi) away.
Education
In the community of Mengerskirchen there is one primary school and one Hauptschule-Realschule. Furthermore, other secondary schools are attended in Weilburg.
Franz-Leuninger-Schule
In the main centre of Mengerskirchen stands the Franz-Leuninger-Schule, the community’s primary school. It was named after the German Resistance fighter against the Nazi régime, Franz Leuninger, who was from Mengerskirchen.
Westerwaldschule
In the outlying centre of Waldernbach is found the Westerwaldschule, opened on 21 October 1977, a Hauptschule and Realschule for the communities of Mengerskirchen, Merenberg, Waldbrunn (except Ellar) and Beselich (constituent community of Heckholzhausen). | 12649843069885995104 | 1,174 |
Q14705803 | New Sweden Farmstead Museum
The New Sweden Farmstead Museum is an open-air museum in Bridgeton, New Jersey, United States. The museum is a recreation of a 17th-century Swedish farmstead located in City Park and is a historical remembrance of the history of the Swedish and Finnish people in early America who first arrived as part of the colony of New Sweden. Originally opened in 1988, it operated a living museum for many years. As funding and attendance declined, the log buildings at the complex fell into disrepair, requiring it to close. Since 2011 fundraising and restoration efforts have allowed it partially re-open. As of 2015, there were plans to re-locate the museum to Wilmington, Delaware.
New Sweden
In 1638, Swedes and Finns arrived in the Delaware Valley on the ships the Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip to found the colony of New Sweden. Tradition holds that a settlement was first planted by a group of Finns in and around Finns Point almost immediately. among them, the family of Anders Sinicka, whose surname has many variations. In 1643 they built Fort Nya Elfsborg near Salem. Spreading across South Jersey into what is now Salem, Cumberland, and Gloucetser they built farming communities along its rivers and streams. Eric Pålsson Mullica was an early settler remembered in many regional placenames. By 1649 villages at Sveaborg, now Swedesboro, New Jersey, and Nya Stockholm, today's Bridgeport, where established. It has been suggested that the presence of Forest Finns was influential in the development of log building in the USA.There are several original structures in the region from the era which are among some of the oldest buildings in New Jersey and some of the oldest non-Spanish built in the United States. Among them are the Caesar Hoskins Log Cabin, the C. A. Nothnagle Log House, the Schorn Log Cabin {originally located on Raccoon Creek and moved to Old Swedes Church in Swedesboro), the Swedish Granary and the Swedish Cabin at Hancock House
Construction and opening
The New Sweden Company, Incorporated was established in 1983 with the mission recreate a village to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the European colonists. The project was originally intended to be built in Salem but after some controversy it was decided the locate it in Bridgeton.The museum was built in 1987. A team of experts associated with the Riksförbundet för Hembygdvärd (National Association for Homestead Care) from Sweden supervised the construction at the site of the log structures using traditional materials and methods to replicate a 17th-century farmstead, or gård. It comprises a farmhouse, a blacksmith shop, a storehouse, a Granary (threshing barn]], a stable a barn with outhouse, a sauna and a Smokehouse. Furnaces, chimneys, and fireplaces are also authentically constructed. The collection includes furnishings, farm equipment, and other artifacts genuinely of Swedish-Finnish origin which have been inventoried and move from temporary to climate controlled storage.The museum was formally opened on April 14, 1988 by Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden accompanied by Governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean and his wife Deborah. The royal family donated candleholders to the museum.
Fundraising and restoration
The museum is operated under the auspices of the New Sweden Colonial Homestead Foundation which is fundraising restore and re-open the museum. The elements have taken their toll on the buildings. As 2011 it was estimated that $10,000 per structure was needed for roof repairs.In September 2011, fundraising reception was attended by the Swedish Ambassador to the United States, Jonas Hafström to draw attention to the foundation's efforts.Various fundraising activities at the farmstead have been done in collaboration with summer youth programs. The homestead has received grants from Cumberland County and Swedish Council of America, among others. In 2012 the foundation received $10,000 donation from owners of Bridgeton-based Whibco.The Swedish Colonial Society has been enlisted to help with restoration efforts. | 1263620172074098079 | 869 |
Q6459274 | LNER Class K4
West Highland Line challenge
The North British Railway (NBR) West Highland line to Mallaig via Fort William, presented a combined triple operating challenge of: steep gradients; severe curves; and restrictive axle loading limits. Having used D34 'Glen' 4-4-0s, increased loads led to regular double-heading. Locomotive engineers proposed use of LNER Class K3, but they would not have been permitted to operate between Fort William and Mallaig.Having proposed a new design based on a K3 boiler, in October 1924 a loan was made of a single LNER Class K2, which provided the required increase in power and adhesion. As K3s replaced K2 on the network, more K2s were loaned to the line, with the loan becoming permanent from October 1925.With further increases in load and needs for additional traffic speed, in September 1934 Gresley instructed Doncaster Works to investigate the possibility of increasing the tractive effort of the K2s. After recommending against a design which increased boiler pressure 220 psi (1.52 MPa) and cylinder diameter to 21 inches (533 mm), in 1935 the Joint Traffic & Locomotive Committee signed off provision of a new design by reducing the 1936 build of K3s from 21 to 20.The eventual May 1936 design was based on the 1924 proposal for a 2-6-0 with 5 ft 2 in (1.575 m) diameter coupled wheels, but with K3 cylinders, a K2 boiler, and a B17 firebox. The frame was 5 inches (127 mm) longer than the K3, with a design boiler pressure of 180 psi (1.24 MPa) giving a tractive effort of 32,939 lbf (146.5 kN), and an estimated factor of adhesion of 3.92.
Prototype
The prototype K4 No.3441 left Darlington for Eastfield depot, Glasgow on 28 January 1937. After five weeks of crew training and being confined to goods work it made its début on a passenger train on 4 March. It soon became apparent that the 180 psi (1.24 MPa) boiler pressure brought little improvement in average speeds over the existing K2, and that No.3441 responded sluggishly when up against the gradients of the West Highland line. Gresley reacted by raising the steam pressure to 200 psi (1.38 MPa) which saw the tractive effort leap to 36,598 lbf (162.8 kN), with a corresponding reduction in the factor of adhesion to 3.54. The K4 could now demonstrate its true capabilities handling 300 ton trains and with maximum speeds around 60 mph (97 km/h) on level ground. An advantage of the newcomer was that it used only marginally more coal in working 300 ton trains than the K2s did with considerably lighter loads.The successful trials with No.3441 led to five more being built. Apart from the prototype Loch Long all were named after Highland chieftains and grandees.
Operations
The K4s quickly endeared themselves to the Scottish crews and, apart from some heavily loaded summer trains, eliminated uneconomic double-heading over the West Highland. However, as with all Gresley 2-6-0s it could be a rough ride at speed, and a locomotive designed to climb was not suited to the flat straight stretches of the line into Glasgow Queen Street railway station, or the 8.5 miles stretch alongside Loch Eil. Ride induced vibration was a problem on these stretches, and the middle big-end bearing would require regular nut tightening, with the middle connecting rod dropping off on one occasion: this resulted in increased maintenance inspections.Crews began to prefer the LNER Class V4, but their lower power restricted their use and the K4s retained their pre-eminence on the West Highland line until the 1947 arrival of the first B1 4-6-0s, which replaced the K4s from Glasgow to Fort William. These were followed after nationalisation by an influx of Stanier 5MT 4-6-0s and the new K1s, that left the K4s increasingly confined to goods workings. During the 1950s, the K4s' sphere of operation enlarged and they began to appear at locations such as Edinburgh, Perth, Forfar, Ayr and Tweedmouth. In 1959 all were concentrated at Thornton in Junction depot in Fife and all were withdrawn in October 1961. | 10902876351289769719 | 981 |
Q328737 | Graham Stringer
Early life
Stringer attended Christ Church Primary School in Beswick, Manchester, and Moston Brook High School for Boys in Harpurhey, Manchester. After graduating in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield in 1971, Stringer worked as an analytical chemist in the plastics industry. Stringer became a local councillor in Manchester in 1979, and was Manchester City Council leader from 1984 to 1996. He was also chair of Manchester Airport plc from 1996 to 1997.
Parliamentary career
Stringer was first elected in 1997 taking over the Blackley seat of the retired Kenneth Eastham. He is only the third Member of Parliament (MP) in the constituency since 1964, which has been a "safe" Labour seat since Paul Rose defeated Eric Johnson that year.Stringer was a member of the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee until 1999. He then served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office until 2001. After a spell on the back benches and as a government whip, he spent the last six years of the Labour Government as a member of the Transport Select Committee. He campaigned against a proposed Congestion Charge in Greater Manchester.In September 2008, Stringer became the first Labour MP to publicly call for Gordon Brown to resign as Prime Minister. In an online column in January 2009, Stringer denied the existence of dyslexia, calling it "a cruel fiction" invented by "the education establishment" to divert blame for illiteracy from "their eclectic and incomplete methods for instruction". The charities Dyslexia Action and the British Dyslexia Association criticised Stringer's claims.He is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.Following boundary changes which abolished the Manchester Blackley constituency, Stringer successfully contested the successor seat of Blackley and Broughton at the 2010 General Election.In January 2011, he called for Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, a lifelong Labour voter and vocal supporter of the party at elections, to be given a seat in the House of Lords. Two years later, Ed Miliband offered Ferguson a seat in the House of Lords but he turned it down.In September 2011, he contributed to the book What Next for Labour? Ideas for a New Generation; his piece was entitled "Transport Policy for the Twenty-First Century". He is a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, an organisation which promotes climate change scepticism. As a member of the Science and Technology Committee, Stringer participated in the investigation into the Climatic Research Unit email controversy ("Climategate") in March 2010, questioning Phil Jones closely on transparency and other issues; in the five member group producing the report he voted against the other three voting members on every vote, representing a formulation more critical of the CRU and climate scientists. In an op-ed in March 2011, Stringer criticised the British inquiries into the CRU email controversy, writing that the controversy "demanded independent and objective scrutiny of the science by independent panels. This did not happen." Stringer was a member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee from November 2013 to March 2015. In 2014, Stringer was one of two MPs on the committee to vote against the acceptance of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change conclusion that humans are the dominant cause of global warming.In January 2014, he, along with 98 others, voted for the Dominic Raab amendment to the Immigration Bill, which aimed to prevent foreign criminals using European Human Rights Law in deportation cases.He was a critic of former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, who he accused of running an "unforgivably unprofessional" campaign in May 2014 and referred to as "not an asset on the doorsteps" when campaigning in October 2014. Stringer has established a reputation as a prominent Eurosceptic in the Labour Party who favoured a referendum on the EU. He called for Britain to leave the EU in the 2016 Referendum, describing the EU as a barrier to a progressive government. On 17 July 2018, a vote was held on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the customs union in the event of a no deal Brexit. Frank Field, Kate Hoey, John Mann and Stringer were the only Labour MPs to oppose the amendment, which was voted down by 307 votes to 301.
Personal life
In 1999, he married Kathryn Carr; they have three children. | 1432678108240796062 | 923 |
Q16267882 | Let It Die (video game)
Gameplay
Under the supervision of a skateboarding grim reaper called Uncle Death, players fight through a treacherous tower, obtaining various types of weapons and armor while finding creatures and mushrooms to eat in order to stay alive.Upon death, a player’s “death data” is then circulated among other player’s games where they will appear as formidable opponents.The sharing of “death data” is one of the various asynchronous multiplayer elements that can be found in the game.
Development
Let It Die was originally known as "'Lily Bergamo". Its initial plot focused on a female protagonist called Tae Ioroi and was set in the year 2026. The game's world drew from both Japanese and Western cultures. It was described as a "super action game" or an "extreme action game". The game was supposed to feature an "element of growth", in that by gradually accumulating experience, the player's data is updated more and more rapidly. Lily Bergamo would have featured online play and features, though details were currently still unknown.In addition to the game, Lily Bergamo would feature a "companion app", which would be playable on smartphones. The game would feature online play, and according to GungHo Online Entertainment’s CEO Kazuki Morishita, would allow "both smartphone and PlayStation gamers to be in the same world”. According to Morishita, Grasshopper Manufacture "wants to make the most out of the strengths of online play, and the idea of using smartphones to play has been a big deal”, with the goal of the app being the ability for players "to completely rely on their smartphones to play".Although Lily Bergamo changed to Let It Die during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014, the concept of an "extreme action game" remained. The change commenced around the end of 2013. Executive director Goichi Suda explained that the concept of death is relevant throughout the game, and that if one player dies in a game, they will appear in another player's game, making the deaths of players important in the experience of the game, hence the title. The game will have normal AI enemies and dead player characters' avatars, and will also be free-to-play. The game represents a huge departure from Suda's past video games in terms of creative philosophy.Lily Bergamo was to be the first game to be developed by Grasshopper Manufacture after it was acquired by GungHo Online Entertainment. Suda stated that Lily Bergamo was conceived after GungHo CEO Kazuki Morishita expressed his desire to "make a game that leverages the inherent flavor of both companies.” The game was revealed in April 2013, and in Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia's Press Conference on September 9, 2013, the release date was set to sometime in 2014. Additional information was shown at the 2013 Tokyo Game Show, including the name of the protagonist, the ability to play on smartphones and the game's setting. At the game show, a special stage event was held for Lily Bergamo, including a cosplay model dressed up as the game's protagonist Tae Ioroi, and specially-made Lily Bergamo stickers were distributed. Although the game was not playable then, Suda promised that it would be at the 2014 Tokyo Game Show instead. Yusuke Kozaki was the head of character design in Lily Bergamo, along with direction by Nobutaka Ichiki and game design by Yusuke Kozaki. A trademark for Lily Bergamo has been filed in North America, which hinted at a soon-to-be confirmed release in that region and globally.On June 11, 2014 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014, Lily Bergamo was transformed into Let It Die. GungHo Online Entertainment had trademarked Lily Bergamo in the United States, hinting at a possible global release, with the reveal of Let It Die confirming it. On October 29, 2015, GungHo Online Entertainment announced that Let It Die had been delayed, and that it would now launch in 2016 instead of its originally planned 2015 release window. On December 3, 2016, Let It Die was released for free on PlayStation Network in North America and Europe.Let It Die featured 100 Japanese artists in the rock and metal music genres curated by Silent Hill series game music composer Akira Yamaoka, who described the work as "one-of-a-kind musical experience". | 13762268295899618817 | 919 |
Q275390 | Lucille Hegamin
Life and career
Lucille Nelson was born in Macon, Georgia, the daughter of John and Minnie Nelson. From an early age she sang in local church choirs and theatre programs. By the age of 15 she was touring the US South with the Leonard Harper Minstrel Stock Company. In 1914 she settled in Chicago, Illinois, where, often billed as "The Georgia Peach", she worked with Tony Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton before marrying the pianist-composer Bill Hegamin. She later told a biographer, "I was a cabaret artist in those days, and never had to play theatres, and I sang everything from blues to popular songs, in a jazz style. I think I can say without bragging that I made the 'St. Louis Blues' popular in Chicago; this was one of my feature numbers."The Hegamins moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1918, then to New York City the following year. Bill Hegamin led the band accompanying his wife, the Blue Flame Syncopators; Jimmy Wade was a member of this ensemble.In November 1920, Hegamin became the second African-American blues singer to record, after Mamie Smith. Hegamin made a series of recordings for Arto Records and then Paramount in 1922. One of her biggest hits was "Arkansas Blues", recorded for Arto and released on many other labels, including Black Swan. She recorded one of Tom Delaney's earliest compositions, "Jazz Me Blues", in 1921, and it went on to become a jazz standard. She subsequently played theatre dates but did not tour extensively.Lucille Hegamin lived at the Shuffle Inn in Harlem from November 1921 to January 1922. On January 20, 1922, she competed in a blues singing contest with Daisy Martin, Alice Leslie Carter and Trixie Smith at the Fifteenth Infantry's First Band Concert and Dance in New York City. Hegamin placed second to Smith in the contest, which was held at the Manhattan Casino. Then from February to May of that year she toured with the African-American musical revue Shuffle Along and this was the second of three companies. In the first company Florence Mills had the same role with the same musical revue.From 1922 through late 1926 she recorded over forty sides for Cameo Records; in this association she was billed as "The Cameo Girl". After her marriage to Bill Hegamin ended in 1923, her most frequent accompanist was the pianist J. Cyrill Fullerton. In 1926, she recorded with Clarence Williams's band for the Columbia label. She sang with a band that was led by George "Doc" Hyder in 1927 for a show in Philadelphia. Further into the decade she performed in further revues with Hyder that were staged in Harlem theaters.She performed in Williams's Revue at the Lincoln Theater in New York and then in various revues in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey, through 1934. In 1929 she performed on the radio program Negro Achievement Hour, on WABC, in New York. In 1932 she recorded two sides for Okeh Records.About 1934 she retired from music as a profession and worked as a nurse. She came out of retirement in 1961 to record four songs, accompanied by a band led by Willie "The Lion" Smith, on the album Songs We Taught Your Mother, for Bluesville Records. In 1962 she recorded Basket of Blues for Spivey Records. She performed at a benefit concert for Mamie Smith at the Celebrity Club in New York City in 1964.Hegamin died in Harlem Hospital, in New York City, on March 1, 1970, and was interred in the Cemetery of the Evergreens, in Brooklyn, New York.
Style
Hegamin's stylistic influences included Annette Hanshaw and Ruth Etting. According to Derrick Stewart-Baxter, "Lucille's clear, rich voice, with its perfect diction, and its jazz feeling, was well in the vaudeville tradition, and her repertoire was wide." Like Mamie Smith, Hegamin sang classic female blues in a lighter style, more influenced by pop tunes, than the rougher rural-style blues singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, who became more popular a few years later. | 12945956501594828894 | 908 |
Q1277330 | Earl of Lancaster
Creation
After the supporters of Henry III of England suppressed opposition from the English nobility in the Second Barons' War, Henry granted to his second son Edmund Crouchback the titles and possessions forfeited by attainder of the barons' leader, Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, including the Earldom of Leicester, on 26 October 1265. Later grants included the first Earldom of Lancaster on 30 June 1267 and that of Earl Ferrers in 1301. Edmund was also Count of Champagne and Brie from 1276 by right of his wife. Henry IV of England would later use his descent from Edmund to legitimise his claim to the throne, even making the spurious claim that Edmund was the elder son of Henry but had been passed over as king because of his deformity. Edmund's second marriage to Blanche of Artois, the widow of the King of Navarre, placed him at the centre of the European aristocracy. Blanche's daughter Joan I of Navarre was queen regnant of Navarre and through her marriage to Philip IV of France was queen consort of France. Edmund's son Thomas became the most powerful nobleman in England, gaining the Earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury through marriage to the heiress of Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln. His income was £11,000 per annum—double that of the next wealthiest earl.Thomas and his younger brother Henry served in the coronation of their cousin King Edward II of England on 25 February 1308; Thomas carried Curtana, the Sword of Mercy, and Henry carried the royal sceptre. After initially supporting Edward, Thomas became one of the Lords Ordainers, who demanded the banishment of Piers Gaveston and the governance of the realm by a baronial council. After Gaveston was captured, Thomas took the lead in his trial and execution at Warwick in 1312. Edward's authority was weakened by poor governance and defeat by the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn. This allowed Thomas to restrain Edward's power by republishing the Ordinances of 1311. Following this achievement Thomas took little part in the governance of the realm and instead retreated to Pontefract Castle. This allowed Edward to regroup and re-arm, leading to a fragile peace in August 1318 with the Treaty of Leake. In 1321 Edward's rule again collapsed into civil war. Thomas raised a northern army but was defeated and captured at the Battle of Boroughbridge. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered but because he was Edward's cousin he was given a quicker death by beheading.Henry joined the revolt of Edward's wife Isabella of France and her lover Mortimer in 1326, pursuing and capturing Edward at Neath in South Wales. Following Edward's deposition at the Parliament of Kenilworth in 1326 and reputed murder at Berkeley Castle, Thomas's conviction was posthumously reversed and Henry regained possession of the Earldoms of Lancaster, Derby, Salisbury and Lincoln that had been forfeit for Thomas's treason. His restored prestige led to him knighting the young King Edward III of England before his coronation. Mortimer lost support over the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton that formalised Scotland's independence, and his developing power in the Welsh Marches provoked jealousy from the barons. When Mortimer called a parliament to make his new powers and estates permanent with the title of Earl of March in 1328, Henry led the opposition and held a counter-meeting. In response, Mortimer ravaged the lands of Lancaster and checked the revolt. Edward III was able to assume control in 1330 but Henry's further influence was restricted by poor health and blindness for the last fifteen years of his life.
Succession
Henry's son, also called Henry, was born at the castle of Grosmont in Monmouthshire between 1299 and 1314. According to the younger Henry's memoirs, he was better at martial arts than academic subjects and did not learn to read until later in life. Henry was coeval with Edward III and was pivotal to his reign, becoming his best friend and most trusted commander. Henry was knighted in 1330, represented his father in parliament and fought in Edward's Scottish campaign. After the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War, Henry took part in several diplomatic missions and minor campaigns and was present at the great English victory in the naval Battle of Sluys in 1340. Later, he was required to commit himself as hostage in the Low Countries for Edward’s considerable debts. He remained hostage for a year and had to pay a large ransom for his own release.In 1345, Edward III launched a major, three-pronged attack on France. The Earl of Northampton attacked from Brittany, Edward from Flanders, and Henry from Aquitaine in the south. Moving rapidly through the country, Henry confronted the Comte d'Isle at the Battle of Auberoche and achieved a victory described as "the greatest single achievement of Lancaster's entire military career". The ransom from the prisoners has been estimated at £50,000. Edward rewarded Henry by including him as a founding knight of the Order of the Garter. An even greater honour was bestowed on Lancaster when Edward created him Duke of Lancaster. The title of duke was relatively new in England, with only Cornwall being a previous ducal title. Lancaster was also given palatinate status for the county of Lancashire, which entailed a separate administration independent of the crown. There were two other counties palatine; Durham was an ancient ecclesiastical palatinate and Chester was crown property. | 15450646493283680517 | 1,184 |
Q4691073 | Against the Fall of Night
Comparison with The City and the Stars
The City and the Stars is a complete rewrite of his earlier Against the Fall of Night, Clarke's first novel, but the main settings and characters are carried over from the first novel.
Plot summary
Diaspar is a seemingly ageless city in the year 10 billion AD; the last child, Alvin, was born seventeen years ago. Alvin is a child curious about the outside world, which, according to the earliest histories, was destroyed by the Invaders, leaving only Diaspar. Alvin's desire to see the outside world is considered an eccentricity. When Alvin wanders into a tower to watch a sunset, he finds a rock with the inscription: "There is a better way. Give my greetings to the Keeper of the Records.Alaine of Lyndar".Alvin takes the message to Rorden, the Keeper of the Records, who has access to "all the knowledge of Humanity." Rorden finds the record of the message but does not believe Alvin is ready to understand it.Three years later, Rorden discloses that not only has he been waiting for Alvin to age, but he has also been trying to find out how people in the past went outside. He and Alvin find a way out and Alvin finds a destination called Lys.Expecting an abandoned city, Alvin is shocked when he finds a thriving place. The inhabitants are different from his own people, living short but full lives and having telepathic abilities. They know about Diaspar but they like their natural setting. Alvin is prevented from going home as the citizens do not want him to reveal Lys to the people of Diaspar. They contact Rorden, who already knew of Lys, and tell him that Alvin will stay three days to allow the council of Lys time to decide his fate.Alvin makes a friend called Theon, who has a pet giant insect named Krif. While Theon shows Alvin the woods, the boys realize they both know about the legend of Shalmirane, a fortress mentioned in the earliest human history; a fortress which defended against the invaders and signified the end of Man's conquest of space. The boys decide to find the fortress, only a day's travel away. At the fortress they discover that a large wall that defended the building survived, though its rocks were destroyed over time. When they venture into the fortress they find an old man with whom they share a meal and a story of his origins; he was a follower of the Master. This Master came from space during the recovery following the invasion, attracting followers with his powers and machines. When he was dying, he spoke of the "Great Ones" returning. His followers made this into a religion. The religion has been dying, and the old man is one of the few remaining followers; he also has a few of the Master's machines.Alvin asks to borrow one of the old man's robots so he can bring it to Rorden. The boys return to Lys, and Alvin is told to either stay in Lys forever, or return to Diaspar without his memories. Alvin agrees to the mind wipe, but programs the robot to grab him before his mind is wiped and take him to the transit station. He returns home, where he finds Rorden, and they look under the city, where robots are made and repaired by other robots. A repair robot tells them it cannot fix Alvin's robot, but duplicates it. The council questions Alvin and threatens to seal the path to Lys.Alvin shows Rorden a ship, buried under the sands outside the city, that was the Master's ship. Alvin decides to take the ship and go to Lys to return the robot. He meets Theon and speaks with Lys' Council, telling them that Diaspar knows about Lys. Lys realizes that through the appearance of the ship, both of their cultures will be forced to interact. Alvin travels to Shalmirane to return the robot, only to find the Old Man dead, with his robots left to forever guard him.Alvin takes his ship into space, towards an abnormal set of stars. He arrives at the middle star and meets an alien being that is no more than a child but has memories going back further than any human. The alien being, Vanamonde, is convinced that Alvin is the creator it has been waiting for. It follows Alvin home, where people from Lys and Diaspar meet to study it, each using their strengths to learn more about their history. They learn that the history they have known is false. Man only reached Persephone when space came to them, and they found species far greater than Man. They learned from them and decided to grow themselves as humanity before exploring space. They spent half a billion years perfecting the ability to live for infinite amount of time, like Diaspar, or with telepathic abilities, like those in Lys. After improving themselves, they tried to create a pure mentality, a being that was free from physical limitations. They succeeded in creating a pure being, but it was insane. The mentality, called the Mad Mind, almost destroyed the galaxy, and is now locked up, waiting for the time when its bonds break again. After the Mad Mind was imprisoned, the humans created Vanamonde, who is destined to meet (and fight) the Mad Mind at the end of time.
Politics
The book makes a distinction between the city life of Diaspar, and the life in Lys. Diaspar reflects the values of a city, in which technology cares for mundane tasks (robots, streets, food), so people can pursue pleasures such as music and knowledge. The opposite is true in Lys, which has a rural style where everything comes from nature. When Alvin re-introduced the two, they found that one still needed the other, and that their cultures had become stifled. The Council from Diaspar had become old and weary, and did not want to deal with the exuberance of youth, while Lys, feeling that it was young, did not want the city culture to interfere with its natural way of life. When the two cultures met, they found out that they complemented each other: Diaspar with infinite life and technology, and Lys with quick minds and telepathy.
Reception
Groff Conklin described the original edition of the novel as "a light, simple, fast-moving and often richly imaginative fantasy." Boucher and McComas praised "this brief but intense book" as "beautiful", describing it as "poetry and awe and wonder" and characterizing Clarke as "the visionary poet of a future so far distant that its most prosaic science passes our technical understanding." P. Schuyler Miller reported that because the narrative "is so well told, the story becomes convincing, and its magic spreads over the reader as well as the people of the plot." In 1969, Alexei Panshin wrote that "the story is largely undeveloped -- too much is asserted, too little is examined." | 4397650265193279886 | 1,459 |
Q7389936 | SFAS 157
In September 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) of the United States issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 157: Fair Value Measurements), which “defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value in generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and expands disclosures about fair value measurements.” This statement is effective for financial reporting fiscal periods commencing after November 15, 2007 and the interim periods applicable.
Defining "fair value"
Paragraph 5 of SFAS No. 157 (now known as ASC 820 in the updated FASB Codification) defines fair value as “the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.” Of note, this Statement requires consideration of the exit price paid (if liability) or received (if asset) in a hypothetical transaction in an orderly market (i.e., not a forced liquidation or sold under duress).This Statement also introduces two more concepts to the definition of fair value – the Principal (or Most Advantageous) Market and Highest and Best Use.Principal (or Most advantageous) Market – Fair Value Measurement assumes the hypothetical transaction occurs in a principal market, “the market in which the reporting entity would sell the asset or transfer the liability with the greatest volume and level of activity for the asset or liability.” In the absence of a principal market, the asset or liability is assumed to be transferred in the most advantageous market, “the market in which the reporting entity would sell the asset or transfer the liability with the price that maximizes the amount that would be received for the asset or minimizes the amount that would be paid to transfer the liability, considering transaction costs in the respective market(s).”Highest and Best Use – Fair Value Measurement assumes the asset is being utilized in a manner that will maximize its value. For example, where a company owns a factory, but the property would have a higher value as a residential lot, the asset should be fair valued as a residential lot.
Establishing a framework for measuring fair value
The concept of the Fair Value Hierarchy there for is introduced in paragraphs 22 through 31 in SFAS No. 157. To provide the financial statement user with more insight into the valuation techniques and to create comparability among financial statements, SFAS No. 157 requires the fair value assets and liabilities to be allocated to different levels or hierarchies based on the transparencies of the inputs to valuing the assets/liabilities.Level 1, the highest on the hierarchy, indicates assets/liabilities with the most transparent and tangible valuation techniques. A Level 1 financial instrument typically has quoted prices and active markets – for example, an equity stock. This type of instrument has the most verifiable and reliable fair value measurement.Level 2 instruments require more involvement in valuing than Level 1 instruments. Level 2 “inputs are inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly.” For example, an interest rate swap uses known, public data, such as interest rates and the contract terms can be used to calculate a value of the interest rate swap. The instrument can be valued indirectly using observable data. Another example would be using quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets.Level 3 is the most unobservable of the levels and indicates use of valuation techniques and data that may not be verifiable. These types of instruments involve a great deal of assumptions and estimates. Examples may include infrequently traded asset backed securities or investments in privately owned companies
Expanding disclosures
SFAS No. 157, paragraph 32 requires two main types of disclosures – a Fair Value Balance Sheet and a Level 3 Rollforward.The Fair Value Balance Sheet is similar to a typical balance sheet by disclosing the value of the assets and liabilities as of a specific date. However, the Fair Value Balance Sheet only includes financial instruments and uses fair value (concept defined above) as of a specific date. Additionally, the Fair Value Balance Sheet is segregated into the three fair value hierarchies described above – Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3.The Level 3 Rollforward reconciles the Level 3 balances for assets and liabilities from the prior reporting period to the current reporting period. This reconciliation must include the total gains and losses (realized and unrealized) for the period, the purchase, sales, issuances, and settlements (net), the transfers in and/or out of Level 3. These components should reconcile the prior period’s balance to the current period’s balance.These are the two main tables disclosed, but additional information is required such as description of the valuation techniques, significant transfers between levels, etc. Additionally, various regulatory bodies, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and other groups within the FASB, will issue further guidelines on SFAS No. 157 disclosures. | 3140120761817271223 | 1,022 |
Q1076276 | Lonicera maackii
Cultivation
Amur honeysuckle is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its attractive flowers and as a hedge. Many cultivars have been selected for horticulture, including 'Erubescens' with pink flowers and 'Rem Red' with an erect form.The flowers are sometimes savored by children, who remove blossoms and pull off their bottoms so as to suck out the sweet nectar in the centers. However, the berries are mildly poisonous to humans and therefore should not be consumed.
Invasive nature and remedies
Propagation of this plant is illegal or controlled in some of the United States, where it is an alien species, because of its well documented invasive nature. The species is named "invasive, banned" in Connecticut, "prohibited" in Massachusetts, as an invasive species in Tennessee, as an invasive species in Ohio, as a "Class B noxious weed" in Vermont, and as an invasive species in Wisconsin.This plant is adaptable and flourishes in a wide range of conditions. In the United States, it was historically planted to control erosion and in hedges. It propagated itself rapidly by avian dispersion of its seeds and soon thereafter naturalized. Notably, in the understories of deciduous woodlands of the eastern United States it forms dense thickets, the shade of whose canopies prevent the growth of native shrubs, juvenile trees, and wild flowers. Uncontrolled, these growths result in almost monocultural thickets of Amur honeysuckle. The species gravely jeopardizes not only the diversity of the invaded ecosystems but even the regeneration of woodlands, because it reduces the growth and diversity of native seedlings. Additionally, studies indicate that it negatively affects birds and tadpoles. Even if its shrubs are removed, the affected habitat may not recover absent substantial human effort. A study conducted in the vicinity of St. Louis, Missouri in 2010 indicated that the plant increases the risk of tick-borne diseases such as Erlichiosis and Lyme disease in suburban natural areas by attracting deer and consequently increasing the presence of infected ticks. Furthermore, experimental removal of the plant was shown to reduce deer activity and the number of infected ticks by shifting ticks' blood meals from deer.The species is controlled by cutting, flaming, or burning the plant to the level of its roots and repetition of this in two-week increments until the nutrient reserves in the roots are depleted. To ensure eradication, herbicide may be applied to freshly cut stumps. Control by prescribed burning has been found to be most effective during the phase of seed dispersal in late summer and early autumn. It is also controlled by annual applications of glyphosate that thoroughly saturate the foliage or by grubbing the shallowly rooted juvenile plants, but these two methods require increased cost of labor and disruption of the soil.Because of the invasive nature of this species, it may be imprudent to cultivate this plant in places whose climates are similar to those where the species has invaded, e. g. the eastern United States. It has been suggested that alien specimens beyond their native range in eastern Asia should be removed and replaced by non-invasive alternatives. Possible fast growing, shade tolerant, deciduous, alternative shrubs include Calycanthus floridus, Cornus mas, Cornus sericea, Forsythia hybrids, Hydrangea species, Syringa vulgaris, Viburnum cassinoides, Viburnum dentatum, Viburnum dilatatum, Viburnum opulus, Viburnum prunifolium, Viburnum trilobum, and Weigela florida. Other alternative native shrubs for the Midwestern United States are enumerated in "Curse of the Bush Honeysuckles!" from the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Etymology and authority
The specific epithet "maackii" is derived from Richard Maack, a Russian naturalist of the 19th century. The common name "Amur honeysuckle" derives from the Amur River, which demarcates the border between the Russian Far East and Manchuria in China; the native range of the species is an area surrounding the river.Some Internet sources incorrectly name the species authority as "(Rupr.) Herder", but the correct authority is "(Rupr.) Maxim". | 3412407150178968196 | 882 |
Q7499560 | Shlomi Dolev
Biography and academic career
Dolev received B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and B.A. in Computer Science in 1984 and 1985, and his M.Sc. and D.Sc. in computer science in 1990 and 1992 from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. From 1992 to 1995 he was at Texas A&M University as a visiting research specialist. In 1995 he joined the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at BGU. Shlomi is the founder and the first department head of the Computer Science Department at BGU, established in 2000. After just 15 years, the department has been ranked among the first 150 best departments in the world. He is the author of a book entitled Self-Stabilization published by MIT Press in 2000. From 2011 to 2014, Prof. Dolev served as the Dean of the Natural Sciences Faculty at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. From 2010 he has served for six years, as the Head of the Inter University Computation Center of Israel. He is a co-founder, board member and CSO of Secret Double Octopus Ltd. He is also a co-founder of Secret Sky (SecretSkyDB) Ltd. In 2015 Shlomi was appointed as the steering committee head of the computer science discipline of the Ministry of Education of Israel.Dolev together with Yuval Elovici and Ehud Gudes established the Telekom Innovation Laboratories at Ben-Gurion University. Dolev was also instrumental in establishing the IBM Cyber Security Center of Excellence (CCoE) in Collaboration with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and JVP Cyber Labs. Several agencies and companies support his research including ISF, NSF, IBM (faculty awards), Verisign, EMC, Intel, Orange France, Deutsche Telekom, US Airforce and the European Union in the sum of several millions of dollars.During his stay at Ben-Gurion University Shlomi had visiting positions in several institutions including MIT, Paris 11, Paris 6 and DIMACS. He served in more than a hundred program committees, chairing several including the two leading conferences in distributed computing, DISC 2006, and PODC 2014. Recently Prof. Dolev established and chaired the International Symposium on Cyber Security Cryptography and Machine Learning.Shlomi served and serves as an Associate Editor in several international journals including the IEEE Transactions on Computers and PeerJ. His research students more than ten PostDocs, over fifteen PhD students and twenty MSc students, are positioned in Hi-Tech companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Google and Academia.
Research work
Dolev initiated a transfer of single event workshop on self-stabilization (Austin,1989) to a series of events on the subject.Dolev's Master thesis, under the supervision of Shlomo Moran and Amos Israeli, resulted in the most cited paper on self-stabilization, following the pioneering paper of Dijkstra on the subject, is introducing the concept of fair composition of self-stabilizing systems. Dolev's contribution to the investigation of self-stabilization spans several decades of research and publications, including research on randomized self-stabilizing algorithms, Super Stabilizing algorithms that react gracefully to dynamic changes while preserving the automatic recovery property offered by self-stabilizing systems. Convergence in spite of Byzantine malicious activity of a portion of the participants. Dolev also introduced with co-authors, the concepts of, Silent Stabilization, Local stabilization, Practically Stabilizing, Self-stabilizing and Self-organizing, Transient Failure Detectors and yielding Labeling Schemes. He also presented the first silent self-stabilizing depth first search distributed algorithm.Another prominent body of research in Dolev's research is related to mobile ad-hoc networks, including the use of messages random walks, GeoQuarum and virtual infrastructure, where mobile devices currently populating a geographic region implement virtual automata for the region, yielding a fixed infrastructure.Dolev's research in cryptography and cyber security research contributions include the introduction of the xor-trees and buses, secret sharing communication and the accumulating automata and secret shared random-access machine, which evolved to patents and establishment of start-ups.The research on optical computing and complexity complements Dolev's cryptographic research, searching for the use of computation gaps, and provable hard on average instances. Dolev initiated a series of four optical supercomputing workshops and several journal special issues (e.g., Optical High-Performance Computing—JOSA A and Applied Optics and Optical SuperComputing). Published several papers including a commentary in the Nature photonics journal, a nature communication contribution on reversible computing and a patent.Dolev also contributed to other research field samples include: Complex Networks, Hash Function Data Structures, Brain Science, Real-time Computation, Compression, Game Theory, Erasure Correcting, Transactional Memory, Error Correcting Computations, Verification, Machine Learning and Nanotechnology.Shlomi frequently collaborates with many other researchers in computer science including Jeffrey Ullman, Nancy Lynch, Adi Shamir, Moti Yung and Noga Alon. | 13199088750528285235 | 1,084 |
Q225221 | HSL-Zuid
Route
Between Amsterdam and Schiphol (Westtak Ringspoorbaan), and around Rotterdam, high speed trains operate on the existing line.South of Schiphol the dedicated high speed tracks begin, parallelling the existing railway line until Nieuw-Vennep. The line then branches off eastwards, continuing along the west side of Roelofarendsveen and Hoogmade and entering a tunnel east of Leiderdorp. This tunnel was built to protect the character of the Groene Hart region. North of Zoetermeer the train line leaves the tunnel west of Hazerswoude; it subsequently passes to the east of Benthuizen, and on an elevated track east of Zoetermeer, then back on the surface between Berkel en Rodenrijs and Bergschenhoek, and after a tunnel, joins the existing line again north of Rotterdam.Trains run briefly on existing tracks for a few kilometres before entering the high speed line again. At Barendrecht the two tracks cross each other and the trains begin left-hand running as in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. From here the line runs next to the existing railway as well as the Betuweroute, continuing through the Hoekse Waard area, bypassing Dordrecht. South of Dordrecht, the line runs next to the A16 motorway with a branch spurring off to the city of Breda. South of Breda, the line again follows the motorway towards Antwerp in northern Belgium. At the Belgian border, it connects to HSL 4, which carries on to Antwerp, with an existing line from Antwerp to Brussels.
Services
Since the opening of the HSL-Zuid, the number of trains has been expanded over time.
Fares and tickets
On the domestic Intercity Direct services (running from Amsterdam to Schiphol, Rotterdam and Breda) all regular Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) tickets are valid. A supplement (Dutch: toeslag) is required only for travel between Schiphol and Rotterdam. This costs €2.40 (one-way). Domestic tickets cannot be used on the international Thalys trains where reservations are mandatory.
ETCS
Initially the HSL-Zuid route supported speeds of up to 160 km/h on both the southern Rotterdam to Breda and the northern Rotterdam to Schiphol section of the line. This was because ETCS Level 2 had not commenced operations and Level 1 was still in use. Various reliability issues prevented the use of Level 2 for sustainable commercial service. Another issue was that the updated ETCS software of the Bombardier TRAXX locomotives was not certified for ETCS Level 2 operation. Railway Gazette reported in April 2011 that certification had been achieved and indeed Level 2 operations began on the southern section in May 2011 with Fyra services running at up to 160 km/h and Thalys at up to 300 km/h. Level 2 went into operation on the northern part of the line in September 2011 and Thalys trains were then able to commence 300 km/h operations on that section. The V250 Fyra trains were hoped to enter service in December 2011 and indeed trial service (without passengers) began using first one, then two trains. As of March 2012 driver and train crew instruction runs were taking place with scheduled, non-passenger-carrying V250 interleaved between the passenger services and it was expected that these units would begin passenger operation in April 2012. The ETCS systems of wayside (Thales) and onboard (Traxx: Bombardier; Thalys & V250: Ansaldo STS) are interworking satisfactorily. With changes in the NS concession arrangements from 2015, the HSL service was combined with the national concession. The amount of Traxx locomotives and Prio carriages will be increased over the coming years as a stopgap measure until new intercity trains (foreseen in 2021/2022) will enter service. As a first step NS announced in December 2013 that they had placed an order at Bombardier for 19 Traxx locomotives.
V250
The V250 trains were ordered at the Italian train manufacturer AnsaldoBreda and were delivered in mid-2009. On 31 May 2013, the Belgian railway company NMBS/SNCB decided to stop the Fyra project and refused delivery of the trains it had ordered. On 3 June 2013, the Dutch national railway company NS announced that it had made a similar evaluation, and expressed its desire to stop with the V250 project. The Dutch department of finance agreed, and recommended that NS do "everything in its power" to get a refund from AnsaldoBreda. At a press conference on 6 June 2013, the manufacturer claimed that the trains had been handled poorly by running the trains too fast (at maximum commercial speed of 250 km/h) under snow conditions. AnsaldoBreda has also threatened to sue the railways for the damage to its reputation.On 17 March 2014 NS announced a settlement with AnsaldoBreda had been reached. The 9 NS trains will be returned to AnsaldoBreda for a refund of 125 million euros, 88 million euros less than originally paid. NS will receive an additional compensation for each resold unit to a maximum of 21 million euros. In May 2014, NMBS/SNCB, AnsaldoBreda and its controlling company Finmeccanica announcend that they reached a settlement that confirms the cancellation of the train orders and includes the payment of 2.5 million euros to NMBS/SNCB.
Future
In October 2010, Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced plans to directly connect Amsterdam and Rotterdam with London, using the Channel Tunnel. This proposal would see services from London formed of a pair of DB's Class 407 international ICE units, which would then divide in Brussels, with one train to Frankfurt and the other to Amsterdam. At approximately the same time, Eurostar also announced proposals to run services direct to Amsterdam, which would use its planned new e320 trains, and would be capable of operating on the infrastructure of the Dutch classic network as well as the HSL-Zuid. | 7644912302504394026 | 1,333 |
Q6994371 | Nepal Law Commission
Background
The Nepal Law Commission (NLC) was first constituted by an executive decision in 1953, immediately after the down of multiparty democracy. The second, third, fourth and fifth Commissions were constituted in 1960, 1963, 1972 and 1979 respectively. All those Commissions were temporary in nature. The NLC was given permanent status only in 1984. After the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, the NLC was restructured with the mandate commensurate with the changed context. It was again restructured in 2003 with timely changes in its mandate and composition. Now, the Commission is a statutory body under the Nepal Law Commission Act, 2007, which was promulgated on 14 January 2007. It is to note that until then it used to be constituted by the executive decision.
Composition
The Commission consists of nine members including the Chairperson, Vice-chairperson and seven members.The Chairperson and the Vice-chairperson are appointed by the Government of Nepal for five years. Other three members consisting of at least one woman are nominated by the same for two years. Retired judges of the Supreme Court or those who are qualified for the same are eligible to be appointed as the Chairperson, Vice-chairperson and members.The Secretary at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Secretary (Law) at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, a Deputy Attorney General nominated by the Attorney General of Nepal and the Secretary at the NLC, who also serves as a Member-Secretary, are ex officio members.The Government may appoint not more than five members as honorary members to the Commission from among outstanding experts in the pertinent field.There is a provision of a Recommendation Committee composed of the Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Chairperson of the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Committee of the House of Representatives* and Chairperson of the Nepal Bar Association to recommend to the Government for appointment in the post of Chairperson, Vice-chairperson and members of the Commission.
Initiation of tasks
The commission may initiate drafting and law reform process either on referral of the concerned ministry or on its own. It may also receive a proposal from stakeholders, i.e. individual, non-governmental organization, civil society and community organization.
Formation of working team
The Commission decides annual program on the basis of the priority and forms working team (WT) involving experts to act on approved area by providing clear mandate and time frame. Generally, one member of the Commission heads the WT or it is headed by any reputed personality in the relevant field.
Preparation of consultation paper
The WT carries out in-depth study of the issue under review. For this purpose, WT may invite expert, stakeholder and government official for consultation as an invitee member. The WT prepares a consultation/issue paper and it is made available to any person interested. WT can also opt appropriate methods of research for data collection.
Organizing seminar/workshop
On the basis of responses to the consultation/issue paper, the WT prepares its initial draft report with provisional recommendations. Thereafter, the WT may organize seminar/workshop inviting prominent scholars, activists and other key stakeholders. The initial draft report is circulated well in advance to the participants, inviting for well-versed comments.
Final report and draft bill
On the basis of output obtained from seminar/workshop, the WT prepares final report and drafts a Bill with explanatory notes. The final report of the WT is handed over to the Commission for deliberation. Each report and draft Bill is presented by the WT in the Commission meeting. Both the Report and the Bill are finalized by the Commission.
Submission to the government for further action
The final report along with the draft Bill is submitted to the concerned Ministry for further action. Where possible, the Commission’s final report is published. Such report is made available in NLC library.
Administrative structure and staff
The Secretary at the NLC is the administrative head of the organization. Under the Secretary, there are two Divisions headed by Joint-secretaries, viz. the Research and Drafting Division that carries out the line functions of the Commission and the Administrative Division that is entrusted to perform administrative tasks. Under each division, there is one section headed by Under-secretary who is supported by a Section Officer. There are other sixteen subordinate employees. The NLC has a total strength of 23 human resources. | 6401774824401672828 | 902 |
Q10864 | Karen Bardsley
Early life
Born in Santa Monica, California to English parents, Bardsley grew up in nearby Chino Hills, where she attended Ruben S. Ayala High School.
College career
Bardsley enrolled at California State University, Fullerton as a graphic design major in 2002, where she played for the Cal State Fullerton Titans women's soccer program. She was named the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year after her first season. The following season, she played just 28 minutes before a broken leg ended her season. In 2004, she missed the first eight games, still recovering from the injury, but once back in the team made such an impact that she was named Big West Conference Goalkeeper of the Year, an honour she won again in 2005.
Career beginnings in America
After college, Bardsley joined Ajax America Women for the 2007 WPSL season, then joined Pali Blues in February 2008 in advance of the W-League season.She joined Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer as a third round pick in the 2009 WPS Draft. She went on to appear in four games for the club in their inaugural 2009 season in which the club won the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs.
Linköpings
In August 2011 Bardsley joined Swedish club Linköpings FC. With Linköpings Bardsley made three Damallsvenskan appearances in 2011, but none in 2012 as Sofia Lundgren remained the first choice goalkeeper.
Lincoln
Bardsley announced a transfer to Lincoln Ladies of the FA WSL in November 2012.
Manchester City
Bardsley moved at the end of the 2013 season to Manchester City on a two-year deal. Her two-year City stint started successfully, with Bardsley playing a pivotal role in the club winning the 2014 Continental Cup. In March 2015 Bardsley was given a three-match ban for her violent conduct in a 0–0 draw with Birmingham City.During the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, despite being first choice in the England national side, she lost her place in the Manchester City team to English teenager Ellie Roebuck. At the start of the following season, it was announced that Bardsley would miss the 2019 Women's International Champions Cup due to injury.
International career
Despite being born in the United States, as a dual-citizen, Bardsley decided to represent England due to family connections in Stockport. She appeared for the England U-19s in the 2003 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. She made her senior debut in the Algarve Cup in March 2005, where England beat Northern Ireland 4–0. In August 2009, she was named to coach Hope Powell's squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2009.By the 2011 World Cup Bardsley had taken over the national team's first choice goalkeeping position from Rachel Brown. After England's 1–1 opening group match draw with Mexico, coach Powell reported that Bardsley was "devastated" following the concession of a long-range equaliser to Mónica Ocampo. In England's quarter final exit to France, Bardsley saved the first penalty in the shootout, but misses from Claire Rafferty and Faye White sent England home.At UEFA Women's Euro 2013 England lost 3–2 to Spain in their opening game, when Bardsley scored a 94th-minute own goal, and were knocked out in the first round. Hope Powell was sacked in the wake of that failure but new coach Mark Sampson continued to select Bardsley. In May 2015 Bardsley was included in England's final squad for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, hosted in Canada.
Great Britain Olympics
In June 2012 Bardsley was named in the 18–player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics. She played in all four games as Great Britain were beaten 2–0 by Canada in the last eight.
2015 Women's World Cup
Bardsley had previously played as goalkeeper in all five games and was part of the history-making team which beat the Norway women's football team in the round of 16 to become the first senior England women's team to win a world cup knockout match. She was substituted in the 51st minute of the quarter-final match against Canada, after suffering an inflammation of her right eye; she was immediately taken off pitch with her eye visibly swollen and was substituted with Siobhan Chamberlain. The reasoning for the swelling was unknown, but parts of the artificial turf were suspected.
UEFA Women's Euro 2017
Bardsley played in England's first two Group games (against Scotland and Spain) but was rested in the final Group game against Portugal.She suffered a fractured tibia in England's quarter-final against France and did not take any further part in the tournament.
2019 Women's World Cup
On 8 May 2019, she was named in the squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. She played in two of the matches in the group stage, against Scotland and Japan. She played in the round of 16 against Cameroon and in the quarter-final against Norway.
Coaching career
Bardsley began coaching as a volunteer coach at her alma mater, California State University, Fullerton, before being employed as an assistant coach with the University of San Diego. She graduated with a Master's degree in Sports Directorship at the Manchester Metropolitan University in July 2019. | 13248269075423943722 | 1,168 |
Q6128347 | James Achilles Kirkpatrick
Biography
James Achilles Kirkpatrick was born in 1764 at Fort St George, Madras. He replaced his brother William and arrived as resident in Hyderabad in 1795 (according to William Dalrymple) as a "cocky young imperialist intending to conquer India". There he became thoroughly enamoured of Indo-Persian culture of Nizam's court, and gave up his English manner of dress in exchange for Persian costumes.Although a colonel in the British East India Company's army, Kirkpatrick wore Mughal-style costumes at home, smoked a hookah, chewed betelnut, enjoyed nautch parties, maintained a small harem in his zenanakhana. Kirkpatrick, born in India, educated in England, had Tamil as his first language, wrote poetry in Urdu, and added Persian and Hindustani to his linguistic armoury. With fluent Hindustani and Persian, he openly mingled with the elite of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick was adopted by the Nizam of Hyderabad, who invested him with many titles: mutamin ul mulk ('Safeguard of the kingdom'), hushmat jung ('Valiant in battle'), nawab fakhr-ud-dowlah bahadur ('Governor, pride of the state, and hero').
Marriage
Kirkpatrick had an extremely private, Muslim marriage ceremony in which he wed a local Hyderabadi Sayyida noblewoman called Khair-un-Nissa, who was fourteen years old, not an unusual age for the marriage of girl of her social class. She was the granddaughter of Nawab Mahmood Ali Khan, the prime minister of Hyderabad. However, the marriage was not recorded and does not appear to have been legally valid; in his will he described the offspring of the relationship as his "natural" children, a polite euphemism for illegitimate children that a father recognized as his own offspring. In his will, Kirkpatrick emphasized his devotion to Khair-un-Nissa, stipulating that he left her only a token bequest in light of the fact that in addition to her jewels, she possessed a large, landed fortune inherited from her father, leaving large fortunes to their two children instead. Before their father's unexpected, early death, at ages 3 and 5, the children had been sent to be reared by Kirkpatrick's relatives in England, as was usual among the British upper classes in India in that period. "Hashmat Jang was believed by some of his Muslim staff and by the bride's female relations to secretly embraced Islam before a Shi'a Mujtahid (cleric); he is said to have presented a certificate from him to Khair-un-Nissa Begum, who sent it to her mother." Towards the end of autumn of 1801, a major scandal broke out in Calcutta over Kirkpatrick's behaviour at the Hyderabad court. A scandal arose due to the fact ethnically and racially mixed nature of the marriage.The conditions under which Kirkpatrick operated as Resident Minister were affected by Lord Richard Wellesley’s appointment as Governor-General of India. Wellesley was an imperialist determined to reduce the Nizam to subservience. Wellesley strongly disapproved of British-Indian liaisons.After Kirkpatrick died in Calcutta on 15 October 1805, Khair-un-Nissa, who was only 19 years old, had a brief love affair with Kirkpatrick's assistant, Henry Russell, who would become Resident in Hyderabad in 1810. After what Russell appears to have regarded as a brief fling, he abandoned Khair-un-Nissa who, with her reputation now ruined, was unable to prevent greedy relatives from taking over the valuable landed estates she had inherited from her father. Russell married a half-Portuguese women. Although she, as a disgraced woman consequent to the love affair with Russell, she was not allowed by her family to return to Hyderabad for some years, with the death of a senior male relative she was eventually allowed to return, and in Hyderabad on 22 September 1813 aged 27.Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa together had two children: a son, Mir Ghulam Ali Sahib Allum and a daughter, Noor-un-Nissa Sahib Begum. Their father had sent them to England to live with their grandfather Colonel James Kirkpatrick, in London and Keston, Kent, shortly before his own, unexpected death at a young age. The two children were baptised on 25 March 1805 at St. Mary’s Church, Marylebone Road, and were thereafter known by their new Christian names, William George Kirkpatrick and Katherine Aurora "Kitty" Kirkpatrick. William was disabled in 1812 after falling into a copper of boiling water and had to have an arm amputated; he married and had three children but died in 1828 aged 27. Kitty was for a few years the love interest of the Scottish writer and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, then a young man of no fortune working as a tutor and an ineligible match for an heiress. She married Captain James Winslowe Phillipps and they had seven children. She died in Torquay, Devon, in 1889.
Popular culture
A large part of White Mughals, a book by the historian William Dalrymple, concerns Kirkpatrick's relationship with Khair-un-Nissa. | 845383196652850922 | 1,119 |
Q201382 | Turpentine
Source trees
One of the earliest sources was the terebinth or turpentine tree (Pistacia terebinthus), a Mediterranean tree related to the pistachio. Important pines for turpentine production include: maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), Masson's pine (Pinus massoniana), Sumatran pine (Pinus merkusii), longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa).Canada balsam, also called Canada turpentine or balsam of fir, is a turpentine which is made from the oleoresin of the balsam fir. Venice turpentine is produced from the western larch Larix occidentalis.To tap into the sap producing layers of the tree, turpentiners used a combination of hacks to remove the pine bark. Once debarked, pine trees secrete oleoresin onto the surface of the wound as a protective measure to seal the opening, resist exposure to micro-organisms and insects, and prevent vital sap loss. Turpentiners wounded trees in V-shaped streaks down the length of the trunks to channel the oleoresin into containers. It was then collected and processed into spirits of turpentine. Oleoresin yield may be increased by as much as 40% by applying paraquat herbicides to the exposed wood.The V-shaped cuts are called "catfaces" for their resemblance to a cat's whiskers. These marks on a pine tree signify it was used to collect resin for turpentine production.
Converting oleoresin to turpentine
Crude oleoresin collected from wounded trees may be evaporated by steam distillation in a copper still. Molten rosin remains in the still bottoms after turpentine has been evaporated and recovered from a condenser. Turpentine may alternatively be condensed from destructive distillation of pine wood.Oleoresin may also be extracted from shredded pine stumps, roots, and slash using the light end of the heavy naphtha fraction (boiling between 90 and 115 °C or 195 and 240 °F) from a crude oil refinery. Multi-stage counter-current extraction is commonly used so fresh naphtha first contacts wood leached in previous stages and naphtha laden with turpentine from previous stages contacts fresh wood before vacuum distillation to recover naphtha from the turpentine. Leached wood is steamed for additional naphtha recovery prior to burning for energy recovery.When producing chemical wood pulp from pines or other coniferous trees, sulfate turpentine may be condensed from the gas generated in Kraft process pulp digesters. The average yield of crude sulfate turpentine is 5–10 kg/t pulp. Unless burned at the mill for energy production, sulfate turpentine may require additional treatment measures to remove traces of sulfur compounds.
Solvent
The two primary uses of turpentine in industry are as a solvent and as a source of materials for organic synthesis. As a solvent, turpentine is used for thinning oil-based paints, for producing varnishes, and as a raw material for the chemical industry. Its industrial use as a solvent in industrialized nations has largely been replaced by the much cheaper turpentine substitutes distilled from crude oil. Turpentine has long been used as a solvent, mixed with beeswax or with carnauba wax, to make fine furniture wax for use as a protective coating over oiled wood finishes (e.g., tung oil).
Source of organic compounds
Turpentine is also used as a source of raw materials in the synthesis of fragrant chemical compounds. Commercially used camphor, linalool, alpha-terpineol, and geraniol are all usually produced from alpha-pinene and beta-pinene, which are two of the chief chemical components of turpentine. These pinenes are separated and purified by distillation. The mixture of diterpenes and triterpenes that is left as residue after turpentine distillation is sold as rosin.
Medicinal elixir
Turpentine and petroleum distillates such as coal oil and kerosene have been used medicinally since ancient times, as topical and sometimes internal home remedies. Topically, it has been used for abrasions and wounds, as a treatment for lice, and when mixed with animal fat it has been used as a chest rub, or inhaler for nasal and throat ailments. Many modern chest rubs, such as the Vicks variety, still contain turpentine in their formulations.Turpentine was a common medicine among seamen during the Age of Discovery. It is one of several products carried aboard Ferdinand Magellan's fleet in his first circumnavigation of the globe. Taken internally it was used as a treatment for intestinal parasites. This is incredibly dangerous, due to the chemical's toxicity. | 7591875427348200282 | 1,037 |