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Federal budget of Switzerland
The Swiss federal budget () refers to the annual revenue (money received) and expenditures (money spent) of the Swiss Confederation. As budget expenditures are issued on a yearly basis by the government, the federal council, and have to be approved by the parliament, they reflect the country's Fiscal policy.
The budget principles are defined by the Swiss Constitution and have been restated most recently in the 1999 fiscal guidelines of the confederation. In 2010 the federal budget of Switzerland was 62.8 billion Swiss francs, which was 11.35% of the country's GDP that year. In 2014 the federal budget of Switzerland was 66.353 billion Swiss francs, or 10.63% of the country's GDP.
Note that the Swiss "federal" budget only comprises 31.7% of Swiss public expenditure, the rest being managed by the cantons and the municipalities directly.
General overview.
As the federal system in Switzerland divides the nation into three levels of governance, confederation, cantons and municipalities, the federal budget refers solely to the revenues and expenditures at the national level. The regional (canton) budgets, as well as the budgets of the more than 2500 municipalities are not within the competence of the federal government or parliament. Their revenues and expenditures are therefore not counted as part of the federal budget, but they together amount to more than 60% of total public spending. However, the different budget levels are fiscally linked together. There are political instruments as for instance the "new fiscal harmonization"-law (Neuer Finanzausgleich), which regulate financial payments from the federal government to the cantons and municipalities as well as from the fiscally more to the fiscally less potent cantons.
Within these important frameworks many principles of distribution of money are regulated, as for example how different projects can be realised, using joint funds from municipalities, cantons and the confederation alike. In this sense, the different budget levels are fiscally interconnected, but politically separated from each other.
Although the right to decide upon budget expenditures ultimately resides with the parliament, these mechanisms of redistribution constrain its ability to exercise this right. Since these transfer expenditures are purpose bound by either legal or constitutional frameworks, they can not easily be changed and are therefore fixed in the short run. The amount of such fixed expenditures were at roughly 55% in 2010.
Budget principles.
In 1999, the Swiss government published its new fiscal guidelines which state the countries goals, principles and main instruments to achieve publicly beneficial fiscal policies. Challenges and necessary reforms to meet them are also conceptualised in these guidelines. Many of the proposed reforms are processes of which some have been realised in the meantime, as for example the above-mentioned new fiscal harmonisation law in 2008, and some are still under continued reform (i.e. the various social welfare programs).
Generally, the federal budget has to function as the economical backbone of the government and allow it to realise its main goal, the welfare of the people. In order to achieve this overarching purpose, the federal council stated the three main goals of its fiscal policy:
Out of these goals the federal council has forged a list of budgetary principles including the principles of transparency, efficiency oriented investment, market freedom, public-private partnership, fair taxation, preferability of indirect taxes, balanced expenditures and more.
Receipt categories.
The lion's share of the money the confederation has at its disposal comes from the federal taxes it collects. For the year 2010 92.6% of all the confederations income (a total of 62.833 billion CHF) were gained from tax revenues. The largest part of it, 32.9% came from the value-added tax (VAT). The second most important tax revenue in 2010 was the direct federal tax which contributed 28.5% of the whole budget. Additionally the withholding tax (7.5%), the mineral-oil tax (8.2%), the stamp duty (4.5%) and the tobacco tax (3.7%) as well as other taxes (7.2%) added to the total federal budget.
Over all, the revenue from these federal taxes in Switzerland is equal to approximately 10.5% of its GDP. Some of the non fiscal revenues of the federal budget are for example its share in the profits of the Swiss national bank (1.3%), revenues from different payments (2%) or revenues from investments (0.5%).
Since taxes are the main source for the budget, and because taxes fluctuate according to the yearly economical performance of a country, the revenue side of the federal budget is more difficult to predict than the expenditures. Revenue values in a newly constructed budget are mere expectations, constructed upon statistical models, whereas expenditures are the politically planned usage of money, and are therefore more easily predictable. In the case of Switzerland, especially the withholding tax prediction often turns out to be imprecise due to the tax's highly volatile nature. It can fluctuate in the range of several billion Swiss francs from year to year (e.g. from 5.3 billion CHF in 1998, to only 1.6 billion CHF in 1999). An analysis of forecasting errors between the years 2001 and 2010 revealed that generally federal revenues are being overestimated during times of recession. In the following periods of economical recovery they are usually underestimated.
Expenditure categories.
In the year 2010 the confederation spend a total of 59,266 billion Swiss francs (10.7% of GDP). The biggest part, 31.1% went to social welfare, followed by 17.1% that was spent for financial and tax purposes. Other expenditure includes 13.9% for the transport sector, 10.2% for education and research, 7.4% for national defence, 6.2% for agriculture and alimentation, and 4.4% for foreign relations.
Looking at past budgets, the expenditures of the Swiss Confederation have been growing from 7% of GDP in 1960 to 9.7% in 1990 and to 10.7% in 2010. The biggest change within the budget is happening in the sectors of social welfare and finance & tax. These two sectors have been growing from 35% in 1990 to 48.2% in 2010 and the Federal Department of Finance estimates that by 2015 they will account for more than half the federal budget expenditures. On the other side, during the same period, a significant reduction of expenditures has been occurring in the sectors of agriculture and national defence; from 26.5% in to 12.4% (estimation for the year 2015).
Example of budget.
The budget for the 2014 fiscal year (also demonstrating the basic budget structure) can be found below (all values in billion CHF).
Looking at the federal budget in a different way professor R. Frey notes that "the [swiss] federal budget is to a considerable extent a transfer budget." What this means is that by looking at who uses the money (and not what it is being spent on) an overwhelming 74.6% (2010) of the federal budget is merely transferred to other institutions, as for example the Swiss cantons, municipalities and the various institutions of social welfare. In this view, the confederation uses merely 20.5% of its budget for own expenditures (personnel-, operating- and defence related expenditures). The reason for these low own costs are that in Switzerland the orderly implementation and control of national laws is often not part of the competences of the confederation but of the individual cantons. Exceptions are national defence, border control, foreign relations, etc. But other expensive posts such as schooling, police or public transportation are (mostly) organised and financed on the cantonal level.
Issues and debates.
The Debt Brake (Schuldenbremse)
Due to the development of budget expenditures in the 1990s, the Swiss parliament and subsequently the people, voted in favour of a new fiscal instrument to reduce government debt in 2001. The so-called debt brake was enacted in 2003 and reinforced the constitutional principle that expenditures have to be mainly financed by revenues and not through an increase in public debt. The mechanism of the debt brake works in a way that introduces a ceiling on spending that is being calculated on a yearly basis. There are adjustment punishments for exceeded budgets, which in turn will force public debt down in following years. Importantly all sorts of government expenditures are equally covered by the debt brake. The only exception to this rule are extraordinary spendings that have to be approved by both chambers of parliament. This exception is supposed to allow the government to react to emergency situations such as for example disaster relief or the 2008 UBS bailout.
Despite slow economic growth (even negative in 2009), the budgetary debt of Switzerland has declined from 130.3 billion CHF in 2005 to 110.5 billion CHF in 2010. That is a reduction of 15.2% of nominal debt. |
Edward O'Keefe
Edward Fitzpatrick O’Keefe is the Chief Executive Officer of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, and a former media executive. O’Keefe worked at ABC News, before serving as the founding Editor-in-Chief of media start-up NowThis. After working at NowThis for two years, O’Keefe moved to CNN to lead the strategy and growth of CNN businesses including CNNMoney, CNN Politics, and Travel. In 2019, O’Keefe was accepted as a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he researched the future of journalism and streaming news, publishing his findings in his paper “Streaming War Won.” During his time at Harvard, O’Keefe also conducted research on Theodore Roosevelt. After leaving Harvard, O’Keefe spent time consulting news organizations and continuing research before announcing his upcoming book and role as CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
Background.
Edward F. O’Keefe was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota to William G. O’Keefe and Heather C. (Holmes) O’Keefe on February 16, 1978. O’Keefe attended Red River High School, whose mascot is the Roughrider, in honor of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Rider volunteer cavalry that fought in the Spanish-American War. O'Keefe credits several of his hometown teachers for planting the seeds for his career, as they gave him early exposure to the arts, politics, and history. O’Keefe graduated in 1996 and went on to study Government and Psychology & English at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he graduated with honors cum laude.
O’Keefe now lives in New York with his wife, Allison Davis O’Keefe, a photographer, and two children.
Career.
ABC.
After graduating from Georgetown University in 2000, O’Keefe began his career as an entry-level desk assistant at ABC. He would continue at ABC as a reporter & producer covering Capitol Hill and the 2004 presidential campaign; producer at This Week with George Stephanopoulos; Senior Political Editor; Managing Editor of ABCNews.com; and finally Executive Producer of ABCNews.com.
O’Keefe’s first day on Capitol Hill was 9/11. Assigned to work as a producer for Linda Douglass, O’Keefe arrived on Capitol Hill before the terrorist attacks. Douglass and O’Keefe convinced then-Senator Joe Biden (D-Dela.) to appear on ABC News. Biden was the first government official to declare publicly the terrorist attacks were likely conducted by al-Qaeda.
O’Keefe is credited with breaking the story that led to the eventual resignation of then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Lott, at the 100th birthday party for Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-Miss.), remarked that if Thurmond, who ran on a segregationist platform in 1948 had won, “we wouldn’t have had all these problems all these years.” After the ABC News programs World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline, and Good Morning America declined to run the story on television, O’Keefe wrote the story for ABCNews.com. It was the first time an online blog story led to major breaking news and O’Keefe’s effort became the subject of a Harvard University study: “Big Media Meets the Bloggers: Coverage of Trent Lott’s Remarks at Strom Thurmond’s Birthday Party."
O’Keefe covered the 2004 presidential election. On the road for nearly 16 months with Sen. John Kerry, O’Keefe was first to report Kerry’s concession live on-air in an ABC News Special Report with Charlie Gibson.
Back in Washington, DC after the 2004 election, O’Keefe covered the Senate confirmation hearings of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court alongside George Stephanopoulos. O’Keefe then joined Stephanopoulos at the Sunday show This Week with George Stephanopoulos. For both the program and the web, O’Keefe interviewed George Clooney on Darfur, Nora Ephron, Stephen Colbert, Sigourney Weaver, and John Updike, among others.
As Executive Producer, O’Keefe guided the editorial direction of ABCNews.com. He served as the editorial lead for the website & social media, and brokered a partnership between Yahoo! and ABC News.
NowThis.
After a 12-year stint at ABC, O’Keefe became the founding editor-in-chief of the media start-up NowThis in 2012.
CNN.
After two years at NowThis, O’Keefe became the VP of CNNMoney and CNN Politics. In 2016, O’Keefe took on the role as SVP of Premium Content, overseeing strategy for CNN's Money, Politics, Style, Tech, Travel, Media & Entertainment, Arabic, and HLN divisions. In 2018, O’Keefe became the SVP of Content Development, overseeing CNN’s mobile, social, video, podcast, virtual reality, newsletter, and subscription services. These efforts included The Axe Files with David Axelrod, and CNN’s original documentary podcast Election 2000: Over/Time. O'Keefe also was involved in launching the Emmy-award winning ExplorePartsUnknown.com, the digital component to the Emmy and Peabody award winning Parts Unknown series with Anthony Bourdain.
Harvard Kennedy School.
In January 2019, the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, based at the Harvard Kennedy School, announced its Spring 2019 class of fellows, which included people ranging from Adam Serwer, Maria Hinojosa, and O’Keefe. At Harvard, O'Keefe published research on news streaming in his paper “Streaming War Won.” He also spent time conducting research on Theodore Roosevelt–examining unpublished letters, correspondence, and written records, particularly originating during Roosevelt’s time in North Dakota. O’Keefe conducted this research primarily for his forthcoming book, "The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt."
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
While at Harvard, O’Keefe encountered fellow North Dakotan, former advisor for North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum board member Robert Lauf, who encouraged O’Keefe to meet with Governor Burgum. Through this connection, Lauf and Burgum brought O’Keefe to become the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation.
Under O'Keefe's leadership, the Foundation has set out broad guiding principles of Conservation, Leadership, and Citizenship to explore Roosevelt's life and legacy.
Awards and recognition.
O’Keefe was Executive Producer of Explore Parts Unknown, winning a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series, 2018.
He is also the recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award for Social Media (2017), and two Webby Awards for Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown and 2016 Election, #MyVote.
O’Keefe was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy for “Enemy #1: The Hunt for Osama Bin Laden” (2012) and the Joan S. Barone Award for “Congress in Crisis” (2003).
He is the recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award, honoring the work of ABC News covering the devastating terrorist attacks on 9/11. |
Babcock Ranch, Florida
Babcock Ranch is a planned community located in southeastern Charlotte County and northeastern Lee County, Florida consisting of approximately . The planned community was approved as part of a public-private partnership with the State of Florida and local governments. The deal established the neighboring Babcock Ranch Preserve.
Plans for the future town of Babcock Ranch were announced in 2005 by real estate development firm Kitson & Partners as part of a complex real estate transaction that facilitated the largest conservation land acquisition in Florida history. In 2009, the company joined with Florida Power & Light to announce plans to make Babcock Ranch the first solar-powered city in the United States. A large photovoltaic power station and a network of rooftop solar panels on commercial buildings, planned to be expanded over time, are intended to send more renewable power into the Florida electrical grid than the city consumes.
Early history.
Occupying land in both Charlotte and Lee counties near Fort Myers, Babcock Ranch was named after Edward Vose Babcock, a lumber baron and mayor of Pittsburgh (1918–1922), who purchased the land in 1914. The land's primary use was logging and agriculture, and those uses continue to generate funds for maintenance and operation of the Babcock Ranch Preserve. The Babcock Ranch Preserve Act enacted by the Florida legislature in 2006 made it the first Florida preserve responsible for generating its own funding under a public private management partnership that includes the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Forest Service.
State ownership.
In the late 1990s, the Babcock family sought to sell the ranch to the state of Florida. The property was considered a priority for purchase by conservation leaders who saw it as the final section needed to establish an environmental corridor stretching from Lake Okeechobee in the center of Florida all of the way to the Charlotte Harbor Estuary on Florida's Gulf Coast.
The state offered US$455 million for in 2005, but negotiations broke down over the structure of the transaction and tax issues. A sale of the real estate would have triggered significant tax liabilities that could be avoided if ownership was transferred through sale of all corporate stock. The state was barred from meeting the family's terms by a provision in the state constitution prohibiting use of land acquisition funds for purchase of a private company's stock.
Florida real estate development firm Kitson & Partners, led by former professional American football player Syd Kitson, signed a contract for purchase of the Babcock Florida Company including the ranch in July 2005 and laid out a plan to sell over to the State of Florida for preservation of the most environmentally sensitive areas. The contract was contingent on a series of local and state approvals for development on the property to be retained by Kitson & Partners and a land management agreement that would provide for continued ranching operations and employment of the ranch staff under state ownership. Purchase from the family and sale of the preserve lands to the State of Florida and Lee County closed on July 31, 2006.
As part of the arrangement, Kitson & Partners received $350 million for the land, with approximately $310 million provided in the final budget of Governor Jeb Bush and $40 million from Lee County, Florida. According to "Time", the purchase was the "largest preservation buy in Florida history". Governor Bush stated that the state ownership "would preserve the single largest tract of contiguous land in the state's history".
Development.
The center of the planned urban development is about ten miles south southwest of the former Babcock family home and barns. Plans for the proposed city of Babcock Ranch were developed with public participation through a series of meetings held in Charlotte County in early 2006 and formally announced with the first application for development approvals. Designed as a magnet for high tech companies and research and development hub for clean energy methods, Babcock Ranch is planned to be self-contained with four villages and five hamlets. The plan is for a total of 20,000 permanent jobs would be added to sustain up to 50,000 residents in 19,000 households. Babcock Ranch is expected to include of light industry, retail, commerce, offices and civic space. The downtown area will be walkable and bikeable, and will include 8,000 homes as well as offices, business parks, hospital care center, shopping, restaurants, entertainment and lodges. Construction started in November 2015 and the beginning of construction was celebrated on Earth Day 2016.
Babcock Ranch will have eight magnet schools administered by Charlotte County Public Schools. The elementary schools will be near the center of each village, and the high school will be accessible by bike trails. In addition, Florida Gulf Coast University plans to build a satellite campus in Babcock Ranch. All commercial buildings and homes in Babcock Ranch must be certified as energy-efficient and constructed according to Florida Green Building Coalition standards. Some homes will be constructed using insulated panel design.
Infrastructure.
Plans are for Babcock Ranch to have an interconnected system of computer networks utilizing the IBM Rational Focal Point software running all city services from transport to energy to communications, and also linking up to local businesses; Babcock Ranch will be added to IBM's list of the world's "smarter cities". According to "Smart Planet", wireless Internet connectivity will cover the whole of Babcock Ranch city.
An on-site 75-megawatt solar photovoltaic array broke ground in 2016 by Florida Power & Light Company, which will combine with a network of solar rooftop arrays on commercial buildings to generate more energy than the city consumes, making Babcock Ranch the first solar-powered city in the United States.
According to Florida Power & Light chief development officer Eric Silagy, the photovoltaic solar plant to be built at Babcock Ranch will occupy rooftops throughout the city plus of land. Babcock Ranch's solar power plant will connect to the main grid so a consistent energy supply can be maintained by importing power on overcast days and exporting it on sunny days. The objective in using a solar generator to power the city is a reduction in carbon emissions and dependence on oil, and to lower energy bills for residents, aided by proposed "smart home" energy efficiency technology. Residents and businesses will utilize smart grid technology to monitor and control their energy consumption.
The homes on Babcock Ranch survived nearly unscathed and did not lose power, water or internet on September 28 2022, when category 4 Hurricane Ian destroyed communities, such as Sanibel, etc nearby: 60 Minutes program...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BP5ll5HpGA (start at the 10:03 mark for Babcock Ranch) The development relies on 650,000 solar modules.
Nature preserve.
Approximately ninety percent of Babcock Ranch's total land will remain undeveloped, including more than half of the area owned by developers Kitson & Partners, to be preserved as open space, nature reserves or for agricultural use. The Babcock Ranch Preserve, which includes land owned by the State of Florida and by Lee County, covers eighty percent of the ranch's original approximately . The preserve is self-funding, with all operations supported by revenue from the publicly owned working ranch, the first and only of its type in Florida. The preserve is being managed by Kitson & Partners until 2016 when a non-profit entity with board members appointed by the state will take over. The state plans to continue business enterprises to maintain the publicly owned land as a nature reserve with accommodations for recreation, including hunting, camping and hiking. |
History of climate change policy and politics
The history of climate change policy and politics refers to the continuing history of political actions, policies, trends, controversies and activist efforts as they pertain to the issue of global warming and other environmental anomalies. Dryzek, Norgaard, and Schlosberg suggest that critical reflection on the history of climate policy is necessary because it provides 'ways to think about one of the most difficult issues we human beings have brought upon ourselves in our short life on the planet’.
Climate change emerged as a political issue in the 1970s, where activist and formal efforts were taken to ensure environmental crises were addressed on a global scale. International policy regarding climate change has focused on cooperation and the establishment of international guidelines to address global warming. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a largely accepted international agreement that has continuously developed to meet new challenges.
Domestic policy on climate change has focused on both establishing internal measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and incorporating international guidelines into domestic law.
In the late 20th and 21st century, climate change policy moved away from attempts to mitigate the impact of global warming and towards adapting to unavoidable changes to the human environment. There has also been a shift towards vulnerability based policy for those most impacted by environmental anomalies. Over the history of climate policy, concerns have been raised about the treatment of developing nations and a lack of gender specific action.
Activism.
Since the early 1970s, climate activists have called for more effective political action regarding global warming and other environmental anomalies. In 1970, Earth Day was the first large-scale environmental movement that called for the protection of all life on earth. The Friends of Earth organisation was also founded in 1970. Between 2006 and 2009, the Campaign against Climate Change and other British organisations staged a series of demonstrations to encourage governments to make more serious attempts to address climate change.
In 2019, activists, most of whom were young people, participated in a global climate strike to criticise the lack of international and political action to address the worsening impacts of climate change. Greta Thunberg, a 19-year-old activist from Sweden, became a figurehead for the movement.
Continuing in the spirit of young activists such as Greta Thunberg, the abandoned village of Lutzerath in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany has seen a growing army of at least 700 protesters from the country itself and around the world (estimated on 10 January 2023) taking over. They are there in defiance of coal mining company RWE who are intent on extracting coal from the Garzweiler Opencast Brown Coalmine near the village. There has been conflict between the protesters and the company since at least 2013, when RWE asked to extend its scope of operation to include Lutzerath and surrounding villages.
With the recent illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia seeing gas supplies to Europe being curtailed by the Russian government in retaliation to Western sanctions, it seems there is no choice but to increase coal extraction, which flies in the face of recent promises made at the COP26 summit in 2022, held in Glasgow UK. The German government remains steadfast in its promise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reducing global warming by 1.5 degrees as internationally agreed at COP26, stating it actually wants to reduce coal extraction but is being forced to perform short term extraction to deal with Germany's energy shortage due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Germany's Green Party is in agreement with the government's decision to extend mining operations after brokering a compromise that would spare five villages scheduled for demolition. This would appear to be seemingly in opposition to the reason the activists are protesting against the coal extraction.
Luisa Neubauer, a leading German climate change activist, influencer and member of Fridays For Future Germany, has said that she feels the German Green Party has betrayed the ideals of the movement, opting to support short term coal extraction and choosing 'profit over people'.
Origins of political concern.
In the mid-1970s, climate change shifted from a solely scientific issue to a point of political concern. The formal political discussion of global environment began in June 1972 with the UN Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) in Stockholm. The UNCHE identified the need for states to work cooperatively to solve environmental issues on a global scale.
The first World Climate Conference in 1979 framed climate change as a global political issue, giving way to similar conferences in 1985, 1987, and 1988. In 1985, the Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases (AGGG) was formed to offer international policy recommendations regarding climate change and global warming. At the Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere in 1988, climate change was suggested to be almost as serious as nuclear war and early targets for emission reductions were discussed.
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) jointly established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. A succession of political summits in 1989, namely the Francophone Summit in Dakar, the Small Island States meeting, the G7 Meeting, the Commonwealth Summit, and the Non-Aligned Meeting, addressed climate change as a global political issue.
International policy.
Through the creation of multilateral treaties, agreements, and frameworks, international policy on climate change seeks to establish a worldwide response to the impacts of global warming and environmental anomalies. Historically, these efforts culminated in attempts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions on a country-by-country basis.
In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was held in Rio de Janeiro. The UNCED (also referred to as the Earth Summit) introduced the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21, the Forestry Principles and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was also introduced during the conference. The UNFCCC established the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities, defined Annex 1 and Annex 2 countries, highlighted the needs of vulnerable nations, and established a precautionary approach to climate policy. In accordance with the convention, the first Conference of the Parties (COP-1) was held in Berlin in 1995.
In 1997, the third Conference of the Parties (COP-3) passed the Kyoto Protocol, which contained the first legally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets. The Kyoto Protocol required Annex 1 countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% from 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.
At the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP-13) in 2007, the Bali Action Plan was implemented to promote a shared vision for the Copenhagen Summit. The Action Plan called for Annex 2 nations to adopt Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). The Bali Conference also raised awareness for the 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation.
In 2009, the Copenhagen Accord was created at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although not legally binding, the Accord established an agreed-upon goal to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.
The Paris Agreement was adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP-21) on the 12th of December 2015. It entered into force on the 4th of November 2016. The agreement addressed greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance. Its language was negotiated by representatives of 196 state parties at COP-21. As of March 2019, 195 UNFCCC members have signed the agreement and 187 have become party to the agreement.
In November 2019, a coalition of 11,000 scientists declared that a worldwide climate emergency exists.
Domestic action.
Domestic policy regarding climate change has historically combined the incorporation of international guidelines and the creation of state-specific goals, legislation and programs to address global warming and environmental anomalies at a state level.
Climate change policy in Australia.
Domestic action to address climate change in Australia began in 1989, when Senator Graham Richardson proposed the first greenhouse gas emission reduction target of 20% by 2005. The Australian Government rejected this target. In 1990, Ros Kelly and Jon Kerin announced that the Australian Government would adhere to the goals initially proposed by Richardson but not to any economic detriment.
Australia signed the UNFCCC in 1992. This was followed by the release of the National Greenhouse Response Strategy (NGRS), which provided states and territories with the mechanisms to adhere to UNFCCC emission guidelines. Australia attended the first UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Berlin in March 1995. Throughout the 1990s, Australia regularly failed to meet its own emission targets and those set by the UNFCCC.
In 1997, Prime Minister John Howard announced that by 2010, an additional 2% of electricity would be sustainably sourced. The following year, the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) was established to monitor greenhouse gas reductions. The AGO later combined with the Department of Environment and Heritage. In April 1998, Australia became a party to the Kyoto Declaration. The Declaration was ratified in 2007 under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
In the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000, the Federal Government introduced the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target program, which aimed to sustainably source 10% of electrical energy by 2010. In 2011, the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target program was divided into the Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target and the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme. In January 2003, the New South Wales State Government implemented the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme (GGRS), which allowed carbon emissions to be traded.
Under Rudd, the Labor Government proposed the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which was intended to take effect in 2010. This scheme was rejected by the Greens for being too permissive and by Tony Abbott's Coalition for being economically detrimental. Under Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Labor Party passed the Clean Energy Act 2011 to establish a carbon tax and put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. This carbon tax was a divisive partisan issue.
In 2012, the Coalition ran a campaign to repeal the carbon tax. Upon election victory in September 2013, Prime Minister Tony Abbott passed the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill. In replacement of the carbon tax, Abbott introduced the Direct Action Scheme to financially reward businesses for voluntarily reducing their carbon emissions. This was followed by a decision not to participate in the 19th Conference of UNFCCC Parties (COP-19).
Australia became a party to the Paris Agreement in 2015. In the agreement, Australia committed to reducing its emissions by 26% by 2030.
In 2019, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was criticised for a lack of commitment to addressing climate change while taking a vacation during the 2019 bushfires.
Climate change policy in the USA.
From the mid-1980s, the United States attempted to promote climate action at an international level. The USA ratified the Montreal Protocol of 1987 in a 1990 amendment to the Clean Air Act. In 1993, the Clinton Administration commissioned the Climate Change Action Plan, which lacked both funding and parliamentary support and relied on voluntary compliance.
The Kyoto Protocol was never submitted for ratification in the US. This was because a previous Senate resolution suggested that it would not be ratified. In 2001, President George W. Bush cited economic concerns as a reason for his withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. Instead, the administration set an 18% reduction target over the next 10 years.
In 2013, the Obama Administration created the Climate Action Plan, which aimed to cut 32% of carbon emissions from electrical power plants.
In December 2015, the USA became party to the Paris Agreement. President Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the agreement in 2017. This was formalised in 2019, when Trump officially notified the United Nations of the impending US withdrawal. As of 2017, 20 states have pledged to abide with the terms of the Paris Agreement regardless of federal withdrawal.
Trends.
Adaptation.
In the early 21st century, policy approaches shifted from mitigation, aiming to reduce the environmental impact of human behaviour, to adaptation. Adaptation based policy focuses on adjusting environmental and human systems to respond to the predicted impacts of global warming. According to Klein, Schipper and Dessai, adaptation is necessary to accommodate permanent changes to the human environment that, regardless of mitigation attempts, cannot be reversed. Haibach and Schneider suggest that climate policy continues to move towards ‘crisis management and plans for preventative measures’. Ford also states that the UNFCCC has evolved to address ‘exposure to predicted climate change impacts’ by stressing the need to adapt.
Vulnerability based policy.
Vulnerability based policy is regionally or socioeconomically specific policy aimed at reducing the disproportionate impacts of climate change on certain groups. This policy is emerging in developing countries in the global south, where communities are more impacted by climate change and environmental disasters. In the Kyoto Protocol, the Least Developed Country fund and Special Climate Change fund were established to improve development and adaptation in regions least equipped to manage the consequences of climate change. This form of policy has also been linked to sustainable development in developing countries.
In vulnerable arctic regions, climate policy has increasingly focused on addressing changing weather patterns, animal demography and sea ice levels.
Partisan division.
In the late 2000s, the political discourse regarding climate change policy became increasingly polarising. In the United States, the political right has largely opposed climate policy while the political left has favoured progressive action to address environmental anomalies. In a 2016 study, Dunlap, McCright, and Yarosh note the ‘escalating polarisation of environmental protection and climate change’ discourse in the USA. In 2020, the partisan gap in public opinion regarding the importance of climate change policy was the widest in history. The Pew Research Center found that, in 2020, 78% of Democrats and 21% of Republicans in the USA saw climate policy as a top priority to be addressed by the President and Congress.
In Europe, there is growing tension between right-wing interest in migration and left-wing climate advocacy as primary political concerns. The validity of climate change research and climate scepticism have also become partisan issues.
Controversy.
Disproportionate impact on developing nations.
Developing nations have commented that climate change and climate change policy disproportionately impact vulnerable states. Ford mentions that international climate policy does not adequately address the different needs and capacities of Annex 1 and Annex 2 states. The New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development (2002) suggests that developing countries are both more impacted by and less equipped to address climate change. The Declaration also restates the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities. Gupta suggests that these disproportionate impacts justify lowering emission reduction targets for developing nations. Critics of equity-based policy have argued that it is “unfair” to create differentiated emission targets.
Gender.
There is debate over whether policy has addressed the gendered impacts of climate change. Röhr and Hemmati suggest that climate policy does not consider how mechanisms and instruments for change impact women. This inequality is prominent in the global south. A UNEP report suggests that women are more impacted by climate change and climate policy because they have less access to resources and because environmental disasters amplify preexisting 'power imbalances' in the global south. This report also recommends that climate policy should include adaptation programs aimed at improving women's mobility and access to resources during environmental disasters. Gender sensitive climate innovations have also been recommended to address the needs and concerns of women in developing nations.
Röhr and Hemmati also state that women have been underrepresented in climate discourses. A UNEP report states that 'a lack of meaningful participation by women' in local and regional climate movements is having a negative impact on the mobilisation of communities. In a similar study, Buckingham and Külcürl conclude that climate action groups and coalitions do not mirror mainstream gender diversity. |
Opel Combo
The Opel Combo is a panel van and leisure activity vehicle from the German automaker Opel. The Combo first appeared in 1993, a second generation model was introduced in 2001, and the third was manufactured from December 2011 to December 2017, based on the Fiat Doblò. The name "Combo" was previously applied as a suffix to a three-door panel van body style of Opel Kadett E from 1986 until 1993.
Opel/Vauxhall joined Groupe PSA in March 2017: the fourth generation Combo, launched in March 2018, shares the platform and bodywork of the Peugeot Rifter and Partner, as well as the Citroën Berlingo.
The Combo B and Combo C share platforms, vital components and some body panels with contemporary subcompact Opel Corsas, which used to be a typical pedigree for such a vehicle. The generations are denoted "B" and "C" in typical Opel fashion, but Holden applied the codes "SB" and "XC" respectively, reflecting the relation with SB and XC Holden Barinas (Opel Corsa B and C, respectively).
Kadett Combo (Combo A; 1986).
The Opel Kadett Combo was introduced in January 1986, and finished production in August 1993. It was based on the Opel Kadett E small family car. It was built in the United Kingdom, at Ellesmere Port by Vauxhall until January 1989. This was when the model was facelifted, with a new grille separate from the bumper (as for the Kadett).
At the same time, production was transferred to Azambuja, Portugal and the vans were now built by Opel. In Germany, it was sold with a 1.3 litre petrol engine or a 1.6 (later 1.7) litre diesel unit. The 1.3 petrol unit was then changed to a 1.4. Buyers in some countries, including the United Kingdom, also had the choice of a 1.6-liter petrol unit.
In the United Kingdom, the three door estate based van was known as both the Bedford and Vauxhall Astravan, and the high roof van as the Bedford Astramax, later sold as a Vauxhall. The changeover from Bedford to Vauxhall took place on 1 June 1990, as Bedfords were better known as a producer of heavier trucks.
The Astramax was available in base or somewhat better equipped L versions. Both models were offered in 365 or 560 versions, referring to the payload in kilograms.
Combo B (1993-2001).
The first generation of Combo, launched in October 1993, was based heavily on the Opel Corsa B, launched six months earlier. The front part (up to the B-pillar) is practically identical with the Corsa (except for the roof spoiler), but the platform (and thus wheelbase and the body in general) is extended to accommodate a tall, boxy cargo compartment, capable of carrying a Europallet.
The Combo B had symmetrical twin rear doors that opened to the side (rather than a single tailgate). These are counted as a single "door" when referring to the body style as three door.
Following the increasing popularity of leisure activity vehicles, Opel launched a five passenger version of the Combo in the summer of 1995, called "Opel Combo Tour". It differed from the panel van version by having the cargo section fitted with side windows, and a three-passenger split folding bench seat.
Although Combo's primary market was Europe, it has also been sold on other continents, in markets where GM traditionally use Opel derived models. As the Azambuja Opel plant in Portugal is the sole production site of all Combos, all those models were replaced gradually with the Combo C in 2001.
The Combo was also produced in relatively small numbers by SAIC subsidiary SAIC-Yizheng as the "Shanghai Auto (Shangqi) "Saibao" SAC6420", equipped with the same 1.6 litre engine and five speed manual transmission as the Buick Sail. Built from 2002 until 2005, there was also a DeLuxe version available, with alloy wheels and other extras.
Holden in Australia launched the SB series Combo in February 1996. It offered the 1.4 litre "C14NZ" engine, upgraded to "C14SE" specification in 1997. Sales continued until 2002, although the last SB Combos were built in 2001, but complianced as models of 2002. Production of the Combo A ended in August 2001.
Combo C (2002-2012).
The second generation was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show, in September 2001. While most competitors severed their connections with their subcompact brethren, Opel decided to base the vehicle on the Corsa again. The use of subcompact Gamma platform constrained the overall width of the vehicle. The front clip is thus still shared with the Corsa, although now only back to the A-pillar. This allowed Opel to more fully integrate the overall design of the car, giving it a "flush" look more in line with its competitors.
Compared to previous generation, the Combo C gained sliding rear side doors (versions with either single passenger side door or double doors are available). Sales began in January 2002.
An "Opel Combo Tour" version was also introduced, followed by "Opel Combo Tour Tramp" (Combo Tour Arizona in some markets), in an effort to attract leisure activity vehicle buyers. Combo Tour Tramp/Arizona was thought as a more off road recreational vehicle.
It features enhanced suspension tuning, increased ground clearance, chassis protection covers and numerous styling details that differentiate it from standard Combo Tours, with the intention to conjure a sturdy, outdoor sports related image. The "Combo Tour" was not offered by Vauxhall in the United Kingdom. Commercial van versions retained the symmetrical twin rear doors, while the Tour versions have an option of a single tailgate (opening to the top). The tailgate is standard on Tour Tramp/Arizona.
In December 2006, the Azambuja, Portugal factory closed down, and the production of the Opel Combo transferred to Zaragoza, Spain in 2007. Holden in Australia launched the XC series Combo in September 2002. It offered the 1.6 litre "Z16SE" engine, upgraded to 1.4 litre "Z14XEP" specification in December 2004 for the MY05 update.
Although production ended in the end of 2011, Holden in Australia and New Zealand stockpiled sufficient Combo inventory to last until 2013, with the final 2011 build vehicles complianced in the beginning of 2012. In August 2013, CarAdvice announced that the Holden Combo had been quietly discontinued, and will not be replaced by the Combo D, available to European customers.
Production of the Combo C ended in the end of 2011, in time for the December 2011 launch of the Combo D, which is based on the Fiat Doblò.
Combo D (2012-2018).
The third generation Combo was manufactured from January 2012 to December 2018, and was based on the Fiat Doblò. The third generation Combo was manufactured in Turkey by Tofaş. Sales began in January 2012.
Combo E (K9; 2018).
The fourth generation Combo was unveiled at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. It is a sister model to the Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Rifter and Partner, as Groupe PSA bought Opel in March 2017. |
Greencastle, Missouri
Greencastle is a city in eastern Sullivan County, Missouri, United States. The population was 224 at the 2020 census.
History.
The plat for Greencastle was surveyed on March 12, 1857 at the behest of Victor Doze, Marion Overstreet, E.E. Prindle, I.E. Wood, and M.P. Wood. It consisted of six full blocks and eight half blocks with each block containing eight lots. The area had been inhabited for some time prior to 1857 however, with the first permanent home built on the present site of Greencastle by Marion Sanders "circa" 1853. Moreover, the Greencastle Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1845 and held services just south of the town's later location.
The Greencastle post office was established in 1857 with I.E. Wood as first postmaster, followed a short time later by the opening of the new towns' first general store. Greencastle's first grist mill was built in 1879 and a newspaper, the "Greencastle Independence" began publication in 1881. It was also in 1881 that Greencastle was finally incorporated on August 8, 1881. A depot for the Quincy, Missouri, and Pacific Railroad was built in 1883. A creamery was established in 1885 and produced an average of 1,500 pounds of butter per week.
Geography.
Greencastle is located on Missouri Route 6 approximately 13 miles east-northeast of Milan and 15 miles west of Kirksville.
Mussel Fork flows past approximately one mile to the southwest and the Union Ridge Conservation Area on Spring Creek is two miles north on Missouri Route D.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.
Demographics.
2010 census.
As of the census of 2010, there were 275 people, 123 households, and 71 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 147 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 99.6% White and 0.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.5% of the population.
There were 123 households, of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.3% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.3% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 3.03.
The median age in the city was 44.1 years. 23.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19.6% were from 25 to 44; 25.9% were from 45 to 64; and 22.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.0% male and 52.0% female.
2000 census.
As of the census of 2000, there were 308 people, 133 households, and 75 families residing in the city. The population density was 673.4 people per square mile (258.5/km2). There were 148 housing units at an average density of 323.6/sq mi (124.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 99.68% White and 0.32% Native American.
There were 133 households, out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.9% were non-families. 40.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the city the population was spread out, with 28.9% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $17,500, and the median income for a family was $23,438. Males had a median income of $21,042 versus $18,625 for females. The per capita income for the city was $10,369. About 19.5% of families and 27.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.6% of those under the age of eighteen and 33.3% of those 65 or over. |
Hypothetical types of biochemistry
Hypothetical types of biochemistry are forms of biochemistry agreed to be scientifically viable but not proven to exist at this time. The kinds of living organisms currently known on Earth all use carbon compounds for basic structural and metabolic functions, water as a solvent, and DNA or RNA to define and control their form. If life exists on other planets or moons it may be chemically similar, though it is also possible that there are organisms with quite different chemistries for instance, involving other classes of carbon compounds, compounds of another element, or another solvent in place of water.
The possibility of life-forms being based on "alternative" biochemistries is the topic of an ongoing scientific discussion, informed by what is known about extraterrestrial environments and about the chemical behaviour of various elements and compounds. It is of interest in synthetic biology and is also a common subject in science fiction.
The element silicon has been much discussed as a hypothetical alternative to carbon. Silicon is in the same group as carbon on the periodic table and, like carbon, it is tetravalent. Hypothetical alternatives to water include ammonia, which, like water, is a polar molecule, and cosmically abundant; and non-polar hydrocarbon solvents such as methane and ethane, which are known to exist in liquid form on the surface of Titan.
Shadow biosphere.
A shadow biosphere is a hypothetical microbial biosphere of Earth that uses radically different biochemical and molecular processes than currently known life. Although life on Earth is relatively well-studied, the shadow biosphere may still remain unnoticed because the exploration of the microbial world targets primarily the biochemistry of the macro-organisms.
Alternative-chirality biomolecules.
Perhaps the least unusual alternative biochemistry would be one with differing chirality of its biomolecules. In known Earth-based life, amino acids are almost universally of the form and sugars are of the form. Molecules using amino acids or sugars may be possible; molecules of such a chirality, however, would be incompatible with organisms using the opposing chirality molecules. Amino acids whose chirality is opposite to the norm are found on Earth, and these substances are generally thought to result from decay of organisms of normal chirality. However, physicist Paul Davies speculates that some of them might be products of "anti-chiral" life.
It is questionable, however, whether such a biochemistry would be truly alien. Although it would certainly be an alternative stereochemistry, molecules that are overwhelmingly found in one enantiomer throughout the vast majority of organisms can nonetheless often be found in another enantiomer in different (often basal) organisms such as in comparisons between members of Archaea and other domains, making it an open topic whether an alternative stereochemistry is truly novel.
Non-carbon-based biochemistries.
On Earth, all known living things have a carbon-based structure and system. Scientists have speculated about the pros and cons of using atoms other than carbon to form the molecular structures necessary for life, but no one has proposed a theory employing such atoms to form all the necessary structures. However, as Carl Sagan argued, it is very difficult to be certain whether a statement that applies to all life on Earth will turn out to apply to all life throughout the universe. Sagan used the term "carbon chauvinism" for such an assumption. He regarded silicon and germanium as conceivable alternatives to carbon (other plausible elements include but are not limited to palladium and titanium); but, on the other hand, he noted that carbon does seem more chemically versatile and is more abundant in the cosmos). Norman Horowitz devised the experiments to determine whether life might exist on Mars that were carried out by the Viking Lander of 1976, the first U.S. mission to successfully land an unmanned probe on the surface of Mars. Horowitz argued that the great versatility of the carbon atom makes it the element most likely to provide solutions, even exotic solutions, to the problems of survival on other planets. He considered that there was only a remote possibility that non-carbon life forms could exist with genetic information systems capable of self-replication and the ability to evolve and adapt.
Silicon biochemistry.
The silicon atom has been much discussed as the basis for an alternative biochemical system, because silicon has many chemical properties similar to those of carbon and is in the same group of the periodic table, the carbon group. Like carbon, silicon can create molecules that are sufficiently large to carry biological information.
However, silicon has several drawbacks as an alternative to carbon. Silicon, unlike carbon, lacks the ability to form chemical bonds with diverse types of atoms as is necessary for the chemical versatility required for metabolism, and yet this precise inability is what makes silicon less susceptible to bond with all sorts of impurities from which carbon, in comparison, is not shielded. Elements creating organic functional groups with carbon include hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and metals such as iron, magnesium, and zinc. Silicon, on the other hand, interacts with very few other types of atoms. Moreover, where it does interact with other atoms, silicon creates molecules that have been described as "monotonous compared with the combinatorial universe of organic macromolecules". This is because silicon atoms are much bigger, having a larger mass and atomic radius, and so have difficulty forming double bonds (the double-bonded carbon is part of the carbonyl group, a fundamental motif of carbon-based bio-organic chemistry).
Silanes, which are chemical compounds of hydrogen and silicon that are analogous to the alkane hydrocarbons, are highly reactive with water, and long-chain silanes spontaneously decompose. Molecules incorporating polymers of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms instead of direct bonds between silicon, known collectively as silicones, are much more stable. It has been suggested that silicone-based chemicals would be more stable than equivalent hydrocarbons in a sulfuric-acid-rich environment, as is found in some extraterrestrial locations.
Of the varieties of molecules identified in the interstellar medium , 84 are based on carbon, while only 8 are based on silicon. Moreover, of those 8 compounds, 4 also include carbon within them. The cosmic abundance of carbon to silicon is roughly 10 to 1. This may suggest a greater variety of complex carbon compounds throughout the cosmos, providing less of a foundation on which to build silicon-based biologies, at least under the conditions prevalent on the surface of planets. Also, even though Earth and other terrestrial planets are exceptionally silicon-rich and carbon-poor (the relative abundance of silicon to carbon in Earth's crust is roughly 925:1), terrestrial life is carbon-based. The fact that carbon is used instead of silicon may be evidence that silicon is poorly suited for biochemistry on Earth-like planets. Reasons for this may be that silicon is less versatile than carbon in forming compounds, that the compounds formed by silicon are unstable, and that it blocks the flow of heat.
Even so, biogenic silica is used by some Earth life, such as the silicate skeletal structure of diatoms. According to the clay hypothesis of A. G. Cairns-Smith, silicate minerals in water played a crucial role in abiogenesis: they replicated their crystal structures, interacted with carbon compounds, and were the precursors of carbon-based life.
Although not observed in nature, carbon–silicon bonds have been added to biochemistry by using directed evolution (artificial selection). A heme containing cytochrome "c" protein from "Rhodothermus marinus" has been engineered using directed evolution to catalyze the formation of new carbon–silicon bonds between hydrosilanes and diazo compounds.
Silicon compounds may possibly be biologically useful under temperatures or pressures different from the surface of a terrestrial planet, either in conjunction with or in a role less directly analogous to carbon. Polysilanols, the silicon compounds corresponding to sugars, are soluble in liquid nitrogen, suggesting that they could play a role in very-low-temperature biochemistry.
Arsenic as an alternative to phosphorus.
Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, while poisonous for most life forms on Earth, is incorporated into the biochemistry of some organisms. Some marine algae incorporate arsenic into complex organic molecules such as arsenosugars and arsenobetaines. Fungi and bacteria can produce volatile methylated arsenic compounds. Arsenate reduction and arsenite oxidation have been observed in microbes ("Chrysiogenes arsenatis"). Additionally, some prokaryotes can use arsenate as a terminal electron acceptor during anaerobic growth and some can utilize arsenite as an electron donor to generate energy.
It has been speculated that the earliest life forms on Earth may have used arsenic biochemistry in place of phosphorus in the structure of their DNA. A common objection to this scenario is that arsenate esters are so much less stable to hydrolysis than corresponding phosphate esters that arsenic is poorly suited for this function.
The authors of a 2010 geomicrobiology study, supported in part by NASA, have postulated that a bacterium, named GFAJ-1, collected in the sediments of Mono Lake in eastern California, can employ such 'arsenic DNA' when cultured without phosphorus. They proposed that the bacterium may employ high levels of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate or other means to reduce the effective concentration of water and stabilize its arsenate esters. This claim was heavily criticized almost immediately after publication for the perceived lack of appropriate controls. Science writer Carl Zimmer contacted several scientists for an assessment: "I reached out to a dozen experts ... Almost unanimously, they think the NASA scientists have failed to make their case".
Other authors were unable to reproduce their results and showed that the study had issues with phosphate contamination, suggesting that the low amounts present could sustain extremophile lifeforms.
Alternatively, it was suggested that GFAJ-1 cells grow by recycling phosphate from degraded ribosomes, rather than by replacing it with arsenate.
Non-water solvents.
In addition to carbon compounds, all currently known terrestrial life also requires water as a solvent. This has led to discussions about whether water is the only liquid capable of filling that role. The idea that an extraterrestrial life-form might be based on a solvent other than water has been taken seriously in recent scientific literature by the biochemist Steven Benner, and by the astrobiological committee chaired by John A. Baross. Solvents discussed by the Baross committee include ammonia, sulfuric acid, formamide, hydrocarbons, and (at temperatures much lower than Earth's) liquid nitrogen, or hydrogen in the form of a supercritical fluid.
Carl Sagan once described himself as both a carbon chauvinist and a water chauvinist; however, on another occasion he said that he was a carbon chauvinist but "not that much of a water chauvinist".
He speculated on hydrocarbons, hydrofluoric acid, and ammonia as possible alternatives to water.
Some of the properties of water that are important for life processes include:
Water as a compound is cosmically abundant, although much of it is in the form of vapour or ice. Subsurface liquid water is considered likely or possible on several of the outer moons: Enceladus (where geysers have been observed), Europa, Titan, and Ganymede. Earth and Titan are the only worlds currently known to have stable bodies of liquid on their surfaces.
Not all properties of water are necessarily advantageous for life, however. For instance, water ice has a high albedo, meaning that it reflects a significant quantity of light and heat from the Sun. During ice ages, as reflective ice builds up over the surface of the water, the effects of global cooling are increased.
There are some properties that make certain compounds and elements much more favorable than others as solvents in a successful biosphere. The solvent must be able to exist in liquid equilibrium over a range of temperatures the planetary object would normally encounter. Because boiling points vary with the pressure, the question tends not to be "does" the prospective solvent remain liquid, but "at what pressure". For example, hydrogen cyanide has a narrow liquid-phase temperature range at 1 atmosphere, but in an atmosphere with the pressure of Venus, with of pressure, it can indeed exist in liquid form over a wide temperature range.
Ammonia.
The ammonia molecule (NH3), like the water molecule, is abundant in the universe, being a compound of hydrogen (the simplest and most common element) with another very common element, nitrogen. The possible role of liquid ammonia as an alternative solvent for life is an idea that goes back at least to 1954, when J. B. S. Haldane raised the topic at a symposium about life's origin.
Numerous chemical reactions are possible in an ammonia solution, and liquid ammonia has chemical similarities with water. Ammonia can dissolve most organic molecules at least as well as water does and, in addition, it is capable of dissolving many elemental metals. Haldane made the point that various common water-related organic compounds have ammonia-related analogs; for instance the ammonia-related amine group (−NH2) is analogous to the water-related hydroxyl group (−OH).
Ammonia, like water, can either accept or donate an H+ ion. When ammonia accepts an H+, it forms the ammonium cation (NH4+), analogous to hydronium (H3O+). When it donates an H+ ion, it forms the amide anion (NH2−), analogous to the hydroxide anion (OH−). Compared to water, however, ammonia is more inclined to accept an H+ ion, and less inclined to donate one; it is a stronger nucleophile. Ammonia added to water functions as Arrhenius base: it increases the concentration of the anion hydroxide. Conversely, using a solvent system definition of acidity and basicity, water added to liquid ammonia functions as an acid, because it increases the concentration of the cation ammonium. The carbonyl group (C=O), which is much used in terrestrial biochemistry, would not be stable in ammonia solution, but the analogous imine group (C=NH) could be used instead.
However, ammonia has some problems as a basis for life. The hydrogen bonds between ammonia molecules are weaker than those in water, causing ammonia's heat of vaporization to be half that of water, its surface tension to be a third, and reducing its ability to concentrate non-polar molecules through a hydrophobic effect. Gerald Feinberg and Robert Shapiro have questioned whether ammonia could hold prebiotic molecules together well enough to allow the emergence of a self-reproducing system. Ammonia is also flammable in oxygen and could not exist sustainably in an environment suitable for aerobic metabolism.
A biosphere based on ammonia would likely exist at temperatures or air pressures that are extremely unusual in relation to life on Earth. Life on Earth usually exists within the melting point and boiling point of water, at a pressure designated as normal pressure, and between . When also held to normal pressure, ammonia's melting and boiling points are and respectively. Because chemical reactions generally proceed more slowly at lower temperatures, ammonia-based life existing in this set of conditions might metabolize more slowly and evolve more slowly than life on Earth. On the other hand, lower temperatures could also enable living systems to use chemical species that would be too unstable at Earth temperatures to be useful.
Another set of conditions where ammonia is liquid at Earth-like temperatures would involve it being at a much higher pressure. For example, at 60 atm ammonia melts at and boils at .
Ammonia and ammonia–water mixtures remain liquid at temperatures far below the freezing point of pure water, so such biochemistries might be well suited to planets and moons orbiting outside the water-based habitability zone. Such conditions could exist, for example, under the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan.
Methane and other hydrocarbons.
Methane (CH4) is a simple hydrocarbon: that is, a compound of two of the most common elements in the cosmos: hydrogen and carbon. It has a cosmic abundance comparable with ammonia. Hydrocarbons could act as a solvent over a wide range of temperatures, but would lack polarity. Isaac Asimov, the biochemist and science fiction writer, suggested in 1981 that poly-lipids could form a substitute for proteins in a non-polar solvent such as methane. Lakes composed of a mixture of hydrocarbons, including methane and ethane, have been detected on the surface of Titan by the "Cassini" spacecraft.
There is debate about the effectiveness of methane and other hydrocarbons as a solvent for life compared to water or ammonia. Water is a stronger solvent than the hydrocarbons, enabling easier transport of substances in a cell. However, water is also more chemically reactive and can break down large organic molecules through hydrolysis. A life-form whose solvent was a hydrocarbon would not face the threat of its biomolecules being destroyed in this way. Also, the water molecule's tendency to form strong hydrogen bonds can interfere with internal hydrogen bonding in complex organic molecules. Life with a hydrocarbon solvent could make more use of hydrogen bonds within its biomolecules. Moreover, the strength of hydrogen bonds within biomolecules would be appropriate to a low-temperature biochemistry.
Astrobiologist Chris McKay has argued, on thermodynamic grounds, that if life does exist on Titan's surface, using hydrocarbons as a solvent, it is likely also to use the more complex hydrocarbons as an energy source by reacting them with hydrogen, reducing ethane and acetylene to methane. Possible evidence for this form of life on Titan was identified in 2010 by Darrell Strobel of Johns Hopkins University; a greater abundance of molecular hydrogen in the upper atmospheric layers of Titan compared to the lower layers, arguing for a downward diffusion at a rate of roughly 1025 molecules per second and disappearance of hydrogen near Titan's surface. As Strobel noted, his findings were in line with the effects Chris McKay had predicted if methanogenic life-forms were present. The same year, another study showed low levels of acetylene on Titan's surface, which were interpreted by Chris McKay as consistent with the hypothesis of organisms reducing acetylene to methane. While restating the biological hypothesis, McKay cautioned that other explanations for the hydrogen and acetylene findings are to be considered more likely: the possibilities of yet unidentified physical or chemical processes (e.g. a non-living surface catalyst enabling acetylene to react with hydrogen), or flaws in the current models of material flow. He noted that even a non-biological catalyst effective at 95 K would in itself be a startling discovery.
Azotosome.
A hypothetical cell membrane termed an azotosome, capable of functioning in liquid methane in Titan conditions was computer-modeled in an article published in February 2015. Composed of acrylonitrile, a small molecule containing carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, it is predicted to have stability and flexibility in liquid methane comparable to that of a phospholipid bilayer (the type of cell membrane possessed by all life on Earth) in liquid water. An analysis of data obtained using the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA), completed in 2017, confirmed substantial amounts of acrylonitrile in Titan's atmosphere. Later studies questioned whether acrylonitrile would be able to self-assemble into azotozomes.
Hydrogen fluoride.
Hydrogen fluoride (HF), like water, is a polar molecule, and due to its polarity it can dissolve many ionic compounds. Its melting point is −84 °C, and its boiling point is 19.54 °C (at atmospheric pressure); the difference between the two is a little more than 100 K. HF also makes hydrogen bonds with its neighbor molecules, as do water and ammonia. It has been considered as a possible solvent for life by scientists such as Peter Sneath and Carl Sagan.
HF is dangerous to the systems of molecules that Earth-life is made of, but certain other organic compounds, such as paraffin waxes, are stable with it. Like water and ammonia, liquid hydrogen fluoride supports an acid–base chemistry. Using a solvent system definition of acidity and basicity, nitric acid functions as a base when it is added to liquid HF.
However, hydrogen fluoride is cosmically rare, unlike water, ammonia, and methane.
Hydrogen sulfide.
Hydrogen sulfide is the closest chemical analog to water, but is less polar and is a weaker inorganic solvent. Hydrogen sulfide is quite plentiful on Jupiter's moon Io and may be in liquid form a short distance below the surface; astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch has suggested it as a possible solvent for life there. On a planet with hydrogen sulfide oceans, the source of the hydrogen sulfide could come from volcanoes, in which case it could be mixed in with a bit of hydrogen fluoride, which could help dissolve minerals. Hydrogen sulfide life might use a mixture of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide as their carbon source. They might produce and live on sulfur monoxide, which is analogous to oxygen (O2). Hydrogen sulfide, like hydrogen cyanide and ammonia, suffers from the small temperature range where it is liquid, though that, like that of hydrogen cyanide and ammonia, increases with increasing pressure.
Silicon dioxide and silicates.
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica and quartz, is very abundant in the universe and has a large temperature range where it is liquid. However, its melting point is , so it would be impossible to make organic compounds in that temperature, because all of them would decompose. Silicates are similar to silicon dioxide and some have lower melting points than silica. Feinberg and Shapiro have suggested that molten silicate rock could serve as a liquid medium for organisms with a chemistry based on silicon, oxygen, and other elements such as aluminium.
Other solvents or cosolvents.
Other solvents sometimes proposed:
Sulfuric acid in liquid form is strongly polar. It remains liquid at higher temperatures than water, its liquid range being 10 °C to 337 °C at a pressure of 1 atm, although above 300 °C it slowly decomposes. Sulfuric acid is known to be abundant in the clouds of Venus, in the form of aerosol droplets. In a biochemistry that used sulfuric acid as a solvent, the alkene group (C=C), with two carbon atoms joined by a double bond, could function analogously to the carbonyl group (C=O) in water-based biochemistry.
A proposal has been made that life on Mars may exist and be using a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide as its solvent.
A 61.2% (by mass) mix of water and hydrogen peroxide has a freezing point of −56.5 °C and tends to super-cool rather than crystallize. It is also hygroscopic, an advantage in a water-scarce environment.
Supercritical carbon dioxide has been proposed as a candidate for alternative biochemistry due to its ability to selectively dissolve organic compounds and assist the functioning of enzymes and because "super-Earth"- or "super-Venus"-type planets with dense high-pressure atmospheres may be common.
Other speculations.
Non-green photosynthesizers.
Physicists have noted that, although photosynthesis on Earth generally involves green plants, a variety of other-colored plants could also support photosynthesis, essential for most life on Earth, and that other colors might be preferred in places that receive a different mix of stellar radiation than Earth.
These studies indicate that blue plants would be unlikely; however yellow or red plants may be relatively common.
Variable environments.
Many Earth plants and animals undergo major biochemical changes during their life cycles as a response to changing environmental conditions, for example, by having a spore or hibernation state that can be sustained for years or even millennia between more active life stages. Thus, it would be biochemically possible to sustain life in environments that are only periodically consistent with life as we know it.
For example, frogs in cold climates can survive for extended periods of time with most of their body water in a frozen state, whereas desert frogs in Australia can become inactive and dehydrate in dry periods, losing up to 75% of their fluids, yet return to life by rapidly rehydrating in wet periods. Either type of frog would appear biochemically inactive (i.e. not living) during dormant periods to anyone lacking a sensitive means of detecting low levels of metabolism.
Alanine world and hypothetical alternatives.
The genetic code may have evolved during the transition from the RNA world to a protein world. The Alanine World Hypothesis postulates that the evolution of the genetic code (the so-called GC phase) started with only four basic amino acids: alanine, glycine, proline and ornithine (now arginine). The evolution of the genetic code ended with 20 proteinogenic amino acids. From a chemical point of view, most of them are Alanine-derivatives particularly suitable for the construction of α-helices and β-sheets basic secondary structural elements of modern proteins. Direct evidence of this is an experimental procedure in molecular biology known as alanine scanning.
A hypothetical "Proline World" would create a possible alternative life with the genetic code based on the proline chemical scaffold as the protein backbone. Similarly, a "Glycine World" and "Ornithine World" are also conceivable, but nature has chosen none of them. Evolution of life with Proline, Glycine, or Ornithine as the basic structure for protein-like polymers (foldamers) would lead to parallel biological worlds. They would have morphologically radically different body plans and genetics from the living organisms of the known biosphere.
Nonplanetary life.
Dusty plasma-based.
In 2007, Vadim N. Tsytovich and colleagues proposed that lifelike behaviors could be exhibited by dust particles suspended in a plasma, under conditions that might exist in space. Computer models showed that, when the dust became charged, the particles could self-organize into microscopic helical structures, and the authors offer "a rough sketch of a possible model of...helical grain structure reproduction".
Cosmic necklace-based.
In 2020, Luis A. Anchordoqu and Eugene M. Chudnovsky of the City University of New York hypothesized that cosmic necklace-based life composed of magnetic monopoles connected by cosmic strings could evolve inside stars. This would be achieved by a stretching of cosmic strings due to the star's intense gravity, thus allowing it to take on more complex forms and potentially form structures similar to the RNA and DNA structures found within carbon-based life. As such, it's theoretically possible that such beings could eventually become intelligent and construct a civilization using the power generated by the star's nuclear fusion. Because such use would use up part of the star's energy output, the luminosity would also fall. For this reason, it's thought that such life might exist inside stars observed to be cooling faster or dimmer than current cosmological models predict.
Life on a neutron star.
Frank Drake suggested in 1973 that intelligent life could inhabit neutron stars. Physical models in 1973 implied that Drake's creatures would be microscopic. In 1980, Robert L Forward wrote the science fiction novel Dragon's Egg using Drake's suggestion as a thesis.
Scientists who have published on this topic.
Scientists who have considered possible alternatives to carbon-water biochemistry include: |
Vesper Lynd
Vesper Lynd is a fictional character featured in Ian Fleming's 1953 James Bond novel "Casino Royale". She was portrayed by Ursula Andress in the 1967 James Bond parody, which is only slightly based on the novel, and by Eva Green in the 2006 film adaptation.
In the novel, the character explains that she was born "on a very stormy evening", and that her parents named her "Vesper", Latin for "evening" and Bond then gives her name to a cocktail he has recently invented. The "Vesper" became popular after the novel's publication. The actual name for the drink (as well as its complete recipe) was mentioned on screen for the first time in the 2006 film adaptation of "Casino Royale".
In 1993, journalist Donald McCormick claimed that Fleming based Vesper on the real life of Polish agent Krystyna Skarbek, who was working for Special Operations Executive.
Novel biography.
Vesper works at MI6 headquarters as a personal assistant to Head of section S. She is lent to Bond, much to his irritation, to assist him in his mission to bankrupt Le Chiffre, the paymaster of a SMERSH-controlled trade union. She poses as a radio seller, working with secret agent Rene Mathis, and later as Bond's companion to infiltrate the casino in Royale-Les-Eaux, in which Le Chiffre frequently gambles. After Bond takes all of Le Chiffre's money in a high-stakes game of baccarat, Vesper is abducted by Le Chiffre's thugs, who also capture Bond when he tries to rescue her. Both are rescued after Le Chiffre is murdered by a SMERSH agent, but only after Le Chiffre has tortured Bond.
Vesper visits Bond every day in the hospital, and the two grow very close; much to his own surprise, Bond develops genuine feelings for her, and even dreams of leaving the service and marrying her. After he is released from the hospital, they go on a holiday together and eventually become lovers.
Vesper has a terrible secret, however – she is a double agent working for the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and worked with Bond only because she was ordered to lure him into a trap. (Her kidnapping was staged to lure Bond into Le Chiffre's clutches.) Before she met Bond, she had been romantically involved with a Polish RAF operative. This man had been captured by SMERSH and revealed information about Vesper under torture. Hence, SMERSH was using this operative to blackmail Vesper into helping them. After Le Chiffre's death, she is initially hopeful that she can have a fresh start with Bond, but she realizes this is impossible when she sees a SMERSH operative with an eye patch, Adolph Gettler, tracking her and Bond. Consumed with guilt and certain that SMERSH will find and kill both of them, she commits suicide, leaving a note admitting her treachery and pledging her love to Bond.
Bond deals with his grief over her death by denouncing her as a traitor and going back to work as though nothing has happened, coldly telling his superiors, "The job is done, and the bitch is dead."
However, later books in the series suggest that Bond still has feelings for Vesper. Fleming's tenth novel, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", reveals that Bond makes an annual pilgrimage to Royale-Les-Eaux to visit her grave. In "Diamonds Are Forever", Bond skips the song "La Vie En Rose" in Tiffany Case's hotel room "because it has memories for him"; this is a song closely associated with Vesper in "Casino Royale". In the novel "Goldfinger", when Bond has been poisoned and believes he is about to enter heaven, he worries about how to introduce Tilly Masterton, who he believes has died along with him, to Vesper.
Film biography.
1967.
In the 1967 version of "Casino Royale", Lynd was portrayed by Ursula Andress, who had portrayed another Bond girl, Honey Ryder, in the 1962 film version of "Dr. No".
In this version, which bore little resemblance to the novel, Vesper is depicted as a former secret agent who has since become a multi-millionaire with a penchant for wearing ridiculously extravagant outfits at her office ("because if I wore it in the street people might stare"). Bond (played by David Niven), now in the position of M at MI6, uses a discount for her past due taxes to bribe her into becoming another 007 agent, and to recruit baccarat expert Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) into stopping Le Chiffre (played by Orson Welles).
Vesper and Tremble have an affair during which she eliminates an enemy agent sent to seduce Tremble ("Miss Goodthighs"). Ultimately, however, she betrays Tremble to Le Chiffre and SMERSH, declaring to Tremble, "Never trust a rich spy" before killing him with a machine gun hidden inside a bagpipe. She presumably does this for the same reason she does in the novel, as she remarks that it isn't for money but for love. Though her ultimate fate is not revealed in the film, in the closing credits she is shown as an angel playing a harp, showing her to be one of the "seven James Bonds at Casino Royale" killed by an atomic explosion.
Eon films.
In the 2006 film version of "Casino Royale", Vesper Lynd is a foreign liaison agent from the HM Treasury's Financial Action Task Force assigned to make sure that Bond adequately manages the funds provided by MI6 to bankrupt Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a money manager for several terrorist groups. Upon meeting for the first time, Vesper and Bond size each other up, and each deduce that the other is an orphan. Vesper is initially skeptical about Bond's ego and at first is unwilling to act as his girlfriend to distract the other players at the high-stakes Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament hosted by Le Chiffre. However, she assists Bond when Lord's Resistance Army leader Steven Obanno (Isaach de Bankolé) attacks him, knocking a gun out of Obanno's hand and giving Bond the chance to kill him and his bodyguards.
She retreats to the shower afterwards, wracked with guilt, feeling she has blood on her hands from helping to kill Obanno. Bond sits next to her and comforts her by kissing the "blood" off her fingers, and they return to the casino. His kindness does not prevent her from doing her job, however; she refuses to bankroll him after he loses his table stakes to Le Chiffre. Shortly afterwards, Vesper saves Bond's life. Poisoned by Le Chiffre's girlfriend, Valenka (Ivana Miličević), Bond struggles unsuccessfully to connect a key wire to his automatic external defibrillator and enters cardiac arrest, but Vesper arrives in time to connect the wire properly, enabling the machine to revive him.
After Bond wins the tournament, Le Chiffre kidnaps Vesper, and Bond gives chase. They fall into Le Chiffre's trap and are tortured by him and his thugs, but are saved by the mysterious Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who shoots and kills Le Chiffre for losing his organisation's money.
While both are hospitalized to recover, Bond and Vesper fall in love, and Bond plans to resign from MI6 to be with her. As in the novel, Bond and Vesper go on vacation to Venice, both of them hoping to start a new life. Unknown to Bond, however, Vesper embezzles the tournament winnings and intends to deliver them to Adolph Gettler (Richard Sammel), who (like his novel counterpart) has been spying on the two agents since they arrived in Venice, and was spotted by Vesper, to her visible dismay.
When Bond receives a timely phone call from MI6 chief M (Judi Dench) and realizes Vesper's scheme, he pursues her as Gettler takes her hostage and throws her in a caged elevator while he and his men battle Bond. Bond kills Gettler and his thugs, but in the process causes the building to flood and start sinking. After apologizing to Bond, Vesper locks herself in the elevator just before it plunges into the waters below. Bond frantically tries to save her life, but in a final gesture, she kisses Bond's hands as if to clear him of guilt and drowns. Bond finally extricates her and unsuccessfully attempts to revive her.
As in the novel, Bond copes with Vesper's death by denouncing her, saying "The job's done and the bitch is dead." M tells Bond that the organisation behind Le Chiffre had kidnapped Vesper's boyfriend, Yusef Kabeira, and threatened to kill him unless she became their spy. She then tells him that Vesper had made a deal with Kabeira's kidnappers: the money in exchange for Bond's life. When Bond opens Vesper's mobile phone left in their Venice hotel room, he discovers her note for him with Mr. White's phone number which enables Bond to track down and confront him at the movie's end.
In the 2008 film "Quantum of Solace", Kabeira (Simon Kassianides) is revealed to be an agent working for Quantum, the terrorist organisation behind Le Chiffre and Mr. White. Kabeira seduces high-ranking women in the world's intelligence agencies. Kabeira's is then "kidnapped" by Quantum, and the women are forced to become double agents in the hope of securing his freedom. This information vindicates Vesper in Bond's eyes, as he realizes that her betrayal was not her fault. He does not kill Kabeira, but leaves him to MI6 and tells M that she was right about Vesper. As Bond walks away, he drops Vesper's necklace in the snow.
In the 2015 film "Spectre", Bond finds a VHS video tape in Mr. White's hotel room in Morocco labelled "Vesper Lynd Interrogation". He chooses to put the tape down and not watch it.
At the beginning of the 2021 film "No Time to Die", Bond and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) are in Matera, Italy. While in a hotel discussing each other's secrets, Swann suggests Bond should visit Vesper's grave. When Bond does so, he says "I miss you" and burns a note saying, "forgive me". Bond notices a card placed by the side of the grave with the SPECTRE symbol. As he picks it up, a bomb intended to kill him detonates. Bond leaves Madeleine at a train station after being attacked by SPECTRE as he believes Madeleine has betrayed him to the organisation. Later, Bond visits Blofeld in prison. Blofeld explains to Bond that he ordered his organisation to follow Bond and Madeleine to Matera knowing that Madeleine would take Bond to Vesper's grave to seek solace, providing an ideal moment to kill Bond.
Related character.
The character of Vesper Lynd does not appear in the 1954 television adaptation of "Casino Royale". Instead, the character was replaced by a new character named Valerie Mathis (Linda Christian), who is depicted as an American. She also betrays Bond (Barry Nelson), but comes to his rescue after he is shot by Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre). Valerie does not die in this adaptation. |
Varia Kipiani
Barbare "Varia" Kipiani (; 4 February 1879 – 1950-1965) was the first Georgian trained as a psychophysiologist and is recognized as a pioneering woman scholar of Georgia. Born into a noble family, Kipiani and her sisters were raised by her father after her parents' divorce. After graduating from St. Nino's School in Tbilisi in 1899, she taught in a school in Khoni for two years. Moving to Belgium, where her father had relocated, she entered the medical faculty of the Free University of Brussels in 1902. Unable to afford her tuition, Kipiani was mentored by Polish academic, Józefa Joteyko, who paid her school fees and allowed her to work in a laboratory. She wrote a paper titled "" ("The Ergography of Sugar"), which evaluated the use of sugar in alleviating fatigue. Her study won a silver medal from the ('Association of Chemists of France and the Colonies') in 1906. After completing her coursework in the medical faculty in 1907, Kipiani lectured at various universities and continued research with Joteyko on nutrition and fatigue. They jointly were awarded the Vernois Prize of the French in 1908 for their work on vegetarianism.
Impacted by biases against women scientists, the two women shifted their career studies toward child development, focusing on the emerging field of paedology. They studied various aspects of memorization and the senses, attempting to develop teaching methods that could improve society. In 1910, Kipiani received the Valentin Haily Medal at the ('congress to benefit the blind') in Paris for two papers she wrote about educating blind students. Among other studies, she published works on sensory psychology, the use of both muscles and vision in learning to write, auditory versus visual learning, and tropism. She was a proponent of teaching students to be ambidextrous and to use physical exercise to create bilateral symmetry in the body. Her works on ambidexterity argued that training both the dominant and weaker sides of the body would enhance motor and intellectual capacity and allow quicker recovery if one side of the body or brain was damaged. At the end of World War I, Kipiani briefly returned to Georgia, but when the Russian Red Army invaded the country, she moved back to Belgium. As paedology did not survive as a field of scientific study, upon her return to Brussels, Kipiani taught French and Russian at the University of Brussels.
In addition to her scientific work, Kipiani was one of the Georgian exiles who worked to preserve Georgian culture. Between 1910 and 1913, she curated and directed the collection of Georgian historical and ethnographic artifacts for the ('World Palace'). The museum was founded by the Union of International Associations as a repository for collecting the world's knowledge. She also was responsible for preserving some of the estate of Salome Dadiani and her husband Prince Achille Murat as significant Georgian heritage. Although mainly forgotten after her death, 21st-century academics have begun to reevaluate her role in promoting vegetarianism in Belgium and France at the turn of the 20th century and her contributions to protecting Georgian culture.
Early life and education.
Barbara Kipiani, known as Varia, was born on 4 February 1879 in Kutaisi, in the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, to Anastasia Eristavi and . Ketevan the Martyr was an ancestor of her mother and her father was the oldest son of Dimitri Kipiani, a Georgian nobleman, scholar, statesman, and proponent of protecting Georgian culture from Russification. Kipiani grew up on her grandfather's estate near Kvishkheti, but when her parents divorced, she and her older sisters, Elisabet "Veta" and Nino, went with their father in 1883 to Batumi, where he was working in the judiciary system. Their brother remained with their mother after the divorce. Her grandfather was exiled to Stavropol in 1886 and assassinated the following year. The shock of his father's death caused health problems for Nikoloz, who moved abroad in 1890 to seek treatment, leaving his daughters in Tbilisi to attend St. Nino's School. He lived in France, Holland, Italy and Switzerland before settling in Belgium in 1895 and becoming the chair of Russian language studies at the Free University of Brussels. Kipiani attended St. Nino's School under a national scholarship program and graduated with honors in 1899.
Career.
First Belgian period (1902–1919).
After graduating, Kipiani taught at the St. Mary's School in Khoni until 1901, when she decided to join her father in Belgium. She enrolled in the medical faculty at the University of Brussels in 1902. Within two years, Kipiani was expelled because of an inability to pay her tuition. After making a presentation which was well-received at the Sixth International Congress of Physiologists held in Brussels in 1904, the Polish scientist Józefa Joteyko invited Kipiani to work in her laboratory at the Solvay Institute of Physiology and paid for her tuition. The laboratory focused on studying physiology, and specifically those functions that provided power to living organisms. Kipiani began studying how sugar could be used to combat fatigue. At the time, Armand Gautier in Paris and Auguste Slosse in Brussels were studying the diets of workers in their respective cities to evaluate whether the nutritional level of the population was adequate to maintain the level of their industrial activities. Her aim in conducting the studies was to contribute to the understanding of how nutrition and physiology could be applied to improving society. Findings on a study promoting vegetarianism sparked international discussion in newspapers, like "The New York Times", women's magazines such as, "Life & Health", and a book, "Good Health and How We Won It" by Upton Sinclair. Kipiani completed her studies in the medical faculty and graduated in 1907.
Kipiani became involved in protests in Brussels, sparked by the 1905 Russian Revolution and aimed at the Russian tsar and ruling class. As a means of furthering knowledge about Georgia and its culture, she began collecting Georgian art and cultural artifacts throughout Europe. With other Georgian students, in 1908 she performed at the in an evening event which featured Georgian literature, music, and dancing. The students performed in various segments offering glimpses of Georgian culture. They acted in a drama, recited poetry, sang, and danced traditional dances in national costumes. In 1910, she attended the ('World Congress of International Associations'), where it was proposed that the ('World Palace') be established as a central repository for the world's knowledge. The original plan was to utilize one of the buildings from the Brussels International Exposition, but a new location had to be found after fire destroyed several sections of the exposition site. Kipiani curated and directed the collection of Georgian historical and ethnographic artifacts for the Palais Mondial, now known as the Mundaneum. She wrote to organizations in Georgia encouraging them to send books, pictures, or other items that could be added to the exhibit in order to improve exposure to Georgian achievements in education and technology. In 1913, when the collection was installed, she wrote to , one of the leaders of the Georgian independence movement, urging him to print at least 100 copies of a flyer to publicize the collection to members of the Georgian diaspora.
In 1908, Joteyko founded and became editor of the "", a journal which explored developments in the field of psychology from a scientific and educational perspective. Kipiani was hired as its executive secretary. She published several articles in the journal between 1908 and 1914, as well as various studies examining muscle memory, the adaptive multi-sensory practices of people with limited or no vision, vegetarianism, and ambidexterity. Kipiani lectured on psychophysiology and psychology at various universities, including her alma mater, the University of Liège and the University of Paris. In 1911, she worked as a laboratory assistant to Joteyko who that year founded and developed the curricula for the International Paedological Faculty of Brussels. The goal of this facility was to scientifically study children and their development to improve educational methods for the benefit of society as a whole. She also taught a course for the faculty in paedology practices, conducting laboratory studies on children's development. Paedology was an emerging science at the time, and the researchers of the International Paedological Faculty attempted to examine childhood development from both a physiological and psychological view as a basis for improving education. By 1913, Kipiani had been awarded medals by several learned societies and become a laureate of the in Paris. She was one of the invited speakers who participated in the Fourth Vegetarian Congress, held in The Hague in 1913. The following year, with the onset of World War I, all of the major universities in Belgium were closed. Joteyko left the country in 1915.
Return to Georgia (1919–1921).
Around 1919, Kipiani returned to Georgia. She taught French courses at the Georgian Nobles Gymnasium and the 5th Women's Gymnasium, both in Tbilisi. She also served as an assistant to Akaki Shanidze, the leading Georgian linguist and philologist, who had been one of the founders of Tbilisi State University, the previous year. Kipiani, who spoke Georgian, Russian, and French, assisted Shanidze in his work at the university library. In 1921, the Russian Red Army invaded Georgia. In the wake of the establishment of a pro-Russian government, opposition figures were suppressed through a Red Terror campaign. Kipiani was one of the targets of the state-sponsored political repression and fled the country, returning to Belgium.
Second Belgian period (1921–1950).
According to the academic Marc Depaepe, the goals of Belgian scientists in developing the field of paedology were not realized. Although they were at the center of the movement to ground education and teaching on scientific methodology, rather than philosophy, the field collapsed at the end of World War I primarily because the behavior of children could not be reduced to scientific formulas that could be molded into determining social ideology. The Belgian government reorganized its higher education facilities in 1927, establishing for the first time standards for scientific research and the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Fund for Scientific Research) to coordinate those policies. By that time, Kipiani had earned her doctorate and was reported in the "Australian Woman's Mirror" as "Dr. Varia Kipiani-Eristavi, a distinguished professor at Brussels University". She had published works in French, German and Russian and her work had been recognized internationally. She taught Georgian and Russian language courses at the university.
Kipiani had become the guardian of the effects and archives of Salome Dadiani and her husband Prince Achille Murat. In 1940, following the onset of World War II, she began negotiations with , (also transliterated as Michael Tarchnisvili), a Georgian priest working in Munich, to secure a monastery in Rome to protect the items. She believed that Rome would offer safety for the cultural artifacts because of an international agreement to protect the city from the war. In 1941, Tarkhnishvili traveled to Belgium to secure the bequest of another Georgian émigré, Sofia Goghieli, who had died in Brussels. He returned with the donations to Berlin. Hoping to establish a Georgian Catholic college and learning center in Rome, Tarkhnishvili worked with Georgian associated with Nazi intelligence agents of . The agents intended to install an intelligence-gathering network and radio station within the building. Tarkhnishvili, unaware of the Nazi plan, located the villa of publisher Salvatore di Carlo on the Via Alessandro Brisse in the Monteverde Nuovo neighborhood. He purchased the villa in 1943 with the bequeathed funds and supplemental monies provided by AMT IV operatives, which he was told came from a Georgian benefactor. When the collaborators attempted to recruit Tarkhnishvili, he refused to participate in their plans, which caused the Nazis to go ahead without his cooperation using a mole. Renovations were begun, papal approval for the Georgian college was granted, and students were recruited by operatives. Tarkhnishvili stored the Dadiani and Murat items in the villa. He also transferred the materials obtained from the Georgian Catholic Monastery in Constantinople to the facility. All but one of the students left having no actual interest in becoming priests. On 4 June 1944, Rome was liberated by Allied forces and all of the students as well as Tarkhnishvili were arrested when the partially-installed radio antenna was located at the villa. Tarkhnishvili was later released, but the Georgian college and monastery were abandoned.
Death.
Several sources report that Kipiani died in 1965 and was buried in Brussels. The literary historian Vasil Chachanidze reported 1965 as her death year in 1974, but it was reported in 2021 that Rusudan Kobakhidze, director of the Museum of Georgian Emigration, proposed 1950 as Kipiani's likely year of death.
Her personal archive was donated to the Georgian National Center of Manuscripts on 19 June 1965.
Scientific works.
Nutritional studies and fatigue.
Kipiani worked with Joteyko from 1903 on a series of studies evaluating sugar's use in alleviating fatigue. Though they recognized that sugar was not a complete food, their experiments were designed to isolate the roles of various nutrients in providing fuel for the body. They used a device created by Angelo Mosso known as an ergograph. One part of the device held the hand so that it was immobile and allowed the finger to be inserted into a tube which was attached to a stylus that recorded muscle contractions on a rotating cylinder. Attaching a weight to a finger on each hand, the subject repeatedly raised the weight until fatigue set in and the weight could no longer be lifted. The device recorded the declining ability to lift the weight, creating a fatigue curve. They tested both the right and left hands of subjects to measure the differences in their ability to operate the device. They later used this same device in their studies on vegetarianism.
Joteyko presented part of the findings to the Royal Society of Medical and Natural Sciences of Brussels in 1904. In 1905, Kipiani published additional information in issue 5 of the ' ("Bulletin of the Royal Academy of Belgium Science Classes") and a 172-page report, "" ("The Ergography of Sugar"). The study evaluated participants from military and sporting events who had become fatigued after strenuous activity and their ability to increase their mental or motor activity after consuming sugar. She noted that the impact of sugar was amplified if the participants had fasted for between three and four hours before its ingestion. A review by Walbaum in the ' of 1906 noted that when Kipiani evaluated the case of fatigue during childbirth, she reported that ingesting sugar relieved fatigue of both striated abdominal muscles and uterine smooth muscles during birth and reduced the feeling of fatigue caused by nerve endings within the muscles. She noted that 25 grams of sugar dissolved in water or milk and given three times in half-hour intervals relieved fatigue within ten minutes without the toxic effects of wine or drugs. In a 1907 review for the ", Walbaum noted that Kipiani had also compared the body's reaction to cane versus fruit-based sugars. She argued that cane sugar was harder to digest and often created gastric irritation. In recognition of their work, Joteyko was awarded a gold medal, as head of the laboratory, and Kipiani a silver medal from the (Association of Chemists of France and the Colonies) in 1906.
In 1907, Kipiani and Joteyko began a collaboration on vegetarianism, to which they both adhered. Their paper, " ("Scientific Survey on Vegetarians in Brussels") examined the basic health benefits of vegetarianism, concluding that the overall strength and endurance of people who followed a meat-free diet was superior. A review by Irving Fisher for the journal "Science" noted that their findings, which showed that there was little difference in the strength of vegetarians and meat-eaters but significantly higher endurance in vegetarians, were similar to findings in a study of Yale students conducted in 1906. The Yale study and others also confirmed Joteyko and Kipiani's findings that vegetarians recuperated more quickly from fatigue than did people who consumed meat. However, Fisher stressed that it was possible that the differences might not indicate a need to omit meat entirely, but rather to consume a "low-proteid diet", now known as a low-protein diet, or only meat which was free from intestinal bacteria or other contaminants. They were awarded the 1908 Vernois Prize of the Académie Nationale de Médecine for their work. They published a follow-up study, "" ("Vegetarianism and Its Influence on Public Health, Commerce, Industry and the Economy of Nature") in 1909, which had been presented to the International Food Congress the previous year.
Sensory studies.
In 1910, Kipiani was awarded the Valentin Haily Medal at the ('congress to benefit the blind') in Paris for her papers, "" ("Experiments on Muscular Illusions in Blind, Sighted and Deaf-Mutes") and "" ("The Reform of Reading and Writing for both Seeing and Blind in Relation to the Laws of Symmetry"). " explored touch in the relationship between volume and weight for people who were blind or for sighted people who were blindfolded. Subjects were given objects of identical weight and surface area. They reported that objects which felt more voluminous were likely to be heavier and require more effort to lift. " recommended that students should alternate between reading left to right and right to left, as well as training both hands to write. They also published "" ("The Psychological Bases of Sensorial Education") containing twelve laws of sensory psychology which could be used by educators to promote bilateral development.
The two women collaborated on another study in 1912, "" ("Role of the Muscular Sense in Drawing") to evaluate whether people could draw a subject accurately with their eyes closed. They noted that the drawings produced resembled children's sketches and lacked perspective, accurate proportions, and resemblance to the model. Their "" ("Role of Muscular Sense and Vision in Writing") examined the learning process: seeing a letter and using the hand to imitate that letter. They noted that once proficiency had been gained, seeing the letter was no longer necessary and concluded that teaching students to constantly look at letters could strain the eyes. They stressed that more attention should be paid to muscle memory and teaching methods which did not promote eye strain or poor posture. In another 1912 work, "" ("Colored Visualization and Chromatic Sense of Miss Uranie Diamandi"), Kipiani studied the phenomena of grapheme–color synesthesia, in which numbers and letters appear to be associated with colors. These were part of a series of studies she and Joteyko made on memorization, which also included works such as "" ("New Method for Determining Memory Types"), analyzing the difference in those who learned by auditory and visual methods. She analyzed the reaction of school children to a light source, making comparisons with tropism, the phenomena of plants turning toward the light. In her 1913 paper, "" ("The Role of Tropism and Symmetry in the Integral Life of the Human Being"), Kipiani discussed the importance of exercise to fully develop the body and eliminate the tendency for outside stimuli to promote growth in only one direction. These studies were designed to allow educators to adapt educational practices to meet children's sensory development.
Kipiani began to study right-handedness in 1907 with Joteyko. Students of varying genders were asked to lift weights weighing repeatedly every two seconds for twenty to thirty repetitions. After resting, they then repeated the exercise on the opposite arm. The study noted that "exhausting work when accomplished by the left hand, produces a more intense (more injurious) effect on the heart, than the same work when performed by the right hand…". They also concluded that if both hands were used to raise the weight, the pulse elevation was less than that when done by either hand and that women who were left-handed had the highest pulse rate increase when lifting with the left hand.
Expanding her tests to include hearing, sight, and touch, Kipiani reported that these senses tended to be superior on the same side as the dominant hand. In 1912, Kipiani published "" ("Ambidexterity: Experimental and Critical Study"). In the paper, she presented detailed analysis for both the physiological and neurological basis of favoring one hand over the other. At the time Medard Schuyten, director of an internationally-known paedological laboratory in Antwerp was promoting the opposing view that focus should be on developing the body's naturally dominant side. In spite of the anatomical basis for asymmetry, Kipiani argued that there were benefits to educators attempting to help students develop more symmetrically. She argued that teaching methods which encouraged students to use only one hand reinforced the principle of least effort and prevented the full development of both sides of the brain. Instead, she suggested that training both sides increased both motor and intellectual capacity and allowed quicker recovery if one side of the body or brain was damaged.
Legacy.
Kipiani and Joteyko's work on vegetarianism and her own work on ambidexterity remained in print and influential through the 1930s, although a broad international movement to encourage ambidexerity never emerged. A brief biography of Kipiani was included in the Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia, published in 1986, noting that she was the first Georgian woman to become a psychophysiologist. Although she had many accomplishments in her lifetime both in science and in promoting Georgian culture, like other women internationally and in Georgia, Kipiani and her achievements were largely forgotten in the historical record. In the 21st century, scholars began revisiting the careers of Kipiani and Joteyko and studying their impact on vegetarianism in Belgium and France at the turn of the twentieth century. Sociologist Alexandra Hondermarck noted that their studies gained significant traction because they used innovative scientific methods to research vegetarianism. They were among the very few women doctors and scientists centrally involved in the vegetarian movement. According to Hondermarck, despite their innovations, the success of Joteyko and Kipiani forced them to become involved in fields which were less competitive with their male colleagues. Historian noted in his 2008 research on Kipiani that although disseminating information about Georgia in her lifetime was illegal under Russification and later Sovietization policies, Kipiani played a prominent role in promoting and protecting Georgian culture. Many Georgian sources now recognize her as a pioneering Georgian woman academic. |
Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science
The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (popularly known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering; previously known as Columbia School of Mines) is the engineering and applied science school of Columbia University. It was founded as the School of Mines in 1863 and then the School of Mines, Engineering and Chemistry before becoming the School of Engineering and Applied Science. On October 1, 1997, the school was renamed in honor of Chinese businessman Z.Y. Fu, who had donated $26 million to the school.
The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science maintains a close research tie with other institutions including NASA, IBM, MIT, and The Earth Institute. Patents owned by the school generate over $100 million annually for the university. SEAS faculty and alumni are responsible for technological achievements including the developments of FM radio and the maser.
The School's applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, computer science and the financial engineering program in operations research are very famous and highly ranked. The current SEAS faculty include 27 members of the National Academy of Engineering and one Nobel laureate. In all, the faculty and alumni of Columbia Engineering have won 10 Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, and economics.
The school consists of approximately 300 undergraduates in each graduating class and maintains close links with its undergraduate liberal arts sister school Columbia College which shares housing with SEAS students. The School's current dean is Shih-Fu Chang, who was appointed in 2022.
History.
Original charter of 1754.
Included in the original charter for Columbia College was the direction to teach "the arts of Number and Measuring, of Surveying and Navigation [...] the knowledge of [...] various kinds of Meteors, Stones, Mines and Minerals, Plants and Animals, and everything useful for the Comfort, the Convenience and Elegance of Life." Engineering has always been a part of Columbia, even before the establishment of any separate school of engineering.
An early and influential graduate from the school was John Stevens, Class of 1768. Instrumental in the establishment of U.S. patent law, Stevens procured many patents in early steamboat technology, operated the first steam ferry between New York and New Jersey, received the first railroad charter in the U.S., built a pioneer locomotive, and amassed a fortune, which allowed his sons to found the Stevens Institute of Technology. (Excerpt from SEAS website.)
When Columbia University first resided on Wall Street, engineering did not have a school under the Columbia umbrella. After Columbia outgrew its space on Wall Street, it relocated to what is now Midtown Manhattan in 1857.
Then President Barnard and the Trustees of the University, with the urging of Professor Thomas Egleston and General Vinton, approved the School of Mines in 1863. The intention was to establish a School of Mines and Metallurgy with a three-year program open to professionally motivated students with or without prior undergraduate training. It was officially founded in 1864 under the leadership of its first dean, Columbia professor Charles F. Chandler, and specialized in mining and mineralogical engineering.
An example of work from a student at the School of Mines was William Barclay Parsons, Class of 1882. He was an engineer on the Chinese railway and the Cape Cod and Panama Canals. Most importantly he worked for New York, as a chief engineer of the city's first subway system, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. Opened in 1904, the subway's electric cars took passengers from City Hall to Brooklyn, the Bronx, and the newly renamed and relocated Columbia University in Morningside Heights, its present location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Renaming to the School of Mines.
In 1896, the school was renamed to the "School of Mines, Engineering and Chemistry". During this time, the University was offering more than the previous name had implied, thus the change of name.
The faculty during this time included Michael I. Pupin, after whom Pupin Hall is named. Pupin himself was a graduate of the Class of 1883 and the inventor of the "Pupin coil", a device that extended the range of long-distance telephones. Students of his included Irving Langmuir, Nobel laureate in Chemistry (1932), inventor of the gas-filled tungsten lamp and a contributor to the development of the radio vacuum tube. Another student to work with Pupin was Edwin Howard Armstrong, inventor of FM radio. After graduating in 1913 Armstrong was stationed in France during World War I. There he developed the superheterodyne receiver to detect the frequency of enemy aircraft ignition systems. During this period, Columbia was also home to the "Father of Biomedical Engineering" Elmer L. Gaden.
Recent and future developments.
The university continued to evolve and expand as the United States became a major political power during the 20th century. In 1926, the newly renamed School of Engineering prepared students for the nuclear age. Graduating with a master's degree, Hyman George Rickover, working with the Navy's Bureau of Ships, directed the development of the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, which was launched in 1954.
The school's first woman graduate received her degree in 1945. After a substantial grant of $26 million from Chinese businessman Z. Y. Fu, the engineering school was renamed again in 1997. The new name, as it is known today is the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. SEAS continues to be a teaching and research institution, now with a large endowment of over $400 million, and sits under the Columbia umbrella endowment of $7.2 billion.
Admissions.
The admissions rate for the SEAS undergraduate class of 2018 was approximately 7%.
Approximately 95% of accepted students were in the top 10% of their graduating class; 99% were in the top 20% of their class. 58% of admitted students attended high schools that do not rank. The yield rate for the class of 2014 was 59%.
As for SAT scores, SEAS students within the Columbia University community have raised the composite SAT statistic for the undergraduates at Columbia University. The Class of 2013's SAT interquartile range was 2060–2320 and 1400–1560 (old SAT). The ACT composite interquartile range was 32–34.
Those accepting enrollment at Columbia SEAS typically completed engineering programs at the undergraduate level and are pursuing professional graduate school in engineering, business, law, or medical school, so as to become what Columbia terms "engineering leaders." Engineering leaders are those who pioneer or define engineering: patent lawyers, doctors with specialties in biophysical engineering, financial engineers, inventors, etc.
Columbia Engineering's graduate programs have an overall acceptance rate of 28.0% in 2010. The PhD student–faculty ratio at the graduate level is 4.2:1 according to the 2008 data compiled by U.S. News & World Report. PhD acceptance rate was 12% in 2010.
Academics.
Rankings.
Columbia's School of Engineering and Applied Science is one of the top engineering schools in the United States and the world. As of April 2022, it is ranked 13th among the best engineering schools by "U.S. News & World Report", and first within the Ivy League, tied with Cornell University. Its undergraduate engineering program is ranked 21st in the country, according to "U.S. News".
In 2010, the US National Research Council revealed its new analyses and rankings of American university doctoral programs since 1995. Columbia Engineering ranked 10th in biomedical engineering, 18th in chemical engineering, 26th in electrical engineering, 14th in mechanical engineering (5th in research), 9th in operations research & industrial engineering, 7th in applied mathematics, and 6th in computer sciences.
The school's department of computer science is ranked 11th in the nation, 36th in the world by "U.S. News & World Report", and 18th worldwide by QS World University Rankings. Its biomedical engineering program is ranked 9th according to US News.
Among the small prestigious programs, the school's chemical engineering is ranked 20th, civil engineering and engineering mechanics 18th, electrical engineering 3rd, applied physics 4th, industrial engineering and operations research 4th, material engineering 10th, computer science 15th, and applied mathematics 15th, according to National Science Foundation. From "The Chronicle of Higher Education", Columbia's engineering mechanics is 6th in the nation, its environmental engineering 4th, industrial engineering 7th, mechanical engineering 5th, applied physics 8th, and operations research 6th. Finally, Columbia's financial engineering program is ranked 3rd nationally, according to the 2020 ranking from Quantnet.
Facilities.
Columbia's Plasma Physics Laboratory is part of the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), in which the HBT and Columbia Non-Neutral Torus are housed.
The school also has two wind tunnels, a machine shop, a nanotechnology laboratory, a General Dynamics TRIGA Mk. II nuclear fission reactor, a large scale centrifuge for geotechnical testing, and an axial tester commonly used for testing New York City bridge cables. Each department has numerous laboratories on the Morningside Heights campus; however, other departments have holdings throughout the world. For example, the Applied Physics department has reactors at Nevis Labs in Irvington, NY and conducts work with CERN in Geneva.
Notable alumni.
The School of Engineering and Applied Science celebrates its ties and affiliations with at least 8 alumni Nobel Laureates. Alumni of Columbia Engineering have gone on to numerous fields of profession. Many have become prominent scientists, astronauts, architects, government officials, pioneers, entrepreneurs, company CEOs, financiers, and scholars.
Specialized centers.
Columbia Engineering faculty are a central force in creating many groundbreaking discoveries that today are shaping life tomorrow. They are at the vanguard of their fields, collaborating with other world-renowned experts at Columbia and other universities to bring the best minds from a myriad of disciplines to shape the future.
Large, well-funded interdisciplinary centers in science and engineering, materials research, nanoscale research, and genomic research are making step changes in their respective fields while individual groups of engineers and scientists collaborate to solve theoretical and practical problems in other significant areas. Last year, Columbia Engineering's 2007–2008 research expenditures were $92,000,000, a very respectable number given the small size of the school. Harvard's research expenditures in the same period were $35,000,000. Columbia Engineering PhD students have ~60% more monetary resources to work with using the research expenditure : PhD student ratio.
Specialized labs.
The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science occupies five laboratory and classroom buildings at the north end of the campus, including the Schapiro Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research and the new Northwest Building on Morningside Heights. Because of the School's close proximity to the other Morningside facilities and programs, Columbia engineering students have access to the whole of the University's resources.
The School is the site of an almost overwhelming array of basic and advanced research installations which include both the NSEC and the MRSEC NSF-funded interdisciplinary research centers, as well as the Columbia High-Beta Tokamak, the Robert A.W. Carleton Strength of Materials Laboratory, and a 200g geotechnical centrifuge.
The Botwinick Multimedia Learning Laboratory is the School's facility for computer-aided design (CAD) and media development. It is equipped with 50 Apple Mac Pro 8-core workstations, as well as a cluster of Apple Xserves with Xraid storage, that serve the lab's 300-plus users per semester. |
Montauk, New York
Montauk ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, on the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2020 United States census, the CDP's population was 4,318.
The CDP encompasses an area that stretches approximately from Napeague, New York, to the easternmost tip of New York State at Montauk Point Light. The hamlet encompasses a small area about halfway between the two points.
Located at the tip of the South Fork peninsula of Long Island, east of Midtown Manhattan, Montauk has been used as an Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Force base. The Montauk Point Light was the first lighthouse in New York state and is the fourth oldest active lighthouse in the United States.
Montauk is a major tourist destination and has six state parks. It is particularly famous for its fishing, claiming to have more world saltwater fishing records than any other port in the world. Located off the Connecticut coast, it is home to the largest commercial and recreational fishing fleet in New York state.
History.
17th century.
Montauk derives its name from the Montaukett tribe, an Algonquian-speaking tribe who lived in the area. In 1614, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block encountered the tribe at Montauk Point, which he named "", or "Point of the Fishers". Two decades later, in 1637, the Montauketts sided for their own protection with the New England settlers in the Pequot War in Connecticut. In the aftermath the Montauketts were to sell Gardiners Island. In 1648 what would become the Town of Easthampton (first Maidstone) was sold to settlers by the colony of Connecticut and the colony of New Haven while retaining the lands to the east, from the hills rising above where the first fort stood (Napeague, New York) to Montauk Point. The western boundary of today's Hither Hills State Park is also known as the 1648 purchase line.
In 1653, Narragansetts under Ninigret attacked and burned the Montaukett village, killing 30 and capturing one of Chief Wyandanch's daughters. The daughter was recovered with the aid of Lion Gardiner (who in turn was given a large portion of Smithtown, New York in appreciation). The Montauketts, ravaged by smallpox and fearing extermination by the Narragansetts, were provided temporary refuge by white settlers in East Hampton. Many short but famous battles ensued. The skirmishes ended in 1657. Fort Pond Bay derives its name from a Montaukett "fort" on its shore. A deed was issued in 1661 titled "Ye deed of Guift" which granted all of the lands east of Fort Pond to be for the common use of both the indigenous people and the townsmen.
Further purchase agreements were entered into in 1661, 1672 and 1686 which, among other things, allowed a group of Easthampton townsmen to graze cattle on the Montaukett lands. While some lands were protected in the agreements as forest land, for the most part, all of Montauk was maintained by the townsmen as a private livestock and fisheries operation. As a result of Montauk being operated as a livestock operation, it is considered to be the oldest cattle ranch in the United States.
In 1660, Wyandanch's widow sold all of Montauk from Napeague to the tip of the island for 100 pounds to be paid in 10 equal installments of "Indian corn or good wampum at six to a penny". However, the tribe was to be permitted to stay on the land, to hunt and fish at will on the land, and to harvest the tails and fins of whales that washed up dead on the East Hampton shores. Town officials who bought the land were to file for reimbursement for rum they had plied the tribe. The tribe was to continue residence until the 19th century in the area around Big Reed Pond in what was to be called "Indian Fields".
In 1686, Governor of New York Thomas Dongan issued a patent creating the governing system for East Hampton. The patent did not extend beyond Napeague to Montauk. This lack of authority has formed the basis for various control disputes ever since.
18th century.
During the Siege of Boston in the Revolutionary War, a British ship visited Fort Pond Bay in 1775 in search of provisions—notably cattle. John Dayton, who had limited troops at his disposal on a hill above the bay, feigned that he had more by walking them back and forth across a hill turning their coats inside out to make it look like there were more of them (a tactic referred to as "Dayton's Ruse").
In 1781, the British ran aground near what today is called Culloden Point while pursuing a French frigate. The ship was scuttled, but its remains were discovered in the 1970s. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is the only underwater park in the state of New York.
The first hamlet of Montauk was built on Fort Pond Bay near what is now the train station for the Long Island Rail Road.
In 1792, Congress authorized construction of the Montauk Lighthouse. It was completed in 1796.
19th century.
In 1839, slaves who had seized the schooner "La Amistad" came ashore in the hamlet looking for provisions after being told by the white crew they had returned to Africa. American authorities were alerted, and the slaves were recaptured and ultimately freed in a historically significant trial.
A judgment was entered in 1851 against the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of Easthampton, and on March 9, 1852, a deed to Montauk was given to plaintiffs Henry P. Hedges and others, because their predecessors had contributed the money to purchase Montauk from the native Montaukett Indians in the 1600s. This deed caused the lands covered by the Dongan Patent to be split, leaving the still unsettled lands at Montauk without government. Less than one month later, on April 2, 1852, a state law was passed that incorporated the Proprietors Montauks, establishing the corporation of the trustees of Montauk and affirming its right to govern.
Stephen Talkhouse was displayed in 1867 by P. T. Barnum as "the last king of the Montauks." Talkhouse became famous for his walks from Indian Fields to New York City.
In 1879, Arthur W. Benson paid US$151,000 for for the east end. The deed releasing claim to Montauk was entered on March 9, 1852. Benson also received clear title to the Montaukett property at Big Reed Pond, buying it from tribesmen for $10 each, and in one case one of the tribesmen's houses was burned down. The legitimacy of the transaction is still being contested in court by the tribe. Construction began in 1882 on seven Shingle-style "cottages" designed by Stanford White, which were the centerpiece of Benson's plans. The most prominent of the six Montauk Association houses is Tick Hall, which was owned by entertainer Dick Cavett from 1967 to October 2021, when he sold it for $23.6 million.
The first train from the Austin Corbin extension of the Long Island Rail Road pulled into Montauk in 1895, the land having been bought in 1882. Corbin planned to turn Montauk into a "shortcut", saving a day each way for voyages between New York City and London: ships would dock at the Fort Pond Bay terminal and passengers would travel by rail to New York City at ). Corbin built the dock on Fort Pond Bay, but the plans never materialized when, among other things, Fort Pond Bay was found to be too shallow and rocky to handle oceangoing ships.
In 1898, after the Benson/Corbin plan did not work out as planned, the United States Army bought the Benson property to establish a base called Camp Wikoff to quarantine Army personnel returning from the Spanish–American War. The most prominent of the returning quarantined soldiers were Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders. Several soldiers died during the quarantine, prompting a visit from President William McKinley.
20th century.
Early 20th century.
In 1924, Robert Moses began condemning the Benson land to establish state parks on either end of Montauk − Hither Hills State Park in the west and Montauk Point State Park in the east. The two parks were to be connected via the Montauk Point State Parkway.
In 1926, Carl G. Fisher bought most of the East End of Long Island () for only $2.5 million. He planned to turn Montauk into the "Miami Beach of the North", a "Tudor village by the sea". His projects included blasting a hole through the freshwater Lake Montauk to access Block Island Sound to replace the shallow Fort Pond Bay as the hamlet's port; establishing the Montauk Yacht Club and the Montauk Downs Golf Course; and building Montauk Manor, a luxury resort hotel; the Montauk Tennis Auditorium, which became a movie theater (and is now the Montauk Playhouse); and the six-story Carl Fisher Office Building (later the Montauk Improvement Building and now The Tower at Montauk, a residential condominium). This last building remains East Hampton's tallest occupied building, as zoning ordinances restricted heights of later buildings. The 30 or so buildings Fisher put up between 1926 and 1932 were designed in the Tudor Revival style. Fisher had successfully developed Miami Beach before beginning his Montauk project, but although he continued to pour his money into the development, to the extent of $12 million in total, he eventually lost his fortune due to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and most of his enterprises were shut down. Other hotels that opened at the time of Fisher's project include Gurney's Inn, built by W. J. and Maude Gurney, who had managed a Fisher hotel in Miami Beach.
In the Great Hurricane of 1938, water flooded across Napeague, turning Montauk into an island. Floodwaters from the hurricane inundated the main downtown, and it was moved to the south, immediately next to the Atlantic Ocean.
Mid 20th century.
During World War II the United States Navy bought most of the east end, including Montauk Manor, to turn it into a military base. Fort Pond Bay became a seaplane base. The U.S. Army established Camp Hero with guns to protect New York shipping lanes. Several concrete bunker observation posts were built along the coast, including one immediately to the east of the Montauk Lighthouse. Base buildings were disguised so they would appear from above as a New England fishing village.
In 1951, sport fisherman Frank Mundus began to lead charter fishing trips out of Lake Montauk, initially looking for bluefish but soon found fishing for sharks was more lucrative. The sport of "monster fishing" became Montauk's signature draw.
On September 1, 1951, the "Pelican", captained by Eddie Carroll, capsized in the shoals off Montauk Point, resulting in the deaths of 45 passengers and crew. The "Pelican" was carrying 64 people, most of whom had taken the Fisherman's Special trains to the Montauk LIRR station from New York City. The boat left the Fishangrila Dock at Fort Pond Bay at 7:30 a.m., severely overloaded. After fishing in the Atlantic Ocean on the south side of Montauk for several hours, it returned home, encountering engine trouble on the way. The weather turned stormy, and a northeast wind developed against an outgoing tide, resulting in standing waves of several feet at Endeavor Shoals, just off the Point. The vessel, wallowing in the heavy seas, became unstable in its overloaded state, capsized and then foundered at 2:10 p.m. Nearby vessels were only able to rescue 19 passengers. The wreck was secured by fabled sport fisherman Frank Mundus and towed into Lake Montauk by the Coast Guard. As a result of the disaster, strict new regulations regarding overloading of fishing vessels were adopted nationwide.
In 1957, the Army closed Camp Hero, and it was taken over by the United States Air Force, which in 1958 built a AN/FPS-35 radar. A massive building was erected to house its computers.
Late 20th century.
In 1959, following the Kitchen Debate between United States Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, the designers of the kitchen, including Raymond Loewy, announced plans to sell affordable prefabricated houses, called Leisurama, to be used for second homes. One of the houses was exhibited on the 9th floor of Macy's. Two hundred of the houses, the largest installation, were assembled at Culloden Point in Montauk.
In 1967, the United States Coast Guard announced plans to tear down the Montauk Lighthouse and replace it with a taller steel tower. Erosion had reduced its buffer from the edge of a cliff from when it was built to less than . After protests, the Coast Guard backed down from the plan. In 1982, the Air Force base formally closed, and the military began selling its surplus property.
Montauk Friends of Olmsted Parks LLC was established in 1994 to protect an extensive system of beaches and waterfront properties and roadways.
In 1995, Montauk became the birthplace of the extreme surfcasting technique known as skishing. The sport involves donning a wetsuit and flippers and swimming into the ocean with rod and reel to catch fish while drifting offshore.
21st century.
In October 2007, a fishing boat dragged up a large 19th-century anchor, which was speculated to have been lost by the SS "Great Eastern" in 1862. In 2008, an unidentifiable carcass known as the “Montauk Monster” was discovered near the hamlet's business district, with much speculation as to its identity. In August 2016 OCEARCH designated the waters off of Montauk and the rest of the South Shore of Long Island as a birthing ground for great white sharks.
Geography.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the hamlet has a total area of , of which is land and , or 11.53%, is water.
Climate.
Montauk has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa"), under the Köppen climate classification, and using the isotherm, is one of the northernmost locations in North America with this climate type. The presence of the Atlantic Ocean brings warmer winters than inland areas of the same latitude as well as cooler springs and summers: despite an extensive urban heat island and warmer lows throughout much of the year, Central Park in Manhattan, as compared to Montauk, averages twice as many days with a low reaching or below. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July. There is of precipitation annually, with a slight dry season in summer and wet season in late fall and early winter. Montauk's warm subtropical climate makes it a popular vacation destination in the winter for New Yorkers and people from upstate New York.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, Montauk is in Plant Hardiness Zone 7b/8a, with an annual average extreme minimal temperature of 10 degrees Fahrenheit, which allows tropical plants to grow that would otherwise only be able to grow in the Deep South.
Demographics.
As of the census of 2010, there were 3,326 people, down from 3,851 at the time of the 2000 census. There are 1,422 total households in the CDP. The population density was 190 people per square mile. There were 4,666 housing units. The racial makeup of the hamlet was 91.2% White, 3.3% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.2% Asian, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander 0.1% and 5.0% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.10% of the population.
There were 1,593 households, out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.7% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.90.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 20.0% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 33.9% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 109.2 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $42,329, and the median income for a family was $50,493. Males had a median income of $40,063 versus $28,299 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $23,875. About 8.3% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.
Economy.
Tourism.
Montauk is considered a beach resort, using its position at the tip of Long Island to promote itself as “The End" or "The Last Resort", and has become one of the busiest tourist locations in East Hampton. It has many restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and hotels, and is a popular vacation spot in the warm months. Such accommodations are rarer elsewhere in the Hamptons. Many Montauk hotels are only open from April to November, some for shorter time periods, and a few year-round, including Gurney's Inn.
The Montauk station on the Long Island Rail Road provides train service along the Montauk Branch to other parts of Long Island and to New York City, and Hampton Jitney provides bus service to Manhattan. Suffolk Transit's 10C and seasonally operated S94 bus routes serve the village. The 10C connects the village with East Hampton and the Amagansett, East Hampton and Montauk Long Island Rail Road stations on the Montauk Branch, and the seasonally operated S94 connects the village with the Montauk Point Light. Small planes can fly into the Montauk Airport.
Lake Montauk, a small bay on the north side of town, is home to a US Coast Guard station and a small fishing fleet, both commercial and recreational.
In 2007, "Newsday" listed 47 businesses in the category of "Hotel" in Montauk. They represented 2,030 rooms.
Montauk is a favored destination for weekend partiers who, as of 2015, had exceeded the local inhabitants' tolerance for noise and disruption.
Parks and recreation.
Montauk's six state parks, from west to east, are:
In addition, there is Montauk County Park and several East Hampton parks and Nature Conservancy areas.
In popular culture.
Films
Television
Music
Literature
Comics |
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is commonly known simply as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con or SDCC.
The convention was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention in 1970 by a group of San Diegans that included Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Ron Graf, and Mike Towry; later, it was called the "San Diego Comic Book Convention", Dorf said during an interview that he hoped the first Con would bring in 500 attendees. It is a four-day event (Thursday–Sunday) held during the summer (in July since 2003) at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. On the Wednesday evening prior to the official opening, professionals, exhibitors, and pre-registered guests for all four days can attend a pre-event "Preview Night" to give attendees the opportunity to walk the exhibit hall and see what will be available during the convention.
Comic-Con International also produces WonderCon, held in Anaheim, and SAM: Storytelling Across Media, a conference held in 2016 in San Francisco and beginning in 2018 annually at the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego. Since 1974, Comic-Con has bestowed its annual Inkpot Award on guests and persons of interest in the popular arts industries, as well as on members of Comic-Con's board of directors and the Convention committee. It is also the home of the Will Eisner Awards.
Originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fantasy related film, television, and similar popular arts, the convention has since included a larger range of pop culture and entertainment elements across virtually all genres, including horror, Western animation, anime, comics, manga, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels. In 2010 and each year subsequently, it filled the San Diego Convention Center to capacity with more than 130,000 attendees. In addition to drawing huge crowds, the event holds several Guinness World Records including the largest annual comic and pop culture festival in the world.
Comic-Con has been canceled twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2020 marked the first time that the event had been canceled since its establishment. It was rescheduled for July 2021, however, this show was canceled soon after it had been announced. Comic-Con returned later that year with a scaled back version of itself in November 2021, marketed as "Comic-Con Special Edition". Comic-Con, as its former pre-pandemic self, returned to San Diego in July 2022 after a two-year hiatus. The next scheduled Comic-Con will begin on July 20, 2023.
History and organization.
The convention was founded in 1970 by Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry, Ron Graf, Barry Alfonso, Bob Sourk, and Greg Bear. Initial comic book and sci-fi club meetings would be held at Krueger's Alert Books in Ocean Beach, where much of the foundation of the early Cons coalesced. In the mid-1960s, Dorf, a Detroit-born comics fan, had mounted the Detroit Triple-Fan Fairs, one of the first commercial comics-fan conventions. When he moved to San Diego, California, in 1970, he organized a one-day convention (Golden State Comic-Minicon) on March 21, 1970, "as a kind of 'dry run' for the larger convention he hoped to stage." Dorf went on to be associated with the convention as president or manager, variously, for years until becoming estranged from the organization. Alf co-chaired the first convention with Krueger and became chairman in 1971.
Following the initial gathering, Dorf's first three-day San Diego comics convention, the Golden State Comic-Con, drew 300 people and the venue was held in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel, having been secured by Graf, from August 1–3, 1970. Other locations in the convention's early years included the El Cortez Hotel, the University of California, San Diego, and Golden Hall, before being moved to the San Diego Convention Center in 1991. Richard Alf, chairman in 1971, has noted an early factor in the Con's growth was an effort "to expand the Comic-Con [organizing] committee base by networking with other fandoms such as the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Mythopoeic Society, among others. (We found a lot of talent and strength through diversity)." In a "Rolling Stone" article about the origins of Comic-Con, it noted the work of Krueger, who handled early business matters, and worked to get the event to be organized by a non-profit organization. By the late 1970s, the show had grown to such an extent that Bob Schreck recalled visiting with his then-boss Gary Berman of Creation Conventions and reflecting, "While [Berman] kept repeating (attempting to convince himself) 'This show's not any bigger than ours!' I was quietly walking the floor stunned and in awe of just how much bigger it really was. I was blown away." From 1984 to c. 1994, a trade fair called the "San Diego Comic Book Expo" was held in association with the San Diego Comic-Con; David Scroggy was the organizer.
According to "Forbes", the convention is the "largest convention of its kind in the world;" "Publishers Weekly" wrote "Comic-Con International: San Diego is the largest show in North America;" it is also the largest convention held in San Diego. The convention has an estimated annual regional economic impact of more than $140 million. Yet, in 2009, the estimated economic impact was criticized for allegedly negatively impacting seasonal businesses outside of Comic-Con, low individual spending estimates of attendees, that a large number of attendees live in San Diego, and that the impact of the convention was more cultural than financial.
The estimated economic impact of that year's convention was $180 million. In 2014, the estimated impact of that year's convention was $177.8 million. In 2016, the estimated impact of that year's convention was down to $150 million. By 2018, San Diego Comic-Con saw increasing competition from other comic conventions in places such as New York City, and Washington, D.C., which caused it to compete for attendees and companies time and budget; yet San Diego Comic-Con was described by "Publishers Weekly" as "a must-do".
The convention is organized by a panel of 13 board members, 16 to 20 full-time and part-time workers, and 80 volunteers who assist via committees. Comic-Con International is a non-profit organization, and proceeds of the event go to funding it, as well as SAM: Storytelling Across Media and WonderCon. The convention logo was designed by Richard Bruning and Josh Beatman in 1995. In 2015, working with Lionsgate, a video channel was created to host Comic-Con related content. In 2015, through a limited liability company, Comic-Con International purchased three buildings in Barrio Logan. In 2018 Comic-Con International purchased a office in San Diego's Little Italy neighborhood.
In 2017, the organization acquired a lease to the Federal Building in Balboa Park, originally built for the California Pacific International Exposition and previously occupied by the San Diego Hall of Champions, with the intention of opening a Comic-Con Museum. By October 2017, the organization began to hire staff for the museum. Nearly a year after acquiring the lease, the museum was not yet open. During the 2018 Comic-Con International, one reason stated for why the museum had not yet opened was the need for additional funds. Organizers are hoping to raise $25 million with a target opening date of late 2020 or 2022.
On April 17, 2020, the 53rd convention was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. It was originally scheduled to occur from July 23 to 26, 2020, to coincide with the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, which was postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. An "SDCC@Home" digital streaming event was held during the same time period as a replacement for the 2020 event. Although plans were made for the convention to possibly return in 2021 (with 2020 badge holders given the option to receive a full refund or to roll over their badge to 2021), it was announced on March 1, 2021, that the convention would be cancelled once again. Despite availability of COVID-19 vaccines, the organizers assessed that it was still premature and unsafe to hold an in-person event at SDCC's full scale on the originally-scheduled dates, and that Comic-Con International was exploring the possibility of holding a smaller in-person spin-off event later in the year. SDCC@Home will again be held, but in a downsized form due to reduced financial resources.
Events.
Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming feature films and portfolio review sessions with top comic book and video game companies. The evenings include events such as awards ceremonies, the annual Masquerade costume contest, and the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival, which showcases shorts and feature-length movies that do not have distribution or distribution deals.
Traditional events include an eclectic film program, screening rooms devoted to Japanese animation, gaming, programs such as cartoonist Scott Shaw!'s "Oddball Comics" slide show, Quick Draw! hosted by Mark Evanier with Shaw!, Sergio Aragones and a guest cartoonist responding to improvisational prompts and games (a la "Whose Line Is It Anyway?") and animation expert Jerry Beck's program featuring TV's "worst cartoons ever", as well as over 350 hours of other programming on all aspects of comic books and pop culture.
Like most comic book conventions, Comic-Con features a large floorspace for exhibitors. These include media companies such as movie studios and TV networks, as well as comic-book dealers and collectibles merchants. And like most comics conventions, Comic-Con includes an autograph area, as well as the Artists' Alley where comics artists can sign autographs and sell or do free sketches. Despite the name, artists' alleys can include writers and even models.
Academics and comic industry professionals annually hold the Comics Arts Conference at Comic-Con, presenting scholarly studies on comics as a medium.
In recent years, the number of television shows that are promoted far outnumber films. During the 2011 convention, at least 80 TV shows were represented, compared to about 35 films. The shows not only promote in the exhibit halls, but also use screenings and panels of various actors, writers, producers, and others from their shows.
Premium cable channels HBO and Showtime have used the con to promote programs like "Game of Thrones" (HBO), "Dexter" (Showtime), "Shameless" (Showtime) and "True Blood" (HBO).
In 2013, there were 1075 total panels held during the convention, the plurality of which were anime-focused (29%), followed by comic-focused panels (26%). 1036 vendors participated in the convention in 2013.
There are at least 17 separate rooms in the convention center used for panels and screenings, ranging in size from 280 seats to 6,100 seats. The two biggest are Ballroom 20, which seats approximately 4,900; and Hall H, which seats just over 6,100.
The neighboring Hilton Bayfront is also used, with its main ballroom (Indigo) seating up to 2,600. The other neighboring hotel, the Marriott Marquis & Marina, also hosts a lot of Comic-Con activity. Among other things, the hotel serves as the anime headquarters and is where the nighttime films are shown.
Exclusive collectibles.
In the 21st century, the convention has drawn toy and collectibles designers who sell "Comic-Con Exclusive" products. Such companies have included Lego, Hasbro, Funko, Gentle Giant LTD, Mattel, NECA, ThinkGeek, Sideshow Collectibles, Entertainment Earth, Bif Bang Pow!, Mezco, Toynami, and Kotobukiya. Most such exclusives are licensed properties of film, comic book and animation characters.
In the media of comic con international.
Comic-Con International has served as the setting for Mark Hamill's "", and for an episode of the HBO television series "Entourage", the latter of which, while set at the event, was not filmed there. Comic-Con also served as an excuse for the fictional characters Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood's trip to Tijuana, Mexico in episode 7 ("The Escape") of the first season of TV series "The O.C." The convention also featured prominently as a setting for the "Numb3rs" episode "". In season 4 of "Beauty and the Geek", an episode was featured where the contestants traveled to Comic-Con 07 and were given a challenge to create their own superheroes. In an episode of "Punk'd", Hilary Swank gets Punk'd after an "attack from talking robot". In season 5, episode six, of the Showtime show "Weeds", attendees from Comic-Con 2009 are seen in Silas and Doug's medicinal marijuana club.
Comic-Con featured at some length in the 2011 movie "Paul" which stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Issue No. 72 of "The Invincible Iron Man" (January 1975) was set at the July–August 1974 Comic-Con at the El Cortez Hotel and featured cameos by a few of the special guests. The fifth Kelly Green graphic novel "The Comic-Con Heist" (1987) written by Leonard Starr and drawn by Stan Drake was set at the 1983 con and depicted such regulars as Will Eisner, Milton Caniff, Burne Hogarth and Jack Kirby along with Shel Dorf; it initially only appeared in French until Classic Comics Press issued a collection of all five volumes of the series in English in 2016. Other comics set at the convention include "Archie" No. 538 (September 2003), Archie Giant Series No. 601 (October 1989) and No. 624 (October 1991), "G.I. Joe" No. 180 (July 2012), "Dazzler" No. 30 (January 1984), "Lobo Convention Special" ([September] 1993) and "Fanboys Vs Zombies". 1992-1995 the Con partnered with Dark Horse Comics for an annual "San Diego Comic Con Comics" giveaway to attendees spotlighting characters published by Dark Horse.
Comic-Con is mentioned in the long-running CBS geek-targeted sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" in several episodes, and in NBC's "Chuck" in the episode "Chuck Versus the Sandworm", as an event the characters enjoy attending. On the "Futurama" episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences", the main characters attend the 3010 convention (with it being referred to as "Comic-Con Intergalactic" and the iconic eye logo now sporting multiple eyes), where Fry looks for approval for his own comic while Bender attends a panel from Matt Groening (creator of "Futurama" as well as "The Simpsons") on his new show "Futurella" (a twist on the title of the show and a parody of its cancellation by Fox).
In "It's My Party and I'll Bang If I Want To", an episode of the 2011 season of ', the cast attends Comic-Con made up as zombies in order to pass out promotional flyers for the House of Blues, where they worked as part of their season work assignment. Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock released a 2011 documentary feature film set at the convention, '. Writer Robert Salkowitz also used the 2011 Comic-Con as a backdrop for his book "Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture", an analysis of the comics industry's 21st-century dilemmas and what the future may hold.
Since 2015, Conan O'Brien has recorded a week of live shows from Comic-Con at the nearby Spreckels Theatre.
In 2015, the Food Network series "Cake Masters" had an episode where Duff Goldman presented a cake at Comic-Con to the cast of "Fantastic Four".
Comic-Con Begins Podcast.
In 2020, SiriusXM in association with Stitcher started production on "COMIC-CON BEGINS: Origin Stories of the San Diego Comic-Con and the Rise of Modern Fandom ." The podcast is a six-part mini-series chronicling the birth and evolution of the San Diego Comic-Con, and is told by over 50 of the original contributors. Among the founders there are also interviews with celebrities like Felicia Day, Ho Che Anderson, Jackie Estrada, Scott Aukerman, Trina Robbins, Kevin Smith, Neil Gaiman, and Bruce Campbell. Hosted by Brinke Stevens of "Slumber Party Massacre." The podcast was expanded into the book "See You at San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture" by creator Mathew Klickstein and published by Fantagraphics on September 6, 2022. The book includes forewords by cartoonists Stan Sakai and Jeff Smith, and an afterword by Wu-Tang Clan's RZA. The audiobook version was released on the same day by Blackstone Audio.
"Comic-Con Magazine".
"Comic-Con Magazine", formerly known as "Update", is the official magazine of San Diego Comic-Con International, WonderCon, and SAM: Storytelling Across Media, published free by San Diego Comic-Con International in the United States. The seed of the "Comic-Con Magazine" was a short one-shot issue of "The Spirit", based on Comic-Con and sold exclusively in 1976 at the San Diego Comic-Con International. The "Comic-Con Magazine" debuted as "Update" in July 2005 and mainly focused on the winners of the Eisner Awards. The last "Update" issue appeared in July 2008; then it went on hiatus. When it came back, it was as "Comic-Con Magazine", which not only covered San Diego Comic-Con International, but also WonderCon and the Alternative Press Expo, more commonly known as APE (which the con owned through 2014). The new "Comic-Con Magazine" features interviews with Comic-Con attendees and complete coverage of the Comic-Con events. The fourth issue of "Comic-Con Magazine" was a hybrid with Comic-Con's Souvenir Book with cover art by Alex Ross, in full color and exclusive to Comic-Con attendees.
Exhibitors.
A large number of exhibitors from art, comics, games, film, TV, and publishing are at Comic-Con.
There are three types of exhibitors at San Diego Comic Con. Inside the convention center, which requires a badge to visit during the convention, includes artists alley and the main exhibitor hall. Artist Alley is for up and coming artists who are new to the pop culture world by selling their new books, comics, toys, and or services. They range from local companies and businesses in Southern California to international ones, but are mainly private endeavors. Artist Alley is usually located in Hall G of the convention center. Spaces for these exhibitors are highly sought after and are on a lottery and need-based system.
The main exhibit hall, which includes larger well-recognized companies, takes up halls F through A. These companies sell or promote new and upcoming movies, television shows, and video games as well as featuring toys and exclusives with many selling for hundreds or even thousands on the secondary markets outside the convention. Some notable recurring companies include Lego, Hasbro, Funko, Hallmark Cards, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, The Walt Disney Company, and Blizzard Entertainment.
Off site.
The other type of exhibitors include offsite exhibitors, booths and events which are located outside the convention center. These locations are usually within walking distance of the convention center but have been moving into nearby parks in recent years. Some notable examples include Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego, Petco Park, and Children's Park (San Diego). In recent years, these offsite events have no connection to SDCC. In the past, most sites have not required a Comic-Con badge. In 2017, one example was a virtual reality and immersive set based on the movie "Blade Runner 2049". In 2018, these examples included a Taco Bell "Demolition Man" themed pop-up restaurant in the Gaslamp; and a Shake Shack "Bob's Burgers" themed pop-up restaurant in Mission Valley. However, there are some official offsite events that require a badge. In 2018, it was estimated that nearly 200,000 people will be in Downtown San Diego due to Comic-Con related exhibits and events.
Overcrowding.
Capacity attendance at Comic-Con in 2006 and 2007 has caused crowding issues. Concerns have been raised that the event is possibly too large for the San Diego Convention Center, Comic-Con's home through at least 2022. In 2006, Comic-Con, for the first time, had to close registration for a few hours on Saturday to accommodate crowds. In response, for 2007, Comic-Con introduced a new three-day membership that did not include Saturday. Nevertheless, the 2007 show went on to sell out Saturday, as well as Friday and Sunday for the first time. Additionally, both the four-day and three-day memberships sold out for the first time. For 2008, the three-day memberships were abandoned and the convention decided to sell memberships only in advance, with no on-site registration. In 2008, all memberships were sold out before the convention for the first time. This sellout has given rise to the new phenomenon of Comic-Con memberships being scalped for exorbitant prices on websites such as eBay and Craigslist.
In April 2008, David Glanzer, Comic-Con's director of marketing and public relations, commented on the organization's desire to remain in San Diego:
Heidi McDonald reported on her blog "The Beat" as of October 7, 2009, Preview Night for the 2010 show had already sold out. Glazner explained the early sell-out:
Mark Evanier on his blog "News from ME" noted as of November 9, 2009, that all 4-day passes for the 2010 show had already been sold out. On February 23, 2010, "The Orange County Register" reported that the larger Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim would be making a bid to become the new home of Comic-Con starting in 2013. On September 30, 2010, Comic Con announced that they had extended their stay up to 2015. The "North County Times" reported on July 26, 2010, that 4-day passes with access to Preview night for the 2011 Convention had sold out two hours before the 2010 convention closed. Comic-Con International announced that 4-day passes for the 2014 convention (July 24–27) would no longer be available and only single days would be sold. Due to overcrowding, organizers of the event capped attendance; this cap has been in place since 2007.
As of October 2013, a $520 million proposed expansion to the San Diego Convention Center received approval from the California Coastal Commission. The proposed expansion would increase the available space within the convention center and had a target completion date of early 2016. The expansion would add approximately 225,000 square feet of exhibit space, an additional 35%; and a brand-new 80,000 square foot ballroom, 20% larger than Hall H. The plan would also add a second tower to the Hilton Bayfront hotel, adding 500 rooms adjacent to the Convention Center. Due to the proposed expansion of the convention center, Comic Con extended its contract for San Diego to 2016. In 2014, convention center expansion was halted due to a lawsuit. As of July 2015, convention center expansion is effectively frozen, partly because the city no longer has financing lined up for it (any financing plan would involve taxpayer money and would have to be approved by a public vote), and partly because the city lost the rights to the only contiguous parcel of land where expansion could occur. Other cities, including Los Angeles, began to seek to have Comic-Con move out of San Diego; In 2015, Comic-Con entered into negotiations with San Diego. As a result of these negotiations, Comic-Con entered into a contract to stay in San Diego through 2018. In 2017 the commitment to San Diego was extended to 2021.
Accidents and incidents.
In 2013, a young woman attempted to jump off the balcony of a local high-rise, but nearby stuntmen prevented it.
In 2014, multiple pedestrians marching in an off-site ZombieWalk were struck by a car forcing its way through an intersection. A 64-year-old woman sustained serious injuries to her arm; two others had minor injuries.
The same year, a teenage cosplayer was initially thought to have been sexually assaulted early Sunday morning, and a suspect was arrested on Sunday at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina. Police later stated that the teenage girl was injured in a fall; the arrested individual was released without any charges.
Trademark.
In 2014, San Diego Comic-Con sent a cease and desist order to the organizers Salt Lake Comic Con, asserting that "Comic-Con" and "Comic-Con International" were registered trademarks of the convention, and that use of the term "comic con" in any form was trademark infringement as it implies an unauthorized association with San Diego Comic-Con. A U.S. court ruled in favor of San Diego Comic-Con and awarded $20,000 in damages (albeit not considering the infringement to be willful). Phoenix Comiccon changed its name to Phoenix Comic Fest as a proactive move to avoid possible legal issues in the wake of this ruling. They then filed a motion in an Arizona Federal Court to strike down San Diego Comic Convention's trademark In 2017, the Salt Lake Comic Con changed its name to FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention (or just FanX). On January 16, 2018, Salt Lake Comic Con filed a motion for a new trial. |
Upward Sun River site
The Upward Sun River site, or Xaasaa Na’, is a Late Pleistocene archaeological site associated with the Paleo-Arctic tradition, located in the Tanana River Valley, Alaska. Dated to around 11,500 BP, Upward Sun River is the site of the oldest human remains discovered on the American side of Beringia. The site was first discovered in 2006.
The layer with the human remains at Upward Sun River is most similar to the level 6 layer from Ushki Lake, Kamchatka. Both sites are the only Beringian burials found so far from that period.
Etymology.
The name of the site, Upward Sun River, is a direct translation of the Middle Tanana name for the site, "Xaasaa Na’". The Middle Tanana name was recorded from the mother of a mother-daughter pair, two of the last remaining speakers of Middle Tanana, during an interview in the 1960s.
Human remains.
The first excavation at Upward Sun River in 2010 yielded the cremated remains of a 3-year-old individual. The individual had been cremated inside a hearth, which was then filled in, with an abandonment of the site quickly afterwards. This individual was given the name "Xaasaa Cheege Ts'eniin" (Upward Sun River Mouth Child) by the local Healy Lake Tribe and is referred to by archaeologists as "USR3". Researchers were unable to recover DNA from this individual.
Infant burials.
In a 2013 excavation of the site, researchers discovered the remains of two female infants in a layer directly underneath the cremated individual. The two individuals were covered in red ochre and buried together in a pit burial with grave goods, including four decorated antler rods, two lithic dart points and bifaces.
The antler rods and dart points were likely part of a weapon system. The two individuals were given the names "Xach'itee'aanenh t'eede gaay" (Sunrise child-girl) and "Yełkaanenh t'eede gaay" (Dawn twilight child-girl) by the local people and are referred to by archaeologists as "USR1" and "USR2", respectively.
One of the individuals ("USR2") was a prenatal, possibly stillborn 30-week-old fetus, while the other ("USR1") was a 6- to 12-week-old infant. The prenatal individual is the only prenate and youngest Late Pleistocene individual to be recovered in the Americas.
All three died during the summer. Their teeth show features most similar to those found in Native Americans and Northeast Asians.
Archaeogenetics.
In 2015, researchers were able to extract the entire mitochondrial genome from both individuals. In 2018, researchers successfully sequenced the nuclear DNA from the petrous bone of both individuals, yielding around 17-fold coverage from "USR1" and low coverage from "USR2". Based on osteological analysis, the two infants were previously thought to be female; this assessment is corroborated by evidence from DNA analysis.
Comparisons with other populations.
When compared with ancient populations, "USR1" and "USR2" show closest genetic affinity to "Shuká Káa" from On Your Knees Cave. "USR1" shows extra genetic affinity for Siberians and East Asians in a way that is not found in later ancient individuals from the Americas such as Anzick-1, Kennewick Man, or the woman from the Lucy Islands dated to around 6,000 years ago. "USR1" belongs to a population that predates the hypothesized splitting of ancient Native American populations into the Northern Native American and Southern Native American branches and does not cluster genetically with either later population. "USR1" forms a distinct clade with the individual from Cave 2 of the Trail Creek Caves on the Seward Peninsula.
When compared with modern populations, "USR1" shows closest genetic affinity to modern Native Americans, then Siberians and East Asians. "USR1" does not cluster genetically with any modern Native American population. The genetic distance from "USR1" to Mal'ta boy is the same as that from modern Native American populations to Mal'ta boy. "USR1" shows additional genetic affinity for Denisovans that is not matched by modern Native Americans; this additional Denisovan affinity is likely due to sampling variation from an ancient population with higher levels of heterogenous Denisovan admixture.
Kinship.
Nuclear DNA analysis suggests that "USR1" and "USR2" are closely related, probably somewhere roughly in the range from half-siblings to first cousins. However, mtDNA analysis shows that the two infants are not maternally related. The two infants carry mtDNA lineages that are only found in the Americas. "USR1", the 6- to 12-week-old infant, comes from C1b. The prenatal infant, "USR2", carries a basal lineage of Haplogroup B2 that is also matched by the individual from Trial Creek Cave; this specific mtDNA lineage is different from the derived B2 lineage generally found in the Americas.
Both individuals represent the northernmost discovery of these mtDNA lineages and show that the mtDNA diversity in the ancient population is higher than in the modern, lending credence to the Beringia Standstill Hypothesis.
Ancient Beringian.
"USR1" is thought to be representative of a hypothesized ancient population referred to as Ancient Beringian. Ancient Beringian is now considered to be composed of three individuals: "USR1", "USR2" and the 9,000 year-old individual from Trail Creek Cave. This genetic clustering is matched by the archaeological evidence, as the Upper Sun River Site and Trail Creek Cave, despite being located over away from each other, both share similarities in artefact technology. Based on DNA analysis of "USR1", the Ancient Beringians are hypothesized to have split off from East Asians around 36,000 years ago, with continuous gene flow occurring until around 25,000 years ago. The Ancient Beringians are also hypothesized to have diverged from the ancestors of Native Americans around 22,000 to 18,100 years ago.
Phenotypic analysis.
Phenotypic analysis shows that "USR1" does not carry the derived EDAR allele commonly found in modern East Asians and Native Americans. However, "USR1" does carry the derived rs174570 FADS2 allele that was targeted by a selective sweep.
Salmon.
Around 300 bone fragments from salmonids were recovered at Upward Sun River, representing the earliest surviving evidence of salmon eating in North America. DNA analysis types the salmon remains as coming from "Oncorhynchus keta" (chum salmon). Isotopic analysis shows that the salmon were anadromous.
Other material remains.
An obsidian flake discovered as part of the grave goods found in the infant burial was chemically identified as coming from the Hoodoo Mountain primary source site in Kluane National Park, Yukon, Canada, a location away from the Upward Sun River site. |
Virtual Valve Amplifier
A Virtual Valve Amplifier (VVA) is software algorithm designed and sold by Diamond Cut Productions, Inc. for simulating the sound of various valve amplifier designs. It can be found within their DC8 and Forensics8 software programs.
A VVA can be used to color the sound of a digital recording by adding "tube-warmth" or "fat-bass" in addition to adding subtle harmonics to enhance very old or muffled recordings. The algorithms behind a VVA are based on real vacuum tube circuits and non-linearities, mathematically simulating the large-signal transfer functions of various vacuum tubes and output transformers found in amplifier designs. A majority of this data was originally derived from extensive bench measurements on real vacuum tube amplifier circuits under varying operating conditions by engineers Craig Maier and Rick Carlson in the early 1990s. A VVA is a direct mathematical reconstruction of the same signal passing through a physical electron tube amplifier. The VVA algorithm can be found in the Diamond Cut DC8 and DC Forensics8 software packages. It is also sold as a VST plug-in.
Basic operating parameters.
VVA designs generally include a number of parameters that may be configured to change the sound and operating characteristics of the amplifier design:
Operating point.
Historically referred to as the "Q" or bias point by engineers, the operating point of a vacuum tube is a condition generally fixed by the amplifier manufacturer. In general, the operating point determines the device's bias value at zero signal input and determines the distribution of harmonics introduced into the output of the amplifier. Tubes that operate with a higher operating point close to cutoff give more "headroom", enabling greater volume gains to be applied before signal degradation in the form of "breakup" or saturation results. By contrast, a lower operating point introduces more harmonic distortion into the final output as a result of the different non-linearity distribution near cut-off as compared to operation in the nominally linear portion of the characteristic. Some guitar amplifiers are designed to produce this type of distortion as its sound effect is considered desirable.
Drive.
This describes how loudly the "physical" equivalent of the virtual valve amplifier is set. However, the output level of a VVA generally remains constant independent of drive due to internal gain compensation algorithms. Instead, the drive determines the amount of distortion that can be introduced into the output signal. As such, the Drive of a VVA describes the degree of modulation applied to a given vacuum tube amplifier circuit centered about the set operating point. The higher the drive level setting, the greater will be the production of predominantly even order harmonics due to the circuit's asymmetrical non-linearity. As a result, the VVA "effect" increases with increasing drive.
Common vacuum tube types.
Triode 12AX7/ECC83.
This is a high-mu dual triode that is generally incorporated into an RC coupled class A audio pre-amplifier configuration and its design is optimized to minimize harmonic distortion. This vacuum tube is still the industry standard pre-amplifier valve. It has a relatively flat linear operating region in the middle of its dynamic operating range, producing relatively lower levels of distortion compared to some of the other devices listed here. But, by moving the Operating Point to either the saturation or cutoff extreme, more "tube-warmth" effect can be produced by this device. Some VST effects emulate this tube.
Triode 12AT7/ECC81.
The 12AT7 high-mu dual triode was designed primarily for RF mixing applications where it was incorporated into the oscillator/mixer stage and used to heterodyne incoming RF signals with the local oscillator to create an intermediate frequency in TV and FM sets. Thus, it is intentionally designed to be extremely non-linear. Thus, circuits based around the 12AT7 exhibit a larger degree of non-linearity throughout the entire dynamic operating range, including the middle. As a result, it produces greater even-order harmonic distortion (less objectionable than odd-order distortion).
Triode 12AU7/ECC82.
The 12AU7 is a medium-mu dual triode often found in the driver / phase inverter stage of a push-pull power amplifier and also results in significant non-linearity in the middle of its dynamic operating curve.
Pentode 6EJ7.
The 6EJ7 pentode and its equivalents are often found in high-gain vacuum tube microphone amplifiers which require the sharp cutoff of a pentode. It generally produces a very pleasant "tube-warmth" effect when the operating point is properly set. This device is the same as the European type EF183.
Pentode 6267/EF86.
The 6267 / EF86 pentode was a vacuum tube well suited for use in low-level pre-amplifiers where low noise and minimal microphonics were important. Its high-gain characteristics and family of operating curves make for useful harmonic distortion and signal compression properties.
Common vacuum tube amplifier types.
Circuits may be "single-ended", using a single output device (or several connected in parallel), or "push-pull", using paired devices configured to cancel out even-order distortion products and reduce output transformer magnetisation. Bias of a push-pull amplifier may be set to make both sides conduct at all times (amplifier class A), to make only one side conduct at a time (class B), or intermediate (class AB). Class A uses more power for the same output (i.e., is less efficient), can produce less output power from the same devices, and produces lower distortion, than classes AB and B.
2-Stage Class A.
These devices generally consisted of a 12AU7 medium-mu triode driving a single 6L6GC beam power pentode audio output valve or similar. Its effects are distinctive due to convolution of the non-linearity of the triode interacting with those of the pentode, with both devices operating in class-A mode. The 6L6GC is similar in performance to the industrial type 5881, and also the European type KT66.
2-Stage Class AB.
Often consisting of a 12AU7 phase inverter / driver, pushing a pair of 6L6GC beam power pentodes. The symmetrical push-pull circuit cancels out and reduces even-order distortion products compared with a single-ended circuit. The operating point is hard-wired and cannot be adjusted.
2A3 push-pull.
Also known as a "retro–triode" amplifier, it was invented in the 1930s and incorporated a directly heated cathode resulting in a high power output. It was often used in theatrical applications and public address systems. This vacuum amplifier typically exhibits a more linear output transfer characteristic than its pentode push-pull counterpart and as a result produces a characteristic clean sound. The particular devices used to create the 2A3 VVA models were of the "dual–plate" variety taken from unused stock manufactured for the military by RCA Victor in 1953. This configuration is favoured by many jazz musicians including Les Paul who reportedly used this amplifier configuration to cut all the records made from his home studio.
2A3 single-ended.
This is a single ended class A vacuum tube power amplifier implemented using the 2A3 power triode. It exhibits reasonably good linearity with dominant even distortion products.
Vacuum tube exciter.
Because of the non-linear properties and distortion products of vacuum tubes and their associated amplification circuits, they are useful in the simulation of a vacuum tube rectifier (6X4) to produce harmonics. Asymmetry between the positive- and negative-going transfer function establishes the relationship between the degree of even and odd harmonics produced. |
Bad Wolves
Bad Wolves is an American heavy metal band formed in 2017. Initially finding fame from their first single, a cover of the Cranberries' 1994 hit "Zombie", the band proceeded to find further success with a number of songs topping the "Billboard" Mainstream Rock songs chart, including "Remember When", "Killing Me Slowly", and "Sober". The band has released three studio albums, "Disobey" (2018), "N.A.T.I.O.N." (2019) and "Dear Monsters" (2021). In January 2021, original lead vocalist Tommy Vext left the band and was replaced by Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz. Tensions ensued between Vext and the band, resulting in legal proceedings including Better Noise Music.
History.
Formation and "Disobey" (2017–2019).
In July 2014, Boecklin started writing the music that would become the band's debut album and during 2016 entered AudioHammer Studios in Sanford, Florida, with producer Mark Lewis.
Bad Wolves was founded in 2017 by drummer John Boecklin (ex-DevilDriver), vocalist Tommy Vext (ex-Divine Heresy, ex-Westfield Massacre), lead guitarist Doc Coyle (ex-God Forbid), rhythm guitarist Chris Cain (ex-Bury Your Dead, ex-For the Fallen Dreams), and bassist Kyle Konkiel (ex-In This Moment, ex-Scar the Martyr, Vimic). They are managed by Zoltan Bathory of Five Finger Death Punch. The band announced that they would release their debut studio album, "Disobey", on May 11, 2018. Of the thirteen songs in "Disobey", ten were written and recorded before Vext joined the band.
In May 2017, Bad Wolves released their debut single, "Learn to Live". In November 2017, Bad Wolves released their second single, "Toast to the Ghost". On Christmas Eve 2017, the Cranberries' singer Dolores O'Riordan left a text message to her friend, Managing Director of E7LG-Europe, Dan Waite, where she offered to "sing on it", on the cover of "Zombie" that Waite had previously given her to listen to and accredit.
On January 15, 2018, O'Riordan — who was in London for a recording session for her side project's second album, left a voice message to Waite during that night, where she asked him to come in the studio later that morning, and to listen to her vocals on the cover of Bad Wolves. O'Riordan died prior to recording it. On January 18, 2018, they released a third single, which was the cover of "Zombie" (originally by the Cranberries), which charted on multiple "Billboard" charts. The song peaked at number 23 on the "Billboard" 200, and reached number 9 in Australia. It topped the US "Billboard" Mainstream Rock chart. A music video was released on February 22. The band toured with Five Finger Death Punch, Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, and Starset in the first half of 2018. In October 2018, the band launched a crowdfunding campaign to create a documentary about their formation and rise to fame. The film would be called "Breaking the Band". By the end of the campaign, they had raised under $15,000 of their $65,000 target. Despite this, the band received all the donated money and still intend to create something for the project.
Since their inception, the band has shared the stage with the likes of Five Finger Death Punch, Nickelback, Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach and Nothing More. They also had their cover of "Zombie" nominated for the iHeartRadio's Rock Song of the Year.
"N.A.T.I.O.N." and departure of Tommy Vext (2019–2021).
On July 26, 2019, the band released a new single titled "I'll Be There", followed by another single titled "Killing Me Slowly", a third single titled "Sober", as well as a fourth single titled "Crying Game" and announced their new album, "N.A.T.I.O.N.", which was released on October 25, 2019. "Killing Me Slowly" was a song written in collaboration with outside songwriters; however, Vext would later state publicly that he was "the mastermind behind the song" after changing a few lyrics.
Two unreleased singles were released on April 10 on Patreon. The two singles include a cover of "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana and a new song called "Shanghai".
In an interview in October 2020, vocalist Vext confirmed that the band had almost completed their third full-length album and that they may release it six months early exclusively via Patreon.
On January 8, 2021, Vext announced his departure from Bad Wolves, with intention to launch his own solo career. On January 9, the band released an official statement saying: "It is true that Bad Wolves and vocalist Tommy Vext have parted ways. The four of us plan to continue making music and a new album is planned for later this year. Tommy has been a big part of Bad Wolves and we are grateful for his contributions". This followed a context in which his support for Donald Trump was criticized, as well as his belief in conspiracy theories stating that Black Lives Matter was "created" by George Soros, the Clinton Foundation, and the media; he also said: "I have not experienced actual racism; it's all manufactured". Previously, Vext was accused of domestic violence by his former girlfriend Whitney Johns. He stated that he was incited to leave Bad Wolves by the four remaining musicians and the label, Better Noise Music, "over his conservative political views".
Hiring of Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz, "Dear Monsters", and departure of Chris Cain (2021–present).
On May 25, 2021, Tommy Vext claimed via his official Facebook account that Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz (former guitarist of The Acacia Strain) had joined Bad Wolves as their new lead vocalist. Vext followed this up by claiming that "the band is going to have to change its name if they don't pay for the songs I wrote and my trademark ownership but either way wish this dude the best I guess." The band did not respond to Vext's claims at the time. Just over a week later on June 2, 2021, Bad Wolves announced that Laskiewicz had indeed joined the band and that they were working on their third album called "Dear Monsters", which they claimed would be "the best Bad Wolves album to date". The band also elaborated further on Vext's departure, saying that they "disagree with the validity of much of what he has said publicly about our parting of ways – but we would prefer to not look back on the past and instead focus on this new chapter. And most importantly, we'd like to let the music speak for itself." Laskiewicz was involved in the songwriting of "N.A.T.I.O.N."
In July 2021, Doc Coyle stated on an episode of his podcast "The Ex-Man with Doc Coyle" that Vext's continued pressure against Bad Wolves meant that "a big portion of the fanbase has essentially been radicalized against the band under false pretenses." This came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by Vext against Bad Wolves manager Allen Kovac, who is also the CEO of Better Noise Music. In the lawsuit, Vext alleged that Kovac attempted to stop him from making political statements, attempted to buy the trademarks for Bad Wolves off him, tried to strong-arm radio and streaming services into not playing Bad Wolves when Vext refused to sell him the trademarks as a way of pushing Vext out of the music industry, and repeatedly using racial slurs to belittle him. Kovac responded with a statement of his own saying that Vext's accusations were "categorically false". Coyle and John Boecklin also made their own statement where they said that "In all our dealings with Allen Kovac, he has never used any derogatory racial slurs. Tommy is making all of this up. Period."
In late August 2021, Better Noise Music sued Vext for "copyright infringement, breach of contract and unjust enrichment".
The band released the first single from "Dear Monsters", "Lifeline", on September 8. The album was released on October 29, 2021. Vext started a tour starting September 10 and billed himself with his solo band under "Tommy Vext and The B@D W8LV3S". On September 9, 2021, in a statement directed toward Vext, Bad Wolves wrote that "desperate people do desperate things", citing that Vext "can't write his own music" and that he had edited a version of the band's single, "Lifeline", with his singing voice on it that he circulated on the Internet. Bad Wolves cited initiatives Vext has taken since leaving the band in January 2021, including his GoFundMe, which was later shut down for fraud because he attempted to "dupe fans" by inciting them to buy an album of covers to which he does not hold the rights. Bad Wolves described Vext as "abusive − both emotionally and physically" while he was in the band and then afterward when he left it. The band also mentioned his "never-ending temper tantrums" on social media "filled with fraudulent claims and sad attempts to defame members of our band and our team". They said Vext had spread "mountains of lies", that he has "no moral compass", and is willing to do anything to achieve his ends. Vext did not respond directly to Bad Wolves but posted a clip from "" on his social media, which summed up his sentiment.
On April 14, 2022, guitarist Chris Cain announced his departure from the band via Instagram. The following month, it was announced that Max Karon (of Once Human) had joined Bad Wolves as their new rhythm guitarist. Karon had previously worked with Bad Wolves on their first three albums. On July 28, the band released an EP titled "Sacred Kiss".
Band members.
Former members.
Timeline
Discography.
Studio albums |
Black Peruvians
Black Peruvians or Afro-Peruvians are Peruvian of mostly or partially African descent. They mostly descend from enslaved Africans brought to Peru after the arrival of the conquistadors.
Early history.
The first Africans arrived with the conquerors in 1521, mostly as slaves, and some returned with colonists to settle in 1525. Between 1529 and 1537, when Francisco Pizarro was granted permits to import 363 slaves to colonial Peru, a large group of Africans were imported to do labor for public construction, building bridges and road systems. They also fought alongside the conquistadors as soldiers and worked as personal servants and bodyguards. In 1533, Afro-Peruvian slaves accompanied Spaniards in the conquest of Cuzco.
Two types of black slaves were forced to travel to Peru. Those born in Africa were commonly referred to as "negros bozales" ("untamed blacks"), which was also used in a derogatory sense. These slaves could have been directly shipped from west or southwest Africa or transported from the Spanish Indies or other Spanish colonies. Afro-Peruvians previously acculturated to Spanish culture and who spoke Spanish were called "negros ladinos" ("hispanicized blacks"). Some were mulattos, descendants of Spanish men and African women. People of color performed skilled and unskilled functions that contributed to Hispanic colonization.
In urban areas Afro-Peruvians were cooks, laundresses, maids, handymen, and gardeners. In some cases, they worked in the navy, hospitals, churches and charitable institutions. In 1587, 377 people of African descent worked in the shipyards. The industry included a significant number of blacks working in quarries, kilns and construction projects. There were not enough Spanish workers to build the colony, so blacks essentially kept the economy running. Gradually, Afro-Peruvians were concentrated in specialized fields that drew upon their extensive knowledge and training in skilled artisan work and in agriculture.
In the social hierarchy of the slave stratum, the black artisans had the highest rank due to their skills. They worked as carpenters, tailors, blacksmiths, swordsmiths and silversmiths. This group enjoyed more freedom than their fellows who worked at large haciendas or in private households. Spanish small-business keepers would dispatch a whole team of servant-artisans to do a job independently and then return to their owner. As the prices for artisans rose, black artisans gained better treatment and sometimes took a role of a low-ranking employee. Skilled trades were a major avenue of social progress for the colored population. Due to their high skills, Afro-Peruvians gained prestige among Spanish noblemen. They occupied a relatively low social stratum but had some status related to the natives, and were considered above the emerging class of mestizos (descendants of indigenous people and Spanish colonists).
As the mestizo population grew, the role of Afro-Peruvians as intermediaries between the indigenous residents and the Spaniards lessened. The mestizo population increased through liaisons between Spanish and indigenous Peruvians. The elite Spanish developed a caste system based on racial descent and color, to protect their privileges and their Spanish and mestizo children. In this system, Spaniards were at the top, mestizos in the middle, and Africans and the indigenous populations at the bottom. Mestizos inherited the privilege of helping the Spanish administer the country.
As additional immigrants arrived from Spain and settled Peru, the mestizos tried to keep the most lucrative jobs for themselves. In the early colonial period, Afro-Spaniards and Afro-Peruvians frequently worked in the gold mines because of their familiarity with the techniques. Gold mining and smithing were common in parts of western Africa from at least the fourth century. But, after the early colonial period, few Afro-Peruvians would become goldsmiths or silversmiths.
In the end Afro-Peruvians were relegated to heavy labor on sugarcane and rice plantations of the northern coast, or the vineyards and cotton fields of the southern coast. In the countryside they were represented in wet-nursing, housekeeping, domestics, cowboys, animal herding, etc. After Indians became scarce as labor force on haciendas, the people of color gained a title of "yanakuna", hitherto assigned only to indigenous servants with full right to own a piece of land and a day to work on it. Afro-Peruvians often exercised agency by using "huido" (translated as escape, flight) from haciendas and changing masters on their own initiative or joining the "cimarrones" (armed gangs of runaway slaves that formed small communities in the wilderness and raided travel merchants). The indigenous population were used to work in the silver mines, where they had more expert knowledge than West Africans or Spanish, even in the pre-Columbian eras.
Slave Trade.
Over the course of the slave trade, approximately 95,000 slaves were brought into Peru, with the last group arriving in 1850. Often slaves were initially transported to Cuba and Hispaniola, from where traders brought them to Panama and the Viceroyalty of Peru. Planters and others also purchased slaves in Cartagena, Colombia or Veracruz, Mexico, at trade fairs, and they returned to Peru with the new slaves imported by the slave ships. As a result of the "New laws" of 1548 and the influence of the denunciation of the abuses against Native Americans by Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, slaves gradually replaced natives at the encomiendas.
Slave owners in Peru developed preferences to have slaves from specific areas of Africa (believed to have certain characteristics); they wanted to have slaves of one area who could communicate with each other. They believed slaves from Guinea, from the Senegal River down to the Slave Coast, were easier to manage and had marketable skills. They already knew how to plant and cultivate rice, train horses, and herd cattle on horseback. The slave owners also preferred slaves from the area stretching from Nigeria to eastern Ghana. The slave owners' third choice was for slaves from Congo, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Angola.
In the 17th century some owners began the process of manumission of people of color. In some cases, slaves were allowed to buy their freedom, and a free Afro-Peruvian social class emerged. Slaves had to pay a high amount to buy their freedom; some were allowed to earn money on the side or, if leased out, keep a portion of their earnings. Others raised loans, and some were granted freedom by their master. Even when free, independent blacks were not considered equal to Spaniards. Free people of color enjoyed equal privileges in certain aspects, for instance, there are records of free Africans buying and selling land as well. Freed blacks engaged in various entrepreneurial activities, of which trade was a significant factor. Some people of African descent became owners of shops. But, the status of a free citizen brought new challenges and conditions that a man of color had to face. A freed person of color needed to have a job, was required to pay the tribute, was called to serve in the militia to defend the state. All were under supervision of the Holy Office.
The Crown raised revenues on the freed black population. A decree that compelled former slaves to hire themselves out to and reside with a Spaniard master was another way to limit freedom of emancipated blacks. While some did stay with Spanish in order to save money, the large majority successfully defied the rule and began building "joint communities" to support each other. A discrimination policy with big and long-term impact was the exclusion of blacks and mulattoes from education. Universities and schools largely run by the Church forbade the non-white population to enroll, under the justification that they were "unworthy of being educated". Wealthy, skilled, capable mulattoes however made their way through the political ladder and achieved occupation of minor official posts.
In 1821, General José de San Martín outlaws slave trade in Peru.
In 1835, President Felipe Santiago Salaverry signed a decree again legalizing the deportation of slaves through the other Latin American countries. Thus, two years after his death, will be removed from the constitution the principle of "emancipating soil" according to which a slave entering Peru is, de facto, made free.
In 1854, President Ramón Castilla y Marquezado declared slavery abolished.
Today, Afro-Peruvian communities celebrate the landmark decision of Castilla with a popular refrain:
The newly freed citizens typically took the last name of their former owners. For instance, slaves in the service of the Florez family named themselves "Florez" or "Flores".
Despite the gradual emancipation of most black slaves in Peru, slavery continued along the Pacific coast of South America throughout the 19th century, as Peruvian slave traders kidnapped Polynesians, primarily from the Marquesas Islands and Easter Island and forced them to perform physical labour in mines and in the guano industry of Peru and Chile.
Afro-Peruvian music.
Afro-Peruvian music has its roots in the communities of black slaves brought to work in the mines along the Peruvian coast. As such, it's a fair way from the Andes, culturally and geographically. However, as it developed, particularly in the 20th century, it drew on Andean, Spanish, and African traditions, while its modern exponents also have affinities with Andean "nueva canción". As a result, the hotbed for Afro-Peruvian music are the small coastal towns of Chincha and Cañete, not too far south of Peru's capital, Lima.
The music was little known even in Peru until the 1950s, when it was popularized by José Durand, Porfirio Vásquez, Nicomedes Santa Cruz, and Victoria Santa Cruz, whose body of work was taken a step further in the 1970s by the group Perú Negro. At an international level, this form of music has had recent publicity through David Byrne's Luaka Bop music label, with the edition of the compilation by the group Perú Negro and the albums by Susana Baca.
There are demonstrations that are still valid, such as the "Danza de Negritos y Las Pallitas" developed at Christmas time in the towns of the central coast of Peru.
Afro-Peruvians today.
The Afro-Peruvian population is found mainly in two sectors: north coast (between Lambayeque and Piura); and on the south central coast (especially in Lima, Callao, and in the provinces of Cañete, Chincha, Pisco, and Nazca).
The highest concentration of Afro-Peruvians in the country is found in Yapatera in Morropón (Piura); composed of about 7000 farmers, most of whom are descendants of former African slaves, where a large number of people of "Malagasy" or "Mangache" origin (from Madagascar) stand out. The Province of Morropón is known for its black communities in cities such as the capital city of Morropón, around Chulucanas, in addition to Yapatera, there are Chapica del Carmelo, Salitral, Buenos Aires, La Mantaza, (Hacienda Pabur), San Juan de Mustache and Canchaque. Between the provinces of Ayabaca and Sullana you can also find black communities such as Las Lomas, La Tina (near the border) or Pacaipampa.
When it says "northern valleys" it refers to valleys that are in the yunga. Cities such as the famous colonial city of Zaña in Lambayeque stand out for being the second most important Afro-Peruvian city in northern Peru. Other cities such as: Tumán, Batán Grande, Cayaltí and Capote in the department of Lambayeque are known for hosting a good number of Afro-Peruvian populations.
In the city of Lima, the districts of Cercado, Breña, Surquillo, San Martín de Porres, Barranco, Surco, Chorrillos, Rímac and La Victoria are known for having regular numbers of Afro-Peruvian populations, as well as Callao. The town of Aucallama in the province of Huaral is also known.
The coastal cities of the central and southern regions known for their black populations are Cañete, Chincha, Pisco, Ica and Nazca. Formerly the communities to the south of Lima were known as the peoples with the highest intensity of Afro-Peru, but due to excessive miscegenation between African descendants and Andean migrants, the Afro-Peruvian roots have been lost. Another reason is that many of them also migrated to Lima for better opportunities. However, there are still important settlements known for their traditional presence of Afro-Peruvians: El Carmen and El Guayabo, in the province of Chincha, where Julio "Chocolate" Algendones and the traditional Ballumbrosio family come from; in addition to San Luis, in the province of Cañete, land of Caitro Soto, Coco Linares and Ronaldo Campos.
Further south there are Afro-Peruvian communities in the district of El Ingenio, in the province of Nazca; and the town of Acarí, in the province of Caravelí, in the coastal north of the department of Arequipa.
An interesting fact is that former African slaves came to small valleys of the central high jungle located in Cerro de Pasco and Huánuco. There are still small populations with distant but evidently African features.
Geographical distribution.
According to the 2017 Peruvian Census, 828,841 or 3.6% Peruvians identified as "Black", the term used for people of unmixed African descent, while together with the Mulatos and Zambos they would be a total of 9% of the Peruvian population (2,850,000). The departments with the largest percentage of Black people are Tumbes (11.5%), Piura (8.9), and Lambayeque (8.4%). The regions with the lowest percentage of self-identified Black people are Puno (0.0), Huancavelica (0.1), and Cuzco (0.2%).
Government apology.
In November 2009, the Peruvian government issued an official apology to Peru's Afro-Peruvian people for centuries of racial injustice; it was the first such apology ever made by the government. It was announced by Women's and Social Development Minister Nidia Vilchez, and initially published in the official newspaper "El Peruano". The apology said:
Vilchez said the government hoped its apology would help promote the "true integration of all Peru's multicultural population."
The government acknowledged that some discrimination persists against Afro-Peruvians, who make up 5%–10% of the population. The government's initial statement said, "The government recognizes and regrets that vestiges of racially-motivated harassment are still present, which represent a hindrance to social, economic, labor and educational development of the population at large." Monica Carrillo of the Center for Afro-Peruvian Studies and Promotion indicates that 27% of Afro-Peruvians finish high school and just 2% get higher or technical education. Although Peru is not the first Latin American government to apologize to its population, it is the first to acknowledge present-day discrimination. Although some human rights groups lauded the government's acknowledgment, other experts criticized the apology overall for failing to reference slavery or promise a change in the status quo.
The public ceremony for the apology held on 7 December 2009 in the Great Dining Room of the Government Palace, with the presence of then President Alan García, the Minister of Women and Social Development, Nidia Vilchez, the Afro Peruvian Congress member Martha Moyano, with the former mayor of El Carmen, Hermes Palma-Quiroz, and the founder of the Black Movement Francisco Congo, Paul Colino-Monroy.
In the ceremony, President García said: |
GSM services
GSM services are a standard collection of applications and features available over the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) to mobile phone subscribers all over the world. The GSM standards are defined by the 3GPP collaboration and implemented in hardware and software by equipment manufacturers and mobile phone operators. The common standard makes it possible to use the same phones with different companies' services, or even roam into different countries. GSM is the world's most dominant mobile phone standard.
The design of the service is moderately complex because it must be able to locate a moving phone anywhere in the world, and accommodate the relatively small battery capacity, limited input/output capabilities, and weak radio transmitters on mobile devices.
Accessing a GSM network.
In order to gain access to GSM services, a user needs three things:
After subscribers sign up, information about their identity (telephone number) and what services they are allowed to access are stored in a "SIM record" in the Home Location Register (HLR).
Once the SIM card is loaded into the phone and the phone is powered on, it will search for the nearest mobile phone mast (also called a Base Transceiver Station/BTS) with the strongest signal in the operator's frequency band. If a mast can be successfully contacted, then there is said to be coverage in the area. The phone then identifies itself to the network through the control channel. Once this is successfully completed, the phone is said to be attached to the network.
The key feature of a mobile phone is the ability to receive and make calls in any area where coverage is available. This is generally called roaming from a customer perspective, but also called visiting when describing the underlying technical process. Each geographic area has a database called the Visitor Location Register (VLR), which contains details of all the mobiles currently in that area. Whenever a phone attaches, or visits, a new area, the "Visitor" Location Register must contact the "Home" Location Register to obtain the details for that phone. The current cellular location of the phone (i.e., which BTS it is at) is entered into the VLR record and will be used during a process called paging when the GSM network wishes to locate the mobile phone.
Every SIM card contains a secret key, called the Ki, which is used to provide authentication and encryption services. This is useful to prevent theft of service, and also to prevent "over the air" snooping of a user's activity. The network does this by utilising the Authentication Center and is accomplished without transmitting the key directly.
Every GSM phone contains a unique identifier (different from the phone number), called the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). This can be found by dialing *#06#. When a phone contacts the network, its IMEI may be checked against the Equipment Identity Register to locate stolen phones and facilitate monitoring.
Voice all calls.
All Outgoing.
Once a mobile phone has successfully attached to a GSM network as described above, calls may be made from the phone to any other phone on the global Public Switched Telephone Network.
The user dials the telephone number, presses the "send" or "talk" key, and the mobile phone sends a call setup request message to the mobile phone network via the nearest mobile phone base transceiver station (BTS).
The call setup request message is handled next by the Mobile Switching Center, which checks the subscriber's record held in the Visitor Location Register to see if the outgoing call is allowed. If so, the MSC then routes the call in the same way that a telephone exchange does in a fixed network.
If the subscriber is on a prepaid tariff (sometimes known as "Pay As You Go" (PAYG) or "Pay & Go"), then an additional check is made to see if the subscriber has enough credit to proceed. If not, the call is rejected. If the call is allowed to continue, then it is continually monitored and the appropriate amount is decremented from the subscriber's account. When the credit reaches zero, the call is cut off by the network. The systems that monitor and provide the prepaid services are not part of the GSM standard services, but instead an example of intelligent network services that a mobile phone operator may decide to implement in addition to the standard GSM ones.
Incoming calls.
Gateway MSC contact.
When someone places a call to a mobile phone, they dial the telephone number (also called a MSISDN) associated with the phone user and the call is routed to the mobile phone operator's Gateway Mobile Switching Centre. The Gateway MSC, as the name suggests, acts as the "entrance" from exterior portions of the Public Switched Telephone Network onto the provider's network.
As noted above, the phone is free to roam anywhere in the operator's network or on the networks of roaming partners, including in other countries. So the first job of the Gateway MSC is to determine the current location of the mobile phone in order to connect the call. It does this by consulting the Home Location Register (HLR), which, as described above, knows which Visitor Location Register (VLR) the phone is associated with, if any.
Routing the call.
When the HLR receives this query message, it determines whether the call should be routed to another number (called a divert), or if it is to be routed directly to the mobile.
Locating and ringing the phone.
When the call arrives at the Visited MSC, the MSRN is used to determine which of the phones in this area is being called, that is the MSRN maps back to the IMSI of the original phone number dialled. The MSC pages all the mobile phone masts in the area that the IMSI is registered in order to inform the phone that there is an incoming call for it. If the subscriber answers, a speech path is created through the Visiting MSC and Gateway MSC back to the network of the person making the call, and a normal telephone call follows.
It is also possible that the phone call is not answered. If the subscriber is busy on another call (and call waiting is not being used) the Visited MSC routes the call to a pre-determined Call Forward Busy (CFB) number. Similarly, if the subscriber does not answer the call after a period of time (typically 30 seconds) then the Visited MSC routes the call to a pre-determined Call Forward No Reply (CFNRy) number. Once again, the operator may decide to set this value by default to the voice mail of the mobile so that callers can leave a message.
If the subscriber does not respond to the paging request, either due to being out of coverage, or their battery has gone flat/removed, then the Visited MSC routes the call to a pre-determined Call Forward Not Reachable (CFNRc) number. Once again, the operator may decide to set this value by default to the voice mail of the mobile so that callers can leave a message.
A roaming user may want to avoid these forwarding services in the visited network as roaming charges will apply.
Voice charges.
In the United States and Canada, callers pay the cost of connecting to the Gateway MSC of the subscriber's phone company, regardless of the actual location of the phone. As mobile numbers are given standard geographic numbers according to the North American Numbering Plan, callers pay the same to reach fixed phones and mobile phones in a given geographic area. Mobile subscribers pay for the connection time (typically using in-plan or prepaid minutes) for both incoming and outgoing calls. For outgoing calls, any long distance charges are billed as if they originate at the GMSC, even though it is the visiting MSC that completes the connection to the PSTN. Plans that include nationwide long distance and/or nationwide roaming at no additional charge over "local" outgoing calls are popular.
Mobile networks in Europe, Asia (except Hong Kong, Macau (Macao) and Singapore), Australia, and Argentina only charge their subscribers for outgoing calls. Incoming calls are free to the mobile subscriber with the exception of receiving a call while the subscriber is roaming as described below. However, callers typically pay a higher rate when calling mobile phones. Special prefixes are used to designate mobile numbers so that callers are aware they are calling a mobile phone and therefore will be charged a higher rate.
From the caller's point of view, it does not matter where the mobile subscriber is, as the technical process of connecting the call is the same. If a subscriber is roaming on a different company's network, the subscriber, instead of the caller, may pay a surcharge for the connection time. International roaming calls are often quite expensive, and as a result some companies require subscribers to grant explicit permission to receive calls while roaming to certain countries.
Speech encoding.
During a GSM call, speech is converted from analogue sound waves to digital data by the phone itself, and transmitted through the mobile phone network by digital means. (Though older parts of the fixed Public Switched Telephone Network may use analog transmission.)
The digital algorithm used to encode speech signals is called a codec. The speech codecs used in GSM are called Half-Rate (HR), Full-Rate (FR), Enhanced Full-Rate (EFR), Adaptive Multirate (AMR) and Wideband AMR also known as HD voice. All codecs except AMR operate with a fixed data rate and error correction level.
Data transmission.
The GSM standard also provides separate facilities for transmitting digital data. This allows a mobile phone to act like any other computer on the Internet, sending and receiving data via the Internet Protocol.
The mobile may also be connected to a desktop computer, laptop, or PDA, for use as a network interface (just like a modem or Ethernet card, but using one of the GSM data protocols described below instead of a PSTN-compatible audio channel or an Ethernet link to transmit data). Some GSM phones can also be controlled by a standardised Hayes AT command set through a serial cable or a wireless link (using IRDA or Bluetooth). The AT commands can control anything from ring tones to data compression algorithms.
In addition to general Internet access, other special services may be provided by the mobile phone operator, such as SMS.
Circuit-switched data protocols.
A circuit-switched data connection reserves a certain amount of bandwidth between two points for the life of a connection, just as a traditional phone call allocates an audio channel of a certain quality between two phones for the duration of the call.
Two circuit-switched data protocols are defined in the GSM standard: Circuit Switched Data (CSD) and High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD). These types of connections are typically charged on a per-second basis, regardless of the amount of data sent over the link. This is because a certain amount of bandwidth is dedicated to the connection regardless of whether or not it is needed.
Circuit-switched connections do have the advantage of providing a constant, guaranteed quality of service, which is useful for real-time applications like video conferencing.
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).
The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet-switched data transmission protocol, which was incorporated into the GSM standard in 1997. It is backwards-compatible with systems that use pre-1997 versions of the standard. GPRS does this by sending packets to the local mobile phone mast (BTS) on channels not being used by circuit-switched voice calls or data connections. Multiple GPRS users can share a single unused channel because each of them uses it only for occasional short bursts.
The advantage of packet-switched connections is that bandwidth is only used when there is actually data to transmit. This type of connection is thus generally billed by the kilobyte instead of by the second, and is usually a cheaper alternative for applications that only need to send and receive data sporadically, like instant messaging.
GPRS is usually described as a "2.5G" technology; see the main article for more information.
Short Message Service (SMS).
Short Message Service (more commonly known as text messaging) has become the most used data application on mobile phones, with 74% of all mobile phone users worldwide already as active users of SMS, or 2.4 billion people by the end of 2007.
SMS text messages may be sent by mobile phone users to other mobile users or external services that accept SMS. The messages are usually sent from mobile devices via the Short Message Service Centre using the MAP protocol.
The SMSC is a central routing hubs for Short Messages. Many mobile service operators use their SMSCs as gateways to external systems, including the Internet, incoming SMS news feeds, and other mobile operators (often using the de facto SMPP standard for SMS exchange).
The SMS standard is also used outside of the GSM system; see the main article for details.
Supplementary Services.
See also GSM codes for supplementary services. |
Damp (structural)
Structural dampness is the presence of unwanted moisture in the structure of a building, either the result of intrusion from outside or condensation from within the structure.
A high proportion of damp problems in buildings are caused by ambient climate dependent factors of condensation and rain penetration. Capillary penetration of fluid from the ground up through concrete or masonry is known as "rising damp" and is governed by the shape and porosity of the construction materials through which this evaporation-limited capillary penetration takes place. Structural damp, regardless of the mechanisms through which it takes place, is exacerbated by higher levels of humidity.
Dampness control is fundamental to the proper functioning of any building. Controlling moisture is important to protect occupants from adverse health effects and to protect the building, its mechanical systems and its contents from physical or chemical damage.
Symptoms.
Dampness tends to cause secondary damage to a building. The unwanted moisture enables the growth of various fungi in wood, causing rot or mould health issues and may eventually lead to sick building syndrome. Plaster and paint deteriorate and wallpaper loosens. Stains, from the water, salts and from mould, mar surfaces. The highest airborne mould concentrations are found in buildings where significant mould infestation has occurred, usually as a result of severe water intrusion or flood damage. Moulds can grow on almost any surface and occur where there is a lot of moisture from structural problems such as leaky roofs or high humidity levels. Airborne mold concentrations have the potential to be inhaled and can have health effects.
Externally, mortar may crumble, and salt stains may appear on the walls. Steel and iron fasteners rust. It may also cause a poor indoor air quality and respiratory illness in occupants. In extreme cases, mortar or plaster may fall away from the affected wall.
Health effects of structural damp.
Health concerns around mould include infections, allergenic or immunological illness, and nonallergic illness. Asthma is also triggered by the sensitization of dust mites accruing humid, wet regions of a structure. Another health effect associated with structural dampness is the presence of bacteria in an indoor environment. Bacteria require water to grow and multiply and certain species can cause disease in humans, thus the intrusion of water into an indoor environment can place the health of occupants at risk from bacterial infections. Water removal and drying of wet building materials within 2 days will likely prevent mould and bacteria growth, therefore reducing occupants' vulnerability to disease.
"A Visual Guide to Damp, Mold and Indoor Pollution" stated that:
Statutory requirements (UK).
Building Regulations.
Section 5.2 of The Building Regulations 2010 Approved Document C, "Site preparation and resistance to
contaminants and moisture" requires that buildings should be constructed to resist rising damp, penetrating damp, and condensation.
Walls should:
Similar requirements are also made in reference to floors in Section 4 of the document.
Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act.
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requires private landlords in England and Wales to ensure that houses that they rent are "free from damp.,"
Identification.
A wide range of instruments and techniques can be used to investigate the presence of moisture in building materials. When used correctly, they can provide a valuable aid to investigation. The competence and experience of the person undertaking the damp investigations is often of greater importance than the kit he or she carries. Experience and qualified surveyors are the difference between a correct and incorrect diagnosis of damp. For example, it is sometimes found that condensation is misdiagnosed as another form of dampness resulting in the wrong form of treatment being specified. Chartered building surveyors are usually experienced in identifying dampness issues, however, their reports often suggest that dampness problems are investigated by a specialist damp and timber surveyor with a CSRT qualification. An experienced surveyor would usually be able to pinpoint the cause of damp, for example a leaking gutter causing rainwater to cascade and saturate the external structural wall which in turn causes rainwater to ingress internally and adversely affect the internal building fabric.
Prevention and treatment.
Most forms of dampness can be prevented by thoughtful building design and careful construction. In the UK, well built modern houses include damp proofing in the form of a synthetic damp-proof course (DPC), about 15 cm (6") above ground level, to act as a barrier through which water cannot pass. Slate or "engineering bricks" with a low porosity were often used for the first few courses above ground level, and these can help minimise the problem.
There are many approaches to the treatment of dampness in existing buildings. Key to the selection of an appropriate treatment is a correct diagnosis of the types of dampness affecting a building. Details of possible treatments for specific types of dampness are covered in the sections below.
The cause of the dampness must first be eliminated, by providing better drainage or fixing leaking pipes. Several methods of treating rising damp are possible, including the use of land-drains and the insertion of physical and chemical DPCs. Then, any affected plaster or mortar must be removed, and the wall treated, before replacing the plaster and repainting.
Humidity.
Humidity occurs in indoor environments due to building related causes. Porous walls, rising damp, and leaks in the building are determinants for structural dampness due to elevated humidity levels. The construction of the building can also lead to humidity and unwanted moisture in the indoor environment. Wet materials, such as lumber stored unprotected outdoors before construction, can lead to increased humidity indoors for up to the second year of occupancy in the building. Most commonly in residences, elevated relative humidity is produced by poor drainage systems. This leads to dampness in substructures such as crawlspaces and basements. The dampness results in vaporization where water vapor is transmitted into the building's interiors. Water vapor may enter the building through supply air ducts in building slabs and circulated by warm forced air. Water vapor can also enter a building through leaky return air ducts in homes with crawlspaces.
Human occupancy adds a significant amount of humidity to the indoor environment. Personal activity as basic as breathing and perspiration add moisture to an indoor space. Cooking and showering raise humidity levels in the indoor environment, which directly affects the structural dampness of a home. Aspects of the home can also increase the humidity of a space. Items such as aquariums, indoor swimming pools, hot tubs, and even indoor plants add to the humidity of an indoor space. All of these attributes can increase the humidity of a home beyond its recommended thirty to fifty percent.
Humidity levels in an indoor environment need to be accounted for based upon season and temperature. If humidity levels do not agree with the time of the year and the temperature during seasons, mold infestation and deterioration of the building will occur due to moisture. An acceptable humidity level in indoor spaces ranges from twenty to sixty per cent year round. However, levels less than twenty per cent in the winter and levels higher than sixty per cent in the summer are deemed unacceptable for indoor air quality. Structural dampness is likely to occur as well as an increase of health risks associated with moisture damage.
Prevention and treatment.
There are strategies to prevent water infiltration due to humidity into structures, as well as ways to treat human occupancy practices regarding humidity. Vapor retarders are materials that can be used to restrain uncontrolled airflow and water vapor into an indoor space. Vapor retarders are used to decrease the rate and amount of water vapor diffusion through ceilings, walls, and floors caused by humidity. It is made of thin, flexible materials and its coatings can be installed by trowels or brushes. Utilizing vapor retarders in a building prevents structural dampness from occurring or continuing if it already exists. A strategy for reducing humidity levels in an indoor environment is by altering occupant activity and indoor mechanics. Kitchens and bathrooms need to have their own vents. Additionally, washing machines need to be vented outdoors. Both of these are important in order to decrease indoor moisture due to humidity caused by the activities occurring in these indoor spaces. Moisture sources, such as hot tubs or indoor swimming pools, should be covered by airtight lids when not in use, thus humidity levels stay low in the indoor environment///-.
Condensation.
Condensation comes from water vapour within the building. Common sources may include cooking, bathing, dishwashers, etc. The moisture in the air condenses on cold surfaces, sometimes inside the walls called interstitial condensation. Buildings with poorly insulated walls are very prone to this problem. It often causes damage similar to damp in a building and often appears in similar places. This is because it occurs in the "dead air" pockets that accumulate in both horizontal and vertical corners (i.e. out of circulating air patterns).
Moisture condenses on the interiors of buildings due to specific interactions between the roof and wall. Leaks most commonly occur on flat-roofed buildings. Certain building materials and mechanisms can be used to prevent condensation from occurring in these areas, therefore reducing structural dampness and potential mold infestation. In many cases, the insulation between the roof and wall is compressed, leading to a decrease in thermal resistance. Due to the lack of thermal resistance, condensation occurs, which leads to water damage in the indoor environment. In most cases where moisture is not addressed quickly enough, mold and mildew develop. Another issue is that wind washing up into the crevice where the roof and wall intersect reduces the efficiency of the insulation. This results in condensation and risk for mold growth.
In the United Kingdom, condensation problems are particularly common between October and March – to the extent that this period is often referred to as the "condensation season."
Identification of condensation.
If it is suspected that the problem is condensation, then a room should be sealed off with a dehumidifier left running for the recommended time and then further instrument tests made. If the dampness has disappeared, then condensation is very likely the problem.
Alternatively Humiditect cards or dataloggers (measuring air humidity, air temperature, and surface temperature) can be used as tools for diagnosing a condensation problem.
Treatment.
Typical remedies for condensation include increasing background heat and ventilation, improving the insulation of cold surfaces and reducing moisture generation (e.g. by avoiding the drying of clothes indoors).
Rain penetration.
Rain Penetration (also known as "penetrating damp"()) is a common form of dampness in buildings. It can occur through walls, roofs, or through openings (e.g. window reveals).
Water will often penetrate the outer envelope of a building and appear inside. Common defects include:
Walls.
Rain penetration is most often associated with single-skin walls, but can also occur through cavity walls - e.g. by tracking across wall ties.
Single-skin brick walls of standard thickness (9 inches) have been considered to provide inadequate resistance to rain penetration for many years, which is why cavity wall construction is now standard in the UK. The 1944 Housing Manual published by the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Health stated that:"The resistance to penetration of rain should not be less than that of 11-in. brick cavity wall, properly designed and constructed with attention to details at the heads and joints of openings. An unrendered 9-in. wall is regarded as substandard."Whilst renders are often applied in an attempt to resist rain penetration, they must be maintained in good condition in order to fulfil this function. Even relatively small cracks in renders can allow rain penetration to pass into the underlying masonry. In his 1954 book "The Restoration of Old Houses", Hugh Braun highlighted problems inherent in certain types of render that were widely used in the late eighteenth century and throughout the Victorian era:
"By the end of the eighteenth century a number of patent water-repellent cements were appearing on the market, the most popular of which, roman cement, continued in universal use throughout the Victorian era; many old buildings were rendered with this substance. Its adhesion was poor and it will often be found that it has become separated from the walling over considerable areas and can be stripped away in large sheets."
Exacerbators of rain penetration.
Where a wall suffers from one or more of the primary causes of rain penetration listed above, the problem can be made worse by one of the following exacerbators of rain penetration:
Modifications to a building involving impermeable materials can also exacerbate the symptoms of rain penetration by trapping moisture. This can be a particular problem with regard to the installation of retrofit external wall insulation (EWI).
Rising damp.
Rising damp is the common term for the transport of water in the lower sections of walls and other ground-supported structures by capillary action in porous materials. Although rising damp of up to 5 metres (20') in height has been observed the height of rise is typically much lower and is rarely above 1.5 metres (5'). Rising damp has been a widely observed phenomenon for at least two hundred years. There is also strong evidence to suggest that it was a problem understood by the Romans and Ancient Greeks. In common with most other forms of dampness, rising damp is often misdiagnosed in buildings. Many misdiagnose a wall stain as an instance of rising damp, due to misinterpreting the visual evidence of the wall and the readings of moisture meters.
In simple terms rising damp occurs when ground water travels upwards through porous building materials such as brick, sandstone, or mortar, much in the same way that oil travels upwards through the wick of a lamp. The effect can easily be seen by simply placing a piece of porous brick, stone, or mortar in a shallow tray of water and observing how the water is absorbed into the porous material and is transported above the water line.
Rising damp can be identified by a characteristic "tide mark" on the lower section of affected walls. This tide mark is caused by soluble salts (particularly nitrates and chlorides) contained in the groundwater. Due to evaporation, these salts accumulate at the "peak" of the rising damp. Due to rising damp often being caused by moisture from wet ground, it is not common to find rising damp on floors above ground level.
History.
The issue of rising damp has been a concern since ancient times. The Roman architect Vitruvius referred to the problem of dampness rising up walls and advised on how to construct buildings to avoid the problem.
Rising damp is widely referred to in Victorian literature and the Public Health Act of 1875 introduced the requirement for a damp-proof course in walls to prevent rising damp. An entry in the "British Medical Journal" from 1872 describes the phenomenon of rising damp as follows:
In July 1860 it was reported in "The Engineer" that
The architect and social reformer, Thomas Worthington, described rising damp in his 1892 essay "The Dwellings of the Poor: And Weekly Wage-Earners in and Around Towns":
In his publication "Helps to Health" (1885), the financier and philanthropist Sir Henry Burdett explains the need for an effective damp-proof course in order to protect against rising damp:
Henry Burdett was deeply concerned with the quality building in Victorian England, and he cautioned would-be house buyers to check houses for the presence of a damp-proof course and to ensure that it is of an effective type.
As an example of poor workmanship leading to an ineffective damp proof course, Burdett cites the following example:
Skepticism.
Rising damp is a phenomenon that is fully predicted by the laws of physics, has been researched on a worldwide scale, and has been documented since Roman times. Nevertheless, a small number of people have expressed the view that rising damp is a myth and that it is, in fact, impossible for moisture to rise from the ground into the wall structure through pores in the masonry. A former chairman of the construction arm of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Stephen Boniface, has said that 'true rising damp' is a myth and chemically injected damp-proof courses (DPC) are 'a complete waste of money'. However, he has recently clarified this statement on a comment post made on the Surveying Property website:
Konrad Fisher's article "The Fraud of Rising Damp" points out that the historic city hall in Bamberg stands in the river Regnitz and its bridge remains dry without any chemical, mechanical or electronic damp-proof course.
However, proponents of rising damp suggest that not all walls are capable of supporting rising damp, so merely observing that rising damp does not occur in a particular wall does not disprove its existence in other walls.
In 1997 the housing disrepair team at Lewisham Council in south London were so convinced that rising damp was a myth that they offered a reward of £50 to anyone who could show them a genuine case of it. Manager Mike Parrett said: "The point of the reward is to convince our tenants that rising damp is a myth." Lewisham has never found a genuine case of rising damp and has never paid out the £50 reward.
Water intrusion into the indoor environment can be attributed from causes other than rising damp. Moisture penetration has been an ongoing problem for residences as evaporation occurs at the edge of the damp area, resulting in "tide marks" due to salt deposition. The "tide mark" is commonly distinguished as a feature of rising damp. However, even after the water intrusion has been treated, these salt accumulations still persist.
The Building Research Establishment (BRE) in its review concludes that rising damp is a real problem.
How rising damp occurs.
According to Jurin's law the maximum height of rise is inversely proportional to the capillary radius. Taking a typical pore radius for building materials of 1 µm, Jurin's Law would give a maximum rise of about 15 metres (50'), however, due to the effects of evaporation, in practice the rise would be considerably lower.
A physical model of rising damp was developed by Christopher Hall and William D Hoff in their paper "Rising damp: capillary rise dynamics in walls". The analysis is based on experimentally well established properties of porous building materials and the physics of evaporation from building surfaces. Hall and Hoff show that the model can be used to predict the height to which damp will rise in a wall. The height of rise depends on the wall thickness, the sorptivity of the wall structure and the rate of evaporation. Further work has confirmed experimentally the importance of mortar properties in determining the height to which damp will rise in walls. "BRE Digest" 245 lists several factors that can influence the height of the rise including rate of evaporation from the wall, pore sizes of the masonry, salt content of the materials and the soil, groundwater and degree of saturation, and use of heating within the property. The effect of seasonal variations in evaporation rate on the height of moisture rise have been comprehensively described.
A review of data and publications commissioned by the Property Care Association and carried out by the University of Portsmouth concluded that "Rising damp is an age-old and ubiquitous problem." It also noted that "Records on observation and descriptions on this phenomenon date back to early times. It was identified as a public health issue in the second half of the 19th Century." The review looked at data and studies on rising damp from a number of countries including the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece, Australia, and Malaysia.
Diagnosis of rising damp.
The first step in assessing damp is to check for standing water. Removing water with good drainage will remove any form of dampness. Once done, and dampness remains, the next step is to look for the presence of a damp-proof course. If a damp-proof course is present, it is likely to be functioning, as the materials from which damp proof courses are manufactured tend to have a long lifespan. However, it should be acknowledged that there are cases where existing damp proof courses fail for one reason or another.
One indicator that is often used to determine if the source of dampness is rising damp (rather than other forms of dampness) is to look for the presence of salts – in particular a tell tale "salt band" or "tide mark" at the peak of the damp's rise. This is not a reliable method as salts and dampness can enter the fabric of the wall in other ways – e.g. unwashed sea sand or gravel used in the construction of the wall.
If there is no damp-proof course and rising damp is suspected (tide mark, moisture confined to lower section of wall etc. ...) then a number of diagnostic techniques can be used to determine the source of dampness. BRE Digest 245 states that the most satisfactory approach is to obtain samples of mortar in the affected wall using a drill and then analysing these samples to determine their moisture and salt content to assist in providing appropriate remedial building solutions. The fact that this technique is destructive to the wall finish often makes it unacceptable to homeowners. It is for this reason that electrical moisture meters are often used when surveying for rising damp. These instruments are unable to accurately measure the moisture content of masonry, as they were developed for use on timber, but the reading patterns that are achieved can provide useful indicators of the source of dampness.
Rising damp treatment.
In many cases, damp is caused by "bridging" of a damp-proof course that is otherwise working effectively. For example, a flower bed next to an affected wall might result in soil being piled up against the wall above the level of the DPC. In this example, moisture from the ground would be able to ingress through the wall from the soil. Such a damp problem could be rectified by simply lowering the flower bed to below DPC level.
Where a rising damp problem is caused by a lack of a damp-proof course (common in buildings over approximately 100 years old) or by a failed damp-proof course (comparatively rare) there are a wide range of possible solutions available. These include:
Replacement physical damp proof course.
A physical damp proof course made from plastic can be installed into an existing building by cutting into short sections of the mortar course, and installing short sections of the damp proof course material. This method can provide an extremely effective barrier to rising damp, but is not widely used as it requires experienced contractors to carry out if structural movement is to be avoided and takes considerably longer to install than other types of rising damp treatment. The cost is also several times higher than for other types of rising damp treatment.
Injection of a liquid or cream chemical damp proof course (DPC Injection).
Injection of a liquid or cream into bricks or mortar is the most common method of treating rising damp.
Adolf Wilhelm Keim describes the use of a hot bitumen remedial damp-proof course that is injected into holes drilled into a wall in his 1902 publication "The Prevention of Dampness in Buildings."
Liquid-injection products were introduced in the 1950s and were typically installed using funnels (gravity feed method) or pressured injection pumps. The effectiveness of liquid injection damp proofing products is dependent on the type of formulation and the skill of the installer. In practice injection times tend to be lower than those required to provide a damp proof course of optimum effectiveness. A paper published in Building and Environment in 1990 made the following calculations about injection times:
Damp-Proofing Creams.
Since the early 2000s, damp-proofing creams have taken over from liquid products due to improved ease of application. As with liquid products these are based on silane/siloxane active ingredients which line the pores of the mortar to repel damp.
The effectiveness of liquid and cream based rising damp treatments varies considerably between products due to variations in product formulations. Independent test certifications such as British Board of Agreement (BBA) certificates are available for some products, showing that they have met a minimum requirement for product performance.
As with liquid injection systems, cream based treatments rely on the competence of the installer for treatment to be successful. Injection holes need to be fully cleared of drill dust and debris before the cream is injected, and it is often difficult to know if each injection hole has been completely filled with cream. Furthermore, damp-proofing cream can sometimes drip out of the injection holes after treatment, reducing the effectiveness of the damp-proofing treatment.
Damp-proofing rods.
Damp-proofing rods use similar active ingredients to those found in liquid or cream-based rising damp treatments, but contained in a solid rod. They are generally considered to be easier to use than other types of rising damp treatment as the method of installation is simply to insert them into the correct sized holes drilled into a mortar bed. Damp-proofing rods are available with BBA approval.
The rods are placed into holes drilled in the mortar course and the active ingredients diffuse along the mortar line before curing to form a damp-proof course.
Damp-proofing rods are usually supplied in 180mm (7") lengths suitable for inserting into a 9-inch thick wall. For treating half-brick thick (4.5 inch) walls, the rods are simply cut in half.
A benefit of damp-proofing rods compared with damp-proofing creams and liquids is that it is possible to guarantee a consistent dose of active ingredient into each hole drilled in the mortar course – i.e. it is impossible to under-fill the holes.
Porous tubes.
Porous tubes are installed along a mortar course. In theory these encourage evaporation and reduce the rise of the damp. Independent test certification are available for this type of product and tests carried out by the Building Research Establishment suggest that they are effective at controlling rising damp.
Land drainage.
It has been suggested that improving drainage around walls affected by rising damp can help to reduce the height of rise by reducing the amount of water available to be absorbed into the capillaries of the wall. Typically a trench would be excavated around the affected wall into which a porous pipe would be laid. The trench would then be back-filled with a porous material such as a single-sized aggregate, forming a French drain.
Such a system would obviously have the practical disadvantage of being suitable only for the treatment of outside walls and would be impractical where other buildings are close by or where a building has shallow footings. Although the theory of reducing rising damp by reducing the amount of moisture in the underlying ground would appear to be sound, there is little data to suggest that it is effective in practice. Indeed, G. and I. Massari stated in the ICCROM publication "Damp Buildings Old and New" that little effect was observed with "open trenching" and no effect was observed with "covered trenching".
Electrical-osmotic systems.
These attempt to control rising damp through the phenomenon of electro-osmosis. While there is evidence to suggest that these systems can be useful in moving salts in walls there is little in the way of independent data to demonstrate effectiveness in treating rising damp. The BRE publication "Understanding Dampness" makes the following observations about electro osmotic systems for the treatment of rising damp:
Effectiveness of rising damp treatments.
BRE Digest 245 suggests that with the exception of replacement physical DPCs, only methods of treatment with third party accreditation (e.g. British Board of Agrément Certificate) should be considered for the treatment of rising damp. It then goes on to state that the only method of currently satisfying this requirement is DPC injection (liquid or cream – although damp-proofing rods have subsequently been made available with BBA approval) and that "this is the only method which BRE considers suitable where insertion of a physical DPC is not possible."
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveryors (RICS) publication "Remedying Damp" is more cautious about reliance on third party accreditation, casting doubt upon the validity of the test methods employed, arguing that trials are usually conducted using "specially built masonry panels – which do not match up in many respects to walls found in real properties," and that "if a DPC were proved work in a specially built masonry panel, this would be the more significant result." The MOAT No 39 test employed by the British Board of Agrément (BBA) in the UK is dismissed as "quite a clever test idea but in the author's opinion not actually replicating a real wall." The author, Ralph Burkinshaw, has developed his own test method which he has published under the title "The rising damp tests of Camberwell Pier: Potential height of moisture rise in brickwork and the effectiveness of a modern chemical injection cream damp coursing application."
In April 2014 the British Board of Agrément confirmed that it would consult with manufacturers and holders of BBA certificates with a view to updating the MOAT No.39 test in light of the fact that it was not originally designed to test damp proofing creams and these have become the most popular type of rising damp treatment. This replaces a draft BBA guidance note that said Damp-proofing creams differ from fluid-based damp-proofing treatments in a number of ways:
In his book, Dampness in Buildings, Alan Oliver refers to research carried out in Belgium regarding the effectiveness of different types of rising damp treatments:
Replastering.
Replastering will often be carried out as part of a rising damp treatment. Where plaster has become severely damaged by ground salts there is little argument about the need to replaster. However, there is considerable debate about:
BS6576:2005 states that "the function of the new plaster is to prevent hygroscopic salts that might be present in the wall from migrating through to its surface, while still allowing the wall to dry." However, writing in the RICS publication "Remedying Damp", Ralph Burkinshaw claims that, "the plaster is really there for main reasons." He accepts the need for replastering when significant amounts of ground salts have built up in the existing plaster, but he then goes on to say that replastering is often carried out to make up for an unreliable chemical DPC. He also suggests that damp-proofers have an incentive to carry out more replastering than is strictly necessary as it allows them to finish the job without having to wait for walls to dry out, resulting in faster payment.
Although the sand-cement renders typically installed as part of a rising damp treatment are very effective at holding back damp and ground salts, they have a number of disadvantages. These include an incompatibility with the soft bricks and mortars encountered in older buildings and a lack of insulation properties compared with more traditional plasters, resulting in an increased risk of condensation. Replastering is also one of the most expensive parts of a rising damp treatment.
Porous renders to German WTA specification 2-2-91 can be used as an alternative to dense sand-cement renders. These have a minimum porosity of 40% of total volume. Salts crystallise in these pores rather than on the plaster surface, avoiding decorative spoiling. Such plasters offer a better solution than dense sand-cement renders when used on moderately salt-contaminated walls as their porous nature gives them insulation properties, resulting in a warmer surface temperature and making condensation problems less likely to occur. However, when used on heavily salt contaminated walls they may need to be replaced frequently as they lose effectiveness once all the pores have become filled with crystallised salt. The "Renovation Mortars" described in EN998-1:2003 are described as being designed for use on "moist masonry walls containing soluble salts." The performance requirements for these types of mortars are based on German WTA specification 2-2-91 but without the requirement for a minimum porosity of 40% of total volume.
More recently, systems have become available that allow plasterboard or insulation board to be used to replaster walls affected by rising damp. After the existing plaster has been hacked off the wall, a salt and moisture retardant cream is applied to the wall. The plasterboard is then applied to the wall using a salt/moisture-proof adhesive. Such systems have the advantage that they can be decorated straight away, rather than having to wait several days or weeks (as would be the case with standard plasters). They also provide a warmer surface that is less prone to condensation than would be the case with a standard sand:cement render.
Replastering may not be necessary where salt contamination is not severe. BS6576:2005 states that "Where the plaster appears to be in sound condition, the extent of plaster to be removed may be minimised by delaying any decision to replaster until the drying period is complete." Avoiding the need to replaster in this way can reduce disruption and mess and has the advantage of allowing the original lime or gypsum-based plaster to be maintained. However, the deficiencies of any remedial damp-proof course will be more apparent if the wall is not covered with a waterproof render. For this reason it is important to check the BBA certificate of the damp-proofing system to ensure that it is valid for use where replastering is not being carried out.
Redecoration.
It is best practice to delay replastering and redecoration for as long as possible following rising damp treatment, but this obviously creates inconvenience to the occupants of the affected building. BRE Digest 245 states that "While the wall should be allowed to dry for as long as possible, replastering can follow, providing porous decorations are selected. These are usually matt emulsions and water-based paints, both of which will allow the wall to breathe. Application of gloss and vinyl paints or wallpapers should be delayed for at least one year."
Plasterboard-based replastering systems have the advantage that immediate redecoration is possible irrespective of which decorative finish is chosen.
Due to the fact that rising damp often co-exists with other forms of dampness such as condensation, the use of a mould resistant emulsion paint is often recommended.
In popular culture.
In "The Sopranos" episode "Calling All Cars", Janice Soprano adopts the identity "Rising Damp" (along with the AOL username "Vlad666") to instant message Bobby Baccalieri's children, Little Bobby and Sophia, who are grieving for their newly departed mother, and to direct them to communicate further via Ouija board. |
Gang Il-sun
Gang Il-sun, (; November 1, 1871 – June 24, 1909), also known as Kang Il-sun and known to his followers as Kang Jeungsan (), is the founder of Jeungsanism, a Korean religious movement that generated after his death around one hundred different new religions, including Daesoon Jinrihoe and Jeung San Do. Jeungsanism, as his movement was called, and various Korean new religions ("sinheung jonggyo", literally, "newly emerged religions") derived from it, have been seen by scholars as a syncretism of Buddhism ("Bul-gyo"), Confucianism ("Yu-gyo"), Taoism ("Do-gyo") with unique religious insights of Kang and certain elements borrowed from Christianity ("Gidok-gyo"), as well as an underlying Korean shamanism ("Musok-Sinang").
Early life.
Gang Il-sun was born in Gobu County, Jeolla Province (present-day Deokcheon Township of Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, Korea) on September 19, 1871, according to the Lunar calendar mostly used by his followers, or November 1, 1871 of the Gregorian calendar. There is a hagiographic literature written by his followers, which describes miraculous phenomena surrounding his early years. For instance, hagiographical accounts record that "at the time of his birth (...) two female fairies (仙女) descended from heaven into the delivery room," filling it with a "sweet-smelling aroma." Later, it is claimed that he "learned Chinese classics at a Seodang and mastered them to the point of memorizing and reciting all of them by heart," through a complete understanding of their meaning.
In 1891, Gang married Jeong Chi-sun (鄭治順) (1874-1928), a lady from Gimje County. In 1894, he opened a Seodang in the home of his brother-in-law Jeong Nam-Gi(鄭南基). He acquired a reputation for his knowledge of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Korean folk religions, and gathered a few disciples. Reputedly, he also visited Kim Il Bu (金一夫) (1826-1898), the well known scholar who introduced the "Jeong-yeok (正易)", i.e. a new interpretation of the Chinese I Ching (Book of Changes). Kim is said to have offered a new arrangement of the I Ching Chinese trigrams, together with other diagrams and an explanatory text, including insights he had received in a mysterious vision. His re-balancing of the trigrams had a profound influence on many Korean new religions, including those derived from Gang.
Donghak.
In 1860 Choe Je-u, concerned about the growing influence of the West, the increasing Japanese presence in Joseon Korea, widespread corruption in government and established religion, and abuse of power by the "yangban" (aristocratic social class), alleged he had a revelation from the Supreme God "Sangje" ("Shang-ti" in Chinese) and attained enlightenment. Choe Je-u became the founder of the Donghak (Eastern Learning) movement, the prototype of many subsequent Korean syncretistic new religions. Donghak culminated in the unsuccessful Donghak Rebellion of 1894, which was fueled by a combination of religious fervor centering on the millennial visions of a coming messiah and anger regarding Seoul's high taxes. Central to Choe Je-u’s teachings was a belief in Hu-Cheon Gaebyeok(後天開闢), the Great Opening (Gaebyeok) of the Later World (Hu-Cheon), the new age paradise of Donghak, which also later characterized Gang Il-sun’s millenarian vision.
Gang Il-sun, in fact, insisted that he was Sangje himself who, prior to incarnating on earth, had bestowed that revelation upon Choe Je-u. Gang "had considerable connections with the Donghak movement, not only ideologically but also geographically," as the village where Gang lived was only four kilometers away from the location where the first uprising of the Donghak revolution began. Later, Gang gathered a number of followers in the North Jeolla province, where he lived, and among them where some members of Donghak. Although he was interested in the religious ideas of Donghak, Gang Il-sun predicted, quite correctly, the defeat of Donghak's peasant militia, and advised his followers not to join it. He believed that the problems of Korea, and human society in general, would be solved through spiritual awakening rather than armed rebellion.
Messianic claims.
After the bloody defeat of Donghak, Gang Il-sun wandered around Korea for three years, surveying public sentiment. In 1900, he returned home and, starting in the years that followed, gathered a sizable number of followers. According to these followers, during the Summer of 1901 he achieved enlightenment on the Moaksan mountain, after forty-nine days of ascetic practices and fasting. In fact, the followers claimed for their spiritual leader much more than enlightenment, as they accepted his claim that he was Sangje, the Supreme Lord, who had bestowed a revelation upon Choe Je-u and had than incarnated in this world to initiate a New Age. According to Daesoon Jinrihoe, the largest movement recognizing Gang as Sangje, his ascetic practices in the Moaksan mountain were performed to open the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and to exercise judgement on the divine beings and were, thus, more than ascetic practices. The followers also claimed that he judged all deities in charge of the Former World, opened the way to the Later World and, through the rituals he performed between 1901 and 1909, achieved a complete “Reordering of the Universe” ("Cheonji Gongsa",天地公事). Daesun Jinrihoe believes that there was a residual work of reordering, to be completed by his successors in the religious orthodoxy, Jo Jeongsan (趙鼎山) (1895-1958) and Park Wudang (朴牛堂) (1918-1996). Another branch of Jeungsanism, Jeung San Do, believes that, as Gang was God the Father, his female disciple Goh Pan-Lye (高判禮) (1880-1935), revered by Jeung San Do with the title of Tae-mo-nim, was God the Mother and between 1926 and 1935 performed her own reordering of the universe.
Relations with the Japanese.
After the Donghak rebellion, Japan had a growing presence in Korea, and this culminated in the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910 and the formal annexation of Korea by Japan. Gang Il-sun maintained an attitude similar to the one he had exhibited when confronted with the Donghak movement. Although critical of those Koreans who sided unconditionally with the Japanese, Gang Il-sun again advised against "any form of violence" and "stressed reconciliation and peace," insisting also that this period of Japanese rule in Korea would bring resolution to the grievances that Japan had in history. His peaceful attitude, however, did not protect him from the suspicions of the Japanese authorities. On December 25, 1907, he and a number of his followers were arrested, based on the suspect that they intended to raise an army against the Japanese. Reportedly, "even in prison, he made peaceful gestures" and "did not protest against the authorities in any way." He was finally released on February 4, 1908, continued his rituals and preaching, and passed away on June 24, 1909 at the Donggok Clinic he had established in 1908.
Legacy.
Gang Il-sun chose Goh Pan-Lye as his successor, and after his passing his movement split into many different factions. In 1911, Goh Pan-Lye (Subu, literally “Head Lady,” although there were two "Subus" in Gang's circle), a female disciple, emerged as the leader of one of the largest factions, which eventually came under the control of Goh's male cousin, Cha Gyeong-Seok (1880-1936). Cha's branch, known as Bocheonism (Bocheob-gyo), according to some scholars "had more followers during the Japanese colonial period than any other religion, more than an estimated 6 million adherents." However, it declined quite rapidly. Goh had separated from Cha in 1919 and established her own organization, which in turn divided into several rival factions after her death. Kim Hyeong-Ryeol (1862-1932), another leading disciple of Gang Il-sun, originally supported Cha but left him in 1914 and established yet another branch with the help of Gang Il-sun's widow, Jeong. Again, this branch split into several independent groups. Ultimately, around one hundred different groups claiming the legacy of Gang Il-sun came into existence, although few of them survive to this day.
The largest one is Daesun Jinrihoe, which originates from Jo Jeongsan (1895-1958), who was not a direct disciple of Gang Il-sun but claimed to have received a revelation from him in 1917, eight years after Gang Il-sun's death. Jo Jeongsan's followers claim, however, that in 1909 Gang Il-sun saw a train passing, which had Jo Jeongsan, then a teenager, aboard with his family, heading to Bongcheon, Manchuria, to live in exile there, and stated: “A man can do anything at the age of 15 if he is able to take his identification tag ("hopae") with him.” Jo Jeongsan's disciples later claimed that these words amounted to an endorsement by Gang Il-sun of Jo Jeongsan as his successor. Gang's only daughter, Sun-Im (1904-1959), originally accepted Jo but later established her own branch, known as Jeung San Beob Jong Gyo, which is headquartered in Korea's North Jeolla province, and after protracted litigation with other branches obtained the mortal remains of Kang, which are currently at its headquarters.
Be it as it may be, and although statistics are in turn a matter of contention, there is little doubt that a large number of Koreans, perhaps as much as several millions, are today connected with one or another branch of the religious movement started by Gang Il-sun and recognize him as a divine incarnation, the majority of them belonging to Daesun Jinrihoe. Both Daesun Jinrihoe and Jeung San Do have also started a missionary activity abroad, particularly in the United States. Certainly, Gang Il-Sun did not believe that his message of salvation was restricted to Korea and indeed he explicitly taught that it was intended for the whole world. |
Manam Kothi Paravai
Manam Kothi Paravai () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Ezhil, starring Sivakarthikeyan and Athmiya Rajan. D. Imman has scored the music. The film opened to moderate reviews from critics, but it was the first commercial hit in Sivakarthikeyan's career. The film was remade in Kannada as "Anjada Gandu" (2014) and in Telugu as "Vinavayya Ramayya".
Plot.
Kannan (Sivakarthikeyan) is a carefree youth who assists his father Ramaiah (Ilavarasu) in his construction business. He spends time with his friends Nalla Thambi (Soori), Modu Mutti (Singampuli), and M. R. Kishore Kumar.
Kannan is in love with his neighbour Revathy (Athmiya Rajan), whose father and uncles are the most dreaded goons in the village. They are both childhood friends. He gets a shocker when he decides to reveal his love to Revathy. Her family has arranged her a marriage with an influential man. To avoid the arranged marriage, Kannan's friends from Mumbai (Nayar (Srinath) and Chaams) kidnap Revathy.
There is a twist in the tale. Revathy declares she has no romantic interest over Kannan. "He is just a friend", says the girl at first. But later reveals that she loves Kannan too, so much so that if others knew it, it'd be a problem to him and prove to be a risk to his life.
Meanwhile, the bride-to-be's family searches frantically to find their girl. They get hold of Kannan and his friends. Revathy and Kannan are separated.
After two years, Kannan returns from Oman after having worked as a site engineer there, to meet his love. He meets her with avidity and they talk for a while when she asks him to leave immediately, for fear that her father would harm him. Kannan, still a passionate lover, asks Revathy if they could marry, now that she's not married to anybody else.
Revathy's father barges in unexpectedly and asks Kannan to leave the house, but with Revathy.
Production.
Producer Ambeth Kumar and Ranjeev Menon are friends of director Ezhil. When they asked him how the shooting of Manam Kothi Paravai was proceeding, he made them listen to the songs tuned by D. Imman. Impressed, they decided to produce it.
It was initially expected that Yuvan Shankar Raja, whom Ezhil had worked with in his previous release "Deepavali", would compose the music, but as the budget of this film could not afford to have Yuvan as the music composer, Ezhil opted for D. Imman. After the lead role in Marina and an important role in the recently released 3, Sivakarthikeyan is taking up a full-fledged lead role again for Manam Kothi Paravai.
The film, which is set in a village, has been shot at Ezhil's native place Kayathur, near Mayavaram and Siva Karthikeyan's Thiruvizhimizhalai.
Soundtrack.
The music of "Manam Kothi Paravai" was scored by D. Imman. The soundtrack was released on 12 April 2012, which features 8 tracks with lyrics written by Yugabharathi. Universal Music is back in the Tamil market after a 30-year hiatus with 'Manam Kothi Paravai'.
Critical reception.
Behindwoods wrote: "Imman has a winner with this movie". Milliblog wrote: "Manam Kothi Paravai’s soundtrack surpasses anything that composer Imman has produced so far, including his most famous soundtrack, Mynaa. The tunes and music he puts together here demonstrate a maturity not seen in the composer’s work so far and makes for fantastic listen.""The Hindu" wrote:"MKP is a comedy it turns serious and when you settle down for the drama, matters turn ludicrous. Consistency in treatment is a casualty". Sify wrote:"On the whole the film fails to deliver". Behindwoods wrote:"Manam Kothi Paravai moves at a very relaxed pace. With not too many events packed into it, the movie might come across as a long haul if you are looking for a love story that is both entertaining and endearing. Parts of it are entertaining and parts of it, endearing".The Times of India rated 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Ezhil seems to have tried to do a Kalavani here but those familiar with his repertoire will realize he is more comfortable with melodrama"."IndiaGlitz" rated 0 out of 5 stars stating "On the whole, the movie may resemble the likes of 'Kalavani' and 'Uthamaputhiran'. But forget the lengthy second half and some clichéd sequences, 'Manam Koththi Paravai' will stick to your hearts".The New Indian Express stated "A romantic comedy low on humour". |
Jonny Edgar
Jonny Edgar (born 13 February 2004) is an English racing driver currently racing in the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship for MP Motorsport. He was both a member of the Red Bull Junior Team and the 2020 ADAC Formula 4 champion. He is the cousin of F1 Academy driver Jessica Edgar.
Career.
Karting.
Born in Whitehaven, Edgar started his career in 2012, being in the fourth generation of Edgars to practice motor racing. Edgar began his karting career with Fusion Motorsport in Britain, finishing second in the Super 1 National Championship just three years after his debut. He also won the SKUSA SuperNationals that year, driving for Team Benik. His karting highlight came in 2017, when he won the CIK-FIA European Championship in the OKJ-category on his first attempt, having beaten the likes of Hadrien David, Zane Maloney and Jack Doohan. In Edgar's final year of karting he managed to finish third in the WSK Super Master Series, having remained with Forza Racing.
Lower formulae.
2019.
In 2019, Edgar made his car racing debut in the Italian F4 Championship, driving for Jenzer Motorsport, whilst also competing in selected rounds of the ADAC Formula 4 Championship as a guest driver. He scored two podiums, namely a second-place finish at Imola and third at Mugello. Edgar scored a further two pole positions and two fastest laps, and with 97 points the Red Bull Junior finished 10th in the standings.
2020.
Edgar would continue to race in both the Italian and German Formula 4 Championships, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic he would only compete part-time in the former. He signed for Van Amersfoort Racing, partnering fellow Red Bull Junior Team member Jak Crawford. The British driver would end up winning the ADAC Formula 4 Championship with a gap of just two points to Crawford, while in the Italian Championship he would finish fourth, winning at Imola and the season finale in Vallelunga, despite having missed two race weekends.
FIA Formula 3 Championship.
2021.
In October 2020 Edgar completed the first post-season test at Catalunya, running for MP Motorsport. Later that month, the Dutch outfit once again fielded Edgar in the second post-season test at Jerez. In December, Edgar partook in a test with the Carlin team at Algarve. At the start of January, Edgar was announced to drive for Carlin in the 2021 season, partnering Ido Cohen and Kaylen Frederick. He qualified 12th and thus started on pole on his debut as a result of reverse grid, and finishing that race in fifth place gave him his first points in Formula 3. The Briton's most successful round came at the Red Bull Ring where he, after only qualifying in 18th place, finished sixth, fifth and tenth in the races respectively. Unfortunately, Edgar didn't manage to score any further points after that round and ended up 18th in the standings, having scored all but two points of Carlin that year. However in September 2021, Edgar was nominated for the Autosport BRDC Award and was selected as one of the four finalists together with Louis Foster, Ollie Bearman and eventual winner Zak O'Sullivan.
2022.
In November 2021, Edgar switched to reigning team champions Trident for the post-season test at Catalunya, driving alongside Roman Staněk and rookie Zane Maloney. After further testing during the winter, Edgar was confirmed with the Italian outfit in January for the 2022 season. Having been picked as one of the title favourites, it was a surprise when Edgar finished outside of the top ten in both races of the opening round. However, he later revealed that he had been diagnosed with Crohn's disease, which caused major weight loss during the winter and made driving immensely difficult. Edgar opted to pull out of the championship following that round, claiming that he "[needed] to take some time out to prioritise [his] health. After missing the rounds at Imola and Barcelona, the Brit returned for the fourth round at Silverstone, having "improved sufficiently" to return to racing. In the feature race, he scored his first points of the season with an eighth place finish. He would continue his points-scoring form into the following round in Austria, where he ended up seventh in the sprint race, however a collision caused by Caio Collet at the Safety car restart in the feature race prevented another points finish. A scoreless round at Budapest came next, although Edgar would finish off the season in a positive manner, scoring points in all of the remaining six races, being the only driver to manage this feat. Edgar ended up twelfth in the standings, having helped Trident to the runner-up spot in the teams' championship and become the highest placed driver to have missed at least two rounds.
After the end of the season, Edgar took part in the post-season test, partnering Franco Colapinto and Mari Boya at MP Motorsport.
2023.
Edgar remained in Formula 3 for the 2023 season, this time moving to MP Motorsport after a successful test.
Formula One.
In September 2017, Edgar was named as one of four new signings to the Red Bull Junior Team, alongside Dennis Hauger, Jack Doohan and Harry Thompson. However at the start of 2023, Edgar was announced to be leaving the junior team.
Personal life.
Edgar is the cousin of racing driver Jessica Edgar. They are part of the fourth generation of Edgars to practice motor racing. In April 2022 Jonny Edgar was diagnosed with Crohn's disease.
Racing record.
Racing career summary.
† As Edgar was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.<br>
Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results.
† As Edgar was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. |
Weetabix Limited
Weetabix Ltd., trading under the name Weetabix Food Company and commonly referred to as simply Weetabix, is a food processing company that is responsible for the production of breakfast cereal brands, including Weetabix, Alpen, Crunchy Bran and Ready Brek. The company also produces Puffins cereal and Snackimals snacks through their Barbara's Bakery division.
History.
The food product was originally invented in Australia in the 1920s by Bennison Osborne. Osborne and his friend Malcolm MacFarlane successfully launched Weet-Biscs in Australia and New Zealand under the sponsorship of the owner of Grain Products Ltd., who soon sold the Australasian rights to the Australasian Conference Association Limited Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company. Osborne and MacFarlane decided to expand into South Africa and while there, they began the establishment of the British & African Cereal Company, Ltd., a Private Company, to start a venture in England under the Companies Act 1929 (Company No. 267687), where they became joint Managing Directors until MacFarlane left the Company in 1932/1933, after which Osborne became the sole managing director until 1936, when he left the Company for the United States of America. The first Directors of the Company were Bennison Osborne, Malcolm MacFarlane, Alfred Richard Upton and Arthur Stanley Scrutton. Frank George, who had offered them the use of a disused flour mill in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, subsequently requested and was granted shares in the Company and was offered a place on the Board.
The company holds a royal warrant from Queen Elizabeth II.
For the purpose of differentiating between the various countries, it was decided that the product, when introduced into the United Kingdom, should be known as "Weetabix". On 13 August 1936, with the approval of the Board of Trade, the Company name was changed to "Weetabix Limited".
Alpen was invented in 1971, when a company executive was on holiday in Switzerland and tasted a local delicacy.
In November 2003, the company was bought from Weetabix Limited, by the American private equity firm HM Capital of Dallas. From 29 January 2004, it was owned by Lion Capital LLP, until 3 May 2012 when the Chinese company Bright Food bought a 60% controlling stake, valuing the company at £1.2bn ($1.9bn).
In 2012 the company was bought by the Chinese Government through the state-run Bright Food, and the equity firm Baring Private Equity Asia, with Bright Food having the controlling interest.
In July 2017, the American company Post Holdings bought the company for £1.4 billion.
The company does not have the rights to the product in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. In these countries, the brand is still known as Weet-Bix and is still made by Sanitarium Health Food Company in Australia and New Zealand and Bokomo in South Africa.
In 2021, Weetabix faced strike action over a decision to make workers redundant and re-employ them on lower wages, a practice known as fire-and-rehire.
Awards.
It has won three Queen's Awards for Export, lastly in 2004.
Company structure.
The company is headquartered in Burton Latimer, Kettering, Northamptonshire, England, and its site is next to the A14 junction with the A6. It also has factories in Corby and Ashton-under-Lyne. The company produces 3 billion Weetabix breakfast biscuits every year from its Kettering site.
Weetabix is also one of the major manufacturers of generic cereals for the major supermarkets.
Weetabix has factories in Europe, East Africa and North America. It is the largest producer of breakfast cereals in the UK. It exports to eighty countries. As of 2012 it employed around 2000 people.
Brands.
Barbara's Bakery.
The California-based natural-foods company was purchased by Weetabix in 1986, eventually moving operations to Marlborough, Massachusetts. They are particularly well known for their Puffins Cereal line.
In 2019-2020 the packaging for Barbara's Bakery cereals was revamped
, and on the new packaging all references to "The Weetabix Company, Inc." have been replaced with references to "Three Sisters Cereal".
GrainShop.
Sold primarily in the North American market, the GrainShop brand has two cereals, High Fibre Crisp and Honey Almond Crunch. High Fibre Crisp is a blend of four grains, wheat and corn, bran and oats, while Honey Almond Crunch is a combination of crunchy oats, flakes, almonds and honey.
Oatibix.
Products in the Oatibix range are made from oats, as opposed to the company's preference to wheat-based food. The original Oatibix cereal is physically very similar to the company's flagship Weetabix but made of whole grain oats. Oatibix Bitesize is a variant of Oatibix with smaller biscuits and is available as Oatibix Bitesize Sultana & Apple or Oatibix Bitesize Chocolate & Raisin in addition to the original flavour.
Ready Brek.
Ready Brek is an oat-based breakfast cereal that is intended to be served hot, and comes in three varieties; 'Original', 'Chocolate' and 'Seriously Oaty'. A butterscotch flavour was marketed during the 1970s.
Weetabix.
Weetabix is a whole grain wheat breakfast cereal that comes in the form of palm-sized biscuits. It is Weetabix Food Company's flagship product, introduced in 1932 and is officially the top-selling breakfast cereal in the United Kingdom, accounting for 8% of the country's total cereal sales. The cereal, which is manufactured in facilities in Kettering, England and Canada, is exported to 80 countries and has annual sales worth over £95 million.
Weetabix Bitesize is essentially a smaller "bite-sized" version of Weetabix that can be easily poured into a bowl, more like a traditional breakfast cereal. Weetabix Minis are sweeter variant of the Weetabix Bitesize, with various additions depending upon the variety; Chocolate Crisp, Banana Crisp, Fruit & Nut Crisp, and Honey & Nut Crisp. Outside of the UK, Weetabix Minis has been re-launched and renamed at least twice in a relatively short period of time following their launch. Previously, they were known as Fruitibix, Bananabix, and Chocobix (depending upon the additions), then as Minibix.
Sponsorship.
Weetabix was the title sponsor of the Women's British Open between 1987 and 2006. It has also previously sponsored Northamptonshire Police, most recently providing a mobile police station in 2004. It was one of the sponsors of the World Cup in Argentina in 1978. Weetabix was the main sponsor of the first BMX World Championships
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_BMX_World_Championships
to be held in the UK in 1986. These Championships were held at Slough in Berkshire, atracting over 2,000 racers from across the world. |
Hairy Maclary and Friends
Hairy Maclary and Friends is a series of children's picture books created by New Zealand author and illustrator Dame Lynley Dodd. The popular series has sold over five million copies worldwide.
The character Hairy Maclary made his first appearance in 1983 in the book titled "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy". He is the protagonist in twelve books in the series, and there are a further nine books about his friends.
Hairy Maclary's adventures are usually in the company of his other animal friends who include the dachshund Schnitzel von Krumm, the Dalmatian Bottomley Potts, greyhound-cross Bitzer Maloney, mastiff Hercules Morse and Old English sheepdog Muffin McLay. The series also features cats Scarface Claw, their formidable opponent, and Slinky Malinki.
According to the books' website, Hairy Maclary is "a small dog of mixed pedigree".
Description.
Hairy Maclary books are designed to be read by an adult to a child. The plots are simple, keeping with the comprehension-level of the age group for which they are written. They generally involve Hairy and his friends in adventurous scenarios pitched against local cats. The animals in this series, unlike the creatures of Beatrix Potter's stories, are not given human thoughts and motives, their actions tell the stories, and reflect their animal natures.
Each double-sided page has an illustration on one side, and text on the other. The pictures and the written words together tell the story, and the illustrations and their meanings are as important as the text. The books have a wide format that enables a child seated beside an adult to have a full view of the picture page while the adult reads.
The text is written in rhythmic verse that flows easily with simple rhymes like "Bottomley Potts covered in spots, Hercules Morse as big as a horse". Characters, events and therefore language are repetitive and cumulative, in the manner of "Old MacDonald had a farm". Each book contains a twist or some sort of conclusion at the end. The repetitions permit a young child to anticipate what is coming next and repeat the words.<poem>
"Schnitzel von Krumm
with a very low tum,
Bitzer Maloney
all skinny and bony,
Muffin McLay
like a bundle of hay,
Bottomley Potts
covered in spots,
Hercules Morse
as big as a horse
and Hairy Maclary
from Donaldson's Dairy"
</poem>Although the books are designed to entertain young children, they are not intended as "early readers", as are, for example, the "Cat in the Hat" books by Dr. Seuss which have a very basic and largely phonic vocabulary. The Hairy Maclary books, despite their simple stories, introduce the listening child to some long but very expressive words, which are not part of the average preschooler vocabulary but must be understood by the child in the context in which they occur. For example, the noise made by a stranded cat and the excited dogs who discover it is described as a "cacophony".
Lynley Dodd's illustrations are closely observed from life. The breeds of dogs, the types of houses and the plants growing in each garden can generally be identified. The stories seem to exist in a real suburb in the real world. Hairy Maclary's home, for example, has a red corrugated iron roof supported on wooden brackets, and the garden has a frangipani tree, a picket fence and a row of agapanthi. Each picture promotes investigation and discussion between the child and the reader, as events unfold in the pictures which are not described in the text. In the first book of the series the repeated lines "...and Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy" accompany a series of illustrations showing Hairy Maclary sniffing the bottom of a lamppost, burrowing into a hedge, barking at some birds and raiding a garbage can. Close observation is encouraged by the inclusion in many of the pictures of a tiny glimpse of the dog who has been named on the previous page, as it approaches or walks out of the picture, showing only the point of a nose or the tip of a tail.
Adaptations and legacy.
In the 1990s, a TV series featuring ten five-minute episodes based on the series premiered. In 2015 a sculpture of Hairy Maclary and other characters from the books was officially unveiled in Tauranga on the waterfront by former prime minister John Key. In the 2019 TVNZ series "Goodnight Kiwi" the prime minister Jacinda Ardern read "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy"; the episode aired on TVNZ 2 on Christmas Day. |
Holkham National Nature Reserve
Holkham National Nature Reserve is England's largest national nature reserve (NNR). It is on the Norfolk coast between Burnham Overy Staithe and Blakeney, and is managed by Natural England with the cooperation of the Holkham Estate. Its comprise a wide range of habitats, including grazing marsh, woodland, salt marsh, sand dunes and foreshore. The reserve is part of the North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the larger area is additionally protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar listings, and is part of both an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and a World Biosphere Reserve. Holkham NNR is important for its wintering wildfowl, especially pink-footed geese, Eurasian wigeon and brant geese, but it also has breeding waders, and attracts many migrating birds in autumn. A number of scarce invertebrates and plants can be found in the dunes, and the reserve is one of the only two sites in the UK to have an antlion colony.
This stretch of coast originally consisted of salt marshes protected from the sea by ridges of shingle and sand, and Holkham's Iron Age fort stood at the end of a sandy spit surrounded by the tidal wetland. The Vikings navigated the creeks to establish Holkham village, but access to the former harbour was stopped by drainage and reclamation of the marshes between the coast and the shingle ridge which started in the 17th century, and was completed in 1859. The Holkham estate has been owned by the Coke family, later Earls of Leicester since 1609, and their seat at Holkham Hall is opposite the reserve's Lady Anne's Drive entrance. The 3rd Earl planted pines on the dunes to protect the pastures reclaimed by his predecessors from wind-blown sand. The national nature reserve was created in 1967 from of the Holkham Estate and of foreshore belonging to the Crown.
The reserve has over 100,000 visitors a year, including birdwatchers and horse riders, and is therefore significant for the local economy. The NNR has taken steps to control entry to the fragile dunes and other areas important for their animals or plants because of the damage to sensitive habitats that could be caused by unrestricted access. The dunes are an essential natural defence against the projected rises in sea level along this vulnerable coast.
Description.
The reserve lies to the north of A149 coast road, starting just west of Burnham Overy Staithe and extending west past Holkham to Beach Road, Wells-next-the-Sea. It also includes the tidal salt marshes continuing further east to Blakeney. Its total area of about makes it the largest NNR in England. The reserve can be accessed by footpaths from Wells and the local villages including the Peddars Way/Norfolk Coast long-distance trail that traverses the main part of the reserve, and National Cycle Route 1 loops through the core of the NNR between Holkham and Wells. There is a car park near Holkham village at the north end of Lady Anne's Drive that gives access to two bird hides, and another parking area at the end of Beach Road in Wells. To the east of the Wells channel, the reserve is mainly salt marshes and mud flats, and is difficult and potentially dangerous to access, although a public footpath runs along the southern edge of these tidal areas.
The salt marshes on this coast are stated in the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notification document to be "among the best in Europe ... the flora is exceptionally diverse". Holkham also has good examples of sand dunes, and the pines planted on the dunes have provided shelter for other trees and shrubs to become established, making this the only substantial area of woodland in the North Norfolk Coast SSSI. The dunes are created and altered by the elements, and the sand islands in Holkham Bay have formed only within the last 60 years. The flat ground inland from the dunes is reclaimed salt marsh that was used as pasture until the 1940s, but converted to arable land during World War II. The value of the fields to wildlife was reduced by the resulting lower water table, but Natural England's management measures have raised the water levels, attracting breeding and wintering birds. Water management can also be used to ensure a high water table in summer, benefiting breeding waders, and drier conditions in winter, preferred by the geese. The management of water levels and grassland increased the numbers of breeding wetland birds from 120 pairs of ten species in 1986 to 795 pairs of 26 species in 1994, and the number of wintering birds of four key wildfowl species rose from 1,215 to 17,305 in the decade from 1983/84.
History.
Norfolk has a long history of human occupation. Both modern and Neanderthal people were present in the area between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, before the last glaciation, and humans returned as the ice retreated northwards. The archaeological record is poor until about 20,000 years ago, partly because of the then prevailing very cold conditions, but also because the coastline was much further north than at present. As the ice retreated during the Mesolithic (10,000–5,000 BCE), the sea level rose, filling what is now the North Sea. This brought the Norfolk coastline much closer to its present line, so that many ancient sites are now under the sea in an area now known as Doggerland.
The coast at Holkham originally consisted of salt marshes protected from the sea by ridges of shingle and sand.
A large Iron Age fort (Holkham Camp) at the end of a sandy spit in the marshes could only be approached along the spit; it enclosed and remained in use until the defeat of the Iceni in 47 AD. The Vikings navigated the tidal creeks to establish Holkham, the name deriving from the Danish for "ship town".
The Holkham Estate has been owned by the Coke family since 1609, and Holkham Hall, built by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester between 1734 and 1764, is opposite the NNR entrance. Until the 17th century, ships could navigate the tidal creeks to reach the staithe (harbour) at Holkham village, but local landowners began to reclaim the marshes from 1639, and the final embankment at Wells was constructed by the 2nd Earl in 1859, completing the conversion of about to farmland. The 3rd Earl planted Corsican, maritime and Scots pines on the dunes in the late 19th century to shelter the agricultural land from wind-blown sand, which is carried inland when the wind speed exceeds three metres (10 ft) per second and blows from directions between northwest to northeast.
The Holkham National Nature Reserve was created in 1967 from of the Holkham Estate and of intertidal sand and mud flats belonging to the Crown Estate. In 1986 the NNR was subsumed into the newly created North Norfolk Coast SSSI. The larger area is now additionally protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar listings, and is part of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The coast from Holkham NNR to Salthouse, together with Scolt Head Island, is a Biosphere Reserve.
Flora and fauna.
Birds.
As many as 50,000 pink-footed geese, 13,000 Eurasian wigeon and 7,000 brent geese winter at Holkham, making it of international importance for these species. Up to 400 white-fronted geese and a few tundra bean geese may join the wildfowl flocks, and the odd peregrine falcon, short-eared owl, merlin, marsh harrier or hen harrier may hunt over the fields. The shingle banks and foreshore hold wintering flocks of shore larks, snow buntings and twite, and waders like knots, curlews, dunlins and grey plover probe for invertebrates in the mud flats.
Spring migration is relatively quiet, although sightings of ring ouzel and firecrest are possible amongst the more common arrivals. Breeding birds include lapwings, common snipe, pied avocets, common redshanks and marsh harriers on the grazing marshes, ringed plovers and little terns on the beach, and black-headed, herring and lesser black-backed gulls on the salt marsh. The small grey heron colony has been joined by little egrets, and, from 2010, by Eurasian spoonbills. In 2020, a pair of cattle egret successfully bred at the site, the first time the species had successfully bred in Norfolk. The pines may occasionally have nesting siskins or common crossbills, and parrot crossbills bred in 1984 and 1985.
Holkham's north-facing coastal location can attract large numbers of migrating birds in autumn if the weather conditions are right, especially with a north to north-east wind. The common species may be accompanied by a wryneck, red-backed shrike or greenish warbler in August, with goldcrests, thrushes and finches later in the season, and perhaps red-breasted flycatchers and yellow-browed warblers. Vagrant rarities such as Pallas's, Radde's or dusky warblers may occur; a red-breasted nuthatch in 1989 was the first, and, as of 2019, the only individual of its species to be recorded in the UK.
Other animals and plants.
Brown hares and European otters are found all along the north Norfolk coast, but red squirrels disappeared from the Holkham pines by 1981. The rare natterjack toad breeds at Holkham, one of only two sites along this coast, although the common frog, common toad and common lizard are widespread in appropriate habitats.
The green hairstreak, purple hairstreak, comma, hummingbird hawk-moth, broad-bordered bee hawk-moth and ghost moth are sometimes seen in the woods with the common butterfly and moth species, and a clouded yellow or Camberwell beauty may also occur in some years. Grayling, small heath and common blue butterflies can be found in the dunes, where there is also a large antlion colony, making Holkham one of only two locations for this predatory insect in the UK. Dragonflies include the migrant hawker, southern hawker and ruddy darter.
On exposed parts of the coast, the muds and sands are scoured by the tides, and have no vegetation except possibly algae or eelgrass, but where the shoreline is more protected, internationally important salt marshes can form, with several uncommon species. The salt marsh contains glassworts and annual seablite in the most exposed regions, with a succession of plants following on as the marsh becomes more established: first sea aster, then mainly sea lavender, with sea purslane in the creeks and smaller areas of sea plantain and other common marsh plants. Scrubby sea-blite and matted sea lavender are characteristic plants of the drier upper salt marsh here, although they are uncommon in the UK away from the Norfolk coast.
Grasses such as sea couch grass and sea poa grass are important in the driest areas of the marshes, and on the coastal dunes, where marram grass, sand couch-grass, lyme-grass and red fescue help to bind the sand. Sea holly and sand sedge are other specialists of this arid habitat, and petalwort is a nationally rare bryophyte found on damper dunes. Bird's-foot trefoil, pyramidal orchid, bee orchid, lesser centaury and carline thistle flower on the more stable dunes, where the rare Jersey cudweed and grey hair-grass are also found. The narrow 5-km (3-mi) belt of pines shelters creeping lady's tresses and yellow bird's nest.
Recreation.
A 2005 survey at Holkham and five other North Norfolk coastal sites found that 39 per cent of visitors gave birdwatching as the main purpose of their visit. The 7.7 million day visitors and 5.5 million who made overnight stays in the area in 1999 are estimated to have spent £122 million, and created the equivalent of 2,325 full-time jobs. Holkham NNR is one of three sites within the SSSI that attract 100,000 or more visitors annually, the others being Titchwell Marsh and Cley Marshes. The large number of visitors at coastal sites sometimes has negative effects. Wildlife may be disturbed, a frequent difficulty for species that breed in exposed areas such as Ringed Plovers and Little Terns, and also for wintering geese. Plants can be trampled, which is a particular problem in sensitive habitats such as sand dunes and vegetated shingle. The discovery of the nationally rare tiny earthstar fungus at Holkham led its finders to state that "The survival of this species in Britain would undoubtedly benefit from the construction of a boardwalk across this fragile and frequently-visited habitat."
The Little Tern colony at Holkham, holding seven per cent of the British population, is cordoned off in the breeding season, with signs explaining why people are excluded from the area. The dune vegetation can be damaged by too many people walking over it, leading to blowout, the rapid wind erosion of the sand. Boardwalks and steps enable visitors to reach the beach on foot without harming the dunes, and horse riders and naturists are asked to stay on the beach and keep off the dunes. As the climate becomes warmer in the future, there is likely to be more tourism pressure on the coasts, but the effects of this may be mitigated by a move towards lower-impact activities like bathing.
The Norfolk Coast Partnership, a grouping of conservation and environmental bodies, divide the coast and its hinterland into three zones for tourism development purposes. Holkham dunes, along with Holme Dunes and Blakeney Point, were considered to be sensitive habitats already suffering from visitor pressure, and were designated as red-zone areas with no development or parking improvements to be recommended. The rest of the NNR is placed in the orange zone, for locations with fragile habitats but less tourism pressure.
Threats.
The underlying geology of the North Norfolk coast is Cretaceous chalk, exposed at Hunstanton cliffs just to the west of the SSSI, but buried by soft Quaternary glacial debris for the entire length of the SSSI coast. Unlike the soft, rapidly eroding cliffs further east, the coast of the SSSI has shown a less consistent pattern, with a net accretion of beach material between 1880 and 1950. However, this coastline is threatened by climate change, with sea level rising an estimated 1–2 mm per year for the last 100 years, increasing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion.
Half the area of the salt marshes that formed in the lee of Scolt Head Island has been reclaimed in the last 300 years, creating ecologically important, but very fragile, grazing marshes. Although Holkham is low-lying and can flood in severe weather conditions, it is protected by the spit that developed at the Holkham Gap in the 1990s and the dunes along the coast, which are increasingly being stabilised by vegetation. The Environment Agency's management plan until 2105 is to rely on the natural protection of the dunes, intervening only if work is necessary to maintain their effectiveness in the face of a potential sea level rise of 1.1 m (3 ft) by that date. The shingle that makes up Scolt Head Island is moving westwards and southwards at up to 3.5 m (10 ft) per year. This may affect the movement of sediment, and lead to some erosion of the dunes and beaches at Holkham, but should not destroy their effectiveness as a sea defence unless the island reattaches to the mainland at some date in the distant future. |
Noah Song
Noah Benjamin Song (born May 28, 1997) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB), and a member of the United States Navy Selected Reserve. Song played college baseball for the Navy Midshipmen, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2019. That season, he led NCAA Division I baseball in strikeouts, and in strikeouts-per-nine-innings. His fastball has been measured at . Song did not play professional baseball during the 2020–2022 seasons due to serving as an officer in the Navy.
Baseball career.
Amateur career.
Song graduated from Claremont High School in Claremont, California, in 2015. Playing baseball for the high school team, in 2015 he received a Perfect Game All-California honorable mention and was named to the All-Sierra League second team.
Undrafted out of high school, Song attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he earned an engineering degree. In his freshman season of 2016, initially throwing in the mid-80s, Song produced a 9–3 record with a 2.75 earned run average (ERA) and 57 strikeouts over innings. He was named the Patriot League rookie of the year and a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American.
In his sophomore season in 2017, he went 6–4 with a 3.67 ERA and 89 strikeouts over 76 innings. During the summer of 2017, Song played in the Cape Cod League for the Harwich Mariners. In his junior season of 2018, Song produced a 6–5 record with a 1.92 ERA and 121 strikeouts over 89 innings. Song once again played in the Cape Cod League during the summer of 2018, this time for the Orleans Firebirds.
In his senior season of 2019, by which time his fastball velocity had increased to 95–97 mph and he added a 82–86 mph slider, Song produced an 11–1 record with a 1.44 ERA and 161 strikeouts (a new Navy record) over 94 innings. His 161 strikeouts was 3rd in NCAA Division I baseball in 2019, as did his strikeouts-per-nine-innings mark of 15.41 (the best in NCAA Division I since 2009, and 6th-best all-time in Division I history).
In his Navy career, he set school records for career wins (32), strikeouts (428), and innings pitched (), and tied for the most shutouts in school history (9). During his time with Navy, Song won numerous awards and distinctions. He was a finalist for the 2019 Golden Spikes Award and 2019 Dick Howser Trophy. He was named the 2019 Patriot League Pitcher of the Year. He was named a 2019 First Team All-American by "Collegiate Baseball", "Baseball America", Perfect Game, NCBWA, D1Baseball, ABCA, and the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.
Professional career.
Boston Red Sox.
Song was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 4th round, with the 137th overall selection, of the 2019 MLB draft. He became the highest selected MLB draft pick in Naval Academy history, and the ninth Navy graduate picked in the MLB draft. On June 6, 2019, Song signed with Boston.
Song spent his professional debut season of 2019 with the Lowell Spinners of the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League, going 0–0 with a 1.06 ERA, a .167 batting average against, an 0.88 WHIP, and 19 strikeouts over 17 innings. Song did not play in the Boston organization after 2019, due to his military obligations.
Philadelphia Phillies.
On December 7, 2022, Song was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 Rule 5 draft. On February 22, 2023, the Phillies announced that the Navy granted Song's request to change his duty status, allowing him to pursue his baseball career.
International baseball career.
On October 10, 2019, Song was selected for the United States national baseball team in the 2019 WBSC Premier 12. In the tournament, his pitches were measured as fast as . He was 0–0 with a 0.00 ERA in five relief appearances covering innings, during which he gave up one hit and struck out six batters.
Naval career.
Song was originally accepted to the Navy pilot program in college, but had to change after being deemed too tall at to operate planes and helicopters in the field. His job path was then changed to a Naval flight officer and flight mission commander, serving on helicopters. Song was originally scheduled to report to Naval Air Station Pensacola on November 1, 2019, to start training as a naval flight officer and begin his five-year commitment to serve, until he was selected to play for the United States national baseball team at the 2019 WBSC Premier 12 tournament during November 2–17. After the tournament, he was scheduled to report to flight school in Pensacola in December 2019.
In December 2019, Admiral Robert P. Burke, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, denied Song’s petition to delay his active service time, requiring Song to attend flight school and delay his professional baseball career. Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, along with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, could grant Song a waiver—against Admiral Burke's recommendation—but a Navy spokesperson said that no final decision had been made.
In June 2020, it was reported that Song had received orders to report to flight school in Pensacola by June 26. He was expected to be eligible to apply for early release from his training in May 2021. In May 2022, it was reported that Song had completed his flight training, and applied for a waiver to return to playing baseball. In February 2023, the Navy granted Song's request, allowing him to change status from active duty to selected reserve.
Personal life.
Song's father, Bill, immigrated to the United States from South Korea at the age of five. Bill has been a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, where he is a commander, since 1991. Song's mother, Stacy, is a special education instructional assistant. Song has three siblings. |
Pyraminx
The Pyraminx () is a regular tetrahedron puzzle in the style of Rubik's Cube. It was made and patented by Uwe Mèffert after the original 3 layered Rubik's Cube by Ernő Rubik, and introduced by Tomy Toys of Japan (then the 3rd largest toy company in the world) in 1981.
Description.
The Pyraminx was first conceived by Mèffert in 1970. He did nothing with his design until 1981 when he first brought it to Hong Kong for production. Uwe is fond of saying had it not been for Ernő Rubik's invention of the cube, his Pyraminx would have never been produced.
The Pyraminx is a puzzle in the shape of a regular tetrahedron, divided into 4 axial pieces, 6 edge pieces, and 4 trivial tips. It can be twisted along its cuts to permute its pieces. The axial pieces are octahedral in shape, although this is not immediately obvious, and can only rotate around the axis they are attached to. The 6 edge pieces can be freely permuted. The trivial tips are so called because they can be twisted independently of all other pieces, making them trivial to place in solved position. Meffert also produces a similar puzzle called the Tetraminx, which is the same as the Pyraminx except that the trivial tips are removed, turning the puzzle into a truncated tetrahedron.
The purpose of the Pyraminx is to scramble the colors, and then restore them to their original configuration.
The 4 trivial tips can be easily rotated to line up with the axial piece they are respectively attached to, and the axial pieces are also easily rotated so that their colors line up with each other. This leaves only the 6 edge pieces as a real challenge to the puzzle. They can be solved by repeatedly applying two 4-twist sequences, which are mirror-image versions of each other. These sequences permute 3 edge pieces at a time and change their orientation differently, so that a combination of both sequences is sufficient to solve the puzzle. However, more efficient solutions (requiring a smaller total number of twists) are generally available (see below).
The twist of any axial piece is independent of the other three, as is the case with the tips. The six edges can be placed in 6!/2 positions and flipped in 25 ways, accounting for parity. Multiplying this by the 38 factor for the axial pieces gives 75,582,720 possible positions. However, setting the trivial tips to the right positions reduces the possibilities to 933,120, which is also the number of possible patterns on the Tetraminx. Setting the axial pieces as well reduces the figure to only 11,520, making this a rather simple puzzle to solve.
Optimal solutions.
The maximum number of twists required to solve the Pyraminx is 11. There are 933,120 different positions (disregarding the trivial rotation of the tips), a number that is sufficiently small to allow a computer search for optimal solutions. The table below summarizes the result of such a search, stating the number "p" of positions that require "n" twists to solve the Pyraminx:
Records.
The world record fastest Pyraminx solve is 0.75 seconds, set by Elijah Brown of United States on 21 January 2023 at Berkeley Winter A 2023. The world record fastest average of five Pyraminx solves (excluding fastest and slowest) is 1.66 seconds, set by Jasper Murray from New Zealand on 23rd April 2022 Twisty Taranaki 2022.
Methods.
There are many methods for solving a Pyraminx. They can be split up into two main groups.
1) V First Methods - In these methods, two or three edges are solved first, and a set of algorithms, also called LL (last layer) algorithms, are used to solve the remainder of the puzzle.
2) Top First Methods- In these methods, three edges around a center piece are solved first, and the remainder of the puzzle is solved using a set of algorithms.
Common V first methods-
a) Layer by Layer - In this method, a face with all edges permuted is solved, and then the remaining puzzle is solved by a single algorithm from a set of 5.
b) L4E - L4E or last 4 edges is somewhat similar to Layer by Layer. The only difference is that only two edges are solved around three centers, and the remaining four edges are solved using an algorithm.
c) Intuitive L4E - A method similar to the L4E, as the name suggests, in which a lot of visualization is required. The set of algorithms mentioned in the previous method is not memorized. In speedsolving, cases are solved intuitively by anticipating the movement of pieces. This is the most advanced V first method.
Common top first methods-
a) One Flip - This method uses two edges around one center solved and the third edge flipped. There are a total of six cases after this step, for which algorithms are memorized and executed. The third step involves using a common set of algorithms for all top first methods, also called Keyhole last layer, which involves 5 algorithms, four of them being the mirrors of each other.
b) Keyhole - This method uses two edges in the right place around one center, and the third edge placed elsewhere on the puzzle. The centers of the fourth color are then solved using the slot formed by the non-permuted edge. The last step is solved using Keyhole last layer algorithms.
c) OKA - In this method, one edge is oriented around two edges in the wrong place, but one of the edges that is in the wrong place belongs to the block itself. The last edge is found on the bottom layer, and a very simple algorithm is executed to get it in the right place, followed by keyhole last layer algorithms.
Some other common top first methods are WO and Nutella.
Many Pyraminx speedsolvers learn several methods, particularly top-first methods, and use the method that is best for the given solve.
There is no consensus among pyraminx speedsolvers regarding whether top-first or v-first methods are faster.
Variations.
There are several variations of the puzzle. The simplest, Tetraminx, is equivalent to the (3x) Pyraminx but without the tips (see photo), resembling a truncated tetrahedron. There also exist "higher-order" versions, such as the 4x Master Pyraminx (see photos) and the 5x Professor's Pyraminx.
The Master Pyraminx has 4 layers and 16 triangles-per-face (compared to 3 layers and 9 triangles-per-face of the original), and is based on the Skewb Diamond mechanism. This version has about 2.6817 × 1015 combinations. The Master Pyraminx has
In summary, the Master Pyraminx has 30 "manipulable" pieces. However, like the original, 8 of the pieces (the tips and middle axials) are fixed in position (relative to each other) and can only be rotated in place. Also, the 4 centers are fixed in position and can only rotate (like the Rubik's Cube). So there are only 18 (30-8-4) "truly movable" pieces; since this is 10% "fewer" than the 20 "truly movable" pieces of the Rubik's Cube, it should be no surprise that the Master Pyraminx has about 10,000-times "fewer" combinations than a Rubik's Cube (about 4.3252 × 1019). |
Raytheon Technologies
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia; it is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitalization as well as one of the largest providers of intelligence services. Raytheon Technologies manufactures aircraft engines, avionics, aerostructures, cybersecurity, guided missiles, air defense systems, satellites, and drones. The company is also a large military contractor, getting a significant portion of its revenue from the U.S. government.
The company is the result of the merger of equals between the aerospace subsidiaries of United Technologies Corporation (UTC) and the Raytheon Company, which was completed on April 3, 2020. Before the merger, UTC spun off its non-aerospace subsidiaries Otis Elevator Company and Carrier Corporation. UTC is the nominal survivor of the merger but it changed its name to Raytheon Technologies and relocated its headquarters to Waltham, Massachusetts. Former UTC CEO and chairman Gregory J. Hayes is Chairman and CEO of the combined company.
The company has four subsidiaries: Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense.
History.
Raytheon Company.
The Raytheon Company was founded in 1922 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Laurence K. Marshall, Vannevar Bush, and Charles G. Smith as the American Appliance Company. Its focus, which was originally on new refrigeration technology, soon shifted to electronics. The company's first product was a gaseous (helium) rectifier that was based on Charles Smith's earlier astronomical research of the star Zeta Puppis. The electron tube was christened with the name "Raytheon" ("light of/from the gods") and was used in a battery eliminator, a type of radio-receiver power supply that plugged into the power grid in place of large batteries. This made it possible to convert household alternating current to direct current for radios and thus eliminate the need for expensive, short-lived batteries.
In 1925, the company changed its name to Raytheon Manufacturing Company and began marketing its rectifier, under the Raytheon brand name, with commercial success. In 1928, Raytheon merged with Q.R.S. Company, an American manufacturer of electron tubes and switches, to form the successor of the same name, Raytheon Manufacturing Company. By the 1930s, it had already grown to become one of the world's largest vacuum tube manufacturing companies. In 1933 it diversified by acquiring Acme-Delta Company, a producer of transformers, power equipment, and electronic auto parts.
During World War II, Raytheon mass manufactured magnetron tubes for use in microwave radar sets and then complete radar systems. At war's end in 1945, the company was responsible for about 80 percent of all magnetrons manufactured. During the war, Raytheon also pioneered the production of shipboard radar systems, particularly for submarine detection. Raytheon ranked 71st among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts. In 1945, Raytheon's Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven by discovering that the magnetron could rapidly heat food. In 1947, the company demonstrated the Radarange microwave oven for commercial use.
After the war, Raytheon developed the first guidance system for a missile that could intercept a flying target. In 1948, Raytheon began to manufacture guided missiles, including the SAM-N-2 Lark, the air-to-air AIM-7 Sparrow, and the ground-to-air MIM-23 Hawk missiles. In 1959, Raytheon acquired the marine electronics company Apelco Applied Electronics, which significantly increased its strength in commercial marine navigation and radio gear, and changed its name to Raytheon Company.
During the post-war years, Raytheon also made generally low- to medium-powered radio and television transmitters and related equipment for the commercial market. In the 1950s, Raytheon began manufacturing transistors, including the CK722, priced for and marketed to hobbyists. Under the direction of Thomas L. Phillips in 1965, it acquired Amana Refrigeration, Inc., a manufacturer of refrigerators and air conditioners. Using the Amana brand name and its distribution channels, Raytheon began selling the first countertop household microwave oven in 1967 and became a dominant manufacturer in the microwave oven business.
In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, Raytheon's Patriot missile received great international exposure, resulting in a substantial increase in sales for the company outside the United States. In an effort to establish leadership in the defense electronics business, Raytheon purchased in quick succession Dallas-based E-Systems (1995); Chrysler Corporation's defense electronics and aircraft-modification businesses, and the defense unit of Texas Instruments, Defense Systems & Electronics Group (1997). Also in 1997, Raytheon acquired the aerospace and defense business of Hughes Aircraft Company from Hughes Electronics Corporation, a subsidiary of General Motors, which included a number of product lines previously purchased by Hughes Electronics, including the former General Dynamics missile business (Pomona facility), the defense portion of Delco Electronics (Delco Systems Operations), and Magnavox Electronic Systems. Raytheon also divested itself of several nondefense businesses in the 1990s, including Amana Refrigeration and Seismograph Service Ltd (sold to Schlumberger-Geco-Prakla).
In November 2007, Raytheon purchased robotics company Sarcos, and in October 2009, Raytheon acquired BBN Technologies. In December 2010, Applied Signal Technology agreed to be acquired by Raytheon for $490 million.
In October 2014, Raytheon beat rivals Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for a contract to build 3DELRR, a next-generation long-range radar system, for the US Air Force worth an estimated $1 billion. The contract award was immediately protested by Raytheon's competitors. After re-evaluating the bids following the protests, the US Air Force decided to delay awarding the 3DELRR EMD contract until 2017 and was to issue an amended solicitation at the end of July 2016. In 2017 the Air Force again awarded the contract to Raytheon.
In May 2015, Raytheon acquired cybersecurity firm Websense, Inc. from Vista Equity Partners for $1.9 billion and combined it with RCP, formerly part of its IIS segment to form Raytheon|Websense. In October 2015, Raytheon|Websense acquired Foreground Security, a provider of security operations centers, managed security service solutions and cybersecurity professional services, for $62 million. In January 2016, Raytheon|Websense acquired the firewall provider Stonesoft from Intel Security for an undisclosed amount and renamed itself to Forcepoint.
In July 2016, Poland's Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz planned to sign a letter of intent with Raytheon for a $5.6 billion deal to upgrade its Patriot missile-defence shield, and in 2017, Saudi Arabia signed business deals worth billions of dollars with multiple American companies, including Raytheon.
In February 2020, Raytheon completed the first radar antenna array for the US Army's new missile defense radar, known as the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS), to replace the service's Patriot air and missile defense system sensor.
United Technologies Corporation.
In 1929, William Boeing's Boeing Airplane & Transport Corporation teamed up with Frederick Rentschler's Pratt & Whitney to form the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, a large, vertically-integrated, amalgamated firm, uniting business interests in all aspects of aviation—a combination of aircraft engine and airframe manufacturing and airline business, to serve all aviation markets, both civil aviation (cargo, passenger, private, air mail) and military aviation. After the Air Mail scandal of 1934, the U.S. government concluded that such large holding companies as United Aircraft and Transport were anti-competitive, and new antitrust laws were passed forbidding airframe or engine manufacturers from having interests in airlines.
United Aircraft Corporation was formed in 1934 from the portions of United Aircraft and Transport east of the Mississippi River (Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Vought, and Hamilton Standard Propeller Company), headquartered in Hartford with Frederick Rentschler, founder of Pratt & Whitney, as president.
United Aircraft became a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on March 4, 1939, when United Aircraft and AT&T were added to replace Nash Motors and International Business Machines. United Aircraft, subsequently known as United Technologies and Raytheon Technologies, has remained a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since that time through August 2020. It was announced that starting August 31, 2020, Raytheon Technologies would be substituted in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by Honeywell International.
During World War II, United Aircraft ranked sixth among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. At the close of the war, United Aircraft entered the emerging markets for jet engines and helicopters, via Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky, respectively.
In the 1950s, United Aircraft began developing jet engines, including the Pratt & Whitney J57, the most powerful jet engine on the market for some years. In the 1960s, Pratt & Whitney produced the Pratt & Whitney JT9D for the Boeing 747.
In 1974, Harry Gray left Litton Industries to become the CEO of United Aircraft. He pursued a strategy of growth and diversification, changing the parent corporation's name to United Technologies Corporation (UTC) in 1975 to reflect the intent to diversify into numerous high tech fields beyond aerospace. (The change became official on May 1, 1975.) The diversification was partially to balance civilian business against any overreliance on military business. UTC became a mergers and acquisitions (M&A)–focused organization, with various forced takeovers of unwilling smaller corporations. The next year (1976), UTC forcibly acquired Otis Elevator. In 1979, Carrier Refrigeration was acquired;
At one point the military portion of UTC's business, whose sensitivity to "excess profits" and boom/bust demand drove UTC to diversify away from it, actually carried the weight of losses incurred by the commercial M&A side of the business. Although M&A activity was not new to United Aircraft, the M&A activity of the 1970s and 1980s was higher-stakes and arguably unfocused. Rather than aviation being the central theme of UTC businesses, high tech (of any type) was the new theme. Some Wall Street watchers questioned the true value of M&A at almost any price, seemingly for its own sake.
In 1999, UTC acquired Sundstrand Corporation and merged it into UTC's Hamilton Standard unit to form Hamilton Sundstrand. In 2003, UTC entered the fire and security business by purchasing Chubb Security. In 2004, UTC acquired the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation which planned to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under their Sikorsky Aircraft division. In 2005, UTC further pursued its stake in the fire and security business by purchasing Kidde. Also in 2005, UTC acquired Boeing's Rocketdyne division, which was merged into the Pratt & Whitney business unit and renamed Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (later sold to Aerojet and merged into Aerojet Rocketdyne). In November 2008, UTC's Carrier Corporation acquired NORESCO, an energy service company.
In 2010, UTC conducted its largest acquisition to date, General Electric's security equipment business for US$1.8 billion, a move to support UTC's Fire & Security unit.
In September 2011, UTC acquired a $18.4 billion deal (including $1.9 billion in net debt assumed) for aircraft components maker Goodrich Corporation. In July 2012, United Technologies acquired Goodrich and merged it with Hamilton Sundstrand, forming UTC Aerospace Systems.
In November 2018, UTC acquired Rockwell Collins for $23 billion ($30 billion including Rockwell Collins' net debt). As part of the deal, Pratt and Whitney and the newly-formed Collins Aerospace remained under United Technologies, while Otis Elevator and UTC Climate, Controls & Security (doing business as Carrier) were spun off as two independent companies. The spin off was completed in March 2020.
Raytheon Technologies.
In June 2019, United Technologies announced the intention to merge with the Raytheon Company. The combined company, valued at more than $100 billion after planned spinoffs, would be the world's second-largest aerospace-and-defense company by sales behind Boeing. Although UTC will be the nominal survivor, the merged company took the name Raytheon Technologies and based its headquarters at Raytheon's former campus in Waltham, Massachusetts, rather than UTC's former base in Farmington, Connecticut. The merger was completed in April 2020, forming Raytheon Technologies. Raytheon Technologies began trading at $51 per share, on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RTX.
On July 28, 2020 the company announced cutting of over 8,000 jobs in its commercial aviation division due to travel slowdown induced by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
In December 2020, the Board of Directors authorized a $5 billion repurchase of common stock.
In January 2023, Raytheon Technologies announced it would combine its missiles and defense division and intelligence and space division into a single business unit. The reorganization will create three divisions at Raytheon Technologies: Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon. |
Erasmus Quellinus the Younger
Erasmus Quellinus the Younger or Erasmus Quellinus II (1607–1678) was a Flemish painter, engraver, draughtsman and tapestry designer who worked in various genres including history, portrait, allegorical, battle and animal paintings. He was a pupil of Peter Paul Rubens and one of the closest collaborators of Rubens in the 1630s. Following Rubens' death in 1640 he became one of the most successful painters in Flanders. He was a prolific draughtsman who made designs for decorative programmes in the context of official celebrations, for publications by the local publishers and for tapestries and sculptures realised by the local workshops. His work reveals the Classicist trend in the Baroque.
Life.
Quellinus was born in Antwerp as the son of Erasmus Quellinus I and Elisabeth van Uden. The Quellinus family became one of the leading artistic families in Antwerp, producing sculptors, painters and printmakers who would develop careers in Flanders and abroad. Father Erasmus Quellinus I, a sculptor, had moved from Sint-Truiden to Antwerp. The brothers of Erasmus Quellinus the Younger were both artists: Artus (1609-1668) was a leading Baroque sculptor and Hubertus (1619-1687) an engraver.
Quellinus commenced his apprenticeship with Jan Baptist Verhaeghe, an obscure artist, in 1633. He became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1633–1634. In the 1630s, the artist worked and likely studied in the workshop of Rubens and regularly collaborated on projects with Rubens. In 1634 Erasmus II married Catharina de Hemelaer, a niece of Jan de Hemelaer, the deacon of Antwerp Cathedral. Their son Jan Erasmus followed in his father's footsteps and became a painter.
From the notes made by his son Jan Erasmus in the margin of his copy of Cornelis de Bie's book of artist biographies entitled Het Gulden Cabinet, it is known that Erasmus II obtained a degree in philosophy. This explains the fact that he wrote a philosophical tract entitled "Philosophia", which was recorded in the 1679 inventory of his estate.
Quellinus became a regular collaborator of Rubens starting from 1635. He first worked on the decorations for the Joyous Entry into Antwerp of the new governor of the Habsburg Netherlands Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand. Rubens was in overall charge of this project. Quellinus made decorative paintings after designs by Rubens of which six have survived. In the period 1636-1638 Rubens' workshop received a large commission to make mythological decorations for the hunting pavilion Torre de la Parada of the Spanish king Philip IV near Madrid. For this project Quellinus painted decorations after oil sketches by Rubens some of which have been preserved (Prado Museum). In early 1637 Quellinus drew frontispieces for the Antwerp printing house Plantin Press according to Rubens' instructions regarding iconography and layout. These drawings were in Quellinus' own style as Rubens let him a free hand in the design of the modelli.
His brother Artus Quellinus I returned to Antwerp from Rome around 1640. Artus worked in a classicizing style of Baroque under the influence of his compatriot, the sculptor François Duquesnoy, in whose workshop in Rome he had worked. This style had in turn been influenced by the Classicism of Annibale Carracci. The two brothers would from then on work together on various projects and mutually influence each other.
After Rubens' death in 1640 Erasmus Quellinus became one of the leading history painters of Flanders. He received many commissions for altarpieces in the region. In 1648 he was commissioned to make the decorations for the Joyous Entry of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm into Antwerp, thus playing the same role as Rubens 13 years earlier for the Joyous Entry of Ferdinand. He made the decorations for the announcement of the Treaty of Westphalia in the same year.
Around 1656 Erasmus worked in Amsterdam where his brother Artus was responsible for the decoration of the new City Hall. Erasmus assisted in this project and the brothers also collaborated on other commissions. Erasmus painted altarpieces for clandestine Catholic churches in Amsterdam.
His first wife died in 1662. On 9 November 1663, Erasmus Quellinus II married Françoise de Fren. De Fren was the daughter of the well-off André de Fren, secretary of the Council of Brabant, and the sister of Isabella de Fren, who was married to the court painter David Teniers II. In 1665 Quellinus designed a cenotaph for the deceased Philip IV of Spain and the decorations for the Joyous Entry of Don Francisco de Moura as governor of the Habsburg Netherlands.
Quellinus died in Antwerp on 7 November 1678.
His pupils included his son Jan Erasmus Quellinus, Guilliam Forchondt (II), Julius de Geest, Willem de Ryck, Anthoni Schoonjans, Wallerant Vaillant and Remacle Serin.
Work.
General.
Quellinus was a very versatile artist who worked in various genres. He received numerous commissions for altarpieces depicting Counter-Reformation themes for churches and monasteries throughout the Southern Netherlands. He also received many civic commissions which allowed him to show his learning in the depiction of scenes from ancient history and mythology and allegorical compositions. In addition, he produced portraits, battle scenes and designs for tapestries. Like Rubens, Quellinus was a "pictor doctus" with a strong grounding in ancient history and philosophy. He had built an extensive library and art collection. This learning is reflected in the subject matter of his work.
Even while he was a frequent collaborator with Rubens' workshop in the 1630s, Quellinus developed a personal style distinctive from that of Rubens. This style is reminiscent of the Antwerp followers of Caravaggio such as Theodoor Rombouts and Gerard Seghers. Characteristics of this style are the strong modeling of forms achieved through a sculptural use of light. Quellinus' oldest known work is the 1634 "Adoration of the Shepherds" (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), which is in this Caravaggesque mode.
From the 1640s, his style took on a classicizing aspect and a sculptured look. Erasmus never travelled to Italy so this stylistic development was likely influenced by the work of his brother Artus, who introduced his own style of classicizing Baroque in Flemish sculpture after returning from Rome in 1640. Both brothers depicted similar idealizing Antique figures in their work in this period. His "Adoration of the Holy Sacrament" (1646) was painted in this style.
From c. 1650 this classicism in his work became rigid and his compositions from this period made use of a limited number of stereotyped and idealized figure types. This stylistic development is evident in the interior decorations he made for the new City Hall of Amsterdam, which he executed in collaboration with his brother Artus. The brothers achieved stylistic agreement in this commission: the "Judgement of Solomon", which Artus sculpted for the Council Chamber, is repeated in a painting by Erasmus. This development towards classicist rigidity may reflect the influence of French art with its preference for classicism.
Erasmus' work also gained a theatrical aspect as reflected in the 1652 painting "Artemisia" (Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow). The painting has a theatrical background like a park. This tendency became more evident in the 1660s when his paintings started to include grandiose scenery with flamboyant architecture. This is clear in the "Let the Children Come to Me" of 1664 (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels). These later compositions possible reflect an influence by the early work of his son Jan-Erasmus Quellinus.
Collaborations.
As was common in Antwerp at the time, Quellinus collaborated with other painters. He worked with still life specialists on still lifes and portraits. Many of the still lifes fall into the category of 'garland paintings'. Garland paintings are a special type of still life invented in Antwerp and whose earliest practitioner was Jan Brueghel the Elder. These paintings typically show a flower garland around a devotional image or portrait. Garland paintings were usually collaborations between a still life and a figure painter.
Quellinus collaborated on garland paintings with still life specialists, such as his brother-in-law Jan Philip van Thielen, Daniel Seghers, Jan Pieter Brueghel, Frans Ykens, Peter Willebeeck and Jan Anton van der Baren. These collaborators painted the flower garland while Quellinus painted the figures and architectural setting. An example is the "Holy Family in a Wreath of Flowers" in the Hermitage Museum, a collaboration with Frans Ykens. Quellinus further collaborated with the animal and still life painter Jan Fyt on portraits such as the "Portrait of a young boy" (Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp) of c. 1650. Quellinus also collaborated with animal painters Peter Boel and genre painter Jan van Kessel the Elder.
Tapestry designs.
Quellinus executed various tapestry designs. In 1649 he produced the designs for a tapestry series depicting the "History of the Thurn and Taxis Family" (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels). These designs are executed in his classicizing style. He also made a series of 8 sketches with battle scenes for another tapestry series also kept in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
Graphic designs.
In addition to the frontispieces he produced for the Plantin Press, he made designs for various publications for the Antwerp publishers. This includes his designs for the "Den methamorphosis ofte Herscheppinge van P. Ovidivs Naso: verdeelt in XV boecken, versiert met figueren", a translation into Dutch of Ovid's Metamorphoses by Seger van Dort. For this book, which Geeraerdt van Wolsschaten published in Antwerp in 1650, Erasmus made the designs for the illustrations which were engraved by Pieter de Jode II. He also contributed a poem to the introduction of the publication.
Sculptural designs.
Quellinus came from an artistic family whose predominant activity was the design and execution of sculptures and architectural decorations. His father, older brother and cousin as well as his brother-in-law Pieter Verbrugghen I were all prominent sculptors who worked for a local and international clientele. It is therefore no surprise that Erasmus was a prolific designer of sculptures and decorative projects. The inventory of his estate lists hundreds of drawings, of which at least 43 are for architecture, which would have included altarpieces and large-scale sculptures as well as others for sculpture and decoration. He is believed to have contributed designs for the organs in the Antwerp cathedral and Saint Paul's Church in Antwerp, as well as several altarpieces, executed by his brother-in-law Pieter Verbrugghen I. A drawing by Erasmus has been identified as being a study for a group of three music-making angels on one of the organs, although none corresponds exactly to the angels now on the organs. It seems that in these designs he did not attempt to create a precise three-dimensional model to be followed by the sculptor but rather an outline from which the sculptor executing the sculpture could work freely. |
Whitfield Diffie
Bailey Whitfield 'Whit' Diffie (born June 5, 1944), , is an American cryptographer and mathematician and one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography along with Martin Hellman and Ralph Merkle. Diffie and Hellman's 1976 paper "New Directions in Cryptography" introduced a radically new method of distributing cryptographic keys, that helped solve key distribution—a fundamental problem in cryptography. Their technique became known as Diffie–Hellman key exchange. The article stimulated the almost immediate public development of a new class of encryption algorithms, the asymmetric key algorithms.
After a long career at Sun Microsystems, where he became a Sun Fellow, Diffie served for two and a half years as Vice President for Information Security and Cryptography at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (2010–2012). He has also served as a visiting scholar (2009–2010) and affiliate (2010–2012) at the Freeman Spogli Institute's Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, where he is currently a consulting scholar.
Education and early life.
Diffie was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Justine Louise (Whitfield), a writer and scholar, and Bailey Wallys Diffie, who taught Iberian history and culture at City College of New York. His interest in cryptography began at "age 10 when his father, a professor, brought home the entire crypto shelf of the City College Library in New York."
At Jamaica High School in Queens, New York, Diffie "performed competently" but "never did apply himself to the degree his father hoped." Although he graduated with a local diploma, he did not take the statewide Regents examinations that would have awarded him an academic diploma because he had previously secured admission to Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the basis of "stratospheric scores on standardized tests." While he received a B.S. in mathematics from the institution in 1965, he remained unengaged and seriously considered transferring to the University of California, Berkeley (which he perceived as a more hospitable academic environment) during the first two years of his undergraduate studies. At MIT, he began to program computers (in an effort to cultivate a practical skill set) while continuing to perceive the devices "as very low class... I thought of myself as a pure mathematician and was very interested in partial differential equations and topology and things like that."
Career and research.
From 1965 to 1969, he remained in Greater Boston as a research assistant for the MITRE Corporation in Bedford, Massachusetts. As MITRE was a defense contractor, this position enabled Diffie (a pacifist who opposed the Vietnam War) to avoid the draft. During this period, he helped to develop MATHLAB (an early symbolic manipulation system that served as the basis for Macsyma) and other non-military applications.
In November 1969, Diffie became a research programmer at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where he worked on LISP 1.6 (widely distributed to PDP-10 systems running the TOPS-10 operating system) and correctness problems while cultivating interests in cryptography and computer security under the aegis of John McCarthy.
Diffie left SAIL to pursue independent research in cryptography in May 1973. As the most current research in the field during the epoch fell under the classified oversight of the National Security Agency, Diffie "went around doing one of the things I am good at, which is digging up rare manuscripts in libraries, driving around, visiting friends at universities." He was assisted by his new girlfriend and future wife, Mary Fischer.
In the summer of 1974, Diffie and Fischer met with a friend at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center (headquarters of IBM Research) in Yorktown Heights, New York, which housed one of the only nongovernmental cryptographic research groups in the United States. While group director Alan Konheim "couldn't tell [Diffie] very much because of a secrecy order," he advised him to meet with Martin Hellman, a young electrical engineering professor at Stanford University who was also pursuing a cryptographic research program. A planned half-hour meeting between Diffie and Hellman extended over many hours as they shared ideas and information.
Hellman then hired Diffie as a grant-funded part-time research programmer for the 1975 spring term. Under his sponsorship, he also enrolled as a doctoral student in electrical engineering at Stanford in June 1975; however, Diffie was once again unable to acclimate to "homework assignments [and] the structure" and eventually dropped out after failing to complete a required physical examination: "I didn't feel like doing it, I didn't get around to it." Although it is unclear when he dropped out, Diffie remained employed in Hellman's lab as a research assistant through June 1978.
In 1975–76, Diffie and Hellman criticized the NBS proposed Data Encryption Standard, largely because its 56-bit key length was too short to prevent brute-force attack. An audio recording survives of their review of DES at Stanford in 1976 with Dennis Branstad of NBS and representatives of the National Security Agency. Their concern was well-founded: subsequent history has shown not only that NSA actively intervened with IBM and NBS to shorten the key size, but also that the short key size enabled exactly the kind of massively parallel key crackers that Hellman and Diffie sketched out. When these were ultimately built outside the classified world (EFF DES cracker), they made it clear that DES was insecure and obsolete.
From 1978 to 1991, Diffie was Manager of Secure Systems Research for Northern Telecom in Mountain View, California, where he designed the key management architecture for the PDSO security system for X.25 networks.
In 1991, he joined Sun Microsystems Laboratories in Menlo Park, California, as a distinguished engineer, working primarily on public policy aspects of cryptography. Diffie remained with Sun, serving as its chief security officer and as a vice president until November 2009. He was also a Sun Fellow.
, Diffie was a visiting professor at the Information Security Group based at Royal Holloway, University of London.
In May 2010, Diffie joined the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as vice president for information security and cryptography, a position he left in October 2012.
Diffie is a member of the technical advisory boards of BlackRidge Technology, and Cryptomathic where he collaborates with researchers such as Vincent Rijmen, Ivan Damgård and Peter Landrock.
In 2018, he joined Zhejiang University, China, as a visiting professor, Cryptic Labs generated 2 months course in Zhejiang University.
Public key cryptography.
In the early 1970s, Diffie worked with Martin Hellman to develop the fundamental ideas of dual-key, or public key, cryptography. They published their results in 1976—solving one of the fundamental problems of cryptography, key distribution—and essentially broke the monopoly that had previously existed where government entities controlled cryptographic technology and the terms on which other individuals could have access to it. "From the moment Diffie and Hellman published their findings..., the National Security Agency's crypto monopoly was effectively terminated. ... Every company, every citizen now had routine access to the sorts of cryptographic technology that not many years ago ranked alongside the atom bomb as a source of power." The solution has become known as Diffie–Hellman key exchange.
Awards and honors.
Together with Martin Hellman, Diffie won the 2015 Turing Award, widely considered the most prestigious award in the field of computer science. The citation for the award was: "For fundamental contributions to modern cryptography. Diffie and Hellman's groundbreaking 1976 paper, 'New Directions in Cryptography', introduced the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures, which are the foundation for most regularly-used security protocols on the internet today."
Diffie received an honorary doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1992. He is also a fellow of the Marconi Foundation and visiting fellow of the Isaac Newton Institute. He has received various awards from other organisations. In July 2008, he was also awarded a Degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by Royal Holloway, University of London.
He was also awarded the IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award in 1981 (together with Martin E. Hellman), The Franklin Institute's Louis E. Levy Medal in 1997 a Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation from the IEEE Information Theory Society in 1998, and the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal in 2010. In 2011, Diffie was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and named a Fellow of the Computer History Museum "for his work, with Martin Hellman and Ralph Merkle, on public key cryptography." Diffie was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2017. Diffie was also elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2017 for the invention of public key cryptography and for broader contributions to privacy.
Personal life.
Diffie self-identifies as an iconoclast. He has stated that he "was always concerned about individuals, an individual's privacy as opposed to government secrecy." |
2015 Metro Manila Film Festival
The 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is the 41st edition of the annual Metro Manila Film Festival held in Metro Manila and throughout the Philippines. It organized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA, a government agency. During the festival, no foreign films are shown in Philippine theaters (except IMAX, 4D, and large format 3D theaters).
The festival began on December 23, 2015, kicking off with the traditional Parada ng mga Artista ("Parade of the Stars") float parade from Mall of Asia in Pasay to Quirino Grandstand in Manila. Showings are from December 25 until January 7.
The Gabi ng Parangal ("Awards Night") was held on December 27 at the Kia Theatre, Araneta Center, Quezon City, hosted by KC Concepcion and Richard Gutierrez. Both the Parade of Stars and the Awards Night are aired via delayed telecast on TV5 thru a co-production with Viva Entertainment.
Metro Manila Film Festival reported that the total earnings of the festival was 1 billion pesos (Dec. 25-Jan. 6 only). It did not report the earnings for each film.
This was the only festival under MMDA chairman Emerson Carlos.
Entries.
Regular entries.
The official list of entries was announced on June 20, 2015. From the 21 submissions, 8 were chosen for the festival.
New Wave entries.
Feature films.
The New Wave entries were screened on selected cinemas from December 17 to December 24, 2015.
Awards.
Major awards.
The following are the winners of the mainstream category:
New Wave category.
The following are the winners of the New Wave category:
Controversies.
Ticket-swapping incidents.
Alleged ticket-swapping incidents occurred in some branches of SM Cinema during the opening day of the festival. Some moviegoers claimed that they bought tickets for "My Bebe Love" but instead, were given tickets for "Beauty and the Bestie". SM Cinema confirmed through its Twitter account that this incident occurred in SM City Bacoor. According to SM Cinema, the incident was "a mistake due to high volume of tickets purchased". They also assured the public that this transaction will be counted fairly for the gross sales of "My Bebe Love". These tweets were later deleted for unknown reasons.
On the other hand, the Metro Manila Film Festival committee released a contrary statement regarding this issue. It is stated that they "strongly denies the existence of such" incident and they called the issue "baseless".
The House committee on Metro Manila Development, chaired by Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo, started the probe on the disqualification case of "Honor Thy Father" and the ticket-swapping incidents in January 2016.
"Honor Thy Father" disqualification.
On December 26, "Honor Thy Father", was disqualified by the Metro Manila Film Festival Executive Committee from the Best Picture category after the film failed to disclose its participation as the opening film of the 2015 Cinema One Originals Film Festival. On the contrary, Dondon Monteverde, the film's producer, revealed that they did disclose this information beforehand. He attested that its premiere at the Cinema One festival didn't generate revenue which complies by the rules. He also questioned the timing of this decision, one day before the awards ceremony, and he demanded an investigation.
In an interview dated on November 2, 2015, MMFF Executive Committee member Dominic Du revealed to Philippine Entertainment Portal that the film did comply with the rules as the Cinema One premiere wasn't a commercial screening.
On December 28, Laguna Representative Dan Fernandez, who is part of the cast of "Honor Thy Father", filed a resolution that directs the House of Representatives to conduct an inquiry regarding the disqualification of "Honor Thy Father".
The committee on Metro Manila Development, chaired by Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo, started the probe on the disqualification case of "Honor Thy Father" and the ticket-swapping incidents in January 2016.
Pullout of "Nilalang" and "Honor Thy Father" from some cinemas.
"Nilalang" director Pedring Lopez and co-producer Wesley Villarica expressed dismay over the pullout of their film and co-entrant film, "Honor thy Father" from some cinemas in favor of "My Bebe Love" and "Beauty and the Bestie". Villarica noted that his film, was shown in 20 cinemas in Metro Manila and 7 theaters outside the metropolis in the opening day on December 25, but by next day less than 20 cinemas are screening his film. "Honor Thy Father" writer Michiko Yamamoto said that her film was pulled out from ten theaters the day after the opening day of the festival.
Conflict of interest against Dominic Du.
During the House probe on the MMFF irregularities, it was revealed that Dominic Du, a member of MMFF Executive Committee have a conflict of interest with the Best Picture winner, "#Walang Forever" and 2nd Best Picture winner, "Buy Now, Die Later". Dominic Du owns the company, Axinite Digicinema, that helped promote the said two films. He also serves as a legal counsel of Joji Alonso, the producer of both films.
Box Office gross.
The Metro Manila Development Authority was criticized for not releasing official earnings of each film. This led to some film studios releasing their own earnings. |
Mikhail Skobelev
Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev (; 29 September 1843 – 7 July 1882), a Russian general, became famous for his conquest of Central Asia and for his heroism during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Dressed in a white uniform and mounted on a white horse, and always in the thickest of the fray, he was known and adored by his soldiers as the "White General" (and by the Turks as the "White Pasha"). During a campaign in Khiva, his Turkmen opponents called him "goz ganly" or "Bloody Eyes".
British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery assessed Skobelev as the world's "ablest single commander" between 1870 and 1914 and wrote of his "skilful and inspiring" leadership.
Francis Vinton Greene also rated Skobelev highly.
Early life and Conquest of Khiva.
Skobelev was born in Saint Petersburg on 29 September 1843. His mother was Russian philanthropist Olga Skobeleva, and his father was Russian general Dmitry Ivanovich Skobelev. After graduating from the General Staff Academy as a staff officer, he was sent to Turkestan in 1868 and, with the exception of an interval of two years, during which he was on the staff of the grand duke Michael in the Caucasus, remained in Central Asia until 1877.
During the Khivan campaign of 1873 he commanded the advanced guard of General Lomakin's column from Kinderly Bay, in the Caspian Sea, to join General Verevkin, from Orenburg, in the expedition to the Khanate of Khiva, and, after great suffering on the desert march, took a prominent part in the capture of the Khivan capital. Later, dressed as a Turkoman, he intrepidly explored in a hostile country the route from Khiva to Igdy on the old riverbed of the Oxus.
In 1875, he was given an important command in the expedition against the Khanate of Kokand under General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann, showing great capacity in the action of Makram, where he outmanoeuvered a greatly superior force and captured 58 guns, and in a brilliant night attack during the retreat from Andijan, when he routed a large force with a handful of cavalry.
Later life, the Battle of Pleven, Geok Tepe and Death.
He was promoted to major-general, decorated with the Order of St George, and appointed the first governor of the Ferghana Oblast. In the Turkish War of 1877 he seized the bridge over the Siret at Barboşi (nowadays a neighborhood of Galaţi, where the Siret flows into the Danube) in April; in June they crossed the Danube with the 8th corps. Skobelev commanded the Caucasian Cossack Brigade in the attack of the Green Hills at the second battle of Pleven. An infantry division under Skobelev's command assailed the Grivitsa redoubt to the north. Schakofsky managed to take two redoubts, but by the end of the day the Ottoman forces succeeded in repulsing all the attacks and retaking lost ground. Russian losses amounted to 7,300, and the Ottomans' to 2,000.
At the captured Lovetch on 3 September, the general distinguished himself again in desperate fighting on the Green Hills during the third battle of Pleven in which Skobelev took two southern redoubts. The Romanian 4th division led by General George Manu took the Grivitsa redoubt after four bloody assaults, personally assisted by Prince Carol. The next day the Turks retook the southern redoubts, but could not dislodge the Romanians, who repelled three counterattacks. From the beginning of September, Russian losses had amounted to roughly 20,000, while the Ottomans lost 5,000.
Promoted to be a lieutenant-general, and given the command of the 16th Division, he took part in the investment of Pleven and also in the fight of 9 December, when Osman Pasha surrendered, with his army. In January 1878 he crossed the Balkans in a severe snowstorm defeating the Turks at Sheynovo, near Shipka capturing 36,000 men and 90 guns.
Skobelev returned to Turkestan after the war, and in 1880 and 1881 further distinguished himself by retrieving the disasters inflicted by the Tekke Turkomans: following the Siege of Geoktepe, it was stormed, the general captured the fort. Around 8,000 Turkmen soldiers and civilians, including women and children were slaughtered in a bloodbath in their flight, along with an additional 6,500 who died inside the fortress. The Russians massacre included all Turkmen males in the fortress who had not escaped, but they spared some 5,000 women and children and freed 600 Persian slaves. The defeat at Geok Tepe and the following slaughter broke the Turkmen resistance and decided the fate of Transcaspia, which was annexed to the Russian Empire. The great slaughter proved too much to stomach reducing the Akhal-Tekke country to submission. Skobelev was removed from his command because of the massacre. He was advancing on Ashkhabad and Kalat i-Nadiri when he was disavowed and recalled to Moscow. He was given the command at Minsk. The official reason for his transfer to Europe was to appease European public opinion over the slaughter at Geok Tepe. Some have suggested that he was suffering from delusions of grandeur and showing signs of political ambition.
In the last years of his life, Skobelev engaged actively in politics, supporting the ideas of Russian nationalism and militant Pan-Slavism. He has also been credited as one of the earliest promoters of the concept "Russia for Russians". At the beginning of 1882, he made speeches in Paris and in Moscow, predicting a desperate strife between Slavs and Germans. He was at once recalled to St Petersburg. He was staying at the Hôtel Dusseaux in Moscow and on his way to his estate in the country when he died suddenly of a heart attack on 7 July 1882. In Russia he was a very popular man at the time of his death, and not surprisingly, his death aroused suspicion among many. After all, he was a relatively young (38) and vigorous man. Skobelev's early death deprived Russia of a great military leader. This became especially evident during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. The Russian generals commanding in that war were men of Skobelev's generation, but none of them had his military genius or charisma.
Skobelev In Memoriam.
After Skobelev's death, in Moscow a monument was raised in his honour on a major square on Tverskaya Street (across from the city hall, where today stands the statue of Yuri Dolgorukiy, the founder of Moscow), which was given his name, and the town of Fergana in Uzbekistan was renamed Skobelev.
Today, his name still lives, even beyond the Russian Federation: shortly after the end of the Turkish War of 1877, the Bulgarians constructed a park in Pleven, Skobelev Park, on one of the hills where the major battles for the city took place. The park is also a location of the Panorama Pleven's Epopee 1877 memorial, where in one of the scenes of the gigantic 360 degree panoramic painting the White General is displayed charging with his horse and bare sword, leading the infantry Russian attack on the Turkish positions. A central boulevard in Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria, also bears Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev's name.
Shortly after the entrance of the park, the bust of the famous general can be seen, watching over the city. The park contains memorials with the names of the Russian and Romanian soldiers that died for the liberation of Pleven, and is decorated with non-functional arms donated by Russia: cannons, cannonballs, gatling guns, rifles, and bayonets. |
Andrabi
Andrabi is a surname of Arab origin (Andrabi) mostly used by Syed's. Usually people whose origin is from (Andarab, Afghanistan) carry this surname.
Introduction.
With the mass influx of Sufis from different parts of Central Asia and Persia during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, a new family of Andrabi Syeds came and settled in the serene and tranquil atmosphere of the valley. A message of equality was disseminated by them to all corners of the valley. Their teachings impressed the people in an impressive way and simultaneously people benefited from them in a variety of ways. As the result, in addition to religious education common masses were encouraged to learn other necessary disciplines.
Diffusion of Family.
Syed Mir Mirak Andrabi had three sons, Syed Mohammad Andrabi, (d.1022.A.H/A.D,1614.A.D), Syed Mohammad Yousuf Andrabi, (d.1028.A.H./A.D,1620A.D), and Syed Qasim Ahmad Andrabi19. Syed Mohammad Andrabi played an important role in spreading the Quranic Education to far-off areas of the valley and was very popular, especially in the Gurez and Sopore areas of the valley. He is buried in the ancestral graveyard at Malaratta. Syed Muhammad Yousuf Andrabi was the second son of Syed Mir Mirak Andrabi. He spent most of his time in Dalgate and was also buried there. The third son Syed Qasim Ahmad Andrabi (d.1040A.H./1631.A.D) migrated to the adjacent area namely Puchal (Pulwama) and settled down there. The total population of village Puchal at present is approximately four thousand only, and the strata of Andrabis is only eight percent of the total population. The Andrabi Syeds of Ratnipora (Pulwama) are the descendants of Syed Mir Mirak Andrabi. Syed Shamsu’d-din Gamgeen Ratanpuri a Persian and Kashmiri poet was also one of the descendants of Syed Mir Mirak Andrabi. The total population of a village is ten thousand and twenty-five percent of the population is of Andrabi Syeds. Andrabi Syeds of Zadora Pulwama are also the descendants of Syed Mir Mirak Andrabi. Twenty percent of the population is of Andrabi Syeds. Few families of Andrabi Syeds are also at Karimabad (Pulwama), Tral (Pulwama) and Lajoora (Pulwama). The Andrabi Syeds of Nagum (Kulgam) popularly known as Damhal Hanjipora are very few in number. There are some families living at Qazigund (Anantnag) prominent among them was Syed Hafeez-ullah Andrabi, founder of Arabia College at Qazigund, few families are also at Bahram Sahib (Anantnag). Few families of Andrabi Syeds are at Kralpora (Chadoora-Budgam), and few families are also found at Wandhama (Ganderbal) etc. Baramulla Town and Garoora (Bandipora) are also areas of Andrabi Syeds. Some families of Andrabi Syeds are also at Kanthpora and Lolab (Kupwara). There are various living legends of the Andrabi dynasty and they are mostly found in rural areas of the Pulwama district such as Puchal, Ratnipora and Zadora, Kralpora (Chadoora), and Kanthpora (Kupwara). They had mainly adopted the teaching profession and their basic aim is only to enlighten people about the basic divine message. Their living standard is very simple even though they had access to material gains. Some of the descendants of Syed Mir Mirak Andrabi left Kashmir valley and settled down in various parts of the sub-continent. Syed Mir Mohiu’d-din Andrabi best known by the name of Syed Gh. Rasool settled down at Wazirabad (Amritsar) and was buried there. Syed Saifu’d-din Andrabi and Syed Muhammad Shafi Andrabi Ratanpuri left the valley and settled down at Damukhee (Sialkot) to carry on their ancestral mission. At present, the total population of Andrabi Syeds is approximately twenty-five thousand in the valley. Andrabi Syeds does not believe in caste supremacy. Almost all the Andrabi Syeds of the valley used to assemble at Malaratta on the death anniversary of Syed Mir Mirak Andrabi celebrated on the fifth of Safar every year. Their relationship with other Sufis was very amicable especially approach was laconic and suffice in nature and always try to benefit from the knowledge of others. Most venerated Sufis of different orders were greatly inclined towards Qadriya Silsila through their teachings. The mention may be made of Suhrawardi Sufi Dawud Khaki{d.994.A.H./1586.A.D} disciple of Sheikh Hamza Makhdum, (d.984.A.H./ 23 March 1576. A.D).
References.
ISSN: 2231-6302
Available Online: http://irjs.info/ |
Robert Christie (Lower Canada politician)
Robert Christie (January 20, 1787 – October 13, 1856) was a lawyer, journalist, historian and political figure in Lower Canada and Canada East (now Quebec). Born in Scotia, he moved to Lower Canada as a young man. Elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, he generally supported the "Parti bureaucrates", or government group. He opposed the union of Lower Canada with Upper Canada, but was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. As a member, he remained opposed to the union and was an independent, not supporting any particular party. He had a reputation for being hot-headed, but also incorruptible.
Family and early life.
Christie was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1787, the second son of Scottish immigrants, James Christie and Janet McIntosh. James Christie was a shoemaker who had acquired land and various positions in the Windsor area. Robert attended the King's College in Windsor, graduating some time before 1803. His father's plan was that Robert would take up business in Halifax, but in 1805 Robert went to Quebec City and was articled to Edward Bowen, a lawyer and political figure in Lower Canada. Christie became an advocate and attorney in 1810. In 1812, he married Monique-Olivier Doucet at the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Quebec City.
Journalism and public service.
Christie served in the War of 1812, reaching the rank of captain in the 4th Militia Battalion of Quebec City.
In 1816, he established the "Quebec Telegraph" and became its editor. The "Telegraph" was a weekly newspaper, with a focus on business and politics, including reports of proceedings in the provincial Legislative Assembly. Christie published it in English and French, to attract both English and French readers. The articles on political affairs became the foundation for his later books on the politics of Lower Canada. However, the paper folded in July 1817.
At the same time as he was publishing and editing the "Telegraph", Christie also held the position of law clerk to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, charged with drafting bills and providing legal advice to the members of the Assembly. In 1819, he was appointed the clerk of a government commission set up to investigate land claims in the Gaspé region. The Gaspé area had been settled in advance of the organization of local government, and questions arose about prior land claims. His appointment began a long personal interest in the affairs of the Gaspé.
Political career.
Lower Canada.
When Christie came to Lower Canada, there were tensions building between the elected Legislative Assembly and the various governors, appointed by the British government. The Parti canadien (also known as the Parti patriote) had begun to challenge the actions of the governors, who governed without regard to the wishes of the elected Assembly, particularly on the issue of the budget. One of the leaders of the Parti canadien at this time was James Stuart, also an alumnus of King's College at Windsor, who appeared to have some influence on Christie. However, Christie gained favour with Governor General Lord Dalhousie, and came to be a supporter of the provincial government against the popular movement in the Assembly.
In 1827, Christie was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada representing Gaspé and was appointed chairman of the Court of Quarter Sessions for the Quebec district. He generally supported the Government Party, also known as the Parti des Bureaucrates. He came into conflict with the Parti Canadien for removing magistrates who opposed the governor. The issue was investigated by a committee of the Assembly, and its report recounted his hot-tempered dealings with other members on the issue, particularly Louis Bourdages, one of the leaders of the Parti canadien. In 1829, he was expelled from the Legislative Assembly, the first of five expulsions. However, the constituents of Gaspé continued to vote him back in. His opponents in the Assembly, notably leaders of the Parti canadien such as Bourdages and John Neilson, argued that the repeated expulsions amounted to a legal disqualification to be elected to the Assembly. However, his supporters in the Assembly argued that approach would place the Assembly over the wishes of the populace in choosing their representatives. The issue was referred to the Colonial Secretary, Viscount Goderich, who ruled in favour of Christie's continued eligibility for election to the Assembly.
The conflict with the Parti canadien and the expulsions was complicated by Christie's attempt to start a movement to separate the Gaspé from Lower Canada and join the province of New Brunswick. At the time, the Gaspé had a significant anglophone population. This proposal alienated the voters of the region and he was defeated by John Le Boutillier in a by-election in 1833, after his fifth expulsion from the Assembly. Christie temporarily retired from politics.
Province of Canada.
Following the rebellion in Lower Canada, and the similar rebellion in 1837 in Upper Canada (now Ontario), the British government decided to merge the two provinces into a single province, as recommended by Lord Durham in the Durham Report. The "Union Act, 1840", passed by the British Parliament, abolished the two provinces and their separate parliaments, and created the Province of Canada, with a single parliament for the entire province, composed of an elected Legislative Assembly and an appointed Legislative Council.
In 1841, Christie stood for election in the first general election for the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. He was unopposed and was elected by acclamation, again representing Gaspé. Once elected, Christie demonstrated an independent approach in the Assembly. He opposed the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, and was a consistent opponent of the Governor General, Lord Sydenham. Although not a strong supporter of responsible government, he voted with the Reform group on the disputes between them and the Governor-General.
One of the issues facing the new Province was the location of the capital. Governor General Lord Sydenham had directed that the capital would be Kingston in Canada West, and that was where the first and second parliaments were held. However, Canada East had a larger population than Canada West, and there was a strong feeling that the capital should be in the more populous province. Christie introduced the successful motion in 1842 to move the capital from Kingston to Montreal.
Throughout his time in office, Christie was a strong advocate for the interests of the Gaspé, including the land issue and also the administration of justice and registration of marriages. He was also an advocate for economy of government and the Assembly's control over public finances. He had strong opinions on many issues which came before the Assembly, but had erratic responses to them. Always quick-tempered, at one point he challenged another member to a duel.
Christie was committed to gathering and maintaining the public records of the province. He stated that “the history of a people is part of their public property,” and went to great lengths to preserve and obtain records relating to the government of Lower Canada, the former British province of Quebec, and the former French province of Canada. In 1844—1845, he was the driving force for the creation of a parliamentary committee, which he chaired, to inquire into the condition of records stored in government facilities, and took steps to acquire copies of relelvant documents from the archives of France and the state of New York. In 1846 and again in 1849 he urged the government to take steps to gather and preserve historical government documents, including judicial and parliamentary records, civil and military records of the government prior to the establishmernt of Lower Canada in 1791, and also the records of the Jesuits prior to their suppression in 1791.
He continued to represent the Gaspé region until 1854, when he was again defeated by Le Boutillier. By the end of his political career, he had a reputation for incorruptibility, as a result of his obvious honesty and outspokenness.
Historical writings.
During his period as editor of the "Quebec Telegraph", Christie wrote commentaries on political events for the newspaper. The various articles became the foundation for a book, published in 1818, which reviewed the administrations of Sir James Henry Craig, and Sir George Prevost. Craig had been Governor General of British North America and Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada from 1807 to 1811; Prévost from 1812 to 1815.
Christie followed with a second book two years later, covering the period of the next three governors, Sir Gordon Drummond, Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, and Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond, from 1815 to 1820. A third volume appeared in 1829, covering the government of the Earl of Dalhousie.
Later in life, Christie returned to journalism, contributing articles to various newspapers and editing the "Quebec Mercury" from 1848 to 1850. At the same time, he began work on a six volume history of Lower Canada, focusing on political events from the creation of Lower Canada in 1791 until the union with Upper Canada in 1841. He incorporated material from his three earlier volumes on the administrations of the various governors-general, and also relied on contemporaneous documents, some of which are no longer available. From the time the text first came out, it was recognised as well-balanced, particularly compared to some other historical works at the time. Even Louis-Joseph Papineau, the leader of the Parti canadien, acknowledged that Christie accurately portrayed Papineau's role in the Lower Canada Rebellion, although he disagreed on some points of detail.
Fifty years later, this history was judged "one of the few works of importance written by English-Canadians during all these years". Although by modern standards the writing style is rather ornate and difficult, the work is considered detailed and impartial, and "thorough and enduring".
Later life.
In later life, Christie grew increasingly irascible, but also mended fences with old political opponents, such as John Neilson, who had led the efforts to exclude Christie from the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. He also developed a close friendship with Papineau, and worked to have Papineau's pre-1837 salary as Speaker of the Assembly paid to him.
Christie died at Quebec City in 1856, and was buried at Mount Hermon Cemetery, the Anglican cemetery in Sillery.
In 1938, Christie was designated a National Historic Person by the federal government, with a commemorative plaque at his birthplace in Windsor, Nova Scotia. |
Tokyo Xanadu
is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom. The game was developed out of Nihon Falcom's desire to create a game of a different type and setting than their other role-playing game franchises, "The Legend of Heroes" and "Ys". The game was first released in Japan for the PlayStation Vita in September 2015, and worldwide in June 2017.
An enhanced version of the game, Tokyo Xanadu eX+, was released in Japan for the PlayStation 4 in September 2016, and worldwide in December 2017, in addition to a Windows version. A port for the Nintendo Switch is scheduled for release in Japan in June 2023.
Gameplay.
It is an action role-playing game with party-based real-time combat that features dungeon exploration, similar to the "Persona" series by Atlus, as well as Falcom's own "Ys" and "Trails" franchises.
Plot.
In an alternate reality, Tokyo was hit by a huge earthquake in 2005 that took the city a decade to recover from. The game's protagonist, Kou Tokisaka, is a high school student who lives in Morimiya on the outskirts of Tokyo in 2015. He lives alone and has some part time jobs. One day after work, late at night, he sees his classmate Asuka Hiiragi is around some bad company. Kou follows them to a back alley. When he tries to get in between them, he is sucked into a vortex that brings him to the nightmare realm "Eclipse". Afterwards Asuka explains to Kou she is a member of Nemesis, a group that tries to close the Eclipse vortexes for good.
Asuka accepts Kou's assistance for the time being. During their missions they discover many wielders in their academy, people capable of fighting Greeds, the Eclipse inhabitants: Sora Ikushima, a first year and a martial artist; Yuuki Shinomiya, a first year and a genius; Shio Takahata, a third year and former co-leader of a street gang called Blaze; Mitsuki Hokuto, a third year and student council member, who is also the heir to Hokuto group that formed Zodiac which is involved with Eclipse and recruit them respectively. During a weekend vacation, Asuka and Mitsuki explain that Eclipse started spreading worldwide after the Great War II and that it was the cause of the earthquake ten years ago dubbed Tokyo Twilight Disaster. They also meet Rem, a girl who is an inhabitant of Eclipse and is known as the Child of Eclipse in the underworld.
Kou and his allies decide to form a school club as a cover for their mission and call it Xanadu Research Club (X.R.C). During an incident they discover that another second year named Rion Kugayama, who is also a member of famous idol group called SPiKA, is a wielder and convince her to join them. They also realize in another incident that their English teacher, Gorou Saeki is actually a member of Japan-Self Defense Force: Zero Battalion Aegis, a platoon tasked with fighting the Eclipse who also join them. When they supposedly prevented another Twilight Disaster, the entire city is engulfed by an Eclipse and they are separated.
During this new incident, they learn that Jun Kohinata, one of Kou's classmates and friends is in fact a Seal Knight of Orden, an organization belonging to the church and is tasked with fighting the Eclipse as well. After the X.R.C members and their allies regroup, they form a plan to assault the source of the Eclipse; when they reach it, they realize its Shiori Kurashiki, Kou's childhood friend and classmate. She then explains that real Shiori died during the disaster ten years ago, but before her death wished everything was a lie after witnessing Kou's sorrow. In a sense this wish was granted by a mythical Greed called the Twilight Apostle and brought a fake Shiori back to life. Due to Apostle's influence within her, the number of Eclipse incident in Morimiya was increased, and while the town believes she is alive, the rest of the world confirmed her as dead and so the entire world must be engulfed in Eclipse so that fact would change, but the X.R.C members defeat her and she passes away after a tearful goodbye with her friends. The town returns to normal and all people's memory of Eclipse and Shiori is erased except for the wielders. Asuka then asks Kou to walk her to her home in Brick Alley.
In the game's normal ending, while Asuka tries to convince Kou that nothing is his fault, they meet a girl who looks a lot like Shiori and seems to recognize them, after that the two of them go to the cafe that Asuka stays in. In the game's true ending, which can be accessed after meeting certain qualifications and seeing the normal ending once, they hear Shiori's voice and are instructed by Rem to visit Shiori's home. Once the entire X.R.C gathered there, they find an Eclipse gate which requires some keys. After recovering the keys and entering the gate, they meet the mythical Nine-tailed Fox who explains to them that he has retrieved the real Shiori's spirit and truly resurrected her as a priestess for himself. He then challenges the group to a fight and offers Shiori as a reward if they defeat him and they succeed. Kou then retrieves Shiori and has a tearful reunion with her, everyone's memory about Shiori has been restored as well. In the night of that event the X.R.C members and all their allies enjoy the Summer Festival.
The enhanced version of the game contains some side stories taking place between the chapters of the main story, and an After Story which takes place after the true ending of the game. The side stories include all X.R.C members except for Kou, Jun Kohinata the Seal Knight and an Armoured soldier who is later revealed to be Gorou Saeki investigating a strange form of Eclipse.
In the After Story, Morimiya is preparing for Autumnn Festival, but members of the X.R.C and all their allies, including Ryouta Ibuki, one of Kou's old friends and classmates, are taken into a Eclipse that is identical to Morimiya by a child wearing a fox-mask. After they regroup, the child's mask is broken and is revealed as a young Kou. He then explains that he is the Twilight Apostle, the being responsible for the Tokyo Twilight Disaster who almost defeated that day but managed to survive after granting Shiori's wish. Since then he was moving between the Eclipse and the real world to gain power and is going to use his new powers to destroy everything, but the heroes fight him and defeat him.
After the Apostle's downfall, the group returned to the real world. They have one final encounter with Rem before the event. Kou asks her if she knows why the Twilight Disaster happened and why the Twilight Apostle came to be, and she confirms that she does but all she says is that it was supposed to. She tells them that there will be a time when they need to make choices again and she will be there to observe them. The X.R.C members and their allies then swear to prepare themselves for the battles that have yet to come, the festival starts afterwards and everyone enjoy themselves.
Development.
Nihon Falcom announced the game in December 2014. The company referred to the game as an "urban myth action rpg". They also emphasized that they wanted to create a game with a different feel than their other role-playing game franchises, such as the "Ys" and "Trails" series. While being based on the "Xanadu" series, which includes "Xanadu" (1985) and "Xanadu Next" (2005), Falcom set out to create a game with a different feel than their other fantasy-based role-playing game franchises, with the game taking place in a fictional district of modern-day Tokyo called Morimiya City, incorporating the use of elements not seen in their other series, such as smartphones. Morimiya was based on actual locations near Nihon Falcom's head offices in Tachikawa. For example, the Morimiya Station Plaza, with its red arch monument, closely resembles the north exit of Tachikawa Station, which has a similar-looking blue arch monument. Falcom held promotional activities at various real-world locations in Tachikawa, including a "Tokyo Xanadu"-themed menu at the cafe in Books Orion, an actual Japanese bookstore chain with a location in Tachikawa that appears in-game.
The game was released for the PlayStation Vita in Japan on September 30, 2015. An English version of the game was not announced for almost a year after its initial Japanese release, leaving the game's fate in the West uncertain at the time. Journalists had considered it as a likely candidate for game localization by Xseed Games, due to their close relationship with Falcom from localizing entries in their "Ys" and "Trails" games. Other journalists mistook the "Xanadu" related trademark leaked in January 2015 as a sign of it being translated by XSeed, though this was actually in reference to "Xanadu Next".
An enhanced version of the game for the PlayStation 4, "Tokyo Xanadu eX+", was released in Japan on September 8, 2016. The PS4 version contains improved graphical fidelity and an improved frame rate, as well as additional story content in the form of extra side-stories and post-game content. Aksys Games got publishing rights for localizing the Vita version of the game in English, which was released on June 30, 2017. Additionally, they contracted British games publisher Ghostlight to help port "eX+" to Windows, where it was released on December 8. A Nintendo Switch port of "eX+" is scheduled for release on June 29, 2023 in Japan, featuring a high-speed mode and all previously released downloadable content.
Reception.
"Famitsu" gave the game a review score of 32/40. The game sold a total of 88,879 retail copies within its first week of release in Japan, topping the software sales charts for that particular week, with over 112,000 being sold within three weeks. |
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre was a series of mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by the Soviet Union, specifically the NKVD ("People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs", the Soviet secret police) in April and May 1940. Though the killings also occurred in the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons and elsewhere, the massacre is named after the Katyn Forest, where some of the mass graves were first discovered by German forces.
The order to execute captive members of the Polish officer corps was secretly issued by the Soviet Politburo led by Joseph Stalin . Of the total killed, about 8,000 were officers imprisoned during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, another 6,000 were police officers, and the remaining 8,000 were Polish intelligentsia the Soviets deemed to be "intelligence agents and gendarmes, spies and saboteurs, former landowners, factory owners and officials". The Polish Army officer class was representative of the multi-ethnic Polish state; the murdered included ethnic Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and 700-900 Polish Jews including the chief Rabbi of the Polish Army, Baruch Steinberg.
The government of Nazi Germany announced the discovery of mass graves in the Katyn Forest in April 1943. Stalin severed diplomatic relations with the London-based Polish government-in-exile when it asked for an investigation by the International Committee of the Red Cross. After the Vistula–Oder offensive where the mass graves fell into Soviet control, the Soviet Union claimed the Nazis had killed the victims, and it continued to deny responsibility for the massacres until 1990, when it officially acknowledged and condemned the killings by the NKVD, as well as the subsequent cover-up by the Soviet government.
An investigation conducted by the office of the prosecutors general of the Soviet Union (1990–1991) and the Russian Federation (1991–2004) confirmed Soviet responsibility for the massacres, but refused to classify this action as a war crime or as an act of mass murder. The investigation was closed on the grounds that the perpetrators were dead, and since the Russian government would not classify the dead as victims of the Great Purge, formal posthumous rehabilitation was deemed inapplicable. In November 2010, the Russian State Duma approved a declaration blaming Stalin and other Soviet officials for ordering the massacre.
Background.
Invasion of Poland.
On 1 September 1939, the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany began. Consequently, Britain and France, fulfilling the Anglo-Polish and Franco-Polish treaties of alliance, declared war on Germany. Despite these declarations of war, the two nations undertook minimal military activity during what became known as the Phoney War.
The Soviet invasion of Poland began on 17 September, in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The Red Army advanced quickly and met little resistance, as Polish forces facing them were under orders not to engage the Soviets. About 250,000 to 454,700 Polish soldiers and policemen were captured and interned by the Soviet authorities. Most were freed or escaped quickly, but 125,000 were imprisoned in camps run by the NKVD. Of these, 42,400 soldiers, mostly of Ukrainian and Belarusian ethnicity serving in the Polish Army, who lived in the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, were released in October. The 43,000 soldiers born in western Poland, then under Nazi control, were transferred to the Germans; in turn, the Soviets received 13,575 Polish prisoners from the Germans.
Polish prisoners of war.
Soviet repressions of Polish citizens occurred as well over this period. Since Poland's conscription system required every nonexempt university graduate to become a military reserve officer, the NKVD was able to round up a significant portion of the Polish educated class as prisoners of war. According to estimates by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), roughly 320,000 Polish citizens were deported to the Soviet Union (this figure is questioned by other historians, who hold to older estimates of about 700,000–1,000,000). IPN estimates the number of Polish citizens who died under Soviet rule during World War II at 150,000 (a revision of older estimates of up to 500,000). Of the group of 12,000 Poles sent to Dalstroy camp (near Kolyma) in 1940–1941, mostly POWs, only 583 men survived; they were released in 1942 to join the Polish Armed Forces in the East. According to Tadeusz Piotrowski, "during the war and after 1944, 570,387 Polish citizens had been subjected to some form of Soviet political repression". As early as 19 September, the head of the NKVD, Lavrentiy Beria, ordered the secret police to create the Main Administration for Affairs of Prisoners of War and Internees to manage Polish prisoners. The NKVD took custody of Polish prisoners from the Red Army, and proceeded to organise a network of reception centres and transit camps, and to arrange rail transport to prisoner-of-war camps in the western USSR. The largest camps were at Kozelsk (Optina Monastery), Ostashkov (Stolobny Island on Lake Seliger near Ostashkov), and Starobelsk. Other camps were at Jukhnovo (rail station "Babynino"), Yuzhe (Talitsy), rail station "Tyotkino" ( from Putyvl), Kozelshchyna, Oranki, Vologda (rail station "Zaonikeevo"), and Gryazovets.
Kozelsk and Starobelsk were used mainly for military officers, while Ostashkov was used mainly for Polish Scouting, gendarmes, police officers, and prison officers. Some prisoners were members of other groups of Polish intelligentsia, such as priests, landowners, and law personnel. The approximate distribution of men throughout the camps was as follows: Kozelsk, 5000; Ostashkov, 6570; and Starobelsk, 4000. They totalled 15,570 men.
According to a report from 19 November 1939, the NKVD had about 40,000 Polish POWs: 8,000–8,500 officers and warrant officers, 6,000–6,500 officers of police, and 25,000 soldiers and non-commissioned officers who were still being held as POWs. In December, a wave of arrests resulted in the imprisonment of additional Polish officers. Ivan Serov reported to Lavrentiy Beria on 3 December that "in all, 1,057 former officers of the Polish Army had been arrested". The 25,000 soldiers and non-commissioned officers were assigned to forced labor (road construction, heavy metallurgy).
Preparations.
Once at the camps, from October 1939 to February 1940, the Poles were subjected to lengthy interrogations and constant political pressure by NKVD officers, such as Vasily Zarubin. The prisoners assumed they would be released soon, but the interviews were in effect a selection process to determine who would live and who would die. According to NKVD reports, if a prisoner could not be induced to adopt a pro-Soviet attitude, he was declared a "hardened and uncompromising enemy of Soviet authority".
On 5 March 1940, pursuant to a note to Joseph Stalin from Beria, six members of the Soviet Politburo – Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Kliment Voroshilov, Anastas Mikoyan, and Mikhail Kalinin – signed an order to execute 25,700 Polish "nationalists and counterrevolutionaries" kept at camps and prisons in occupied western Ukraine and Belarus. The reason for the massacre, according to the historian Gerhard Weinberg, was that Stalin wanted to deprive a potential future Polish military of a large portion of its talent. The Soviet leadership, and Stalin in particular, viewed the Polish prisoners as a "problem" as they might resist being under Soviet rule. Therefore, they decided the prisoners inside the "special camps" were to be shot as "avowed enemies of Soviet authority".
Executions.
The number of victims is estimated at 22,000, with a lower limit of confirmed dead of 21,768. According to Soviet documents declassified in 1990, 21,857 Polish internees and prisoners were executed after 3 April 1940: 14,552 prisoners of war (most or all of them from the three camps) and 7,305 prisoners in western parts of the Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs. Of them 4,421 were from Kozelsk, 3,820 from Starobelsk, 6,311 from Ostashkov, and 7,305 from Byelorussian and Ukrainian prisons. The head of the NKVD Administration for Affairs of Prisoners of War and Internees, , was involved in "selections" of Polish officers to be executed at Katyn and elsewhere.
Those who died at Katyn included soldiers (an admiral, two generals, 24 colonels, 79 lieutenant colonels, 258 majors, 654 captains, 17 naval captains, 85 privates, 3,420 non-commissioned officers, and seven chaplains), 200 pilots, government representatives and royalty (a prince, 43 officials), and civilians (three landowners, 131 refugees, 20 university professors, 300 physicians; several hundred lawyers, engineers, and teachers; and more than 100 writers and journalists). In all, the NKVD executed almost half the Polish officer corps. Altogether, during the massacre, the NKVD executed 14 Polish generals: Leon Billewicz (ret.), Bronisław Bohatyrewicz (ret.), Xawery Czernicki (admiral), Stanisław Haller (ret.), , Henryk Minkiewicz (ret.), Kazimierz Orlik-Łukoski, Konstanty Plisowski (ret.), Rudolf Prich (killed in Lviv), Franciszek Sikorski (ret.), Leonard Skierski (ret.), Piotr Skuratowicz, Mieczysław Smorawiński, and Alojzy Wir-Konas (promoted posthumously). Not all of the executed were ethnic Poles, because the Second Polish Republic was a multiethnic state, and its officer corps included Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Jews. It is estimated about 8% of the Katyn massacre victims were Polish Jews. 395 prisoners were spared from the slaughter, among them Stanisław Swianiewicz and Józef Czapski. They were taken to the Yukhnov camp or Pavlishtchev Bor and then to Gryazovets. Up to 99% of the remaining prisoners were killed. People from the Kozelsk camp were executed in Katyn Forest; people from the Starobelsk camp were killed in the inner NKVD prison of Kharkiv and the bodies were buried near the village of Piatykhatky; and police officers from the Ostashkov camp were killed in the internal NKVD prison of Kalinin (Tver) and buried in Mednoye. All three burial sites had already been secret cemeteries of the victims of the Great Purge of 1937–1938. Later, recreational areas of NKVD/KGB were established there.
Detailed information on the executions in the Kalinin NKVD prison was provided during a hearing by Dmitry Tokarev, former head of the Board of the District NKVD in Kalinin. According to Tokarev, the shooting started in the evening and ended at dawn. The first transport, on 4 April 1940, carried 390 people, and the executioners had difficulty killing so many people in one night. The following transports held no more than 250 people. The executions were usually performed with German-made .25 ACP Walther Model 2 pistols supplied by Moscow, but Soviet-made 7.62×38mmR Nagant M1895 revolvers were also used. The executioners used German weapons rather than the standard Soviet revolvers, as the latter were said to offer too much recoil, which made shooting painful after the first dozen executions. Vasily Mikhailovich Blokhin, chief executioner for the NKVD, is reported to have personally shot and killed 7,000 of the condemned, some as young as 18, from the Ostashkov camp at Kalinin prison, over 28 days in April 1940.
After the condemned individual's personal information was checked and approved, he was handcuffed and led to a cell insulated with stacks of sandbags along the walls, and a heavy, felt-lined door. The victim was told to kneel in the middle of the cell and was then approached from behind by the executioner and immediately shot in the back of the head or neck. The body was carried out through the opposite door and laid in one of the five or six waiting trucks, whereupon the next condemned was taken inside and subjected to the same treatment. In addition to muffling by the rough insulation in the execution cell, the pistol gunshots were masked by the operation of loud machines (perhaps fans) throughout the night. Some post-1991 revelations suggest prisoners were also executed in the same manner at the NKVD headquarters in Smolensk, though judging by the way the corpses were stacked, some captives may have been shot while standing on the edge of the mass graves. This procedure went on every night, except for the public May Day holiday.
Some 3,000 to 4,000 Polish inmates of Ukrainian prisons and those from Belarus prisons were probably buried in Bykivnia and in Kurapaty respectively, about 50 women including two sisters, Klara Auerbach-Margules and Stella Menkes, among them. Lieutenant Janina Lewandowska, daughter of Gen. Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, was the only woman POW executed during the massacre at Katyn.
Discovery.
The question about the fate of the Polish prisoners was raised soon after Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941. The Polish government-in-exile and the Soviet government signed the Sikorski–Mayski agreement, which announced the willingness of both to fight together against Nazi Germany and for a Polish army to be formed on Soviet territory. The Polish general Władysław Anders began organizing this army, and soon he requested information about the missing Polish officers. During a personal meeting, Stalin assured him and Władysław Sikorski, the Polish Prime Minister, all the Poles were freed, and not all could be accounted because the Soviets "lost track" of them in Manchuria. Józef Czapski investigated the fate of Polish officers between 1941 and 1942. In 1942, with the territory around Smolensk under German occupation, captive Polish railroad workers heard from the locals about a mass grave of Polish soldiers at Kozelsk near Katyn; finding one of the graves, they reported it to the Polish Underground State. The discovery was not seen as important, as nobody thought the discovered grave could contain so many victims.
German announcement.
In early 1943, Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, a German officer serving as the intelligence liaison between the Wehrmacht's Army Group Centre and Abwehr, received reports about mass graves of Polish military officers. These reports stated the graves were in the forest of Goat Hill near Katyn. He passed the reports to his superiors (sources vary on when exactly the Germans became aware of the gravesfrom "late 1942" to January–February 1943, and when the German top decision makers in Berlin received those reports [as early as 1 March or as late as 4 April]).
Joseph Goebbels saw this discovery as an excellent tool to drive a wedge between Poland, the Western Allies, and the Soviet Union, and reinforcement for the Nazi propaganda line about the horrors of Bolshevism, and American and British subservience to it. After extensive preparation, on 13 April, Reichssender Berlin broadcast to the world that German military forces in the Katyn forest near Smolensk had uncovered The broadcast went on to charge the Soviets with carrying out the massacre in 1940.
The Germans brought in a European Red Cross committee called the Katyn Commission, comprising 12 forensic experts and their staff, from Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, and Bohemia & Moravia. The Germans were so intent on proving the Soviets were behind the massacre they even included some Allied prisoners of war, among them writer Ferdynand Goetel, the Polish Home Army prisoner from Pawiak. After the war, Goetel escaped with a fake passport due to an arrest warrant issued against him. Jan Emil Skiwski was a collaborator. Józef Mackiewicz has published several texts about the crime. Two of the 12, the Bulgarian Marko Markov and the Czech , with their countries becoming satellite states of the Soviet Union, were forced to recant their evidence, defending the Soviets and blaming the Germans. The Croatian pathologist Eduard Miloslavić managed to escape to the US.
The Katyn massacre was beneficial to Nazi Germany, which used it to discredit the Soviet Union. On 14 April 1943, Goebbels wrote in his diary:
When Joseph Goebbels was informed in September 1943 that the German Army had to withdraw from the Katyn area, he wrote a prediction in his diary. His entry for 29 September 1943 reads:
Polish reaction.
The Polish government-in-exile led by Sikorski insisted on bringing the matter to the negotiation table with the Soviets and on opening an investigation by the International Red Cross. On 17 April 1943 the Polish government issued a statement on this issue, asking for a Red Cross investigation, which was rejected by Stalin, who used the fact that Germans also requested such an investigation as a "proof" of Polish-German conspiracy, and which led to a deterioration of Polish-Soviet relations.
According to the Polish diplomat Edward Bernard Raczyński, Raczyński and General Sikorski met privately with Churchill and Alexander Cadogan on 15 April 1943, and told them the Poles had proof the Soviets were responsible for the massacre. Churchill reportedly stated According to Raczyński Sikorski himself died in the 1943 Gibraltar B-24 crash – an event convenient for the Allied leaders.
In 1947, the Polish Government in exile 1944–1946 report on Katyn was transmitted to Telford Taylor.
Soviet response.
The Soviet government immediately denied the German charges. They claimed the Polish prisoners of war had been engaged in construction work west of Smolensk, and consequently were captured and executed by invading German units in August 1941. The Soviet response on 15 April to the initial German broadcast of 13 April, prepared by the Soviet Information Bureau, stated
In response to Polish demands, Stalin accused the Polish government of collaborating with Nazi Germany and broke off diplomatic relations with it. The Soviet Union also started a campaign to get the Western Allies to recognize the pro-Soviet government-in-exile of the Union of Polish Patriots led by Wanda Wasilewska.
Having retaken the Katyn area almost immediately after the Red Army had recaptured Smolensk, around September–October 1943, NKVD forces began a cover-up operation. They destroyed a cemetery the Germans had permitted the Polish Red Cross to build and removed other evidence. Witnesses were "interviewed" and threatened with arrest for collaborating with the Nazis if their testimonies disagreed with the official line. As none of the documents found on the dead had dates later than April 1940, the Soviet secret police planted false evidence to place the apparent time of the massacre in mid-1941, when the German military had controlled the area. NKVD operatives Vsevolod Merkulov and Sergei Kruglov issued a preliminary report, dated 10–11 January 1944, that concluded the Polish officers were shot by German soldiers.
In January 1944, the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission for ascertaining and investigating crimes perpetrated by the German-Fascist invaders set up another commission, the (Специальная комиссия по установлению и расследованию обстоятельств расстрела немецко-фашистскими захватчиками в Катынском лесу (близ Смоленска) военнопленных польских офицеров). The commission's name implied a predestined conclusion. It was headed by Nikolai Burdenko, the president of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, hence the commission is often known as the "Burdenko Commission", who was appointed by Moscow to investigate the incident. Its members included prominent Soviet figures such as the writer Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, but no foreign personnel were allowed to join the commission. The Burdenko Commission exhumed the bodies, rejected the 1943 German findings the Poles were shot by the Soviet army, assigned the guilt to the Nazis, and concluded all the shootings were done by German occupation forces in late 1941. It is uncertain how many members of the commission were misled by the falsified reports and evidence, and how many actually suspected the truth. Cienciala and Materski note the commission had no choice but to issue findings in line with the Merkulov-Kruglov report, and Burdenko was likely aware of the cover-up. He reportedly admitted something like that to friends and family shortly before his death in 1946. The Burdenko Commission's conclusions would be consistently cited by Soviet sources until the official admission of guilt by the Soviet government on 13 April 1990.
In January 1944, the Soviets also invited a group of more than a dozen mostly American and British journalists, accompanied by Kathleen Harriman, the daughter of the new American Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, and John F. Melby, third secretary at the American embassy in Moscow, to Katyn. Some regarded the inclusion of Melby and Harriman as a Soviet attempt to lend official weight to their propaganda. Melby's report noted the deficiencies in the Soviet case: problematic witnesses; attempts to discourage questioning of the witnesses; statements of the witnesses obviously being given as a result of rote memorization; and that "the show was put on for the benefit of the correspondents." Nevertheless, Melby, at the time, felt on balance the Soviet case was convincing. Harriman's report reached the same conclusion and after the war both were asked to explain why their conclusions seemed to be at odds with their findings, with the suspicion the conclusions were what the State Department wanted to hear. The journalists were less impressed and not convinced by the staged Soviet demonstration.
An example of Soviet propaganda spread by some Western Communists is Alter Brody's monograph "Behind the Polish-Soviet Break" (with an introduction by Corliss Lamont).
Western reaction.
The growing Polish-Soviet tension was beginning to strain Western-Soviet relations at a time when the Poles' importance to the Allies, significant in the first years of the war, was beginning to fade, due to the entry into the conflict of the military and industrial giants, the Soviet Union and the United States. In retrospective review of records, both British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt were increasingly torn between their commitments to their Polish ally and the demands by Stalin and his diplomats.
On 24 April 1943, the British government successfully pressured the Poles to withdraw the request for a Red Cross investigation, and Churchill assured Stalin's regime: Unofficial or classified UK documents concluded Soviet guilt was a "near certainty", but the alliance with the Soviets was deemed to be more important than moral issues; thus the official version supported the Soviets, up to censoring any contradictory accounts. Churchill asked Owen O'Malley to investigate the issue, but in a note to the Foreign Secretary he noted: O'Malley pointed out several inconsistencies and near impossibilities in the Soviet version. Later, Churchill sent a copy of the report to Roosevelt on 13 August 1943. The report deconstructed the Soviet account of the massacre and alluded to the political consequences within a strongly moral framework but recognized there was no viable alternative to the existing policy. No comment by Roosevelt on the O'Malley report has been found. Churchill's own post-war account of the Katyn affair gives little further insight. In his memoirs, he refers to the 1944 Soviet inquiry into the massacre, which found the Germans responsible, and adds,
At the beginning of 1944, Ron Jeffery, an agent of British and Polish intelligence in occupied Poland, eluded the Abwehr and travelled to London with a report from Poland to the British government. His efforts were at first highly regarded, but subsequently ignored, which a disillusioned Jeffery later attributed to the actions of Kim Philby and other high-ranking communist agents entrenched in the British government. Jeffery tried to inform the British government about the Katyn massacre but was as a result released from the Army.
In the United States a similar line was taken, notwithstanding two official intelligence reports into the Katyn massacre that contradicted the official position. In 1944, Roosevelt assigned his special emissary to the Balkans, Navy Lieutenant Commander George Earle, to produce a report on Katyn. Earle concluded the massacre was committed by the Soviet Union. Having consulted with Elmer Davis, director of the United States Office of War Information, Roosevelt rejected the conclusion (officially), declared he was convinced of Nazi Germany's responsibility, and ordered that Earle's report be suppressed. When Earle requested permission to publish his findings, the President issued a written order to desist. Earle was reassigned and spent the rest of the war in American Samoa.
A further report in 1945, supporting the same conclusion, was produced and stifled. In 1943, the Germans took two U.S. POWsCapt. Donald B. Stewart and Col. to Katyn for an international news conference. Documents released by the National Archives and Records Administration in September 2012 revealed Stewart and Van Vliet sent coded messages to their American superiors indicating they saw proof that implicated the Soviets. Three lines of evidence were cited. Firstly, the Polish corpses were in such an advanced state of decay that the Nazis could not have killed them, as they had only taken over the area in 1941. Secondly, none of the numerous Polish artifacts, such as letters, diaries, photographs and identification tags pulled from the graves, were dated later than the spring of 1940. Most incriminating was the relatively good state of the men's uniforms and boots, which showed they had not lived long after being captured. Later, in 1945, Van Vliet submitted a report concluding the Soviets were responsible for the massacre. His superior, Major General Clayton Lawrence Bissell, General George Marshall's assistant chief of staff for intelligence, destroyed the report. Washington kept the information secret, presumably to appease Stalin and not distract from the war against the Nazis. During the 1951–52 Congressional investigation into Katyn, Bissell defended his action before the United States Congress, arguing it was not in the U.S. interest to antagonize an ally (the USSR) whose assistance the nation needed against the Empire of Japan. In 1950, Van Vliet recreated his wartime report. In 2014, a copy of a report Van Vliet made in France during 1945 was discovered.
Post-war trials.
From 28 December 1945 to 4 January 1946, a Soviet military court in Leningrad tried seven Wehrmacht servicemen. One of them, Arno Dürre, who was charged with murdering numerous civilians using machine-guns in Soviet villages, confessed to having taken part in the burial (though not the execution) of 15,000 to 20,000 Polish POWs in Katyn. For this he was spared execution and was given 15 years of hard labor. His confession was full of absurdities, and thus he was not used as a Soviet prosecution witness during the Nuremberg trials. He later recanted his confession, claiming the investigators forced him to confess through torture.
At the London conference that drew up the indictments of German war crimes before the Nuremberg trials, the Soviet negotiators put forward the allegation, "In September 1941, 925 Polish officers who were prisoners of war were killed in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk". The U.S. negotiators agreed to include it but were "embarrassed" by the inclusion (noting the allegation had been debated extensively in the press) and concluded it would be up to the Soviets to sustain it. At the trials in 1946, Soviet General Roman Rudenko raised the indictment, stating "one of the most important criminal acts for which the major war criminals are responsible was the mass execution of Polish prisoners of war shot in the Katyn forest near Smolensk by the German fascist invaders", but failed to make the case and the U.S. and British judges dismissed the charges. Only 70 years later did it become known that former OSS chief William Donovan had succeeded in getting the American delegation in Nuremberg to block the Katyn indictment. A German officer, Fabian von Schlabrendorff, who was stationed in Smolensk during the war, had convinced Donovan that not the Germans but the Soviets were the perpetrators. It was not the purpose of the court to determine whether Germany or the Soviet Union was responsible for the crime, but rather to attribute the crime to at least one of the defendants, which the court was unable to do.
1950s.
In 1951 and 1952, with the Korean War as a background, a congressional investigation chaired by Rep. Ray Madden and known as the Madden Committee investigated the Katyn massacre. According to the Committee conclusion: "the Katyn massacre involved some 4,243 of the 15,400 Polish Army officers and intellectual leaders who were captured by the Soviets when Russia invaded Poland in September 1939." The committee concluded that these 4,243 Poles had been killed by the NKVD and that a case should be brought to the International Court of Justice. However, the question of responsibility remained controversial in the West as well as behind the Iron Curtain. In the United Kingdom in the late 1970s, plans for a memorial to the victims bearing the date 1940 (rather than 1941) were condemned as provocative in the political climate of the Cold War. It has also been alleged that the choice made in 1969 for the location of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic war memorial at the former Belarusian village named Khatyn, the site of the 1943 Khatyn massacre, was made to cause confusion with Katyn. The two names are similar or identical in many languages, and were often confused.
In Poland, the pro-Soviet authorities following the Soviet occupation after the war covered up the matter in accordance with the official Soviet propaganda line, deliberately censoring any sources that might provide information about the crime. Katyn was a forbidden topic in post-war Poland. Censorship in the Polish People's Republic was a massive undertaking and Katyn was specifically mentioned in the "Black Book of Censorship" used by the authorities to control the media and academia. Not only did government censorship suppress all references to it, but even mentioning the atrocity was dangerous. In the late 1970s, democracy groups like the Workers' Defence Committee and the Flying University defied the censorship and discussed the massacre, in the face of arrests, beatings, detentions, and ostracism. In 1981, Polish trade union Solidarity erected a memorial with the simple inscription "Katyn, 1940". It was confiscated by the police and replaced with an official monument with the inscription: "To the Polish soldiersvictims of Hitlerite fascismreposing in the soil of Katyn". Nevertheless, every year on the day of Zaduszki, similar memorial crosses were erected at Powązki Cemetery and numerous other places in Poland, only to be dismantled by the police. Katyn remained a political taboo in the Polish People's Republic until the fall of the Eastern Bloc in 1989.
In the Soviet Union during the 1950s, the head of KGB, Alexander Shelepin, proposed and carried out the destruction of many documents related to the Katyn massacre to minimize the chance the truth would be revealed. His 3 March 1959 note to Nikita Khrushchev, with information about the execution of 21,857 Poles and with the proposal to destroy their personal files, became one of the documents that was preserved and eventually made public.
Revelations.
During the 1980s, there was increasing pressure on both the Polish and Soviet governments to release documents related to the massacre. Polish academics tried to include Katyn in the agenda of the 1987 joint Polish-Soviet commission to investigate censored episodes of Polish-Russian history. In 1989, Soviet scholars revealed Joseph Stalin had indeed ordered the massacre, and in 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev admitted the NKVD had executed the Poles and confirmed two other burial sites similar to the site at Katyn: Mednoye and Piatykhatky.
On 30 October 1989, Gorbachev allowed a delegation of several hundred Poles, organized by the Polish association "Families of Katyń Victims", to visit the Katyn memorial. This group included former U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. A mass was held and banners hailing the Solidarity movement were laid. One mourner affixed a sign reading "NKVD" on the memorial, covering the word "Nazis" in the inscription such that it read "In memory of Polish officers killed by the NKVD in 1941." Several visitors scaled the fence of a nearby KGB compound and left burning candles on the grounds. Brzezinski commented:
It isn't a personal pain which has brought me here, as is the case in the majority of these people, but rather recognition of the symbolic nature of Katyń. Russians and Poles, tortured to death, lie here together. It seems very important to me that the truth should be spoken about what took place, for only with the truth can the new Soviet leadership distance itself from the crimes of Stalin and the NKVD. Only the truth can serve as the basis of true friendship between the Soviet and the Polish peoples. The truth will make a path for itself. I am convinced of this by the very fact that I was able to travel here.
His remarks were given extensive coverage on Soviet television. On 13 April 1990, the forty-seventh anniversary of the discovery of the mass graves, the USSR formally expressed "profound regret" and admitted Soviet secret police responsibility. The day was declared a worldwide Katyn Memorial Day ().
Post-communist investigations.
In 1990, future Russian President Boris Yeltsin released the top-secret documents from the sealed "Package №1." and transferred them to the new Polish president Lech Wałęsa. Among the documents was a proposal by Lavrentiy Beria, dated 5 March 1940, to execute 25,700 Poles from Kozelsk, Ostashkov and Starobelsk camps, and from certain prisons of Western Ukraine and Belarus, signed by Stalin (among others). Another document transferred to the Poles was Aleksandr Shelepin's 3 March 1959 note to Nikita Khrushchev, with information about the execution of 21,857 Poles, as well as a proposal to destroy their personal files to reduce the possibility documents related to the massacre would be uncovered later. The revelations were also publicized in the Russian press, where they were interpreted as being one outcome of an ongoing power struggle between Yeltsin and Gorbachev.
Criminal prosecution attempts and further testimonies.
In 1991, the Chief Military Prosecutor for the Soviet Union began proceedings against Pyotr Karpovich Soprunenko (b. 1908) for his role in the Katyn killings, but eventually declined to prosecute because Soprunenko was 83, almost blind, and recovering from a cancer operation. During his April 1991 interrogation, Soprunenko defended himself by denying his own signature. Soprunenko, who died in June 1992, was an NKVD captain in early 1940 and was the organization's Head of Directorate for Prisoners of War Affairs & Internees, from September 1939 to February 1943. In this capacity, he was reportedly involved in the planning and operational control of the executions, in following with Beria's and Merkulov's orders.
Further testimonies emerged in October 1991 via a report made by Nicholas Bethell, a British historian and Conservative member of the European Parliament, who obtained videotaped copies of the interrogations to surviving participants, statements, and met with military prosecutors in Moscow. His report mentioned Soprunenko and another participant, Vladimir Tokaryev, who was 89 but still recalled how 250 Poles were murdered every night in Kalinin. Bethell's report, which was published in "The Observer", also quoted Tokaryev as saying that he learned of the massacre's plan in March 1940; he was called to a meeting in Moscow with Bogdan Kobulov, Beria's NKVD deputy, and claimed that Soprunenko was present in said meeting, in which the latter explained details of the operation. Moreover, Bethell's spoke of Soprunenko telling that he received an order from the Politburo to carry out the executions, signed by Stalin. Bethell also characterized Soprunenko as ″evasive and shifty″ in his deposition, showing little regret for his role.
Later events.
During Kwaśniewski's visit to Russia in September 2004, Russian officials announced they were willing to transfer all the information on the Katyn massacre to the Polish authorities as soon as it became declassified. In March 2005 the Prosecutor-General's Office of the Russian Federation concluded a decade-long investigation of the massacre and announced that the investigation was able to confirm the deaths of 1,803 out of 14,542 Polish citizens who had been sentenced to death while in three Soviet camps. He did not address the fate of about 7,000 victims who had not been in POW camps, but in prisons. Savenkov declared the massacre was not a genocide, that Soviet officials who had been found guilty of the crime were dead and that, consequently, "there is absolutely no basis to talk about this in judicial terms". Of the 183 volumes of files gathered during the Russian investigation, 116 were declared to contain state secrets and were classified.
On 22 March 2005, the Polish Sejm unanimously passed an act requesting the Russian archives to be declassified. The Sejm also requested Russia to classify the Katyn massacre as a crime of genocide. The resolution stressed that the authorities of Russia "seek to diminish the burden of this crime by refusing to acknowledge it was genocide and refuse to give access to the records of the investigation into the issue, making it difficult to determine the whole truth about the killing and its perpetrators."
In 2007, a case (Janowiec and Others v. Russia) was brought in front of the European Court of Human Rights, with the families of several victimes claiming that Russia violated the European Convention on Human Rights by withholding documents from the public. The declared admissible two complaints from relatives of the massacre victims against Russia regarding adequacy of the official investigation. In a ruling on 16 April 2012, the court found Russia had violated the rights of victims' relatives by not providing them with sufficient information about the investigation and described the massacre as a "war crime". But it also refused to judge the effectiveness of the Soviet Russian investigation because the related events took place before Russia ratified the Human Rights Convention in 1998. The plaintiffs filed an appeal but a 21 October 2013 ruling essentially reaffirmed the prior one, claiming that the matter is outside the court's competence, and only rebuking the Russian side for its failure to substantiate adequately why some critical information remained classified.
In late 2007 and early 2008, several Russian newspapers, including "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", "Komsomolskaya Pravda", and "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", printed stories that implicated the Nazis in the crime, spurring concern this was done with the tacit approval of the Kremlin. As a result, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance decided to open its own investigation.
In 2008, the Polish Foreign Ministry asked the government of Russia about alleged footage of the massacre filmed by the NKVD during the killings, something the Russians have denied exists. Polish officials believe this footage, as well as further documents showing cooperation of Soviets with the Gestapo during the operations, are the reason for Russia's decision to classify most of the documents about the massacre.
In the following years, many volumes of the case were declassified and transferred to the Polish government, but others remained classified. In June 2008, Russian courts consented to hear a case about the declassification of documents about Katyn and the judicial rehabilitation of the victims.
On 21 April 2010, the Russian Supreme Court ordered the Moscow City Court to hear an appeal in an ongoing Katyn legal case. A civil rights group, Memorial, said the ruling could lead to a court decision to open up secret documents providing details about the killings of thousands of Polish officers. Russia handed over to Poland copies of 137 of the 183 volumes of unclassified material of Russian investigation of the Katyn criminal case. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev handed one of the volumes to the acting Polish president, Bronislaw Komorowski. Medvedev and Komorowski agreed the two states should continue to try to reveal the truth about the tragedy. The Russian president reiterated Russia would continue to declassify documents on the Katyn massacre and ordered to release the documents proving the guilt of Stalin and his secret police chief Beria. In November 2010, the Russian State Duma issued an official declaration that condemned Joseph Stalin for Katyn massacres. Nevertheless, 35 out of 183 files about the Katyn massacre remain classified in Russia.
According to Belarus state archives known as "Belarusian Katyn List", some courts in the Belarusian SSR also issued death sentences to Poles, and there was a list with names of 3,870 officers whose identities and exact place of execution (presumably Bykivnia and Kuropaty) still remain to be established.
Legacy.
Polish–Russian relations.
Russia and Poland remained divided on the legal description of the Katyn crime. The Poles considered it a case of genocide and demanded further investigations, as well as complete disclosure of Soviet documents.
In June 1998, Boris Yeltsin and Aleksander Kwaśniewski agreed to construct memorial complexes at Katyn and Mednoye, the two NKVD execution sites on Russian soil. In September of that year, the Russians also raised the issue of Soviet prisoner of war deaths in the camps for Russian prisoners and internees in Poland (1919–24). About 16,000 to 20,000 POWs died in those camps due to communicable diseases. Some Russian officials argued it was "a genocide comparable to Katyn". A similar claim was raised in 1994; such attempts are seen by some, particularly in Poland, as a highly provocative Russian attempt to create an "anti-Katyn" and "balance the historical equation". The fate of Polish prisoners and internees in Soviet Russia remains poorly researched.
On 4 February 2010, the Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, invited his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, to attend a Katyn memorial service in April. The visit took place on 7 April 2010, when Tusk and Putin together commemorated the 70th anniversary of the massacre. Before the visit, the 2007 film "Katyń" was shown on Russian state television for the first time. "The Moscow Times" commented that the film's premiere in Russia was likely a result of Putin's intervention.
On 10 April 2010, an aircraft carrying Polish President Lech Kaczyński with his wife and 87 other politicians and high-ranking army officers crashed in Smolensk, killing all 96 aboard the aircraft. The passengers were to attend a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. The Polish nation was stunned; Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was not on the plane, referred to the crash as "the most tragic Polish event since the war." In the aftermath, a number of conspiracy theories began to circulate. The catastrophe has also had major echoes in the international and particularly the Russian press, prompting a rebroadcast of "Katyń" on Russian television. The Polish President was to deliver a speech at the formal commemorations. The speech was to honour the victims, highlight the significance of the massacres in the context of post-war communist political history, as well as stress the need for Polish–Russian relations to focus on reconciliation. Although the speech was never delivered, it has been published with a narration in the original Polish and a translation has also been made available in English.
In November 2010, the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) passed a resolution declaring long-classified documents "showed that the Katyn crime was carried out on direct orders of Stalin and other Soviet officials". The declaration also called for the massacre to be investigated further to confirm the list of victims. Members of the Duma from the Communist Party denied the Soviet Union had been to blame for the Katyn massacre and voted against the declaration.
On 10 April 2022, in response to Polish authorities attempts to demolish or remove "post-Soviet occupation monuments", pro-government activists in support of the invasion parked heavy machinery with flags of the Russian Federation and letters Z outside the Katyn Memorial Cemetery, which was interpreted as an act of intimidation. This was denied by the organizers, who stated they wished to draw attention to the "Russophobic Polish authorities". A number of Russian politicians advocated to demolish Polish part of the memorial complex. Among them State Duma deputies Anatoly Wasserman and Alexey Chepa. On 28 June 2022 Leningradsky Court of Kaliningrad forbade distribution of the book "Katyn. On the trail of a crime". According to the court the book "rehabilitated Nazism" and "violated the law on glorifying Soviet Victory in the Great Patriotic War".
Those adopting pre-1990 views.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation and a number of other pro-Soviet Russian politicians and commentators claim that the story of Soviet guilt is a conspiracy and that the documents released in 1990 were forgeries. They insist that the original version of events, assigning guilt to the Nazis, is the correct version, and they call on the Russian government to start a new investigation that would revise the findings of 2004. Such alternative versions were refuted by a number of Russian historians and organizations such as Memorial. They pointed to inconsistencies in this alternative version, namely the details of another contemporary mass execution site at Mednoye in the Tver Region. That part of Central Russia, they stress, was never under German occupation and yet it contained the remains of victims originating from the same camps as those killed in Katyn; the victims at Mednoye were also killed in April–May 1940. Mednoye was only examined in the 1990s and was found to contain well-preserved Polish uniforms, documents, souvenirs, and Soviet newspapers dating back to 1940.
In September 2009, Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, Stalin's grandson, sued Russian newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" after it published an article claiming his grandfather personally signed execution orders against civilians. Dzhugashvili centered his case on the veracity of a document showing Stalin ordered the Katyn massacre. On 13 October 2009, the Russian court rejected the suit.
In 2021, the Russian Ministry of Culture downgraded the memorial complex at Katyn on its Register of Sites of Cultural Heritage from a place of federal to one of only regional importance. Such decisions, says the preface to the site, are made in consultation with the regional authorities, i.e. the Smolensk Region administration.
In June 2022, Russia removed the Polish flag from the memorial complex, amidst a rise in Russia–Poland political tension due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Memorials.
Many monuments and memorials that commemorate the massacre have been erected worldwide, including Katyn war cemetery in Katyn, National Katyń Memorial in Baltimore, Maryland, and several memorials in the UK. |
Joshua Dysart
Joshua Dysart (born June 21, 1971) is an American comic book writer. He has done work for DC Comics, Vertigo Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, Valiant Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Penny-Farthing Press, Virgin Comics and Random House Books.
Career.
Comics.
Dysart co-created and wrote "Violent Messiahs" in 1997. The first eight issues, collected in the graphic novel "Violent Messiahs Vol. I: Book of Job" in 2002, were nominated for the Harvey Award, the Wizard Fan Award, and the Eisner's Russ Manning Award. The last four issues, a story arc entitled "Lamenting Pain", was not collected until 2009, when IDW Press decided to publish a trade which also featured never before seen developmental material and an unseen short story by Dysart.
More work followed, including a two-year stint as the monthly writer of "Swamp Thing", writing issues #9–29 of the fourth series. His run featured the art of Enrique Breccia and Richard Corben (among others) on interiors and John Totleben and Eric Powell on covers. Dysart has also worked on "Conan" and "Hellboy" and has co-written with Mike Mignola on a series of projects in the same setting of Hellboy.
From 2008 to 2010 he wrote a revamp of "The Unknown Soldier" for Vertigo. The storyline took place in Acholiland, Uganda, in 2002 during the war between the Lord's Resistance Army and Ugandan People's Defence Force. Dysart spent a month in Northern Uganda for research. Issue #1 of Unknown Soldier was released in October 2008. The book was a monthly. It was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2009. and won a Glyph Comics Awards for Best cover. In 2010 Unknown Soldier won the Glyph for STORY OF THE YEAR. Unknown Soldier was featured on the front page of the art section of the New York Times and Dysart was interviewed by the BBC, who also published some of his research photos on their website. In December 2009 Dysart gave an exhaustive interview to WORLD VISION REPORT about his experiences in the conflict zone and attempts to adapt them into a mainstream, commercial work.
In June 2010, Vertigo Comics published Dysart's graphic novel based on Neil Young's 2003 album "Greendale". Cliff Chiang drew the book. It spent two weeks at #3 on the New York Times Graphic Novel Best-Seller list.
In 2012 Joshua Dysart became one of the primary architects of the Valiant Universe when he helped launch the "Summer of Valiant" with fellow creators Robert Vinditti, Duane Swierzinski, Fred Van Lente, and Justin Jordan. It was a reboot of the shared superhero universe of 1990's era publisher Valiant Comics. He has since done two monthly series, the revamp of "Harbinger" and the original "Imperium", and co-wrote "Bloodshot" for the publisher, as well as multiple single issues over the years. He and artist Khari Evans are responsible for bringing back the popular Faith/Zephyr character, an overweight female superhero, in her current incarnation. In 2013 he helmed Valiant's first summer crossover, "Harbinger wars," which introduced his original creation, a team of super-powered children called "Generation Zero". Generation Zero and Faith were both given their own individual series.
In 2015 the World Food Programme released "Living Level-3: Iraq" by Dysart, Alberto Ponticelli, Pat Masioni, and Thomas Mauer. For the work Dysart once again went to a war zone, traveling across northern Iraq in 2014 to interview Syrians, Yazidis, Kurds, and Arabic Christians who were fleeing both the Syrian Conflict and the rise of Da'esh. The work was first published, free to read, on Huffington Post World in four installments. In 2017 WFP released "Living Level-3: South Sudan", the sequel by Dysart and the same team. Again, Dysart spent ten days traveling in the subject country for research. Focusing on the intersection of famine, civil war, and free market inflation in destabilizing the youngest nation in the world.
In 2018 Dysart once again was part of the launch line-up of a brand new company TKO Studios with an original graphic novel "Goodnight Paradise". A murder mystery that takes place in the homeless culture of Venice Beach, California as it is rapidly gentrifying due to technology companies moving in. Dysart has lived in Venice Beach since the early 2000s. The book has received overwhelmingly positive reviews for its humanist exploration of community disintegration and displacement. The AV CLUB said, "the book is a savage takedown of a society that prioritizes profit over people." And Comics Beat concluded that it was, "As compassionate a portrayal of the homeless as any medium has seen in recent years." Goodnight Paradise is a prime example of a perennial theme of Dysart's:"The issue of displaced humanity has been central to a lot of my work, going all the way back to my "Unknown Soldier" days, but this was the first time I’ve turned that lens on my own community. I suppose there’s a richness of character and general detail that comes from the fact that this is pulled from more than a decade of material and thought on the subject and the place." - Joshua Dysart
In April 2022, Dysart was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, "Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds", a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Dysart's contribution is an editorial on Ukrainian artists.
Media tie-in.
Dysart has been extensively involved in multi-media crossovers over his career. He authored the one-shot "Van Helsing: Beneath the Rue Morgue" (an original story featuring the character from the Universal film) and penned "Skull & Bones: A Monster House Story", which was tied into the Sony animated children's "Monster House". He's also had his comic books included in the packaging for both the ' MMO computer game from Funcom and the "Hellboy" video game from Konami. He has written a two-volume 270 page graphic novel for Avril Lavigne entitled "Make 5 Wishes" which was published by Del Rey Manga and Random House. That book has been printed in over seven languages as well as digitally distributed throughout Asia. His six-issue comic book mini-series adaptation of the Deepak Chopra novel ' was published in December 2010.
In 2013 Archaia Entertainment LLC published Dysart's "The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths, Volume 2." Taking place in Jim Henson's Dark Crystal universe, Dysart's story tells of the cracking of the crystal.
In 2015 Valiant Entertainment announced a five-picture deal with Sony Pictures to bring two of its series "Bloodshot" and Dysart's "Harbinger", to the big screen. Both "Bloodshot" and "Harbinger" will receive two features each before a fifth movie, "Harbinger Wars", also written by Dysart, is hoped to be released.
Advocacy and education.
Dysart has, on multiple occasions, taught and talked about the role of comics in pop-culture, as well as actively promoted comics "he feels bring a wider audience to the medium". He has produced discussion panels for the West Hollywood Book Fair in 2006 and moderated in 2007' as well as written about the virtue of comics for the LA Weekly. In 2008 and 2009 he was a special guest at Ohio University's Aesthetics Technology Lab and even wrote a short comic story about his experiences there that featured the art of Ronald Wimberly. That story, called "THE STAIN", was a Best American Comics of 2010 notable entry. In 2009 Dysart spoke at the University of Miami on his experiences writing the Unknown Soldier. That same year he interviewed Bryan Lee O'Malley on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. In 2010 he interviewed David Petersen on his Eisner-award-winning Mouse Guard comic.
In 2018, Dysart wrote a short piece for Love is Love, a graphic tribute to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. He also wrote a short comic about the marketing of the AR-15 for "Where We Live", a graphic novel benefitting the survivors of the mass shooting that took place at the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest music festival.
In 2018, Dysart became involved in the early stages of Comics For Peace, a Pakistani initiative by locals to encourage and promote positive social change through the medium of comic books. He helped hand choose and then mentor young creatives from across Pakistan. The students created stories that brought attention to the societal issues that concerned them, including discrimination, hate, violence and extremism. Two creators published by the program and mentored by Dysart were brought to the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, where they were given a table and spent the convention pitching their comics to attendees. In the process, thousands of free comics created by Pakistani young people were handed out.
Bibliography.
An incomplete selection of work: |
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Would You?" written by Nina Sampermans, Jean Bosco Safari and Walter Mannaerts. The song was performed by Iris, who was internally selected by the Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) in November 2011 to represent the nation at the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. The song was selected through the national final "Eurosong 2012: Een song voor Iris", which was organised by VRT and featured two songs. In the final on 17 March 2012, "Would You?" was selected as the winning song after gaining 53% of the public televote.
Belgium was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2012. Performing during the show in position 8, "Would You?" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belgium placed seventeenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 16 points.
Background.
Prior to the 2012 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-three times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in . Since then, the country has won the contest on one occasion in with the song "J'aime la vie" performed by Sandra Kim. Following the introduction of semi-finals for , Belgium had been featured in only two finals. In 2011, Witloof Bay represented the country with the song "With Love Baby", placing eleventh in the second semi-final and failing to advance to the final.
The Belgian broadcaster for the 2012 contest, who broadcasts the event in Belgium and organises the selection process for its entry, was Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: the Flemish VRT and the Walloon Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF). Both broadcasters have selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2010, VRT internally selected the Belgian entry, while in 2011, RTBF organised a national final in order to select the entry that would represent the nation. On 5 September 2011, VRT confirmed Belgium's participation in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, internally selecting the artist while holding the national final "Eurosong" to select the song.
Before Eurovision.
Artist selection.
On 18 November 2011, VRT announced that they had internally selected Laura van den Bruel (Iris) to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. On 29 February 2012, the broadcaster revealed that the song Iris would perform at the contest would be selected through a two-song national selection.
Eurosong 2012: Een song voor Iris.
A submission period was opened on 19 December 2011 for songwriters to submit their songs until 16 January 2012. Two songs were selected for the national final from 270 received during the submission period and were announced on 16 March 2012. The final took place on 17 March 2012 at the Het Omroepcentrum in Brussels, hosted by Peter Van de Veire and was broadcast on Eén as well as online at the broadcaster's website "een.be" and the official Eurovision Song Contest website "eurovision.tv". The two competing songs were both performed by Iris and the winning song, "Would You?", was selected solely by public televoting and announced later on the same day during the Eén talk show "Vrienden Van de Veire". The national final was watched by 575,112 viewers in Belgium with a market share of 28.39%.
Promotion.
Iris specifically promoted "Would You?" as the Belgian Eurovision entry on 21 April 2012 by performing during the "Eurovision in Concert" event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Ruth Jacott and Cornald Maas.
At Eurovision.
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2012, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Belgium was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 22 May 2012, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 20 March 2012 and Belgium was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from Switzerland and before the entry from Finland.
The two semi-finals and the final was broadcast in Belgium by both the Flemish and Walloon broadcasters. VRT broadcast the shows on één and Radio 2 with commentary in Dutch by André Vermeulen and Peter Van de Veire. RTBF televised the shows on La Une with commentary in French by Jean-Pierre Hautier and Jean-Louis Lahaye. The Belgian spokesperson, who announced the Belgian votes during the final, was Peter Van de Veire.
Semi-final.
Iris took part in technical rehearsals on 13 and 17 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 21 and 22 May. This included the jury show on 21 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries. The Belgian performance featured Iris in a short white dress and performing together with three backing vocalists. The stage colours were purple and blue, while the LED screens displayed floating pink bubbles in various sizes and the stage floor displayed a floral pattern in the shape of a heart at the end of the performance. The backing vocalists that joined Iris during the performance were: Billie Bentein, Jana De Valck and Joke Vincke.
At the end of the show, Belgium was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belgium placed seventeenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 16 points.
Voting.
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belgium had placed eighteenth (last) with the public televote and fifteenth with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Belgium scored 2 points, while with the jury vote, Belgium scored 38 points.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belgium and awarded by Belgium in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Russia in the semi-final and to Sweden in the final of the contest. |
Sharif Aghayar
Sharif Aghayar (full name: "Sharif Ziyadkhan Aghayarov", ; January 1, 1976, Agbulag, Lachin district) is an Azerbaijani writer.
Life.
Sharif Aghayar was born on January 1, 1976, in the village of Agbulag of Lachin District.
In 1980-1991, he studied at the secondary school in the village of Agbulag. In 1992, he was admitted to the Faculty of History and Philology at the Shusha branch of the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University named after N. Tusi. For a time he worked as a teacher at Aghdam Agricultural Technical School in Agjabadi. He came to Baku in 1998 and began working as a reporter in the cultural department of “Panorama” newspaper.
Awards.
He was awarded the "Khalil Rza Ulutürk Prize", created in 1998 by the Writers Union and the Independent Trade Union of Culture Workers, and the Youth Prize in 2003 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports for his achievements in the field of literature. The same year he won first Proza N Internet Competition held by the YeniSI Center for Literary and Art Studies in Azerbaijan.
On November 23, 2015, he was awarded "Rafik Mountain Prize" by the Dalga Youth Organization for his enlightenment and active work.
In May 2019, he was named "Literary Man of the Year" by the Azerbaijan Creative Fund. The same year, he won the prestigious nomination of the Golden Word Literary Prize established by the Ministry of Culture for his novel "The City beyond the Dreams."
Activities.
In 2000, he was invited by the “New Azerbaijan” newspaper to write articles in the field of culture and literature and prepare special editions. He worked for the newspaper until the end of 2003. He has published numerous articles, poems, essays, and stories. On November 20, 2003, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the “Kino+” newspaper.
Sharif Aghayar represented Azerbaijan at the 3rd Poets Meeting of Turkic-speaking countries and peoples held at the initiative of THE International Organization of Turkic Culture in Malatya, Turkey on October 21–28, 2002.
A book of poems entitled "Masnavi of Desert" initiated by the Vector Science Center was published in 2003, and "The Brick Man's Saga" narrative, was ranked in the top ten of the 2010 National Book Award. The EL Publishing House published his prose book named “Aftafali Antact” and in 2011, Qanun Publishing House published his novel "Haramy" within "New Literature" series.
In 2013, the "Zero" Publishing House published "Poor Photos," a book of poems within the "Pocket Books" series. "Mrs. T." storybook was published by the Writer Publishing House, and "Gulustan" and "The City beyond the Dreams" novels by Qanun Publishing House in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
From 2008 to 2013, he was a consultant in the Department of Publishing, Advertising and Information at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Currently, he works as the chief editor at the “Kulis.az” literature portal.
Works.
His folk and epic poems ("Prayer", "May 92", "Chamber", "Brother", "Unpainted Mizrab Nails", "Civilization", "Mystery of the Wind", "Cat Anzar", "Modern Poems" "etc.) caused great interest of readers and critics, and dozens of articles were published in their regard.
At the same time, "Dagal", "Dima's notes", "Our house", "Balabey", "Georgy's house", "Anakhanum”, "First day without Lachin", "It seemed like a funny story", "Military-political issue.", "Shuglov Method", "Picture", "Gumru", "Babash" stories," “The Brick Man's Saga" and "Hurrem" narratives," “Harami", "Gulustan", "The City beyond the Dreams", "White Lake" and "Commander" novels have earned him a special place among writers of the next generation.
Alaviyya Babayeva, Elchin Afandiyev, Vagif Yusifli, Rashad Majid, Adil Mirseyid, Mahir Garayev, Asad Jahangir, Javanshir Yusifli, Tehran Alishanoglu, Tofig Abdin, Akif Ali, Vurgun Ayyub, Elnara Akimova, Irada Musatayeva Haji, Jalil Javanshir, Aikhan Ayvaz and other well-known writers wrote interesting articles about his works.
His writings and works have been published on kulis.az, qafqazinfo.az, qaynar.info, oxuzali.az and other web-sites with stories placed in electronic libraries. |
Noah Wyle
Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (; born June 4, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as John Carter in the television series "ER" (1994–2009), which earned him nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards. He is also known for his roles as Flynn Carsen in "The Librarian" franchise including three TV movies "The Librarian: Quest for the Spear" (2004), "The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mine" (2006), and "The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice" (2008) then returning for the television series (2013–2018) and Tom Mason in the television series "Falling Skies" (2011–2015). He has appeared in films such as "A Few Good Men" (1992), "Pirates of Silicon Valley" (1999), "Donnie Darko" (2001), and "W." (2008).
Wyle was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for his role as Daniel Calder in the television miniseries "The Red Line" (2019).
Early life.
Wyle, the middle of three children, was born in Hollywood, California, the son of Marjorie (née Speer), a registered orthopedic head nurse, and Stephen Wyle, an electrical engineer and entrepreneur. His father was Jewish (of Russian-Jewish descent), whereas his mother was Episcopalian, and he was raised "fairly nondenominationally", around both faiths. Wyle's parents divorced in the late 1970s, and his mother later married James C. Katz, a film restorationist with three children of his own from a previous marriage. Wyle's paternal grandparents, Edith and Frank Wyle, founded the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum, and his grandfather also founded Wyle Laboratories. Edith R. Wyle was an expressionist painter who also created "The Egg and The Eye", a café and shop in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles.
Wyle was educated at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated with the class of 1989. Wyle participated in a Theatre Arts program at Northwestern University after his junior year of high school and appeared in high school plays, even winning an award for a play he wrote. After graduation, he studied with acting teacher Larry Moss while living in a small apartment on Hollywood Boulevard.
Career.
"ER".
Wyle's big break came when he was given the pilot script for "ER" and was cast as medical student John Carter. He was the youngest member when he joined the cast. Wyle was the only major cast member of "ER" to have been with the show since its inception (1994) when he left after its eleventh season (2005). His performances on the show earned him Emmy Award nominations in each of its first five seasons. As part of an ensemble he was nominated several times for the Screen Actors Guild Award, he was recognized with three Golden Globe nominations as "Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television" and won the 2001 TV Guide Award for "Supporting Actor in a Drama Series". Wyle left the series at the end of season 11, although he returned in guest appearances for a four-episode arc during season 12. He stated that he left because he wanted to spend more time with his family and friends and to make room for the upcoming generation. However, in 2009, Wyle returned to "ER" during its fifteenth and final season for five episodes, including the series finale.
According to the Guinness World Records 2005 Special 50th Anniversary Edition, Wyle became the holder of a "Highest paid TV drama actor per episode" record during the 2003–2004 tenth season, earning approximately $400,000 per episode. While on "ER", Wyle's estimated salary was $9 million a year. Wyle has also appeared in the most episodes of "ER", 254, four more than Laura Innes.
Film.
Wyle was first seen in the Paul Bartel 1985 film "Lust in the Dust" (a western exploitation/parody which starred Tab Hunter, Lainie Kazan, and Divine) as an extra in the local gang running the small town of Chili Verde.
His later roles were a mini-series and featuring in the movie "Crooked Hearts" (1991) in 1990. In 1993 he appeared in another feature film, "There Goes My Baby". After appearing in several local plays in Los Angeles, he was cast in the box-office hit "A Few Good Men", in which he played a Marine jeep driver who testified in court. He also appeared in the feature "Swing Kids" as Emil Lutz, a leader in the Hitler Youth, and in the independent movie "The Myth of Fingerprints" with Roy Scheider, Blythe Danner, and Julianne Moore. Additionally, he starred as Lancelot opposite Sheryl Lee in the Television movie "Guinevere". Wyle starred in the original film ' with Sonya Walger, in its sequel ' opposite Gabrielle Anwar, and in the third part of the series "" alongside Stana Katic.
His latest work dealing with "The Librarian" is a series called "The Librarians". It focuses on three additional new librarians who are brought into the library at a time of cataclysmic events. In the beginning of the series, Noah Wyle was more of a co-star, versus his original role of the main character. In the following seasons, he had more and more appearances. Until, with the latest season, he 'supposedly' quit the job of The Librarian.
His other work has included a critically acclaimed turn as Steve Jobs in the Emmy-nominated "Pirates of Silicon Valley" (1999). Steve Jobs was so impressed with the performance that he invited Wyle to step on stage as him at the opening of his annual speech at the Apple convention. He has also appeared in several feature films, including "White Oleander" opposite Renée Zellweger, "Enough" opposite Jennifer Lopez, the independent feature "Donnie Darko", as the President's interpreter in the 2000 live-television production of "Fail Safe", and in the independent film "The Californians".
Stage.
Along with his film and television career, Wyle is also Artistic Producer of The Blank Theatre Company located in Hollywood, California. With the company, he has appeared on stage in the 1995 production of "The 24th Day" with Peter Berg, "The Why" (as part of the company's Young Playwrights Festival), and "Lobster Alice", opposite Nicholas Brendon, where he played the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.
For his work as one of the producers of 2005 Los Angeles Production of Michael John LaChiusa's "The Wild Party", he won an NAACP Theatre Award.
"Falling Skies".
Wyle starred as the lead in TNT's sci-fi series "Falling Skies". Wyle plays Tom Mason, a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment, a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston while fighting aliens who have wiped out 90% of humanity. The character was also the father of three boys, one of whom was captured by the aliens. Wyle's performance earned him BuddyTV's #91 position on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".
Post-"Falling Skies".
In 2018, Wyle announced that he will portray Daniel Calder in the eight-part limited series "The Red Line". On April 22, 2020, Wyle confirmed that he will join the revival of the series, "Leverage", reuniting with John Rogers, Dean Devlin and Christian Kane who worked with him on "The Librarians." He will also be directing two of the 13 episodes.
Personal life.
Noah met his first wife, make-up artist Tracy Warbin, on the set of "The Myth of Fingerprints". They married in 2000 and have a son, Owen Strausser Speer Wyle (born November 9, 2002), and a daughter, Auden Wyle (born October 15, 2005). Wyle and Warbin separated in 2009 and divorced in 2010.
Wyle married Sara Wells in June 2014 in California. The couple met in 2011 during a production at The Blank Theatre Company. Their daughter Frances Harper Wyle was born on June 22, 2015.
Wyle is a vegetarian and supports animal rights.
Political advocacy and philanthropy.
Wyle opened the 1999 NY Macworld Expo keynote, initially posing as Apple Inc.'s Steve Jobs. It was a practical joke on the audience, engineered by Jobs and Wyle in light of the 1999 TNT film "Pirates of Silicon Valley".
Wyle devotes much of his free time to the international non-profit organization Doctors of the World and to his work as a member of the Human Rights Watch Council. Wyle also serves as the voluntary artistic producer of the Blank Theatre Company in Hollywood, which stages an annual young playwrights festival and whose alumni include Ed Asner, Sarah Michelle Gellar, D. B. Sweeney, James Kerwin, Amber Benson, Megan Henning, Travis Schuldt, Warren Davis, Grant Show, and Nicholas Brendon. He also recently acquired Second Stage Theater (Los Angeles) in Hollywood, where the company has mounted numerous successful productions.
Wyle was the spokesperson for The Cover the Uninsured campaign in 2004, which had as Honorary Co-Chairs former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. The Cover the Uninsured Week is annually held in the United States of America and focuses attention on the nearly 44 million Americans who go without health care coverage. The campaign includes several events among different communities, health and enrollment fairs, press conferences, and business seminars all over the U.S. Additionally, Wyle is a supporter of animal rights and a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, dedicated to protecting and conserving wildlife for future generations.
In 2009, Wyle became a spokesperson for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), claiming that polar bears are "hanging on by a thread" and "may be extinct in our children's lifetime, due to the effects of climate change."
In 2012, Wyle supported the disability rights group ADAPT. On April 23, he was arrested during a protest on Capitol Hill to fight against Medicaid cuts for the elderly and people with disabilities. |
Huntly, New Zealand
Huntly () (population ) is a town in the Waikato district and region of the North Island of New Zealand. It was on State Highway 1 (until Huntly bypass opened in March 2020), south of Auckland and north of Hamilton. It is situated on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) railway (served by Te Huia since 6 April 2021 at a rebuilt Raahui Pookeka-Huntly Station) and straddles the Waikato River. Huntly is within the Waikato District which is in the northern part of the Waikato region local government area.
History and culture.
Originally settled by Māori, European migrants arrived in the area some time in the 1850s. The Huntly name was adopted in the 1870s when the postmaster named it after Huntly, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. He used an old 'Huntley Lodge' stamp to stamp mail from the early European settlement. The "Lodge" was later dropped and the spelling changed to also drop the additional 'e'.
The railway from Auckland reached Huntly in 1877, when the Huntly railway station was opened.
Huntly and its surrounding area is steeped in Māori history and falls within the "rohe" (tribal area) of Waikato-Tainui of the Tainui waka confederation. Ngati Mahuta and Ngati Whawhakia are the subtribes in the Huntly area.
Huntly is home to Rakaumanga Kura which became one of the first bilingual schools (Māori/English) in New Zealand in 1984. Rakaumanga became a kura kaupapa (total immersion, Māori as its first language) in 1994 and is now known by the name Te Whare Kura o Rakaumangamanga. The school was first established as a native school in 1896.
Marae.
There are a number of marae in and around Huntly, affiliated with the Ngāti Kuiaarangi, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Tai and Ngāti Whāwhākia hapū: Kaitumutumu Marae and Ruateatea meeting house, Te Kauri Marae and Karaka meeting house, Te Ōhākī Marae and Te Ōhākī a Te Puea meeting house, and Waahi Pa and Tāne i te Pupuke meeting house.
Waahi Pa was the home of the late Māori Queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu and is still the home of her son, the Māori King Tuheitia Paki. In October 2020, the Government committed $2,584,751 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Waahoi Marae and 7 other Waikato Tainui marae, creating 40 jobs.
Horahora Marae and Maurea Marae are located north of Huntly at Rangiriri.
Demographics.
Huntly covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.
At the 2018 New Zealand census, Huntly had smaller boundaries, covering . It had a population of 7,905, an increase of 1,056 people (15.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,149 people (17.0%) since the 2006 census. There were 2,607 households, comprising 3,891 males and 4,014 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female, with 2,055 people (26.0%) aged under 15 years, 1,560 (19.7%) aged 15 to 29, 3,198 (40.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,089 (13.8%) aged 65 or older.
In 2018 the main ethnic groups were -
Prior to that, Huntly's population was 844 (1896), 622 (1901)), 850 (1906), 1,319 (1911), 1,535 (1916), 1,734 (1921), 1,745 (1926), 1,976 (1936), 2,870 (1945), 4,187 (1956), 5,401 (1966), 6,279 (1976), 7,158 (1981) 7,464 (1986) 7,152 (1991), 7,068 (1996), 6,819 (2001).
Huntly includes two statistical areas, East and West. The population is rising slowly, but they're poorer and younger than the 37.4 years of the national average (the Huntly areas lost a lot of rural areas in the 2018 census, though gained small areas to the north, so that the 2013 population was 4,119, rather than 4,053 shown below for the smaller area in the East and 2,922 in the west, rather than 2,796. Except for population, the 2006 and 2013 figures below are for the larger areas) -
The proportion of people born overseas was 12.3%, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 52.2% had no religion, 30.3% were Christian, 4.5% had Māori religious beliefs, 1.6% were Hindu, 0.6% were Muslim, 0.5% were Buddhist and 1.6% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 513 (8.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 1,650 (28.2%) people had no formal qualifications. 465 people (7.9%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,505 (42.8%) people were employed full-time, 651 (11.1%) were part-time, and 453 (7.7%) were unemployed.
Huntly Rural.
The statistical area of Huntly Rural, which includes Ohinewai, Ruawaro and Glen Afton, covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.
Huntly Rural had a population of 2,271 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 171 people (8.1%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 126 people (5.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 822 households, comprising 1,197 males and 1,077 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.11 males per female. The median age was 40.1 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 486 people (21.4%) aged under 15 years, 396 (17.4%) aged 15 to 29, 1,086 (47.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 303 (13.3%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 81.0% European/Pākehā, 29.1% Māori, 3.8% Pacific peoples, 2.9% Asian, and 1.2% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 10.4, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 58.0% had no religion, 28.8% were Christian, 1.5% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.7% were Hindu, 0.4% were Buddhist and 1.2% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 168 (9.4%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 462 (25.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $34,200, compared with $31,800 nationally. 285 people (16.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 969 (54.3%) people were employed full-time, 252 (14.1%) were part-time, and 81 (4.5%) were unemployed.
Major industries.
Huntly Power Station is a large gas/coal-fired power station, prominently situated on the western bank of the Waikato River. It is New Zealand's largest thermal power station, situated in the area which is New Zealand's largest producer of coal, producing over 10,000 tonnes a day.
Huntly is also surrounded by farmland and lakes (many of them former open-pit mines) which are used for coarse fishing, yachting and waterskiing.
Coal.
The Waikato coalfield is formed of 30 -35m year old Eocene-Oligocene rocks. The lowest coal measures are the Taupiri Seams, worked at Rotowaro, the upper Kupakupa and Renown Seams having been largely worked out.
The area has a very long history of coal mining, with both open cast and classical mines operating or having operated here. The major New Zealand clients for the mined coal are the power station and the New Zealand Steel mill at Glenbrook.
The first coal to be mined was half a ton at Taupiri in 1849, followed by 32 tons in 1850, opposite Kupa Kupa, about south of Huntly, and coal was also discovered at Papahorohoro, near Taupiri. However, it wasn't being exploited when the geologist, Ferdinand von Hochstetter, visited it in 1859. It was used to fuel steamers during the 1863 invasion of the Waikato. Kupakupa mine was started in 1864 and produced 11,000 tons by 1866. The area was confiscated in 1865. It was auctioned by government in 1867.
Taupiri Coal Co was producing 1,300 tons a month by 1879, up from 5,300 tons a year in 1878. A mine across the river from Kupakupa was opened in 1879.
On 12 September 1914 at the Ralph Mine in Huntly, a naked light caused an explosion that killed 43 coal miners.
After the Pukemiro railway opened in 1915, mines opened at Pukemiro, Glen Afton, Rotowaro, Waikōkōwai and Renown. Open cast mining began west of Huntly during World War 2, and later an opencast mine at Kimihia.
O’Reilly’s Opencast Mine.
This was the last mine operating in Huntly (off Riverview Rd), producing 24,708 tonnes in 2016. It was a privately owned mine, opened in 1957 and mainly selling to New Zealand Steel. It closed in 2018. Puke Mine and Rotowaro are the only mines still open in the Huntly area.
Huntly East Coalmine.
Solid Energy closed this Huntly mine on 22 October 2015, saying it was losing $500,000 a month. It opened in 1978, produced a peak of 465,000 tonnes in 2004 and was digging about 450,000 tonnes a year until production was cut to 100,000 tonnes in September 2013. The mine entrance was in Huntly East, but by 2012 all mining was west of the Waikato, with roadways 150 metres below the river, the two 8 to 20 metre thick sub-bituminous seams being 150 to 400 metres deep. In 2012 it was estimated that 7 million tonnes of recoverable coal remained in the consented mining areas, with a further 12 million available for future expansion. Coal was mined by remote-controlled continuous miners and taken to the entrance in shuttle cars and then by conveyor belt. It continued to Glenbrook via the Kimihia branch railway and the NIMT. It employed about 200 in 2012, but was down to 68 at closure.
Kimihia Wetland was created on the former bed of Lake Kimihia to cope with subsidence and treat water from Huntly East Mine.
Bricks.
Clay suited for bricks lies on top of some of the coal deposits. Brick making began in 1884, Huntly Brick and Fireclay was established in 1911 and Shinagawa Refractories continues on the site at the south end of the town. Nearby, Clay Bricks operate a brickworks.
Rugby league.
Huntly has a proud rugby league history – at one time the town had four rugby league clubs: Taniwharau, Huntly South, Huntly United and Rangiriri Eels. Taniwharau has been one of the most successful clubs having won 11 straight Waikato premierships during the 1970s and 1980s. Taniwharau also won the inaugural Waicoa Bay championship in 2002 and again in 2007 a year in which they went through the season unbeaten; a feat that has never been achieved before at the Waikato premier level. The Waicoa Bay championship is a combined rugby league competition involving clubs from Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Coastlines.
A number of Kiwi players have come out of Huntly including pre war players Tom Timms, Richard Trautvetter and Len Mason who also, after the 1926 Kiwi tour of Great Britain finished his playing career at Wigan, playing a record 365 games in 9 years including a winning Challenge Cup final at Wembley in 1929. Post war players include Albert Hambleton, Reg Cooke, Graeme Farrar, Roger Tait, Ted Baker, Paul Ravlich, Tawera Nikau (Rangiriri) and, more recently, Wairangi Koopu (Taniwharau) and Lance Hohaia (Taniwharau). Other Kiwi players to come out of Huntly include Andy Berryman, Don Parkinson, Rick Muru, Kevin Fisher and Vaun O'Callaghan. The town has also produced numerous NZ Māori Rugby league representatives and two international referees; Arthur Harlock and Roland (Roly) Avery.
Bridges.
Rail Bridge After a first pile driving ceremony in 1911, the punt (opened 18 Sep 1894) was replaced in 1915 by a road/rail bridge serving the Pukemiro railway.
Tainui Bridge is a 7-span bowstring-arch for road traffic opened in 1959, when the 1915 bridge became rail only, and a footbridge was attached to its side. Tainui Bridge was strengthened in 2005 to allow 500 tonne turbines to be carried to the Power Station, work which gained an award. Seismic strengthening was done in 2011. The bridge was repainted in 2016.
A footbridge across Shand Lane, the 1978 SH1 bypass and NIMT links Glasgow St with Main St. The 14-tonne central span was raised from 4.8 to 5.25m in 2010 to provide clearance for Te Uku construction trucks. It was also closed twice in 2015, firstly for repainting, then again when the arm of an excavator on a truck hit the bridge, requiring also temporary closure of SH1. Cameras and extra rails have been installed to improve safety, following stone throwing.
Education.
Huntly has five co-educational schools. The rolls given here are as of
Huntly College is a state secondary school covering years 9 to 13, with a roll of . The college was opened in 1953.
Huntly School and Huntly West School are state full primary schools covering years 1 to 8, with rolls of and respectively.
St Anthony's Catholic School is a state-integrated full primary school covering years 1 to 8, with a roll of .
Te Wharekura o Rākaumangamanga is a state composite school covering years 1 to 13. with a roll of . It provides a Māori language immersive education.
The suburb of Kimihia also has a primary school, Kimihia School. |
Nanosurf
Nanosurf AG, headquartered in Liestal, Switzerland, is a developer, manufacturer and supplier of nano-microscopes for industrial and academic research, as well as for educational purposes. Nanosurf's atomic force microscopes (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopes (STM) are used for metrological surface inspections and for the visualization of structures, and material properties on the nanometer scale.
Nanosurf worked with NASA’s Phoenix Mars mission to provide the atomic force microscopy module for the Mars probe.
History.
In 1997, Nanosurf was awarded the “Start-up-Label” by the Swiss government agency for innovation (KTI). Nanosurf was founded June 4, 1997, in order to design scanning probe microscopes that were accessible for everyone. The Nanosurf founders were inspired by Hans-Joachim Guentherodt, the Director of the Swiss NCCR Nanoscale Science, head of the Institute of Physics of the University of Basel, coordinator of the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, and chairman of the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) “Nanoscale Science”.
In 1998, The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory selected the Nanosurf atomic force microscope for its mission to Mars. Nanosurf joined a consortium consisting of the Institute of Microtechnology, University of Neuchatel, and the Institute of Physics, University of Basel to achieve this goal. Nanosurf was awarded the innovation prize by the Swiss Cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel- Landschaft in 1998.
In 2000, Nanosurf was awarded the Swiss Technology Award by the Swiss federal industry agency. The easyScan atomic force microscope is introduced to the market. Nanosurf received the 2003 KMU Entrepreneurial award by the Chamber of Commerce of the Cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt. In 2007, Nanosurf received the Swiss Technology Award (Vontobel Stiftung) for the automated Nanite AFM system. On August 4, Phoenix Mars Probe was launched carrying a Nanosurf AFM scanner.
Since its founding in 1997, Nanosurf AG established subsidiaries in Boston and Santa Barbara (USA), Langen (Germany), Bracknell (United Kingdom), Shanghai (China), Hyderabad (India) and Singapore.
Product lines.
Nanosurf invented the first scanning tunneling microscope (STM) with the compact size and stability to image individual atoms on a coffee table. In its early days, Nanosurf became known for educational AFMs, and over the course of the following decades moved more and more towards providing high-end instruments for research.
Nanosurf instruments can be categorized into the following product lines:
Nanosurf released one of the most versatile AFMs in 2020 the DriveAFM.
Phoenix Mars Lander Mission.
Nanosurf, the University of Neuchâtel, and the University of Basel were part of a Swiss consortium challenged to equip the Phoenix Mars Probe with the first atomic force microscope in space. This atomic force microscope was designed to be part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and a Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) unit built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was a key component of the Phoenix probe's ensemble of on-board scientific instruments.
Nanosurf contributed to the Phoenix Mars Mission with an AFM that recorded high-resolution images of Martian dust. These images allowed researchers to study the history of water on Mars, and represent the highest resolution images ever recorded on another planet.
Nanosurf joined in developing, building and testing an atomic force microscope for planetary science applications, in particular for the study of Martian soil. The system consists of a controller board, an electromagnetic scanner and micro-fabricated sensor-chip. Eight cantilevers with integrated, piezoresistive deflection sensors are aligned in a row and are engaged one after the other to provide redundancy in case of tip or cantilever failure. Silicon and molded diamond tips are used for probing the sample. Images can be recorded in both, static and dynamic operation mode. In the latter case, excitation of the resonance frequencies of the cantilevers is achieved by vibrating the whole chip with a piezoelectric disk.
This instrument represents the highest spatial resolution instrument ever produced for in situ planetary studies. The required level of operational robustness was achieved by using a redundant array of microfabricated cantilevers.
First Atomic Force Microscope Image on Mars.
The first image recorded by an atomic force microscope on another planet. On July 9, 2008, Mars day 44 of the Phoenix Mars Mission, the atomic force microscope on the Mars Lander recorded an image of a test grid, which serves as a calibration for the microscope. This image was successfully transmitted to Earth by the Phoenix Mars probe, and demonstrates full functionality of the nano-imaging device under the harsh Martian conditions, satisfying the NASA Phoenix team as well as the Swiss scientific team responsible for the development of the microscope.
The area imaged by the microscope is 40 × 40 µm, small enough to fit on an eyelash. The grooves in this substrate are apart, from center to center. The vertical dimension is exaggerated in the image to make surface details more visible. The grooves are deep. |
Krazy Kong Album
The Krazy Kong Album is a 1980 album by Wild Willy Barrett and released on his own Red Eye Records. The songs are a collection of recordings made over a decade and are available here for the first time. The album is notable for being the first white reggae album recorded, years before "Regatta de Blanc", with the title track as a prime example. 'Kong and the Soup Dragon' is a nod to the Clangers with whistles featured throughout.
History.
In 1973 Barrett was signed up to the Transatlantic record label and was featured on Guitar Workshop, a label sampler. Transatlantic had shown no big interest in Barrett until he visited their offices with the 'Krazy Kong' demo. After the label commissioned an album of Kong, and Barrett wrote 'Return of Kong' and 'Kong and the Soup Dragon', he entered the studio in July and recorded these plus three folk songs. However some of the songs were quite pastiche, namely I'm A Dog, and the tapes were shelved. In 1977 Barrett enjoyed a No. 27 chart flop with Otway and this reignited interest in Barrett; he recorded Call of the Wild in 1979, his last with Polydor. One year later and Barrett unshelves the tapes and, together with a recently recorded A-Side, mixes and releases the Krazy Kong Album.
The album and accompanying single "A Shot of Red Eye" were released during the Tent Tour.
The Kongcept.
The three Kong songs are actually a story with definitive parts and musical accompaniment.
The first; 'Krazy Kong', is played over a heavy jungle beat with a reggae back-beat. In this part Barrett begins the story and explains that Kong is somewhat of a newbie to the town and is known as a live-wire who is dodged by men, however young women have a penchant for him.
'Return of Kong' sees Kong seeking Barrett, who he meets whilst taking a late night walk. Barrett heads on home and, panicking, hears the door knock, he invites Kong in and strikes up a friendship. 'Return of Kong' is New Wave with a lighter reggae beat.
In 'Kong and the Soup Dragon' it is revealed that Kong is a successful man, has a big house and employs a Butler, Footman and Chambermaid. Kong has a space machine that he takes off with, thus leaving the earth and visiting what is assumed to be the Clangers' planet. The song is a pastiche of a children's TV theme with whistling and comic sound effects.
The character of Kong is a simple monkey-like creature who smokes cigars, is escorted by women whilst partying on a Friday and plays saxophone. He is quite volatile and talks in this 'Kong scat' which Barrett soon learns. Kong also owns a mansion and a spacemobile.
Recording.
The bulk of the album was recorded at Pro Musica Studios in Maidenhead July 1973. Transatlantic sent Willy in the studio with Tony Atkins, a fellow producer, but he and Barrett didn't see eye to eye. The demo of Krazy Kong had an epic saxophone solo by Coxhill but the version on the Krazy Kong single is apparently only half of the demo. Also recorded at Pro Musica were the rocker Can't See the Trees, a Mike Sammesesque version of Bluey Green, an alternative version of Return of Kong and Nice To Know You're My Friend. The latter two songs were released as a 7" after the success of Really Free. Drink To Me Only and One Leg Blues were performed live at Hinckley College in Oxford and A Shot of Redeye was recorded at Barrett's farm studio in Gawcott, just off Aylesbury. This would later become Barrett's Place where a vast quantity of Otway/Barrett music was recorded. The album was also mixed here.
Promotion.
The promotion for the album began in 1975 when Transatlantic released Krazy Kong backed with Bus Shelter Reggae. The single was put out in both England and France, although the French pressing has "Special Reggae" printed on the front. Although the album wasn't released for another six years, a second single surfaced on publisher's label Logo Records again featuring Return of Kong (a version different from the track on the album), the b-side being a non-album track; Nice to Know You're My Friend.
Once the album was mixed, the leading single was advertised in the Otway & Barrett tour book of the time. To advertise the album, Barrett placed an ad in the Melody Maker also featuring two Eddie Stanton singles. Stanton later wrote several of the songs on Barrett's next album, Organic Bondage and The Wimp and The Wild's Focke Wolf. All of Red Eye/Black Eye's releases were distributed by Spartan Records, an affiliate of Cherry Red. The album retailed at £3.99.
Several tracks from the album have been released recently; five on Barrett's Anthology and the alternative Return of Kong on The Transatlantic Story
Vinyl Label errors.
There are a number of errors printed on the label of the vinyl, namely track positions, writer credits and publishers<br>
1 Written by Barrett <br>
2-5 written by Francis/Barrett
1,5 Written by Barrett <br>
2 Written by Furber/Gay <br>
3 Traditional arranged by Barrett <br>
4 Written by Francis/Barrett
The Krazy Songs.
Legend.
(s) = Single <br>
(a) = Album <br>
(d) = Demo <br>
(l) = Live <br>
(u) = Unreleased <br>
(TA) = Produced by Tony Atkins |
C1orf167
Chromosome 1 open reading frame (C1orf167) is a protein which in humans is encoded by the "C1orf167" gene. The NCBI accession number is NP_001010881. The protein is 1468 amino acids in length with a molecular weight of 162.42 kDa. The mRNA sequence was found to be 4689 base pairs in length.
Gene.
Locus.
It can be located on chromosome 1 at position 1p36.22 on the plus strand and spans from positions 11,824,457 to 1,849,503.
Aliases.
"C1orf167" has one known alias with the name Chromosome 1 Open Reading Frame 167.
Number of Exons.
There are 26 exons associated with the protein.
mRNA.
Alternative Splicing.
A splice region that is conserved in primate orthologs of the "C1orf167" mRNA was located between exon 1 and exon 2.
Known mRNA Isoforms.
The mRNA sequence has 8 known splice isoforms as determined by the conserved domains. The isoforms span the regions 426-863, 981-1418, 954-1391, 999-1329, 999-1400, 999-1436, 999-1404. and 999-1463 of the mRNA sequence.
Protein.
Known Protein Isoforms.
Alternative splicing produces two known isoforms of the human protein. They are XP_006711141.1 which is 1489aa in length and XP_003307860.2 which is 713aa in length.
Composition.
The protein has an isoelectric point (pI) of 11. The predicted molecular weight (mW) is 160kDa for the human protein, but ranges from 140-180kDa for more distant orthologs. Compositional analysis revealed the most abundant amino acid to be Alanine (A) at 12.4% of the total protein. The analysis also revealed C1orf167 protein to be rich in Tryptophan (W) and deficient in Tyrosine (Y) and Isoleucine (I).
Subcellular Localization.
C1orf167 is predicted to be localized to the cell nucleus.
Post-Translational Modifications.
C1orf167 is predicted to undergo phosphorylation, O-Glycosylation, SUMOylation, glycation, and cleavage by staphylococcal peptidase I (Q105, Q321) and Glutamyl endopeptidase (Q1101).
Table 1. Post-Translational Modifications determined for C1orf167.
Domain and Motifs by Homology.
One domain of unknown function, located from 954aa-1418aa, is 465 amino acids in length.
Secondary Structure.
C1orf167 was determined to be rich in alpha helices. No notable regions of beta pleated sheets or coils were predicted. In particular, high confidence was indicated for 42 alpha helices with the longest alpha helix region spanning from residues 450aa to 1182aa. This long alpha helix region includes a significant portion of the conserved DUF which spans 954aa-1418aa.
Tertiary Structure.
The best-aligned structural analog, generated by I-TASSER, of "C1orf167" had a confidence (c-score) score of -0.68 given a range of [-5,2] with higher values indicating a higher confidence. Per Swiss Model, two monomers are predicted to form an alpha helix. Both of the helices are aligned facing outwards with hydrophobic amino acids such as glutamic acid (E) on the interior and asparagine (R), Serine (and lysine (K) on the exterior. Asparagine residues may serve as an important oligosaccharide binding site.
Expression.
C1orf167 has high expression in the larynx, blood, placenta, testis and prostate, with the highest expression found in the testis. The promoter GXP_5109290 spans 1507 base pairs on chromosome 1. GXP_5109290 was found to be conserved in the bonobo ("Pan Paniscus"), gorilla ("Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla"), mouse ("Mus musculus"), chimp (Pan Troglodytes), and rhesus monkey ("Macaca mulata").
Protein Interactions.
There were 10 interactions identified by STRING.
Homology.
Paralogs.
No known paralogs or paralogous domains were identified for C1orf167.
Orthologs.
Using NCBI BLAST, orthologs of "C1orf167" were determined. No orthologs could be found in single-celled organisms, or fungi whose genomes have been sequenced. In terms of multi-cellular organisms, orthologs were found in mammals, aves, reptiles, and cartilaginous fishes. The table below shows a representative sample of 20 of the orthologs for C1orf167. The table is organized based on the time of divergence from humans in millions of years (MYA) and then by sequence similarity.
Table 2. This table shows the divergence timeline of the C1orf167 orthologs. It is sorted by date of divergence, color according to taxonomic group or class and then by sequence similarity.
Function.
At this time the function of C1orf167 is uncharacterized.
Clinical Significance.
Pathology.
According to the EST profile for breakdown by healthy state, the expression levels of "C1orf167" were higher than healthy cells for leukemia, head, neck and lung cancers. Based on the results from NCBI GeoProfiles, C1orf167 was found to have increased expression on dendritic cells for patients experiencing "Chlamydia pneumoniae" infections. Increased expression of C1orf167 was also indicated for Human Pulmonary Tuberculosis tissues given the presence of caseous tuberculosis granulomas in the lungs when compared to normal lung tissues. |
Saint-Aubin, Fribourg
Saint-Aubin (; ) is a municipality in the district of Broye in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. On 1 January 1991 the former municipality of Les Friques merged into Saint-Aubin.
History.
Saint-Aubin is first mentioned in 1056 as "Sancti Albini". The municipality was formerly known by its German name "St Albin", however, that name is no longer used.
Geography.
Saint-Aubin has an area, , of . Of this area, or 81.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 6.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 10.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.9% is either rivers or lakes.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.8%. Out of the forested land, 4.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 68.9% is used for growing crops and 9.9% is pastures, while 2.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located in the Broye district.
Coat of arms.
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Or, a Bulrush eradicated Vert fructed Sable."
Demographics.
Saint-Aubin has a population () of . , 14.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 11%. Migration accounted for 7.1%, while births and deaths accounted for 4.9%.
Most of the population () speaks French (1,102 or 88.9%) as their first language, German is the second most common (75 or 6.1%) and Albanian is the third (19 or 1.5%). There are 7 people who speak Italian.
, the population was 50.0% male and 50.0% female. The population was made up of 582 Swiss men (42.1% of the population) and 109 (7.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 592 Swiss women (42.8%) and 99 (7.2%) non-Swiss women.
Of the population in the municipality, 481 or about 38.8% were born in Saint-Aubin and lived there in 2000. There were 280 or 22.6% who were born in the same canton, while 279 or 22.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 162 or 13.1% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution, , in Saint-Aubin is; 193 children or 15.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 167 teenagers or 13.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 146 people or 11.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 209 people or 16.9% are between 30 and 39, 161 people or 13.0% are between 40 and 49, and 177 people or 14.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 90 people or 7.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 66 people or 5.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 25 people or 2.0% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 5 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.
, there were 518 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 631 married individuals, 57 widows or widowers and 33 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 442 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 101 households that consist of only one person and 56 households with five or more people. , a total of 433 apartments (86.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 49 apartments (9.8%) were seasonally occupied and 19 apartments (3.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.7%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics.
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 29.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (22.6%), the FDP (18.0%) and the SVP (17.8%).
The CVP received about the same percentage of the vote as they did in the 2007 Federal election (33.9% in 2007 vs 29.2% in 2011). The SPS moved from third in 2007 (with 20.0%) to second in 2011, the FDP moved from fourth in 2007 (with 18.8%) to third and the SVP moved from second in 2007 (with 20.5%) to fourth. A total of 456 votes were cast in this election, of which 3 or 0.7% were invalid.
Economy.
, Saint-Aubin had an unemployment rate of 2.3%. , there were 62 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 139 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 18 businesses in this sector. 213 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 32 businesses in this sector. There were 634 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.4% of the workforce.
the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 351. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 43, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 131 of which 49 or (37.4%) were in manufacturing and 83 (63.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 177. In the tertiary sector; 25 or 14.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 8 or 4.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 7 or 4.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 113 or 63.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 9 or 5.1% were in education and 9 or 5.1% were in health care.
, there were 143 workers who commuted into the municipality and 457 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 3.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 76.3% used a private car.
Religion.
From the , 826 or 66.7% were Roman Catholic, while 184 or 14.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 6 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.48% of the population), and there were 5 individuals (or about 0.40% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 69 (or about 5.57% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 4 individuals who were Buddhist and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 86 (or about 6.94% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 59 individuals (or about 4.76% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education.
In Saint-Aubin about 417 or (33.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 115 or (9.3%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a "Fachhochschule"). Of the 115 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.3% were Swiss men, 26.1% were Swiss women.
The Canton of Fribourg school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend a three or four year optional upper Secondary school. The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs. After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.
During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 136 students attending 7 classes in Saint-Aubin. A total of 253 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There were no kindergarten classes in the municipality, but 37 students attended kindergarten in a neighboring municipality. The municipality had 7 primary classes and 136 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 60 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 2 upper Secondary students and 39 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there were 6 non-university Tertiary students and 2 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality.
, there were 14 students in Saint-Aubin who came from another municipality, while 99 residents attended schools outside the municipality. |
Hurricane Florence (2006)
Hurricane Florence was the first Atlantic hurricane to produce hurricane force winds on Bermuda since Hurricane Fabian hit the island in September 2003. The seventh tropical storm and second hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, Florence developed from a tropical wave in the tropical Atlantic Ocean on September 3 and followed the track of a Cape Verde-type hurricane. Because of unfavorable conditions, the system failed to organize at first, and as a result the storm grew to an unusually large size. After several days, Florence encountered an area of lesser wind shear and strengthened into a hurricane on September 10. It passed just west of Bermuda while recurving northeastward, and on September 13 it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone.
Florence produced wind gusts of up to 115 mph (185 km/h) on Bermuda, which caused several power outages and minor damage. Florence then brought heavy rains across Newfoundland as an extratropical storm, destroying one house and causing minor damage to several others. There were no fatalities as a result of the hurricane.
Storm history.
A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 29. It tracked slowly westward, and first showed signs of development two days later. On August 31, a second tropical wave exited the coast of Africa at a faster speed than its predecessor. The two waves interacted, and by September 2 combined to form a large area of disturbed weather across the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Convection increased within the system, and the large system developed a thick area of convection along with an organized low pressure area. By late on September 3, the system maintained a large closed circulation and enough convective organization to be named Tropical Depression Six while located about midway between the Lesser Antilles and Africa.
After becoming a tropical cyclone, the depression had many cloud swirls inside its common center. Banding features increased in satellite pictures, though southwesterly wind shear from an upper-level trough to its northeast and the lack of an organized circulation originally prevented strengthening. Dry air encountered the depression, and as such the depression developed very slowly; forecasters maintained considerable difficulty in determining a center of circulation. It continued its motion to the west-northwest while tracking around the southern periphery of a deep-layer subtropical ridge to its north. Though convection remained focused near the outer periphery of the system, the overall organized continued to steadily increase, and it is estimated the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Florence on September 5 while located about 1120 miles (1800 km) east-northeast of Anguilla.
After reaching tropical storm status, the maximum sustained winds existed for three days between 40 mph (65 km/h) and 50 mph (85 km/h). This is because of the large size of Florence; the wind field reached 460 miles (745 km) wide with a radius of maximum winds of about 110 miles (170 km). By September 6, an orgained form of cloud swirls became visible, with thin rainbands developing in the southeast and northwest quadrants. As a result, hurricane forecasters predicted Florence to quickly develop and reach major hurricane status. Though convection slowly moved closer to the center of the storm, forecasters could not detect an organized center of circulation late on September 13.
On September 7, convection developed over and to the west of the center for the first time in its duration. However, Florence failed to strengthen any further with a wind field more than 1035 miles (1670 km) in diameter. This made it diffficult to forecast the storm, since it tracked through an area of 84° F (29° C) water temperatures, light shear, and a large low-level cyclonic envelop with abundant convection. By early on September 8, the storm became a stretched out, shapeless cloud pattern not normal for a tropical cyclone. Later that day, as an anticyclone developed over Florence, the storm began to consolidate around a vorticity center on the western side of the large cyclonic envelope. It began to strengthen more steadily as the storm turned to the northwest. Early on September 10, an eye began developing inside a ring of round thick convection over the center, and shortly thereafter Florence reached hurricane status while located about 390 miles (630 km) south of Bermuda.
Hurricane Florence turned to the north and north-northeast through a break in the subtropical ridge. Though its eyewall was open on the north side, favorable conditions led forecasters to predict Florence passing near Bermuda as a strong Category 2 hurricane. The inner core of convection became ragged-looking on satellite pictures, and based on reports from Hurricane Hunters it is estimated the hurricane reached peak winds of 90 mph (150 km/h) late on September 10. After further erosion of the eyewall, the hurricane weakened, and on September 11 passed about 60 miles (95 km) west of Bermuda with winds of 85 mph (135 km/h). The overall cloud pattern became a little bit better organized, and Florence briefly re-strengthened before encountering increased upper-level winds and cooler waters.
Dry air wrapping around the southern half of the cyclone dissipated most of the deep convection by early on September 12. The cloud shield became asymmetrically displaced to the north of the center, and frontal-like features began to form. It continued to lose tropical characteristics, and on September 13 Florence turned into an extratropical cyclone about 485 miles (780 km) south-southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland. At first, the storm was able to keep hurricane-force winds, as the extratropical remnant passed near Cape Race before turning to the east-northeast, and on September 14 the winds weakened to gale force. In the next days the storm executed a broad cyclonic half-loop to the southwest of Iceland, and after turning to the west the extratropical remnants of Florence were absorbed to the east of Greenland by a developing extratropical cyclone to its south.
Preparations.
The government of Bermuda gave out a hurricane watch for the island on September 8, which was followed by a tropical storm warning on September 9. These were replaced by a hurricane warning on September 10, which were given out at the same time with the storm's strengthening to hurricane status. The government pursaded the potentially impacted citizens to take preparations for the storm, many of whom bought supplies at local hardware stores. Residents installed storm shutters, while boat owners moved their boats to safer locations. An emergency shelter was prepared on the island. Before Florence approached the storm, officials canceled bus and ferry service, and also closed all schools and government offices on the day of impact. The Bermuda International Airport was also closed.
Impact.
Hurricane Florence produced strong swells and dangerous surf conditions for the northern Lesser Antilles, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Bermuda. Later in its duration, the tight pressure gradient between Florence and a high-pressure system over southeastern Canada produced strong winds and rough waves along the East Coast of the United States. The hurricane also caused strong swells and rough ocean conditions, including rip currents, in the Bahamas and Atlantic Canada.
Passing a short distance west of Bermuda, Hurricane Florence produced strong winds on the island; sustained winds peaked at 82 mph (132 km/h) on St. David's Island at an elevation of 410 feet (48 m), while gusts reached 115 mph (185 km/h) at the Maritime Operations Centre in St. George's Parish at an elevation of 665 feet (78 m). The winds knocked down trees and power lines, leaving over 25,000 homes and businesses without electricity during the peak of the storm. The powerful winds damaged ten houses, including destroying the roofs of three, and blew out windows across the island. A few people were injured by flying glass, though none required hospital care. Rainfall on the island reached 1.32 inches (34 mm) at the Bermuda International Airport.
A possible tornado reported in Southampton Parish downed trees and caused light property damage. At the Bermuda Zoo and Aquarium, two flamingos died due to falling branches. During the peak of the storm, police officials advised citizens to remain indoors away from harm, though there were several reports of looting throughout the territory.
The storm caused over $200,000 (2006 USD) in damage on the island. Shortly after the storm passed through, BELCO began restoring power, and by six hours after the peak of the storm power had been restored to 7,000 homes and businesses. By the day after the storm, about 3,000 remained without electricity on the island. The passage of the storm damaged the causeway between St. David's Island and Hamilton Parish, temporarily limiting traffic to one lane in each direction.
As an extratropical storm over Newfoundland, Florence produced powerful winds peaking at 101 mph (163 km/h) and moderate amounts of rainfall of up to 2.6 inches (67 mm). Flooding and power outages were reported, although they were isolated. The hurricane caused flight interruptions at St. John's International Airport and also to the Trans Canada ferry between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island in eastern Nova Scotia Strong winds destroyed a house in the small Newfoundland village of Francois. Residents in Francois agreed to rebuild the wrecked home while the family temporarily resided in a summer home of another family. The winds also caused damage to shingles and sides of homes, while the strong waves damaged roads and boats along the Burin Peninsula. |
Theodorus and Theophanes
Theodorus (ca. 775–ca. 842) and Theophanes (ca. 778–845), called the "Grapti" (from the Greek graptoi, "written upon"), are remembered as proponents of the veneration of icons during the second Iconoclastic controversy. They were brothers and natives of Jerusalem.
Joint history.
Theophanes "Vita prima" was recorded in the "Life of Michael the Synkellos". Theophanes and his brother Theodore were born in Palestine near the end of the eighth century, sons of the Venerable Jonah the Presbyter. Both grew up in Jerusalem, entered the Monastery of Mar Sabba near Bethlehem together, and became disciples of Michael the Synkellos (later "syncellus" of the Patriarch of Jerusalem). In 813 Michael and his two disciples left Jerusalem originally on a journey to Rome. They had been sent by the Patriarch of Jerusalem to support the Pope in his stand against the Franks over the question of the filioque, which some Benedictines from the West had recently introduced to Jerusalem.
In the course of their journey, in about 812, they landed in Constantinople, entered a monastery, and where in opposition to the Emperor Leo V (813-20) they energetically defended the veneration of images. However, the Seventh Ecumenical Council had condemned Iconoclasm as a heresy, so they were detained, interrogated, beaten and imprisoned by order of the Emperor Leo V (the Armenian) in 815. During the whole of the second iconoclast period—nearly thirty years—they suffered at various times exile, imprisonment and torture.
Under the succeeding emperor, Michael II (820–29), they were brought into the monastery of Sosthenes on the Bosphorus. Michael's successor, the tyrannical and Iconoclastic Theophilos (829–42), exiled them again, but recalled them in 836 to the capital, had them scourged several times, and had twelve lines of verse cut or tattooed into their skin (hence the nickname "written upon"). Theophilus beat them with his own hand and ordered that they be branded on their faces with twelve lines of ‘badly composed’ — the emperor’s own words — if metrically correct, quantitative iambic verses. The ordeal took two days.
They were thrown into prison in the town of Apamea in Bithynia, where Theodore died in prison of his wounds in 841. Michael and Theophanes survived to see Orthodoxy triumph over Iconoclasm in 842 during the reign of the Empress Theodora. Michael was made abbot of the Monastery of Chora, where he died, just two months after Theophanes, in January 846.
The brothers are venerated as saints. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the feast of Theophanes is observed on 11 October, that of Theodorus on 27 December. In the Roman Church the feasts of both are celebrated on 27 December (Cf. Nilles, "Kalendarium manuale utriusque Ecclesiæ", I, 300, 368 sq.).
Theophanes the Branded.
Theophanes the Branded also called Theophanes Graptus or Theophanes of Nicaea (775 - 845) was a Byzantine monk and hymnographer. Next to Joseph the Hymnographer, Theophanes is the major contributor to the Orthodox liturgical book called the "Parakletike". Theophanes was consecrated as Metropolitan of Nicaea by Patriarch Methodius in 842 and administered it until his death in 845.
Works.
Theophanes wrote a large number of religious poems, among them one on his dead brother. (cf. Christ and Paranikas, "Anthologia græca carminum christianorum", Leipzig, 1781).
As a hymnographer, Theophanes belongs to the tradition of the Lavra of Mar Sabbas, which includes many of the greatest writers of canons, including St Andrew of Crete, St Kosmas of Maïouma and St John of Damascus.
His contribution to the "Parakletike" consists of sets of canons in all Eight Tones for the Angels, and the Departed. He is sometimes said also to have written a set for the Apostles, but those in Tones 7 and 8 are ascribed to Joseph in the Paraklitiki, that in Tone 7 being ‘signed’ acrostically in the Ninth Ode. Not all of these are ‘signed’ in the acrostic, but that for the Angels in Tone 1 has as its acrostic the following, ‘The first hymn of Theophanes for the Angels’, while that for the departed in Tone 5 has, ‘The fifth canon of Theophanes for the dead’. Unfortunately none of these texts has been critically edited and the printed service books often differ widely in their ascriptions.
(Pseudo)-Theodore the Branded.
Theodore the Branded also called Theodore Graptus was cited frequently in the 14th century in the polemical works of the Hesychast Controversy, beginning with Nikephoros Gregoras. However, the anti-iconoclast work attributed to Theodore was actually written by Nikephoros of Constantinople. Thus Theodore Graptus's memory, which had nearly died out by the 14th century, received a rehabilitation of sorts through the attribution to him of Nikephoros's work. |
Relationship between education and HIV/AIDS
Education is recognized as a social determinant of health. Education has also been identified as a social vaccine against contracting HIV. Research suggests a negative linear relationship between educational attainment (years of education) and HIV infection rate, especially the educational attainment of women and girls.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) aims to ensure all individuals, in and out of formal education, have access to comprehensive HIV education. UNESCO is a founding cosponsor of UNAIDS, and in conjunction with partner agencies UNESCO published the "International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education" in 2018. This report provides evidence-based guidelines for developing and implementing comprehensive sexuality education curriculum for young people.
Availability of HIV/AIDS information.
Education is a strong factor in improving population health by building in individuals the capacity to process and understand risks related to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Poor information hinders individuals from analyzing their behavioural choices by masking potential health risks.
Inadequate information becomes a risk factor for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The mischaracterization of HIV/AIDS as a homosexual disease has led higher status heterosexuals that participate in risky sexual behaviour to continue without considering the risk of infection.
Data analysis collected in Sydney, Australia in 2007 found that within 236 adults, age 20 to 65, respondents were concerned about risks of HIV/AIDS transmitted through casual contact, leading to disapproval of homosexuality and drug use. In contrast, highly educated respondents were shown to be less likely to overestimate the possibility of HIV transmission through casual contact compared to respondents with a lower level education.
In a 2011 study, 1 in 4 students aged 16 and above in England stated they had learned nothing about HIV/AIDS in school, even though learning about sexually transmitted diseases is compulsory for secondary school students in England and Wales.
Attitudinal changes and education.
Stigma.
Stigma associated with those who have HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa prevents many from getting tested. As formal education continues to change attitudes towards those living with HIV/AIDS, the reduction of stigma enhances prevention techniques.
A 2016 study in primarily African-American faith-based organizations in South Carolina, United States found that education level was associated with lower levels of stigmatizing attitudes about HIV/AIDS.
Self-efficacy.
A 2020 systematic review showed that financial education increased self-efficacy and lowered vulnerability to HIV in young people in low and middle income countries. In many of the studies in the review, financial education was combined with sexual health education and/or counselling.
Impact on infection rate and other outcomes.
Infection rate.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the introduction of partially accurate information in Sub-Saharan Africa led to a decline in HIV rates among more educated, suggesting they may have the greater cognitive skill required to sift through the various levels of accuracy and mount a more effective response. Increased motivation needed to analyze personal risks and behavioural choices were increased by cognitive abilities enhanced by formal education, suggesting a direct correlation.
A 2018 analysis of data from over 500,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa showed that secondary school completion for women was correlated with a lower likelihood of being HIV positive. However, primary school completion alone, without subsequent secondary school completion, is associated with a higher risk of being HIV positive than not completing primary school. This finding applies to both men and women.
A 2018 review of studies on sub-Saharan Africa found evidence that support for girls' and young women's schooling is associated with lower rates of HIV infection. Types of support include cash transfers to families, educational support (such as school fees paid on student's behalf), savings accounts and microcredit, and vocational training.
HIV test uptake.
In Zambia, a 2018 study of over 15,000 women of childbearing age found a strong correlation between educational attainment and uptake of HIV testing. Similar findings were reported in a 2020 study of 2660 women in Ghana.
Medication efficacy and mortality.
A study of nearly 25,000 European patients who started combined antiretroviral treatment (cART) between 1996-2013 found that patients with fewer years of education had poorer responses to cART and lower survival.
Critique.
Studies of the effectiveness of HIV education programs often rely on self-reported information about knowledge and behavior, leading to a possible social desirability bias if subjects report what they think the interviewer wants to think. Encouraging Kenyan students to write essays on way of protecting oneself against HIV/AIDS led to increased self-reported use of condoms without an increase in self-reported sexual activity. There is no evidence to determine whether an increase in condom use by students corresponds to actual reduction in HIV/AIDS.
Early research in Sub-Saharan Africa identified formal education as a risk factor, with more educated individuals being most likely to be infected. By the mid-1990s, education began to shift from risk factor to social vaccine.
Some studies have found that educational attainment decreases girls' and women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, but does not affect or even worsens boys' and men's risk. |
Charles Goren
Charles Henry Goren (March 4, 1901 – April 3, 1991) was an American bridge player and writer who significantly developed and popularized the game. He was the leading American bridge personality in the 1950s and 1960s – or 1940s and 1950s, as "Mr. Bridge" – as Ely Culbertson had been in the 1930s. Culbertson, Goren, and Harold Vanderbilt were the three people named when "The Bridge World" inaugurated a bridge "hall of fame" in 1964 and they were made founding members of the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1995.
According to "New York Times" bridge columnist Alan Truscott, more than 10 million copies of Goren's books were sold. Among them, "Point-Count Bidding" (1949) "pushed the great mass of bridge players into abandoning Ely Culbertson's clumsy and inaccurate honor-trick method of valuation."
Goren's widely syndicated newspaper column "Goren on Bridge" first appeared in the Chicago Tribune August 30 1944, p.15.
Early years.
Goren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Russian Jewish immigrants. He earned a law degree at McGill University in Montreal in 1923. While he was attending McGill, a girlfriend (or "a young hostess") laughed at his ineptness at the game of bridge, motivating him to immerse himself in a study of existing bridge materials. (The young hostess laughed in 1922. The game was auction bridge, "which became contract bridge later in the decade".)
When he graduated, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar and he practiced law for 13 years in Philadelphia. The growing fame of Ely Culbertson, however, prompted Goren to abandon his original career choice to pursue bridge competitions, where he attracted the attention of Milton Work. Work hired Goren to help with his bridge articles and columns, and eventually Goren began ghostwriting Work's material.
Work was one of numerous strong bridge players based in Philadelphia around the 1920s. He became an extraordinarily successful lecturer and writer on the game and perhaps the first who came to be called its "Grand Old Man". From 1928, he had popularized the 4–3–2–1 point count system for evaluating balanced hands (now sometimes called the Work count, Work point count, or Work points). His chief assistant Olive Peterson and young Goren established a partnership as players.
Work was the greatest authority on auction bridge, which was generally replaced by contract bridge during the late 1920s. Goren "became Mr. Work's technical assistant at the end of the decade".
As a player Goren's "breakthrough" was the 1937 Board-a-Match Teams championship (now Reisinger) won with three other Philadelphia players: John Crawford, Charles Solomon, and Sally Young.
His breakthrough as a writer may have been when Culbertson moved a newspaper bridge column from one syndicate to another. The "Chicago Tribune" and the "Daily News" of New York picked up Goren.
Goren dominated the competitive bridge circuit until about 1962 after which he focused on writing and teaching bridge
Bridge contributions.
After Milton Work died in 1934, Goren began his own bridge writing career and published the first of his many books on playing bridge, "Winning Bridge Made Easy", in 1936. Drawing on his experience with Work's system, Goren quickly became popular as an instructor and lecturer. His subsequent lifetime of contributions to the game have made him one of the most important figures in the history of bridge.
Goren became world champion at the Bermuda Bowl in 1950. Goren's books have sold millions of copies (especially "Winning Bridge Made Easy" and "Contract Bridge Complete"); by 1958 his daily bridge column was appearing in 194 American newspapers. He also had a monthly column in "McCall's" and a weekly column in "Sports Illustrated".
His television program, "Championship Bridge with Charles Goren", was broadcast from 1959 to 1964 on the ABC network. It featured numerous appearances by top players and segments with celebrity guests such as Chico Marx, Alfred Drake, and Forest Evashevski, among others.
Goren's longest partnership was with Helen Sobel, but he also famously partnered actor Omar Sharif. Sharif also wrote introductions to or co-authored several of Goren's bridge books, and was also co-author of Goren's newspaper column, eventually taking it over in collaboration with Tannah Hirsch.
Point count system.
As he continued writing, Goren began to develop his point count system, based on the Milton Work point count, as an improvement over the existing system of counting "honor tricks". Goren, with assistance, formulated a method of combining the Work count, which was based entirely on high cards, and various distributional features. This may well have improved the bidding of intermediate players and beginners almost immediately.
Four-card suits.
Goren also worked to continue the practice of opening four-card suits, with an occasional three-card club suit when the only four-card suit was a weak . In this, he was following the practice established by Ely Culbertson in the early 1930s. Later on, he continued this practice, resisting the well-known "five-card majors" approach that has become a major feature of modern Standard American bidding.
Opening a four-card suit can improve the chances of the partnership identifying a four-four trump fit, and the four-card approach is still used by experts today, notably by most Acol players. It is claimed that the drawback of the four-card approach is that the Law of Total Tricks is more difficult to apply in cases where it is used. However, the five-card majors approach became popular before the Law of Total Tricks was propounded.
Other contributions.
In addition to his pioneering work in bringing simple and effective bridge to everyday players, Goren also worked to popularize the Precision bidding method, which is one of many so-called big club or strong club systems (which use an opening bid of one club to indicate a strong hand).
Tribune Content Agency distributes the daily column Goren Bridge, written by Bob Jones, using the Goren method.
Legacy.
Goren died on April 3, 1991, in Encino, California, at the age of 90. He had lived with his nephew Marvin Goren for 19 years. While few players "play Goren" exactly today, the point-count approach he popularized remains the foundation for most bidding systems.
During the month of Goren's death, Truscott followed his obituary with a bridge column entitled, "Goren leaves behind many fans and a column with an international flavor". His business interests had been "managed by others" since his retirement "a quarter of a century ago", according to Truscott. "The Goren syndicated column now has an international flavor: It carries the bylines of the movie star Omar Sharif, an Egyptian who lives in Paris, and an entrepreneur, Tannah Hirsch, a South African who came to the United States via Israel."
Goren appeared on the Groucho Marx radio and television game show You Bet Your Life in March 1958.
Goren appeared on the television game show What’s My Line in December 1961.
References.
Citations |
Dreaming (Blondie song)
"Dreaming" is a song by American new wave band Blondie. Released in 1979, the song was the opening track from their fourth album "Eat to the Beat". Written by guitarist Chris Stein and singer Debbie Harry and partially inspired by ABBA's "Dancing Queen," the song also features an active drum performance by drummer Clem Burke, who did not expect the final recording to feature his busy drum track.
"Dreaming" was released as the lead single from "Eat to the Beat" in September 1979, reaching number two on the UK singles chart and number 27 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. The band saw this as a disappointing performance, though the song remained one of the band's highest charting singles to that point. The song's single release was also accompanied by a music video.
The song has since become one of Blondie's most famous tracks, appearing on several compilation albums and becoming a mainstay of the band's live setlist. It has since seen critical acclaim and several music writers have named the song as one of the band's best.
Background.
The lyrics for "Dreaming" originated from the line "dreaming is free", which band member Chris Stein thought of. After hearing the music for the song that Stein wrote, Debbie Harry wrote the rest of the lyrics. Harry explained the process of writing the lyrics in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", saying "Sometimes Chris will come up with a track or a feel and pass it on to me, and he'll say, 'I was thinking 'Dreaming/Dreaming is free',' and then I'll fill it out with a story line or some more phrases. A lot of times it's the rhythm track that suggests what the lyric is going to be. I like working like that."
Musically, "Dreaming" is a fast-paced new wave song. Stein has since claimed that "Dreaming" is "pretty much a cop" of "Dancing Queen" by ABBA; he continued, "I don't know if that was where we started, or if it ended just happening to sound like that." Michael Gallucci of "Ultimate Classic Rock" said the song "tak[es] a cue from Phil Spector's Wall of Sound." "Billboard Magazine" described "Dreaming" as a "driving rocker that moves with rollercoaster intensity" and described Harry's lead vocals as "mesmerizing."
According to the band's keyboardist Jimmy Destri, the song, like many from the "Eat to the Beat" album, was recorded live in the studio. The song also features a frantic drum performance written by drummer Clem Burke. Burke said of his drumming on the song:
Release.
The song was released on September 14, 1979 as the first single from "Eat to the Beat". While the US release of the single had "Living in the Real World" as the B-side, the British version used "Sound-A-Sleep" instead. Both of those songs likewise feature on "Eat to the Beat". A music video was produced to promote the single featuring Debbie Harry wearing a solid blue unitard and matching sheer blouse designed by Stephen Sprouse.
"Dreaming" was most successful as a single in the UK, peaking at number two on the singles chart. Burke later expressed disappointment at the song's inability to reach number one in Britain unlike other Blondie singles, saying, "English audiences are notoriously fickle. They go off on people after a while. It's been done before. We're so spoiled by having all those number ones."
The single was also successful in Ireland as well as in Canada, reaching number three and number four respectively. In the US, it peaked at number 27 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Blondie's third Top 40 hit there (after "Heart of Glass" (number one) and "One Way or Another" (number 24) earlier in the year). Clem Burke attributed the song's relatively lower chart position to his drumming, saying "I always say 'Dreaming' would have been a bigger hit had I not played like that. It was Top 40, but it was never a huge hit."
"Dreaming" has since been featured on multiple compilation albums, such as "The Best of Blondie", ', ', and "Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux". Blondie re-recorded the song for the 2014 compilation album "Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux".
In 2019 "Dreaming" was used as the opening credits theme song for the third and final season of the HBO drama "The Deuce".
Reception.
Since its release, "Dreaming" has seen critical acclaim from music writers. Stewart Mason of AllMusic praised Stein's guitarwork and Burke's drumming on the song, writing of the latter, "It's an amazing performance, possibly the most over-the-top effort by a rock & roll drummer in the entire 1970s, and a must to hear." Debra Rae Cohen of "Rolling Stone" wrote that Dreaming' makes the keynote statement [of "Eat to the Beat"]." Christian John Wikane of "PopMatters" praised Harry's vocals on the song, writing, "She sings with a vocal power unknown to audiences, at the time, who were only familiar with the synthetic thrills on 'Heart of Glass. Jim Beviglia of "American Songwriter" praised the song's "poignancy" and stated, "Blondie's songs tend to be so much fun that's it's easy to overlook their depth and the craft behind them. Don't make that mistake with 'Dreaming,' or you might miss the hurting yet ultimately hopeful heart beating inside that pristine pop shell." "Cash Box" said it has "a pounding, chugging rhythm and Harry's distinctive 'girl-group' vocals" and more "pop power" than the Knack. "Billboard" called it a "a driving rocker that moves at rollercoaster intensity" and praised Debbie Harry's lead vocals as "clear and mesmerizing."
Several critics have ranked "Dreaming" as one of Blondie's best songs. "Billboard" writers named "Dreaming" as the fourth best Blondie song, writing, "The feel-good, uplifting vibes of this power pop ballad still hold their influence today." "Ultimate Classic Rock" named it the band's fifth best song, stating, Dreaming' wraps everything Blondie did so well—girl-group bounce, big pop hook, the meshing of styles and eras—in the thickest battalion of drums and backing vocals they ever recorded." "Far Out Magazine" ranked the song as the band's sixth best, calling it "undeniably one of the band’s most underrated songs" and writing, "Harry and co. delivered a song which is a distillation of everything that made them great." uDiscoverMusic named the song as one of the top 20 Blondie songs. In 2021, it was listed at No. 414 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time" in 2021.
Live performances.
"Dreaming" has become a staple of Blondie's live performances, being performed for a time as the second track in the band's setlist. Blondie notably performed the song live on "Saturday Night Live" in 1979, a performance that ended with Burke jumping over his drumset toward the camera. Burke later described the video of the performance as "awesome".
Lead singer Debbie Harry performed a version of the song with the Dum Dum Girls at South by Southwest in 2014. Josh Terry of "Consequence of Sound" described the rendition as "woozy" and "upbeat".
Cover versions.
The Smashing Pumpkins released a cover of "Dreaming" on their 1996 single "Bullet With Butterfly Wings." The song was also covered by Yo La Tengo for the new wave tribute album "Freedom of Choice: Yesterday's New Wave Hits as Performed by Today's Stars".
American rock band Green Day released a cover of "Dreaming" on May 22, 2020. The music video features the band reminiscing of days gone by, featuring footage from previous tours of the band on the road and performing live.
Release history.
UK 7" (CHS 2359, September 1979)
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US 7" (CHS 2379, September 1979)
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US 12" Promo (CHS14-PDJ, September 1979) |
Sarah Borwell
Sarah Leah Borwell (born 20 August 1979) is an English former professional tennis player who enjoyed her greatest success in doubles. She was the British number one in doubles. Her career-high doubles ranking is 65, set on 9 August 2010 and her career-high singles ranking is 199, which she reached on 10 July 2006.
Early life.
Borwell was born in Middlesbrough. She attended Nunthorpe School, where Jonathan Woodgate and Liam Plunkett were fellow students, she even shared a class and school football team with Woodgate who is a year her junior at The Avenue Primary school, where dual year classes were present. She was a regular player for the Schools boys football team, more than holding her own and deserving her place in the team. and Prior Pursglove College in Guisborough. She won a tennis scholarship to the University of Houston, where she was ranked as high as #8 in the NCAA and completed a business degree.
Her father is a scout at Aston Villa F.C., and her mother coaches Mini Tennis and is a supervisor for school sports.
Career.
2002.
Borwell made her professional debut in August 2002 at the ITF Circuit tournament held in Bath, England where she suffered a first round defeat. She played four more tournaments that year and reached the quarterfinals of two of them (both on clay). The season ended with Borwell ranked world No. 744.
2003.
She began 2003 with another quarter-final loss in January and two months later made her first appearance in an ITF tournament final, losing in straight sets to Australian Lisa McShea, 6–1, 6–4. She notched up one more semifinal loss and another quarterfinal loss in ITF events before making her debut on the WTA Tour at the Tier III DFS Classic held in Birmingham. She experienced a defeat in the first round of qualifying at the hands of a young future world No. 1, Maria Sharapova. Borwell was then granted a wildcard into the qualifying event of her home Grand Slam, Wimbledon, where she was defeated in straight sets by Argentine Gisela Dulko in the first round. She spent the rest of the year on the ITF Circuit, reaching two more semifinals (one as a qualifier), and finished 2003 ranked 349.
2004.
2004 was a year of first and second round defeats for Borwell. She played the entire year on the ITF Circuit, reaching only one quarterfinal and one semifinal (albeit as a qualifier) and as such her year-end ranking fell 68 places to No. 417.
2005.
She made a more promising start to 2005, reaching the quarterfinals in her second ITF tournament of the season and the semifinals in her third. She again played on the ITF Circuit until June when she was again given a wildcard into the Tier III Birmingham Classic qualifying rounds. She managed to go one better than her previous year's appearance at the tournament by beating 16th seed Sunitha Rao in three tight sets, before losing to eighth seed Rika Fujiwara from Japan. Another wildcard followed, but this time into the main draw of Wimbledon where her opponent in round one was American, Shenay Perry. Despite a valiant performance in a first set tie-break (which she eventually lost 11–13) she lost the match in two sets. The rest of her year was spent playing ITF tournaments where she reached one quarterfinal. She did, however, beat two women ranked higher than herself to qualify for the Tier III Bell Challenge held in Quebec City, Canada in November. She lost in the first round to Emma Laine of Finland. 2005 ended with Borwell ranked 331.
2006.
In February 2006, Borwell attempted to qualify for the Bangalore Open, a Tier III tournament held in India. She lost to Akgul Amanmuradova, 2–6, 1–6. March saw success for Borwell as she reached the semifinals of ITF Sunderland before losing to Gaëlle Widmer, 1–6, 3–6. This was immediately followed by her first ever title in Sheffield where she did not drop a single set en route to the final in which she defeated Nadja Roma in three sets. Two consecutive first-round losses followed before a quarterfinal loss to Anne Keothavong in the ITF tournament held in Madras. May saw another ITF final appearance for Borwell in Nagano where she was forced to retire after losing a close first set 7–5 to Tomoko Yonemura. In June, Borwell had her first victory in the main draw of a WTA Tour event after being given a wildcard into the Birmingham Classic and defeating fellow Briton Melanie South in three sets. Jamea Jackson beat her in the second round. Two consecutive wild cards followed, the first into the main draw of the Eastbourne International (where she did not make it past the first round) and the second into the main draw of Wimbledon. She had a shock victory here by winning her first-round match against world No. 66, Marta Domachowska, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4. This set up a second round match against future world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, which she lost, 1–6, 2–6. Following Wimbledon, Borwell reached the quarterfinals of one ITF tournament that year and was beaten in the first round of qualifying of the US Open by Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro. Her ranking was 218 at the end of this season.
2007.
From January to June 2007, Borwell played on the ITF Circuit. She reached three quarterfinals in this time. Then she participated in the French Open qualifying tournament where she was beaten by Stéphanie Dubois. She lost in qualifying for the Birmingham Classic, Eastbourne International and Wimbledon before reaching the quarterfinals of the ITF tournament held in Felixstowe. Her next tournament was another ITF event, this one held in Frinton where she defeated fellow Brit Jade Curtis in the final, 6–4, 1–6, 6–3. The second ITF title of her career. This was followed by another quarterfinal appearance in an ITF tournament before she lost in the qualifying rounds for three consecutive WTA tournaments. One more quarter-final in an ITF event rounded off her results for 2007. She finished the year at a ranking of 264.
2008.
Borwell spent most of 2008 playing on the ITF Circuit, reaching two consecutive finals in March in Dijon and Bath. She lost the first to Olga Brózda and won the second by defeating Stéphanie Vongsouthi. In July she reached her only other singles final of the ITF season in the Felixstowe tournament, losing to Neuza Silva, 3–6, 2–6. Her participation on the WTA Tour that year consisted of four losing efforts as she attempted to qualify for the Birmingham Classic, the Slovenia Open, the Nordic Light Open and the Bell Challenge. Borwell was awarded a wildcard into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon where she was beaten by Yaroslava Shvedova, 6–4, 6–7, 6–4. In November, Borwell made the decision to stop playing singles and become a doubles specialist.
2009–2010.
With her doubles ranking high enough for her to enter the main draw of many WTA tournaments without having to qualify. She reached the quarterfinals of four International tournaments: Birmingham Classic, Hobart International, Mexican Open and the Monterrey Open. She also made the semifinal of the main tour event in Bad Gastein. In 2010 Borwell teamed up full-time with American Raquel Kops-Jones. So far, they had made three quarterfinals but their highlight has been a semifinal in the WTA events at Ponte Vedra Beach and Stanford.
Both the French Open and Wimbledon proved to be a frustrating experience for Borwell and Kops-Jones. Although sandwiched between both tournaments, they picked up an ITF title in Nottingham (defeating Naomi Broady and Katie O'Brien in the final) they suffered first round defeats in both major events. At the French they came up against nemesis' and eventual finalists Katarina Srebotnik and Květa Peschke and were thrashed 6–0, 6–1. At Wimbledon, they played a high quality game against fifth seeds Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. They played the first two centre court before bad light forced the match to be resumed the next day, at one set all. where Huber and Mattek prevailed 7–5 in the decider. Borwell did, however, win a round with Colin Fleming in the mixed doubles, before losing in the second to top seeds Nenad Zimonjić and Sam Stosur.
In July, Borwell teamed up with Martina Hingis and Scoville Jenkins to form the New York Buzz team at the World TeamTennis championships. Although they struggled and were the least successful team, Borwell and Jenkins registered a very impressive Mixed Doubles success against John McEnroe and Kim Clijsters.
At the Silicon Valley Classic, Borwell and Jones caused a huge upset in round one as they defeated Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs, 6–0, 4–6, [12–10]. On the win Borwell said 'We deserved that.' They reached the semifinal despite Borwell being hit on the head with a 10–6 champion tie-break win against Lilia Osterloh and Riza Zalameda, Borwell said this win was more important than their first-round win. The blow to the head, Borwell received in that match turned out to be a brain bleed that kept her out of action for about a month, causing her to miss the US Open.
Borwell returned to action at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, competing for England in both the women's and mixed doubles. Anna Smith and Ken Skupski were her respective partners. Borwell and Smith were seeded second, however could not live up to that ranking losing their quarterfinal match in straight sets. Borwell and Skupski, however, combined well eventually winning the bronze medal, defeating Smith and partner Ross Hutchins.
2011–2012.
In 2011, Borwell reached the first round of both the Australian Open and the Wimbledon Championships but lost both times. |
Societetsskolan
Societetsskolan i Göteborg för döttrar ('Society School for Daughters in Gothenburg') or simply "Societetsskolan" ('Society School'), was a Swedish girls' school managed by the congregation of the Moravian Church in Gothenburg from 1 November 1787 until 1857. It is referred to as the first girls' school in Sweden, because it was the first institution to provide serious academic secondary education to females.
The school is known under many different names. Because it was initially intended to serve the children of the Moravian congregation, it was called "Brödraförsamlingens flickskola i Göteborg" ('Girls' School of the Unity of the Brethren in Gothenburg') or "Evangeliska Brödraförsamlingens flickskola i Göteborg" ('Girls' School of the Unity of the Evangelical Brethren in Gothenburg'), but also, commonly, as "Salsskolan" ('Hall School'), because it was initially held in the prayer hall of the Moravian congregation.
History.
Foundation.
The school was inaugurated on 1 November 1787. It was intended to introduce in Sweden the ideal of equal education for males and females, which was an ideal of the Moravian Church and common among the schools of the congregation in other nations. Until 1817, the school used the prayer hall of the Moravian congregation, and to go there was therefore commonly referred to as going to the hall, hence the common name Hall School. It was given its own building in 1817.
Activity.
Initially, the school was intended to serve the children of the Moravian Church, but it was open to non-members of the Moravian church as well, and already shortly after its foundation, the school became popular among non-Moravians. Between 1799 and 1814, there were also separate classes for boys at the school. The school had a very good reputation and high popularity from the start, and it soon became common for the wealthy merchant families of Gothenburg to have their daughters schooled there.
The school was not free, but the parents had to pay a fee, and approve of the school principles when they enrolled their children. The school employed both male and female teachers, and the female teachers had the professional title of "Aunt". From 1814, the school also offered sleeping accommodation for students not residing in Gothenburg, and was from this point also part boarding school. The school had four classes in 1814, and six classes in 1836.
The official purpose of the school was to "bring the children to Jesus" by having them renounce worldly pleasures: the official main subject of the school was Christian Ethics, and the discipline was strict. However, in accordance with the beliefs of the Moravian Church, the religious tuition was emotional rather than harsh or strict.
The girls were given the tuition in household tasks commonly given in girls' schools, but they were also given a structured education in German, French, English, Geography, History, Mathematics, Drawing and Handicrafts, as well as the Swedish language, which was an innovation in Sweden. While they were not given the education in scientific subjects given to the boys, no other school in Sweden at the time offered a structured secondary education in these subjects to girls.
Amongst its staff were the educator Helena Eldrup (up to 1835) and the reforming educator Cecilia Fryxell (in 1846–1847), and among its students were the writer Emily Nonnen, and the reforming pedagogue Mathilda Hall, who in 1857 founded the successor school to Societetsskolan: Mathilda Halls skola ('Mathilda Hall's School').
Legacy.
The school has been referred to as the first girls' school in Sweden. Technically, this is not correct, as the first girls' school was "Rudbeckii flickskola" in 1632, and there were numerous schools for girls in 18th-century Sweden. However, the title is given because it was the first girls' school in Sweden to provide serious secondary education to girls in a manner more equal to that given to boys than in the other girls' schools in Sweden, which were essentially finishing schools.
At the time of the introduction of compulsory elementary school in Sweden in 1842, it was one of five schools in Sweden to provide academic secondary education to female students; the others being "Fruntimmersföreningens flickskola" (1815) and "Kjellbergska flickskolan" (1833) in Gothenburg, "Askersunds flickskola" (1812) in Askersund and "Wallinska skolan" (1831) in Stockholm. |
Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform movement in the Indian subcontinent. He was given the title of Raja by Akbar II, the Mughal emperor. His influence was apparent in the fields of politics, public administration, education and religion. He was known for his efforts to abolish the practices of sati and child marriage. Roy is considered to be the "Father of Indian Renaissance" by many historians.
In 2004, Roy was ranked number 10 in BBC's poll of the Greatest Bengali of All Time.
Early life and education (1772-1796).
Ram Mohan Roy was born in Radhanagar, Hooghly District, Bengal Presidency. His great grandfather Krishnakanta Bandyopadhyay was a Rarhi Kulin (noble) Brahmin. Among Kulin Brahmins descendants of the six families of Brahmins imported from Kannauj by Ballal Sen in the 12th centurythose from the Rarhi district of West Bengal were notorious in the 19th century for living off dowries by marrying several women. Kulinism was a synonym for polygamy and the dowry system, both of which Rammohan campaigned against. His father, Ramkanta, was a Vaishnavite, while his mother, Tarini Devi, was from a Shaivite family. He was a great scholar of Sanskrit, Persian and English languages and also knew Arabic, Latin and Greek. One parent prepared him for the occupation of a scholar, the "Shastri", while the other secured for him all the worldly advantages needed to launch a career in the "laukik" or worldly sphere of public administration. Torn between these two parental ideals from early childhood, Ram Mohan vacillated between the two for the rest of his life.
During his childhood Ram Mohan Roy witnessed death of his sister in law through sati. The seventeen year old girl was dragged towards the pyre where Ram Mohan Roy witnessed her terrified state. He tried to protest but to no avail. She was burned alive. The people chanted "Maha Sati! Maha Sati! Maha Sati!" (great wife) over her painful screams.
Ram Mohan Roy was married three times. His first wife died early. He had two sons, Radhaprasad in 1800, and Ramaprasad in 1812 with his second wife, who died in 1824. Roy's third wife outlived him.
The nature and content of Ram Mohan Roy's early education is disputed. One view is that Ram Mohan started his formal education in the village "pathshala" where he learned Bengali and some Sanskrit and Persian. Later he is said to have studied Persian and Arabic in a "madrasa" in Patna and after that he was sent to Benares to learn the intricacies of Sanskrit and Hindu scripture, including the Vedas and Upanishads. The dates of his time in both these places are uncertain. However, it is believed that he was sent to Patna when he was nine years old and two years later he went to Benares.
Ram Mohan Roy's impact on modern Indian history was his revival of the pure and ethical principles of the Vedanta school of philosophy as found in the Upanishads. He preached the unity of God, made early translations of Vedic scriptures into English, co-founded the Calcutta Unitarian Society and founded the Brahma Samaj. The Brahma Samaj played a major role in reforming and modernizing the Indian society. He successfully campaigned against sati, the practice of burning widows. He sought to integrate Western culture with the best features of his own country's traditions. He established a number of schools to popularize a modern system of education in India. He promoted a rational, ethical, non-authoritarian, this-worldly, and social-reform Hinduism. His writings also sparked interest among British and American Unitarians.
Christianity and the early rule of the East India Company (1795–1828).
During early rule of the East India Company, Ram Mohan Roy acted as a political agitator while employed by the company.
In 1792, the British Baptist shoemaker William Carey published his influential missionary tract, "An Enquiry of the obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of heathens".
In 1793, William Carey landed in India to settle. His objective was to translate, publish and distribute the Bible in Indian languages and propagate Christianity to the Indian peoples. He realised the "mobile" (i.e. service classes) Brahmins and Pandits were most able to help him in this endeavour, and he began gathering them. He learnt the Buddhist and Jain religious works to better argue the case for Christianity in a cultural context.
In 1795, Carey made contact with a Sanskrit scholar, the Tantric Saihardana Vidyavagish, who later introduced him to Ram Mohan Roy, who wished to learn English.
Between 1796 and 1797, the trio of Carey, Vidyavagish, and Roy created a religious work known as the "Maha Nirvana Tantra" (or "Book of the Great Liberation") and positioned it as a religious text to "the One True God". Carey's involvement is not recorded in his very detailed records and he reports only learning to read Sanskrit in 1796 and only completed a grammar in 1797, the same year he translated part of The Bible (from Joshua to Job), a massive task. For the next two decades this document was regularly augmented. Its judicial sections were used in the law courts of the English Settlement in Bengal as Hindu Law for adjudicating upon property disputes of the zamindari. However, a few British magistrates and collectors began to suspect and its usage (as well as the reliance on pandits as sources of Hindu Law) was quickly deprecated. Vidyavagish had a brief falling out with Carey and separated from the group, but maintained ties to Ram Mohan Roy.
In 1797, Raja Ram Mohan reached Calcutta and became a "bania" (moneylender), mainly to lend to the Englishmen of the Company living beyond their means. Ram Mohan also continued his vocation as pandit in the English courts and started to make a living for himself. He began learning Greek and Latin.
In 1799, Carey was joined by missionary Joshua Marshman and the printer William Ward at the Danish settlement of Serampore.
From 1803 until 1815, Ram Mohan served the East India Company's "Writing Service", commencing as private clerk "Munshi" to Thomas Woodroffe, Registrar of the Appellate Court at Murshidabad (whose distant nephew, John Woodroffe—also a magistrate—and later lived off the Maha Nirvana Tantra under the pseudonym Arthur Avalon). Roy resigned from Woodroffe's service and later secured employment with John Digby, a Company collector, and Ram Mohan spent many years at Rangpur and elsewhere with Digby, where he renewed his contacts with Hariharananda. William Carey had by this time settled at Serampore and the old trio renewed their profitable association. William Carey was also aligned now with the English Company, then head-quartered at Fort William, and his religious and political ambitions were increasingly intertwined.
While in Murshidabad, in 1804 Raja Ram Mohan Roy wrote "Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin" (A Gift to Monotheists) in Persian with an introduction in Arabic. Bengali had not yet become the language of intellectual discourse. The importance of "Tuhfatul Muwahhidin" lies only in its being the first known theological statement of one who achieved later fame and notoriety as a vendantin. On its own, it is unremarkable, perhaps of interest only to a social historian because of its amateurish eclecticism. "Tuhfat" was, after all, available as early as 1884 in the English translation of Maulavi Obaidullah EI Obaid, published by the Adi Brahmo Samaj. Raja Ram Mohan Roy did not know the Upanishad at this stage in his intellectual development.
In 1814, he started Atmiya Sabha (i.e. society of friends) a philosophical discussion circle in Kolkata (then Calcutta) to propagate the monotheistic ideals of the vedanta and to campaign against idolatry, caste rigidities, meaningless rituals and other social ills.
The East India Company was draining money from India at a rate of three million pounds a year by 1838. Ram Mohan Roy was one of the first to try to estimate how much money was being taken out of India and to where it was disappearing. He estimated that around one-half of all total revenue collected in India was sent out to England, leaving India, with a considerably larger population, to use the remaining money to maintain social well-being. Ram Mohan Roy saw this and believed that the unrestricted settlement of Europeans in India governing under free trade would help ease the economic drain crisis.
During the next two decades, Ram Mohan along with William Carey, launched his attack at the behest of the church against the bastions of Hinduism of Bengal, namely his own Kulin Brahmin priestly clan (then in control of the many temples of Bengal) and their priestly excesses. The Kulin excesses targeted include sati (the co-cremation of widows), polygamy, child marriage, and dowry.
From 1819, Ram Mohan's battery increasingly turned against William Carey, a Baptist Missionary settled in Serampore, and the Serampore missionaries. With Dwarkanath's munificence, he launched a series of attacks against Baptist "Trinitarian" Christianity and was now considerably assisted in his theological debates by the Unitarian faction of Christianity.
In 1828, he launched Brahmo Sabha with Devendranath Tagore. By 1828, he had become a well known figure in India. In 1830, he had gone to England as an envoy of the Mughal Emperor, Akbar Shah II, who invested him with the title of Raja to the court of King William IV.
Middle "Brahmo" period (1820–1830).
This was Ram Mohan's most controversial period. Commenting on his published works Sivanath Sastri writes:
"The period between 1820 and 1830 was also eventful from a literary point of view, as will be manifest from the following list of his publications during that period:
He publicly declared that he would emigrate from the British Empire if Parliament failed to pass the Reform Bill.
In 1830, Ram Mohan Roy travelled to the United Kingdom as an ambassador of the Mughal Empire to ensure that Lord William Bentinck's Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829 banning the practice of Sati was not overturned. In addition, Roy petitioned the King to increase the Mughal Emperor's allowance and perquisites. He was successful in persuading the British government to increase the stipend of the Mughal Emperor by £30,000. He also visited France. While in England, he embarked on cultural exchanges, meeting with members of Parliament and publishing books on Indian economics and law. Sophia Dobson Collet was his biographer at the time.
Religious reforms.
The religious reforms of Roy contained in some beliefs of the Brahmo Samaj expounded by Rajnarayan Basu are:
Having studied the Qur’an, the Vedas and the Upanishads, Roy's beliefs were derived from a combination of monastic elements of Hinduism, Islam, eighteenth-century Deism, Unitarianism, and the ideas of the Freemasons.
Social reforms.
Roy founded the Atmiya Sabha and the Unitarian Community to fight the social evils, and to propagate social and educational reforms in India. He was the man who fought against superstitions, a pioneer in Indian education, and a trend setter in Bengali Prose and Indian press.
Roy's political background and Devandra's Christian influence influenced his social and religious views regarding reforms of Hinduism. He writes,
The present system of Hindus is not well calculated to promote their political interests…. It is necessary that some change should take place in their religion, at least for the sake of their political advantage and social comfort.
Roy's experience working with the British government taught him that Hindu traditions were often not credible or respected by western standards and this no doubt affected his religious reforms. He wanted to legitimise Hindu traditions to his European acquaintances by proving that "superstitious practices which deform the Hindu religion have nothing to do with the pure spirit of its dictates!" The "superstitious practices", to which Ram Mohan Roy objected, included sati, caste rigidity, polygamy and child marriages. These practices were often the reasons British officials claimed moral superiority over the Indian nation. Ram Mohan Roy's ideas of religion actively sought to create a fair and just society by implementing humanitarian practices similar to the Christian ideals professed by the British and thus seeking to legitimise Hinduism in the eyes of the Christian world.
Death.
He died at Stapleton, then a village to the northeast of Bristol (now a suburb), on 27 September 1833 of meningitis or a chronic respiratory ailment.
Mausoleum at Arnos Vale.
Ram Mohan Roy was originally buried on 18 October 1833, in the grounds of Stapleton Grove, where he had lived as an ambassador of the Mughal Empire and died of meningitis on 27 September 1833. Nine years later he was reburied on 29 May 1843 in a grave at the new Arnos Vale Cemetery, in Brislington, East Bristol. A large plot on The Ceremonial Way there had been bought by William Carr and William Prinsep, and the body in its lac and a lead coffin was placed later in a deep brick-built vault, over seven feet underground. Two years after this, Dwarkanath Tagore helped pay for the chhatri raised above this vault, although there is no record of his ever visiting Bristol. The chhatri was designed by the artist William Prinsep, who had known Ram Mohan in Calcutta.
Bristol Arnos Vale cemetery have been holding remembrance services for Raja Ram Mohan Roy every year on a Sunday close to his death anniversary date of 27 September. The Indian High Commission at London often come to Raja's annual commemoration and Bristol's Lord Mayor is also regularly in attendance. The commemoration is a joint Brahmo-Unitarian service, in which, prayers and hymns are sung, flowers laid at the tomb, and the life of the Raja is celebrated via talks and visual presentations. In 2013, a recently discovered ivory bust of Ram Mohan was displayed. In 2014, his original death mask at Edinburgh was filmed and its history was discussed. In 2017, Raja's commemoration was held on 24 September.
Legacy.
Roy's commitment to English education and thought sparked debate between Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. Gandhi, objecting to Roy's devotion to English education and thought and disallowing independent thinking by being overly supportive of the Western philosophical discourses. Tagore wrote a letter rejecting Gandhi's view, saying "[Roy] had the full inheritance of Indian wisdom. He was never a school boy of the West, and therefore had the dignity to be a friend of the West."
In 1983, a full-scale Exhibition on Ram Mohan Roy was held in Bristol's Museum and Art Gallery. His enormous 1831 portrait by Henry Perronet Briggs still hangs there and was the subject of a talk by Max Muller in 1873. At Bristol's centre, on College Green, is a full-size bronze statue of the Raja by the modern Kolkata sculptor Niranjan Pradhan. Another bust by Pradhan, gifted to Bristol by Jyoti Basu, sits inside the main foyer of Bristol's City Hall.
A pedestrian path at Stapleton has been named "Rajah Rammohun Walk". There is a 1933 Brahmo plaque on the outside west wall of Stapleton Grove, and his first burial place in the garden is marked by railings and a granite memorial stone. His tomb and chhatri at Arnos Vale are listed as a Grade II* historic site by English Heritage and attract many visitors today.
In popular culture.
A 1965 Indian Bengali-language film "Raja Rammohan" about Roy's reforms, directed by Bijoy Bose and starring Basanta Chowdhury in the titular role.
In 1988 Doordarshan Serial Bharat Ek Khoj produced and directed by Shyam Benegal also Picturised a Full One Episode on Raja Ram Mohan Roy. The titular role was played by Noted TV actor Anang Desai with Urmila Bhatt, Tom Alter and Ravi Jhankal as Supporting Cast. |
Wildlife (La Dispute album)
Wildlife is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band La Dispute, released October 4, 2011, on independent label No Sleep Records. Recording sessions for the album took place primarily at StadiumRed in New York City in April 2011. The band members took control of all of the production duties alongside the album's recording engineers, Andrew Everding and Joseph Pedulla. "Wildlife" was their last release on No Sleep Records before forming their own record label, "Better Living".
Noted by music writers for its varied elements, "Wildlife" incorporates musical components from La Dispute's previous releases, particularly "Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair" and "Here, Hear III.", and genres such as screamo, progressive rock and post-rock. The album features lyrical themes that – while making several references to the band's home town of Grand Rapids – focus on personal loss, anger, and despair and, in the vision of the band, is a collection of unpublished "short stories" from a hypothetical author, complete with the author’s notes and sectioned thematically by the use of four monologues.
The album debuted at number 135 on the US "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 3,140 copies in its first week. It spent one week on the chart and charted only in the United States. Prior to its release, "Wildlife" was promoted with two singles, "Harder Harmonies" and "The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit". The album was well received by critics, who mainly praised its conceptual lyrics and more melodic approach to the band's style.
Writing and recording.
The writing of the album did not start until a year after La Dispute's debut album, "Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair", was released. Part of the reason for the delay was the band's continuous touring and promotion of the debut across the United States and Canada, with rare tour and festival appearances in Europe and Australia. When commenting on the delay between the band's album releases, singer Jordan Dreyer said he and the rest of the band members require "an absurdly long gestation period with these types of things and then we have to really sit down and be as meticulous as we all want to be". The band decided to use lyrical elements that they had intended to use in the first album but that were not included because they did not seem fully developed at the time. While writing "La Dispute", the band had very specific goals; they projected the album to have 14 tracks and knew exactly what they wanted from each song.
La Dispute wrote and recorded "Wildlife" in pieces to accommodate their intense tour schedule. The album was recorded at two different studios with recording engineers Andrew Everding and Joe Pedulla. They started with the instrumentation of six tracks at Drasik Studios in Chicago; this recording process took place over two weeks. The songwriting featured on the album is distinct from La Dispute's previous releases. Dreyer wrote the stories or the concepts behind each song, and then the band adapted these stories into lyrics and created music to revolve around them. In an interview, Dreyer was asked how the songwriting differs; he said that the lyrics were written before the music was composed. He was quoted as saying: "This time around, we switched the process up entirely. Previous to "Wildlife", we'd always start music first and add vocals later based on the way the song felt. This time around, because we had a more concrete concept going into it, and because we wanted to work even more as a single unit [...]" Dreyer and the rest of La Dispute had expressed interest in writing a conceptual record, but with ambiguity so it would not limit the listener's experience. "Oftentimes, I think records with a linear narrative narrow the ways in which a person can enjoy it, and not everyone wants to sit down and listen to something front to back." When they returned from their touring in Australia in February 2011 they "dropped off the face of the earth" for two months, during which their writing sessions lasted twelve to fourteen hours a day.
La Dispute recorded the remainder of the album in a month in StadiumRed in New York City in April 2011. Dreyer wanted to give the album the most organic feel possible by using no artificial reverb or studio techniques that would give the album a synthesized quality. Joe Pedulla stated that he wanted to give the album a more raw and authentic sound: "We were just trying to capture what it would be like for an audience member sitting and listening to a guitar in a room." He also credited Dreyer's vocal range: "Jordan Dreyer has this crazy dynamic range – a 20dB swing from how loud and quiet he gets. So there are some vocal parts with no resonance at all, where he's speaking/singing softly, the room is not echoing, and he sounds close and in-your-face. Then the dynamic swing happens, and we would see how big it can get." When recording vocals, Dreyer makes very long takes, trying to emulate the sound of his voice in live performances. The album's recording features what the band considers "auxiliary instrumentation", including trumpet and rhodes piano, and even improvised instruments that Sterenburg's brother created out of scrap metal.
Title and packaging.
The title "Wildlife" is not derived from lyrics from the album, but from themes that connect the songs. Dreyer regards "wildlife" as "an all-encompassing word to sum everything up", and he has said that "we all witness tragedy and change. It's the summation of our existence." On the inside of the album cover the words "To – for everything" are written as a dedication with a word being crossed out. It has been speculated by some that the word is the name 'Helen'. Drummer Brad Vander Lugt when asked about the dedication replied "That’s Jordan’s story to tell, and not mine. [...] It does have significance to a story he is telling. You will probably hear a little bit more about that in future work, Jordan has been known to continue stories or themes onto future albums."
Composition.
Music.
The music on "Wildlife", akin to the band's first album, incorporates elements of post-hardcore, screamo, progressive rock and post-rock, described as having "bluesy quirks and experimental touches" by Alex Reeves of "The 1st Five". Compared with the first album, "Wildlife" has melodic tendencies and a more synchronized approach to musicianship and vocals, with fewer unusual time signatures and more emphasis on chord progressions. There is less hardcore punk-style screaming, but as in the band's earlier work, the vocal style alternates between singing and speaking. The song structures are often unconventional. "Wildlife" utilizes instrumental passages to complement the lyrics; Reeves described it by saying that "the music expertly builds tension, creating a sense of visceral emotion and releasing this tension in a well-timed burst".
Lyrics.
Dreyer had always stated that the band's second album would feature "a lot of storytelling", "a lot of groove", and "a more of an organic feel" than their debut album. When describing the sound of the album the band wrote that they believe it is "musically more heavy and more soft, more fast and more slow, more complicated and more straight-forward, and I know my band mates would agree, so there isn't really a thing this record sounds like, at least not that we can hear." With writer Vladimir Nabokov's works "Pale Fire" and "Lolita" being considered as the "biggest external influence" on "Wildlife", the album features dark lyrical themes that focus on personal loss and the anger and despair felt from watching one's hometown decay, as well as dealing with personal loss, whether it is faith, a friend, or a family member.
In the vision of the band the album is a collection of unpublished "short stories" from a hypothetical author, complete with the author's notes, and sectioned thematically by the use of four monologues. The stories are told in parallel to the author's own ambiguous loss and struggle, and the lyrics are a combination of Dreyer's fictional stories and his interactions in life, including true stories from La Dispute's home town, Grand Rapids. The four monologues in question project the loss and the struggle of the artist with the introduction 'a Departure', and the three interludes, 'a Letter', 'a Poem' and 'a Broken Jar'. The first two monologues of "Wildlife" were used to "capture a general feeling". 'a Poem' and 'a Broken Jar' are noted for using spoken word and alternative folk-influenced melodies to spark melodramatic feelings.
'St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues' focuses on the decaying value of a real life abandoned church in Grand Rapids and how that was a striking contrast to the popularity of other churches. 'Edit Your Hometown', has been described as "treading the boundary between melodrama and actual drama" by Ben Patashnik of 'Rock Sound'. 'The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit' deals with the hypothetical author's sexuality, by exploring and questioning his inability to participate in casual sex. 'King Park', a seven-minute ballad, focuses on inner-city gang culture and follows the perspective of an individual who is engrossed by a drive-by shooting; and also follows how the drive by shooter, plagued by guilt, commits suicide. Dreyer described the true story behind the song: "A year or two ago, down the street from where Brad and I work, a kid was shot. It's an area that's been riddled with gang violence, which has been really sad to witness." 'Edward Benz, 27 Times' is the story of a father dealing with the pain of being brutally attacked by his schizophrenic son, while "I See Everything" describes parents losing their seven-year-old son to cancer.
Release and promotion.
Throughout their European tour in August 2011, La Dispute performed a new song titled "Edit Your Hometown". Once the tour was finished, La Dispute wrote a blog post titled "Arrivals" that announced the track listing, the album art, and the first single, titled "Harder Harmonies." It became available to stream on August 23, 2011, in conjunction with the album's announcement. On September 9 the seventh track, "The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit" was released online to stream. On September 23, La Dispute uploaded the entire album to stream on their official website and Facebook page. The album was released internationally on October 4, 2011. On October 26, 2011, Wildlife was released in Germany with German alternative magazine Visions. They promoted the initial release of the album by supporting Thrice's headline tour across the United States in October and November 2011.
For one day on December 25, 2011, La Dispute made all of their discography, including "Wildlife", free to download with an opportunity to donate money to 826michigan, a Michigan-based, non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with creative writing and to helping teachers to inspire their students to write. Donations on that day totaled $1,600.
Throughout 2012 La Dispute went on a series of headline tours that acted as promotion for "Wildlife", with tour legs in Europe, Australia and North America. La Dispute's European tour took place over January and early February with support from Former Thieves. Their Australian tour started four days after their European tour, and instead of having a permanent support band, they had a different lineup every night, composed of local bands. The North American leg of the tour started in late March, lasting into June and had support from Balance and Composure, Sainthood Reps, and All Get Out. At their shows in the United States in April, the band collaborated with 826michigan once again to release 150 limited-edition packets at their shows. These packets included their CD "Conversations", which annotates the lyrical themes in "Wildlife" in depth, along with rare photos, a poster, postcards and other items. In June 2012, the band made several festival appearances in Europe including Download Festival, Greenfield Festival, Hurricane Festival and Southside Festival, during a short European tour with Hot Water Music.<ref name="altpress-HWM/LD touring"></ref> La Dispute planned to do a third European tour with Title Fight and Make Do and Mend in September and October 2012.
As "La Dispute" have promoted their music on headline tours they have tried to create a play different songs and create a different experience for each live show. They have also used songs after a certain period of time: an example is 'King Park', which although was initially considered too emotionally draining for live performances, the band eventually started to play the song live. The band played 'St Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues' from "Wildlife" at its first performance in September 2012.
Reception.
Critical reception.
The album received favorable reviews from critics. Alex Reeves of "The 1st Five" gave a positive review of "Wildlife" favoring its lyrical depth and intimacy, comparing the album's lyrics to "reading the tear-stained diary of a good friend". Chrysta Cherrie, writing for "Allmusic", gave the album a positive three and a half stars out of five and credited the album for its maturity and progression from the band from their debut, saying: ""Wildlife" is the best of both worlds, serving up the energy and power fans have come to expect from La Dispute, but showing a maturity beyond the band’s years." Joshua Khan on "Blare Magazine" gave the album a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, describing the album's four monologues as "tormented progressive rock outbursts" and describes the instrumentation as bringing character to the vocals and lyrics.
Daniel Roe, writing for "Rockfreaks", acknowledged the album's large stylistic shift from "blistering hardcore punk inspired" musicianship towards simpler chord progressions. Channing Freeman of "Sputnikmusic" gave an appreciative review of the album while praising its lyrical improvements over the predecessor, describing the album overall as "a wake-up call for post-hardcore bands."
Negative opinions about the album stemmed from its lyrical content. Some critics have said that the serious nature of the lyrics are hard to digest. Others said Dreyer's lyrics and vocals still overshadow the instrumentation. Alex Andrews of "Thrash Hits" gave the album a four out of six rating, saying: "The flipside of Dreyer's imposing presence is that it can be all too easy to let the rest of the band fade into the background. It's a shame, because for the most part, there are some interesting things happening".
Commercial performance.
La Dispute's record label No Sleep produced 5,000 copies for "Wildlife's" first pressing, adamant that they would all sell. In the United States the album debuted on the "Billboard" 200 at number 135, selling 3,140 copies of the album in the first week. Of those copies, 1,192 were 7" vinyl.
Accolades.
In the year of "Wildlife"s release it featured in some end-of-year lists, including those by "Rock Sound" and "Kill Your Stereo". Rock Sound placed the album at 19 out of their top 50, stating "some bands ask for you attention, on "Wildlife" La Dispute demand it." The album was also on "Kill Your Stereo's" "Staff International top 10" list, being placed at 7 out of 10.
Track listing.
Notes
Personnel.
La Dispute
Additional liner notes |
Zapad 2017 exercise
WEST 2017 (, ) was a joint strategic military exercise of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and Belarus (the Union State) that formally began on 14 September 2017 and ended on 20 September 2017, in Belarus as well as in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and Russia's other north-western areas in the Western Military District. According to the information made public by the Defence Ministry of Belarus prior to the exercise, fewer than 13,000 personnel of the Union State were to take part in the military maneuvers, a number that was not supposed to trigger mandatory formal notification and invitation of observers under the OSCE's Vienna Document.
Prior to the exercise, Western military analysts and officials cited the total number of Russian troops, security personnel and civilian officials to be involved in the broader war-games as being up to 100,000, which would make them Russia's largest since the Cold War. However, Western analysis after the drills put the troops number estimate significantly closer to the officially announced figures, with Thomas Möller, a Swedish officer observing the exercise, reporting only 12,400 troops present, slightly less than the Belarus claim of 12,700. Since 2016, concerns had been voiced by a number of NATO and Ukrainian officials over Russia's suspected ulterior motives and objectives in connection with the exercise.
Advance information about the drills and invitation of monitors.
Belarus is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Eurasian military alliance of some of the former USSR republics led by Russia; Belarus chairs the bloc in 2017. The Belarusian–Russian strategic "Zapad" and operative "Shchit Soyuza" () exercises are scheduled events that are meant to be held on alternate years, in Belarus and Russia respectively, pursuant to the agreement reached by presidents of Russia and Belarus in September 2009.
Previous post-Soviet Zapad exercises were Zapad 1999, Zapad 2009, and .
The plan of the exercise was approved by Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko on 20 March 2017: it envisaged two stages and its theme was defined as "the use of groupings of troops (forces) in the interests of ensuring the military security of the Union State". The number of troops to be involved, according to Belarusian Defense Minister Andrei Ravkov, would not to exceed the threshold stipulated by the 2011 Vienna Document – no more than 13,000 personnel; geographically, it would span from multiple locations in Belarus to the Kola Peninsula within Russia's Arctic Circle. It was expected that some units of Russia's 1st Guards Tank Army, which was reconstituted in 2014, as well as 25 Russian aircraft would take part in the exercise in Belarus. According to Western media reports in July 2017, the tank army's task would be to establish a forward command post in western Belarus, and to hold exercises in training areas near the city of Brest. On 13 July 2017, the NATO-Russia Council convened in Brussels, in the course of which the two sides briefed each other on their upcoming drills: Zapad 2017 and NATO's Exercise Trident Javelin 2017. At the end of August 2017, Russian defence ministry said that the exercise would rehearse an anti-terrorist and purely defensive scenario that is not specific to any particular region and "may emerge in any location of the world". The plan of the exercise envisaged a conflict between the alliance of Russia and Belarus and the coalition of fictional "Lubenia", "Vesbaria", and "Veyshnoria", the latter within the borders of Belarus.
Observers from NATO were invited to Zapad-2017 by both Belarus and Russia. The Belarusian foreign ministry said in mid-July 2017 that they had notified all the OSCE countries and intended to invite observers from a number of international organisations as well as from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia (NATO contact state in Belarus in 2017), Sweden, and Norway. Also, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko invited the U.S. delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. On 12 July 2017, in Vienna, Major-General Pavel Muraveiko, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, gave a detailed briefing on Zapad-2017 to the participants of the OSCE conference.
In mid-August, Lithuania said that it would send its military observers to the Zapad 2017 drills, in Belarus and Leningrad Oblast. Latvia, who previously, on 14 August, said it was still awaiting the relevant invitation from Russia, said it would send 3 observers, including its military attaché in Moscow, who was invited as an observer by Moscow. On 22 August, the Belarusian defence ministry said that observers from the UN, OSCE, NATO, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and International Committee of the Red Cross as well as from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Sweden, and Norway had been invited to Zapad 2017.
On 24 August, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the military alliance would send two experts to attend the war games, after Minsk extended invitation; he said that Belarus had invited NATO to attend five distinguished visitors' days during the drills, and Russia had invited NATO to one such visitors' day; Stoltenberg said attending distinguished visitors' days did not constitute real monitoring and that NATO was seeking "a more thorough way of observing" Zapad 2017. The following day, the Russian foreign ministry issued a statement that dismissed NATO's complaints about alleged lack of transparency as ungrounded; the statement reiterated that the exercise would involve up to 12,700 servicepersons, namely 7,200 from the armed forces of Belarus and 5,500 from the Russian forces, including 3,000 persons on the territory of Belarus.
On the eve of the exercise, the Belarusian foreign ministry said it had received an "unprecedented number" of accreditation requests from foreign news media (about 270).
The Philippine Army sent a ″high-level delegation to observe the final stage″ of Zapad 2017 in Luzhsky Testing Range in Leningrad Oblast, which was presented by the Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos D. Sorreta as ″just the beginning of what we expect to be a robust army-to-army engagement in the years to come."
Expert opinions and speculations prior to the drills.
Months prior to the Zapad 2017 exercise, NATO officials and Western military analysts began to speculate about the true number of troops to be involved as well as Russia's possible objectives other than those publicly announced. Such speculations were based on what was perceived as Russia's record of unannounced snap military exercises, and use of drills as a cover for military incursions, as well as a development of Russia's military posture in the country's western regions undertaken in 2016 that suggested plans for a protracted large-scale war. Western analysts speculated in July 2017 that the total number of Russian troops, security personnel and civilian officials to be involved in the broader war-games will range from 60,000 to 100,000, which would make them Russia's largest since the Cold War.
The theories mainly focused on Russia's putative schemes to attack Ukraine and/or reinforce Russia's military presence in Belarus with a view to further threatening Poland and Lithuania, or the Suwałki Gap (the Lithuania–Poland border area) that is perceived by NATO strategists as vulnerable because of the geography. It was also suggested that the Union State created by Russia and Belarus in 1999 could be used by Russia as a legal cover to absorb Belarus.
On the other hand, Igor Sutyagin, a Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London, suggested in August 2017 that the Zapad 2017 exercise was primarily meant as "a show of force", with the main rational purpose to ensure Moscow is capable of moving its troops around quickly through the vast terrain; he also noted that Russia's military efforts were "already overstretched". Similar assessments were made by Andrzej Wilk, a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Eastern Studies, in his article published in early September 2017, as well as by some other Western experts. Wilk also judged Zapad 2017 to have become "the core of an information war between Russia and NATO". In the same vein, Finland's defense minister Jussi Niinisto opined that by reacting so loudly the "Western countries had swallowed the bait" laid by Moscow in its information war with NATO.
Reactions of NATO, Ukraine, and Sweden prior to the drills.
In the run-up to Zapad 2017, NATO and NATO member countries' officials sounded their concern and called on Russia to allow inspections of the drills for the purposes of transparency. In July and August 2017, a number of NATO countries' senior military officials such as U.S. general Raymond A. Thomas, commander of the United States Special Operations Command, Poland's Deputy Defence Minister Michał Dworczyk, and Ben Hodges, commanding general, United States Army Europe, expressed their suspicion that the maneuvers might be used as a pretext to increase Russia's military presence in Belarus and permanently deploy its troops there in a bid to counterbalance NATO's eastern reinforcement. On their part, Russia and Belarus maintained that Zapad 2017 was a scheduled event of strictly defensive nature, its scale being significantly smaller than NATO's analogous drills. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in June 2017 emphasised the significance of Russia and Belarus being in the Union State and dismissed any speculations about Russia's ulterior goals as nonsense.
On 20 June 2017, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg answering a question about the exercise said: "We are going to follow and monitor the Zapad exercise area here closely, and all nations have the right to exercise their forces but it is important that nations, be it Belarus or Russia, exercise their forces that they do that in accordance with well established guidelines and agreements and international obligations and we have something called the Vienna document which outlines how exercises have to be notified and be subject to international inspections and we call on Russia and also Belarus to do that in accordance with the Vienna document so that we have transparency, predictability related to Zapad 2017. We are also working in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council to have more transparency, predictability, connected to military posture but also exercises, and that is always important but especially important now when we see more military presence along our borders in this region. It's even more important to have transparency, international observation of exercises like Zapad."
In July 2017, the U.S. announced it would deploy a Patriot missile battery, helicopters and a National Guard tank company to Sweden (not a member of NATO) in September to join Sweden's largest military drills in some 30 years; the move was not officially billed as a response to Russia's concurrent Zapad. Also, as part of the U.S.-funded Operation Atlantic Resolve, the U.S. was planning to deploy some 600 paratroopers (the 173rd Airborne Brigade′s 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment) to the Baltic countries to be positioned in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia for the duration of the Zapad 2017 exercise.
On 7 September, Germany's defence minister Ursula von der Leyen told reporters at EU defense ministers' meeting in Tallinn, Estonia: "It is undisputed that we are seeing a demonstration of capabilities and power of the Russians. Anyone who doubts that only has to look at the high numbers of participating forces in the Zapad exercise: more than one hundred thousand."
On 16 August 2017, the Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak told journalists: "We are monitoring the situation. We are aware of all the movements of Russian troops along our border. We realize which threats may arise, and we are going to adequately respond to both the existing threats and the threats posed by the war game." On 1 September, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko said that "for the purposes of adequate reaction to external threats, in particular, those related to the Zapad 2017 exercise", Ukraine had modify the plan of its military training, namely it would conduct strategic command and control drills between 12 September and 15 September. In his annual address to parliament on 7 September 2017, Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko, referring to Zapad 2017, said that there was "more and more evidence for [Russia's] preparations for an offensive war of continental proportions."
On the eve of the official kick-off of Zapad, Reuters cited a senior European security official as saying that Zapad would merge manoeuvres across Russia's western military districts in a "complex, multi-dimensional aggressive, anti-NATO exercise". NATO was said to have taken a low-key approach by running few exercises concurrent with Zapad, including an annual sniper exercise in Lithuania. However, Sweden's concurrent three-week "Aurora 17" exercise (begun 11 September 2017) involved c. 19,000 troops, including c. 1,500 troops from the United States, France, Norway and other NATO states. The Swedish Armed Forces' High Command proposed that a direct telephone channel for preventing incidents in the Baltic region during the Zapad 2017 and Aurora 2017 exercises be established.
The Russian defence ministry announced that on 14 September 2017, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Curtis Scaparrotti initiated a telephone conversation with Russia's Chief of General Staff General Valery Gerasimov dedicated to the Zapad drills; the conversation was billed as a follow-up to the meeting of Valery Gerasimov and the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel in Baku, Azerbaijan, earlier in September.
Protests in Minsk prior to the drills.
On 8 September 2017, in Minsk, Belarus, an unauthorised protest rally against the Zapad exercise took place, in which about 200 people took part. Among the slogans at the rally were: "Russia, go home!" and "This is our country, there will be no Russia here!". The Associated Press report on the rally noted: "Although police in the authoritarian former Soviet republic often harshly break up unsanctioned demonstrations, there were no arrests at [the] gathering." Russia's state-owned news agency RIA Novosti additionally reported on another, authorised rally in Minsk the same day, held by the opposition Belarusian Conservative Christian Party – BPF, at which anti-Zapad slogans were voiced as well.
Preparatory drills and logistical preparations.
According to the Russian defence ministry's statement, the practical preparation for Zapad 2017 began with command and control training in Moscow in March 2017.
On 7 August 2017, Russia's Northern Fleet, the most powerful of its four fleets, began special large-scale drills that were announced by Russian official media as a preparatory phase of the Zapad 2017 exercise; it was commanded directly by the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Korolev.
On 15 August 2017, Russia's military logistics units were announced to have started arriving in Belarus to make preparations for a joint special exercise scheduled for 21–25 August that involved military units and logistics support organizations of the two countries' armed forces as part of the preparation for Zapad 2017.
Officially billed by the Belarusian Defence Ministry as part of preparations for Zapad 2017, on 23–25 August 2017, Russia and Belarus carried out joint tactical aviation drills that involved redeployment of aircraft and helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces to Belarusian military airfields; among other things, landing on a motorway was practised.
On 12 September, the Belarus defence ministry announced that the aircraft from Russia's Western Military District had been re-deployed to Belarus' airfields for the exercise; the Russian pilots "were warmly and cordially welcomed on Belarusian soil" (in Machulishchy).
The course of the exercise.
On 14 September 2017, the Russian MoD announced that the Zapad 2017 exercise had begun on the territory of Russia and Belarus: at six ranges in Belarus (Lepelsky, Losvido, Borisovsky, Osipovichesky, Ruzhansky, Domanovsky and Dretun training area) and three ranges in Russia (Luzhsky, Strugi Krasnye and Pravdinsky). The ministry said that Russian military transport aircraft had started to airlift personnel and hardware to be involved in the exercise. Under the exercise's scenario, an information report stated that an illegal armed formation had been detected in a region of the Union State; the Western MD Command made a decision to alert personnel of the 1st Tank Army stationed in the Moscow region. The troops with materiel marched to the railway loading station to be redeployed to the exercise area in the Republic of Belarus.
On early morning 15 September, it was announced that the 6th Air Army′s Staff and several formations and units were being re-deployed to operational airfields for drills ″at combined-arms ranges and in the Baltic Sea water zone″.
On 16 September, it was announced by the Western Military District's press service that 20 ships and support vessels of the Russian Baltic Fleet had gone to sea to conduct tasks within the Zapad-2017 exercise such as anti-submarine and air defense, artillery firing on different types of targets. A wide range of activities took place in Belarus on that day. On the following day, the end of phase one of the drills was announced; the phase was analysed by experts as the defensive component of the exercise.
The details of phase two, the main stage of the exercise, were announced on 17 September. On 18 September, Russian president Vladimir Putin attended the exercise in the Leningrad Oblast. The following day, the mass media reported an incident that allegedly took place at the Luzhsky range, which was visited by Vladimir Putin, either on 17 or 18 September, in the course of which two people were hospitalized with injuries after a helicopter fired on bystanders; the incident was denied by the Russian defence ministry. Belarusian president Lukashenko's visit to Russia to attend the drills was said to have been cancelled, although this information was denied by officials of Belarus; president Lukashenko said that the original plan was for both presidents to attend the drills in Belarus but the plan had been altered due to the scale of the exercise. Lukashenko on 20 September visited the Borisovsky training area in Belarus and pronounced the exercise a success.
Aftermath and analysis.
On 19 September 2017, Poland's defense minister Antoni Macierewicz suggested that the Zapad 2017 exercise would stretch beyond 20 September and would involve a nuclear weapons component that was not officially announced.
On the final day of Zapad 2017, on 20 September 2017, Poland began a large national exercise, Dragon 17, in Zegrze north of Warsaw, with participation of some other NATO countries as well as Georgia and Ukraine; the drills that lasted until 29 September were presented by Russian media as Poland's and NATO's ″reply to Russia's Zapad 2017″ and were said to be significantly larger than Zapad 2017 in terms of troops and hardware involved.
On 28 September 2017, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief (and Chief of the General Staff) Viktor Muzhenko told Reuters that Russia had left a significant part of its troops behind in Belarus after the exercise. The Russian MoD refuted the claim and said that Viktor Muzhenko's allegations "demonstrate[d] scale of degradation of the Ukrainian General Staff and incompetence of its chief".
Speaking in an interview in Brussels on 5 October, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO was assessing whether Russia had pulled out all the troops it had sent to Belarus for the exercise and that "it [was] too early to make any final assessment" on the drill.
On 6 October 2017, Russian defence minister Sergey Shoygu said, ″The goals of the drills have been reached. I am drawing special attention to the fact that all means and forces involved were returned to their permanent bases"; he also noted, "Western media outlets were whipping up some very incredible and frightening scenarios of the exercises. At some point, some officials, among them certain state leaders, even called them a prelude to the seizure of foreign territories. All these lies were exposed right after the end of the exercises, which were purely defensive."
On 12 October 2017, the Russian defence ministry said that the United States had used the ″unprecedented hysteria″ fuelled by Western media around the Zapad 2017 exercise as cover to have illegally deployed the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team (the U.S. 1st Infantry Division) to Poland while the tanks (eighty-seven M1A1 Abrams tanks) and armoured vehicles of the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team (the 4th Infantry Division) had stayed in the region, despite the fact that the latter would have had to leave to comply with the 1997 NATO–Russia Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security.
On 8 November 2017, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: ″ ... we have monitored and followed the Zapad exercise very closely, but we haven't seen that they have for instance left or remained with troops or equipment for instance in Belarus as we saw some speculations about before the exercise.″
On 22 November 2017, Russian president Vladimir Putin held a meeting with "the leadership of the MoD, defence industry complex, heads of ministries and regions", one in a series of his meetings with the leadership of the defence ministry and defence industry complex in Sochi at the end of November, at which the "results of the Zapad 2017 exercise were discussed" (according to the press service of the Kremlin) characterised by Putin as "the key event in the calendar of training"; in the part of his talk at the meeting that was made publicly available Putin stressed the importance of the ″civil aspects" thereof, namely the capacity of all types of big enterprises, including privately owned ones, to "quickly increase the volumes of defence products and services in the time of need." Putin's words were interpreted by Russian mainstream media as his order to industry ″to prepare for war″.
Analysis afterwards.
Western preliminary expert analysis after the drills concluded that the initial estimates of the number of troops to be involved published by Western commentators proved to be wrong and Russia had ″kep[t] the drills small, managed, and contained″. Mathieu Boulègue of Chatham House wrote: ″The Kremlin could therefore credibly claim that the West overreacted and fell victim to scaremongering and reporting rumours that Moscow was not being transparent about the nature of the exercise and its intentions. Short of entrapment, proving the West wrong is increasingly part of the Kremlin's political strategy which, in turn, strengthens Russia's sense of superiority. < ... > It did not rehearse a total war scenario but rather showed it is ready to raise the cost of deterrence in order to win while also imposing a tremendous cost on an invading army. < ... > Zapad showed that any army seeking to burst Russia's A2/AD bubble would bear a high enough cost as to be effectively beaten.″
On 1 October 2017, "The New York Times" published a summary of the exercise emailed to them by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency: ″Russia's forces are becoming more mobile, more balanced and capable of conducting the full range of modern warfare.″
Professor Lamont Colucci argued that one of the three strategic objectives that, according to him, Russia had achieved through the Zapad drills was ″remind[ing] Belarus who was the boss in the region″. Brian Whitmore of Radio Liberty concluded: ″[W]hile the Kremlin saw Zapad as a big psy-op to intimidate Poland, the Baltic states, and Ukraine, Belarus wasn't interested in a conflict with the West. And Lukashenko appeared to go out of his way to rain on Putin's military parade. < ... > the Zapad exercises, which were supposed to illustrate strategic unity between Russia and Belarus amid Moscow's escalating conflict with the West, instead highlighted how troubled this partnership has become.″ |
Sea shanty
A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. The term "shanty" most accurately refers to a specific style of work song belonging to this historical repertoire. However, in recent, popular usage, the scope of its definition is sometimes expanded to admit a wider range of repertoire and characteristics, or to refer to a "maritime work song" in general.
From Latin "cantare" via French "chanter", the word "shanty" emerged in the mid-19th century in reference to an appreciably distinct genre of work song, developed especially on merchant vessels, that had come to prominence in the decades prior to the American Civil War although found before this. Shanty songs functioned to synchronize and thereby optimize labor, in what had then become larger vessels having smaller crews and operating on stricter schedules. The practice of singing shanties eventually became ubiquitous internationally and throughout the era of wind-driven packet and clipper ships.
Shanties had antecedents in the working chants of British and other national maritime traditions, such as those sung while manually loading vessels with cotton in ports of the southern United States. Shanty repertoire borrowed from the contemporary popular music enjoyed by sailors, including minstrel music, popular marches, and land-based folk songs, which were then adapted to suit musical forms matching the various labor tasks required to operate a sailing ship. Such tasks, which usually required a coordinated group effort in either a pulling or pushing action, included weighing anchor and setting sail.
The shanty genre was typified by flexible lyrical forms, which in practice provided for much improvisation and the ability to lengthen or shorten a song to match the circumstances. Its hallmark was call and response, performed between a soloist and the rest of the workers in chorus. The leader, called the "shantyman", was appreciated for his piquant language, lyrical wit, and strong voice. Shanties were sung without instrumental accompaniment and, historically speaking, they were only sung in work-based rather than entertainment-oriented contexts. Although most prominent in English, shanties have been created in or translated into other European languages.
The switch to steam-powered ships and the use of machines for shipboard tasks, by the end of the 19th century, meant that shanties gradually ceased to serve a practical function. Their use as work songs became negligible in the first half of the 20th century. Information about shanties was preserved by veteran sailors and by folklorist song-collectors, and their written and audio-recorded work provided resources that would later support a revival in singing shanties as a land-based leisure activity. Commercial musical recordings, popular literature, and other media, especially since the 1920s, have inspired interest in shanties among s. The modern performance contexts of these songs have affected their forms, their content, and the way they are understood as cultural and historical artifacts. Recent performances range from the "traditional" style of practitioners within a revival-oriented, maritime music scene, to the adoption of shanty repertoire by musicians in a variety of popular styles.
Word.
Etymology.
The origin of the word "shanty" is unknown, though several inconclusive theories have been put forth. One of the earliest and most consistently offered derivations is from the French , "to sing."
The phenomenon of using songs or chants, in some form, to accompany sea labor preceded the emergence of the term "shanty" in the historical record of the mid-19th century. One of the earliest published uses of this term for such a song came in G. E. Clark's "Seven Years of a Sailor's Life", 1867. Narrating a voyage in a clipper ship from Bombay to New York City in the early 1860s, Clark wrote, "The anchor came to the bow with the chanty of 'Oh, Riley, Oh,' and 'Carry me Long,' and the tug walked us toward the wharf at Brooklyn." While telling of another voyage out of Provincetown, Mass. in 1865, he wrote:
Every man sprang to duty. The cheerful chanty was roared out, and heard above the howl of the gale. The cable held very hard, and when it surged over, the windlass sent the men flying about the deck, as if a galvanic battery had been applied to their hands. The vessel's head was often buried in the solid seas, and the men, soaked and sweating, yelled out hoarsely, "Paddy on the Railway," and "We're Homeward Bound," while they tugged at the brakes, and wound the long, hard cable in, inch by inch.
Additionally, Clark referred to a lead singer as a "chanty man", and he referred to stevedores unloading cargo from the vessels as "chanty men" and a "chanty gang".
This reference to singing stevedores as "chanty men" connects the genre to a still earlier reference to "chanty-man" as the foreman of a work gang and the lead singer of their songs. Around the late 1840s, Charles Nordhoff observed work gangs engaged in a type of labor called "cotton-screwing" in Mobile Bay. Characterized by Nordhoff as one of the heaviest sorts of labor, cotton-screwing involved the use of large jack-screws to compress and force cotton bales into the holds of outbound ships. Work gangs consisted of four men, who timed their exertions in turning the jack-screw to songs called "chants".
Singing, or "chanting" as it is called, is an invariable accompaniment to working in cotton, and many of the screw-gangs have an endless collection of songs, rough and uncouth, both in words and melody, but answering well the purposes of making all pull together, and enlivening the heavy toil. The foreman is the "chanty-man", who sings the song, the gang only joining in the chorus, which comes in at the end of every line, and at the end of which again comes the pull at the screw handles ...<br>
The "chants", as may be supposed, have more of rhyme than reason in them. The tunes are generally plaintive and monotonous, as are most of the capstan tunes of sailors, but resounding over the still waters of the Bay, they had a fine effect.
According to research published in the journal "American Speech", Schreffler argues that "chanty" may have been a back derivation from "chanty-man", which, further, initially carried the connotation of a singing stevedore (as in Nordhoff's account, above). The historical record shows "shanty" (and its variant spellings) gaining currency only in the late nineteenth century; the same repertoire was earlier referred to as "song," "chant," or "chaunt."
Spelling.
The spelling of the term appeared quite inconsistently until after the 1920s. While the above noted, American sources used a "ch" spelling, the next published appearances of the term, coming in two very similar articles from British publications from 1868 and 1869, used "shanty". Early writers who gave substantial due to the genre (i.e. those who were not mentioning shanties only in passing) often used the "ch" spelling, regardless of their nationality.
Addressing the Royal Musical Association in 1915, English musicologist Richard Runciman Terry put forward his belief that the genre should be spelled with "sh" on the grounds that the spelling should correspond obviously to pronunciation. In his subsequent shanty collections he used this spelling consistently. American shanty-collector Joanna Colcord made great use of Terry's first book (corresponding with the author, and reprinting some of his material), and she, too, deemed it sensible to adopt the "sh" spelling for her 1924 collection.
Terry's works were the source for those among the earliest of commercial recordings (see below) and popular performances of shanties—especially because, unlike many earlier works, they provided scores with piano accompaniment and sufficiently long, performance-ready sets of lyrics. Colcord's work was also very handy in this regard and was used as a source by prominent British folk revival performers like A. L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl. Terry and Colcord's works were followed by numerous shanty collections and scores that also chose to use the "Sh" spelling, whereas others remained insistent that "ch" be retained to preserve what they believed to be the etymological origins of the term. By the late 20th century, the "Sh" spelling had become the more or less standard one in Commonwealth English, whereas "ch" spellings remained in common use mostly in the United States.
During the 1920s, the phrase came into regular use by lay commentators, though it was not documented in use by sailors themselves, nor has it been used by knowledgeable authors on the subject such as Stan Hugill. The term "sea shanty/chantey" has become a staple of popular usage, where it helps to disambiguate the work song genre from other meanings of the word "shanty". For example, the "ice fishing shanty," despite its reference to marine activity, is not related.
History and development.
Emergence.
Singing or chanting has been done to accompany labor on seagoing vessels among various cultural groups at various times and in various places. A reference to what seems to be a sailor's hauling chant in "The Complaynt of Scotland" (1549) is a popularly cited example. Liberal use of the word "shanty" by folklorists of the 20th century expanded the term's conceptual scope to include "sea-related work songs" in general. However, the shanty genre is distinct among various global work song phenomena. Its formal characteristics, specific manner of use, and repertoire cohere to form a picture of a work song genre that emerged in the Atlantic merchant trade of the early 19th century. As original work songs, shanties flourished during a period of about fifty years.
Work chants and "sing-outs".
There is a notable lack of historical references to anything like shanties, as they would come to be known, in the entirety of the 18th century. In the second half of the 18th century, English and French sailors were using simple chants to coordinate a few shipboard tasks that required unanimous effort. A dictionary of maritime terms, in describing the anchor-hauling mechanical device known as a windlass, noted the use of such a chant. This particular old-fashioned style of windlass was one that required workers to continually remove and re-insert "handspikes" (wooden leverage bars) into the device to turn its gears.
It requires, however, some dexterity and address to manage the handspec to the greatest advantage; and to perform this the sailors must all rise at once upon the windlass, and, fixing their bars therein, give a sudden jerk at the same instant, in which movement they are regulated by a sort of song or howl pronounced by one of their number.
Rather than the well-developed songs that characterize shanties, this "howl" and others were evidently structured as simple chants in the manner of "1, 2, "3"!" The same dictionary noted that French sailors said just that, and gave some indication what an English windlass chant may have been like:
"UN, deux, troi", an exclamation, or song, used by seamen when hauling the bowlines, the greatest effort being made at the last word. English sailors, in the same manner, call out on this occasion,—haul-in—haul-two—haul-belay!
Such simple or brief chants survived into the 19th century. First-hand observers such as Frederick Pease Harlow, a sailor of the 1870s, attested to their ubiquity, saying that they were brought into use whenever a brief task required one. In historical hindsight these items have come to be generically called "sing-outs"; yet even before the known advent of the term "shanty", Richard Henry Dana referred to "singing out".
The wind was whistling through the rigging, loose ropes flying about; loud and, to me, unintelligible orders constantly given and rapidly executed, and the sailors "singing out" at the ropes in their hoarse and peculiar strains.
Later writers distinguished such chants and "sing-outs" from shanties proper, but in the case of relatively "simple" shanties—such as those for hauling sheets and tacks (see below)—there is a grey area. This has led some to believe that the more sophisticated shanties of later years developed from the more primitive chants.
Early British and Anglo-American sailor work songs.
A step up in sophistication from the sing-outs was represented by the first widely established sailors' work song of the 19th century, "Cheer'ly Man". Although other work-chants were evidently too variable, non-descript, or incidental to receive titles, "Cheer'ly Man" appears referred to by name several times in the early part of the century, and it lived on alongside later-styled shanties to be remembered even by sailors recorded by James Madison Carpenter in the 1920s. "Cheer'ly Man" makes notable appearances in the work of both Dana (sea experience 1834–36) and Herman Melville (sea experience 1841–42).
When we came to mast-head the top-sail yards, with all hands at the halyards, we struck up "Cheerily, men," with a chorus which might have been heard half way to Staten Land.
The decks were all life and commotion; the sailors on the forecastle singing, "Ho, cheerly men!" as they catted the anchor;
Although "Cheer'ly Man" could be considered more "developed" than the average sing-out, in its form it is yet different from the majority of shanties that are known to us today, suggesting that it belonged to an earlier stage of sailors' songs that preceded the emergence of "modern" shanties.
Detailed reference to shipboard practices that correspond to shanty-singing was extremely rare before the 1830s. In the first place, singing while working was generally limited to merchant ships, not war ships. The Royal Navy banned singing during work—it was thought the noise would make it harder for the crew to hear commands—though capstan work was accompanied by the bosun's pipe, or else by fife and drum or fiddle. A writer from the 1830s made this clear:
On board a well-disciplined man-of-war, no person except the officers is allowed to speak during the performance of the various evolutions. When a great many men are employed together, a fifer or a fiddler usually plays some of their favourite tunes; and it is quite delightful to see the glee with which Jack will "stamp and go," keeping exact time to "Jack's the lad," or the "College Hornpipe."
Fife and fiddle were also used, in earlier times, for work aboard merchant vessels.
One of the earliest references to shanty-like songs that has been discovered was made by an anonymous "steerage passenger" in a log of a voyage of an East India Company ship, entitled "The Quid" (1832). Crew and passengers alike were noted to join in at heaving the capstan around. They were said to sing "old ditties", along with which a few verses to one or more songs is given. While this practice was analogous to the practice of what is later called singing "capstan shanties", the form of these verses is not particularly similar to later shanties. These songs do not appear to correspond to any shanty known from later eras. It is possible that the long, monotonous task of heaving the capstan had long inspired the singing of time-passing songs of various sorts, such as those in "The Quid". For example, the composition of capstan-style "sailor songs" by Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland as early as 1838 implies that Scandinavians also used such songs. However, these older songs can be distinguished from the later type of songs that were given the label "shanty", suggesting there were other formative influences that gave birth to an appreciably new and distinctly recognized phenomenon.
Influence of African-American and Caribbean work songs.
Use of the term "shanty", once this paradigm for singing had become a comprehensive practice for most tasks, incorporated all manner of shipboard work songs under its definition, regardless of style and origin. Yet, shanties were of several types, and not all had necessarily developed at the same time. "Capstan shanties", some of which may have developed out of the earlier capstan songs discussed above, are quite variable in their form and origins. On the other hand, the repertoire of the so-called "halyard shanties" coheres into a consistent form. The distinctive "double-pull" format that typifies most of these songs—also at times used, with slight changes, for pumps, windlass, and capstan, too—was a later development that appears to owe much to African-American work songs.
In the first few decades of the 19th century, European-American culture, especially the Anglophone—the sailors' "Cheer'ly Man" and some capstan songs notwithstanding—was not known for its work songs. By contrast, African workers, both in Africa and in the New World, were widely noted to sing while working. According to Gibb Schreffler, an Associate Professor of Music at Pomona College, European observers found African work-singers remarkable (as Schreffler infers from tone of their descriptions). Schreffler further infers that work songs may have had far less currency among European culture, based on the scant evidence of work-singing aboard European ships in the century prior. Such references begin to appear in the late 18th century, whence one can see the cliché develop that Black Africans "could not" work without singing. For example, an observer in Martinique in 1806 wrote, "The negroes have a different air and words for every kind of labour; sometimes they sing, and their motions, even while cultivating the ground, keep time to the music." So while the depth of the African-American work song traditions is now recognized, in the early 19th century they stood in stark contrast to the paucity of such traditions among European-Americans. Thus while European sailors had learned to put short chants to use for certain kinds of labor, the paradigm of a comprehensive system of developed work songs for most tasks may have been contributed by the direct involvement of or through the imitation of African-Americans. The work contexts in which African-Americans sang songs comparable to shanties included:
During the first half of the 19th century, some of the songs African-Americans sang also began to appear in use for shipboard tasks, i.e. as shanties.
An example of a work song that was shared between several contexts, including, eventually, sailors working, is "Grog Time o' Day". This song, the tune of which is now lost, was sung by: Jamaican stevedores at a capstan in 1811; Afro-Caribbeans rowing a boat in Antigua ca.1814; Black stevedores loading a steamboat in New Orleans in 1841; and a European-American crew hauling halyards on a clipper-brig out of New York ca.1840s. Other such multi-job songs were: "Round the Corn(er), Sally", "Fire Down Below", "Johnny Come Down to Hilo", "Hilo, Boys, Hilo", "Tommy's Gone Away", "The Sailor Likes His Bottle-O", "Highland Laddie", "Mudder Dinah", "Bully in the Alley", "Hogeye Man", "Good Morning, Ladies, All", "Pay Me the Money Down", "Alabama, John Cherokee", "Yankee John, Stormalong", and "Heave Away (My Johnnies)".
While the non-sailor occupations noted above were mainly within the purview of Black laborers, the last of them, cotton-screwing, was one in which non-Blacks also began to engage by the 1840s. These workers often came from the ranks of sailors of the trans-Atlantic cotton trade, including sailors from Britain and Ireland who, wanting to avoid the cold winter seasons on the Atlantic, went ashore to engage in the well-paid labor of cotton-screwing. A European-American who did just that in 1845 in New Orleans wrote,
The day after our arrival the crew formed themselves into two gangs and obtained employment at screwing cotton by the day ... With the aid of a set of jack-screws and a ditty, we would stow away huge bales of cotton, singing all the while. The song enlivened the gang and seemed to make the work much easier.
Shanty-writer Stan Hugill called Mobile Bay—one of the main cotton outports—a "shanty mart", at which sailors and laborers of different cultural backgrounds traded their songs.
Perceptions of contemporary observers.
Commenters on the ethnic or national origins of shanties, writing in the 19th century when shanties were still in wide use, generally supposed the genre to originate in the United States and recognized parallels to African-American singing—as opposed to earlier English traditions from Britain. An early article to offer an opinion on the origin of shanties (though not calling them by that name), appearing in Oberlin College's student paper in 1858, drew a comparison between Africans' singing and sailor work songs.
Along the African coast you will hear that dirge-like strain in all their songs, as at work or paddling their canoes to and from shore, they keep time to the music. On the southern plantations you will hear it also, and in the negro melodies every where, plaintive and melodious, sad and earnest. It seems like the dirge of national degradation, the wail of a race, stricken and crushed, familiar with tyranny, submission and unrequited labor ... And here I cannot help noticing the similarity existing between the working chorus of the sailors and the dirge-like negro melody, to which my attention was specially directed by an incident I witnessed or rather heard.
The author went on to relate an incident in which he once heard "a well known strain of music", finding to his surprise that it was being sung by Black men rowing canoes. He claimed they were singing, "Heigh Jim along, Jim along Josey, Heigh Jim along, Jim along Jo!" The implication is that this song was similar to a sailor song, probably the well-known shanty, "Haul Away, Joe" or "Haul Away for Rosie", viz.: "Way, haul away; O, haul away, my Rosey; Way, haul away; O, haul away, "Joe"." The writer did not make a further connection to the minstrel song "Jim Along Josey", a relationship to which is obvious, although it is unknown whether this was the inspiration for the shanty or vice versa.
In much of the shanty repertoire known today one finds parallels to the minstrel songs that came to popularity from the 1840s. The poetic meter of the couplets of many minstrel songs is identical to those in shanties, and the "non sequitur"-type "floating verses" of those songs were heavily borrowed. In an influential early article about shanties, New York journalist William L. Alden drew a comparison between shanties and "both" authentic African-American songs and the quasi-African-American minstrel songs:
The old sailor songs had a peculiar individuality. They were barbaric in their wild melody. The only songs that in any way resemble them in character are "Dixie", and two or three other so-called negro songs by the same writer. This man, known in the minstrel profession as "Old Emmett", caught the true spirit of the African melodies—the lawless, half-mournful, half-exulting songs of the Kroomen. These and the sailor songs could never have been the songs of civilized men ...
Undoubtedly many sailor songs have a negro origin. They are the reminiscences of melodies sung by negroes stowing cotton in the holds of ships in Southern ports. The "shanty-men," those hards of the forecastle, have preserved to some extent the meaningless words of negro choruses, and have modified the melodies so as to fit them for salt-water purposes. Certain other songs were unmistakably the work of English sailors of an uncertain but very remote period.
Alden was not writing as a research historian, but rather as an observer of the then-current shanty-singing. His, then, was an impression of shanties based on their style and manner of performance, and he was writing at a time when shanties had yet to become framed by writers and media as belonging to any canon of national "folk music".
An English author of the period, William Clark Russell, expressed his belief in several works that shanties were American in origin.
I think it may be taken that we owe the sailors' working song as we now possess it to the Americans. How far do these songs date back? I doubt if the most ancient amongst them is much older than the century. It is noteworthy that the old voyagers do not hint at the sailors singing out or encouraging their efforts by choruses when at work. In the navy, of course, this sort of song was never permitted. Work proceeded to the strains of a fiddle, to the piping of the boatswain and his mates, or in earlier times yet, to the trumpet. The working song then is peculiar to the Merchant Service, but one may hunt through the old chronicles without encountering a suggestion of its existence prior to American independence and to the establishment of a Yankee marine.
As time wore on and shanties were established as an indispensable tool aboard the ships of many nations carrying heterogeneous crew, inspiration from several national and cultural traditions fed into the repertoire and their style was subsequently shaped by countless individuals. Whatever their fundamental origins, by the late 19th century shanties constituted the heritage of international seamen, with little or no necessary national associations.
19th century.
New ships and new requirements.
Writers have characterized the origin of shanties (or perhaps a "revival" in shanties, as William Main Doerflinger theorized) as belonging to an era immediately following the War of 1812 and up to the American Civil War. This was a time when there was relative peace on the seas and shipping was flourishing. Packet ships carried cargo and passengers on fixed schedules across the globe. Packet ships were larger and yet sailed with fewer crew than vessels of earlier eras, in addition to the fact that they were expected on strict schedules. These requirements called for an efficient and disciplined use of human labor. American vessels, especially, gained reputations for cruelty as officers demanded high results from their crew. The shanties of the 19th century could be characterized as a sort of new "technology" adopted by sailors to adapt to this way of shipboard life.
Recent research has considered a wider range of 19th century sources than had been possible by 20th-century writers. The evidence from these sources suggests that even in the mid-1830s the genre was still developing, which shifts the period of the rise and flourishing of shanties to a bit later than was previously accepted. The general silence of the historical record on modern shanties until as late as the 1840s, even as shipping shifted to the even faster clipper ships, suggests that they may not have come into widespread use until the middle of the century. They received a boost from the heavy emigrant movement of gold rushes in California and Australia. Popular shanties of the 1850s included "A Hundred Years Ago", "One More Day", "Santiana", "Haul on the Bowline", "Across the Western Ocean", and especially "Stormalong".
Heyday and decline.
By the time of the American Civil War, the shanty form was fully developed, after which its repertoire grew and its implementation was widespread and rather standardized. The decade of the 1870s represents the zenith of the genre; those sailors who first went to sea after that decade are considered not to have seen shanties in their prime. In 1882, due to the proliferation of steamships, Alden was already lamenting the passing of shanties.
The "shanty-man"—the chorister of the old packet ship—has left no successors. In the place of a rousing "pulling song," we now hear the rattle of the steam-winch; and the modern windlass worked by steam, or the modern steam-pump, gives us the clatter of cogwheels and the hiss of steam in place of the wild choruses of other days. Singing and steam are irreconcilable. The hoarse steam-whistle is the nearest approach to music that can exist in the hot, greasy atmosphere of the steam-engine.
Other writers echoed Alden's lament through and after the 1880s; the first collections of shanties appeared in that decade, in one sense as a response to what the authors believed was a vanishing art. Shanties continued to be used to some extent so long as windjammers were, yet these were comparatively few in the early 20th century.
20th century.
Formative writing.
Folklorists of the first decade of the 20th century, especially those from Britain, included shanties among their interests in collecting folk songs connected with the idea of national heritage. Cecil Sharp and his colleagues among the English Folk-Song Society were among the first to take down the lyrics and tunes of shanties directly from the lips of veteran sailors and to publish them more or less faithfully. Their efforts were matched by a number of less-rigorous articles and published collections issued by former sailors themselves. By the 1920s, the body of literature on shanties had grown quite large, yet it was of variable quality. Most editors presented "ideal" versions of songs—not reflecting any one way the shanty may have been sung, but rather a composite picture, edited for print. Bowdlerization and omission of lyrics were typical. Moreover, few authors were trained folklorists and even fewer maintained a critical historical methodology. Editors customarily published fanciful, often nostalgic introductions to the material that included unsubstantiated statements. As a result, though much of the vanishing shanty repertoire was preserved in skeletal form, aspects of the genre were re-envisioned according to contemporary perceptions.
These early 20th century collectors' choices of what to include, what to exclude, and how to frame the repertoire all had an effect on how following generations have viewed the genre. Because sailors who had sung shanties were by this time very old or dead, and the general public had little opportunity to experience performances of shanties, the representations by these authors were all the more influential in mediating information and creating the impression of "standard" versions of songs.
The English poet John Masefield, following in the footsteps of peers like Rudyard Kipling, seized upon shanties as a nostalgic literary device, and included them along with much older, non-shanty sea songs in his 1906 collection "A Sailor's Garland". Although Masefield had sea experience (1891–95), he was not an expert on shanties and the versions he gave of songs cannot be assumed entirely authentic. For example, he admits to never having heard a pumping shanty, and yet he goes on to present one without citing its source. In one of his earlier articles, his shanties are set to melodies taken verbatim from Davis and Tozer's earlier work, and he mentions having utilized that and the other widely available collection (L.A. Smith, 1888) as resources. Masefield desired to connect shanties with much older English traditions and literature, and his characterization of individual items as such would prove attractive to later enthusiasts. So for example, Masefield implied that the shanty "A-roving" (which he titled "The Maid of Amsterdam") was derived from Thomas Heywood's "The Tragedy of the Rape of Lucrece" (1608). Lyrics and ideas from Masefield's collection became among the most quoted or plagiarized in later shanty collections, and by their sheer ubiquity these contributed to 20th century audiences' perceptions of the genre.
The 1914 collection by Frank Thomas Bullen, "Songs of Sea Labour", differed from the work of writers such as Masefield in having a more practical, rather than romantic, tone. Bullen, an Englishman, was an experienced shantyman, who sailed during the heyday of shanties to ports in the Southern U.S. and the Caribbean. He took a firm stance that only true work songs should be included in his collection, thus resisting the temptation to let shanties slide into the genres of ballads or other off-duty songs. (Pressure of his publisher forced him to include two sea songs, clearly demarcated, at the end of the book.) And rather than shape the shanties to appear as narrative pieces, he noted that, since most shanties would usually be improvised, it would be disingenuous to present more than one or two sample verses. As for his framing of the genre's origins, Bullen stated his belief that, "[T]he great majority of these tunes undoubtably emanated from the negroes of the Antilles and the Southern states, a most tuneful race if ever there was one, men moreover who seemed unable to pick up a ropeyarn without a song ..." And Bullen's musicologist editor, Arnold, claimed, "[T]he majority of the Chanties are Negroid in origin ..." Bullen's insistence on including only true work songs in the collection meant that he likely omitted songs—generally those for heaving tasks, like capstan work—which had been easily borrowed from the land-based traditions of various nations. The effect of including only the most exclusively work-oriented songs meant that a higher percentage of African-American songs were represented.
Somewhere between these perspectives was Cecil Sharp's, whose "English Folk-Chanteys" (1914) was published in the same year, and was based on shanties he collected from aged English sailors in Britain. Sharp responds to Bullen's claims of African-American origins by ceding that many shanties were influenced through the singing of Black shantymen—a position that assumes English folk song was the core of the tradition by default. The title of Sharp's work reflects his project of collecting and grouping shanties as part of what he conceived to be a rather continuous English folk song tradition. Sharp states in the introduction that he deliberately excluded shanties which were obviously (i.e. to him) born of popular songs. This idea is problematic when one considers that the popular songs that were feeding shanties were largely American and based in real or imagined African-American musical traits. However, Sharp believed that by eliminating such shanties based on popular songs, he could concentrate those that were "folk" songs. Of his own admission, Sharp lacked any shantying or sea experience to intuitively judge shanties like someone such as Bullen, however he offers his objectivity, recording precisely what was sung to him, as consolation. While Sharp's manner of documenting shanties was more or less objective, the field of his research and his biases in what to collect certainly influenced the outcome of this study. And whereas Bullen's work was fairly inaccessible, Sharp was influential as the leader of a cohort of scholars who were actively creating the young field of folk song research.
By the 1920s, the proliferation of shanty collections had begun to facilitate a revival in shanty singing as entertainment for laypersons (see below), which in turn created a market for more shanty collections that were geared towards a general audience. Writers of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, through their derivative, popular works, established in effect a new body of "common knowledge" about shanties that overwrote some of the knowledge of 19th century observers.
Field-recording.
Shanty collection was seen as a facet of the early twentieth century folk revival. The Australian-born composer and folklorist Percy Grainger collected various shanties and recorded them on wax cylinders in the early 1900s, and the recordings are available online courtesy of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
In the 1920s, while the proliferation of soft-scholarly books was reifying the shanty repertoire, a few American scholars were audio-recording some of the last surviving sailors that had sung shanties as part of their daily work: in short, field recording. James Madison Carpenter, made hundreds of recordings of shanties from singers in Britain, Ireland, and the north-eastern U.S. in the late 1920s, allowing him to make observation from an extensive set of field data. Robert Winslow Gordon, founding head of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress, recorded sailors singing shanties in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1920s, and later made recordings of African-American work songs in Georgia and elsewhere, seeking to demonstrate correspondences between these and the shanty genre. Neither of these scholars had the opportunity, however, to publish major works on shanties. Similarly, Alan Lomax's work starting in the 1930s, especially his field recordings of work songs in the Caribbean and Southern U.S., makes a significant contribution to the information on extant shanty-related traditions.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, Canadian folklorist Helen Creighton collected shanties from Nova Scotia seamen, such as 'Blow the Man Down', 'Whiskey Johnny', 'The Sailor's Alphabet', 'Shenandoah' and "Rio Grande". Lastly, William Main Doerflinger carefully recorded and collected shanties from singers in New York and Nova Scotia in the 1930s and 1940s, the result of which was his "Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman".
English folklorist Peter Kennedy recorded Stanley Slade of Bristol, England, thought to be 'The Last Shantyman', singing several shanties including 'Haul Away, Joe', 'Leave Her, Johnny' and 'Shenandoah', and the recordings are available online via the British Library Sound Archive.
Stan Hugill and "Shanties from the Seven Seas".
One of the most celebrated volumes on shanties produced in the 20th century is Stan Hugill's "Shanties from the Seven Seas" (1961). It is the largest of its kind, owing to Hugill's methodology and chronological position. With respect to methodology, Hugill aimed to be as inclusive as possible—to account for and to present, if sometimes only in fragments, any and all items of shanty repertoire that he was currently able to find. Any song that he had heard or read being attested as having been ever "used as shanty" was included—regardless of whether that song was not generally known as a shanty or if its use as a shanty was rare and incidental. The result is a varied portrait of the genre, highlighting its maximum diversity without, however, giving a focused sense of what songs were most common during the heyday of shanties or in latter eras. Hugill readily included more recently popular songs—those that evidently were not sung until after the shanty genre was experiencing decline, but which were extant when Hugill sailed (1920s–40s). He also culled from the major collections of non-English-language sailor work songs. Hugill's practice of liberally culling from all major prior works, "in combination with" original material from his own field experiences, makes it a handy sourcebook for performers, but a difficult work to assess in terms of historical accuracy.
With respect to chronological position, while Hugill is affectionately known as "The Last Shantyman," he was also one of the last original shanty "collectors". A few original collections followed, notably Roger Abrahams' and Horace Beck's works on contemporary shantying in the Caribbean, yet most publications in the "song collection" genre are general anthologies based in Hugill and his predecessors' works. To a great extent, "Shanties from the Seven Seas" is considered the "last word" on shanties and the first stop as a reference. The book's "authoritative" position is bolstered by the personal image of its author. In contrast to many of the academic folklorists who had collected shanties before him, Hugill possessed the look and pedigree of an old-time sailor, and he was actually able to perform the songs from his collection at sea music festivals. "Shanties from the Seven Seas" and Stan Hugill's performances have had a tremendous bearing on how shanties have been understood and performed by enthusiasts since the second half of the 20th century up to today.
Revival.
Even as shanty singing to accompany work aboard ships was "dying," interest was being taken in "reviving" it—as a type of leisure pastime. Most shanty singing since the mid-20th century or earlier is considered to be in such a "revival" vein.
A few of the editors of early shanty collections provided arrangements for pianoforte accompaniment with their shanties. While this may have simply been a customary way of presenting songs or attempting to frame their tonality, it may also suggest they hoped their examples could be performed, as well. One of the earliest shanty collections, Davis and Tozer's "Sailor Songs or 'Chanties"' (which circulated in the early 1890s), included such accompaniment, along with safe, "drawing room" style lyrics. It is unknown whether any actual performances were based on this otherwise influential work, however, the proceedings from a meeting of the Manchester Literary Club, 4 February 1895, record an instance of laypersons attempting to recreate shanty performance at that early date. In general, shanty performance by laypersons, up through the first two decades of the 20th century, would have been hindered by the lack of suitable resources, if not lack of interest.
Independent of this literature, a revival of sorts was staged by the U.S. Shipping Board in 1918 when Stanton H. King of Boston, a merchant sailor of the 1880s, was appointed as "Official Chantey Man for the American Merchant Marine." King taught shanties to the young Merchant Marine recruits, but it appears that they were used more for entertainment than work functions. A description of the daily training schedule included the following note:
Recreation includes singing, for each ship is supplied with a piano. The musical program includes old-time chanties, in which the young men are instructed by a veteran deep-water chantie man.
An on-shore revival in shanty singing for leisure was facilitated by song collections of the 1920s, especially Terry's "The Shanty Book" (in two volumes, 1921 and 1926). What set apart this and following collections was full musical score along with an adequate stock of lyrics. Collections prior to Terry's (except for Davis and Tozer's much earlier and contrived-sounding settings) had not provided enough verses to create "full" songs, and it is unlikely that performers would venture to improvise new verses in the manner of traditional shantymen. By 1926, it had become a custom at the Seven Seas Club in London to hold a shanty sing-along after the club's monthly dinners. By 1928, commercial recordings of shanties, performed in the manner of classical concert singing, had been released on HMV, Vocalion, Parlophone, Edison, Aco, and Columbia labels; many were realizations of scores from Terry's collection. Shanties like "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" were more or less standardized through popular dissemination.
The next revival in shanties occurred as part of the Anglophone folk music revival of the mid-20th century. The American folk revival group The Almanac Singers were recruited by Alan Lomax to record several shanties for the 1941 album Deep Sea Chanteys and Whaling Ballads. In Britain, the incorporation of shanties into the folk revival repertoire was largely led by A.L. Lloyd starting in the 1950s. An amateur folklorist, Lloyd discarded the earlier classical style of presentations in favor of a more "authentic" performance style. He was generally mysterious about the sources of his shanty arrangements; he obviously referred to collections by editors like Sharp, Colcord, and Doerflinger, however it is often unclear when and whether his versions were based in field experience or his private invention. Lloyd's album "The Singing Sailor" (1955) with Ewan MacColl was an early milestone, which made an impression on Stan Hugill when he was preparing his 1961 collection, particularly as the performance style it embodied was considered more appropriate than that of earlier commercial recordings. Many other performers followed, creating influential versions and interpretations of shanties that persist today. For example, Lloyd's personal interpretation of "South Australia" was taken up by the Irish folk revival group The Clancy Brothers, from which this version spread to countless folk performers to become established as the "standard" form of what is usually presented as a "traditional" shanty. The Canadian, Alan Mills (1913-1977), recorded numerous songs for Folkways Records including "Songs of the Sea" (1959). Through the mass distribution of particular shanty forms through recordings and clubs, the folk revival has had the effect of creating an impression of rather consistent forms of texts and tunes—a sharp contrast to the highly variable and often improvised nature of work-based shanty singing. Another effect, due to the fact that most folk performers sang shanties along with other genres, is that shanty repertoire was ever more incorporated within the generic fold of "folk song," and their distinctive use, manner of performance, and identity were co-opted.
With one foot firmly planted in the world of traditional shanties, the veteran sailor and author Stan Hugill also became a leader (and follower) of trends in the folk music revival. His presence as an exclusive performer of sailor songs did much to establish sea music as a revival genre apart from or within folk music. By the late 1970s, the activities of enthusiasts and scholar-performers at places like the Mystic Seaport Museum (who initiated an annual Sea Music Festival in 1979) and the San Francisco Maritime Museum established sea music—inclusive of shanties, sea songs, and other maritime music—as a genre with its own circuit of festivals, record labels, performance protocol, and so on.
Nature of the songs.
Function.
In the days when human muscles were the only power source available aboard ship, shanties served practical functions. The rhythm of the song served to synchronize the movements of the sailors or to pace the labor as they toiled at repetitive tasks. Singing helped to alleviate boredom and to lighten, perhaps, the psychological burden of hard work. Shanties may also be said to have served a social purpose, as to build camaraderie.
Form.
All shanties had a chorus of some sort, in order to allow the crew to sing all together. Many shanties had a "call and response" format, with one voice (the shantyman) singing the solo lines and the rest of the sailors bellowing short refrains in response (compare military cadence calls).
The "shantyman" was a regular sailor who led the others in singing. He was usually self-appointed. A sailor would not generally sign on as a shantyman "per se", but took on the role in addition to their other tasks on the ship. Nevertheless, sailors reputed to be good shantymen were valued and respected.
The following example, a verse of the shanty "Boney" (in reference to Napoleon), shows the call and response form and the interplay between the voices of the shantyman and the crew.
<poem>
Shantyman ("solo"): Boney was a warrior,
All ("refrain"): Way-ay-"ya",
Shantyman ("solo"): A reg'lar bull and tarrier,
All ("refrain"): John Fran"çois!"</poem>
When working this as a "short-drag" shanty (see below), hands on the line would synchronize their pulls with the last syllable of each response (in italics).
Lyrical content.
The practical function of shanties as work songs was given priority over their lyrics or the musicality of a performance. Due to this, shanty texts might have been poor from an aesthetic standpoint—even at times random nonsense—so long as the singing fit the form of the work song. One writer about shanties warned his readers that their lyrics, to landsmen, would "probably appear as the veriest doggerel." He went on to explain,
As a rule, the chantey in its entirety possesses neither rhyme nor reason; nevertheless, it is admirably fitted for sailors' work. Each of these sea-songs has a few stock verses or phrases to begin with, but after these are sung, the soloist must improvise, and it is principally his skill in this direction that marks the successful chantey-man.
Improvisation and stock verses were the tools of the trade of shantymen. Similar to the blues, shanties often exhibited a string of such verses without much explicit or continuous theme. While on one hand this may simply reflect the aesthetic of the music-culture from which the form originated, this, too, was a feature suited to practical restrictions. Work tasks might be of any length and often unpredictable. Songs with a fixed set of verses, or ballads, which tell a story, were not so well suited to tasks that could end abruptly at any time or that might require extending.
Improvising of lyrics in such a context could be seen as an African-American musical characteristic, as Euro-American observers of Black work-singing consistently remarked on its extempore nature. Stock verses helped the shantyman fill space when his creative faculties came up short. These might take the form of multipurpose clichés, like,
<poem>
Up aloft this yard must go.
[refrain]
Up aloft from down below.
[refrain]</poem>
Or, the shantyman may use formulas, like "Were you ever in [blank]?", for example,
<poem>
Were you ever down in Mobile Bay?
[refrain]
A-screwing cotton by the day?
[refrain]</poem>
Many stock verses used phrases that "floated" between both minstrel and authentic African-American traditional songs. For example, the phrase "girl with the blue dress on" is documented in a Black muledriver's song and in a popular minstrel song, as well as in a few shanties, for example,
<poem>
O wake her, O shake her,
O shake that girl with the blue dress on,
O Johnny come to Hilo;
Poor old man.</poem>
As evident from the last lyric, above, shanty lyrics were not limited to seafaring or work topics. Drawing lyrics (and sometimes entire songs) from the popular and traditional repertoires of the time meant that a wide range of themes were represented.
Sources.
Shanties reflect a variety of source material. As discussed above, there is a notable correspondence between shanties and African-American songs of both work and leisure. Popular music of the time was readily adapted, especially the minstrel music genre, songs of whose couplets were often of a suitable metrical length. It is common to find phrases from minstrel songs of the late 1830s and 1840s in many shanties, like "A Long Time Ago," "Jamboree," "Johnny Come Down to Hilo," or "Johnny Bowker." Music hall songs also had an influence, for example "Paddy on the Railway." Popular marches were borrowed especially for capstan work, including "John Brown's Body" and "Marching Through Georgia." A few shanties have ballad forms, such as "The Dreadnaught," "The Banks of Newfoundland," and "The Golden Vanitee", but these were relatively uncommon and required the addition of a chorus section. However, shantymen more often adapted lyrics and themes from ballads and "spliced" them to existing shanty melodies and choruses. Other shanties were adapted from land-based traditional songs, for example "Billy Boy" and "The Derby Ram."
Types.
Broadly speaking, the categories for shanties can be understood in terms of whether the task(s) for which they were used was/were related to "hauling" or "heaving". "Hauling" (pulling) actions were intermittent in nature. They required a coordinated show of focused exertion, not sustained, but rather at specific moments. Shanties for hauling tasks thus coordinated the timing of those exertions, the "pulls." "Heaving" (pushing) actions were of a continuous nature. In these, coordination was of minor importance as compared to "pacing". Rather than rhythmically "timing" the labor, shanties for heaving were more intended to set an appropriate, manageable pace and to occupy or inspire workers throughout the duration of what could often be long tasks.
Other types.
The above categories, with respect to the repertoire they contain, are not absolute. Sailors often took a song from one category and, with necessary alterations to the rhythm, tempo, or form, used it for a different task. This can be seen in the frequent lack of consensus, among different writers and informants, as to what job a given shanty was used for.
"Shanties" versus "sea songs".
Shanties are work songs and were originally sung only for work. However, sailors also sang for pleasure in the fo'c's'le (forecastle) where they slept or, in fine weather, gathered near the fore bitts (large posts on the foredeck). While songs with maritime themes were sung, all manner of popular songs and ballads on any subject might be sung off watch. The leisure songs associated with sailors are labeled simply as "sea songs," but they have no consistent formal characteristics. They are also popularly known among enthusiasts, especially when distinguishing them from shanties, as "fo'c's'le songs" or "forebitters". Although those terms were not in great evidence in the 19th century, some literary references to "fore-bitter" and, less so, "fo'c'sle song," attest to their use even prior to the appearance of "shanty." Unlike shanties, during the singing of which one's hands were occupied, sea songs might be sung to the accompaniment of handy instruments like fiddle or concertina.
Examples of sea songs include "Spanish Ladies", first popular in the Royal Navy, and "The Stately Southerner", a ballad about a U.S. war ship, and "Wellerman". Examples of sea songs that were poorly documented in the sailing era, but which gained great popularity among singers in the revival era, are "The Leaving of Liverpool" and "Rolling Down to Old Maui."
In languages other than English.
While the crews of merchant ships in which shanties were sung might have come from a wide variety of national and ethnic backgrounds and might have spoken various mother-tongues, the shanty genre was by and large an English-language phenomenon. However, non-English-language sailor work songs were also developed. They are generally of these types:
There are notable bodies of shanty repertoire in Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, French, Breton, and Welsh, and shanties have been translated into Polish and German. The terms for shanties in these languages do not always precisely correlate with English usage. In French, or "sailor's song" is a broad category that includes both work and leisure songs. Swedish uses "sjömansvisa", "sailor song," as a broad category, but tends to use the borrowed "shanty" to denote a work song. Similarly, Norwegian uses "sjømannsvise" as the broad category and the borrowed term (also spelled "shanty") or the native "oppsang" for work songs. The equivalents in German are "Seemannslied" and, again, shanty. Polish uses a word derived from English: "szanta".
Substantial collections of non-English shanties include the following, which have been instrumental in forming the modern day sailor song repertoires of revival performers in their respective languages:<br>
Performance today.
Historically, shanties were usually not sung outside of work contexts, and singing sea songs was generally the purview of sailors. However, since their revival as leisure songs among laypersons they have been performed in a variety of contexts. Similarly to Euro-American folk music, shanties and sea songs are performed both informally by amateurs and as commercial entertainment by professionals, with many performers straddling both contexts. Some performers focus on shanties, sea songs, and related material, as part of the genre of maritime music, whereas in other cases performers of popular music (including the Folk genre) and classical music bring songs from the shanty repertoire into their own.
Regional trends.
Devoted performances of shanties display certain customs and general trends in different areas. However, the genre is an international one; practices vary freely and are not limited to the following generalizations.
North America.
In North America, enthusiasts could gather at regularly scheduled, open singing sessions, for example the "chantey sings" held monthly aboard the ship "Balclutha" in San Francisco, weekly in Gloucester, Massachusetts, At these sessions, any participant is free to start up and lead a shanty, which the rest of those present—sometimes over one hundred or more participants—join on the choruses. The gatherings aim for an inclusive atmosphere that welcomes people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and singing abilities. North American professionals often perform solo or in very small groups, frequently using instruments. One of America's oldest inns, The Griswold Inn in Essex, Connecticut, has hosted Monday evening sea chantey sessions since 1972, originally led by Cliff Haslam and later joined by other musicians as The Jovial Crew.
Annual maritime festivals in coastal towns provide a gathering point for both amateurs and professionals, and the site for the introduction of new interpretations.
United Kingdom.
In the UK, shanties find a venue in pubs that host "folk clubs." Professional performers tend to be in larger groups with a more substantial chorus, allowing for "a capella" performances. They are frequently identified with a specific port town to which they belong. Many annual maritime festivals in Britain and across the Channel provide contexts for performance.
Continental Europe.
s (German , Dutch ) are choral groups – often with many members – that perform only sailor songs. They are especially popular in the Netherlands, Germany, and Norway. Polish performers of shanties favor medium-sized groups, often singing in harmony, accompanying themselves on instruments, and presenting themselves similarly to the way a rock band would.
Australia.
Sea Shanty Groups are active across Australia including Perth, Fremantle, and Albany. A group called The Anchormen formed by Matthew Wearne and Colin Anker in 2018, perform regular gigs in Bunbury, Western Australia. They performed at the City of Albany Maritime Festival in 2021. Anker said regarding Mental Health "We've had guys in the group say this is the only place where they feel comfortable in that no one judges them. We often face and perform to each other instead of the audience. It's a brotherhood. When you start singing sea shanties, it just grabs you and draws you in. You can't stop listening to and singing them." A favourite song is Spanish Ladies.
Shanties borrowed by other genres.
Items from the shanty and sea song repertoire have been brought into the repertoires of performers of folk music, rock, and Western classical music. Sources for these renditions include books by folklorists and commercial recordings by shanty revival performers. The forms these performers produce tend to be quite standardized and relate to their source material similar to the way a cover song does. This can be contrasted with the method of performers focusing on maritime music, who tend to think of themselves as operating within that genre or a tradition, and who develop their repertoire from multiple sources and through various experiences.
Folk.
The folk revival movement is one in which shanties themselves were often revived, especially as they have been viewed as a branch of heritage traditional songs of Anglophone culture. Several of the early performers in the Folk genre performed and recorded a significant number of sailor songs. For example, Paul Clayton recorded the album "Whaling and Sailing Songs from the Days of Moby Dick" (Tradition Records) in 1956, and Burl Ives' "Down to the Sea in Ships" came out in the same year. Since at least the 1950s, certain shanties have become staples of the Folk genre. This is evidenced in the popular Folk music fake book "Rise Up Singing", which includes such shanties as "Blow the Man Down," "What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor," and "Bound for South Australia".
Rock.
Borrowings into Rock music have often resulted from the fluid borders between Folk and Rock performers and audiences. For example, Bruce Springsteen's "Pay Me My Money Down" derives from the interpretation by the Folk group The Weavers, who in turn found it among the collected shanties once traditionally performed by residents of the Georgia Sea Islands. Some Rock performers, too, have been inspired to adopt shanties as part of what they perceive to be a connection to their regional or national heritage. For example, The Pogues recorded "Poor Paddy [Works on the Railway]" in the arrangement of Folk group The Dubliners, ostensibly because of the Irish connection. Others have been fascinated by "sea" themes, including "pirates" and the perceived freedom, wildness, or debauchery of sailor culture.
Classical.
Classical composers have used shanties and sea songs (or their melodies) in their works. The Australian composer Percy Grainger is a notable case. Malcolm Arnold's "Three Shanties" for woodwind quintet (1943) develops motifs from "Drunken Sailor," "Boney Was a Warrior," and "Johnny Come Down to Hilo."
Performance styles.
Shanty performances today reflect a range of musical approaches and tastes. The purpose and parameters of shanty singing in the present era have had an influence on which shanties are sung and how.
Performers who favor a "traditional" style do not necessarily believe they are replicating the exact style of shanty singing of the 19th century. However, within the constraints of modern contexts, they tend to adhere to certain stylistic traits that are believed to have characterized the genre historically. These may include a loud or full voice, an emphatic, strident—even harsh—tone (as if to carry over the noise of wind and waves), and tempos and rhythms that are reasonably conducive to working. They often perform "a capella" or only with light instrumentation typical of sailors (e.g. concertina). In general, performances may be more "rough around the edges" and be of variable length to accommodate impromptu changes in verses.
A great many of the performers of shanties do so in what might be distinguished as a "folk music" style. They tend to be more interested in the songs themselves and less in the "shanty style" of performance, in favor of music that may be considered more pleasant, less rough, and with more variation and interest than traditional shanties offer. Stylistic characteristics include lighter vocals with a "folk" timbre, livelier tempos, and instrumental interludes between verses. Invariably these performers choose to accompany themselves on instruments such as guitar and banjo. Their rhythms may be syncopated and quite different from work song rhythms, relying on the instruments to keep time rather than the voice.
Still other performers come to shanties from backgrounds in pop, rock, or theatrical music, and perform in what may be called a "contemporary" style. Some of the preferred characteristics are smooth, pop-style vocal timbre, carefully worked out harmony, and engaging rhythms.
Less commonly—though it was the case with their earliest commercial recordings—shanties are performed in a "classical" choir style. Choirs like the Robert Shaw Chorale, the Norman Luboff Choir, and The Seafarers Chorus have released entire albums of shanties and sea songs.
In popular media.
Appearances of shanties, or songs and melodies labeled as "shanties," in popular media can be anachronistic and fanciful. In accord with popular perception of shanties as a genre many hundreds of years old, songs with documented existence to only the mid-19th century, at the earliest, have been freely used to portray scenes from the 18th century and earlier. By imagining modern shanties to have been in use during such eras as the Golden Age of Piracy and the Napoleonic Wars, anachronistic associations have been formed between shanties and "pirates." Evidence for all these uses and associations can be found in the examples that follow in this section. Shanties, and short videos of them being sung, saw a spike in popularity in late 2020 into early 2021 mainly due to a trend on TikTok.
Popular literature.
Much of the available historical information on shanties comes from travelogue literature, most of it of scarcely notable popularity, but some of it reaching a wide audience, such as Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast" (1840). However, some fiction writers up through the mid-19th century, who had sailing experience, also included scenes involving sailors' work songs. Among these authors were Horace Elisha Scudder, Elijah Kellogg, and Herman Melville. In "Redburn: His First Voyage", for example, Melville wrote:
I soon got used to this singing; for the sailors never touched a rope without it. Sometimes, when no one happened to strike up, and the pulling, whatever it might be, did not seem to be getting forward very well, the mate would always say, "Come, men, can't any of you sing? Sing now, and raise the dead." And then some one of them would begin, and if every man's arms were as much relieved as mine by the song, and he could pull as much better as I did, with such a cheering accompaniment, I am sure the song was well worth the breath expended on it. It is a great thing in a sailor to know how to sing well, for he gets a great name by it from the officers, and a good deal of popularity among his shipmates. Some sea-captains, before shipping a man, always ask him whether he can sing out at a rope.
The shanty genre was unfamiliar to much of the lay public until it was publicized in the 1880s, however, so most of the popular references in fiction do not begin until that decade. A well-known early example, though not strictly speaking a reference to a shanty, is the song "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest", which was invented by Robert Louis Stevenson for his novel "Treasure Island" (1883). Quotes of "Blow the Man Down" were particularly plentiful. Rudyard Kipling romanticized the idea of the sailor's sea song within the poetic genre with his works "The First Chantey" and "The Last Chantey" (1893).
Popular music.
While shanties were historically understood as work songs, the word "shanty" has often been used in popular culture since the mid-20th century as a catch-all term that also includes songs supposed to have been sung during leisure time at sea, and even other songs about the sea or which vaguely inspire thoughts of the sea. Much of the historical shanty repertoire, being by definition designed to suit work, is less attractive as entertainment listening. The musical forms were highly repetitive, and the lyrics were quite often doggerel without any cohesive or preconceived composition. For these reasons, sea songs that were never or only exceptionally adapted as shanties—but which have engaging melodies and texts—have proved popular to 20th century audiences under the rubric of "shanties." Both these non-shanty sailor songs and the historical repertoire of shanties are typically performed with instrumental accompaniment—something that was rare or unheard of at sea in the case of authentic shanties.
Popular musical interpretations of traditional repertoire.
Music performers with no strong links to maritime music have interpreted traditional shanty and sea song compositions, of which widely scattered instances abound. For example, the bawdy sea song "Frigging in the Rigging" was recorded by the punk band Sex Pistols. Perhaps under the influence of Irish folk revival groups like The Clancy Brothers and The Dubliners, who included some shanties in their repertoires, some association has also been formed between shanties and Irish music. And so, looking back to these performers, later Irish-oriented rock groups like The Pogues interpreted traditional shanties and sea songs like "South Australia" and "The Greenland Whale Fisheries." A notable instance where many non-maritime music performers tackled the traditional maritime repertoire stems from the actor Johnny Depp's reported interest in shanties that developed while filming "Pirates of the Caribbean". As a result, in 2006 Depp helped facilitate "." A medley of sea songs performed by concert orchestra, Sir Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs, is a popular component of the Last Night of the Proms in Britain. In 2021, sea shanties such as "Wellerman" became viral on TikTok following a rendition of the song made by Scotland-based postman Nathan Evans, prompting further arrangements building off the original.
New compositions in "shanty" style.
The musical "style" of shanties has also inspired new musical compositions, ranging from those designed to imitate 19th century song-style to those merely intended to evoke seafaring culture through evocative phrases and token musical features. For example, the Stan Rogers song, "Barrett's Privateers", being sung in a traditional style and having lyrics that relate an anecdote of maritime history, makes a convincing sea ballad and has been adopted into the repertoire of maritime music performers. Another newly composed song by folk singer Steve Goodman, "Lincoln Park Pirates," uses the phrase, "Way, hey, tow 'em away," imitating shanty choruses while at the same time anachronistically evoking the "piracy" in its subject. The theme song for the television show SpongeBob SquarePants has a shanty-like call and response structure and begins with a melodic phrase that matches the traditional "Blow the Man Down," presumably because the character "lives in a pineapple under the sea." The theme to Gilligan's Island was also inspired by shanty structure and style. An example of a more tenuous link between a new composition labeled as "shanty" and the salient characteristics of the genre, The Pogues recorded a song called "Sea Shanty." The only characteristic it appears to share with the shanty genre is a 6/8 meter (displayed by some well known shanties like "Blow the Man Down").
English composer Michael Maybrick (alias Stephen Adams) sold a hundred thousand copies of an 1876 song "Nancy Lee" in Seafaring style, with lyrics by Frederick Weatherly concerning an archetypal sailors wife. The song evoked an 1882 response Susie Bell from Australian composer Frederick Augustus Packer in the far flung British colony at Port Arthur (Australia)
In film and television.
Songs from the shanty repertoire have appeared in motion pictures. These most often are not portrayed in an appropriate work context and sometimes not even a shipboard context, and many times they can be classed as anachronisms that serve to bring color and interest to the drama. The following is a sample list of notable films to have included traditional shanty repertoire. |
Badrinath
Badrinath is a town and nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. A Hindu holy place, it is one of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage and is also part of India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage circuit. It gets its name from the Badrinath Temple.
Etymology.
Badrinath derives from the Sanskrit compound Badarīnātha, consisting of the terms "badarī" (jujube tree) and "nātha" (lord), an epithet of Vishnu. It is also known as Badarikashrama.
History.
Badrinath was re-established as a major pilgrimage site by Adi Shankara in the 8th century. In earlier days, pilgrims used to walk hundreds of miles to visit the Badrinath temple.
The temple has been repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and avalanches. As late as the First World War, the town consisted only of the 20-odd huts used by the temple's staff, but the site drew thousands each year and up to 50,000 on its duodecennial festivals (every twelve years). In recent years its popularity has increased still more, with an estimated 600,000 pilgrims visiting during the 2006 season, compared to 90,676 in 1961. The temple in Badrinath is also a sacred pilgrimage site for Vaishnavites. Badrinath is also gateway to several mountaineering expeditions headed to mountains like Nilkantha.
Temple.
The Badrinath temple is the main attraction in the town. According to legend, Adi Shankaracharya discovered a black stone image of Lord Badrinarayan made of Shaligram stone in the Alaknanda River. He originally enshrined it in a cave near the Tapt Kund hot springs. In the sixteenth century, the King of Garhwal moved the murti to the present temple. The temple is approximately 50 ft (15 m) tall with a small cupola on top, covered with a gold gilt roof. The facade is built of stone, with arched windows. A broad stairway leads up to a tall arched gateway, which is the main entrance. The architecture resembles a Buddhist vihara (temple), with the brightly painted facade also more typical of Buddhist temples. Just inside is the mandapa, a large pillared hall that leads to the garbha grha, or main shrine area. The walls and pillars of the mandapa are covered with intricate carving.
Legend.
According to the Bhagavata Purana, "There in Badrikashram, the supreme being (Vishnu), in his incarnation as the sages Nara and Narayana, had been undergoing great penance since time immemorial for the welfare of all living entities." (Bhagavata Purana 3.4.22)
The Badrinath area is referred to as Badari or Badarikaashram (बदरिकाश्रम) in Hindu scriptures. It is a place sacred to Vishnu, particularly in Vishnu's dual form of Nara-Narayana. Thus, in the Mahabharata, Krishna, addressing Arjuna, says, "Thou wast Nara in a former body, and, with Narayana for thy companion, didst perform dreadful austerity at Badari for many myriads of years."
As per one legend, when the goddess Ganga was requested to descend on earth to help the suffering humanity at the request of Suryavanshi king Bhagiratha, the earth was unable to withstand the force of her descent. Therefore, the mighty Ganga (Ganges) was split into two holy channels, with Alaknanda as one of them.
Another lore states that the area was full of Badri bushes and Vishnu meditated here. His beloved Lakshmi stood next to him, sheltering him from scorching sunlight and thus turned into a Badri herself called 'BADRI VISHAL' and her lord (Nath) became the BadriNath.
The mountains around Badrinath are mentioned in the Mahabharata, when the Pandavas were said to have expired one by one, when ascending the slopes of a peak in western Garhwal called Swargarohini (literal meaning - the 'Ascent to Heaven'). The Pandavas passed through Badrinath and the town of Mana, 4 km north of Badrinath, on their way to Svarga (heaven). There is also a cave in Mana where Vyasa, according to legend, wrote the Mahabharata.
The area around Badrinath was celebrated in Padma Purana as abounding in spiritual treasures.
This place is considered holy in Jainism as well. In Jainism, Himalaya is also called Ashtapad because of its eight different mountain range Gaurishankar, Kailash, Badrinath, Nanda, Drongiri, Nara-Narayana and Trishuli. Rishabhanatha attained Nirvana on Mount Kailash situated in the Himalayan range and according to Jain faith (Nirvankand), from Badrinath numerous Jain Muni got Moksha by doing Tapsya. According to Shrimadbhagwat, at this place Rishabhdev's father Nabhirai and mother Marudevi had done hard Tapa after Rishabhdev's Rajyabhishek and taken Samadhi. Even today footprint of Nabhirai at Neelkanth mountain attracts everybody towards him.
Geography.
Badrinath has an average elevation of 3,100 metres (10,170 feet). It is in the Garhwal Himalayas, on the banks of the Alaknanda River. The town lies between the Nar and Narayana mountain ranges 9 km east of Nilkantha peak (6,596m). Badrinath is located 62 km northwest of Nanda Devi peak and 301 km north of Rishikesh. From Gaurikund (near Kedarnath) to Badrinath by road is 233 km.
According to the Köppen climate system, Badrinath's climate is humid continental ("Dwb") bordering a subtropical highland climate ("Cwb").
Demographics.
As of 2011 Indian Census, Badrinath had a total population of 2,438, of which 2,054 were males and 384 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 68. The total number of literates in Badrinath was 2,265, which constituted 92.9% of the population with male literacy of 95.4% and female literacy of 79.7%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Badrinath was 95.6%, of which male literacy rate was 97.1% and female literacy rate was 86.9%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 113 and 22 respectively. Badrinath had 850 households in 2011. |
Lancaster and Chester Railroad
The Lancaster and Chester Railroad or L&C is a railway headquartered in Lancaster, South Carolina. The original route connects Lancaster in Lancaster County with Chester in Chester County. The line's nickname is The Springmaid Line, which refers to its original purpose of connecting the plants of the Springs Mills company.
History.
Formation.
In 1873, the Cheraw and Chester Railroad Company was granted a charter by a Special Act of the South Carolina General Assembly "to construct a railroad from Cheraw, in Chesterfield County, to Chesterville, in Chester County, by such route as shall be found most suitable and advantageous".
In those days, railroads were often built in sections using different contractors and money sometimes ran out before the line was tied together. This happened to the narrow gauge Cheraw and Chester. In 1879, it made it the from Chester County to the Catawba River but did not cross it. On the other end, rail was laid from Cheraw to Pageland before the capital was exhausted in that direction. It operated for three years in these sections before being split. The Chester section was leased to the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad, which built a wooden bridge across the Catawba and extended the track beyond Lancaster in 1883. It was then leased to the Richmond and Danville Railroad, which in turn went into receivership. Meanwhile, the line from Cheraw to Pageland became the Chesterfield and Lancaster Railroad but never extended any further.
The receivers for the Richmond and Danville operated the line from Lancaster to Lenoir as one railroad but neglected to pay expenses. It soon returned the Cheraw and Chester to its stockholders.
Colonel Leroy Springs.
Two years later, in 1896, the railroad was sold by court order at an advertised auction for $25,000 to satisfy its debts. Its buyer, Colonel Leroy Springs, renamed the line the Lancaster and Chester Railroad and organized a company to run it.
In addition to Leroy Springs, the incorporators of the new railroad were William Ganson, R. C. McManus, W. T. Gregory, L. C. Payseur, James M. Heath and W. H. Hardin. All of the men were from Lancaster save for Hardin, who was from Chester. The capital stock of the company was $50,000. On June 22, 1896, Hardin, also manager of the Chesterville and Lenoir, was elected manager and auditor of the line.
Springs did not have any personal experience in the railroad business. His interest in purchasing the line may have stemmed in part from the fact that his father, Andrew Baxter Springs, had been one of the contractors and directors for the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad, which helped form the towns of Rock Hill and Fort Mill, South Carolina. His grandfather, John Springs III, had been an early investor of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, the nation's first operating railroad, and had the privilege of having one of its early engines named after him in the days when engines were named instead of numbered. Springs' brother was president of the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad (AT&O) that proceeded from Charlotte to Taylorsville before it ran out of capital. When he would refer to the AT&O in front of fellow businessmen, Springs would claim to be president of the Lancaster, Klondike and Manila Western Railroad.
Although the railroad business as a whole was not prosperous, the newly created L&C did not have to look far for business. Springs had recently completed a textile mill in Lancaster to go with the mills he already owned in Chester, all of which supplied traffic to the railroad. Other businesses in both towns were also served by the L&C. The line connected with the Southern Railway at both ends; with Carolina and Northwestern Railway (itself later part of Southern) at Chester; and with Seaboard Air Line at Fort Lawn.
In 1899, both the Catawba River Trestle and Lancaster Depot burned a few months apart from one another. The cost to replace both structures nearly equaled what Springs and his associates paid for the railway three years earlier. However, this misfortune did allow the line an opportunity to upgrade by building a steel trestle to replace the original wooden one.
For the first six years of its existence, the Lancaster and Chester Railroad had the distinct disadvantage of being a narrow gauge railroad. Thus, it was impossible to exchange cars with the main lines, which were . Freight had to be unloaded from the main line cars in Lancaster or Chester and reloaded onto the smaller L&C cars and vice versa. Also, the L&C engines had to burn wood because the coal mines were on standard gauge lines and it was not economical to reload the coal on to smaller cars.
In 1902, Springs borrowed $125,000 from the Southern Railway to convert the L&C rails to standard gauge. The railway also bought new coal burning locomotives as well as new rail cars. The East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad purchased the old rolling stock from the L&C. By 1913, the L&C owned three steam locomotives, nineteen box cars, two coal cars, two passenger cars, and two combines. Capital stock had risen from $50,000 to $500,000.
Then as now, odd-numbered trains ran eastbound and even-numbered trains ran westbound, against traditional railroad operating procedure. This is because before Springs bought the railroad, trains ran through from points north of Chester. Thus, they started their runs as southbound trains which, like westbound trains, normally have odd-digit numbers. They kept their odd numbers all the way to Lancaster on the Chester and Cheraw, even after they turned east at Chester.
Later that year, the Lancaster and Chester was persuaded to run a special passenger train to carry fans to a baseball series in Chester County between Chester and Dillon. There were as many passengers on that one train as the L&C ordinarily carried in an entire year. To make the most of the trip, several empty coal cars were attached in front of the passenger cars. When the train reached the Hooper Creek Trestle, one of the hopper cars derailed, taking the three coaches into the creek below. Every person aboard was badly shaken or injured, and five lives were lost.
The seventy-one personal injury claims totaled more than $130,000, nearly causing the L&C to go bankrupt. Two weeks after the Hooper Creek derailment, a fire destroyed the Lancaster Depot, which also served as a warehouse for the mill, costing the railway an additional $75,000. It took Springs two years to emerge from the courthouse with his railroad intact. He then was able to borrow enough money to get the line operating again.
In 1916, a hurricane-generated flood washed away the three-span Catawba River Trestle as well as the Cane Creek Trestle near the Lancaster Plant. For weeks, the L&C detoured over the Southern line to Catawba Junction and the Seaboard line to Fort Lawn to connect with its own line. A ferry was then built to take the place of the trestle, but this proved to be both slow and expensive.
A new trestle would have cost $90,000, more than the railroad was worth before the old trestle was lost. The Southern Railway was not interested in taking the railroad back and building a new trestle. For a year, the option of abandoning operations and taking up the rails to sell for scrap was considered.
Springs then heard of a main-line trestle that was about to be abandoned by the railroad that owned it so they could replace it with a trestle that had double tracks. The trestle also included a bridge for automobiles. Colonel Springs bought this trestle and then sold it to the county for what he had paid for it. He was left with only the expense of moving the trestle to the Catawba and attaching it to the stone piers of the old trestle that were spared by the flood. The new trestle fit the piers of the old one.
The Lancaster and Chester resumed operations just in time to be taken over by the government during World War I.
Elliott Springs.
Springs died in April 1931 leaving his empire to his only child, Elliott White Springs. Elliott Springs was born just weeks after his father purchased the L&C and had a genuine love for the railway. Under his leadership, the L&C began to prosper in the latter part of that decade, on the eve of the Second World War. In 1939, he brought the L&C national attention when he purchased the Loretto, a rail car that had originally been built for the former president of U.S. Steel, Charles M. Schwab. Springs carefully preserved the splendor of the forty-year-old car's Victorian design—Cuban mahogany paneling, crystal chandelier, velvet draperies, marble bath, and gold-plated beds. He had the Loretto remodeled for office use, then parked it on a siding near the White homestead in Fort Mill.
, the Loretto is on display at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina.
Springs had a flair for colorful advertising. One of the things he remains best remembered for is the menu he wrote and printed for the L&C dining car. This menu included: Long Island Ugly Duckling stuffed with Turnip Greens and Pearl Onions, Cannibal Sandwich with real collar buttons, Pork Barrel stuffed with Republican, Drawn and Quartered Democrat Roasted in Own Jacket, and Elliott Springs with Garlic and Chlorophyll. Also offered were an alligator pear for one dollar and a pair of alligators for two dollars. Dessert was watermelon Jane Russell, pitted grapes and potted dates. That the L&C did not actually own a dining car at the time did not matter.
Springs rarely did anything in a small way and usually had fun doing it. It was his idea to appoint 29 vice-presidents to the railway, one for each mile of track. They included playwright Charles MacArthur, golfer Bobby Jones, artist James Montgomery Flagg, writer Lucius Beebe, radio man Lowell Thomas and his wartime friends Billy Bishop and Clayton Knight. Another one of these fictional vice-presidents was Ham Fisher, who seldom drew a freight train in his Joe Palooka strip without labeling it Lancaster and Chester.
However, it was striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, named vice-president in charge of unveiling, who got the most attention. Lee was brought to the attention of Springs by his friend, Agnew Bahnson of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was a devoted fan of the rails and kept models of famous trains in her basement.
In addition to providing menus for dining cars that did not exist and the naming of the colorful vice-presidents, Springs listed a timetable for trains that likewise did not exist. They included The Shrinking Violet, The Black Label, The Purple Cow, The Red Rose, The White Horse and The Blue Blazes.
When the New York, New Haven and Hartford denied Springs his request for a pass by writing that they were granted only to those lines that generated traffic for its route, he wrote back, "I note that the New Haven does not consider the L&C Railway of sufficient importance to honor its officials with an annual pass. I have personally routed some two hundred carloads over the New Haven in the past three or four months but you may rest assured that I will do otherwise in the future."
When Springs moved into his office at the new company headquarters in Fort Mill, he found himself with a and blank space on his walls. He proposed a mural of his railroad, the Lancaster and Chester, but several aerial photographers insisted this would be impossible. In spite of this, Springs sent well-known photographer Elliott Lyman Fisher up with company pilot Cecil Neal. They flew up and down the line until Fisher had photographed every foot of track—villages, mills, woodlands and fields. When several mountings of the prints failed to satisfy Springs, Fisher colored each slide by hand. One hundred and eighty lights illuminated the slides from the rear giving them a three-dimensional effect. The mounting of the mural allowed Springs to inspect his railroad any time he wished.
In 1946, the L&C upgraded its fleet by buying six diesel locomotives from the U.S. Army. These 65-ton Whitcomb locomotives had seen service in Italy during the war and burned about the same amount of oil to run that the old steam engines used for lubrication. The purchase of these engines made the L&C the first fully diesel-operated railroad in the state, something that Springs liked to boast of. The steam engines formerly used by the railroad were either sold or put out to pasture. However, these diesels did not spend long on the line as they were replaced by three 70-ton GEs in late 1950. Among the Whitcombs, number 51 passed to the Allegheny and South Side Railway where it would stay until the end of that property.
In 1951, Gypsy Rose Lee was on hand in Lancaster to 'unveil' the new Williamsburg-style depot. Her six-year-old son, Erik, was also present and was photographed with his mother in the cab of one of the L&C's locomotives. In addition, Springs gave the L&C its slogan, "The Springmaid Line". He also outfitted a Rolls-Royce as a high rail inspection vehicle. In the late 1950s, the Railway adopted a light blue, gray and white paint scheme to replace the dark blue and white scheme of earlier diesels.
H.W. Close.
Elliott Springs died in 1959 and his son in-law, H.W. Close, became president of Springs and the L&C. In 1961, a steel shop and engine house was built in Lancaster to replace the wood structure that was currently in use. In late 1965, the GE diesels were replaced by two new EMD SW900s. They were given the numbers 90 and 91 and are still in use by the Railway on a regular basis in late 2001. These locomotives handled the traffic on the line—much of the time making two freight runs a day—until December, 1984, when an additional EMD SW900 was added to the fleet and given the number 92. In 1996, two EMD SW1500's, numbered 95 and 96, were added, followed by four EMD SW1200s in 1998, which were numbered 93, 94, 97 and 98. In 2001, the line leased two more ex-Conrails units from Locomotive Leasing Partners, or LLPX, SW1500 #215 and SW1001 #91.
Recent events.
The L&C added another aspect to its operation in 1996 when Bob Willetts began a passenger car restoration program in Lancaster. The J.P. Henderson car was the first to come out of Lancaster. It is currently in charter service on Amtrak. In the late 1970s, this car had been in storage in New York and a state of disrepair. It was bought, then moved to Hartsville, South Carolina where a total renovation began. It went back into service in 1989 and was later bought by the Lancaster and Chester.
In 2006, the South Carolina shortline got some national railroad attention again in Pennsylvania. The New Hope and Ivyland Railroad restored their Baldwin steam engine 2-8-0 #40 to her original appearance as a 1920s-era freight locomotive when she worked for the Lancaster and Chester. When the L&C went diesel in 1947, the steamer went to the Cliffside Railroad in North Carolina. Due to the conversion from steam to diesel motive power on the Cliffside, the #40 was sold in 1962. Steam Trains Inc., a Pennsylvanian group of investors, bought the 2-8-0 and had it shipped to the Reading roundhouse in Wilmington, Delaware. By 1966, the equipment was again transferred to New Hope, Pennsylvania where the locomotive operates to this day. However, it is now again lettered for the NH&I.
On March 25, 2001, the L&C entered into a lease-purchase agreement with Norfolk Southern to operate the SB trackage in Lancaster County. It is the first expansion in route mileage since the inception of the L&C more than one hundred years ago.
On September 2, 2010, Gulf and Ohio Railways announced it was purchasing the Lancaster and Chester; the deal was planned to be completed by November 2010.
A look ahead for the L&C.
In 2001, the Lancaster and Chester entered into a lease-purchase agreement with Norfolk Southern to operate the former SB line in Lancaster County. This extends from MP 89.5 near the Catawba River to MP 58.7 in Kershaw, a total of . This ended years of negotiation between the two lines. Until then the Lancaster and Chester Railroad had virtually the same route-mileage since its inception in 1896. It passes over nine wooden trestles ranging in length from long Catawba River Trestle is a combination structure made of wooden trestle segments and four steel though trusses. Along the line lies 66 curves, the sharpest of which is 5 degrees 30 minutes. The steepest grade is a mile and half stretch west of Richburg called, appropriately enough, Richburg Hill. At 4.7%, it is said to be among the steepest in the Southeast. (This might even be more true now that NS stopped rolling trains over Saluda.)
The Railway invested heavily in its own line in the late 1990s, spending close to nine million dollars over a three- to five-year period. New rail was laid replacing 85 to 95 pound per yard (42–47 kg/m) rail with 127-132 lb/yd (63–66 kg/m) rail. Most of it is stick rail, through some welded sections were added on crossings and curves to simplify maintenance. In addition, the railroad tripled their locomotive fleet in that time period going from three units in 1996 to a total of nine by the end of the decade. Bridges were also strengthened. This allowed the Railway to begin using cars instead of the cars previously used. In time, the L&C plans to use cars.
There are now two interchanges on the line. One is with Norfolk Southern in Chester on their Charlotte to Columbia main. Traffic to and from the interchange on the NS end is handled daily with their local out of Rock Hill. The power on these locals are generally GP59s or high hood GP38-2s. NS Transcaer GP59 #4611 and Operation Lifesaver #4640 was power for most of October, 2001. An interchange with CSX-predecessor Seaboard Coast Line (and before that Seaboard Air Line) was built in 1981 in East Chester to replace the SCL interchange in Fort Lawn that was abandoned at the same time. Power on these trains can be anything from GP40s to wide noses—even LMSX #710 once or twice—to ex-Con B36-7s.
The lease agreement with Norfolk Southern effectively takes away the Lancaster interchange which had not been used in many years. Most of the L&C's traffic on the Original 29 is on the Chester end of the line and the car-hire charge was reduced if all interchange was handled there.
There was a time when the L&C's parent company was responsible for up to 90% of the traffic on the line, up to 13,000 cars annually at the six plants on the line. (The L&C also switched out the Eureka Plant in Chester. To get there, they had to cross Seaboard at grade while using the Southern Columbia to Charlotte main. The last time I saw this happen was in 1989.)
However, when Springs bought another company, a truck fleet came with it. The trucking side soon became more dominant and Springs-generated rail traffic dwindled from a couple of thousand cars of textile-related material annually to roughly one hundred cars a year at the Lancaster Complex in the early 2000s. That plant was closed in 2003 and soon torn down to make way for a park. The hundred cars that came out of that plant in later years was bales of corrugated cardboard which was taken a few miles up track to Bowers Fibers. When Springs stopped shipping there by rail, Bowers Fibers stopped receiving by rail. Springs-owned Grace Water Treatment Plant uses about 1,400 cars of coal a year. In terms of revenue, this was for many years the largest business served by the L&C.
In the late 1970s, the railroad, sensing that Springs-generated traffic would soon dwindle, created a industrial park In Richburg near I-77. Formerly known as Carolina's Distribution Park, since renamed The L&C Railway Distribution Park, this area includes Guardian Industries, Porter-Warner and Thyssen Steel, which was the first industry to move there.
Thyssen, which recently opened a second plant on the line, takes inbound coils of sheet steel and slits them for various industries, such as stampings for automobiles, lawn mowers and refrigerators. The Lancaster and Chester handles up to 2,400 carloads of sand and chemicals to park tenant Guardian Glass a year. Also, the Railway bought four gondolas for Guardian to ship cullet to the Richburg plant from Florida. (However, these gondolas, numbered 300 to 303, are in storage on line. Two of them are in Fort Lawn on the spur that once led to the cotton warehouses.)
The Railway owns more than of land near I-77 in Richburg and hopes to attract other businesses to the area. But not at any cost. A Charlotte, North Carolina company was recently looking to build along the line. However, research into the company's past revealed a number of environmental citations. As a result of this finding, the Lancaster and Chester decided not to sell to this company.
For volume of cars, the largest customer on the line was at one time GAF at a section of track in East Chester near the CSX interchange. GAF has stopped shipping as much by rail. Archer-Daniels-Midland in Kershaw is currently the biggest customer on the line with estimates ranging up to 4,000 cars a year. Circle S at MM17 on the Original 29 handles some 3,500 cars a year. Furthermore, there is a shuffle train between the two feed mills. This was billed as an added bonus to L&C operation of the SB. Formerly, 18-wheelers, up to 60 a week, handled this traffic.
The L&C owns a fleet of boxcars— cars built in 1979, cars built in 1996—that were used primarily by GAF, which manufactures rolled roofing-mat material. The 50 footers once numbered forty in total and were in the 200 to 239 block. Five were lost in a derailment in Arkansas while ten were sold to Lexington & Ohio Railroad in 2000. The 60 footers are numbered 600 to 619. For a time, fifteen of these had been leased by CSX. I believe those have since been returned to service by L&C.
PPG Industries is also in East Chester. PPG manufactures 70 million pounds (32,000 metric tons) of fiber material annually that is used in such diverse products as computers and surfboards. Speciality Polymers, Union Carbide and Owens-Corning are also near the wye at East Chester.
Once every week to ten days, the L&C gets unit trains from Ohio for the Circle S Feed Mill now at Milepost 17 between Fort Lawn and Richburg. Both Norfolk Southern and CSX were vying for Circle S. But the L&C convinced the owner of the plant to locate on the L&C by making him see that, according to Steve Gedney, president of the L&C, 'he could have the best of both worlds here,' a reference to being able to choose the best rate between both Class 1 carriers that the L&C connects with. It was this business, along with the 4.7 percent grade at Richburg Hill, that prompted the Railway to purchase four ex-Conrail EMD SW1200s which arrived in 1998. One of these 1200s, 97, spent most of the first three years it was on the line at Circle S unloading the grain cars. As of early November, 2001, it had been replaced by LLPX SW1001 #91. When the SW1001 was returned to LLPX, the railroad put their SW900 #91 at the grain mill.
In all, the Railway handles about 14,000 cars a year in steel, coal, chemicals, glass, fiberglass, sand, corn, barley, soybeans and lumber. Steve Gedney, however, said that it is hard to project actual car loadings. However, this number is certainly an improvement from the 5,800 cars it averaged yearly during the 1980s. An additional 4,000 cars could be added if Circle S undergoes a planned expansion. L&C officials foresee moving between 18,000 and 20,000 cars a year in the future, but add that the line could handle upwards of 30,000 a year (on the original route) "without bumping into each other."
But it is the recent lease-purchase deal with Norfolk Southern that offers the most hope from growth on the Lancaster and Chester. "I think the main thing is our presence and having our operating headquarters in this area", Steve Gedney, the president of the railroad told this reporter.
"If we want to grow our business, which by doing that helps and assists the local economy whether it be in Lancaster County, Chester County or even York County, we do our own marketing in conjunction with the county economic developers for both counties to try to locate companies and factories that will use rail."
The primary customers on the new line are the Archers-Daniels-Midland plant in Kershaw and AmeriSteel on Riverside Road in Lancaster. Gedney envisions service to existing companies on the line that presently do not use rail.
"We are going to see what we can do initially with shippers that have been on the line that have stopped shipping like Thomas and Betts. They’ve got a rail siding going in there. We’re going to talk to them and see if there's anything we can do to help their business which would put rail cars on the line."
Additionally, a spur was put in at Southern Gas north of the interchange in Lancaster. Southern Railway once served this business, but that spur had been taken up years ago.
The line has reshuffled the way they move the trains. In addition, they have put in 100 pound-per-yard (50 kg/m) switches. Presently everything that is on the main line right now on the Kershaw District is 85 lb/yd (42 kg/m) rail. This compares with the 127 to 132 lb/yd (63–66 kg/m) rail on the L&C's original line. New ties have been placed as well on all the curves. Gedney adds, "We’ve also done some bridge work on the 521 bridge. That's not major work, mainly just heavy maintenance."
Meanwhile, the L&C and Lancaster County Economic Development Corporation President Ray Gardner are seeking new business to the line. "We’ve already identified some land around Heath Springs and Kershaw," Gardner said and he suggested that it would be used to make a park.
There are also two parcels of land in the northern part of the county. One is nearly of land at Foster Park. This area is on Riverside Road. "It's zoned I-2," said Gardner, "heavy industrial. We hope to take advantage of that. On down Riverside Road near the airport, we hope the county is going to get us some land there."
"They didn’t go out of their way marketing," Gardner said of how Norfolk Southern handled the line in Lancaster. "I’m not critical of them. But the L&C has got better service. They’re more dependable. They’re local. If you need something, you can drive down there to see them. They’re eager just like we are."
The purchase of the former SB line in Lancaster has fueled speculation on whether the L&C will ever make it into Catawba where interchange with CSX could be easier for Kershaw. Or perhaps even into Rock Hill. But more than six years after the L&C's end cabs set steel on the SB rails, this has not happened yet. What has happened is that the L&C purchased their first non endcab units, two EMD GP38-2s that were originally leased from Helms Leasing after spending most of their career on Conrail. (They went to Norfolk Southern after the split.) They've also currently leasing four rebuilt GP38-2s from GMTX. |
Gerald the Fearless
The city of Évora honours Gerald with a place on its coat-of-arms. The central plaza, the Praça do Giraldo, is also named after him.
Geraldo Geraldes or Gerald the Fearless (died prob. 1173), known in Portuguese as Geraldo "Sem Pavor" ("without fear"), was a Portuguese warrior and folk hero of the "Reconquista" whose theatre of operations was in the barren Alentejo and Extremadura regions of the lower Guadiana river. The city of Évora was the most lasting of his conquests and was never retaken. His success and independence have suggested parallels with the Castilian hero El Cid and Gerald has been called "the Cid of Portugal".
"Reconquista" in Alentejo and Extremadura.
Around 1162 Gerald assembled a private army (a "mesnada") and rapidly developed tactics that proved remarkably successful in seizing Muslim strongholds, though it was not adapted for siege warfare. He "perfected techniques of nocturnal surprise in wintry or stormy weather, stealthy escalading of walls by picked commando-like troops, cutting down of sentries and opening of town gates to the larger force stationed without." Among the primary sources for Gerald's methods the most important is the contemporary Arabic chronicler Ibn Ṣāḥib al-Ṣalā, whose "Al-Mann bil-Imāma" was incorporated into the history of al-Maqqarī in the seventeenth century. His opinion of Gerald and his tactics is very low:
The dog [Gerald] marched on rainy and very dark nights, with strong wind and snow, towards the cities and, having prepared his wooden instruments of scaling [walls] very large, so that they would surpass the wall of the city, he would apply those ladders to the side of the tower and catch the sentinel [by surprise] and say to him: "Shout, as is your custom," in order that the people would not hear him. When the scaling of the group had been completed on the highest wall in the city, they shouted in their language with an abominable screech, and they entered the city and fought whom they found and robbed them and captured all who were there in [the city, taking] captive and prisoner all who were there.
Of the places Gerald conquered the primary sources are in general agreement, also as to the order of their seizure, but as to the dating of events there is ambiguity. Ibn Ṣāḥib's version goes:
In the second "Jumada al-awwal" [15 April–13 May] of the "anno Hegirae" 560 [1165] the city of Trujillo was surprised, and in "Dhu al-Qi'dah" the notable village of Évora. Also was the population of Cáceres in "Safar" 561 [1166], and the castle of Montánchez in "Jumada al-thani" and the strongholds of Serpa and Juromenha.
The years 560 and 561 correspond roughly to the "annos Domini" 1165 and 1166, but here Ibn Ṣāḥib is almost certainly off in his dating by a year. The events rather took place in 1164 and 1165. A later Portuguese chronicle, the "Crónica dos Godos" ("Chronicle of the Goths"), dates the conquest of Évora to the year 1204 of the Spanish era, that is, 1166. Trujillo was taken on 14 May 1164, or in June; Évora in September 1164; and Cáceres in December 1164 or, on a later dating, in September 1166. These were the major conquests. The lesser conquests of Montánchez, Serpa, and Juromenha took place in 1165, based on Ibn Ṣāḥib's scheme, but Montánchez and Serpa may have gone in March 1167, as one historian has it. All the primary sources agree that Santa Cruz de la Sierra was the last of Gerald's successes, which may place it as late as 1169, though perhaps earlier (1167/8), along with Ureña. The conquest of these last two places left Gerald in a position to harass Beja. The date of the capture of Monfragüe, which was certainly one of his conquests, cannot be established.
Conflict with León.
So successful was Gerald by 1168 that his eastward expansion threatened the southward expansion of the Kingdom of León. These actions were in violation of the succession arrangements laid down by Alfonso VII at Sahagún, since they comprised lands whose conquest had been assigned to León. A few of Gerald's conquests in the far east had even been assigned to Castile. The Leonese king, Ferdinand II, son of Alfonso VII, took action immediately after the taking of Cáceres, probably early in the spring of 1166, capturing Alcántara later that year and thus securing a crossing over the Tagus. Subsequently he allied with the Almohad caliph Yusuf I, who had warned him of Gerald and the Portuguese's encroachments on his interests.
In the early summer of 1169, Gerald took the "taifa" and city of Badajoz after a long siege, but the garrison took refuge in the citadel, the "alcazaba", the siege of which continued. Seeing an opportunity to add to his domains the chief city of the region at the expense of both his Muslim and Christian enemies, Afonso I of Portugal came with an army to Badajoz to relieve his nominal vassal. This provoked the opposition of Ferdinand of León, who claimed Badajoz as his own and came south with an army at the request of Yusuf, who had already sent a contingent of 500 cavalry to assist the garrison. The besieging Portuguese were themselves besieged by the Leonese and fighting broke out in the streets. While trying to flee, Afonso was caught on the hinge of a gate and flung from his horse, breaking his leg. He was captured by Ferdinand's men, while Gerald was captured by the Leonese majordomo, Fernán Ruiz de Castro, called "el Castellano" ("the Castilian"). He was an important person at court, who for a while held the highest military post in the capital ("tenente turris Legionis", "possessing the tower of León"). He was the king's brother-in-law, being married to Stephanie the Unfortunate, an illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VII by his second mistress, Urraca Fernández, and thus a half-sister of Ferdinand II. After the mêlée the Leonese had control of the town and the "alcazaba", which they soon relinquished to their Muslim allies. Ferdinand succeeded in gaining the valley of the upper Limia and the regions of Toroño (around Tuy), Capraria (around Verín), and Lobarzana (around Chaves) from Afonso in exchange for his release. Several of Gerald's conquests were ceded to purchase his freedom. Ferdinand retained Cáceres, but Trujillo, Montánchez, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and Monfragüe he gave to Fernán Ruiz.
Serving the Almohads.
In 1171 and 1172, while Yusuf was waging war on Valencia and Murcia, general anarchy prevailed in the Extremadura as Leonese, Portuguese, and Almohad troops fought for supremacy. Gerald took advantage of Yusuf's absence to conquer Beja in the Alentejo (1172). When he and Afonso disagree over whether to hold the site or raze it, Gerald—"impoverished and bereft of all aid" —went to Seville to put himself in the service of the caliph. To keep him away from Portugal he was sent to Morocco with 350 troops. There he received the governorship of "al-Sūs" (the plains and mountains of southern Morocco), but soon entered into negotiations with his former monarch concerning the use of al-Sūs as a base for a Portuguese invasion. When his correspondence was intercepted, he was arrested and put to death. The "Chronica latina regum castellae", a Latin Christian chronicle, summarises Gerald's career in one paragraph at the end of its tenth chapter:
Also then [at the capture of Afonso I at Badajoz] was captured Gerald, alias "without fear", who was given over to Rodrigo Fernández , the Castilian, to whom, in exchange for his liberty, Gerald handed over Montánchez, Trujillo, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and Monfragüe, which the same Gerald had gained from the Saracens, to whom he had caused much damage, and by whom he was decapitated in Moroccan territory on a laughable pretext.
The chief source for Gerald's negotiations with the caliph and his death in Morocco is Ibn `Idhārī al-Marrākushī's "Al-Bayān al-Mugrib". Many of the cities and castles that Gerald captured with ease were later re-conquered by the Almohads, who improved their fortifications so much that they were not taken by the Christians again until the next century. Cáceres was besieged four times without success (1184, 1213, 1218, and 1222) and is usually referred to as a "castrum famossum" ("famous castle") or "muy fuerte castillo" ("very strong castle") in Christian sources, although it had fallen relatively easily to Gerald. Trujillo was not taken by the Christians again until 1234. The defences of Badajoz were completely reworked after 1169 and those that survive today are almost entirely of the Almohad period; the city only fell to the Christians permanently in 1226.
<br> —Camoens, "The Lusiads"<br> (Canto VIII, 21)
Legacy and legend.
Gerald left his mark on the toponymy of the Extremadura. A document of the Order of Calatrava of 1218 refers to the "cabeza de giraldo" ("head of Gerald") as a place, without indicating where it lay. Two streams, the Geradillo and the Geraldo, the first flowing from the second and into the Tagus, are also named after Gerald. The region where the stream originates is in the highlands around Casas de Miravete, which is quite possibly the site of the "cabeza".
The legends which later arose surrounding Gerald are given concise retelling by , a French translator:
He was a man of rank, who, in order to avoid the legal punishment to which several crimes rendered him obnoxious, put himself at the head of a party of freebooters. Tiring, however, of that life, he resolved to reconcile himself to his sovereign by some noble action. Full of this idea, one evening he entered Évora, which then belonged to the Moors. In the night he killed the sentinels of one of the gates, which he opened to his companions, who soon became masters of the place. This exploit had its desired effect. The king pardoned Gerald, and made him governor of Évora. A knight with a sword in one hand, and two heads in the other, from that time became the armorial bearing of the city. |
Law of sines
In trigonometry, the law of sines, sine law, sine formula, or sine rule is an equation relating the lengths of the sides of any triangle to the sines of its angles. According to the law,
formula_1
where , and are the lengths of the sides of a triangle, and , and are the opposite angles (see figure 2), while is the radius of the triangle's circumcircle. When the last part of the equation is not used, the law is sometimes stated using the reciprocals;
formula_2
The law of sines can be used to compute the remaining sides of a triangle when two angles and a side are known—a technique known as triangulation. It can also be used when two sides and one of the non-enclosed angles are known. In some such cases, the triangle is not uniquely determined by this data (called the "ambiguous case") and the technique gives two possible values for the enclosed angle.
The law of sines is one of two trigonometric equations commonly applied to find lengths and angles in scalene triangles, with the other being the law of cosines.
The law of sines can be generalized to higher dimensions on surfaces with constant curvature.
History.
According to Ubiratàn D'Ambrosio and Helaine Selin, the spherical law of sines was discovered in the 10th century. It is variously attributed to Abu-Mahmud Khojandi, Abu al-Wafa' Buzjani, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and Abu Nasr Mansur.
Ibn Muʿādh al-Jayyānī's "The book of unknown arcs of a sphere" in the 11th century contains the general law of sines. The plane law of sines was later stated in the 13th century by Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī. In his "On the Sector Figure", he stated the law of sines for plane and spherical triangles, and provided proofs for this law.
According to Glen Van Brummelen, "The Law of Sines is really Regiomontanus's foundation for his solutions of right-angled triangles in Book IV, and these solutions are in turn the bases for his solutions of general triangles." Regiomontanus was a 15th-century German mathematician.
Proof.
The area of any triangle can be written as one half of its base times its height. Selecting one side of the triangle as the base, the height of the triangle relative to that base is computed as the length of another side times the sine of the angle between the chosen side and the base. Thus depending on the selection of the base, the area of the triangle can be written as any of:
formula_3
Multiplying these by gives
formula_4
The ambiguous case of triangle solution.
When using the law of sines to find a side of a triangle, an ambiguous case occurs when two separate triangles can be constructed from the data provided (i.e., there are two different possible solutions to the triangle). In the case shown below they are triangles and .
Given a general triangle, the following conditions would need to be fulfilled for the case to be ambiguous:
If all the above conditions are true, then each of angles and produces a valid triangle, meaning that both of the following are true:
formula_5
From there we can find the corresponding and or and if required, where is the side bounded by vertices and and is bounded by and .
Examples.
The following are examples of how to solve a problem using the law of sines.
Example 1.
Given: side , side , and angle . Angle is desired.
Using the law of sines, we conclude that
formula_6
formula_7
Note that the potential solution is excluded because that would necessarily give .
Example 2.
If the lengths of two sides of the triangle and are equal to , the third side has length , and the angles opposite the sides of lengths , , and are , , and respectively then
formula_8
Relation to the circumcircle.
In the identity
formula_9
the common value of the three fractions is actually the diameter of the triangle's circumcircle. This result dates back to Ptolemy.
Proof.
As shown in the figure, let there be a circle with inscribed formula_10 and another inscribed formula_11 that passes through the circle's center O. The formula_12 has a central angle of formula_13 and thus formula_14. Since formula_15 is a right triangle,
formula_16
where formula_17 is the radius of the circumscribing circle of the triangle. Angles formula_18 and formula_19 have the same central angle thus they are the same: formula_20. Therefore,
formula_21
Rearranging yields
formula_22
Repeating the process of creating formula_11 with other points gives
Relationship to the area of the triangle.
The area of a triangle is given by formula_24, where formula_25 is the angle enclosed by the sides of lengths and . Substituting the sine law into this equation gives
formula_26
Taking formula_27 as the circumscribing radius,
It can also be shown that this equality implies
formula_28
where is the area of the triangle and is the semiperimeter formula_29
The second equality above readily simplifies to Heron's formula for the area.
The sine rule can also be used in deriving the following formula for the triangle's area: Denoting the semi-sum of the angles' sines as formula_30, we have
where formula_27 is the radius of the circumcircle: formula_32.
The spherical law of sines.
The spherical law of sines deals with triangles on a sphere, whose sides are arcs of great circles.
Suppose the radius of the sphere is 1. Let , , and be the lengths of the great-arcs that are the sides of the triangle. Because it is a unit sphere, , , and are the angles at the center of the sphere subtended by those arcs, in radians. Let , , and be the angles opposite those respective sides. These are dihedral angles between the planes of the three great circles.
Then the spherical law of sines says:
formula_33
Vector proof.
Consider a unit sphere with three unit vectors , and drawn from the origin to the vertices of the triangle. Thus the angles , , and are the angles , , and , respectively. The arc subtends an angle of magnitude at the centre. Introduce a Cartesian basis with along the -axis and in the -plane making an angle with the -axis. The vector projects to in the -plane and the angle between and the -axis is . Therefore, the three vectors have components:
formula_34
The scalar triple product, is the volume of the parallelepiped formed by the position vectors of the vertices of the spherical triangle , and . This volume is invariant to the specific coordinate system used to represent , and . The value of the scalar triple product is the determinant with , and as its rows. With the -axis along the square of this determinant is
formula_35
Repeating this calculation with the -axis along gives , while with the -axis along it is . Equating these expressions and dividing throughout by gives
formula_36
where is the volume of the parallelepiped formed by the position vector of the vertices of the spherical triangle. Consequently, the result follows.
It is easy to see how for small spherical triangles, when the radius of the sphere is much greater than the sides of the triangle, this formula becomes the planar formula at the limit, since
formula_37
and the same for and .
Geometric proof.
Consider a unit sphere with:
formula_38
Construct point formula_39 and point formula_40 such that formula_41
Construct point formula_42 such that formula_43
It can therefore be seen that formula_44 and formula_45
Notice that formula_42 is the projection of formula_47 on plane formula_48. Therefore formula_49
By basic trigonometry, we have:
formula_50
formula_51
But formula_52
Combining them we have:
formula_53
formula_54
By applying similar reasoning, we obtain the spherical law of sine:
formula_55
Other proofs.
A purely algebraic proof can be constructed from the spherical law of cosines. From the identity formula_56 and the explicit expression for formula_57 from the spherical law of cosines
formula_58
Since the right hand side is invariant under a cyclic permutation of formula_59 the spherical sine rule follows immediately.
The figure used in the Geometric proof above is used by and also provided in Banerjee (see Figure 3 in this paper) to derive the sine law using elementary linear algebra and projection matrices.
Hyperbolic case.
In hyperbolic geometry when the curvature is −1, the law of sines becomes
formula_60
In the special case when is a right angle, one gets
formula_61
which is the analog of the formula in Euclidean geometry expressing the sine of an angle as the opposite side divided by the hypotenuse.
The case of surfaces of constant curvature.
Define a generalized sine function, depending also on a real parameter :
formula_62
The law of sines in constant curvature reads as
formula_63
By substituting , , and , one obtains respectively the Euclidean, spherical, and hyperbolic cases of the law of sines described above.
Let indicate the circumference of a circle of radius in a space of constant curvature . Then . Therefore, the law of sines can also be expressed as:
formula_64
This formulation was discovered by János Bolyai.
Higher dimensions.
For an -dimensional simplex (i.e., triangle (), tetrahedron (), pentatope (), etc.) in -dimensional Euclidean space, the absolute value of the polar sine () of the normal vectors of the facets that meet at a vertex, divided by the hyperarea of the facet opposite the vertex is independent of the choice of the vertex. Writing for the hypervolume of the -dimensional simplex and for the product of the hyperareas of its -dimensional facets, the common ratio is
formula_65
For example, a tetrahedron has four triangular facets. The absolute value of the polar sine of the normal vectors to the three facets that share a vertex, divided by the area of the fourth facet will not depend upon the choice of the vertex:
formula_66 |
History of the Jews in Portugal
The history of the Jews in Portugal reaches back over two thousand years and is directly related to Sephardi history, a Jewish ethnic division that represents communities that originated in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain).
Before Portugal.
Jewish populations have existed in the area long before the country was established, back to the Roman era (province of Lusitania), but an attested Jewish presence in Portuguese territory can be documented only since 482 CE. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Jews were persecuted by the Visigoths and other European Christian kingdoms that controlled the area after that period.
In 711, the Moorish invasion of the Iberian Peninsula was seen by many in the Jewish population as a liberation, and marked as the beginning of what many have seen as a golden age (the Islamic Al-Andalus) even if the Jews, as well as the Christians (the Mozarabs of the Visigothic rite), under Muslim rule were considered dhimmi and so they had to pay a special tax.
Rapidly in the 8th century, the Christian kingdoms of the north mountainous areas of the Iberian Peninsula (Kingdom of Asturias) started a long military campaign against the Muslim invaders, the Reconquista. The Jews, since many of them knew Arabic, were used by the Christians as both spies and diplomats on the campaign, which took centuries. That granted them some respect although there was always prejudice.
Medieval Era.
King Afonso I of Portugal entrusted Yahia Ben Yahi III with the post of supervisor of tax collection and nominated him the first Chief-Rabbi of Portugal (a position always appointed by the King of Portugal). Jewish communities had been established prior to these years, an example of Jewish expansion can be seen in the town of Leiria founded by King Afonso I in 1135. The importance of the Jewish population to the development of the urban economy can be inferred from charters Afonso granted in 1170 to the non-Christian merchants living in Lisbon, Almada, Palmela and Alcacer. These charters guaranteed the Jewish minorities in the towns freedom of worship and the use of traditional law-codes. King Sancho I continued to honor these charters by protecting the Jewish community from rioting crusaders in 1189 by forcibly removing them from Lisbon. The importance of the Jewish community in the economy of Portugal can be inferred from the punishment against those who robbed merchant men, robbing either Muslim, Christian, and Jew was of equal severity. King Sancho I of Portugal continued his father's policy, making Jose Ibn-Yahya, the son of Yahia Ben Rabbi, High Steward of the Realm. The clergy, however, invoking the restrictions of the Fourth Council of the Lateran, brought considerable pressure to bear against the Jews during the reign of King Dinis I of Portugal, but the monarch maintained a conciliatory position.
Until the 15th century, some Jews occupied prominent places in Portuguese political and economic life. For example, Isaac Abrabanel was the treasurer of King Afonso V of Portugal. Many also had an active role in the Portuguese culture, and they kept their reputation of diplomats and merchants. By this time, Lisbon and Évora were home to important Jewish communities.
The Inquisition had been established in Spain in 1478 to repress heresy, especially among the many Jews who were suspected to secretly practice their old faith. After the conquest of Granada, the Spanish crown had ordered the expulsion of the Jewish population, many Spanish Jews fled to Portugal.
Portugal was the destination of most Jews who chose to leave Spain after their expulsion in 1492. Around 100,000 Jews had decided to move to the neighboring Kingdom of Portugal, a minor Jewish population was already residing in Portugal.
The Portuguese were reluctant to admit the Jews into Portugal, but John II proposed to collect a tax of eight cruzados per person. Metal-workers and armorers would pay half. Officials were appointed to collect the tax at five points, issuing receipts which served as passports to enter Portugal. After eight months, the Portuguese crown would provide transport elsewhere at an additional fee. Six hundred wealthy families were offered a special contract to remain in Portugal and were settled in the larger cities. Those who could not afford the fee demanded from them by King John II after those eight months were declared his enslaved personal property and distributed to the Portuguese nobility. However, the Portuguese were not willing to house the large remaining population of Jewish immigrants. In some cases Jewish families were housed within Christian households, in the city of Évora the authorities refused to let more Jewish families. King John II attempted to facilitate the transportation of Jewish families to other kingdoms.
When Manuel I of Portugal married a daughter of the Spanish rulers, he was pressed to align his policies with theirs. In December 1496, King Manuel I decreed that all Jews and Muslims in Portugal had until October 1497 to either be baptized or leave the country. In this way, many Jews were expelled, while others were integrated into Portuguese society.
Portuguese discoveries.
In 1497, Vasco da Gama took Abraham Zacuto's tables and the astrolabe with him on the maiden trip to India. It would continue to be used by Portuguese ships thereafter to reach far destinations such as Brazil and India.
Zacuto might have an uncredited appearance in Luís de Camões's 1572 epic poem, "The Lusiad", as the unnamed "old man of Restelo beach", a Cassandra-like character that surges forward just before Vasco da Gama's departure to chide the vanity of fame and warn of the travails that await him (Canto IV, v.94-111). This may be Camões' poetic interpretation of an alleged meeting (reported in Gaspar Correia) between Vasco da Gama and the older Abraham Zacuto at a monastery by Belém beach, just before his fleet's departure, in which Zacuto reportedly gave Gama some final navigational tips and warned him of dangers to avoid.
The so-called Amazonian Jews did not arrive in Brazil during the colonial era, but rather are descended from Moroccan Jews who immigrated to the Amazon region during the Amazon rubber boom.
Inquisition.
In 1492, Spain expelled its Jewish population as part of the Spanish Inquisition. Tens of thousands of Spanish Jews subsequently fled to Portugal, where King John II granted them asylum in return for payment. However, the asylum was only temporary—after eight months, the Portuguese government decreed the enslavement of all Jews who had not yet left the country. In 1493, King John deported several hundred Jewish children to the newly discovered colony of São Tomé, where many of them perished.
Following John II's death in 1495, the new king Manuel I of Portugal restored the freedom of the Jews. However, in 1497, under the pressure of the Spain through the marriage of Isabella, Princess of Asturias, the Church, and some Christians among the Portuguese people, King Manuel I of Portugal decreed that all Jews had to convert to Christianity or leave the country without their children. Hard times followed for the Portuguese Jews, with the massacre of 2000 individuals in Lisbon in 1506, further forced deportations to São Tomé (where there is still a Jewish presence today), and the later and even more relevant establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition in 1536.
The Inquisition held its first Auto da fé in Portugal in 1540. Like the Spanish Inquisition, it concentrated its efforts on rooting out converts from other faiths (overwhelmingly Judaism) who did not adhere to the strictures of Catholic orthodoxy; like in Spain, the Portuguese inquisitors mostly targeted the Jewish New Christians, "conversos", or "marranos". The Portuguese Inquisition expanded its scope of operations from Portugal to the Portuguese Empire, including Brazil, Cape Verde, and India. According to Henry Charles Lea between 1540 and 1794 tribunals in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and Évora burned 1,175 persons, another 633 were burned in effigy and 29,590 were penanced. The Portuguese inquisition was extinguished in 1821 by the "General Extraordinary and Constituent Courts of the Portuguese Nation".
Thousands of Portuguese Jews, the vast majority, would eventually emigrate to Amsterdam, Thessaloniki, Constantinople (Istanbul), France, Morocco, Brazil, Curaçao and the Antilles. In some of these places their presence can still be witnessed, as in the use of the Ladino language by some Jewish communities in Turkey, the Portuguese based dialects of the Netherlands Antilles, or the multiple synagogues built by what was to be known as the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (such as the Amsterdam Esnoga or Bevis Marks Synagogue in the City of London).
The prohibitions, persecution and eventual Jewish mass emigration from Spain and Portugal probably had adverse effects on the development of the Portuguese economy. Jews and Non-Catholic Christians reportedly had substantially better numerical skills than the Catholic majority, which might be due to the Jewish religious doctrine, which focused strongly on education, for example because Torah-Reading was compulsory. Even when Jews were forced to quit their highly skilled urban occupations, their numeracy advantage persisted. However, during the inquisition, spillover-effects of these skills were rare because of forced separation and Jewish emigration, which was detrimental for economic development.
Post-Inquisition.
Despite strong persecution, conversos of Jewish ancestry did stay in Portugal initially. Of those, a significant number converted to Christianity as a mere formality, practicing their Jewish faith in secret. These Crypto-Jews were known as New Christians, and would be under the constant surveillance of the Inquisition – to such an extent that most of these, would eventually leave the country in the centuries to come and again embrace openly their Jewish faith, joining the communities of Spanish and Portuguese Jews in places like Amsterdam, London or Livorno.
Some of the most famous descendants of Portuguese Jews who lived outside Portugal are the philosopher Baruch Spinoza (from Portuguese Bento de Espinosa), and the classical economist David Ricardo.
Very few Jews, the Belmonte Jews, went for a different and radical solution, practicing their faith in a strict secret isolated community. Known as the Marranos, some dozens have survived until today (basically only the community from the small town of Belmonte, plus some more isolated families) by the practice of inmarriage and few cultural contact with the outside world. Only recently, have they re-established contact with the international Jewish community and openly practice religion in a public synagogue with a formal rabbi.
In the 19th century, with the end of the inquisition, some affluent families of Sephardi Jewish Portuguese origin, namely from Morocco and Gibraltar, returned to Portugal (such as the Ruah, Bensaúde, Anahory, Abecassis, and Buzzaglo). The first synagogue to be built in Portugal since the 15th century was the Lisbon Synagogue, inaugurated in 1904.
World War II.
A new chapter for Jews in Portugal was marked by World War II. From 1929 Portugal was under the nationalist regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, but Portuguese nationalism was not grounded on race or biology. In 1934 Salazar made it clear that Portuguese nationalism did not include pagan anti-human ideals that glorified a race, and in 1937, he published a book where he criticized the ideals behind the Nuremberg laws. In 1938, he sent a telegram to the Portuguese Embassy in Berlin ordering that it should be made clear to the German Reich that Portuguese law did not allow any distinction based on race and therefore Portuguese Jewish citizens could not be discriminated against.
In 1937, Adolfo Benarus, Honorary Chairman of COMASSIS and a leader of the Lisbon's Jewish Community published a book where he rejoiced with the fact that there was no anti-Semitism in Portugal.
Portuguese Jewish scholar and economist Moses Amzalak, leader of the Lisbon Jewish community for more than fifty years (from 1926 until 1978), believed that Nazis were defending Europe from communism. Later, when Nazi anti-Semitic policies became evident, Amzalak got actively involved in rescue operations leveraging his friendship with Salazar.
Yad Vashem historian Avraham Milgram says that modern anti-Semitism failed "to establish even a toehold in Portugal" while it grew racist and virulent elsewhere in early twentieth-century Europe.
Early in September 1939, Portugal proclaimed its neutrality to combat threats to its colonial possessions from nations in both the Allied and Axis camps. Nonetheless, its sympathies were clearly on the side of the allies following Germany's invasion of the Catholic nation of Poland.
Upon the declaration of war, the Portuguese Government announced that the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance remained intact, but since the British did not seek Portuguese assistance, Portugal would remain neutral. The British Government confirmed the understanding. From the British perspective, Portuguese non-belligerency was essential to keep Spain from entering the war on the side of the Axis."
At the outbreak of World War II, to the nearly 400 Jews that were living in Portugal an additional 650 Jewish refugees from Central Europe were granted a quasi-resident status. However, under threat of military action from the Nazis Salazar issued orders on November 11, 1939, that consuls were not to issue Portuguese visas to "foreigners of indefinite or contested nationality; the stateless; or Jews expelled from their countries of origin". This order was followed only six months later by one stating that "under no circumstances" were visas to be issued without prior case-by-case approval from Lisbon. Portugal's regime did not distinguish between Jews and non-Jews but rather between immigrant Jews who came and had the means to leave the country and those lacking them. Portugal prevented Jews from putting down roots in the country not because they were Jews but because the regime feared foreign influence in general, and feared the entrance of Bolsheviks and left-wing agitators fleeing from Germany. Antisemitic ideological patterns had no hold in the ruling structure of the “Estado Novo” and "a fortiori" in the various strata of Portuguese society.
Germany's invasion of France in 1940 brought the Nazis to the Pyrenees which allowed Hitler to bring unanticipated pressures on both Spain and Portugal.
On June 26, 1940, the main HIAS-HICEM (Jewish relief organization) European Office was authorized by Salazar to be transferred from Paris to Lisbon.
A few weeks later, in the summer of 1940, the Jewish community on the Portuguese island of Madeira also grew considerably due to the Evacuation of the Gibraltarian civilian population during World War II to Madeira, which included a number of Jews, who attended the Synagogue of Funchal. Some of these evacuees were buried in the Jewish Cemetery of Funchal.
Following the Nazi invasion of Russia which cut off their supply of wolfram (tungsten) from Asia, Germany initiated tactics to extract wolfram from Portugal, initially by artificially running up prices in an attempt to get the people to bypass the Portuguese government and sell directly to German Agents. Salazar's government attempted to limit this and in October 1941 Germany retaliated by sinking a Portuguese merchant ship, the first neutral ship to be attacked during World War II. Germany torpedoed a second Portuguese ship in December. England then invoked long-standing treaties with Portugal dating from 1373 (Anglo-Portuguese Alliance) and 1386 (Treaty of Windsor) and Portugal honored these by granting a military base in the Azores to the Allies. The Allies then promised all possible aid in the event of a German attack against Portugal. Portugal continued to export wolfram and other goods to both Allied countries and Germany (partly via Switzerland) until 1944 when Portugal declared a total embargo of wolfram to Germany.
Despite Salazar's strict policy, efforts to provide entry visas into Portugal to Jews via rescue operations continued. The number of refugees that has escaped through Portugal during the war has estimates that range from one hundred thousand to one million, an impressive number considering the size of the country's population at that time (circa 6 million). "In 1940 Lisbon, happiness was staged so that God could believe it still existed," wrote the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Portuguese capital became a symbol of hope for many refugees. Even Ilsa and Rick, the star-crossed lovers in the film Casablanca, sought a ticket to that "great embarkation point." Thousands had flooded the city, trying to obtain the documents necessary to escape to the United States or Palestine. Not all found their way.
The number of visas issued by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Portuguese consul in Paris, cannot be determined. There is no consensus on the number of refugees that used Portugal as an escape route in those early days of World War II. Yehuda Bauer says that the number of visas must have been close to 10,000 and that is the number of refugees who actually reached Portugal in the summer of 1940. But he adds that of these 10,000 "“not all of them received visas from Mendes, but a very high proportion must have”". To reach a more accurate figure, the visas granted by the Portuguese consulates in Rotterdam, Den Hague, Antwerp, Paris, Toulouse, Berlin, Geneva, and other cities would need to be counted, according to Yad Vashem historian Avraham Milgram in a study from 1999 published by the Shoah Resource Center An analysis of the list of visas granted by Sousa Mendes to Jews and non-Jews in May and June 1940 indicates that the number of visas granted by the consul was lower than the numbers mentioned in the literature, raising questions about Portugal and the entry of Jewish refugees. Milgram concludes that "the discrepancy between the reality and the myth of the number of visas granted by Sousa Mendes is great".
More recently, in 2011, Milgram published a densely researched book, “Portugal Salazar and the Jews” where he again challenges the long-maintained but fuzzy numbers of the Sousa Mendes disobedience episode. To make his point on the exaggeration of the numbers, Milgram also cross checks the Bordeaux numbers with those of the HICEM reports. According to HICEM reports, only 1,538 Jews who came to Portugal as refugees without visas to other countries sailed from Lisbon in the second half of 1940, and an additional 4,908 Jews, with the help of HICEM, sailed during 1941. To this number should be added approximately 2,000 Jews who came armed with American visas directly from Italy, Germany, and countries annexed by the Germans. In total, in the eighteen months from July 1940 to December 1941, the HICEM took care of the sea transport of 8,346 Jews who left Lisbon for trans-Atlantic countries.
Because of his efforts in opening up a refugee escape route, Sousa Mendes has been honored by Israel as one of the Righteous Among The Nations. The escape route remained active throughout the war, allowing an estimated one million refugees to escape from the Nazis through Portugal during World War II.
Mendes' actions were not unique. Issuing visas in contravention of instructions was widespread at Portuguese consulates all over Europe.
Other cases were supported by Salazar. The Portuguese Ambassador in Budapest, Carlos Sampaio Garrido and the Chargé d'Affaires Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho, under Salazar's direct supervision, helped an estimated 1,000 Hungarian Jews in 1944. They rented houses and apartments in the outskirts of Budapest to shelter and protect refugees from deportation and murder. On April 28, 1944, when the Hungarian secret police (counterparts to the Gestapo) raided the Ambassador's home and arrested his guests, the Ambassador physically resisted the police and was also arrested, but he managed to have his guests released on the grounds of ex-territorially of diplomatic legations. In 2010 Sampaio Garrido was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
Other Portuguese who deserve further credit for saving Jews during the war are Professor Francisco Paula Leite Pinto and Moisés Bensabat Amzalak. A devoted Jew and a Salazar supporter, Amzalak headed the Lisbon Jewish community for more than fifty years, from 1926 until 1978.
Communities.
The roots of Portuguese Jewry lay way prior to the forging of the Portuguese kingdom. When Afonso I of Portugal obtained recognition of his independent kingdom, in 1143, Jews had lived in the Iberian Peninsula for at least one millennium.
Later, with the Edict of expulsion of the Jews by Manuel I (1496) and the official establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition by John III (1536) came a period of intolerance and prejudice that lasted for several centuries and led to the almost complete extermination of Judaism and the Jews in Portugal. It wasn't until the twentieth century that organized Jewish communities settled again in Portugal.
Lisbon.
Lisbon Jewish Community.
The Jewish Community of Lisbon (Portuguese: "Comunidade Israelita de Lisboa - CIL") was officially recognized in 1913. It brings together the Jews of Lisbon. Its headquarters are on Avenida Alexandre Herculano, no.59 in Lisbon, where the synagogue Shaaré Tikvah (Gates of Hope) is located. According to its official website, the purpose of the Jewish Community of Lisbon is to promote religious education for the new generations according to the values of Judaism, to recruit new members and to strengthen its engagement in the local and national affairs, by means of dialogue and interaction with the authorities as well as with civil and religious institutions.
Ohel Jacob Synagogue.
The Ohel Jacob Synagogue (“Tent of Jacob”) was founded in 1934 by a small Jewish group of Ashkenazic origin from Central Europe, which began by meeting at the premises of the now established Hehaber – Israel Youth Zionist character, which had been created by young Jews in Lisbon in 1925. This group of Jews, mostly Poles, would play a remarkable role in the dynamization of this religious space, a singular synagogue, characterized by its openness to the outside, tolerance and understanding for Jews of all origins, especially the integration of the descendants of Marranos – or b’nei anussim.
Ohel Jacob is the only reform synagogue in Portugal, and is under the guidance of Rabbi Alona Lisitsa. It is also an affiliate member of the European Union for Progressive Judaism (EUPJ) and World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ).
Porto.
The foundation of the synagogue dates to 1923, with the initiatives of the Jewish community in Porto and of Captain Artur Barros Basto, who converted to Judaism. Generally, three organized Jewish communities had existed in Portugal: in Lisbon, Porto and Belmonte; there are 6000 people who consider themselves Jewish. Captain Barros Basto was one of the most important figures in the community, linked to the founding of an organized Jewish movement in the northern community. There were at least twenty Ashkenazi Jews in the city; since there was no synagogue, they needed to travel to Lisbon for all their religious needs.
Barros Basto began to plan a synagogue, officially registering the local Jewish community, the Comunidade Israelita do Porto (Israelite Community of Porto), with the local government in 1923. During this time, the membership used a house on the Rua Elias Garcia. In 1927, Barros Basto founded the Portuguese Jewish newspaper "Ha-Lapid".
In 1929, with the aim of trying to convert the Marranos that existed in Trás-os-Montes and Beiras into official Judaism, Barros Basto raised funds. On 13 November 1929 an application for the necessary licensing to begin work was delivered to the municipal council; a few weeks later, the first stone was laid and construction begun. The architects were Artur de Almeida Júnior and Augusto dos Santos Malta (who trained in the Escola das Belas Artes de Porto), in collaboration with interior designer Rogério de Azevedo. Rogério de Azevedo may have executed some of the finish work himself, as some touches, including woodwork in the library, were completed in a style characteristic of his work.
Between 1930 and 1935, the Israeli Technology Institute was installed in the building, even before its completion. The work progressed slowly until 1933, despite support from the Committee for Spanish-Portuguese Jews in London. In 1937, the synagogue was complete thanks to the contributions from the Jewish community in London and from funds donated by the Kadoorie family and Iraqi Jews from Portugal. Upon the death of Laura Kadoorie, the wife of prominent Mizrahi Jewish philanthropist Sir Elly Kadoorie, her children wished to honor their mother, a descendant of Portuguese Jews who had fled the country following the Inquisition. This tribute was reflected in the monetary support by the Kadoorie family to assist in the construction of large part of the synagogue in Porto, which was later renamed Synagogue Kadoorie - Mekor Haim. In the same year, Captain Artur Barros Basto was expelled from the Portuguese army for his participation in circumcisions. The synagogue was inaugurated in 1938. The synagogue has always had a small number of members and, for much of the 20th century, has been entrusted to families in Central and Eastern Europe (Roskin, Kniskinsky, Finkelstein, Cymerman, Pressman and others), who married among themselves.
During the Second World War, hundreds of refugees passed through the doors of the synagogue en route to the United States.
Former Captain Barros Bastos died in 1961.
In 2012, the synagogue was opened to the public.
Representatives from an Israeli governmental agency visited in 2014 and approved co-financing for renovations and security upgrades. On 21 May 2015, the Jewish Museum of Porto was opened to the public. It was inaugurated on 28 June in the presence of the president of the Comunidade Israelita do Porto and various cultural, education and political personalities. A fence was erected along the sides and rear of the building.
The community counts among its members Jews of origins as diverse as Poland, Egypt, the United States, India, Russia, Israel, Spain, Portugal and England. The present rabbi is Daniel Litvak, a native of Argentina, and the current vice president is Isabel Ferreira Lopes, the granddaughter of Captain Barros Basto.
According to the official blog of the community, it includes about 500 Jews originally from more than thirty countries and gathers all standards and degrees of observance of Judaism.
In recent years, the members of the community have connected the organization with the rest of the Jewish world, written the Community's rules, restored the synagogue building, organized departments and created the necessary conditions for Jewish life to flourish again in Oporto.
The organisation has a beit din, two official rabbis, and structures for kashrut. It offers courses to schoolteachers to combat anti-Semitism, and has a museum, a cinema, films about its history, and cooperation protocols with the Portuguese state, the Israeli Embassy to Portugal, B'nai B'rith International, the Anti-Defamation League, Keren Hayesod, and Chabad Lubavitch, as well as with the Oporto Diocese and Oporto's Muslim community.
In January 2019, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, visited the Porto Synagogue, where he attended the celebration of the Shabbat Cabalat, after which he took the floor. Upon arrival, the Head of State was received by the President of the Jewish Community of Porto, Dias Ben Zion, and by the Chief Rabbi, Daniel Litvak.
In September 2020, the Jewish Community of Porto was received by the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, in the City Hall. The Mayor welcomed the leadership of a rapidly growing and rejuvenating community in the city, representing about 500 Jews from more than 30 countries.
Belmonte.
The Jewish community of Belmonte was officially recognized in 1989. It brings together the Jews of Belmonte and its surroundings. Its headquarters are located in Rua Fonte Rosa, 6250-041, Belmonte, where the Synagogue Beit Eliahu (House of Elijah) was built. According to the official blog of the Jewish community of Belmonte, this is the only community in Portugal that can be considered truly Portuguese. Its members are descendants of crypto-Jews that managed to preserve many of the rites, prayers and social relations throughout the period of the Inquisition, marrying inside a community constituted by a few families.
Cascais.
The Avner Cohen Chabad House is a Jewish community centre situated in Cascais in the Lisbon District. It includes a library that places special emphasis on works about the Torah, either those written by Portuguese Jewish scholars or printed in Portugal in the late 15th-century. This is the first Chabad House to be established in Portugal, having been opened in 2019.
Migration to Israel.
The Portuguese people are the fifth largest Western European immigrant group in Israel, after Dutch people, French people, Britons and Germans. Also, Israel is home to the largest Portuguese immigrant community in Middle East.
Present.
In 1987 the then President Mário Soares, for the first time in the History of Portugal, asked forgiveness to the Jewish communities of Portuguese origin for Portugal's responsibility in the Inquisition and all the past persecutions of Jews.
At present there are numerous Jewish cultural heritage sites in Portugal, including five synagogues in the country, in Lisbon (Sha'aré Tikvá – Orthodox/ Ohel Yaakov – Conservative), Porto (), Ponta Delgada in the Azores islands (Porta do Céu – Shaar ha-Shamain) and Belmonte (Bet Eliahu), and several private places where the Jewish community meets. There are a series of kosher products being produced in Portugal including wine.
It is hard to say how many Jews live in Portugal. The Portuguese census estimated a Jewish population of 5,000 individuals in 2001, with a between-census estimate in 2006 of 8,000. The CIA World Factbook refers a smaller number of a thousand Jews, mainly central European Holocaust survivors. But the Marranos (Crypto-Jews) and returned Sephardim represent the remainder.
According to a 2008 study by the American Journal of Human Genetics, 19.8% of the Portuguese population has some degree of Jewish ancestry. The genetic signatures of people in the Iberian Peninsula provide new evidence that the number of Jews forced to convert to Christianity during Catholic rule in the 15th and 16th centuries was much greater than historians believed.
Some Portuguese personalities are known Jews or descendants of Jews, most notably Esther Mucznik (leader of the Israelite Community of Lisbon), the award-winning photographer Daniel Blaufuks, screen actress Daniela Ruah, former Lisbon Mayor Nuno Krus Abecassis, and the former President of the Republic Jorge Sampaio, whose grandmother was a Moroccan Jew of Portuguese-Jewish origin. And Sampaio does not consider himself Jewish, stating that he is agnostic.
Citizenship law.
In April 2013 Portugal passed a law of return, allowing descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled in the inquisition to claim Portuguese citizenship provided that they 'belong to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin with ties to Portugal' without a requirement for residence. The amendment to Portugal's "Law on Nationality" was approved unanimously on 11 April 2013. The law came into effect in March 2015. |
Michael Levy, Baron Levy
Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, (born 11 July 1944) is a Labour Party peer. He is a former chartered accountant and was chairman and CEO of a large independent group of music companies. He now acts as a consultant for a number of companies and is also chairman of a finance company.
Levy is also the president of Sense and Sense International, Jewish Care, Barnet and Southgate Colleges, Jewish Free School (JFS), Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade (JLGB), Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School, and Mathilda Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary School (MMK). He was previously president of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and president of Volunteering Matters.
Levy was the chief fundraiser for the Labour Party. A long-standing friend of former prime minister Tony Blair, Levy spent nine years as Blair's special envoy to the Middle East, being replaced by Gordon Brown's appointee, Lord Williams of Baglan, from September 2007.
Early life.
Born in Stoke Newington, North London, to devout Jewish immigrant parents of modest means, Levy was educated at Grocers, later known as Hackney Downs School.
Music career.
Levy qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1966 (ACA then FCA) and set up a professional accountancy practice.
The practice attracted a great number of clients in the music and entertainment industry and Levy became a specialist in international copyright and licence.
Amongst the clients were the Foundations, Vanity Fair, Roger Greenaway, Barry Mason and many other successful producers and artists.
Levy founded Magnet Records with Peter Shelley in 1973. This became one of the most successful independent labels of its day and at one stage had 10% of the British singles market with four singles in the top ten.
The successful artists on the label included Adrian Baker, Alvin Stardust, Chris Rea, Bad Manners, Darts, Susan Cadogan, Silver Convention and Guys 'n' Dolls.
Levy sold Magnet Records to Warner Brothers in 1988 for £10m.
Guitarist Chris Rea said of Levy, "He is extremely tough, one of the hardest bastards I have ever met, but I would leave my children with him rather than anyone else." The music producer Pete Waterman described him as "the greatest salesman I have ever met. He would be able to sell sand to the Arabs."
After Magnet was sold, Levy set up M&G Records with backing from Polygram. M&G Records was so named as it was the initials of Michael and his wife Gilda, and featured acts such as Zoe who had a top five hit with "Sunshine on a Rainy Day" and Pele who had success with "Fair blows the wind for France". Polygram were then bought out and the company was eventually sold to Bertelsmann (BMG) in 1997.
Aptitude for fundraising.
Levy was involved in fundraising from his early life and from the late 1960s for many causes including Jewish and Israeli causes. For this he showed a special adeptness, raising, between 1988 and 1994, £60m for Jewish Care, an amalgam of several Jewish charitable organisations, of which he is now President. Simon Morris, Former Chief Executive of Jewish Care, said of Levy that, when it comes to fundraising, "there's no one better in the country." Levy has been described as the number one fundraiser in the country, and he has raised hundreds of millions of pounds for charitable causes over the years.
Political life.
Levy first met Tony Blair at a dinner party in 1994, hosted by Israeli diplomat Gideon Meir, the two having a common friend in Eldred Tabachnik, a senior barrister (now a QC and a former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews) at 11 King's Bench Walk, the chambers founded by Derry Irvine where Blair had trained in the early 1980s. They soon became close friends and tennis partners. Levy ran the Labour Leader's Office Fund to finance Blair's campaign before the 1997 general election and received substantial contributions from such figures as Alex Bernstein and Robert Gavron, both of whom were ennobled by Blair after he came to power. Levy himself was created a life peer on 23 September 1997 as Baron Levy, of Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. Since making his maiden speech on 3 December 1997, Levy has not spoken in a debate at the House of Lords.
He has been described by "The Jerusalem Post" as "undoubtedly the notional leader of British Jewry". He was a founding member of the Jewish Leadership Council, the leadership of UK Jewish community. Levy has close ties with Israeli political leaders. His son, Daniel Levy, was active in Israeli political life, and has served as an assistant to the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and to former Knesset member Yossi Beilin. His son Daniel is now based in the UK and is now President of the US Middle East Project and before that was Head of the Middle East Department of the European Council of Foreign Relations. Levy has praised Blair for his "solid and committed support of the State of Israel" and "his commitment to the peace process". Levy was associated with the Labour Friends of Israel.
Known as "Lord Cashpoint" to some in the media and politics, he was the leading fundraiser for the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007 (having raised over £100m for the Labour Party). In 2007 he voluntarily decided to step down at the same time as former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In 2000, Levy was criticised when it was revealed that he had paid only £5,000 tax during the financial year 1998–1999 – however it was subsequently shown even in that year the tax paid was £30,000. In an interview at the time, repeated on BBC2's Newsnight on 16 March 2006, Levy stated that "Over the years I have paid many millions of tax and, if you average it, each year it comes to many hundreds of thousands of pounds. In that particular year, I was giving my time to the Labour Party and the voluntary sector, and I just lived off capital."
From 1998 until 2007, he acted as Prime Minister Blair's personal envoy to the Middle East.
Many leaders in the region including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have praised Levy for always offering constructive suggestions. Mr Blair has said Lord Levy carried out "a perfectly excellent job as my envoy under very difficult circumstances".
In September 2005, Levy was appointed President of the Council of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the body overseeing the government's Specialist schools and Academy programmes.
Cash for honours.
Levy was arrested and questioned in connection with the "Cash for Honours" inquiry by the Metropolitan Police on 12 July 2006 (whereby it was suggested that money was paid to political parties for Honours in particular peerages). No charges were made against Levy and the police removed all details from their files.
Other positions.
Levy is Life President of Jewish Care, and the President of Jewish Free School (JFS), Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade (JLGB), Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School, Mathilda Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary School (MMK), Barnet & Southgate Colleges and Sense & Sense International. and the Honorary President of UJIA and the former President of Volunteering Matters and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
He was a Member of the Advisory Council of Step Up to Serve Campaign (2013-2020). He was the Chair of the Policy Network Foundation, a policy think tank. He also holds and has held a number of other positions in the voluntary sector and he was a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Peace Institute, IPI (2014-2019). .
In 2008 Levy became Chairman of International Standard Asset Management until 2011. Now Principal of Global Consultancy Services acting as a Consultant to a number of companies, and he is also Chairman of Chase Mill Hill Ltd.
Personal life.
He and his wife Gilda have a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Juliet.
Levy's home in Totteridge, North London, was burgled in 2003. He and his wife Gilda were restrained with handcuffs and had bleach poured over them. Levy was hit on the head with a shovel and had his wrist broken; the attackers fled with £80,000 of cash and jewellery.
Lord Levy received an Honorary Doctorate from Middlesex University in 1999, and the Israel Policy Forum (USA) Special Recognition Award in 2003. In 1994 he was a Recipient of the B'nai B'rith First Lodge Award and in 1998 a Recipient of the Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Scopus Award. He has received the Jewish Chronicle 175th Anniversary Award for outstanding, unique and long term contributions to British Community life.
Lord Levy's autobiography, "A Question of Honour", was published in 2008. |
Bataireacht
In Irish martial arts, (; meaning 'stick-fighting') (also called "boiscín" and "ag imirt na maidí" ) now refers to the various forms of stick-fighting from Ireland. Although an old term it was found by author John W. Hurley and introduced back into modern usage in the late 1990’s. "Bataireacht" literally means “fighting with sticks” and has no specifically “Irish” connotation at all, but Hurley thought it a convenient word to use for non-Irish speakers since it is indeed Irish and does connote fighting, or fencing, with 3 foot sticks.
Definition.
"Bataireacht" is a category of stick-fighting martial arts of Ireland. The concept of people swinging sticks at each other, in anger, dates far into pre-history. It is likely to have started with the hominids that existed before homo sapiens. Neanderthals are known to have crafted heavy sticks into tools that were multi-purpose and resembled many modern Batas. Although stick-fighting is pre-historic, the vocabulary of Bataireacht can be traced back to Old Irish, one of the oldest languages in Europe. Wooden sticks & clubs were very significant in Bronze age warfare. The Bronze Age battlefield of Tollense, in Northern Germany contained Batas made from Ash and Sloe (which is a shrub related to Blackthorn). It is believed that peasant soldiers fought largely without metal as bronze was often preserved for the prestigious warrior class of horsemen. Certainly the archaeological records demonstrate large numbers of traumatic head injuries from the Bronze age time and are different from the types of injuries inflicted in the later Classical times or the Medieval age.
"Bata" is the Irish term for any kind of stick. In stick fighting, the actual "bata" or stick used for "bataireacht" is commonly called a shillelagh. There are a two ideas as to the origin of the word. The most popular and older one (in the English language) is that the name came from a genericization of the forest of Shillelagh, a barony situated in County Wicklow, and famous for its oak forests in the 18th century. As the oak coming from this region was in high demand, the term started to be applied to good quality sticks. This is the meaning that many British authors of the 18th and 19th centuries used when talking about shillelaghs, for example William Carleton who talked of cudgels made of "good shillelah" which had a leather thong attached. The first documentable use of the word “Shillelagh” in English, was in 1755, in Thomas Sheridan's The Brave Irishman the expression there is used side to side with "Andreaferrara", used by the protagonist to refer to his sword in the same manner as he refers to "Shillela", further relating the Irish fighting stick to broadsword fencing. Again, this explanation can be found in many different Ango-centric sources from the 18th and 19th centuries, and is therefore the most popular one in English. The other explanation is well documented in Irish language texts. For example, Gaelic scholar and native Irish speaker Patrick S. Dinneen in the 1927 edition of his "Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla" dictionnary. notes that "Sail Éille" means "thonged cudgel", and explains that it was later anglicised as "shillelagh". Dineen was actually born and raised at a time when stick-fencing was still actively practiced in his home area. The first use of the word “sail” for cudgel goes back thousands of years so other native Irish speaking linguists have repeatedly confirmed Dineen’s explanation for the origins of the word throughout the years. That definition has been dismissed only by Maxime Chouinard a French Canadian, who is noticeably not fluent in Irish and prefers the Anglo-centric explanation.
Common woods used to make sticks included Blackthorn, oak, ash and hazel were traditionally the most common types of woods used to make shillelagh fighting sticks.
The style is mostly characterized by the use of a cudgel, or knobbed stick, of different lengths but most often the size of a walking stick or small club. The stick is grabbed by the third of the handle end, the lower part protecting the elbow and allowing the user to maintain an offensive as well as defensive guard. This grip also allows launching fast punching-like strikes.
History.
The Irish have used various sticks and cudgels as weapons of self-defence for centuries. As with most vernacular martial arts, it is difficult to establish the origin of the art. The art certainly goes back to prehistory and possibly was widespread in the Bronze Age when metal was highly precious yet sticks were easily obtained. Weapons similar to shillelagh are described in various sources including heroic tales such as The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel and were also popular all over Europe It would truly begin to catch the attention of writers in the 18th century. The shillelagh is still identified with Irish popular culture to this day, although the arts of bataireacht are much less so. The sticks used for bataireacht are not of a standardised size, as there are various styles of bataireacht, using various kinds of sticks.
The historical link between bataireacht and other Irish weapons is unclear. Some authors have argued that prior to the 19th century, the term had been used to refer to a form of stick-fencing used to train Irish soldiers in broadsword and sabre techniques.
This theory has been criticized, among other things for its lack of primary source material. Although fencing instruction and manuals existed at the time and were available in Ireland and abroad, with one of them illustrating bataireacht among wrestling, boxing and fencing the two systems are in practice substantially different, namely in the active use of the buta, a part of the stick with no equivalent in European swords. Clues indicate that links may exist with other weapons closer in attributes such as the axe, but the historical descriptions are rare and limited in scope, so it is quite difficult to confirm.
Others disagree as fighting with sticks while using broadsword techniques was common practice in Britain, France and Germany throughout the 18th and part of the 19th century. And we have period texts wherein the Broadsword fencing instructors themselves advise their students to use broadsword techniques with walking sticks, in civilian settings. <ref> |
M32 motorway
The M32 is a long motorway in South Gloucestershire and Bristol, England. It provides a link from the M4, a major motorway linking London and South Wales, to Bristol city centre and is maintained by National Highways, the national roads body.
The motorway was planned concurrently with the M4 in the 1960s, and construction was complete to Eastville in northeast Bristol by 1970. The southernmost section was delayed by engineering challenges and industrial action, and did not open until 1975. Since the mid-2000s, there have been plans to use the M32 as part of a park and ride facility which would reduce congestion in Bristol.
Though the M32 has a small traffic flow, it is one of the most congested motorways in the region as it connects a number of key areas. As well as providing one of the few high-quality routes into the centre of Bristol, it is the only significant link from the M4 to the A4174 Bristol Ring Road. Parts of the M32 are reaching the end of their intended lifespan, leading to reduced speed limits and occasional closures for remedial work. Local residents have criticised the M32, complaining that it has severed communities and has an unacceptable noise level.
Route.
The M32 is long. Its northern end is at junction 19 of the M4, near Winterbourne Down. Originally a grade separated roundabout junction, it was modified in 1992 to remove conflicting traffic movements in order to increase capacity.
The motorway then runs south between Filton in the west and Frenchay in the east. After meeting the A4174 ring road at junction 1, it crosses the boundary from South Gloucestershire to Bristol, passing to the east of Horfield, Lockleaze and Easton. Junction 2, next to Eastville Park, meets the B4469 providing access to Horfield. Midway through, a speed limit begins. The motorway continues further south and ends just beyond junction 3, north of St Paul's. A dual carriageway continues as the A4032 into the centre of Bristol, with a speed limit.
The M32 is a trunk road, therefore its maintenance and upkeep is paid for by Highways England, the national roads authority. Most of the road has two lanes in each direction, though an extended sliproad north of junction 2 provides a climbing lane, and the short section between junction 1 and the M4 has three lanes both ways.
History.
Construction.
The M32 was planned to be a key radial link through to the hub of a network of radial and ring roads within a rectangle encompassing Bristol. Other bounds of this scheme were parts of the M4 (north eastern side), the M5 (north western side) and the tidal reaches of the River Avon (south western side), the south eastern side not being defined by landmarks. The motorway was partly funded by Gloucestershire County Council and Bristol City Council, with a 75 per cent grant supplied by the national Ministry of Transport. It was provisionally called the Hambrook Spur or the Bristol Parkway during construction, and was built in three distinct stages between 1966 and 1975.
The first section, from the M4 to junction 1, opened concurrently with that motorway in September 1966. The second section, through to junction 2, was a co-operative design between the Gloucestershire county surveyor and the design consultants Freeman Fox & Partners. Construction was awarded to Sir Robert McAlpine, who began work in June 1968. The northern section was designed as a full-speed () motorway as far as Eastville, after which the motorway ran on an elevated section with a lower design standard. This section was opened by the Secretary of State for Transport, John Peyton in July 1970. The total cost was £3million (now £million). In 1972, a polystyrene storage depot on Muller Road near junction 2 caught fire, leading to the closure of the southbound M32 for six days.
The third section was the most technically demanding, as it ran through heavily built-up urban areas and required numerous properties to be demolished, along with the "Thirteen-arch viaduct" near Stapleton Road that was built in 1874. Work was delayed owing to the Three-Day Week industrial action in 1974, and further because of a national builders' strike. During construction, the Local Government Act 1972 was passed, and responsibility passed to the newly created Avon County Council in April 1974. This section, and hence the full extent of the motorway, was opened to traffic in May 1975. The cost was reported to be £10.4million (now £million).
Bus improvements.
A bus lane, constructed in 2008 on the southbound carriageway of the A4032, Newfoundland Way, links the end of the M32 at junction 3 with Cabot Circus. It starts just north of junction 3 and runs for around , adjacent to the central reservation, and becomes a general running lane for its final to a signal controlled junction. The hard shoulder and the remaining width of carriageway were rebuilt as two narrowed running lanes for general traffic, and the speed limit was reduced to .
In 2009, the council announced that a park and ride facility would be developed next to the M32 to help alleviate congestion in the city centre. The project was expected to create 1,500 parking spaces and cost £191million. In 2015, construction began on a bus-only junction between junctions 1 and 2, on land partly allocated to the Stapleton Allotments and near the Stoke Park estate. The project is part of the North Fringe to Hengrove MetroBus rapid transit route package, and involves creating new slip roads, a connecting route to Stoke Lane and a new bridge over the M32 to be completed by mid-2016. The bridge was lifted into place in June, which required closing the M32 to all traffic.
Traffic.
The M32 is a relatively lightly trafficked route compared to neighbouring motorways such as the M4 and M5, yet has still been described in the West of England Combined Authority's Joint Transport Plan as "by far, the busiest road corridor into Bristol." In 2001, the average daily traffic flow was 40,400 vehicles northbound and 39,900 southbound, while in 2014, the combined flow for both directions averaged 75,000 vehicles. Despite this, the M32 is frequently congested as it is a popular route into the centre of Bristol. During the morning rush hour, queues can tail back onto the motorway from the city centre. In 2014, the Highways Agency reported that the M32 between junctions 1 and 2 was the most unreliable motorway journey along the entire M4 corridor between London and South Wales, with over 56 per cent of journeys taking longer than predicted. The problem is exacerbated whenever there is an incident on the M4 around Bristol, as drivers attempt to use the M32 as a diversion route, creating further traffic and congestion.
The M32 forms a bottleneck at its northern end as it is the only link between the M4 and the A4174 Bristol Ring Road. In 2015, Chris Skidmore, Member of Parliament for Kingswood, launched the Gateway2Growth campaign, which would see a new road running from the M4 at Emersons Green to the A4174.
Highways England were concerned that the M32, especially its elevated sections, will reach its planned end-of-life around 2020. Urgent works were recommended on the Eastville Viaduct in particular, which had deficient surfacing, barriers and lighting. A speed limit was placed along the viaduct, while surveying work was carried out in 2016 during the Metrobus junction refurbishments.
Community and environment.
The M32 has been criticised for severing longstanding links in Bristol. Older residents have claimed that formerly close-knit communities such as Easton have been shut off by the imposing concrete barriers next to the motorway. It has been criticised for running through the grounds of Stoke Park, spoiling the local atmosphere and requiring part of the estate including the Duchess Pond to be demolished. In 2008, Jeremy Isaacs claimed the motorway was a reason that Bristol did not win the European Capital of Culture award that year, adding that the M32 had created a "concrete divide" between Eastville, St Paul's and Easton.
Local residents have complained about the noise on the M32. A report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed that traffic noise can be as loud as 75decibels in neighbouring estates. In 2014, a petition was created to campaign Bristol City Council to install quieter road surfaces and noise barriers along the motorway.
In 2011, a council gardening scheme created a horticultural landscape next to the southern end of the M32. The project included planting of red poppies, cornflowers, and marigolds. A spokesman said they hoped it would enhance the view from the motorway and provide additional habitats for wildlife including bees and butterflies. The gardens were well received by locals and led to a city-wide project called Meadow Bristol, to grow similar meadows elsewhere.
In 2021, the Government proposed reducing the speed limit where it is still to to reduce the quantity of nitrogen dioxide emissions along the road.
Junctions.
Data from driver location signs are used to provide distance and carriageway identification information. Where a junction spans several hundred metres, both the start and end locations are given.
!scope=col|miles
!scope=col|km
!scope=col abbr="Northbound"|Northbound exits (A carriageway)
!scope=col|Junction
!scope=col abbr="Southbound"|Southbound exits (B carriageway)
References.
Citations
Sources |
History of French Guiana
The history of French Guiana dates back to the period prior to European colonization. Prior to the arrival of the first Europeans, there was no written history in the territory. It was originally inhabited by a number of Native American peoples, among them the Kalina (Caribs), Arawak, Galibi, Palikur, Teko, Wayampi (also known as Oyampi), and Wayana. The first Europeans arrived in the expeditions of Christopher Columbus, shortly before 1500.
Beginnings of European involvement.
Rumours online proclaim that in 1498, French Guiana was visited by Europeans when Christopher Columbus sailed to the Guiaiean coast, which he named the "Land of Pariahs". Columbus had actually sailed to the coast of Venezuela from Trinidad, and he named the coastline “Ysla Sancta”, as from his view the far away coast appeared to be an island. The term “Land of Pariahs” comes from the Gulf of Paria, the water that the lands Columbus had discovered were facing.
In 1608, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany sent an expedition to the area in order to create an Italian colony for the commerce of Amazonian products to Renaissance Italy, but the sudden death of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, stopped it. In 1624, the French attempted to settle in the area but were forced to abandon it in the face of hostility from the Portuguese, who viewed it as a violation of the Treaty of Tordesillas. However, French settlers returned in 1630 and in 1643 managed to establish a settlement at Cayenne along with some small-scale plantations. This second attempt would again be abandoned following Amerindian attacks. In 1658, the Dutch West Indies Company seized French territory to establish the Dutch colony of Cayenne. The French returned once more in 1664, and founded a second settlement at Sinnamary (this was attacked by the Dutch in 1665).
In 1667, the English seized the area. Following the Treaty of Breda on 31 July 1667, the area was given back to France. The Dutch briefly occupied it for a period in 1676.
Consolidation of French rule.
After the Treaty of Paris in 1763, which deprived France of almost all her possessions in the Americas other than Guiana and a few islands, Louis XV sent thousands of settlers to Guiana who were lured there with stories of plentiful gold and easy fortunes to be made. Instead they found a land filled with hostile natives and tropical diseases. One and a half years later only a few hundred survived. These fled to three small islands which could be seen off shore and named them the Iles de Salut (or "Islands of Salvation"). The largest was called Royal Island, another St. Joseph (after the patron saint of the expedition), and the smallest of the islands, surrounded by strong currents, Île du Diable (the infamous "Devil's Island"). When the survivors of this ill-fated expedition returned home, the terrible stories they told of the colony left a lasting impression in France.
In 1776, Pierre-Victor Malouet was appointed to the Colony, who brought in Jean Samuel Guisan to establish agriculture in the colony. The relatively good period ended in 1792 during the French Revolution, when the first prison for priests and political enemies opened in Sinnamary which set a precedent.
During the French Revolution, the National Convention voted to abolish the French slave trade and slavery in France's overseas colonies in February 1794, months after enslaved Haitians had started a slave rebellion in the colony of Saint-Domingue. However, the 1794 decree was only implemented in Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana, while the colonies of Senegal, Mauritius, Réunion and Martinique, and French India resisted the imposition of these laws.
In 1794, after the execution of Maximilien Robespierre, 193 of his followers were sent to French Guiana. In 1797, the republican general Pichegru and many deputies and journalists were also sent to the colony. When they arrived, they found that only 54 of the 193 deportées sent out three years earlier were left; 11 had escaped and the rest had died of tropical fevers and other diseases. Pichegru managed to escape to the United States and then returned to France where he was eventually executed for plotting against Napoleon.
Later on, slaves were brought out from Africa, and plantations were established along the more disease-free rivers. Exports of sugar, hardwood, Cayenne pepper, and other spices brought a certain prosperity to the colony for the first time. Cayenne, the capital, was surrounded by plantations, some of which had several thousand slaves.
1800s and the Penal Era.
In 1809, an Anglo-Portuguese naval squadron took French Guiana (ousting governor Victor Hugues) and gave it to the Portuguese in Brazil. However, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the region was handed back to the French, though a Portuguese presence remained until 1817.
In 1848, France abolished slavery and the ex-slaves fled into the rainforest, setting up communities similar to the ones they had come from in Africa. Subsequently, called Maroons, they formed a sort of buffer zone between the Europeans (who settled along the coast and main rivers) and the unconquered (and often hostile) Native American tribes of the inland regions. Deprived of slave labor the plantations were soon taken over by the jungle, and the planters ruined.
In 1850, several shiploads of Indians, Malays, and Chinese were brought out to work the plantations but, instead, they set up shops in Cayenne and other settlements.
In 1852, the first shiploads of chained convicts arrived from France. In 1885, to get rid of habitual criminals and to increase the number of colonists, the French Parliament passed a law that anyone, male or female, who had more than three sentences for theft of more than three months each, would be sent to French Guiana as a "relégué". This " relégués" was to be kept in prison there for six months but then freed to become settlers in the colony. However, this experiment failed dismally. The ex-prisoners, unable to make a living off the land, found themselves forced to revert to crime or to eke out a hand-to-mouth existence until they died. In fact, transportation to French Guiana as a "relégué" amounted to a life sentence, and usually, a short life sentence, as most of the "relégués" died very quickly from disease and malnutrition.
The prisoners would arrive at St Laurent du Maroni before being transported to various camps throughout the country. The Iles du Salut was used to house political prisoners and for solitary confinement. The islands became notorious for the brutality of life there, centering on the notorious Devil's Island. Famous figures sent to the islands included Alfred Dreyfus (in 1895) and Henri Charrière (in the 1930s). Charrière managed to escape and later wrote a best-selling book called "Papillon".
In 1853, gold was discovered in the interior, precipitating border disputes with Brazil and Suriname (these were later settled in 1891, 1899, and 1915, although a small region of the border with Suriname remains in dispute). The Republic of Independent Guyana, in French "La République de la Guyane indépendante" and commonly referred to by the name of the capital "Counani", was created in the area which was disputed by France (as part of French Guiana) and Brazil in the late 19th century.
20th century.
The territory of Inini, consisting of most of the interior of French Guiana, was created in 1930. It was abolished in 1946.
During World War II the local government declared its allegiance to the Vichy government, despite widespread support for Charles de Gaulle. This government was removed on 22 March 1943.
French Guiana became an overseas "département" of France on 19 March 1946.
The infamous penal colonies, including Devil's Island, were gradually phased out and then formally closed in 1951. At first, only those freed prisoners who could raise the fare for their return passage to France were able to go home, so French Guiana was haunted after the official closing of the prisons by numerous freed convicts leading an aimless existence in the colony.
Visitors to the site in December 1954 reported being deeply shocked by the conditions and the constant screams from the cell block still in use for convicts who had gone insane and which had only tiny ventilation slots at the tops of the walls under the roof. Food was pushed in and bodies removed once a day.
In 1964, Kourou was chosen to be the launch site for rockets, largely due to its favourable location near the equator. The Guiana Space Centre was built and became operational in 1968. This has provided some local employment and the mainly foreign technicians, and hundreds of troops stationed in the region to prevent sabotage, bring a little income to the local economy.
The 1970s saw the settlement of Hmong refugees from Laos in the county, primarily to the towns of Javouhey and Cacao. The Green Plan ("Le Plan Vert") of 1976 aimed to improve production, though it had only limited success. A movement for increased autonomy from France gained momentum in the 70s and 80s, along with the increasing success of the Parti Socialiste Guyanais.
Protests by those calling for more autonomy from France have become increasingly vocal. Protests in 1996, 1997, and 2000 all ended in violence. While many Guianese wish to see more autonomy, support for complete independence is low.
21st century.
In a 2010 referendum, French Guianans voted against autonomy.
On 20 March 2017, French Guianans began going on strike and demonstrating for more resources and infrastructure. 28 March 2017 saw the largest demonstration ever held in French Guiana.
The first woman to be elected to the Senate was Marie-Laure Phinéra-Horth in 2020. |
Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety
The Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety (LACOPS), less formally known as the Los Angeles County Police, was a police agency for the County of Los Angeles. It was formed in 1998 by consolidating three Los Angeles County law enforcement agencies: the Department of Parks and Recreation Park Police, which was formed in 1969 as Los Angeles County Park Patrol, and the Department of Health Services and Internal Services Department’s Safety Police. OPS was the fourth-largest law enforcement agency in Los Angeles County, which employed 579 sworn peace officers and 140 civilian personnel, and utilized over 800 contract security guards. The agency had an annual budget of $100 million in 2009. OPS was initially a division of the Los Angeles County Department of Human Resources but was placed under the umbrella of the newly created Public Safety branch of the Chief Executive Office in 2007.
History.
OPS originated from the consolidation of various County departments' security forces. These Security Officers attained peace officer powers in the early 1970s, and were gradually retitled into Safety Police Officers. In the 1990s, the Department of Health Services Safety Police, Parks & Recreation Department Park Police, and Internal Services Department Safety Police were merged into the Office of Public Safety; which was unofficially known as the County Police.
OPS eliminated in workplace reduction. Los Angeles Sheriff's Department takes over all former OPS duties.
There were calls for OPS to be merged with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) in 1992 and 1997, but the attempts have been repeatedly rebuffed by its officers, the Board of Supervisors, or LASD for various reasons. The primary reason cited was the inability of the Executive/Command Staff to perform the Administrative functions necessary to effectively manage a modern law enforcement entity of this size. On August 8, 2007, the California State Supreme Court denied hearing the appeal of a discrimination lawsuit brought by County police officers. The officers prevailed at trial, convincing a jury that the predominantly minority force had been denied appropriate pay and benefits due to racial discrimination, but the jury's decision was then reversed by the Appellate Court. The high court's refusal to hear a final appeal appeared to make a merger with LASD more likely, as they restarted their take-over study just days after the decision was handed down (September 20, 2007). Supervisor Knabe commented to local media the force should be disbanded for costing the County so much money. The merger study reports submitted to the Board of Supervisors served as a basis for what became a final decision about the proposed work place reduction. The Board of Supervisors set aside sufficient funding to complete work place reduction on September 22, 2009. On December 15, 2009, the Board of Supervisors voted 4–1 to eliminate OPS. The Sheriff's Department took over OPS responsibilities.
After the Board of Supervisors voted to eliminate the OPS and turn its responsibilities over to LASD, all OPS employees were either hired by the LASD or placed on paid administrative leave by June 30, 2010, which was the target date set by the Board of Supervisors for its Human Resources to have placed the adversely affected employees in alternate jobs. Because few displaced OPS employees had actually been offered alternate employment by the target date, the Board of Supervisors extended the sunset period to September 30, 2010. Those deemed unqualified for alternate employment by that date were laid off. The OPS former responsibilities are now handled by the newly formed LASD County Services Bureau and Parks Bureau.
Leadership.
The last Acting Police Chief was Steven S. Lieberman, a twenty-four-year veteran of the department. Since the creation of the agency, it has previously been led by former LAPD Interim Chief Bayan Lewis and former LAPD Deputy Chief Margaret York. There were interim chiefs in between the terms of Lewis and York; John White and William Nash. William Nash was almost immediately demoted by Margaret York. LASD Commander William Rogner was approved by the Board of Supervisors on December 15, 2009, to run the agency until it was eliminated.
The County Police was separate from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and they had no connection with the City of Los Angeles General Services Police, despite their agency title of Office of Public Safety. Similar uniforms and patrol areas have led to confusion over the identification of County Police personnel with sheriff's personnel on several occasions.
Equipment and uniforms.
County Police officers wore the uniform traditional to county law enforcement agencies in California. This included olive green pants and a tan uniform shirt. Shoulder patches, name plates, and badges completed the uniform. Some special units such as WMD, or boat units wore modified uniforms, mostly green BDU's or some version of a uniform polo shirt. Historically, the earliest uniformed county security officers wore the same dark green uniforms that Sheriff's Deputies wore until the late 40s, but with unique "Los Angeles County Guard" patches and a bear-top shield badge instead of a star. From the 1950s to the adoption of the department-wide tan-and-green uniform, security officers wore differing uniforms with patches depending on the county department they worked for. Department of Health Services officers wore all-tan uniforms, Mechanical Department officers were issued tan shirts and brown pants, and Park Patrol officers had tan-and-green uniforms, similar to the Sheriff's Department.
The badge was the standard Los Angeles County design, being a shield, surmounted by a bear, of gold-colored metal with silver-colored ribbons. The seal of the county of Los Angeles was superimposed on the center of the badge, with the words "County of Los Angeles" on a ribbon just under the bear. A ribbon indicating the name of the agency "Office of Public Safety" appeared just above the seal of the county. The title of the position of the person authorized to wear the official badge was inscribed on a ribbon placed just below the seal of the county and the serial number of the badge appeared at the bottom of the badge below the title of the position. Badges of predecessor Safety Police and departmental security agencies were of the same design, but of all gold-colored metal without silver ribbons, and with the specific department name and position listed.
Officers were issued the Glock 22 .40cal pistol, although some officers in special units carried the smaller Glock 23, or the larger Glock 21. 45ACP pistol. They retired their aging stock of Beretta 92F and 92FS's in 2006 which were initially issued in 1988. Officers were authorized to carry firearms off duty and were issued a flat-badge for identifying themselves as peace officers when not in uniform. While on patrol, officers had rapid access in most vehicles to an array of weapons including tasers, AR-15's, Mossberg 590 shotguns, less-lethal (bean bag) shotguns, and 40mm launchers.
Most patrol assignments drove Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor police cars equipped with, as with the majority of police vehicles, touch screen computers, emergency lights & sirens, back-seat partitions, and push bumpers. The department changed their vehicle graphics in 2007 to increase their recognition with the public. GMC Yukons, Chevrolet Tahoes, and ATV's were common within the department as well.
Structure.
The OPS maintained four bureaus:
OPS did not have its own custody facilities and as a result, booked people arrested at one of several L.A. County Sheriff's stations throughout the county. Almost all county police stations were part of a larger structure belonging to a county department that contracts for their services.
OPS fielded several specialized units, including SPU (Special Problems Unit), DPU (Dignitary Protection Unit, Labor Relations, Internal Affairs, Background Investigations, Canine, Boat, TRF (Tactical Response Force), WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), and a reserve Mounted Unit. The WMD trained and prepared for the inevitable chaos at county medical facilities in the event of a terrorist attack. TRF officers trained and prepared for civil disturbances and crowd control. Both were part-time, on-call units which depend on officers in other full-time assignments to fill their ranks.
Requirements to become an OPS Officer.
County police recruits were to have been 20 years and six months old at the time of hire. They had to possess a high school diploma or GED, a California driver's license, and pass all phases of the selection process, consisting of: a written exam, an oral interview, a background investigation (including a polygraph exam), and medical and psychological exams.
County police officers and public safety dispatchers were required to have and maintain a valid POST Certificate, which substantiates that their character, education, training, and experience are up to California State standards. |
Pet insurance
Pet insurance is a form of insurance that pays, partly or in total, for veterinary treatment of the insured person's ill or injured pet. Some policies will pay out when the pet dies, or if the pet is lost or stolen.
As veterinary medicine is increasingly employing expensive medical techniques and drugs, and owners have higher expectations for their pets' health care and standard of living than previously, the market for pet insurance has increased.
Exclusions from Pet Insurance.
The following are some of the general exclusions from most available pet insurance plans:
History.
The first pet insurance policy was written in 1890 in Sweden by Claes Virgin. Virgin was the founder of Länsförsäkrings Alliance, at that time he focused on horses and livestock. In 1947 the first pet insurance policy was sold in Britain. As of 2009, Britain had the second-highest level of pet insurance in the world (23%), behind only Sweden. According to the latest data available from the U.S. Department of Clinical Veterinary Science and the Pet Food Institute, only 0.7% of pets in the United States are covered by Pet Insurance. In 1982, the first pet insurance policy was sold in the United States, and issued to television's Lassie by Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI).
How policies work.
Pet insurance is a form of property insurance rather than health insurance. As such, pet insurance reimburses the owner after the pet has received care and the owner submits a claim to the insurance company. Pet insurance policies primarily cover dogs, cats and horses though more exotic species of animal can obtain coverage.
UK policies may pay 100% of vets fees, but this is not always the case. It is common for UK pet insurance companies to discount their policies by offering customers the chance to pay an "excess", just as with motor insurance. Excess fees can range from £40 to £100.
Policies in the United States and Canada either pay off a benefit schedule or pay a percentage of the vet costs (70-100%), after reaching a deductible, depending on the company and the policy. The owner usually pays the amount due to the veterinarian and then sends in the claim form and receives reimbursement, which some companies and policies limit according to their own schedules of necessary and usual charges. For very high bills, some veterinarians allow the owner to put off payment until the insurance claim is processed. Some insurers pay veterinarians directly on behalf of customers. Most American and Canadian policies require the pet owner to submit a request for fees incurred.
Previously, most pet insurance plans did not pay for preventative care (such as vaccinations) or elective procedures (such as neutering). Recently, however, some companies in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States are offering routine-care coverage, sometimes called comprehensive coverage. Dental care, prescription drugs, and alternative treatments, such as physiotherapy and acupuncture, are also covered by some providers.
There are two categories of insurance policies for pets: non-lifetime and lifetime. The first covers buyers for most conditions suffered by their pet during the course of a policy year but, on renewal in a following year, a condition that has been claimed for will be excluded. If that condition needs further treatment the pet owner will have to pay for that him/herself. The second category covers a pet for ongoing conditions throughout the pet’s lifetime so that, if a condition is claimed for in the first year, it will not be excluded in subsequent years. However, lifetime policies also have limits: some have limits "per condition", others have limits "per condition, per year", and others have limits "per year", all of which have different implications for a pet owner whose pet needs treatment year after year, so it is wise to be clear which type of lifetime policy you are considering.
In addition, companies often limit coverage for pre-existing conditions in order to eliminate fraudulent consumers, thus giving owners an incentive to insure even very young animals, who are not expected to incur high veterinary costs while they are still healthy. There is usually a short period after a pet insurance policy is bought when the holder will be unable to claim for sickness, often no more than 14 days from inception. This is to cover illnesses contracted before the pet was covered but whose symptoms appeared only after coverage has begun.
Some insurers offer options not directly related to pet health, including covering boarding costs for animals whose owners are hospitalized, or costs (such as rewards or posters) associated with retrieving lost animals. Some policies also include travel cancellation coverage if owners must remain with pets who need urgent treatment or are dying.
Some British policies for dogs also include third-party liability insurance. Thus, for example, if a dog causes a car accident that damages a vehicle, the insurer will pay to rectify the damage for which the owner is responsible under the Animals Act 1971.
The difference between companies.
Pet insurance companies are beginning to offer the pet owner more of an ability to customize their coverage by allowing them to choose their own level of deductible or co-insurance. This allows the pet owner to control their monthly premium and choose the level of coverage that suits them the best.
Some of the differences in insurance coverage are: |
Duchy of Bernstadt
The Duchy of Bernstadt (, , ) was a Silesian duchy centred on the city of Bernstadt (present-day Bierutów) in Lower Silesia (now in Poland) and formed by separation from the Duchy of Oels (Oleśnica). It was first ruled by the Silesian Piasts dynasty, until its extinction in 1492. In 1495 it and the Duchy of Oels passed to the Dukes of Münsterberg, who came from the House of Poděbrady. In 1647 the Duchy of Bernstadt passed by marriage to the Dukes of Württemberg.
History.
That the Duchy of Bernstadt at first belonged to the Silesian Duchy of Oels which had since 1329 been a fief of the Bohemian Crown. Upon the death of Duke Konrad III the Old in 1412, it was split off for his first-born son Conrad IV the Elder, who at first also ruled over the other Oels territories as a regent for his minor brothers until they formally divided their heritage in 1416. The next year, Konrad IV succeeded Wenceslaus II of Liegnitz as Prince-Bishop of Breslau. When he died in 1447, Bernstadt fell back to his younger brother Duke Konrad VII the White of Oels.
After the Oels branch of the Piast dynasty died out in 1492, the duchy was seized as a reverted fief by King Vladislaus II of Bohemia. In 1495, he gave the duchies of Bernstadt and Oels to Duke Henry the Elder of Münsterberg, a son of the late Bohemian king George of Poděbrady (d. 1471). Due to lack of money, his heir Duke Charles of Münsterberg and Oels leased Bernstadt in 1511 for four years to the City Council of Breslau (Wrocław), afterwards he chose it as his residence.
After Charles' death in 1536, his sons at first ruled jointly until in 1542 they divided their heritage: Duke Henry II received the Duchy of Bernstadt, while his younger brother John ruled the Duchy of Oels. Henry II was a supporter of the Protestant Reformation, which he introduced in Bernstadt. He had Bernstadt Castle restored during his reign, and expanded the south wing. His son Henry III, Duke of Bernstadt from 1565 sold Bernstadt along with the castle and some villages in 1574 to the "von Schindel" family.
Henry III's younger brother Duke Charles II of Münsterberg-Oels, who was Governor of Silesia at the time, bought it back in 1604. He was succeeded as Duke of Bernstadt by his son Henry Wenceslaus. When Henry Wenceslaus died in 1637, the duchy was inherited by his younger brother Duke Charles Frederick I of Münsterberg-Oels. The male line of the House of Poděbrady became extinct when Charles Frederick I died in 1647. The duchies of Bernstadt and Oels again reverted to the Bohemian Crown.
Because Charles Frederick's only daughter, Elizabeth Maria was married with Silvius I Nimrod, cousin of Duke Eberhard III of Württemberg, Emperor Ferdinand III granted Bernstadt and Oels to the Swabian House of Württemberg. Silvius, a devoted Lutheran, made great efforts to redevelop his estates, that had been devastated during the Thirty Years' War. The poet Angelus Silesius worked as his physician until 1652. When Silvius died in 1664, his duchies at first were ruled by his widow as regent for her minor sons, who in 1672 divided the inheritance. The Duchy of Bernstadt fell to Christian Ulrich I, who rebuilt the city after a fire in 1659 and added a third floor to the castle. Upon the death of his elder brother Duke Silvius II Frederick in 1697, he took over the Duchy of Oels. His nephew Charles was the last Duke of Bernstadt. He died childless in 1745 and the Duchy fell back to Duke Charles Christian Erdmann of Württemberg-Oels, who finally re-united the duchies of Bernstadt and Oels under his rule.
In 1742, during the First Silesian War, the Duchy of Bernstadt, like most of Silesia, had been conquered by Prussia.
Dukes.
Silesian Piasts.
"Line extinct, duchy seized by Bohemia."
Podiebrad family.
"Duchy sold in 1574 re-acquired by the Podiebrad family in 1604".
Podiebrad family.
"Bernstadt and Oels extinct, again seized by Bohemia."
House of Württemberg.
"Bernstadt line extinct, fell back to Oels." |
World Anti-Slavery Convention
The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The exclusion of women from the convention gave a great impetus to the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
Background.
The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade (officially Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade) was principally a Quaker society founded in 1787 by 12 men, nine of whom were Quakers and three Anglicans, one of whom was Thomas Clarkson. Due to their efforts, the international slave trade was abolished throughout the British Empire with the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807. The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions, in existence from 1823 to 1838, helped to bring about the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, advocated by William Wilberforce, which abolished slavery in the British Empire from August 1834, when some 800,000 people in the British empire became free.
Similarly, in the 1830s many women and men in America acted on their religious convictions and moral outrage to become a part of the abolitionist movement. Many women in particular responded to Wm. Lloyd Garrison's invitation to become involved in the American Anti-Slavery Society. They were heavily involved, attending meetings and writing petitions. Arthur Tappan and other conservative members of the society objected to women engaging in politics publicly.
Given the perceived need for a society to campaign for anti-slavery worldwide, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS) was accordingly founded in 1839. One of its first significant deeds was to organise the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840: "Our expectations, we confess, were high, and the reality did not disappoint them." The preparations for this event had begun in 1839, when the Society circulated an advertisement inviting delegates to participate in the convention. Over 200 of the official delegates were British. The next largest group was the Americans, with around 50 delegates. Only small numbers of delegates from other nations attended.
Benjamin Robert Haydon painted "The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840", a year after the event that today is in the National Portrait Gallery. This very large and detailed work shows Alexander as Treasurer of the new Society. The painting portrays the 1840 meeting and was completed the next year. The new society's mission was "The universal extinction of slavery and the slave trade and the protection of the rights and interests of the enfranchised population in the British possessions and of all persons captured as slaves."
The question of women's participation.
The circular message, distributed in 1839, provoked a controversial response from some American opponents of slavery. The Garrisonian faction supported the participation of women in the anti-slavery movement. They were opposed by the supporters of Arthur and Lewis Tappan. When the latter group sent a message to the BFASS opposing the inclusion of women, a second circular was issued in February 1840 which explicitly stated that the meeting was limited to "gentlemen".
Despite the statement that women would not be admitted, many American and British female abolitionists, including Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lady Byron, appeared at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. The American Anti-Slavery Society, the Garrisonian faction, made a point to include a woman, Lucretia Mott, and an African American, Charles Lenox Remond, in their delegation. Both the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Societies sent women members as their delegates, including Abigail Kimber, Elizabeth Neall, Mary Grew, and Sarah Pugh. Cady Stanton was not herself a delegate; she was in England on her honeymoon, accompanying her husband Henry Brewster Stanton, who was a delegate. (Notably, he was aligned with the American faction that opposed women's equality.) Wendell Phillips proposed that female delegates should be admitted, and much of the first day of the convention was devoted to discussing whether they should be allowed to participate. Published reports from the convention noted "The upper end and one side of the room were appropriated to ladies, of whom a considerable number were present, including several female abolitionists from the United States." The women were allowed to watch and listen from the spectators gallery but could not take part.
In sympathy with the excluded women, the Americans William Garrison, Charles Lenox Remond, Nathaniel P. Rogers, and William Adams refused to take their seat as delegates as well, and joined the women in the spectators' gallery.
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who eight years later organized the Seneca Falls Convention, met at this convention.
Proceedings (incomplete).
The convention's organising committee had asked the Reverend Benjamin Godwin to prepare a paper on the ethics of slavery. The convention unanimously accepted his paper, which condemned not just slavery but also the world's religious leaders and every community who had failed to condemn the practice. The convention resolved to write to every religious leader to share this view. The convention called on all religious communities to eject any supporters of slavery from their midst.
George William Alexander reported on his visits in 1839, with James Whitehorn, to Sweden and the Netherlands to discuss the conditions of slaves in the Dutch colonies and in Suriname. In Suriname, he reported, there were over 100,000 slaves with an annual attrition rate of twenty per cent. The convention prepared open letters of protest to the respective sovereigns.
Joseph Pease spoke and accused the British government of being complicit in the continuing existence of slavery in India.
Legacy.
After leaving the convention on the first day, being denied full access to the proceedings, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton "walked home arm in arm, commenting on the incidents of the day, [and] we resolved to hold a convention as soon as we returned home, and form a society to advocate the rights of women." Eight years later they hosted the Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
One hundred years later, the Women's Centennial Congress was held in America to celebrate the progress that women had made since they were prevented from speaking at this conference.
Incomplete list of delegates (and women who attended).
The official list of delegates has 493 names. |
Marcellus Hartley
Marcellus Hartley (1827 – January 8, 1902) was an American arms dealer and merchant. He was appointed as an agent by the Union Army to purchase guns from Europe during the American Civil War. He later manufactured cartridges for breech-loading guns, owned the Remington Arms Company and diversified into other areas of commerce.
Early life.
Hartley was the son of Catherine Munson and merchant, Robert Milham Hartley, who was active in public health reform and the New York temperance movement.
Hartley was educated in New York and entered his father’s business at the age of seventeen as a clerk. After three years he moved to Francis Tomes & Sons, Maiden Lane, New York, and became involved with gun sales. In 1854, he started in business with partners Jacob Rutsen Schuyler and Malcolm Graham. They purchased goods in Europe and found a ready market in New York, with Hartley specializing in guns and ammunition. In 1857, a financial panic hit the country and many companies went under; the firm of Schuyler, Hartley and Graham survived and the following few years proved to be a boom period for them. In 1860, due to the threat of civil war, another panic hit the market. The company also had to defend itself in front of the grand jury when accusations were made against the partners of selling goods to the South.
Career.
Civil War.
As war approached it became apparent that there was a major shortfall in weaponry for the armies of the North, and procurement from across the Atlantic seemed the only answer. The Secretary of War sought advice on who could act on their behalf and the name of Marcellus Hartley was put forward. His knowledge of the industry and contacts in Europe made him the ideal candidate. For the purpose of his mission he was appointed to a status the equivalent of a brigadier-general and given access to an account at Baring Brothers. In addition to buying guns he was also instructed to block the sale of weapons to Confederate agents where ever possible.
Breech-loading rifles.
When Hartley was a salesman traveling in the West in the 1850s, an acquaintance gave him a metallic cartridge as a souvenir. The majority of weapons at the time were muzzle loaded with paper cartridges. A metallic cartridge would enable rifles to be breech-loaded, but producing the ammunition had always been one of the stumbling blocks. Schuyler, Hartley and Graham purchased two small companies producing metal cartridges and started a business called the Union Metallic Cartridge Company that became highly successful due to various innovations that they introduced to the designs. Another purchase was the Bridgeport Gun Implement Company, that produced sporting guns and other sporting equipment.
United States Electrical Lighting Company.
Hartley also became involved with the early development and application of electrical generation and supply. He invested heavily in the United States Electrical Lighting Company (USELC), working with inventors such as Hiram Maxim, and using the designs of Edward Weston and Moses G. Farmer. USELC eventually became part of the Westinghouse Company with Hartley on the board of directors.
Remington Arms Company.
In 1888 Hartley, in partnership with Winchester Arms Company, purchased the Remington Arms Company at auction from the receiver. Later Hartley bought out Winchester’s share of the business.
Partnerships.
Along with Jacob H. Schiff, H. B. Claflin, Robert L. Cutting, and Joseph Seligman, he was a founder of the Continental Bank of New York in August 1870.
Hartley’s partner, Jacob Schuyler, retired in 1875; his share of the business was absorbed by the other partners and the company became Hartley and Graham. In 1899 Malcolm Graham died and the business passed into Hartley’s hands.
In later life he took interest in financial matters of several organisations, being a board member of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the International Banking Corporation, the American Surety Company, the Manhattan Railroad Company and many more.
On January 19, 1898, at elections for the newly formed North American Trust Company, the elected members of the executive committee included Hartley.
Family.
Hartley’s family came from the north of England and included philosopher, David Hartley, whose son, David Hartley the Younger, was a signatory to the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the American War of Independence. He was also the first British politician to put the case before Parliament for the abolition of slavery in 1776. Another distant relative was James Smithson who provided the initial funding for the Smithsonian Institution.
Hartley married Frances Chester White in 1855. They had four daughters, Caroline - who died in infancy, - Emma, and twins Grace and Helen.
Emma married Norman White Dodge, son of William E. Dodge. Hartley lived at 232 Madison at the intersection of 37th Street and he gave Emma and her new husband the adjoining house. Emma died in 1881 after giving birth to their only child, Marcellus Hartley Dodge Sr. He was raised by his grandparents and eventually became heir to the Hartley business and the largest part of the Hartley fortune.
Grace married James Boulter Stokes, son of James Boulter Stokes Sr. Grace died in 1892. The two children from this marriage both died young.
Helen married George Walker Jenkins, lawyer and politician. They had two daughters, Helen and Grace.
Marcellus Hartley died on January 8, 1902, whilst attending a business meeting. It appeared that he had just fallen asleep but could not be revived. |
Nicholas I Zaya
Mar Nicholas I Zaya (or "Zaya" or "Eshaya") was the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1839 to 1847. He succeeded Yohannan VIII Hormizd, the last of the Mosul patriarchs who traced their descent from Eliya VI (1558–1591), and his elevation ended four centuries of hereditary succession in the Eliya line. After Zaya's accession the Vatican attempted to reform abuses within the Chaldean Church, but its interference was strenuously resisted by several Chaldean bishops. As a result, Zaya's short reign was plagued by one crisis after another. In 1846, after the Vatican conspicuously failed to support him against his recalcitrant bishops, he resigned the patriarchate and retired to his native town of Khosrowa, where he died in 1855. He was succeeded by Joseph VI Audo, one of his most determined opponents.
Early years.
Zaya was born in Khosrowa (), a village near Salmas in the Urmia region of Persia. In his youth he studied for several years at the College of the Propaganda in Rome. According to the missionary Sheil, who met him in Dilman in 1836, Zaya studied at the Propaganda for fifteen years and was an outstanding scholar.
He was ordained a priest "c."1830, and was consecrated coadjutor bishop of Salmas in 1836 by the Chaldean patriarch Yohannan Hormizd.
Succession to the patriarchate.
On 13 October 1837, conscious that he had not long to live, Yohannan Hormizd designated as coadjutor and 'guardian of the throne' Gregory Peter di Natale, metropolitan of Gazarta, presumably with the intention of excluding his nephew Eliya from the patriarchal dignity. However, he did not promise the succession to his coadjutor, and in a bull of 25 September 1838 the Vatican appointed Nicholas Zaya Yohannan's coadjutor, with the right of succession. The main reason for the Vatican's intervention was to ensure that the hereditary principle, first introduced into the Church of the East in the fifteenth century, would play no part in the selection of the next patriarch. The bull mentioned Yohannan Hormizd's growing infirmity and the desirability of avoiding inconvenience and harm should the patriarchate suddenly become vacant. As a Persian by birth, Zaya could lay claim to the protection of the foreign consuls in Turkey. He had also been educated at the Propaganda, and it was hoped that after Yohannan's death he would loyally implement Vatican policy. The bull of appointment arrived in Mosul after the death of Yohannan Hormizd, thus Nicholas Zaya became patriarch in 1839 and was confirmed by the pope on April 27, 1840.
The Chaldean metropolitans Lawrent Shoa of Kirkuk, Basil Asmar of Amid, Joseph Audo of Amadiya and Mikha'il Kattula of Seert, angered that they had not been consulted in the choice of Yohannan Hormizd's successor, met in the spring of 1839 in an attempt to elect one of their number patriarch, but were unable to agree. Meanwhile, Zaya retained the support of the Vatican's apostolic vicar, Laurent Trioche, and the metropolitan Gregory Peter di Natale, who wrote to the Vatican denouncing the conduct of the other bishops and requesting an unequivocal show of support for the new patriarch. The Vatican confirmed Zaya's succession on 27 April 1840, and directed the Chaldean bishops to obey him.
Patriarchate.
Because the manner of his succession was resented by most of the Chaldean hierarchy, Nicholas I Zaya had throughout his short reign limited control over his bishops. He began by directing Joseph Audo to leave Amid for Amadiya, so that he could properly administer his metropolitan province, but eventually agreed to let him reside at Alqosh. He also, like his predecessor, had to reckon with the intransigence of the monks of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd, and friends of the patriarch said later that he would have closed down the monastery if he had dared. Instead he permitted 45 elderly monks, including the priest Mikha'il, to retire to lay life. This indirect approach so reduced the number of monks that the monastery thereafter lost much of its former influence.
In 1843, after the Nestorian patriarch Shemon XVII Abraham (1820–61) declined to join a Kurdish expedition against Amadiya, the Kurdish emirs Nurallah Khan and Bedr Khan Beg attacked the mountain Nestorians of the Hakkari region of eastern Turkey, with the connivance of the Ottoman authorities. The Kurds invaded the Tiyari, Walto and Dez districts, sacking the Nestorian town of Ashitha and burning most of the villages. About 10,000 men out of a total population of about 50,000 in these three districts were killed, and many women and children were carried off by the Kurds as captives. Mar Shemon's elderly mother was raped and then beheaded, and her murderers threw the corpse into the Zab. Those who survived the massacre, including the patriarch himself, took refuge in Mosul.
The Kurdish attack on the mountain Nestorians had indirect consequences for the Chaldean Church. Early in 1843 an attempt by Zaya to reform the church calendar by adopting the Western date for Easter aroused strong resentment among the Mosul Chaldeans, and provoked a movement, in which the Anglican missionary George Percy Badger was implicated, to depose him and replace him with Yohannan Hormizd's nephew Eliya. Eliya was unwilling to challenge the patriarch's authority, and Zaya's opponents turned instead to the Nestorian patriarch Shemon XVII Abraham, then a refugee in Mosul, urging him to lay claim to the patriarchate himself. Zaya and the French missionaries who supported him complained vigorously to the Turkish authorities, and wrote to the British embassy in Constantinople to protest at Badger's interference. The Turkish government was initially reluctant to intervene, because of Zaya's ambiguous status as a Persian national, and Zaya finally took his cause to Constantinople, where through the influence of the French embassy he obtained a "firman" recognising the Chaldean church as a separate millet and acknowledging him as patriarch. The Anglican mission was withdrawn from Mosul, and Badger returned to England in disgrace.
After his return from Constantinople in 1845, Zaya did what he could to undermine the influence of the old patriarchal family. Mar Eliya was not allowed to exercise his episcopal functions, and the monks of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd were encouraged to claim a number of strips of property around Alqosh which may once have belonged to the monastery but had for years been considered as possessions of the patriarchal family. The French consul supported these claims, and the disputed lands were awarded to the monastery. According to Badger, 'two hundred and fifty persons were deprived of their patrimony and reduced to beggary through this joint agency.' Badger persuaded the British consul to intervene, and part of the property was eventually restored to its previous owners.
Resignation and death.
The intrigues against Zaya continued into 1846. His opponents accused him of embezzling church funds, which he had in fact used to restore the monastery of Mar Giwargis near Mosul, and spread rumours, 'generally believed to be without foundation', according to Badger, of immoral conduct. As a result, he was summoned to Rome by the Vatican authorities for these allegations to be investigated. He refused to obey the summons, and left Mosul for his native village of Khosrowa, where he resigned the patriarchate in May 1847. He remained in Khosrowa until his death in 1855. |
Australia men's national basketball team
The Australian men's national basketball team, nicknamed the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition.
Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite teams as the Boomers have reached the semi-finals at both Summer Olympic Games and FIBA World Cup on many occasions. Originally a member of the FIBA Oceania region, Australia nowadays competes at the FIBA Asia Cup where the Boomers were the dominant team at their first appearance. The FIBA Oceania Championship mostly consisted of a three-match competition against the other regional power, the New Zealand Tall Blacks.
Before the formation of the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1979, Boomers players were selected from state leagues around the country, with Victoria, South Australia, and to a lesser extent New South Wales the dominant states. After the formation of the NBL, players began to be selected almost exclusively from that competition during the 1980s and 1990s.
Occasionally players were selected from outside the NBL. Mark Bradtke made his Boomers debut in 1987 while attending the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) before he entered the NBL. Luc Longley made his debut in 1988 while playing college basketball in the United States. Other Australian players enter the Euroleague and the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the U.S. The Boomers's roster for the 2014 World Cup included five NBA players: Cameron Bairstow with the Chicago Bulls, Aron Baynes with the San Antonio Spurs, Matthew Dellavedova with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dante Exum and Joe Ingles with the Utah Jazz. Three other players who were ruled out of the World Cup due to injury also played or would later play in the NBA, namely Andrew Bogut, Ben Simmons and Patty Mills.
Several players on youth national teams are student athletes at the AIS or in the US college basketball system. Some players (e.g. Longley) made the senior national team while at US schools. By the early 21st century, almost half of the squad played outside Australia. For the 2012 London Olympic Games, only two members of the Australian squad were based in the country – Peter Crawford and Adam Gibson, with the latter being the only Australia-based member of the 2014 World Cup squad.
Australia has participated in the Olympic men's basketball tournaments 15 times. The Boomers won a bronze medal against Slovenia in the 2020 Olympic Games, making Australia the first team from outside the Americas and European regions to ever win a medal at the event. Australia has also participated in 12 FIBA World Cups without winning a medal, making Australia the nation with the third-most appearances at the tournament without winning a medal, behind Canada and Puerto Rico (both 14).
History.
Pre-1970s.
Australia debuted on the international stage at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games held in Melbourne. Australia did not fare well in the competition, as they defeated only two sides (Singapore and Thailand), finishing 12th. The seeds were sown for Australia to become a regular team in international events.
After not qualifying for the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, Australia returned to compete at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. The Australians improved on their position in Melbourne, to be ranked ninth at the completion of the games. After failing in their bid to qualify for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, the Australians were left in international isolation.
1970–80s.
They did not play again in a major international tournament until 1970, when the team qualified for the FIBA World Championship for the first time. The team finished in 12th place, with their sole victory coming over the United Arab Republic.
At the 1972 Munich Olympic Games Australia changed its guards. Lindsay Gaze made his coaching debut, after he had played at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Australia again finished ninth, but close defeats to Czechoslovakia and Spain left the team just a few baskets away from advancing to the second round. Eddie Palubinskas was the holder of the second highest scoring average of the tournament.
At the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, Eddie Palubinskas finished as the top overall scorer, and set three Olympic scoring records, including the most points scored in a single Olympics to that time, with 269 points. The Boomers defeated Mexico, 120–117, in an overtime game, and defeated Japan, 117–79, as they moved to the second round of the tournament for the first time, on their way to an eighth-place finish.
In 1978, the Boomers headed to the Philippines for the 1978 FIBA World Championship. Australia played their most successful tournament to that time, defeating Czechoslovakia, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines (twice), and playing eventual gold medallist Yugoslavia, losing 105–101. The Boomers advanced to the semi-final round, and placed seventh.
In the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, the Boomers played their best Olympic tournament to that date, equalling their 1976 finish of eighth place. The Boomers defeated eventual silver medallist Italy, 84–77, in the preliminary round, but due to a three-way tie with Italy and Cuba, the team failed to advance to the final round, despite 5 wins and 2 losses.
Two years later, the 1982 FIBA World Championship was held in Colombia. The Australians finished in fifth place.
The Boomers were captained at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games by Phil Smyth, and introduced coach Lindsay Gaze’s 19-year-old son, Andrew Gaze, to the world stage. Australia advanced to the second round, following victories over Brazil and West Germany. A loss to Italy, and a 16-point win over Egypt, left the Boomers in a must-win situation against Spain, to advance to the medal round. Spain went up big early in the first half, but the Boomers fought back, ultimately losing by a score of 101–93, ending their medal hopes with an Olympic best seventh-place finish.
Following the 1984 Olympics, Adrian Hurley took over as team coach from Lindsay Gaze.
The 1986 FIBA World Championship was a bit disappointing for Australia. Losses to Uruguay, Angola, and the Soviet Union during group play kept the Boomers from advancing, and the team finished 17th. Due to a FIBA rule allowing one naturalised player per squad at the World Championship, American born point guard Cal Bruton made his Boomers debut at the age of 32.
In 1987, the Boomers faced a home series against the Soviet Union (known as the Wang Superchallenge) and although they lost all 6 games, the team, with all players drawn from the NBL other than Australian Institute of Sport attendee, 6'10" (208 cm) centre / power forward Mark Bradtke who was making his debut for the Boomers as a 17 year old (Bradtke would make his NBL debut in 1988 with the Adelaide 36ers).
Motivated by the 1986 FIBA World Championship, Australia showed up to the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games with quite possibly its most talented roster to that date. Captained by Phil Smyth, the team included Andrew Gaze, Damian Keogh, Darryl Pearce, Ray Borner, and future Chicago Bulls triple NBA Championship winning centre, 7'2" (218 cm) Luc Longley who was attending the University of New Mexico. The Boomers breezed through the first round, losing only to gold medallist Soviet Union and silver medallist Yugoslavia. Finishing third place in their group, Australia advanced to the quarter finals, where they defeated Spain in a closely fought game, by a score of 77–74, sending the Boomers to their first ever semi-finals. They were beaten by Yugoslavia in the semi-final, and then lost to the United States (including future NBA Hall of Fame player David Robinson), who ended Australia’s dream run with a 78–49 victory in the bronze-medal playoff. Despite the disappointing loss, the Boomers’ fourth-place finish was their best ever result at an Olympic Games (or World Championship) and solidified their status as a rising team.
1990s: Gaze, Heal and Longley.
Australia flew off to Buenos Aires for the 1990 FIBA World Championship. Led by Andrew Gaze’s 24.3 points per game, fourth most in the tournament, the team defeated China, Brazil and Argentina (twice) on their way to a respectable seventh-place finish.
At the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, the Boomers looked to prove their fourth-place run at Seoul was no fluke. In the first Summer Olympic Games since the Soviet Union’s dissolution, and the first that FIBA allowed professional basketball players to play in, Australia played to a respectable 4–4 record and sixth place. The 1992 Olympics saw the return of NBA center Luc Longley for the Boomers.
Prior to the 1992 Olympics, the Boomers played in a 3-game home series against a visiting "All-Star" team headlined by NBA and NCAA college basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Boomers won the series 2–1 including attracting a then Australian basketball record 15,000 fans to the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne. The Boomers also played in the 1992 NBL All-Star Game at the AIS Arena in Canberra against the "USA Stars" (made up of import players in the NBL) which was played on 4 July and was promoted as the "Independence Day Challenge". The Boomers won the game 149–132 with Andrew Gaze scoring 43 points.
At the 1994 FIBA World Championship at Toronto, Andrew Gaze starred for the Boomers, leading the tournament with an average of 23.9 points per game. In victories over Puerto Rico, South Korea, and Cuba, Gaze scored 34, 31, and 30 points, respectively. Australia finished with a 5–3 record, and finished the tournament in fifth place. This was Phil Smyth’s last World Championship appearance as a player
Smyth, the teams long-time captain and point guard would play one last time for the Boomers in March 1995 in Game 4 of a 5-game series against the touring Magic Johnson All-Stars in front of a packed house (12,000) at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. The Boomers lost in both Adelaide and Brisbane and were ultimately swept 5–0 by the All-Stars (who included former NBA stars Magic Johnson and Mark Aguirre), they pushed the visitors all the way in Game 3 at the National Tennis Centre, while Games 4 (Sydney) and 5 (Perth Entertainment Centre) went into overtime. The series however saw the Boomers without 4 of their usual starting 5 with only Andrew Vlahov who captained the side playing all 5 games. Missing for the Boomers were Andrew Gaze (playing in Greece), Shane Heal, Mark Bradtke and Luc Longley who was playing for the Chicago Bulls.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games were another solid showing for Australia. Led by Andrew Gaze, and featuring Shane Heal, the team rolled through the early competition, losing only to eventual silver medallist Yugoslavia, and scoring over 100 points in every other preliminary game. In the quarterfinals, the Boomers played a hard fought game against Croatia. The game came down to the wire, as forward Tony Ronaldson hit a 3-pointer to win the game, and advance Australia to the semi-finals. There they met the United States, who were powered by a roster of professional NBA players, and the Boomers were defeated 101–73. Lithuania would defeat Australia in the bronze medal game, and the Boomers equalled their 1988 fourth-place finish.
Just prior to the 1996 Olympics, the Boomers played the USA in a warm up game. The game, played at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, was won 118–77 by the USA, though Heal topped all scorers with 28 points including hitting 8 of 12 three pointers. Heal had a running battle with NBA superstar Charles Barkley during the game with the two almost coming to blows at one point, though they hugged in mutual respect on-court after the game.
Following their exciting run at Atlanta, the Boomers showed up in Greece, for the 1998 FIBA World Championship with high hopes. Shane Heal and Andrew Gaze both finished among the top five scorers, with averages of 17.0 and 16.9 points per game, respectively; but a loss to the United States knocked Australia out of medal contention. The Boomers finished the tournament respectably with wins over Canada and Brazil, and walked away with ninth place.
2000s: Sydney Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Bogut.
The 2000 Summer Olympic Games projected to be an extremely exciting affair for the Boomers, as they played as host in Sydney. Despite losses in both of their first two games, Australia recovered nicely, and won their next four games over Russia, Angola, and Spain, to propel them into the quarter finals, where they defeated Italy. But Australia’s first basketball medal was not to be, as France won the semi final match, and Lithuania captured the bronze medal game. Although their goal of medalling was not achieved, the Boomers gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about, on their way to a fourth-place finish.
After failing to qualify for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, the Boomers came into the 2004 Athens Olympic Games hungry for victory. Captained by Shane Heal, and featuring future NBA Draft first pick Andrew Bogut in his international debut, Australia fought hard on their way to a ninth-place finish.
In early 2006, Australia entered the first ever Commonwealth Games basketball competition in their home city of Melbourne and went through the tournament undefeated to claim the gold medal. Later in 2006 at the FIBA World Championship in Japan, Australia was led in scoring by Andrew Bogut, C.J. Bruton, and Jason Smith. Despite their efforts, the Boomers failed to qualify for the playoff rounds, and finished tied for ninth place.
The Boomers entered the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with one of their more talented rosters to date, which included Andrew Bogut, C.J. Bruton, Captain Matthew Nielsen, and Patty Mills, in his international debut. Despite his youth, Mills had a hot hand, scoring over 20 points on several occasions, and leading the team with an average of 14.2 points per game. Australia made the quarter finals, but gold medallists United States put the Boomers away late in the game, ending their run with a seventh-place finish.
2010s: Additional NBA players.
The Boomers qualified for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey and placed 10th overall. In 2011, Melbourne-born number one NBA draft pick Kyrie Irving considered declaring his international allegiance to Australia in order to compete in the 2012 Olympics, but eventually opted to wait for international selection for the United States.
Despite Irving declining the offer to represent his country of birth, the Boomers entered the 2012 London Olympic Games with arguably their most talented roster since 2000, though they were missing their star centre Andrew Bogut, who was out with a broken ankle. Australia made the quarter finals with a 3–2 win–loss record, but gold medallists United States put the Boomers away late in the game, ending their run with a seventh-place finish again.
Following the London Olympics, Brett Brown announced his decision to step down as Boomers head coach, citing his desire to spend more time with his family in the United States. As of December 2012, Basketball Australia was yet to announce his replacement, although one of his assistants, dual National Basketball League championship winning coach with the New Zealand Breakers, Andrej Lemanis, was one of the favourites to win the job.
On 24 April 2013, Lemanis was announced as the new head coach of the Boomers.
By winning the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship, Australia qualified for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. Australia was drawn into Group D, alongside Lithuania, Slovenia, Angola, Mexico, and South Korea. After suffering an opening round 90–80 loss to Slovenia, Australia bounced back, stringing together three consecutive wins over South Korea, Lithuania and Mexico, the first time in 16 years that Australia had won 3 consecutive matches at the FIBA World Cup. However, in their next match Australia suffered a 91–83 loss to Angola, which came despite leading by 15 points in the middle of the third quarter. This result, combined with Lithuania's 67–64 win over Slovenia, meant that Australia finished third in their group, qualifying for the knockout stage of the tournament.
Because Australia would finish third by losing, and that finishing third would benefit Australia more than finishing second, combined with the absences of fit key players Aron Baynes and Joe Ingles led to allegations that Australia deliberately lost their game against Angola in order to finish third in their group, and as a result, avoid the United States until the semi-finals, with Slovenian basketballer Goran Dragić posting "Basketball is a beautiful sport, there is no room for fixing the game like today Australia vs Angola!! @FIBA should do something about that!" on Twitter. However, these claims were denied by Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis. On 26 November 2014, Australia was cleared of tanking by FIBA.
Australia met World No. 7 Turkey in the knockout stage of the tournament. Australia suffered a 65–64 loss to Turkey, ending their World Cup campaign, meaning that for the 11th World Cup, Australia would return home empty handed.
Leading into the 2016 Rio Olympics, Australia saw a surge in locals being drafted into the NBA. Along with former number 1 NBA draft pick Andrew Bogut, Dante Exum was taken with the fifth pick in the 2014 NBA draft and Ben Simmons was selected with the first pick in the 2016 NBA draft, adding to already established Australian NBA players in Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Joe Ingles and Aron Baynes. Forward Thon Maker was also drafted with the 10th pick in the 2016 NBA draft. Despite Exum, Maker and Simmons electing not to compete in the 2016 Olympics, the Australians equaled their best ever performance by reaching the semifinals and losing their bronze medal playoff with Spain by one point.
2017: Move into Asian basketball.
In August 2015, FIBA announced Australia would be joining the Asian basketball zone for future tournaments, starting with the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup. The Boomers were victorious in their inaugural Asia Cup appearance and turned their attention to 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers against Asian opposition. In July 2018, during the 3rd quarter of their game against the Philippines for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification (Asia), Filipino player Roger Pogoy hit Chris Goulding with a hard foul causing teammate Daniel Kickert to retaliate with an elbow strike which sparked a full-scale brawl between the Australians and the Filipinos. Suspensions and fines were handed off to those involved including players from both teams, Filipino coaches and the referees for failing to control the game.
2020s: Olympic breakthrough and more NBA players.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, led by veterans Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, and newcomer, Matisse Thybulle, the Boomers managed to claim their first ever international medal, defeating a Luka Doncic led Slovenia, 107−93. Mills would score 42 points in the decisive match. The Boomers went through the group stage undefeated, and Mills would be named to the tournament All-Star 5. Additional Australian player were drafted into the NBA with first round draft picks including 2020 pick 18 Josh Green, 2021 pick 6 Josh Giddey and 2022 pick 8 Dyson Daniels.
Records.
Andrew Gaze holds the record for most appearances with the Boomers at 297 international games. Gaze also holds the record for the most points scored by a Boomer.
The Australian National Basketball Team defeated the United States Team 98–94 in Melbourne, 24 August 2019, for the first time.
Tournament history.
"A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within Australia"
FIBA World Cup.
NB: This competition was known as the FIBA World Championship through the 2010 edition.
Team.
2022 FIBA Asia Cup roster.
Roster for the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup tournament from 12–24 July in Jakarta. |
Garden waste dumping
Garden waste, or green waste dumping is the act of discarding or depositing garden waste somewhere it does not belong.
Garden waste is the accumulated plant matter from gardening activities which involve cutting or removing vegetation, i.e. cutting the lawn, weed removal, hedge trimming or pruning consisting of lawn clippings. leaf matter, wood and soil.
The composition and volume of garden waste can vary from season to season and location to location. A study in Aarhus, Denmark, found that on average, garden waste generation per person ranged between 122 kg to 155 kg per year.
Garden waste may be used to create compost or mulch, which can be used as a soil conditioner, adding valuable nutrients and building humus. The creation of compost requires a balance between, nitrogen, carbon, moisture and oxygen. Without the ideal balance, plant matter may take a long time to break down, drawing nitrogen from other sources, reducing nitrogen availability to existing vegetation which requires it for growth.
The risk of dumping garden waste is that it may contain seeds and plant parts that may grow (propagules), as well as increase fire fuel loads, disrupt visual amenity, accrue economic costs associated with the removal of waste as well as costs associated with the mitigation of associated impacts such as weed control, forest fire.
Cause.
There are strong links between weed invasion of natural areas and the proximity and density of housing. The size and duration of the community have a direct relation to the density of weed infestation. Of the various means in which migration of exotic species from gardens take place, such as vegetative dispersal of runners, wind born and fallen seed, garden waste dumping can play a significant role. The results of one North German study found that of the problematic population of Fallopia, app. 29% originated from garden waste. Of a population of Heracleum mantegazzianum, 18% was found by Schepker to be generated by garden waste (as cited by Kowarik & von der Lippe, 2008) pg 24–25.
An Australia government publication suggest that some of the main reasons for the dumping of garden waste can be attributed to lack of care for the environment, convenience, or a reluctance to pay for the correct collection or disposal of the waste. (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]. 2013). People dump garden waste to avoid disposal fees at landfill sites or because they do not want to spend the time or effort disposing of or recycling their waste properly. This activity is carried out by people in all parts of the community, from householders to businesses, such as professional landscapers and gardeners.
The spread of exotic vegetation can out-compete locally endemic vegetation, altering the composition and structure of an ecosystem.
Dumping of garden waste in particular facilitates the spread of exotic vegetation into forest remnants via the introduction of seeds and propagules contained within the garden waste. Common selection criteria for home gardeners when choosing plants are often based on ease of propagation, suitability to local environmental conditions and novelty. These specific chosen characteristics increase the chance of plant parts and seeds that are introduced into forested areas becoming a problem.
The three major causes of animal habitat degradation are; the disruption or loss of ecosystem functions, the loss of food resources and loss of resident species. Non-native invaders can cause extinctions of vulnerable native species through competition, pest and disease transportation and habitat and ecosystem alteration.
The dumping of garden waste in nature reserves surrounding and near urban areas increases the risk of fires. The dumped garden waste will eventually dry out creating fuel adding to already fallen debris fuel load on which a fire can thrive and spread on. Garden waste can spread weeds and these weeds build fuel for fires. Dumped garden waste can facilitate higher rates of erosion by smothering natural vegetation cover. With no root systems for stabilisation the top soil is vulnerable to erosion (Ritter, J. 2015), This can add higher levels of sediments, contributing to the siltation of creeks and waterways.
If plant matter gets into waterways it can create reduced oxygen levels through the process of decomposition of green waste such as lawn clippings. This directly upsets the quality of water, affecting fish and aquatic wildlife.
This dumping of green waste can also lead to the blocking of drainage systems; directly through the build-up of plant debris, and indirectly through the spread of invasive plant species that colonise wet areas, reducing and or changing the flow of waterways. This change in flow, including path and velocity, can alter hydrological cycles, affecting frequency and intensity of floods.
Impact.
Green and garden waste has a direct impact to the visual aesthetics of land and can often attract further illegal dumping.
Increased fire risk.
Dumping garden waste in nature reserves and parks surrounding and near urban areas can directly and indirectly affect the existing flora and fauna, as well as human life through the increased risk of fires. The dumped garden waste will eventually dry, creating additional fuel, adding to already fallen debris on which a fire can thrive and spread. Garden waste can spread weeds and these weeds also build fuel for fires. Fires may also spread to the suburban areas where humans can also be impacted by losing their homes from fire, incur injury or death from smoke or burns, and suffer economic loses such as income loss and clean-up costs. Fires can lead to an overall loss of habitat and biodiversity.
Threat to biodiversity.
The invasion of exotic plant species into remnant native forests is a threat to biodiversity. Some impacts of habitat degradation include; when native animals, insects and birds become vulnerable and put at risk; loss of food source for native wildlife; disruption of native plant-animal relationships ie pollination and seed dispersal and disconnection of plant-host relationships. Highly adaptive plants chosen for their ease of cultivation out compete more specialised species.
Weed invasion of a forest system can change the processes of plant succession (the system of one species replacing another due to disturbance factors), the composition of the plant community and the composition and availability of nutrients. The change in forest composition can lead to loss of unique plant species.
When a habitat is destroyed, the plants, animals, and other organisms that occupied the habitat have a reduced carrying capacity so that populations decline and extinction becomes a threat. Many endemic organisms have very specific requirements for their survival that can only be found within a certain ecosystem. The term 'hotspot' is used to describe areas featuring exceptional concentrations of endemic species and facing high potential of habitat degradation. The 25 most significant hotspots contain the habitats of 133,149 plant species (44% of all plant species worldwide; table 1) and 9,645 vertebrate species (35% of all vertebrate worldwide; table 2). These endemics are confined to an expanse of 2.1 million square kilometers (1.4% of land surface). Having lost 88% of their primary vegetation, they formerly occupied 17.4 million square kilometers or 11.8% of land surface.
The recruitment of alien invasive species may lead to a homogenisation of landscapes. Although increased bio diversity in subregions created by newly introduced species may occur, the displacement of the existing plant species may lead to reduced biodiversity on a global scale.
When population-level properties that indicate superior competitive ability of the invading species are examined, 13–24 (42–77%) of the species are included, with the majority of species showing traits capable of modifying natural systems at both ecosystem and community/population scales.
Waterways quality.
The dumping of green waste such as lawn clippings can block drainage systems which pollutes water therefore effecting water quality and the health of aquatic plants and animals. Dumped garden waste can add high levels of sediments, reducing the light available for photosynthesis. Dumping also block waterways and roads, cause flooding and facilitate higher rates of erosion by smothering natural vegetation cover.
Causes / stakeholders.
Illegal dumping is carried out by all types of people in all parts of the community, from householders to businesses and other organizations. Addressing these motivations will enable strategies to be developed that deal with the root causes, rather than the results, of illegal dumping.
Some of the main reasons for this careless disregard for waste can be put down to sheer convenience, lack of care for the environment and also a reluctance to pay for the correct collection or disposal of the waste. The monitoring of illegally dumped garden waste by the community and industries will drive effectual tactics to battle illegal depositing. People dump waste illegally to avoid disposal fees at landfill sites or because they do not want to spend the time or effort disposing of or recycling their waste properly. Alligator weed ("Alternanthera philoxeroides" (Mart.) Griseb.) is an introduced weed originating from Sri Lanka and is creating major issues throughout the Australia since its introduction into the country. Alligator weed has the potential to affect aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity severely and to cause considerable social and economic costs, particularly in aquatic situations.
Mitigation.
Education on the value of biodiversity and the negative effects of weed invasion have been identified as key items in changing current trends. Specific education campaigns on the risks of dumping garden waste could be targeted at high-risk societal groups such as residents of housing in close proximity to reserves as well as members of gardening communities and plant sellers.
Restricting the selection of garden species in new housing developments adjacent to reserves may reduce the effects of illegal dumping, thereby reducing requirement and associated cost of weed management. Creating habitat for wildlife by planting native plants, making a water source available, provide shelter and places to raise young. Healthy ecosystems are necessary for the survival and health of all organisms, and there are a number of ways to reduce negative impact on the environment. Cultivation of native plant species may benefit not only native plant populations but also native animal populations. For example, Sears & Anderson suggest that native bird species diversity in Australia and North America tend to match the volume and diversity of native vegetation. Crisp also explains the percentage of native insect species in a fauna has been found to be consistent with the percentage of native plant species.
Composting is a great way to recycle nutrients back into soils. Mulching the garden with leaves and clippings (BMCC, n.d).
Fostering an appreciation of local natural environmental features and plant species may also help mitigate the issue. as well as the restriction of highly invasive plant species through international policy.
Utilization of green waste bins that are provided by some councils or shires that are emptied via curbside collection (BMCC. n.d). The addition of facilities for waste disposal could also improve the issue (DECC. 2008). Mitigation may involve governments holding campaigns that show people disposing legally and reporting the consequences for disposing illegally. A way Australian governments are addressing the problem is through the increase of fines in conjunction with better law enforcement. In Australia, fines can be up to $1,000,000 and can also incur imprisonment. The Protection of the Environment Operations Act imposes penalties for offences including polluting waters with waste, polluting land, illegally dumping waste or using land as an illegal waste facility.
Australia.
The new section of the "POEO Act" (The Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997) now imposes further penalties for offences including polluting waters with waste, polluting land, illegally dumping waste or using land as an illegal waste facility (Parrino, Maysaa, Kaoutarani & Salam, 2014). Communities are encouraged to report illegal dumping. In accordance with NSW Illegal Dumping Strategy 2014–16, hefty fines and a maximum jail sentence of 2 years can be handed down to repeat offenders. |
AQUIND Interconnector
The AQUIND Interconnector is a proposed HVDC submarine power cable proposed to link France and England. It faces local opposition and is attracting controversy due to its environmental impact and links between the company's backers and the Conservative Party.
Current status.
In January 2023, a decision by the then Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, to block the cable was overturned by judicial review. The decision is likely to be referred back to the current business secretary, Grant Shapps.
Route.
The cable is proposed to run between the Lovedean substation in Hampshire in England to the Barnabos substation in the Normandy region of France. Landfall is proposed at Eastney in Portsmouth (UK), and Le Havre (France). The route is long, with under the sea, on land in the UK and on land in France.
Specification.
The HVDC link would consist of four main cables, together with two much thinner fibre optic cables for operational control and communications. HVDC involves lower transmission losses than the conventional alternating current (AC) technology used in most existing electricity networks. Land cables would be laid mainly under existing roads to minimize the environmental impact of the development.
The link was to be built as two separate 1,000MW circuits, each with their own control and protection systems and auxiliary power supplies. The DC circuits would run at 320kV, and operate as symmetrical monopoles. The project is expected to cost £1.1billion.
Controversy.
Campaigners and local MPs have urged the cancellation of the project. The Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan claims that the cable and its associated data connections pose a risk to UK national security. "The Guardian" newspaper reported that the promoters of the project, Viktor Fedotov and Alexander Temerko, are both substantial donors to the Conservative party and MPs, and that "Three Conservative ministers have already had to recuse themselves from the decision-making process over the Aquind undersea cable because of their links to the company." Almost 10% of MPs have received donations from companies linked to Fedotov. The minister and peer Martin Callanan was a former director of Aquind and another peer, James Wharton is a consultant to the company.
In October 2021, AQUIND vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and stated that it would "not stand silently and accept slander based on xenophobia and the principles of guilt by association." The company stated that it was considering taking legal action against the media involved.
After the development had been refused in January 2022, Temerko described Minister of State for Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt, who had represented constituents concerns with the development, as an "absolutely uncontrollable woman" and a "threat to national security". Mordaunt subsequently said the Conservative Party’s code of conduct should apply to all members including donors, and suggested that party colleagues should not accept funds from Temerko. Aquind and Temerko had donated £1.1 million to the Conservative Party, including to 21 MPs and ministers.
History.
When the project was announced in June 2016, the company said that the project would come online in 2021.
In July 2019, Portsmouth Council formally objected to the plans, on the grounds that it would cause unacceptable disruption in a built-up area. Between February and April 2019, the company undertook a statutory consultation exercise. In November 2019, Aquind submitted a formal planning application for the link in the UK.
In June 2020, Aquind submitted to Ofgem and the Commission de Régulation de l'Energie (CRE) a request for partial exemption from Articles 19(2) and 19(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 concerning Use of Revenues obligations, for a period of 25 years from the start of commercial operations. In December 2020, Ofgem and CRE published a joint consultation document; this consultation was intended to close on 29 January 2021. In January 2021, the CRE and Ofgem announced that they had discontinued a public consultation for the AQUIND Interconnector, as this exemption request process is only available to interconnector projects developed between EU member states, the UK ceased to be a member state and the Brexit transition period had ended.
In October 2020, there was a protest against the project in Portsmouth.
In November 2020, Aquind won an appeal in the General Court of the European Union against the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators' (ACER) decision to reject an application for exemption pursuant to Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 714/2009.
On 26 January 2021, the French authorities in Normandy refused to give the project the green light.
In March 2021, the examination by Portsmouth City Council closed.
In May 2021, there was another protest in Portsmouth. The Conservative MP for Portsmouth North, Penny Mordaunt, called the proposals "sinister". The Labour MP for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, also voiced his opposition. The following month, Mordaunt handed in a petition against the project. Another protest was planned for July 2021.
A final decision by the British government on whether to permit construction has been postponed several times. On 21 October 2021, the business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng set a new deadline of 21 January 2022 for deciding on the planning application.
After the decision in January 2021 by the French regional government in Normandy to refuse permission, the company stated that this "does not prevent AQUIND from securing the relevant French planning consents required to construct and operate AQUIND Interconnector".
In October 2021, after growing criticism, the company vowed to "continue the development of the AQUIND Interconnector project".
On 20 January 2022, the decision to refuse permission for the project was announced by Kwasi Kwarteng.
In January 2022, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng refused permission for the project, stating that he was not satisfied that "more appropriate alternatives to the proposed route" had been fully considered.
In November 2022, that ruling by the Business Secretary was the subject of a judicial review at the High Court brought by Aquind Ltd. Justice Lieven has reserved her decision.
In January 2023, the decision by Kwasi Kwarteng to block the cable was overturned by judicial review. Local MPs and the local campaign group reasserted their opposition to the plan. |
National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory of the United Kingdom. It sets and maintains physical standards for British industry.
Founded in 1900, the NPL is one of the oldest metrology institutes in the world. Research and development work at the laboratory has contributed to the advancement of many disciplines of science, including the development early computers in the late 1940s and 1950s, construction of the first accurate atomic clock in 1955, and the invention and pioneering implementation of packet switching in the 1960s, which is today one of the fundamental technologies of the Internet. The former heads of NPL include many individuals who were pillars of the British scientific establishment.
NPL is based at Bushy Park in Teddington, west London. It is managed under the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is one of the most extensive government laboratories in the United Kingdom.
History.
Precursors.
In the 19th century, the Kew Observatory was run by self-funded devotees of science. In the early 1850s, the observatory began charging fees for testing meteorological instruments and other scientific equipment. As universities in the United Kingdom created and expanded physics departments, the governing committee of the Observatory became increasingly dominated by paid university physicists in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. By this time, instrument-testing was the observatory's main role. Physicists sought the establishment of a state-funded scientific institution for testing electrical standards.
Founding.
The National Physical Laboratory was established in 1900 at Bushy House in Teddington on the site of the Kew Observatory. Its purpose was "for standardising and verifying instruments, for testing materials, and for the determination of physical constants". The laboratory was run by the UK government, with members of staff being part of the civil service. It grew to fill a large selection of buildings on the Teddington site.
Late 20th century.
Administration of NPL was contracted out in 1995 under a Government Owned Contractor Operated model, with Serco winning the bid and all staff transferred to their employment. Under this regime, overhead costs halved, third-party revenues grew by 16% per annum, and the number of peer-reviewed research papers published doubled.
NPL procured a large state-of-the-art laboratory under a Private Finance Initiative contract in 1998. The construction was undertaken by John Laing.
21st century.
The maintenance of the new laboratory building, which was being undertaken by Serco, was transferred back to the DTI in 2004 after the private sector companies involved made losses of over £100m.
It was decided in 2012 to change the operating model for NPL from 2014 onwards to include academic partners and to establish a postgraduate teaching institute on site. The date of the changeover was later postponed for a year. The candidates for lead academic partner were the Universities of Edinburgh, Southampton, Strathclyde and Surrey with an alliance of the Universities of Strathclyde and Surrey chosen as preferred partners.
Funding was announced in January 2013 for a new £25m Advanced Metrology Laboratory that will be built on the footprint of an existing unused building.
The operation of the laboratory transferred back to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (now the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) on 1 January 2015.
Notable researchers.
Researchers who have worked at NPL include: D. W. Dye who did important work in developing the technology of quartz clocks; the inventor Sir Barnes Wallis who did early development work on the "Bouncing Bomb" used in the "Dam Busters" wartime raids; H.J. Gough, one of the pioneers of research into metal fatigue, who worked at NPL for 19 years from 1914 to 1938; and Sydney Goldstein and Sir James Lighthill who worked in NPL's aerodynamics division during World War II researching boundary layer theory and supersonic aerodynamics respectively.
Alan Turing, known for his work at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park during the Second World War to decipher German encrypted messages, worked at the National Physical Laboratory from 1945 to 1947. He designed there the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine), which was one of the first designs for a stored-program computer. Dr Clifford Hodge also worked there and was engaged in research on semiconductors. Others who have spent time at NPL include Robert Watson-Watt, generally considered the inventor of radar, Oswald Kubaschewski, the father of computational materials thermodynamics and the numerical analyst James Wilkinson.
Metallurgist Walter Rosenhain appointed the NPL's first female scientific staff members in 1915, Marie Laura Violet Gayler and Isabel Hadfield.
Research.
NPL research has contributed to physical science, materials science, computing, and bioscience. Applications have been found in ship design, aircraft development, radar, computer networking, and global positioning.
Atomic clocks.
The first accurate atomic clock, a caesium standard based on a certain transition of the caesium-133 atom, was built by Louis Essen and Jack Parry in 1955 at NPL. Calibration of the caesium standard atomic clock was carried out by the use of the astronomical time scale "ephemeris time" (ET). This led to the internationally agreed definition of the latest SI second being based on atomic time.
Computing.
Early computers.
NPL has undertaken computer research since the mid-1940s. From 1945, Alan Turing led the design of the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) computer. The ACE project was overambitious and floundered, leading to Turing's departure. Donald Davies took the project over and concentrated on delivering the less ambitious Pilot ACE computer, which first worked in May 1950. Among those who worked on the project was American computer pioneer Harry Huskey. A commercial spin-off, DEUCE was manufactured by English Electric Computers and became one of the best-selling machines of the 1950s.
Packet switching.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, Donald Davies and his team at the NPL pioneered packet switching, now the dominant basis for data communications in computer networks worldwide. Davies designed and proposed a commercial national data network based on packet switching in his 1965 "Proposal for the Development of a National Communications Service for On-line Data Processing". Subsequently, the NPL team (Davies, Derek Barber, Roger Scantlebury, Peter Wilkinson, Keith Bartlett, and Brian Aldous) developed the concept into a local area network which operated from 1969 to 1986, and carried out work to analyse and simulate the performance of packet-switched networks, including datagram networks. Their research and practice influenced the ARPANET in the United States, the forerunner of the Internet, and other researchers in the UK and Europe, including Louis Pouzin.
NPL sponsors a gallery, opened in 2009, about the development of packet switching and "Technology of the Internet" at The National Museum of Computing.
Internetworking.
NPL internetworking research was led by Davies, Barber and Scantlebury, who were members of the International Networking Working Group (INWG). Connecting heterogeneous computer networks creates a "basic dilemma" since a common host protocol would require restructuring the existing networks. NPL connected with the European Informatics Network (Barber directed the project and Scantlebury led the UK technical contribution) by translating between two different host protocols; that is, using a gateway. Concurrently, the NPL connection to the Post Office Experimental Packet Switched Service used a common host protocol in both networks. NPL research confirmed establishing a common host protocol would be more reliable and efficient. The EIN protocol helped to launch the proposed INWG standard. Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf acknowledged Davies and Scantlebury in their 1974 paper "A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication".
Scrapbook.
Scrapbook was an information storage and retrieval system that went live in mid-1971. It included what would now be called word processing, e-mail and hypertext. In this it anticipated many elements of the World Wide Web. The project was managed by David Yates who said of it "We had a community of bright people that were interested in new things, they were good fodder for a system like Scrapbook" and "When we had more than one Scrapbook system, hyperlinks could go across the network without the user knowing what was happening". It was decided that any commercial development of Scrapbook should be left to industry and it was licensed to Triad and then to BT who marketed it as Milepost and developed a transaction processor as an additional feature. Various implementations were marketed on DEC, IBM and ITL machines. All NPL implementations of Scrapbook were closed down in 1984.
Network security.
In the early 1990s, the NPL developed three formal specifications of the MAA: one in Z, one in LOTOS, and one in VDM. The VDM specification became part of the 1992 revision of the International Standard 8731–2, and three implementations in C, Miranda, and Modula-2.
Electromagnetics.
A 2020 study by researchers from Queen Mary University of London and NPL successfully used microwaves to measure blood-based molecules known to be influenced by dehydration.
Metrology.
The National Physical Laboratory is involved with new developments in metrology, such as researching metrology for, and standardising, nanotechnology. It is mainly based at the Teddington site, but also has a site in Huddersfield for dimensional metrology and an underwater acoustics facility at Wraysbury Reservoir near Heathrow Airport.
Directors of NPL.
Directors of NPL include a number of notable individuals:
Managing Directors
Chief Executive Officers |
Nazira Zain al-Din
Nazira Zain al-Din (Zain al-Din also translated to Zeineddine, Zain also written Zayn) (1908–1976) was a Druze Lebanese scholar. She criticized Arab culture for what she claimed were its "degrading" practices. She railed against the traditional "head to toe veil" worn by Muslim women at the time and the seclusion of these women.
Early life and education.
Nazira Zain al-Din was the daughter of Shaykh Saeed Zainal Din, a judge in Lebanon's High Court of Appeals and an intellectual scholar of the Islamic religion. While she spent most of her life in Ayn Qani, Lebanon, she was born in Istanbul where her father held a post at the time. Due to his background in the intellectual world, her father supported her educational endeavors and sent her to a French Catholic school in Lebanon. Nazira and her sister Munira were the first Druze girls to gain admission into St Joseph de l'Apparition and the Sisters of Nazareth Convent school, the French Catholic schools they attended for their primary education. In addition to this French Catholic education, al-Din's father made sure she was also well educated in Islam. She was well versed in the Quran, Hadith, and Sharia (Islamic law), all of which played an incredibly important role in her writing. She was also able to study and converse with various Islamic scholars (Ulama) during her lifetime. Many of these scholars were good friends of her father and spent a great deal of time in their home. By the time she was a young woman Nadira Zain al-Din was considered an extremely cultured individual, especially on the subject of Islamism.
After graduation from the Sisters of Nazareth Convent school, al-Din wished to pursue a medical education at St. Joseph's, an all-male jesuit school in Beirut. Unfortunately she was denied entrance because she was a woman. She decided to attend Lycée Français Laique, a coed French institution where she graduated at the top of her class, even above all of the French male pupils. After her graduation from Lycée Français Laique, she decided not to pursue any other higher education and from there al-Din was able to begin her writing career.
Literary career.
She wrote her second book, "The Young Woman and the Shaikhs" later that year. This book is seen as a collection of direct responses to the criticism that she received from the Arab community regarding "Unveiling and Veiling". "The Young Woman and the Shaikhs" attempts to rebuke arguments made by critics regarding the validity and credibility of "Unveiling and Veiling". In it, Al-Din claims that she wrote her first book with "no companion or assistance except pens and ink pots, books and papers". This was in response to the arguments that "Unveiling and Veiling" was plagiarized and supported by Christian missionary efforts. She also describes herself as a “sincere Muslim of truth” that wrote only on what "God Almighty" has willed, despite being Druze, an ethnoreligious group whose practices are not considered to be Islamic by most Muslims.
Impact and legacy.
Despite her use of evidence from various holy texts, al-Din's books caused a great deal of uproar among the clerical Muslim community. Her works were banned by many Islamic clergy leaders, and members of the Muslim community were urged to neither buy nor sell them. Al-Din was also accused of plagiarism and atheism by many of these Islamic clerics. Despite many sources of opposition, Al-Din was actually supported by a few influential Muslim groups, one of them being the well-known "Egyptian Women"'s magazine. This group supported Al-Din's claims regarding Muslim women's rights and published parts of her first book in many languages.
Al-Din's works were considered a necessary response to the veiling of Middle Eastern women during this time. In her home of Lebanon and in many other parts of the Middle East, women were not allowed to leave the house without their face covered. This occurred at a time before women themselves reclaimed the right to wear the veil as a way to personally express their faith. During the 1920s, this "head-to-toe" covering was seen as a source of oppression and seclusion, "stemming from the logic of male ownership and female objectification" Al-Din's response to this societal issue left a remarkable impact on the Muslim community. She was one of the first women to use the Quran and other holy texts to question notions that were thought to have originated from them. Both of her works questioned the validity of the misogynistic interpretations of both the Quran and the Hadith. Rather than relying on these interpretations, she urged members of the Muslim community to use individual reason and judgement to distinguish between what is regarded as moral, and what is not.
Later life.
She was eventually overcome by the opposition of most Muslims and her fellow Druze to her Western-influenced criticisms of Arab culture. A member of the upper class, she stopped writing after about five years and settled down with her husband and three sons at their mansion in Baaqline, Lebanon. She died in 1976 at the age of 68. Very little is known about al-Din's life in the decades after her writing and diatribes against Arab culture. |
Folie à Deux (The X-Files)
"Folie à Deux" is the nineteenth episode of the fifth season of American science fiction television series "The X-Files". It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Kim Manners. The episode originally aired on May 10, 1998, in the United States on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology, or fictional history. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.0, being watched by 17.63 million viewers upon its initial broadcast. It received largely positive reviews from critics.
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder encounters a delusional man, Gary Lambert (Brian Markinson), who believes his boss, Greg Pincus (John Apicella), may be a monster—and decides to take an entire office building, including Mulder, hostage to prove it. Lambert is eventually killed, but somehow, Mulder inherits his ability to see Pincus as a monster. After Mulder claims that Pincus is a monster, he is locked in a psychiatric hospital, only to be saved by Scully, the only person who believes him.
The episode's antagonistic bug creature was created by means of a prosthetic suit that was worn by a stuntwoman. The suit was highly ridiculed behind the scenes. To fix the perceived issues with the monster, the production team gave the film to visual effects editor Laurie Kallsen-George, who digitally altered the footage until it was deemed suitable. The episode's title is a reference to Folie à deux, a form of insanity shared by two people. It usually begins with one person who conceives of a delusional belief and then spreads it to another; thus, those two share the same delusion.
Plot.
In Oak Brook, Illinois, Gary Lambert (Brian Markinson), a telemarketer at a company called VinylRight, believes that his seemingly normal boss, Greg Pincus (John Apicella), is an insect-like monster that only he can see in its true form.
Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) orders Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to go to Chicago to do a threat assessment of a taped manifesto that mentions VinylRight, which has seen a violent incident at its Kansas City offices. Mulder suspects that the case is a deliberate waste of time and tells Scully not to accompany him. During his meeting with Pincus, Mulder learns that the tape was sent to a local radio station with a demand that it be played twenty-four hours a day; on the tape, a man – revealed to be Lambert – claims that a monster "hides in the light" and stalks employees at VinylRight. Mulder calls Scully and asks her to find past X-Files containing the phrase.
After one of Lambert's co-workers, Nancy Aaronson (Cynthia Preston), is turned into a living corpse by Pincus— while appearing normal to everyone else— Lambert flees to his apartment and arms himself with an assault rifle. Meanwhile, Scully calls Mulder to tell him that she found the phrase "hiding in the light" in a 1992 case from Lakeland, Florida, that involved similar accusations of hidden monsters. Mulder admits that Scully should come to Chicago to help him with the investigation. He returns to the VinylRight office and unwittingly walks into the middle of a hostage situation, being held captive by Lambert along with Pincus and the other employees.
As Scully arrives on the scene, Lambert divides his hostages into "real people" and "monsters", claiming that Pincus has turned several employees into zombies. Lambert shoots Mark Backus, one of the purported zombies, when he tries to disarm him while briefly distracted by Mulder. When Lambert demands a camera to broadcast his warning, Scully arranges for a SWAT officer disguised as a cameraman to be sent in the building. Lambert, not knowing that the camera broadcasts only in a closed circuit, accuses Pincus of being a monster. As the lights are cut, Lambert forces Mulder to look behind him and see that Pincus, for an instant, is a large insect. Just then, the FBI smashes into the room with an armored vehicle and kills Lambert before he can open fire.
Mulder questions Pincus and learns that he was present during the VinylRight incidents in Kansas City and Florida. At his office, Mulder maps out all the reports of monsters "hiding in the light" against places Pincus has lived and worked. He tries to convince Scully that Lambert might have been right, but she believes he is succumbing to a "folie à deux", or shared psychosis, with Lambert. Mulder asks Scully to do an autopsy of Backus to see if there is any evidence of Lambert's claims, but Scully refuses.
In an effort to prove Lambert right, Mulder goes to his home with an Agent Rice. There, Mulder finds a map of Pincus' movements and incidents of reported monsters, like the map Mulder made. Looking out a window, Mulder sees the zombified Nancy watching him. He runs outside to confront her, but she drives away in a car with Pincus. Meanwhile, Skinner asks Scully why Mulder returned to Chicago. She covers for him and finds herself committed to performing Backus's autopsy. She hands over the operation to her assistant, who observes that the body has been dead for between 48 and 72 hours, not the 24 hours since the shooting.
Back in Oak Brook, Mulder follows Pincus to the house of VinylRight employee Gretchen Starns. He looks through the window and sees the monster leaning over the woman as she watches TV. Breaking into the house, Mulder sees that Starns has been transformed into a zombie. Behind him, out of his sight, the monster walks across the ceiling. Mulder catches a glimpse of it crawling up the outside of the house. Later, Pincus and Starns complain to Skinner about Mulder's behavior. Mulder, seeing Pincus begin to transform into the creature again, draws his weapon. He is restrained by a disbelieving Skinner and then sedated in a hospital.
Mulder tells Scully that he saw the monster doing something to the back of his victim's head, begging her to look for similar evidence on Backus's body. Scully finds three puncture marks at the top of Backus's spine, marking the corners of an equilateral triangle. Meanwhile, Mulder, still restrained in his bed at the hospital, sees the silhouette of the monster at the window. He screams for the nurse, but she has already been bitten and opens the window to let the monster in. Scully tries to visit Mulder, but the nurse refuses access. Scully suddenly sees the nurse as a corpse, realizing that Mulder is in danger. Running into Mulder's room, she sees and shoots at the monster. It leaps through the partially open window, breaking the glass and wooden frame.
Scully testifies to Skinner that she believes Mulder is mentally sound and fit for duty, noting the intruder in Mulder's room, a chemical found in Backus's body, and the fact that Pincus and several others mysteriously disappeared. Afterward she tells Mulder that she said it was "folie à deux", and describes it as 'a madness shared by two'. But she does not specify who the two were. Meanwhile, a different worker at a telemarketing agency in Camdenton, Missouri, notices the same ominous signs of the creature.
Production.
Writing and effects.
"Folie à Deux" was written by Vince Gilligan, who was inspired by the idea that "there's a monster around that only you can see—the clinical definition of madness". The title is a reference to Folie à deux (French for "madness of two"), a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief and sometimes hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another.
The episode's bug antagonist was actually a prosthetic suit worn by a stuntwoman. The suit was highly ridiculed behind the scenes; reportedly, actor Markinson, upon seeing the costume, said "This is what's driving me crazy?" Director Kim Manners too thought the costume was ridiculous and sardonically told people that the episode would ruin his career. Gilligan attributed the problems due to the episodic work schedule, he noted, "We're usually on such a short schedule that there has to be a weak link somewhere". Gilligan also stated that the "overengineered" aspects of the suit made it somewhat comical. To fix the perceived issues with the monster, the production team gave the filmed footage to visual effects editor Laurie Kallsen-George, who "took the footage with the monster in it, erased the monster completely, took the monster to a different screen [...] animated it, and added speed blur". These effects were time-consuming and were only finished the day the episode aired. In the finished episode, the monster is not clearly visible, which allowed the scariness of the episode to be more real. Gilligan approved of Kallsen-George's work, saying, "There's a long noble history to [obscuring the monster]. The truth is your imagination can be much more effective than real life."
Locations.
Initially, the producers wanted to set the Gretchen Starns' house scenes at a tract home, to recall the "pastel community" featured in movies like "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) and "The Truman Show" (1998). However, when the production crew located a suitable tract home, it was not nearly as "spook[y]" as they were hoping, and so they ended up shooting most of these scenes in a "turn-of-the-century" house located in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Special effect rigging was installed on the house to allow the bug creature to scale the wall. The elaborate sequence in which the insect creature crawls across a ceiling was made by erecting an upside-down house set on a soundstage. The stuntwoman portraying the bug then crawled across the set and the footage was flipped in post-production. The scenes featuring an armored car smashing through the wall of VinylRight were also filmed on a specially constructed soundstage.
Reception.
Ratings.
"Folie à Deux" originally aired on the Fox network on May 10, 1998, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on March 10, 1999. This episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.0, with a 17 share, meaning that roughly 11.0 percent of all television-equipped households, and 17 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 17.63 million viewers.
Reviews.
"Folie à Deux" received largely positive reviews from critics. Francis Dass of "New Straits Times" was positive toward the episode, considering it "highly watchable". Emily VanDerWerff of "The A.V. Club" gave the episode a glowing review and awarded it an "A". She praised the way it "starts out as what seems like a Mulder-centric episode, then slowly inverts on itself to become a Scully-centric episode". VanDerWerff also positively critiqued the manner in which "the monster [...] works on a metaphorical level as well". She concluded that the episode's main theme—that "[m]adness is always better when shared by two"—was a "great idea" that resulted in "one of the greatest episodes the show ever did".
Paula Vitaris from "Cinefantastique" gave the episode a largely positive review and awarded it three stars out of four. Vitaris praised the conceit and called the episode "the scariest [...] of the year". She applauded the "now you see it, now you don't" appearance of the bug creature and noted that Pincus' casting was "just right". She concluded that the episode was "so well realized" and that "there is so much to enjoy". Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book "Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen", rated the episode four stars out of five. The two compared the entry to the previous fifth season installment "Bad Blood", calling "Folie à Deux" its "logical extension". Shearman and Pearson argued that the episode "provide[s] a comedy and an effective monster story at the same time." |
Knucklebones
Knucklebones, also known as scatter jacks, snobs, astragalus, tali, dibs, fivestones, jacks, or jackstones, among many other names, is a game of dexterity played with a number of small objects that are thrown up, caught, and manipulated in various manners. It is ancient in origin and is found in various cultures worldwide.
The name "knucklebones" is derived from the Ancient Greek version of the game, which uses the astragalus (a bone in the ankle, or hock) of a sheep. However, different variants of the game from various cultures use other objects, including stones, seashells, seeds, and cubes.
Modern knucklebones consist of six points, or knobs, projecting from a common base and are usually made of metal or plastic. The winner is the first player to successfully complete a prescribed series of throws, which, though similar, differ widely in detail. The simplest throw consists in either tossing up one stone, the jack, or bouncing a ball and picking up one or more stones or knucklebones from the table while it is in the air. This continues until all five stones or knucklebones have been picked up. Another throw consists of tossing up first one stone, then two, then three, and so on and catching them on the back of the hand. Different throws have received distinctive names, such as "riding the elephant", "peas in the pod", "horses in the stable", and "frogs in the well".
History.
Knucklebones is of ancient indeterminate origin and has probably been independently invented several times. It is found throughout various cultures worldwide.
The talus bones of hooved animals (also known as astragali) are found in archaeological excavations related to the period starting from 5000 B.C. much more frequently than other bones. Astragalus, being almost symmetric, has only four sides on which it may rest and is an early example of the game of chance. Knucklebones are believed to be an early precursor of dice. In contrast to dice, the astragalus is not entirely symmetric, with the broad side having a chance ~0.38 and the other side having a chance ~0.12. However, variations of the game can also be played with stones, seashells, or seeds.
Ancient Greek tradition and historiography ascribed the invention of knucklebones to various figures. Sophocles, in a written fragment of one of his works, ascribed the game to the mythical figure Palamedes, who supposedly taught it to his Greek countrymen during the Trojan War. According to a still more ancient tradition, Zeus, perceiving that Ganymede longed for his playmates upon Mount Ida, gave him Eros for a companion and golden jacks with which to play. On the other hand, both Herodotus and Plato ascribe a foreign origin to the game. Plato, in "Phaedrus", names the Egyptian god Thoth as its inventor, while Herodotus relates that the Lydians, during a period of famine in the days of King Atys, originated this game and indeed almost all other games, with the exception of draughts. Both the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" contain allusions to games similar in character to knucklebones.
By region.
Central Asia.
Knucklebones in Central Asian cultures use the astragalus of sheep or goat or the calcaneus of wolves. They are known as "shagai" among Mongolians; "chükö" among the Kyrgyz people; "kajik" among the Tuvan people; "asyk" among the Kazakh people; "ashyk" among Turkish people; "bujulbozi" among Tajik people; and "gacuha" among the Manchu people. They are used in games, fortune-telling, and as musical instruments. In Central Asian knucklebones, each side of the astragalus has a name (called "horse", "camel", "sheep", "goat", or "cow") and have value in divination as well as dice throwing. There are multiple kinds of games played with knucklebones, including catching thrown pieces on the back of the hand, flicking the pieces into each other on the ground like marbles, tossing another object and gathering pieces, and so on. It can be played with individual players or teams by both children and adults and are common entertainments in cultural festivals. The Mongolian "shagai" is inscribed in the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2014.
Middle East.
A variation, played by Israeli school-age children, is known as "kugelach" or "chamesh avanim" (חמש אבנים, "five rocks"). Instead of jacks and a rubber ball, five die-sized metal cubes are used. The game cube is tossed in the air rather than bounced.
In the Middle East, e.g., in Turkey and Iran, there is a similar game called "ye qol do qol".
East Asia.
In China, the game is called 抓石子 "zhuāshízi" ("pick up pebbles"). It is played with around seven pebbles or cloth bags filled with sand or rice. The player arranges the pebbles evenly first. They throw one pebble into the air and quickly grab a pebble on the table before catching the falling pebble. If the player touches more than one pebble on the table, they forfeit their turn.
In Korea it is called 공기 ("gonggi"), also "jjagebatgi", "salgu", or "datjjakgeoli". It involves five or more small pebbles called 공깃돌 ("gonggitdol"). It has five levels escalating in difficulty and mechanics. The first four levels increases the number of pebbles collected per throw, while in the last level, the players catch the pebbles on the backs of their hand.
In Japan, the game is called お手玉 ("otedama") and originated from China during the Nara Period. It uses small bags of azuki beans called "ojami". It is played in two ways: "nagedama" (投げ玉), which is similar to juggling; and "yosedama" (よせ玉), which is similar to modern knucklebones.
South Asia.
In India, particularly in Tamilnadu, the game is called "anju kal" ("5 stones"). It is played with 5–7 stones. It is played between two or more players in turn. This is mostly played by girls in their leisure time from ancient times. The game is played in 5 rounds. Generally for first 4 rounds four stones are thrown on the floor. First round is to pick up 4 stones one by one. Second round is to pick 2 stones at a time. Third round is to pick 3 stones together and then pick one. Fourth round is to pick all four in one go. Last round is to toss all the stones from palm and place it on the back of the palm and then catch all four by tossing to above.
Austronesia.
In the Philippines, there are two types of traditional children's games of throwing stones. The first is known as "kuru", "sintak" ("to shake/winnow [grains]"), or "balinsay" ("to tumble end-over-end"), among other names. It is very similar to modern knucklebones but is indigenous in origin. Instead of a bouncing ball, it uses a larger stone called "ina-ina" ("mother") that the player tosses up into the air and must catch before it hits the ground. During the throw, the player gathers smaller stones (also seeds or cowries) called "anak" ("children"). These vary in number but are usually eight to ten pieces. All of these actions are done only with the one hand. The game has multiple stages known by different names, each ranking up in difficulty and mechanics. The first stage picks up the smaller stones by ones, twos, threes, and so on. Other stages include "kuhit-kuhit", "agad-silid", "hulog-bumbong", "sibara", "laglag-bunga", and "lukob". For example, in "kuhit-kuhit" the player must touch a forefinger on the ground at each throw while also collecting the stones. The last stage of the game is known as "pipi", where the losing player is flicked on the knuckles by the player. A variant of the game does not use an "ina-ina" stone, but players instead just throw the collected pebbles (more than one at a time in later stages).
The other game of throwing stones in the Philippines is known as "siklot" (meaning "flick"). It uses a large number of small stones, shells, or seeds (called "sigay") which are tossed in the air and then caught on the back of the hand. The stones that remain on the hand are collected by the player and are known as "biik" ("piglets") or "baboy" ("pigs"). The player with the most "biik" plays the second stage first. The second stage involves the stones that fall on the ground. These are flicked into each other and collected if they hit each other. This is done until the player fails to hit a stone, then the next player does the same thing with the remaining stones, and so on.
In Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore, the game is called "batu seremban" (literally "five stones"), "selambut", or "serembat". Like the name implies, it only uses five pieces, usually stones, seeds (usually "Adenanthera pavonina"), or small pyramidal bags of sand or rice. It also involves multiple levels of difficulty, varying in the number of stones collected and tossed. It does not have a specialized stone for throwing, though the one picked for throwing is also referred to as the "mother".
In Polynesia, the game is called by various names including "kōruru", "ruru", "kai makamaka", "ti kai" and "tutukai" among the Māori; "kimokimo" among Hawaiians; "timo" or "timo timo" among Tahitians; "lafo litupa" among Samoans; and "lavo" among Fijians. It was very common among the natives of the Pacific Islands and were documented by early European explorers. It was played by people of all ages and traditionally includes a meaningless rhythmic chant sung by the players. Like in the Philippine version, the game uses only one hand for catching the thrown stones and has multiple stages ramping up in difficulty and mechanics. The names, mechanics, and number of stages varies depending on ethnic group.
Among the Māori, the game uses a marked throwing stone called "hai", and around four to fifteen identical but unmarked rounded stones called "kai mahi" ("workmen"). Sets of these stones were created by hand and kept for the games. In Hawaii, each player has a throwing stone called "aliʻi" ("chieftain"). The smaller stones were called "pohaku". Among Samoans and Fijians, they used around fifty to one hundred flat circular seeds of "Entada gigas" for the game.
Europe.
There were two methods of playing in ancient Europe. The first, and probably the primitive method, consisted in tossing up and catching the bones on the back of the hand, very much as the game is played today. In ancient Rome, it was called "tali": a painting excavated from Pompeii, currently housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, depicts the goddesses Latona, Niobe, Phoebe, Aglaia and Hileaera, with the last two being engaged in playing a game of knucklebones. According to an epigram of Asclepiodotus, astragali were given as prizes to schoolchildren. This simple form of the game was generally only played by women and children, and was called "penta litha" or five-stones. There were several varieties of this game besides the usual toss and catch; one being called "tropa", or hole-game, the object of which was to toss the bones into a hole in the earth. Another was the simple game of odd or even.
The second, probably derivative, form of the game was one of pure chance, the stones being thrown upon a table, either from the hand or from a cup, and the values of the sides upon which they fell were counted. The shape of the pastern bones used for astragaloi as well as for the tali of the Romans, with whom knucklebones was also popular, determined the manner of counting.
The pastern bone of a sheep, goat, or calf has two rounded ends upon which it cannot stand and two broad and two narrow sides, one of each pair being concave and one convex. The convex narrow side, called "chios" or "the dog", was counted as 1, the convex broad side as 3, the concave broad side as 4, and the concave narrow side as 6.
Four astragali were used and 35 different scores were possible in a single throw. Many of these throws received distinctive names such as: Aphrodite, Midas, Solon, and Alexander. Among the Romans, some of the names were: Venus, King, and Vulture. The highest throw in Greece counted 40, and was called the Euripides. It was probably a combination throw, since more than four sixes could not be thrown at a single time. The lowest throw, both in Greece and Rome, was the Dog.
The game is called:
North Africa.
Versions of the game are popular among children of Amazigh origin across North Africa, and goes by a wide variety of names in the various Tamazight dialects.
America.
The two forms of the game are present, the throw and catch version is called "kapichua, payana, payanga, payanca, or payaya" and it is a child's game played with stone pebbles, while the throw and gamble based on position it's called "jogo do osso" or "taba" and are played with a single cow knucklebone.
Of the first type this game is called:
From the second type:
Modern game.
The modern game may use a rubber ball, and the knucklebones (jacks), typically a set of ten, are made of metal or plastic. There are variants of how the players decide who goes first: it is usually through "flipping" (the set of jacks is placed in cupped hands, flipped to the back of the hands, and then back to cupped hands again; the player who keeps the most from falling goes first), but may be via ip dip, or eeny, meeny, miny, moe, or a variant thereof. To set up the game, the jacks are scattered loosely into the play area. The players in turn bounce the ball off the ground, pick up jacks, and then catch the ball before it bounces for a second time.
The number of jacks to be picked up is pre-ordained and sequential; at first one must be picked up ("onesies"), next two ("twosies"), and so on, depending on the total number of jacks included. The number may not divide evenly, and there may be jacks left over. If the player chooses to pick up the leftover jacks first, one variation is to announce this by saying "horse before carriage" or "queens before kings". The playing area should be decided between the players since there is no official game rule regarding that.
The winning player is the one to pick up the largest number of jacks, and the game can be made more challenging by playing with fifteen or twenty jacks (two sets). Regardless of the total number of jacks in play, the player who gets to the highest game wins. Game one is usually single bounce (onesies through tensies); game two is chosen by whoever "graduates" from game one first, and so on. Some options for subsequent games are "double bounces", "pigs in the pen", "over the fence", "eggs in the basket" (or "cherries in the basket"), "flying Dutchman", "around the world", etc. Some games, such as "Jack be nimble", are short games which are not played in the onesies-to-tensies format. |
P. Singaram
Pazhanivel Singaram (), known as Pa. Singaram (12 August 1920 - 30 December 1997) was an Indian Tamil writer. Despite having authored only two novels, he is considered to be one of the greatest Tamil novelist of the modern era. His "Puyalile Oru Thoni" is considered to be one of the very important Tamil fiction of all time.
Early life and education.
Singaram was born on 12 August 1920 as the third son of Ku.Pazhanivel Nadar and Unnamalai Ammal in a town called Singampunari in present-day Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu. His elder brothers were named Subramanian and Bhaskaran. The family was involved in clothes business along with Singaram's grandfather Kumarasamy Nadar.
Singaram had his primary education at Singampunari Primary school and further education at St.Mary's higher secondary school Madurai.
Years abroad (1938-46).
When he was 18 years old, Singaram went to Medan, Indonesia to work as an assistant for a pawnbroker named S K Sinnamuthu Pillai. He married a woman there (possibly of British Malaya). When he was 25 years old, his wife died in her pregnancy.
After a brief return to India in 1940, Singaram once again went to Indonesia and worked in the Public Works Department, around the time of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. After the end of World War II, he and some other Tamils obtained the approval of the Indonesian government to load cargo in ships bound for Penang, Malaysia.
He came back to India in September 1946 and lived in Madurai, working at the local "Dina Thanthi" newspaper office till he took voluntary retirement in 1987. He did not maintain close relationships with anybody and lived alone for 50 years in an YMCA hostel in Madurai.
Literary career.
During his second stay in Medan, Singaram didn't get his share of Tamil magazines, as ship transport between India and Indonesia was stopped. However, the Public Library in Penang, Malaysia evoked his interest in Hemingway, Tolstoy, Faulkner, Chekhov and Dostoyevsky.
He has more than once spoke of Ernest Hemingway's influence in his works and listed him as his favorite writer. His influence of Hemingway was very evident in both his works and he considered "A Farewell to Arms" his favorite and masterpiece of Hemingway. He believed "A Farewell to Arms" an important milestone in American literature and rated "Anna Karenina" more than "War and Peace".
His knowledge on Tamil literature was limited to short stories of Pudhumaipithan and Mouni he read before travelling to Indonesia. In his later years when asked whether he is aware of the present Tamil writers and their works he commented it lacked depth and he couldn't read past two pages of Sujatha and Sivasankari
"Kadalukku Appal".
P Singaram wrote this novel in 1950 immediately after he returned to India. Though he sent the novel to many publishers the novel kept returning without getting published. A friend sent this novel to Kalaimagal publications for a novel contest. The novel won first prize in that novel contest. Finally, he was able to publish "Kadalukku Appal" in 1959 through Kalaimagal publications.
"Puyalile Oru Thoni".
This novel was written in 1962 and it didn't find any publishers -after continuous efforts by a friend, "Puyalile Oru Thoni" was published in 1972 by Kalaignan Publications. Many modern Tamil writers consider this as an important literary work published in Tamil in the 20th century. The story happens in Sumatra in the background of World War II.
As he was so frustrated by the difficulties he faced in publishing these two novels, Singaram never wrote anything after that.
Several notable film-makers have expressed their desire to make this epic novel into a movie but conceding it's an impossible task to do justice to this book.
Later years and death.
Writers Konangi, N. Murugesa Pandian, S. Ramakrishnan and many others met Singaram in his last years of life and told him in person how much they were moved by his works. They repeatedly told Singaram's his stronghold in Tamil literature but Singaram was stoic as ever. He refused to accept his place and no more wrote.
Around September 1997, following his eviction from the YMCA hostel, Singaram took up residence in Nadar Mahajana Sangam (near Vilakkuthoon in Madurai). He gave away his entire saving of ₹. 7,00,000 to social welfare trusts. Soon , his health condition deteriorated and on 30 December 1997, he died in ambulance while being taken to hospital. He had told not to inform about his death to anyone. |
The Holding (film)
The Holding is a 2011 British thriller film directed by Susan Jacobson. It was filmed in 2010 the Peak District in Derbyshire just outside the village of Longnor, and stars Kierston Wareing, Vincent Regan and David Bradley. It is written by James Dormer and is produced by Alex Boden, George Mizen and Terry Stone.
Plot.
The film opens on the dead body of Dean (Christopher Brand) being dragged into a shallow grave in the dead of night by his wife, Cassie Naylor (Keirston Wareing) and the old farm hand Cooper (David Bradley). As they carry out a rudimentary and hurried burial, all the while, they are unknowingly being watched by Cassie's eight-year-old daughter, Amy (Maisie Lloyd).
The story then jumps to eight months later. Cassie is struggling; her relationship with her two daughters, Amy and Hannah (Skye Lourie) is fractious. She is struggling to run her farm and her financial situation is so bad that she can no longer afford to pay Cooper. She is visited by a sinister neighboring farmer, Karsten (Terry Stone), who is eager to buy Cassie's farm and marry her, both of which Cassie declines.
Enter Aden (Vincent Regan), an old friend of Dean's who was passing. Quick to cover up her secret, Cassie tells Aden that Dean left. Aden asks if he can stay the night, and after some convincing from Amy, Cassie reluctantly concedes. The next day, Aden persuades Cassie that he can be of use to her on the farm and Cassie allows him to stay on, much to the displeasure of Cassie's 16-year-old daughter Hannah who immediately dislikes Aden, sussing out his intentions of getting "into my mum's knickers".
Karsten's interest in Cassie escalates as his jealousy of Aden mounts. He throws around irrational threats, gloatingly kills one of Cassie's calves and builds a roadblock denying Cassie access to the outside world. This is the last straw and Aden tells Cassie that he will "talk to Karsten". But instead, Aden kills Karsten and his brother, Noah (Jake Curran), in cold blood.
Life on Cassie's farm settles down as she believes that Aden had a strong word with Karsten and she quickly falls for him. Aden helps Cassie out with her finances, making a good deal on cattle feed and suggesting that she get rid of Cooper as he is costing too much. It's after the firing of Cooper that Hannah confronts Aden, knowing that what he really wants is to control the family. Aden enjoys her teenage bravado, and quickly retorts with his knowledge of Hannah's deepest secret: Dean's abuse of her. Stunned and hurt, Hannah flees the farm.
What follows is Aden's irrational hunting of his "daughter", much to Cassie's shock. When he returns to the farm without Hannah, Aden strikes Cassie, exposing his true deranged nature in front of Cassie, who walks him off her property at gunpoint while making it clear that if he ever comes back, she will kill him. She tracks down Hannah, and for the first time in a long time, mother and daughter connect, and Hannah promises to return in the morning. That night, Cassie finds Dean's wedding ring amongst Aden's things. Spooked, she traipses back to Dean's unmarked grave with shovel in hand and digs up the grave, only to find it empty. She contacts Cooper, stating that "there's no body".
The next morning, Cooper and Cassie find her prized bull dead, throat slit. This is the last straw for Cassie and she marches up to Karsten's place, determined to sell her holding to him, but what she finds is the rotting, fly-ridden bodies of Karsten and Noah, and Aden living in the house. Cassie tries to escape with Amy, but Aden knocks her out and takes her and Amy back to the farm.
As Cassie comes round, Aden confesses all: Dean was not dead, but escaped from the grave and fled back to the oil rigs - the only other place he knew. There, he told Aden everything; the abuse of Hannah and his "murder". Aden tells Cassie of his disdain of the man who "had everything and pissed it away". Realizing that she is now in the hands of a psychopath, Cassie tries to talk Aden round, but all he wants is for them to be a family. The moment Hannah returns home, Aden locks Cassie and her daughters in Hannah's room. It is here where the truth comes out, and for the first time, mother and daughter talk about Dean's abuse. Cassie confesses that she tried to kill Dean when she found out about him abusing Hannah, but he escaped and went back to the rigs. Amy admits to seeing her mother bury her father's body. Now with all the secrets out in the open, the three of them bond and unite.
What follows is Aden's attempt at playing "happy families", and the girls attempt at ridding themselves of Aden. Together, they manage to lure him to the slurry pit. Little Amy surprises Aden and pushes him into the cavernous pit of cow excrement. In the final moments, Cassie spots Aden's lighter in the mud, lights it, and lets it fall into the methane-filled cavity with Aden still in it. Aden screams in horror as the lighter falls into the pit, causing it and the surrounding methane to erupt in a massive explosion, killing Aden while leaving Cassie, Hannah and Amy clinging to each other, unharmed, and as a family. |
Foudry Brook
Foudry Brook is a small stream in southern England. It rises from a number of springs near the Hampshire village of Baughurst, and flows to the east and then the north, to join the River Kennet to the south of Reading. The upper section is called Silchester Brook, and beyond that, Bishop's Wood Stream. The underlying geology is chalk, covered by a layer of clay, and so it has the characteristics of a clay stream, experiencing rapid increases in level after heavy rain due to run-off from the surrounding land. It passes a number of listed buildings and scheduled monuments, including the site of the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum or Silchester.
The natural flow of the river is supplemented by treated effluent from two major sewage treatment works, which contribute to the poor quality of the water. Water quality is also affected by physical modification of the channel, which restricts the free movement of fish around the system.
Route.
Foudry Brook rises at springs between the small villages of Heath End and Baughurst, where it is known as Bishop's Wood Stream. It flows eastwards though Tadley, and is briefly culverted under housing on Elmhurst before emerging back on the surface and passing under the A340 Mulfords Hill road. It then enters a much longer culvert under Tadley Bottom, and emerges into open countryside on the east side of Bowmonts Bridge. It crosses the Pamber Forest nature reserve, becoming the Silchester Brook, and turns to the south, where Silchester Sewage Treatment Works is on the right bank. It then passes between two earthworks before Honeymill Brook joins it on the right bank. The linear earthworks were associated with a Late Iron Age town that developed into the Roman town called Calleva or Silchester. They are and long, with a gap of where the river passes through.
Honeymill Brook rises at a pond near Browninghill Green, to the south of Baughurst, and at a series of springs to the east of the village near Church Brook Farm. The two sources join near Church Road, Tadley and flow eastwards to Honey Mill Bridge, which carries the A340 Aldermaston Road over the brook. The course of the Port Way Roman road also crosses at this point on the western boundary of Pamber Forest. On the far side of the woodland, it runs parallel to the earthworks and joins Silchester Brook as it turns to the east again. At Park Copse, higher ground prevents further progress to the east, and as turns to the north, it passes a moated site consists of a raised square platform, some square, surrounded by a stream-fed moat and some fishponds. The outflow from the moat joins Silchester Brook at Clapper's Farm. The Reading to Basingstoke railway follows the valley northwards, running alongside the river.
A little further to the north, the course of the Devil's Highway crosses the river, a Roman road that ran from London to Silchester. It turns to the north-east, and is joined by the West End Brook on its left bank, as it crosses into Berkshire. West End Brook rises close to the source of the Silchester Brook, but a little further to the north, and runs eastwards to reach the confluence. At the county boundary, it becomes the Foudry Brook, and at Stratfield Mortimer it passes close to the grade II listed St Mary's Church building, designed in 1869 by Richard Armstrong, but containing stained glass from the 15th and 17th centuries, as well as a Saxon stone coffin lid for Aegelwardus, who died in 1017. On the right bank opposite the church building is a long linear fishpond. The river drops over a waterfall, which was originally part of a hydraulic ram, and provided water from the river to Manor House. This was also the location of a medieval watermill, and the straight course of the river below the waterfall may be due to the fact that it was built to return water from the mill to the river. A mill was recorded in the manor of Stratfield Mortimer when the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, and there is documentary evidence for a mill in 1304 and again in 1449–50, but nothing subsequently. Tun Bridge carries Station Road to the nearby grade II* listed Mortimer railway station, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1848, and notable because it is one of a small number of his wayside station buildings that has remained virtually unaltered since its construction.
After passing Stratfield Mortimer Sewage Treatment Works on its left bank, the river turns to the east near Wokefield Park Training Centre, passing under the railway line, which continues northwards. Missels Bridge carries Cross Lane over the river before it passes another Clappers Farm, this one with a farmhouse dating from the 16th century with 19th century alterations. Reid's Bridge carries the drive for Brook Farm, after which a ridge of higher ground separates the valley from that of the River Loddon, and so the river turns to the north. The hamlet of Lambwoodhill Common is on the left bank, with Foudry Bridge to the south and Gravelly Bridge to the north. Just before it reaches the M4 motorway Burghfield Brook joins on its left bank, and after the bridge, the stream passes between the Green Park Business Park and the Madejski Stadium and football centre west of Whitley, where it provides the water for the meadow-landscaped lakes. It then passes under a large roundabout on the A33 road, carries on between Thames Water's Reading sewage treatment works to the west and the Brunel Retail Park to the east, before discharging into the River Kennet, here canalised as part of the Kennet and Avon Canal, just downstream of Fobney Lock and Bridge 8A, which carries the A33 over the Kennet. The Kennet weaves its way through Reading passing through County Lock and Blake's Lock to join the River Thames downstream of Caversham Lock.
Geology and hydrogeology.
Chalk is the major aquifer in the catchment area of the River Kennet and its tributaries, including the Foudry Brook. Whereas the chalk is on the surface in the west of the catchment, it is covered by a layer of clay and sand to the east, where the Foudry Brook is located. This gives it the typical characteristics of a clay catchment river, where the flow rates can be quite variable, with the low base flow rising rapidly after heavy rainfall, as surface water cannot pass through the impermeable clay, and quickly finds its way into the river.
Ecology.
In 2004, Foudry Brook had a grade of ‘c’ to ‘d’ on the Environment Agency General Quality Assessment (GQA) scheme for biological and chemical quality (with ‘a’ being the highest quality and grade ‘f’ the lowest). This was thought to be a result of the discharge of treated effluent into the lower reaches from sewage treatment works.
The GQA scheme has since been replaced as a way of recording the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor or bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.
The water quality of the Foudry Brook system was as follows in 2019.
Water quality on Silchester Brook has improved from poor in 2015 to moderate in 2016. Most of the reasons for it not achieving good quality are connected with sewage discharge. West End Brook dropped from moderate to bad in 2015, and the reasons for it not being good are mainly to do with physical modification of the channel, which prevents fish freely moving around the system, and the presence of the invasive species, the North American signal crayfish. Burghfield Brook is affected by discharges from industry, and the main factors affecting the Foudry Brook are physical modification of the channel and sewage discharge.
The brook is prone to flooding along its length, which has caused the most problems on the outskirts of Whitley, where its water voles hinder raising banks and expansion of water-meadows.
Pollution.
In an action brought by the Environment Agency in 2002, Total Fina Elf UK Ltd was fined £54,000 for causing petrol to enter groundwater and a tributary of the Foudry Brook, from its service station in Tadley. Between January 1999 and March 2001 from 2,000 up to 10,000 litres seeped into the ground from leaks in an underground petrol tank, and from filler and suction lines.
In July 2010 a serious leak from sewage works into the Brook near Silchester killed hundreds of fish and many other organisms on a three-mile stretch. |
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments is a 1759 book by Adam Smith. It provided the ethical, philosophical, economic, and methodological underpinnings to Smith's later works, including "The Wealth of Nations" (1776), "Essays on Philosophical Subjects" (1795), and "Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue, and Arms" (1763) (first published in 1896).
Sympathy.
Smith departed from the "moral sense" tradition of Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, and Hume, as the principle of sympathy takes the place of that organ. "Sympathy" was the term Smith used for the feeling of these moral sentiments. It was the feeling with the passions of others. It operated through a logic of mirroring, in which a spectator imaginatively reconstructed the experience of the person he watches:
As we have no immediate experience of what other men feel, we can form no idea of the manner in which they are affected, but by conceiving what we ourselves should feel in the like situation. Though our brother is on the rack, as long as we ourselves are at our ease, our senses will never inform us of what he suffers. They never did, and never can, carry us beyond our own person, and it is by the imagination only that we can form any conception of what are his sensations. Neither can that faculty help us to this any other way, than by representing to us what would be our own, if we were in his case. It is the impressions of our own senses only, not those of his, which our imaginations copy. By the imagination, we place ourselves in his situation...
However, Smith rejected the idea that Man was capable of forming moral judgements beyond a limited sphere of activity, again centered on his own self-interest:
The administration of the great system of the universe ... the care of the universal happiness of all rational and sensible beings, is the business of God and not of man. To man is allotted a much humbler department, but one much more suitable to the weakness of his powers, and to the narrowness of his comprehension: the care of his own happiness, of that of his family, his friends, his country... But though we are ... endowed with a very strong desire of those ends, it has been entrusted to the slow and uncertain determinations of our reason to find out the proper means of bringing them about. Nature has directed us to the greater part of these by original and immediate instincts. Hunger, thirst, the passion which unites the two sexes, and the dread of pain, prompt us to apply those means for their own sakes, and without any consideration of their tendency to those beneficent ends which the great Director of nature intended to produce by them.
The rich only select from the heap what is most precious and agreeable. They consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity, though they mean only their own conveniency, though the sole end which they propose from the labours of all the thousands whom they employ, be the gratification of their own vain and insatiable desires, they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species.
In a published lecture, Vernon L. Smith further argued that "Theory of Moral Sentiments" and "Wealth of Nations" together encompassed:
"one behavioral axiom, 'the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another,' where the objects of trade I will interpret to include not only goods, but also gifts, assistance, and favors out of sympathy ... whether it is goods or favors that are exchanged, they bestow gains from trade that humans seek relentlessly in all social transactions. Thus, Adam Smith's single axiom, broadly interpreted ... is sufficient to characterize a major portion of the human social and cultural enterprise. It explains why human nature appears to be simultaneously self-regarding and other-regarding."
"The Theory of Moral Sentiments": Edition 6.
Consists of 7 parts:
Part I: Of the propriety of action.
Part one of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" consists of three sections:
Part I, Section I: Of the Sense of Propriety.
Section 1 consists of 5 chapters:
Part I, Section I, Chapter I: Of Sympathy.
According to Smith people have a natural tendency to care about the well-being of others for no other reason than the pleasure one gets from seeing them happy. He calls this sympathy, defining it "our fellow-feeling with any passion whatsoever" (p. 5). He argues that this occurs under either of two conditions:
Although this is apparently true, he follows to argue that this tendency lies even in "the greatest ruffian, the most hardened violator of the laws of society" (p. 2).
Smith also proposes several variables that can moderate the extent of sympathy, noting that the "situation" that is the cause of the passion is a large determinant of our response:
An important point put forth by Smith is that the degree to which we sympathize, or "tremble and shudder at the thought of what he feels", is proportional to the degree of vividness in our observation or the description of the event.
When observing the anger of another person, for example, we are unlikely to sympathize with this person because we "are unacquainted with his provocation" and as a result cannot imagine what it is like to feel what he feels. Further, since we can see the "fear and resentment" of those who are the targets of the person's anger we are likely to sympathize and take side with them. Thus, sympathetic responses are often conditional on—or their magnitude is determined by—the causes of the emotion in the person being sympathized with.
Specifically, emotions such as joy and grief tell us about the "good or bad fortune" of the person we are observing them in, whereas anger tells us about the bad fortune with respect to another person. It is the difference between intrapersonal emotions, such as joy and grief, and interpersonal emotions, such as anger, that causes the difference in sympathy, according to Smith. That is, intrapersonal emotions trigger at least some sympathy without the need for context whereas interpersonal emotions are dependent on context.
He also proposes a natural 'motor' response to seeing the actions of others: If we see a knife hacking off a person's leg we wince away, if we see someone dance we move in the same ways, we feel the injuries of others as if we had them ourselves.
Smith makes clear that we sympathize not only with the misery of others but also the joy; he states that observing an emotional state through the "looks and gestures" in another person is enough to initiate that emotional state in ourselves. Furthermore, we are generally insensitive to the "real" situation of the other person; we are instead sensitive to how we would feel ourselves if we were in the situation of the other person. For example, a mother with a suffering baby feels "the most complete image of misery and distress" while the child merely feels "the uneasiness of the present instant" (p. 8).
Part I, Section I, Chapter II: Of Pleasure and mutual sympathy.
Smith continues by arguing that people feel pleasure from the presence of "others" with the same emotions as one's "self", and displeasure in the presence of those with "contrary" emotions. Smith argues that this pleasure is not the result of self-interest: that others are more likely to assist oneself if they are in a similar emotional state. Smith also makes the case that pleasure from mutual sympathy is not derived merely from a heightening of the original felt emotion amplified by the other person. Smith further notes that people get more pleasure from the mutual sympathy of negative emotions than positive emotions; we feel "more anxious to communicate to our friends" (p. 13) our negative emotions.
Smith proposes that mutual sympathy heightens the original emotion and "disburdens" the person of sorrow. This is a 'relief' model of mutual sympathy, where mutual sympathy heightens the sorrow but also produces pleasure from relief "because the sweetness of his sympathy more than compensates the bitterness of that sorrow" (p. 14). In contrast, mocking or joking about their sorrow is the "cruelest insult" one can inflict on another person:
To seem to not be affected by the joy of our companions is but want of politeness; but to not wear a serious countentance when they tell us their afflictions, is real and gross inhumanity (p. 14).
He makes clear that mutual sympathy of negative emotions is a necessary condition for friendship, whereas mutual sympathy of positive emotions is desirable but not required. This is due to the "healing consolation of mutual sympathy" that a friend is 'required' to provide in response to "grief and resentment", as if not doing so would be akin to a failure to help the physically "wounded".
Not only do we get pleasure from the sympathy of others, but we also obtain pleasure from being able to successfully sympathize with others, and discomfort from failing to do so. Sympathizing is pleasurable, failing to sympathize is aversive. Smith also makes the case that failing to sympathize with another person may not be aversive to ourselves but we may find the emotion of the other person unfounded and blame them, as when another person experiences great happiness or sadness in response to an event that we think should not warrant such a response.
Part I, Section I, Chapter III: Of the manner in which we judge of the propriety or impropriety of the affections of other men by their concord or dissonance with our own.
Smith presents the argument that approval or disapproval of the feelings of others is completely determined by whether we sympathize or fail to sympathize with their emotions. Specifically, if we sympathize with the feelings of another we judge that their feelings are just, and if we do not sympathize we judge that their feelings are unjust.
This holds in matters of opinion also, as Smith flatly states that we judge the opinions of others as correct or incorrect merely by determining whether they agree with our own opinions. Smith also cites a few examples where our judgment is not in line with our emotions and sympathy, as when we judge the sorrow of a stranger who has lost her mother as being justified even though we know nothing about the stranger and do not sympathize ourselves. However, according to Smith these non-emotional judgments are not independent from sympathy in that although we do not feel sympathy we do recognize that sympathy would be appropriate and lead us to this judgment and thus deem the judgment as correct.
"Utopian" or Ideal Political Systems: "The man of system . . . is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government, that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it.
He goes on to establish it completely and in all its parts, without any regard either to the great interests, or to the strong prejudices which may oppose it.
He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board.
He does not consider that the pieces upon the chess-board have no other principle of motion besides that which the hand impresses upon them; but that, in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it.
If those two principles coincide and act in the same direction, the game of human society will go on easily and harmoniously, and is very likely to be happy and successful.
If they are opposite or different, the game will go on miserably, and the society must be at all times in the highest degree of disorder."
— Adam Smith, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", 1759
Next, Smith puts forth that not only are the consequences of one's actions judged and used to determine whether one is just or unjust in committing them, but also whether one's sentiments justified the action that brought about the consequences. Thus, sympathy plays a role in determining judgments of the actions of others in that if we sympathize with the affections that brought about the action we are more likely to judge the action as just, and vice versa:
If upon bringing the case home to our own breast we find that the sentiments which it gives occasion to, coincide and tally with our own, we necessarily approve of them as proportioned and suitable to their objects; if otherwise, we necessarily disapprove of them, as extravagant and out of proportion (p. 20).
Part I, Section I, Chapter IV: The same subject continued.
Smith delineates two conditions under which we judge the "propriety or impropriety of the sentiments of another person":
When one's sentiments coincide with another person's when the object is considered alone, then we judge that their sentiment is justified. Smith lists objects that are in one of two domains: science and taste. Smith argues that sympathy does not play a role in judgments of these objects; differences in judgment arise only due to difference in attention or mental acuity between people. When the judgment of another person agrees with us on these types of objects it is not notable; however, when another person's judgment differs from us, we assume that they have some special ability to discern characteristics of the object we have not already noticed, and thus view their judgment with special approbation called "admiration".
Smith continues by noting that we assign value to judgments not based on usefulness (utility) but on similarity to our own judgment, and we attribute to those judgments which are in line with our own the qualities of correctness or truth in science, and justness or delicateness in taste. Thus, the utility of a judgment is "plainly an afterthought" and "not what first recommends them to our approbation" (p. 24).
Of objects that fall into the second category, such as the misfortune of oneself or another person, Smith argues that there is no common starting point for judgment but are vastly more important in maintaining social relations. Judgments of the first kind are irrelevant as long as one is able to share a sympathetic sentiment with another person; people may converse in total disagreement about objects of the first kind as long as each person appreciates the sentiments of the other to a reasonable degree. However, people become intolerable to each other when they have no feeling or sympathy for the misfortunes or resentment of the other: "You are confounded at my violence and passion, and I am enraged at your cold insensibility and want of feelings" (p. 26).
Another important point Smith makes is that our sympathy will never reach the degree or "violence" of the person who experiences it, as our own "safety" and comfort as well as separation from the offending object constantly "intrude" on our efforts to induce a sympathetic state in ourselves. Thus, sympathy is never enough, as the "sole consolation" for the sufferer is "to see the emotions of their hearts, in every respect, beat time to his own, in the violent and disagreeable passions" (p. 28). Therefore, the original sufferer is likely to dampen her feelings to be in "concord" with the degree of sentiment expressible by the other person, who feels only due to the ability of one's imagination. It is this which is "sufficient for the harmony of society" (p. 28). Not only does the person dampen her expression of suffering for the purpose of sympathizing, but she also takes the perspective of the other person who is not suffering, thus slowly changing her perspective and allowing the calmness of the other person and reduction of violence of the sentiment to improve her spirits.
As a friend is likely to engage in more sympathy than a stranger, a friend actually slows the reduction in our sorrows because we do not temper our feelings out of sympathizing with the perspective of the friend to the degree that we reduce our sentiments in the presence of acquaintances, or a group of acquaintances. This gradual tempering of our sorrows from the repeated perspective-taking of someone in a more calm state make "society and conversation...the most powerful remedies for restoring the mind to its tranquility" (p. 29).
Part I, Section I, Chapter V: Of the amiable and respectable virtues.
Smith starts to use an important new distinction in this section and late in the previous section:
These two people have two different sets of virtues. The person principally concerned, in "bring[ing] down emotions to what the spectator can go along with" (p. 30), demonstrates "self-denial" and "self-government" whereas the spectator displays "the candid condescension and indulgent humanity" of "enter[ing]into the sentiments of the person principally concerned."
Smith returns to anger and how we find "detestable...the insolence and brutality" of the person principally concerned but "admire...the indignation which they naturally call forth in that of the impartial spectator" (p. 32). Smith concludes that the "perfection" of human nature is this mutual sympathy, or "love our neighbor as we love ourself" by "feeling much for others and little for ourself" and to indulge in "benevolent affections" (p. 32). Smith makes clear that it is this ability to "self-command" our "ungovernable passions" through sympathizing with others that is virtuous.
Smith further distinguishes between virtue and propriety:
Part I, Section II: Of the degrees of which different passions are consistent with propriety.
Section 2 consists of 5 chapters:
Smith starts off by noting that the spectator can sympathize only with passions of medium "pitch". However, this medium level at which the spectator can sympathize depends on what "passion" or emotion is being expressed; with some emotions even the most justified expression of cannot be tolerated at a high level of fervor, at others sympathy in the spectator is not bounded by magnitude of expression even though the emotion is not as well justified. Again, Smith emphasizes that specific passions will be considered appropriate or inappropriate to varying degrees depending on the degree to which the spectator is able to sympathize, and that it is the purpose of this section to specify which passions evoke sympathy and which do not and therefore which are deemed appropriate and not appropriate.
Part I, Section II, Chapter I: Of the passions which take their origins from the body.
Since it is not possible to sympathize with bodily states or "appetites which take their origin in the body" it is improper to display them to others, according to Smith. One example is "eating voraciously" when hungry, as the impartial spectator can sympathize a little bit if there is a vivid description and good cause for this hunger, but not to a great extent as hunger itself cannot be induced from mere description. Smith also includes sex as a passion of the body that is considered indecent in the expression of others, although he does make note that to fail to treat a woman with more "gaiety, pleasantry, and attention" would also be improper of a man (p. 39). To express pain is also considered unbecoming.
Smith believes the cause of lack of sympathy for these bodily passions is that "we cannot enter into them" ourselves (p. 40). Temperance, by Smith's account, is to have control over bodily passions.
On the contrary, passions of the imagination, such as loss of love or ambition, are easy to sympathize with because our imagination can conform to the shape of the sufferer, whereas our body cannot do such a thing to the body of the sufferer. Pain is fleeting and the harm only lasts as long as the violence is inflicted, whereas an insult lasts to harm for longer duration because our "imagination" keeps mulling it over. Likewise, bodily pain that induces fear, such as a cut, wound or fracture, evoke sympathy because of the danger that they imply for ourselves; that is, sympathy is activated chiefly through "imagining" what it would be like for us.
Part I, Section II, Chapter II: Of the passions which take their origins from a particular turn or habit of the imagination.
Passions which "take their origins from a particular turn or habit of the imagination" are "little sympathized with". These include love, as we are unlikely to enter into our own feeling of love in response to that of another person and thus unlikely to sympathize. He further states that love is "always laughed at, because we cannot enter into it" ourselves.
Instead of inspiring love in ourselves, and thus sympathy, love makes the impartial spectator sensitive to the situation and emotions that may arise from the gain or loss of love. Again this is because it is easy to imagine "hoping" for love or "dreading" loss of love but not the actual experience of it, and that the "happy passion, upon this account, interests us much less than the fearful and the melancholy" of losing happiness (p. 49). Thus, love inspires sympathy for not for love itself but for the anticipation of emotions from gaining or losing it.
Smith, however, finds love "ridiculous" but "not naturally odious" (p. 50). Thus, we sympathize with the "humaneness, generosity, kindness, friendship, and esteem" (p. 50) of love. However, as these secondary emotions are excessive in love, one should not express them but in moderate tones according to Smith, as:
All these are objects which we cannot expect should interest our companions in the same degree in which they interest us.
Failing to do so makes bad company, and therefore those with specific interests and "love" of hobbies should keep their passions to those with kindred spirits ("A philosopher is company to a philosopher only" (p. 51)) or to themselves.
Part I, Section II, Chapter III: Of the unsocial passions.
Smith talks of hatred and resentment next, as "unsocial passions." According to Smith these are passions of imagination, but sympathy is only likely to be evoked in the impartial spectator when they are expressed in moderate tones. Because these passions regard two people, namely the offended (resentful or angry person) and the offender, our sympathies are naturally drawn between these two. Specifically, although we sympathize with the offended person, we fear that the offended person may do harm to the offender, and thus also fear for and sympathize with the danger that faces the offender.
The impartial spectator sympathizes with the offended person in a manner, as emphasized previously, such that the greatest sympathy occurs when the offended person expresses anger or resentment in a temperate manner. Specifically, if the offended person seems just and temperate in coping with the offense, then this magnifies the misdeed done to the offended in the mind of the spectator, increasing sympathy. Although excess anger does not beget sympathy, neither does too little anger, as this may signal fear or uncaring on the part of the offended. This lack of response is just as despicable to the impartial spectator as is the excesses of anger.
However, in general, any expression of anger is improper in the presence of others. This is because the "immediate effects [of anger] are disagreeable" just as the knives of surgery are disagreeable for art, as the immediate effect of surgery is unpleasant even though long-term effect is justified. Likewise, even when anger is justly provoked, it is disagreeable. According to Smith, this explains why we reserve sympathy until we know the cause of the anger or resentment, since, if the emotion is not justified by the action of another person, then the immediate disagreeableness and threat to the other person (and by sympathy to ourselves) overwhelm any sympathy that the spectator may have for the offended. In response to expressions of anger, hatred, or resentment, it is likely that the impartial spectator will not feel anger in sympathy with the offended but instead anger "toward" the offended for expressing such an aversive. Smith believes that there is some form of natural optimality to the aversiveness of these emotions, as it reduces the propagation of ill will among people, and thus increases the probability of functional societies.
Smith also puts forth that anger, hatred, and resentment are disagreeable to the offended mostly because of the idea of being offended rather than the actual offense itself. He remarks that we are likely able to do without what was taken from us, but it is the imagination which angers us at the thought of having something taken. Smith closes this section by remarking that the impartial spectator will not sympathize with us unless we are willing to endure harms, with the goal of maintaining positive social relations and humanity, with equanimity, as long as it does not put us in a situation of being "exposed to perpetual insults" (p. 59). It is only "with reluctance, from necessity, and in consequence of great and repeated provocations" (p. 60) that we should take revenge on others. Smith makes clear that we should take very good care to not act on the passions of anger, hatred, resentment, for purely social reasons, and instead imagine what the impartial spectator would deem appropriate, and base our action "solely" on a cold calculation.
Part I, Section II, Chapter IV: Of the social passions.
The social emotions such as "generosity, humanity, kindness, compassion, mutual friendship and esteem" are considered overwhelmingly with approbation by the impartial spectator. The agreeableness of the "benevolent" sentiments leads to full sympathy on the part of the spectator with both the person concerned and the object of these emotions and are not felt as aversive to the spectator if they are in excess.
Part I, Section II, Chapter V: Of the selfish passions.
The final set of passions, or "selfish passions", are grief and joy, which Smith considers to be not so aversive as the unsocial passions of anger and resentment, but not so benevolent as the social passions such as generosity and humanity. Smith makes clear in this passage that the impartial spectator is unsympathetic to the unsocial emotions because they put the offended and the offender in opposition to each other, sympathetic to the social emotions because they join the lover and beloved in unison, and feels somewhere in between with the selfish passions as they are either good or bad for only one person and are not disagreeable but not so magnificent as the social emotions.
Of grief and joy, Smith notes that small joys and great grief are assured to be returned with sympathy from the impartial spectator, but not other degrees of these emotions. Great joy is likely to be met with envy, so modesty is prudent for someone who has come upon great fortune or else suffer the consequences of envy and disapprobation. This is appropriate as the spectator appreciates the lucky individual's "sympathy with our envy and aversion to his happiness" especially because this shows concern for the inability of the spectator to reciprocate the sympathy toward the happiness of the lucky individual. According to Smith, this modesty wears on the sympathy of both the lucky individual and the old friends of the lucky individual and they soon part ways; likewise, the lucky individual may acquire new friends of higher rank to whom he must also be modest, apologizing for the "mortification" of now being their equal:
He generally grows weary too soon, and is provoked, by the sullen and suspicious pride of the one, and by the saucy contempt of the other, to treat the first with neglect, and the second with petulance, till at last he grows habitually insolent, and forfeits the esteem of them all... those sudden changes of fortune seldom contribute much to happiness (p. 66).
The solution is to ascend social rank by gradual steps, with the path cleared for one by approbation "before" one takes the next step, giving people time to adjust, and thus avoiding any "jealousy in those he overtakes, or any envy in those he leaves behind" (p. 66).
Small joys of everyday life are met with sympathy and approbation according to Smith. These "frivolous nothings which fill up the void of human life" (p. 67) divert attention and help us forget problems, reconciling us as with a lost friend.
The opposite is true for grief, with small grief triggering no sympathy in the impartial spectator, but large grief with much sympathy. Small griefs are likely, and appropriately, turned into joke and mockery by the sufferer, as the sufferer knows how complaining about small grievances to the impartial spectator will evoke ridicule in the heart of the spectator, and thus the sufferer sympathizes with this, mocking himself to some degree.
Part I, Section III: Of the effects of prosperity and adversity upon the judgment of mankind with regard to the propriety of action; and why it is more easy to obtain their approbation in the one state than in the other.
Section 3 consists of 3 chapters:
Part I, Section III, Chapter II: Of the Origin of Ambition, and of the Distinction of Ranks.
The rich man glories in his riches, because he feels that they naturally draw upon him the attention of the world, and that mankind are disposed to go along with him in all those agreeable emotions with which the advantages of his situation so readily inspire him. At the thought of this, his heart seems to swell and dilate itself within him, and he is fonder of his wealth, upon this account, than for all the other advantages it procures him. The poor man, on the contrary, is ashamed of his poverty. He feels that it either places him out of the sight of mankind, or, that if they take any notice of him, they have, however, scarce any fellow-feeling with the misery and distress which he suffers.
Great King, live for ever! is the compliment, which, after the manner of eastern adulation, we should readily make them, if experience did not teach us its absurdity. Every calamity that befalls them, every injury that is done them, excites in the breast of the spectator ten times more compassion and resentment than he would have felt, had the same things happened to other men. A stranger to human nature, who saw the indifference of men about the misery of their inferiors, and the regret and indignation which they feel for the misfortunes and sufferings of those above them, would be apt to imagine, that pain must be more agonizing, and the convulsions of death more terrible to persons of higher rank, than to those of meaner stations.
Upon this disposition of mankind, to go along with all the passions of the rich and the powerful, is founded the distinction of ranks, and the order of society. Even when the people have been brought this length, they are apt to relent every moment, and easily relapse into their habitual state of deference to those whom they have been accustomed to look upon as their natural superiors. They cannot stand the mortification of their monarch. Compassion soon takes the place of resentment, they forget all past provocations, their old principles of loyalty revive, and they run to re-establish the ruined authority of their old masters, with the same violence with which they had opposed it. The death of Charles I brought about the Restoration of the royal family. Compassion for James II when he was seized by the populace in making his escape on ship-board, had almost prevented the Revolution, and made it go on more heavily than before.
Part I, Section III, Chapter III: Of the Corruption of our Moral Sentiments, which is occasioned by this Disposition to admire the Rich and the Great, and to despise or neglect Persons of poor and mean Condition.
This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. That wealth and greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt, of which vice and folly are the only proper objects, is often most unjustly bestowed upon poverty and weakness, has been the complaint of moralists in all ages.
We desire both to be respectable and to be respected. We dread both to be contemptible and to be contemned. But, upon coming into the world, we soon find that wisdom and virtue are by no means the sole objects of respect; nor vice and folly, of contempt. We frequently see the respectful attentions of the world more strongly directed towards the rich and the great, than towards the wise and the virtuous. We see frequently the vices and follies of the powerful much less despised than the poverty and weakness of the innocent. To deserve, to acquire, and to enjoy the respect and admiration of mankind, are the great objects of ambition and emulation. Two different roads are presented to us, equally leading to the attainment of this so much desired object; the one, by the study of wisdom and the practice of virtue; the other, by the acquisition of wealth and greatness. Two different characters are presented to our emulation; the one, of proud ambition and ostentatious avidity. the other, of humble modesty and equitable justice. Two different models, two different pictures, are held out to us, according to which we may fashion our own character and behaviour; the one more gaudy and glittering in its colouring; the other more correct and more exquisitely beautiful in its outline: the one forcing itself upon the notice of every wandering eye; the other, attracting the attention of scarce any body but the most studious and careful observer. They are the wise and the virtuous chiefly, a select, though, I am afraid, but a small party, who are the real and steady admirers of wisdom and virtue. The great mob of mankind are the admirers and worshippers, and, what may seem more extraordinary, most frequently the disinterested admirers and worshippers, of wealth and greatness.
n the superior stations of life the case is unhappily not always the same. In the courts of princes, in the drawing-rooms of the great, where success and preferment depend, not upon the esteem of intelligent and well-informed equals, but upon the fanciful and foolish favour of ignorant, presumptuous, and proud superiors; flattery and falsehood too often prevail over merit and abilities. In such societies the abilities to please, are more regarded than the abilities to serve. In quiet and peaceable times, when the storm is at a distance, the prince, or great man, wishes only to be amused, and is even apt to fancy that he has scarce any occasion for the service of any body, or that those who amuse him are sufficiently able to serve him. The external graces, the frivolous accomplishments of that impertinent and foolish thing called a man of fashion, are commonly more admired than the solid and masculine virtues of a warrior, a statesman, a philosopher, or a legislator. All the great and awful virtues, all the virtues which can fit, either for the council, the senate, or the field, are, by the insolent and insignificant flatterers, who commonly figure the most in such corrupted societies, held in the utmost contempt and derision. When the duke of Sully was called upon by Lewis the Thirteenth, to give his advice in some great emergency, he observed the favourites and courtiers whispering to one another, and smiling at his unfashionable appearance. 'Whenever your majesty's father,' said the old warrior and statesman, 'did me the honour to consult me, he ordered the buffoons of the court to retire into the antechamber.'
It is from our disposition to admire, and consequently to imitate, the rich and the great, that they are enabled to set, or to lead what is called the fashion. Their dress is the fashionable dress; the language of their conversation, the fashionable style; their air and deportment, the fashionable behaviour. Even their vices and follies are fashionable; and the greater part of men are proud to imitate and resemble them in the very qualities which dishonour and degrade them. Vain men often give themselves airs of a fashionable profligacy, which, in their hearts, they do not approve of, and of which, perhaps, they are really not guilty. They desire to be praised for what they themselves do not think praise-worthy, and are ashamed of unfashionable virtues which they sometimes practise in secret, and for which they have secretly some degree of real veneration. There are hypocrites of wealth and greatness, as well as of religion and virtue; and a vain man is as apt to pretend to be what he is not, in the one way, as a cunning man is in the other. He assumes the equipage and splendid way of living of his superiors, without considering that whatever may be praise-worthy in any of these, derives its whole merit and propriety from its suitableness to that situation and fortune which both require and can easily support the expence. Many a poor man places his glory in being thought rich, without considering that the duties (if one may call such follies by so very venerable a name) which that reputation imposes upon him, must soon reduce him to beggary, and render his situation still more unlike that of those whom he admires and imitates, than it had been originally.
Part II. Of Merit and Demerit; or, of the Objects of Reward and Punishment.
Section I. Of the Sense of Merit and Demerit.
Chap. I. "That whatever appears to be the proper Object of Gratitude, appears to deserve Reward; and that, in the same Manner, whatever appears to be the proper Object of Resentment, appears to deserve Punishment"
Chap. II. "Of the proper Objects of Gratitude and Resentment"
Chap. III. "That where there is no Approbation of the Conduct of the Person who confers the Benefit, there is little Sympathy with the Gratitude of him who receives it: and that, on the contrary, where there is no Disapprobation of the Motives of the Person who does the Mischief, there is no sort of Sympathy with the Resentment of him who suffers it"
Chap. V. The analysis of the sense of Merit and Demerit
Section II. Of Justice and Beneficence.
Chap. I. "Comparison of those two virtues"
Chap. II. "Of the sense of Justice, of Remorse, and of the consciousness of Merit"
Chap. III. "Of the utility of this constitution of Nature"
Chap. IV. Recapitulation of the foregoing chapters
Section III. Of the Influence of Fortune upon the Sentiments of Mankind, with regard to the Merit or Demerit of Actions.
Chap. I. "Of the causes of this Influence of Fortune"
Chap. II. "Of the extent of this influence of fortune"
Chap. III. "Of the final cause of this Irregularity of Sentiments"
Part V, Chapter I: Of the influence of Custom and Fashion upon the Sentiments of Approbation and Disapprobation.
Smith argues that two principles, custom and fashion, pervasively influence judgment. These are based on the modern psychological concept of associativity: Stimuli presented closely in time or space become mentally linked over time and repeated exposure. In Smith's own words:
When two objects have frequently been seen together, the imagination requires a habit of passing easily from one to the other. If the first is to appear, we lay our account that the second is to follow. Of their own accord they put us in mind of one another, and the attention glides easily along them. (p. 1)
Regarding custom, Smith argues that approbation occurs when stimuli are presented according to how one is accustomed to viewing them and disapprobation occurs when they are presented in a way that one is not accustomed to. Thus, Smith argues for social relativity of judgment meaning that beauty and correctness are determined more by what one has previously been exposed to rather than an absolute principle. Although Smith places greater weight on this social determination he does not discount absolute principles completely, instead he argues that evaluations are rarely inconsistent with custom, therefore giving greater weight to customs than absolutes:
I cannot, however, be induced to believe that our sense of external beauty is founded altogether on custom...But though I cannot admit that custom is the sole principle of beauty, yet I can so far allow the truth of this ingenious system as to grant, that there is scarce any one external form to please, if quite contrary to custom...(pp. 14–15).
Smith continues by arguing that fashion is a particular "species" of custom. Fashion is specifically the association of stimuli with people of high rank, for example, a certain type of clothes with a notable person such as a king or a renowned artist. This is because the "graceful, easy, and commanding manners of the great" (p. 3) person are frequently associated with the other aspects of the person of high rank (e.g., clothes, manners), thus bestowing upon the other aspects the "graceful" quality of the person. In this way objects become fashionable. Smith includes not only clothes and furniture in the sphere of fashion, but also taste, music, poetry, architecture, and physical beauty.
Smith also points out that people should be relatively reluctant to change styles from what they are accustomed to even if a new style is equal to or slightly better than current fashion: "A man would be ridiculous who should appear in public with a suit of clothes quite different from those which are commonly worn, though the new dress be ever so graceful or convenient" (p. 7).
Physical beauty, according to Smith, is also determined by the principle of custom. He argues that each "class" of things has a "peculiar conformation which is approved of" and that the beauty of each member of a class is determined by the extent to which it has the most "usual" manifestation of that "conformation":
Thus, in the human form, the beauty of each feature lies in a certain middle, equally removed from a variety of other forms that are ugly. (pp. 10–11).
Part V, Chapter II: Of the influence of Custom and Fashion upon Moral Sentiments.
Smith argues that the influence of custom is reduced in the sphere of moral judgment. Specifically, he argues that there are "bad" things that no custom can bring approbation to:
But the characters and conduct of a Nero, or a Claudius, are what no custom will ever reconcile us to, what no fashion will ever render agreeable; but the one will always be the object of dread and hatred; the other of scorn and derision. (pp. 15–16).
Smith further argues for a "natural" right and wrong, and that custom amplifies the moral sentiments when one's customs are consistent with nature, but dampens moral sentiments when one's customs are inconsistent with nature.
Fashion also has an effect on moral sentiment. The vices of people of high rank, such as the licentiousness of Charles VIII, are associated with the "freedom and independency, with frankness, generosity, humanity, and politeness" of the "superiors" and thus the vices are endued with these characteristics. |
Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education/Curriculum Development/Curriculum Design
In this article I am going to present factors that influence curriculum design. I believe that a good teacher will have a well designed curriculum. The teacher must always have an open mind and remember that all students are different and therefore they learn differently. The teacher should meet each child’s needs. It is in the teacher’s role that all curriculum development is focused. Not only does the teacher participate in developing new teaching-learning procedures but it is the teacher who is the principal consumer of innovations in the field of education (Koopman). Teachers all have different methods of getting the information across to the student but they must be smart in the way they go about helping their students reach their learning goals. Effective teachers do not treat all students the same. The teacher’s individual characteristics affect the way the curriculum is presented to the students. Some other factors that influence curriculum design are application of technology, student’s cultural background and socioeconomic status, social forces, and also classroom management. Individual teachers need to make decisions regarding curricular design at the classroom level given the unique characteristics of their students (Marzano). The term curriculum has been used for perhaps less than one hundred years. Every generation has been faced with problems of curriculum: (1) What content shall be included? (2) What will be envisioned as the function of the curriculum? (3) How will it be organized? (4) Where or when will it be introduced or stressed? (5) By what means will it be implemented? (6) What materials, sources of materials, and experiences will be acceptable? (7) What forces will be allowed to dominate? (Cook & Doll) Curriculum is also affected by historical precedents, which are more influential in some communities than others; by prevailing philosophical beliefs, the nature of the greatly expanding disciplines, the impact of social, political, and economic influences; by research in human growth and learning; and by the individual learner himself (Cook & Doll).
Teacher Characteristics.
Let's begin by defining "curriculum". I define classroom curriculum design as the sequencing and pacing of content along with the experiences students have with that content (Marzano). An effective teacher and curriculum planner must understand some central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can also create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students. The teacher must understand how children learn and develop and they should be able to support their intellectual, social, and personal development. A wise teacher uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage all diverse students’ development of problem solving, critical thinking, and performance skills. A positive thinking teacher will understand the importance of motivation and will pass their positive attitude onto the student’s in the classroom. Being a positive role model for students is so important. A teacher really must be a dynamic person who is always evaluating the effects of his or her choices and actions on others (students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community).
Technology.
Technology has come a long way since the days of hornbooks, quill pens, and creaky wooden desks (can you even call those things “technology”?) (Fredericks). Some teachers are fearful of their classroom computers simply because computers are a relatively new tool for classroom teachers. Technology is broad and expansive and it can help with curriculum design. Technology is simply just another tool for teachers. The best question a teacher could ask is “What tools will help me help my students?” It is all dependent upon the teacher if they choose to use technology as an instructional aid or not.
Student Background, Status, and Social Forces.
All children come from different backgrounds and there is an increasing number of student’s that are from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Our multicultural society is a key factor that is taken into consideration for curriculum design. Some factors of diversity include religion, race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, and also children with different kinds of disabilities. Curricular planners work to build an education that suits our multicultural society and that will help every child from every different background live, work, and go on to lead successful lives in our melting pot of a society. The role of schools in society and the purpose of the curriculum have been major, closely related, issues since schools were first established. Society’s expectations for its schools and schools’ response to society are both reflected in the school curriculum. Curriculum reflects a complex society, a society in which there is never perfect agreement on the characteristics of that society Orlosky & Smith). Some see the primary purpose of the curriculum is the acquisition of cognitive knowledge. Some others would consider it as a program for helping pupils develop humane and rational qualities. Curriculum is organized according to grade and age levels.
Classroom Management.
Classroom management is about achieving order so productive learning can occur. The ultimate goal of classroom management is to promote learning. If learning is accomplished then the teacher is getting his or her curriculum across to the students. Effective teachers give students opportunities to make their own decisions. Good classrooms are not teacher-dependent environments but rather independent student learning arenas. Excellent instructional leaders provide students with multiple opportunities to make choices and accept consequences of those choices (Fredericks). Teachers who empower students in making decisions are facilitating independent and responsible learners. Establishing Routines for students provides them with a sense of responsibility and allows them to make decisions that are theirs rather than the teacher’s.
Conclusion.
All educational personnel envision an ideal school. What is the aim of formal education? To prepare for complete living, many would say. The teacher would more than likely state that his or her objectives were to help the student learn or understand from day to day. In order to do this he or she will need instructional objectives that state what the student is expected to learn. Objectives are useful to the teacher as he or she tries to help the student understand what is to be learned. Without objectives there is no sense of direction for curriculum planning and design.
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Alan Lowry
Alan D. Lowry is a former National Football League (NFL) and college football coach, best known as the architect of the Music City Miracle. He coached for several teams over more than 25 years, winning one Super Bowl and going to another. Prior to coaching he played football at the University of Texas, where he won a national championship and three conference championships, was named to the All-Conference team twice at two different positions and was named the 1973 Cotton Bowl Offensive MVP.
Player.
At the University of Texas, Lowry was a two-sport athlete at Texas and a three-way player for the football team. During his sophomore and junior seasons he played defensive back, but in his senior year he was the team's starting quarterback. He was also the team's starting punter in his junior and senior years. He's the last Longhorn to earn All-Southwest Conference honors at two different positions, and one of few players to ever do so at all.
Heavily recruited out of Irving High School where he played quarterback, he chose Texas over Oklahoma and Texas Christian. He was 2nd Team All-State in football, led his team to the 1968 State quarterfinals, and was All-District in baseball. He also lettered in basketball.
Lowry played back-up quarterback and defensive back on the freshman team. The next year, he played defensive back for the varsity. He played in eight games that year despite injuries, including the 1970 Cotton Bowl. That season Texas won the Southwest Conference Championship and the national championship.
For his junior year, Lowry again was a starter at defensive back. He was also the team's punter. That season, he played in every game, led the team in interceptions, and made the All Southwest Conference Team. The Longhorns were again Southwest Conference Champions, and lost to Penn State in the Cotton Bowl to finish the season ranked #12.
Immediately after the 1972 Cotton Bowl, Coach Royal told Lowry not to plan on playing baseball because he would be moving to quarterback and would need to focus on spring training. Assistant Coach Fred Akers moved from coaching the defensive backfield to the offensive backfield and he took Lowry with him. The following season, he started every game despite an injury to his elbow and forearm during the Utah State game. He led the Longhorns to a 10-1 record, including wins over #4 Alabama and #17 Arkansas, with the only loss coming to #2 Oklahoma. That one loss cost them a chance at the national championship. He again was named to the All-Conference team, this time as quarterback while continuing to be the team's punter. In his role as punter, he kicked an 82-yard punt against Baylor that year, tying the school record set by Jack Collins in 1959. In the 1973 Cotton Bowl he rushed for 117 yards, which, at the time, was the 2nd best performance by a Texas quarterback in the Cotton Bowl. Running back Roosevelt Leaks also ran for more than 100 yards in that game, making it the first time Texas had two 100-yard rushers in the same bowl game. Lowry, who was fighting a 104 degree fever that day, scored the game-winning touchdown on a controversial 34 yard touchdown run in which he stepped very close to, if not onto, the sideline at the 10 yard line. As a result, Lowry was named the Offensive Outstanding Player for the game and the Longhorns finished the season ranked #3 in the country. He was a team co-captain and team MVP.
In addition to playing football, Lowry was also a starter for the baseball team in 1971 and 1973. He missed part of the 1971 season, when he played in the outfield, with an ankle injury he suffered waterskiing. He skipped the 1972 season to participate in spring football drills, missing his only chance to go to the College World Series. He did manage to play summer baseball for the Austin Aztecas in 1972. In 1973, he moved to shortstop. He missed the start of the season with a pulled leg muscle and only played in 4 games before his season was cut short by the same injury that ended his athletic career. He graduated with a year of eligibility left.
In the 1973 NFL draft in February of that year, Lowry was drafted in the 13th round by the New England Patriots as a quarterback. However, in April of that year, while playing baseball for the Longhorns, he noticed pain in his arm that wouldn't go away, numbness and blue fingertips. After first suspecting nerve damage it was determined that he had blood clots, two in his right hand and in one in his elbow, so in May of that year, he ended his career without ever playing a down in the NFL. The cause of the injury was stretching in the artery caused by throwing a baseball, and was similar to the injury that ended the career of Sandy Koufax. The news was particularly concerning since his father had died from a blood clot early in 1972.
In 1989, Lowry was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor.
Records.
Bold means still active
College career.
Lowry began his coaching career at Texas as a graduate assistant coaching the scout team in 1973. After graduation in 1974, he went to coach at Virginia Tech before moving to the University of Wyoming to join Fred Akers' coaching staff in 1975. He resigned that post in summer of 1976 due to the serious illness of his mother. Following her death, he spent the fall of 1976 grading films for the Dallas Cowboys scouting department before rejoining new Texas head coach Akers at the University of Texas (1977–81) for five seasons as defensive backs coach.
Professional career.
Lowry spent nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys (1982–90). He originally joined the Cowboys in 1982 as their special teams coach before shifting to receivers (1988–90). In 1991, he served as the special teams/tight ends coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and as special teams coach for the San Francisco 49ers from 1992-95. In San Francisco, Lowry and the Niners made three NFC Championship game appearances (1992, 1993, 1994) and captured a Super Bowl Championship (XXIX).
Lowry is perhaps best known for masterminding the "miracle" play with the Tennessee Titans in what is now known as the Music City Miracle. It took place in a Wild Card game of the NFL Playoffs involving the Titans and Buffalo Bills on January 8, 2000. Steve Christie, the Bills' kicker, had just kicked a 41-yard field goal to put Buffalo up 16-15 with only sixteen seconds remaining in the game. On the ensuing kickoff, Christie kicked off, and Titans player Lorenzo Neal received. Neal handed the ball off to Titans tight end Frank Wycheck, who then lateraled the ball across the whole field to another Titans player, Kevin Dyson, who then ran down the sidelines for a 75-yard touchdown. They would go on to Super Bowl XXXIV, losing to the St. Louis Rams 23-16.
On January 11, 2013, Lowry was let go by the Titans after 17 seasons with the franchise.
Personal life.
Lowry is a native of Miami, Oklahoma, and currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife, Donna. The couple has two daughters, Marta (31) and Lindsay (27).
Alan Lowry grew up in Irving, Texas. Graduated from Irving High School in 1969 where he was the QB of the Irving Tigers. Lowry was inducted into the Irving Independent School District First Hall of Fame class in 2012. |
Teuchitlán culture
The Teuchitlán culture was one of several related cultures in West Mexico during the Late Formative to Classic period (350 BCE to 450/500 CE). Situated in the Tequila Valleys of Jalisco, the Teuchitlán culture shared in the tradition of burying some of their dead in shaft and chamber tombs. Archaeological work from the past few decades have demonstrated that West Mexico was not occupied by one homogeneous culture, historically referred to as the shaft tomb tradition, that stretched from Nayarit, Jalisco, and Colima. Instead, West Mexico was composed of multiple cultures with several distinct commonalities.
The Teuchitlán culture is an archaeologically defined culture named after the town of Teuchitlán where the largest Teuchitlán culture site, Los Guachimontones, is located. Los Guachimontones is one of several dozen sites in the region, but is most notable for the number and size of its ceremonial buildings. Like many other Mesoamerican cultures, the Teuchitlán culture lacked a writing system. Archaeologists do not know what they may have called themselves or what language they may have spoken. The toponym for the town of Teuchitlán dates to the Late Postclassic/Conquest period and could have its origins in one of several Nahuatl speaking migrations to the region after 500 CE.
As with other West Mexican cultures during this period, the Teuchitlán culture buried some, but not all, of their dead in shaft and chamber tombs dug into the earth. The deceased were interred in these chambers and mortuary goods such as ceramic vessels, hollow and solid ceramic figures, shell jewelry, conch shells, jadeite, quartz, ground stone, and paper were placed within.
History.
Archaeologists still poorly understand the origins and development of the Teuchitlán culture. No Early or Middle Formative sites in the Tequila Valleys have been excavated yet. However, the nearby Early Formative site of El Opeño, Michoacan and somewhat more distantly located Middle Formative site of Mascota, Jalisco suggest a long continuity of shaft and chamber use in West Mexico. Phil Weigand documented several Middle Formative mounds in the Tequila Valleys in the 1970s and 1980s. These large, low mounds supposedly contained burials that looters had robbed in the past. However, Weigand never published more than some plan maps and descriptions of these mounds.
During the Late Formative period, the Tequila Valleys experienced a surge in population density resulting in the proliferation of surface and subsurface architecture. The sub-surface architecture, in the form of shaft and chamber tombs, is more familiar to archaeologists and the public. This is a result of the rampant looting of tombs starting in the 19th century and continuing until the 1970s, though some looting continues to a lesser extent. Looters focused on shaft and chamber tombs to retrieve the hollow and solid ceramic figures sometimes placed within as mortuary offerings to the deceased. These ceramic figures were sold on the art market to collectors and museums in Mexico and abroad. Painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo were frequent collectors of ceramic figures from West Mexico, often incorporating them into their works such as Diego Rivera’s “La Civilización Tarasca” (1950). Other notable collectors include Vincent Price whose collection Kahlúa used for advertisements in the 1960s. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Gilcrease Museum also have extensive West Mexican collections.
One of the defining features of the Teuchitlán culture is the construction and use of circular temples called "guachimontones". These buildings consist of several architectural features: a basal circular platform that acts as a patio, a ring platform called a banquette constructed on top of the patio platform, an even number of quadrangular platforms constructed on top of the banquette, and a stepped altar located in the center of the patio. Guachimontones are most heavily concentrated in the Tequila Valleys, but examples are found outside of the cultural boundaries of the Teuchitlán culture. Guachimontones can be found near Comala, Colima, La Gloria, Guanajuato, and Bolaños, Jalisco.
Weigand had proposed that the construction of guachimontones followed on the construction of shaft and chamber tombs. The shift from sub-surface to surface architecture was a shift in how power transferred from the association with the dead to power held by the living. However, this hypothesis no longer holds up to scrutiny. Excavations at the site of Los Guachimontones place the construction date of the largest guachimonton in the Tequila Valleys, Circle 1, between 160 to 60 BCE. The construction of Circle 1 predates the monumental tomb at El Arenal and the elaborate tomb at Huitzilapa.
Recently, Beekman proposed a different explanation for the relationship between guachimontones and shaft and chamber tombs. Beekman argues that around Los Guachimontones, cultural rules and norms were most heavily enforced among the population with power being shared relatively equally between ruling elite lineages. As one moves away from Los Guachimontones, ruling elites that managed a smaller population and site, were able to exert a greater degree of control. This allowed elites to invest more heavily in the construction of tombs that promoted their lineage than in public architecture used by other elites and the community.
Characteristics.
Shaft and Chamber Tombs.
Shaft and chamber tombs were typically used for related family members, possibly part of a lineage. Archaeologists consider shaft and chamber tombs to be an expression of broader Mesoamerican beliefs. Chambers may represent artificial caves which are associated with the Underworld being a dark, watery space located underground. The accompaniment of conch shells with the deceased may reinforce that association.
Archaeologists in the Tequila Valleys have documented some of the deepest and most richly furnished shaft and chamber tombs in West Mexico. The site of El Arenal boasts a shaft and chamber tomb with a shaft depth of 16 meters. Archaeologists excavating at the site of Huitzilapa discovered a shaft and chamber tomb consisting of two chambers, six individuals, and hundreds of artifacts. Mortuary goods consisted of complete and broken ceramic figures, vessels, ground stone, jadeite, quartz, shell jewelry, conch shells, and the oldest amate paper in Mesoamerica (dated to 73 CE). While archaeologists in both Nayarit and Colima have documented more shaft and chamber tombs than in Jalisco, none are as elaborate, deep, or large as those found in the Tequila Valleys.
Guachimontones.
Guachimontones are the circular ceremonial buildings constructed by the Teuchitlán culture people within the Tequila Valleys. A typical guachimonton (colloquially called a circle in both English and Spanish) consists of four basic architectural features: the patio, the banquette, the altar, and the platforms. The patio consists of a circular platform that forms the base of the building and dictates its maximum diameter. Constructed on top of the patio are both the banquette and the altar. The banquette consists of a ring-shaped platform whose outer diameter conforms to the diameter of the patio platform. The inner diameter of the banquette is set somewhere in the patio space dictating the size of the platforms and constraining the available patio space. Constructed in the center of the patio is the altar that exhibits a range of diameters, sizes, and shapes and constrains the available patio space. Typically, constructed on top of the banquette is an even number of quadrangular platforms ranging in number from four to sixteen.
Scholars have proposed several ideological or cosmological interpretations for the guachimontones. J. Charles Kelley. was the first to suggest that the ceramic models looted from shaft and chamber tombs depicting one to four house structures and a pole in the center space with a person perched on top may be a depiction of a version of the volador ceremony practiced in Mexico today. Some of these models depict two poles, one straight, and one curved, perhaps as a way to indicate motion. Christopher Beekman expanded upon this idea several decades later to support the volador idea and to suggest practices could include other pole ceremonies known elsewhere from Mesoamerica. Kelley also suggested that the altar of a guachimonton might represent an artificial mountain, a cosmologically significant feature to Mesoamerican beliefs. Mountains were where the gods dwelt, where water flowed from, and where one could find caves to the underworld. Shaft and chamber tombs may represent artificial caves with their location underground. Together, tombs, guachimontones, and a pole ceremony, depicts the Mesoamerican cosmology of an underworld, an earthly plane, and the heavens.
Christopher Witmore interprets the form of the guachimonton, with the altar in the center and platforms arranged around the patio space, to represent the sun. Witmore draws upon Wixáritari (Huichol) ethnographic work to suggest that the guachimonton may be an ancient version of the contemporary Wixáritari tuki. He compares the structures to ideological concepts of the Wixáritari deities Grandfather Fire and Father Sun.
Alternatively, Christopher Beekman suggests that a typical eight platform guachimonton might represent eight-row maize, a variety of maize with its origins in West Mexico. If one cuts a maize cob in half, the eight kernels and cob core looks similar to that of a guachimonton. This association with maize may be linked to volador ceremonies or other Mesoamerican pole-related ceremonies, such as pole-climbing and green maize ceremonies.
In her dissertation, Butterwick sees guachimontones as places of ancestor worship and of feasting. Drawing upon excavation data from the site of Huitzilapa and looted ceramic models from tombs that depict simplified guachimontones, Butterwick argues that guachimontones may simply be four platform groups with a central ancestral shrine made larger. The ceramic models without a pole in their center often depict the spaces as a hub of activities from marriage ceremonies, to food preparation, to music making and dancing, and even warfare. The ceramics found at Huitzilapa outside of the tomb tend to be serving ware and their distribution suggests feasting was an important activity. A similar model is viable for Los Guachimontones despite its larger size and lack of documented elaborate shaft tombs.
Culture.
Politics.
Three different political systems have been proposed for the Teuchitlán culture with the site of Los Guachimontones having a role in all three systems. Phil Weigand and Christopher Beekman proposed the first in 1998 that consisted of a segmentary state model. In this model, there is a concentrated core and a broad surrounding hinterland. Within the core of the segmentary state, control is exerted through ceremonialism rather than political force. The Tequila Valleys constitute the core of this segmentary state based on the number of sites with guachimontones and the size of the guachimontones. Guachimontones located outside of the Tequila Valleys are then considered peripheral regions that exploited rare resources for the core. Within the segmentary state, Weigand argued a settlement hierarchy existed between the major sites in the region. Los Guachimontones was at the top of this proposed hierarchy. Smaller, but still large sites, like Ahualulco, Navajas, and Santa Quiteria, would have provided further administrative control over the region. Smaller sites were hypothesized act as loci for minor elite control or as a way to promote population cohesion.
Lorenza Lopez Mestas in 2011 proposed that the Teuchitlán culture consisted of a collection of lineage or clan-based chiefdoms. In this model, each ceremonial center in the Tequila Valleys was the site of a chiefdom. These chiefdoms would have banded together in defense of the valleys but would have also engaged in conflict and trade with each other. Lopez Mestas argued the primary mechanism of power that chiefs relied upon was their ability to engage in trade for exotic or prestigious goods, like jadeite and shell, from outside of the Tequila Valleys. Chiefly power was not absolute, however, and was based upon consensus rather than coercion. Failing to perform their necessary duties could result in a loss of power. One mechanism to maintain power would have been feasting. Lopez Mestas suggests that elites would try to convince commoners to donate artisan goods or domestic surplus to increase chiefly wealth and status. With this newfound wealth and status, chiefs could then hold larger feasts and gain control over even more resources.
Beekman later proposed a new political structure for the Teuchitlán culture. In 2008 he suggested a model in which Teuchitlán culture centers were ruled by corporate groups composed of multiple lineages, clans, or elite families. These corporate groups would have coopered together to form a broader collective governance. Beekman’s model is based on his excavations at two smaller sites, Llano Grande and Navajas, and his examination of the architecture. Irregularities within the construction of these structures suggest that separate labor groups were employed for construction, specifically the platforms of the guachimonton. These differences likely indicate a form of competition and status signaling.
Food.
Food remains recovered archaeologically are somewhat sparse in the Tequila Valleys because of limited excavations focused on other contexts. However, evidence for some food can be gleaned from limited ethnohistoric, art historic, and archaeological data.
In the Autlán-Tuxcacuesco area to the south of Tequila Valley, Kelly remarked how indigenous peoples in the region in 1525 relied heavily on the maguey plant. The leaves were chopped off and roasted for food, the fibers in the plant were gathered to spin into thread, and for brewing. Maize and chili were important crops as well as guamúchil, plum, copal jocote, guaje, arrayán, sapote, and guava.
Butterwick took a more art historical approach to food in her discussion of ritual feasting at the site of Huitzilapa. Turning a critical eye to the ceramic models from West Mexico, Butterwick notes that food is depicted as either cylindrical, globular, discoid, or lump. She suggests that these shapes correspond to tamales or ears of maize, fruits, cakes, or beans, respectively.
Zizumbo-Villareal et al. (2014) approach food in West Mexico through a hybridized ethnographic, art historic, and archaeological approach. They conducted open-ended interviews with people around the Zapotitlan region of Jalisco. These interviews inquired to the dishes and beverages they recalled from the time of their great grandfathers. They cross checked the results of these interviews with archaeological and art historical data. The result are 29 native species to the region, 4 native species likely introduced from other parts of Mesoamerica, and up to 75 wild native plants that were likely part of the Late-Formative to Classic period diet. These foods include varieties of maize, agave, squash, beans, and chili.
Art.
The most recognizable form of artwork by the Teuchitlán culture are its hollow and solid ceramic figures. Like many other West Mexican cultures during the Late Formative to Classic period, the Teuchitlán culture created ceramic figures depicting a variety of people in different styles, wearing differing clothing and accoutrements, and in a variety of poses and actions. The hollow figurine styles most commonly found in the Tequila Valleys are the Ameca-Etzatlan, San Juanto, and Tala styles. Hollow figurines often depict warriors, ball players, high status individuals, and people holding vessels.
Ceramic vessels come in a variety of styles with the most notable being Oconahua Red-on-White vessels with its characteristic red geometric pattern on a white background. While patterns tend to be geometric in design, there are some rare examples of animal depictions. The most common motif is that of the serpent, which may be related to broader Mesoamerican cosmology.
Ballgame.
The history for the Mesoamerican ball game in West Mexico dates back to the Early Formative period (1500 – 900 BCE) with the site of El Opeño. El Opeño is located just southeast of Lake Chapala over the Jalisco/Michoacán border. The site consists of a shaft tomb cemetery, though short staircases lead to the tombs rather than vertical shafts. Within several of these tombs, ceramic figurines were discovered interred with the dead. A group of 16 figurines were found together in one tomb. Eight of the figurines appear to depict people playing the ball game. Five figures are nude men with various pieces of ball game equipment and three are nude women.
The Late Formative to Classic period continued to depict ball players in some of their ceramic figures. These figures are often seen holding a ball. Solid ceramic dioramas or models from the greater West Mexico region depict multiple people playing the ball game and often accompanied by spectators sitting or standing on the ball court walls. Some figurines depict warrior/ball players with a mix of clothing and equipment, a common association elsewhere in Mesoamerica. Some of these figures show people wearing protective leather pants. Some of the skeletal remains from Huitzilapa have lesions on their arms and hips, consistent with atlatl use and hitting balls or falling upon their hips for the ball game.
Ball courts in the Tequila Valley are typically of the I-shape variety. Two long, narrow, parallel platforms form the playing place while two end platforms designate the end of the playing space. Unlike other Mesoamerican ball courts, Teuchitlán culture ball courts do not have sloping sides. Instead, the two parallel platforms have straight vertical sides. These platforms are not very tall; Ball Court 2 at Los Guachimontones is only 1.1 meters tall. Ball courts are typically attached to a guachimonton with a platform from a guachimonton forming the end platform for the ball court. However, free standing ball courts do exist such as Ball Court 2 at Los Guachimontones.
Notable Sites.
Los Guachimontones.
Los Guachimontones is the largest Teuchitlán culture site in the Tequila Valleys. The archaeological site is located in the hills just north of the town of Teuchitlán. The largest guachimontones in the Tequila Valleys are located here with the site commanding a central position within the region. Currently, the earliest documentation of the site dates to the late 19th century when Adela Breton visited and photographed the site. The site remained relatively unknown to archaeologists until the 1970s when Weigand (1974) and Mountjoy and Weigand (1974) published the first reports on the structures. Excavation and restoration began in 1999 and continued to 2010. According to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia visitor statistics, Los Guachimontones is Jalisco’s most visited site and Mexico’s 13th most visited in 2019.
Tabachines.
The site of Tabachines is located in the nearby Atamejac Valley, which present-day Guadalajara now dominates. Tabachines was discovered in the 1970s as the city of Guadalajara sought to expand a highway. The site consists of an unlooted cemetery of shaft and chamber tombs dating to the Late Formative to Classic periods and an unlooted box tomb cemetery dating to the later Epiclassic. There was no surface architecture in the area of both cemeteries. It is possible that this particular location held some sort of significance from one period to the next despite dramatic social and political changes experienced within the region.
Tabachines is of importance to understanding the Teuchitlán culture because it offered a plethora of data on shaft and chamber tombs. While these tombs are not as elaborate as the ones documented by archaeologists or raided by looters in the Tequila Valleys, many of the same types of mortuary goods were found in situ within these tombs. This allowed for the creation of a ceramic typology to help provide relative dates for other archaeology sites.
El Arenal.
El Arenal was partially explored by Corona Núñez in the 1950s and then later revisited by Long in the 1960s. Corona Núñez excavated the partially looted monumental tomb. The monumental shaft for the tomb measures 16 meters deep. At the base of the shaft, two passages lead to different chambers. One chamber has a passage leading to a third chamber. Most of the contents were looted, but Corona Núñez did recover poorly preserved skeletal fragments within the tomb. Some of the tomb contents in the form of ceramic figures were in the nearby town of Santa Rosalia. Photographs of these pictures provide a partial idea of what was once in the tombs.
In the 1960s Long discovered several unlooted tombs at the site. While these tombs were not as large as the monumental tomb, and many had filled in with mud and dirt, they nonetheless provided important data regarding the mortuary goods found within tombs in this region. A recreation of the El Arenal tomb can be found at the Casa de la Cultura de Etzatlan in Etzatlan, Jalisco. Tomb contents include hollow ceramic figures, jade beads, ceramic vessels, skeletal fragments, ground stone, and shell jewelry.
Huitzilapa.
Huitzilapa is one of the most important Teuchitlán culture sites in the Tequila Valleys. Located just east of Magdalena, archaeologists excavated the first monumental elaborate shaft tomb in the region. While San Sebastian contained a large number of artifacts, Huitzilapa’s tomb contained tens of thousands of artifacts divided between its two chambers. Notable tomb contents include conch shells decorated in pseudo-cloisonné, jadeite atatl finger loops, hollow ceramic figures, greenstone figurines, and amate paper along with ceramic vessels, ground stone, and shell jewelry. The amate paper, found near the cranium of one of the individuals, was dated to 73 CE making it the oldest paper in Mesoamerica.
Skeletal analysis of the six individuals found within the tombs revealed that five of them shared similar spinal defects. One individual, an older woman, did not share this defect. This suggests that five of the individuals were closely related, likely part of the same family. The older woman was perhaps the spouse of one of the other deceased. These individuals were likely elites at Huitzilapa based on the amount and quality of their mortuary goods and the placement of the tomb within the site. The tomb at Huitzilapa is a stark contrast against the simpler tombs at Tabachines or even the frequently re-used tombs at Bolaños. The relatedness and status of the individuals suggests that power and authority may derive from elite lineages that have long histories at their site.
San Sebastian.
While San Sebastian is by no means a monumental tomb, it is one of the few unlooted tombs excavated by archaeologists in the region. San Sebastian provided Long (1966) with important data regarding shaft tomb contents, ceramic types, and ceramic figure types. These data, along with radiocarbon dates, allowed Long to create an early chronology for the Tequila Valleys region. This chronology allowed some changes in ceramic vessels and figures to be tracked through time, though this may be limited to just the Magdalena Lake Basin region.
The tomb contained the remains of nine individuals along with a number of ground stone artifacts, obsidian tools, bone and shell jewelry, shell trumpet, ceramic vessels, green stone, and ceramic figures. Of note is the placement of two ceramic figures near the entrance of the tomb. A male figure was found at the east side and a female figure at the west side of the entrance. This placement could relate to broader Mesoamerican cosmology in which deceased male warriors accompanied the sun as it rose in the east to its zenith while women who died in childbirth accompanied the sun from its zenith to where it set in the west. |
Transport Act 1962
The Transport Act 1962 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Described as the "most momentous piece of legislation in the field of railway law to have been enacted since the Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854", it was passed by Harold Macmillan's Conservative government to dissolve the British Transport Commission (BTC), which had been established by Clement Attlee's Labour government in 1947 to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport. The Act established the British Railways Board, which took over the BTC's railway responsibilities from 1 January 1963 until the passing of the Railways Act 1993.
The Act put in place measures that enabled the closure of around a third of British railways the following year as a result of the Beeching report, as the Act simplified the process of closing railways removing the need for pros and cons of each case to be heard in detail.
Historical context.
By the end of 1960, British Railways had accumulated a deficit of some £500 million and the annual rate of increase of the deficit was estimated to be in the region of £100 million. The Act sought primarily to remedy this situation by putting public transport operators on the same footing as private companies, reversing the policy that had been in place since the earliest days of transport law, namely that the carrier was a monopolist to be controlled and regulated by the State for the benefit of the public.
New financial management obligations.
By virtue of Sections 36 and 38 of the Act, some of the debts of the BTC, including the funds invested in the failed 1955 Modernisation Plan, were written off or transferred to the Treasury. The British Railways Board was directed, under Section 22, to run the railways so that its operating profits were "not less than sufficient" for meeting running costs.
The obligation to be self-sufficient was a departure in UK railway legislation and marked an important turning point. Each railway service should pay for itself or at least have the prospect of doing so. The days of general subsidisation of the railways were now clearly over. The change of policy was brought about by the Select committee of the House of Commons on Nationalised Industries, which concluded that the BTC should make its decisions exclusively on considerations of "direct profitability". Where decisions based "on grounds of the national economy or of social needs" needed to be taken, the Minister of Transport would be responsible, having sought the approval of Parliament.
The railways would now be operated on the principles applicable to a private entrepreneur in a competitive marketplace. In that respect, Section 3(1) provides that it was the duty of the British Railways Board to provide railway services "in Great Britain" (not 'for') with regard to "efficiency, economy and safety of operation".
Break-up of the British Transport Commission.
To facilitate the new policy, the BTC was replaced by five new public corporations:
The four Boards inherited the property, liabilities and functions of the BTC, but their activities were to be co-ordinated by the Minister of Transport, rather than a body separate from the government. The Boards needed the consent of the Minister to borrow and for approval for projects involving large sums of money (Sections 19 and 27).
New advisory bodies.
Nationalised Transport Advisory Council.
Section 55 of the Act created the Nationalised Transport Advisory Council to "advise" the Minister of Transport on the activities of the five corporations, which would all be represented on the council.
Transport consultative committees.
The Central Transport Consultative Committee took the place of a similar body that had been created under the Transport Act 1947 to represent users of the railway, and Area Transport Users Consultative Committees covered individual areas of the country.
The Committees were to make recommendations relating to the services provided by the four Boards, although their remit did not include the charges and fares. The Minister was not bound to follow any recommendations.
Procedure for closure of railway lines.
A new procedure was set out for the closure of railway lines, Section 56(7) requiring that British Railways gave at least six weeks' notice of their intention to close a line and to publish this proposal in two successive weeks in two local newspapers in the area affected. The notice would give the proposed closure dates, details of alternative transport services (including services which BR was to lay on as a result of closure) and inviting objections to a specified address. A copy of the notice was to be sent to the relevant area committee.
Rail users affected by a closure could also send their objections to the area committee (this was not required to be specified in the closure notice) who would then report to the Minister of Transport. The area committee would consider the "hardship" which it considered would be caused as a result of the closure, and recommend measures to ease that hardship. The closure would not then be proceeded with until the committee had reported to the minister and he had given his consent to the closure. Based on the report, the minister could subject his consent to closure to certain conditions, such as the provision of alternative transport services.
Reform of the law of transport.
The four boards were placed in the position of private companies in respect of their commercial activities. They no longer had the status of common carrier transporting persons and goods for the public benefit, but were now bailees transporting goods and people like a private operator.
The main effect of this change was that the boards were no longer "absolutely liable" for their operations, i.e. bearing responsibility for loss even in the absence of negligence or fault on their part. Now they could restrict their liabilities in a similar fashion to private operateurs.
A consequence was that they could reject passenger and goods consignments and limit the exposure of their liability, and were free to ""demand, take and recover such charges for their services and facilities, and to make the use of those services and facilities subject to such terms and conditions as they think fit" (Section 43), i.e. have total freedom of contract to sell their services, rather than operate via the medium of a statutory process. An exception was made for the London Passenger Transport Area where fares were still fixed by the Transport Tribunal.
As one commentator noted, "the Act goes much further in giving effect to laissez-faire in the law of transport than English law has ever done at any time since the seventeenth century"".
Railway byelaws.
Section 67 of the Act enables byelaws regulating the use of the railways to be issued. This provision featured in "Boddington v British Transport Police" (1998) where the House of Lords recognised the principle that a defendant in criminal proceedings, in this case fined £10 for smoking on a train in violation of a railway byelaw, could challenge the validity of the rule before a court, save where Parliament has indicated that such a challenge is not possible.
Current status.
Much of the Act has been repealed and updated: further information can be found by searching for the act in the UK Statute Law Database. |
The White Deer
The White Deer is a 96 page children's novel written by James Thurber in 1945. It is a fairy tale about the quest of the three sons of King Clode – Thag and Gallow, the hunters, and Jorn, the poet – who are set perilous tasks to win the heart and hand of a princess who had once been a beautiful white deer, but lost her memories.
Plot.
The book begins with a description of the enchanted forest, which was supposed to sit between Moonstone Mines and Centaurs Mountain. The enchanted forest also had "a distant bell that causes boys to run and laugh and girls to stand and tremble." The toadstools would feel heavy in a person's hand but would become light enough to float away and trail black and purple stars. Rabbits could even pull their heads off of their bodies and tip them as if they were hats.
King Clode and his sons, Tag and Gallow, would take sport in hunting, while the youngest son, Jorn, would rather play his lyre and create poetic verses. King Clode would tell a story to his sons about how he, his father, and two brothers were out hunting and almost shot a deer at Centaurs Mountain, but the deer transformed into a princess. The princess was under an enchantment caused by an old woman who was jealous of her beauty. King Clode and his father and brothers returned the princess to her father in the north, and the king and queen celebrated their daughters return with feasting.
In the princess’ country, each rescuer of the princess had to prove worthy of her hand. Clode's brother, Cloon, had to acquire and bring over the Falcon of Ferralane's golden right wing. Garf, Clode's second brother, was to bring over a blood drop from the right index finger of each of a hundred kings. Clode himself was to bring the princess a diamond that was wedged between the paws of a creature "half dragon and half roc." Cloon failed in his task when the Falcon's wing turned out to be made of steel. Garf died before he could accomplish his task. Clode succeeded in bringing the diamond to the princess after finding that the monster was made of boxwood and clay. Clode wed the princess, who became Tag, Gallow, and Jorn's mother and she died not long after Jorn's birth.
The minstrel in the castle sang of a white deer that would be found between Centaurs Mountain and Moonstone Mines. King Clode decided to hunt the white deer and see if it was a maiden under enchantment or an ordinary deer that could be killed for venison. The king and his three sons rode to the enchanted forest and encountered a woods wizard that looked familiar to Clode. The wizard lifted up snowflakes from the ground, and the snowflakes turned into fireflies. In the midst of the fireflies, the white deer appeared and ran into the forest with the king and his sons in pursuit. The king and his sons pursued the white deer until the deer stopped at Centaurs Mountain. The deer transformed into a dark young woman dressed in a white robe and golden sandals.
When Jorn asked for the maiden's name, the maiden said she did not know. The king decided that they would bring the maiden home. The Royal Recorder at the castle tried to get the princess to remember her father's name by reading aloud all the names in a book of recorded king's names, but the princess couldn't recognize any of the names. The Recorder took the princess to the royal clockmaker, called Tocko, since the Recorder would say that he was "ever a man of shrewd surmise and gifted guesses." Tocko told the recorder to take the princess to a garden with silver fountains so they would observe her. Tocko told the Recorder a story of a deer from his father's time who was friends with a woods wizard. The woods wizard stumbled into a stream and was carried away until the deer rescued him. The wizard, to show his gratitude, gave the deer the ability to transform into a princess when it was cornered by hunters. The deer, after it was changed into a princess at one point, asked the wizard how one remains and lives as a maiden. The wizard enchanted the deer to remain a woman in physical appearance until love fails her three times. If love would fail her three times, she would go back to being a deer forever. Tocko said that the white deer never had a name and only remembered the fields and trees.
The Royal Recorder tried making up king names for the princess to recall, but the king thought it was ridiculous. The king decreed that the princess would send his sons on tasks, and the son that succeeds would marry the princess. He betted that Thag would win the princess and laughed in scorn when Quondo, the dwarf that lived with the royal family, betted that Jorn would win the princess.
The princess commissioned Thag to kill single-handed the Blue Boar of Thedon Grove in the Forest of Jeopardy with one lance. He was then to bring the boar's golden tusks to her. Gallow was commissioned to kill the Seven-headed Dragon of Dragore guarding the Sacred Sword of Loralow, and he was to bring the sword to the princess. Jorn was merely commissioned to destroy the Mok-Mok, which was a type of scarecrow made out of clay and sandalwood to scare away rocs who tried to steal the Orchard of Chardor's cherries. Jorn was then to bring back to the princess a silver chalice with a thousand cherries inside.
The Royal Recorder told King Clode Tocko's story of the white deer, while adding a few liberties of his own in the storytelling. In response to the story, Clode said, "Pray God our deer is different from Tocko’s father’s deer.". Clode asked for the History of Sorcery book, in which the Royal Recorder spotted a report of maidens transforming into deer and back. Only in this record, every maiden could remember her name. The Recorder found another record of nine occasions where a deer would change into a woman because she rescued a wizard's life. Plus the wizard wanted to play a trick on men through the deer's enchantment. None of the deer on those nine occasions remembered their names. The spell would not be broken if the deer were loved. "But if love should fail them thrice, they would vanish in a trice," the Recorder said.
After having a weird conversation with a round man sitting in a tree, Prince Thag rode into the Valley of Euphoria. Prince Thag received directions to the Forest of Jeopardy from a trio of men that wore masks (the first a stern face, the second a sad face, and the third a solemn face). Prince Thag accomplished his mission easily by killing the Blue Boar with his lance and cutting off his tusks.
Prince Gallow received directions from a man in blue to get to the Seven-head Dragon of Dragore. Gallow accomplished his mission when he encountered a man "dressed in black and blue" that gave him seven balls for the price of twelve emeralds. To get the Sacred Sword of Loralow, all he had to do was to play a type of carnival game of throwing a ball into each of the seven heads of the mechanical Seven-headed Dragon of Dragore (who was sitting in a tent). The dragon was not wound by a key for its heads to go round and round, so Gallow threw the balls into the still dragon heads and won the sword.
Jorn found the Mok-Mok, but it was already destroyed. He found a tree where instead of cherries hung rubies that couldn't be plucked. A strange, small man appeared and told him to get a ruby from the tree, he had to say one thousand. At first, Jorn thought he had to count to one thousand for a ruby to fall, but the small man made him realize that all he had to do was say the words "one thousand" for a ruby to fall. Jorn filled the silver chalice, but the small man disappeared and a black knight called Duff of the Dolorous Doom appeared before him. They engaged in a sword fight and battled until Jorn stabbed the knight near the right shoulder. When Duff fell, his helmet fell off and revealed the face of an old man. Feeling regret for his action, Jorn helped Duff and tended the wound. Duff told him about how he came face-to-face with the Mok-Mok on a quest to win a woman's love and was appalled that the Mok-Mok was just a harmless thing of clay and wood. "This is the Dolorous Doom of one who rode not home to claim his lady’s hand – that each and every Maytime till I die, I must be overthrown by love which once I overthrew," Duff said. His lady cast a spell on Duff so that his armor is Strength, but the flaw underneath is Pride. Jorn gathered the rubies in the chalice and rode back to the castle.
Clode, Tocko the clockmaker, the Royal Recorder, and the Royal Physician drew to the conclusion that the Princess was in fact a deer in human form. The Princess decided to tell the princes the true story of her identity when they return. Thag, Gallow, and Jorn came to the castle and claimed the Princess’ hand at the same time. The Princess told Thag her true identity first and asked him if he did love her, and the prince broke the golden board tusks he had brought back with him in protest. The Princess went to Gallow next, and he broke the Sacred Sword of Loralow. The Princess went to Jorn, and Jorn gave her the chalice of rubies and claimed his love for her.
Quondo the dwarf turned into a prince and revealed that he was Tel, the youngest son of the King of Northland. He revealed that the Princess was Princess Rosanore of Northland, his youngest sister. Tel told the story of how a damsel named Nagrom Yaf was sore and jealous about his father marrying another girl. To get back at his father's household, she employed a witch to cast a spell on Princess Rosanore. Rosanore was a deer until a king and his three sons could keep her at bay. Rosanore would not remember her name until a prince would declare his love for her. Tel would be a dwarf that could remember their names but couldn't communicate their story to anyone, but that would change when the Princess’ spell was broken. The wizard Ro, who was the wizard in the forest where the king and princes found Rosanore as a deer, was in the disguise of the minstrel that sang the story of the deer to the king and princes. This explained why he looked familiar to Clode. That same wizard would be in disguises to guide the princes through their missions. The wizard might have been the round man sitting in a tree that Thag saw, and he might have also been the man in blue that Gallow saw. The wizard might have also been in the disguise of the small man that told Jorn how to get the rubies from the tree.
Finally, the King, the princes, Rosanore, and Tel went to Northland for a visit. Nagrom Yaf and the witch she employed were struck by lightning and vanished from the face of the earth in the hour that Jorn declared his love for Rosanore.
Reviews and summaries.
Summaries of the story state:
Publishing.
The original 1945 edition by Harcourt, Brace and Co features black and white illustrations by James Thurber and a cover and four color plates by Don Freeman. The 1968 trade paperback, published by Mariner Books, San Diego, features only the illustrations by Thurber. |
Tank biathlon
The tank biathlon is a mechanized military sport event held by the Russian military as part of the annual International Army Games. Inspired by the winter sport of biathlon, the sport emphasizes the complex training of tank crews including their rough terrain passing skills combined with the ability to provide accurate and rapid fire while performing maneuvers. The Russian team has finished in first place, every year.
Description.
Participating tanks drive a three-lap route of 6–10 km. During the first lap, crews fire at tank-size targets positioned at distances of 1,600, 1,700 and 1,800 m (crews aim by optics, without any modern fire-control system). In the second lap, different targets imitating an anti-tank mortar (RPG) squad and an infantry unit are fired upon. These targets are at a distance of 600–700 m, and must be engaged with a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun. In the third lap the tank crews fire at targets shaped like an anti-tank gun and ATGM unit using the turret-mounted heavy machine gun at a distance of 1,200 m. One or more misses leads to an extra penalty lap 500 m long. On the final lap tanks have to go through various terrain obstacles; an obstacle missed or improperly traversed adds 10 seconds to the crew's final timing.
Events.
The United States received an official invitation in 2013 and an unofficial invitation in 2017. In 2014, 41 countries received the invitation.
International competition, 2013.
The first international tank biathlon competition was held at the Alabino proving ground in the Moscow Oblast on 12–17 August 2013. Four teams took part in the competition: Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
1st Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2014.
The took place at the Alabino proving ground on 4–16 August 2014. Out of 41 nations that received invitation to the tournament, 12 sent their representatives. Every competitor (except Teams China and Russia) received a T-72B tank in the biathlon color scheme. Team Russia piloted the newest modification, T-72B3, and Team China brought their own Type 96A.
Russian preliminaries for the event ran in several of military districts of Russia. Each district sent its top crews to compete for the Cup of Russia, and 3 finalists from that event formed the national Team Russia for the World Championship. Participating nations also held preliminaries on their own, sending 3 top crews and a reserve crew accompanied by maintenance and repair personnel to Russia.
Random selection placed teams under following colors:
First legs of the tournament consisted of:
Final.
The final competition was a relay race, the top 4 teams fielded all their crews taking turns.
2nd Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2015.
The second event of the series took part on 1–15 August 2015 at the same venue in Alabino. This year the Tank Biathlon was held as a headliner of the that included similar competitions for all things military, from artillery (Masters of Fire) and air force (Aviadarts) to field kitchens. The athletic stage for the crews was removed from schedule.
Veteran of both previous events, Team Belarus decided to participate in the Army Games "only in the disciplines where we are absolutely ready" and thus did not enter the Tank Biathlon (after finishing only 5th last year). Consequently, Belarus won 3 gold, 50 silver and 249 bronze awards and finished 3rd in the total medal score of the Army Games, being surpassed only by Russia and China. The Nicaragua and Tajikistan national teams joined the event for the first time.
All teams were piloting upgraded T-72B3 tanks, excluding Team China which continued to field its own Type 96A.
List of participants with color scheme:
3rd Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2016.
The third Tank Biathlon took place in Alabino as part of the from 30 July to 13 August.
4th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2017.
The fourth Tank Biathlon took place in Alabino, Moscow Region. The countries used the same type of tanks as in previous year (T-72B3 and Type-96B), with the exception of India fielding T-90 Bhishma. "New Delhi Television" reported that the Indian Army felt disadvantaged using T-72B3 tanks provided by Russia in 2016 and was keen to field its best tanks and best crews in 2017. However, as a result of both T-90 Bhishma tanks (the main one and the reserve one) malfunctioning, the Indian squad was unable to complete the race and were disqualified before the semifinal.
After seven days of contests, Team Russia won 11 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze awards and finished 1st in the overall ratings, and Team China achieved second place with 7 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.
6th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2019.
The competition had a slight change of rules, with two divisions (Division 1 and Division 2). Division 1 consisted of the 12 strongest participants in the 2018 edition, while Division 2 consists of all other participants. After two weeks of contests, Russia once again become the World Champion with the result of 1:33:20. In Division 2, Uzbekistan won the finals, and as they participate in the 2020 edition, they are promoted to Division 1.
8th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2021.
The 8th Tank Biathlon took place between 22 August and 4 September 2021 at the Alabino proving grounds.
Russia once again become the World Champion, followed by China, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
9th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2022.
The 2022 Tank Biathlon took place between 13th and 27th August 2022.
Rating.
The table shows the teams' places in each of the world championships. For 2nd division teams, the first number is the place within the division, and the second number is the absolute place. The teams are ranked according to their average (absolute) place.
Legend:
Videogame.
The official videogame version of Tank Biathlon was released on August 23rd, 2020. It is a time-limited event in War Thunder military simulation game that coincides with the real world competitions. |
Xu Fuguan
Hsu Fu-kuan or Xu Fuguan (); 1902/03 – 1982) was a Chinese intellectual and historian who made notable contributions to Confucian studies. He is a leading member of New Confucianism, a philosophical movement initiated by Xu's teacher and friend, Xiong Shili. Other important members of the New Confucian Movement include Xu's two friends and professorial colleagues who also studied with Xiong Shili: Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi.
Biography.
Xu was born in 1902 or 1903 in a family of farmer scholars in Hubei Province, China. Hsu's father taught at a private school established for village children who showed academic promise and could sit the imperial examinations to become scholar officials. In his teen-age years, Xu made his way to the provincial capital Wuhan which was then the cultural center where foreign influences and trends abounded. Wuhan was also an important staging area for the 1911 Republican Revolution that ended China's 2000-year-old imperial rule. Xu spent fifteen years with the Nationalist army attaining the rank of senior colonel. Trusted by Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek, Xu was sent to Yan'an to discuss Nationalist and Communist cooperation against the invading Japanese. In Yan'an, Xu met senior Communist officials including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. After leaving the army, Xu then took various teaching positions, published a scholarly magazine, and then involved himself in politics, working as an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek until 1946. He then devoted himself to "the study of books" (editing academic papers) on the island of Taiwan where the Nationalists had retreated in 1949. Between 1955 and 1969, he taught in the Chinese Department of Tunghai University. Because the university had no philosophy department, Xu welcomed students interested in philosophy into the Chinese Department. Many of these students, such as Tu Weiming, rose to academic prominence. Xu also taught at the "New Asia Research Institute" in Hong Kong and helped found New Asia Middle School.
Xu was a prolific writer and thinker and his collected works run to several volumes. While in both Taiwan and Hong Kong, Xu wrote frequently for newspapers. Xu was the driving force behind the 1958 manifesto on Chinese Culture that is viewed by many scholars as a crowning achievement of New Confucianism. Regarding this manifesto, Xinzhong Yao states:
"The first effort in reviving Confucianism in the 1950s was a document drawn up by Tang Junyi, Mou Zongsan, Zhang Junmai and Xu Fuguan and published on the first day of 1958, entitled 'A Declaration of Chinese Culture to the Scholars of the World' (wei zhongguo wenhua jinggao shijie renshi xuanyan 为中国文化敬告世界人士宣言). The declaration restates the authors' concerns about the direction of human development, the value of Chinese culture, and urges Western and Chinese scholars to understand Chinese culture, claiming that without a proper understanding of Chinese culture, the perception of China will be distorted and the Chinese will have no future."
Xu died in Hong Kong in 1982.
Xu’s Interpretation of Chinese History and Philosophy.
Chinese Humanistic Spirit.
- “Concerned Consciousness”.
Xu believes that the emphasis of moral self-cultivation in Confucianism is the manifestation of Chinese humanistic spirit. According to Xu, the basic attribute of Chinese tradition is its origin in anxiety ("youhuan yishi"), whereas the beginning of Western tradition is in curiosity. Although Xu claims that every civilization first begins with the fear of deities, he also believes that the essence of a civilization then diverges its focus into different core values based on the development of distinctive emotions. The sense of anxiety leads Chinese tradition to value self-discovery and moral virtue rather the pursuit of knowledge in the external world. Respectively, Xu provides the examples of ancient Greek culture pursuing knowledge as a leisure activity leading to the development of science and technology, while people in the Zhou dynasty stresses on self-reliance and autonomy of oneself and thus leading to the creation of virtue based moral systems:
"During the Zhou Dynasty (1459-249 BC), the preoccupation with earthly matters had started: the spirit of self-conscience was beginning to work and those people developed clear will and purpose. They were moving progressively from the realm of religion to the realm of ethics. Since that early stage, the Chinese people were free from metaphysical concerns. Unlike the Greeks, who at the same critical stage in history moved from religion to metaphysics, the Chinese moved from religion to ethics."
Xu defines the sense of anxiety as feeling responsible in overcoming difficulties by one's own efforts. Xu further explains this concept as being concerned of the responsibility for improving one's own moral quality to achieve autonomy and freedom. In contrast to religion, rather than placing one's dependency and sense of responsibility to a deity, ancient Chinese culture stresses on the cultivation of one's heart mind and developing self-reliance, and as a result, developed their own ethical and moral systems.
The attainment of the sense of anxiety in ancient Chinese culture transform itself from a culture of religion in Shang Dynasty to a humanistic society in Zhou Dynasty. First, Xu points out that the extrication of religion begin when ancient Chinese people gradually discovered that human virtue and human efforts superseded spiritual beings or deities. Specifically, Xu provides the example that people used to believe in supporting every ruler as being appointed by the ultimate authority of the Mandate of Heaven. However, as people of Zhou became anxious of certain unjust rulers who are not in accord with the will of the people, they declared that the Mandate of Heaven can be passed down to a more suitable ruler with superior and defining moral characteristics. As a result, people developed responsibility to the problems occurring in their own society and they developed self-dependency. Thus, ancient Chinese virtues that stresses on the importance of regulating society and human relations such as "jing" (reverence), "li" (rules of propriety), and "ren" (human heartedness, mutuality) as a means to focus on real world issues by creating self-existing moral laws.
- “Bodily Recognition” and Moral Subjectivity.
Similar to Mencius, Xu believes that the nature of all human being is good and one can realize their own good nature through “bodily recognition” ("tiren")--or gongfu in Neo-Confucianism terminology. “Bodily recognition” is a retrospective process in which the subject discover moral subjectivity by bringing one's experiences to their heart mind and see whether they are able to take the feelings or ideas at ease or not. Although this might suggest a hedonistic approach for discovering one's own moral subjectivity, Xu maintains that “bodily recognition” involves the use of reflective reasoning and the reduction of sensual desires. Xu follows Mencius's distinction between a great man ("junzi") and a small man ("xiaoren") in the sense that a great man relies on his heartmind rather than simply relying on one's own senses in perceiving the world. However, Xu also stresses that one must engage in a “tracing-back bodily experiencing” ("zhui tiyan") process to achieve moral perfection and character transformation. He provides an example of this process in reinterpretation books, chapters sentences, and words. Ultimately, Xu believes that through “tracing-back bodily experiencing,” one is able to attain moral perfection and greater autonomy.
Xu’s Interpretation of Chinese Aesthetics.
Xu asserts that technique is associated with beauty. Through the learning and mastery of technique, one is able to achieve the realm of artistic creativity, or in which one is experiencing "dao". Specifically, Xu examined early Chinese aesthetic implication of Zhuangzi and thus believed that perfection of art is essential in dissolving sensual desires and allowing subjectivity to emerge. Xu analyzes the story of Cook Ding (Guo Xiang) in Zhuangzi's recession and highlights how Cook Ding not only cuts up an ox with ease and in “perfect rhythm,” but he also derives enjoyment and contentment from it. Xu claims that this state of satisfaction is the learning technique of the "dao", where perception and thinking ceases and the spirit of the movement freely moves wherever it wants.
However, to achieve this state of satisfaction, Xu affirms that one must first engage in “fast the mind” or “sit in forgetfulness” (jingzuo) to get rid of the constraints in one's cravings or one's sense of “usefulness.” An instance of this is shown when Xu expressed disdain for “dark, ugly, and chaotic” of Dada art, as he disagreed with the way they expressed anger. Thus, similarly, Xu compares this notion of technique in Zhuangzi to gongfu or “bodily recognition,” in which one gains greater autonomy by overcoming sensual desires and allowing one's own subjectivity to emerge.
Xu’s View on Confucianism and Democracy.
Xu makes a two-fold argument for the relationship between Confucianism and democracy: Confucianism by nature has elements of liberal democracy ideas and it has the possibility of enhancing a liberal democracy society. First, he draws Mencius’ core idea of “the people as foundation” to claim that Confucianism stresses on the importance of human dignity and equality. In this sense, Confucianism inherently has some elements of liberal democracy ideas. In addition, Xu urges that one should not mistaken Confucianism as being more consistent with despotism due to the long history of Confucian imperial rule, and instead, one should view it as being unable to develop due to historical factors. Specifically, Xu claims that the emergence of autocracy in the Qin Dynasty inhibited the development of democracy in China and the value of the people. Second, Xu maintains that democracy should indeed have the rule of law, protection of freedom, and the importance of elections, and at the same time, be infused with the idea of “rule by virtue” in Confucianism. However, he believes that rules and laws should not function as consequences or punishment in coercing people to be more morally good, rather they should function as rituals in shaping a person's character. An issue Xu points out in modern liberal democracy societies is the exploitation of laws in attaining one's selfish gains. Although Xu does seem to stress on the importance in the role of the government for shaping people's character, he also believes that government should be more limited in interfering with morality, as he states that moral subjectivity is secondary and cannot replace the “primary value,” or the value of human life. |
Janet Sternburg
Janet Sternburg (born January 18, 1943 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American writer of essays, poetry and memoir, as well as a fine art photographer. Sternburg is the editor of "The Writer On Her Work", the first book of commissioned essays on what it means to be a contemporary woman who writes. It has been continuously in print since 1980, and a twentieth anniversary edition was published by W.W. Norton in 2000. Sternburg lives in Los Angeles and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her most recent book is "White Matter: A Memoir of Family and Medicine". She is married to Steven Lavine.
Early life and education.
Sternburg was raised in Roxbury, Massachusetts. She studied at the New School for Social Research, graduating in 1967 with a B.A. degree in philosophy.
Career.
Sternburg first worked at NET, the national educational television service where, in 1969,
she produced a feature-length documentary, "El Teatro Campesino", on the Chicano theatre troupe that had performed in the agricultural fields of central California in support of the farm workers strike led by Cesar Chavez. The film was broadcast on public television.
In the early 1970s Sternburg turned her attention to the confluence of women and creativity, a shift in direction that influenced the rest of her professional life. She conceived, commissioned and edited a compendium of contemporary and diverse female voices, "The Writer On Her Work" (1980). A sequel to "The Writer On Her Work", subtitled "New Essays In New Territories", was published in 1991. For this second volume Sternburg commissioned essays from women around the world. "Poets & Writers" magazine devoted a cover story to both books, calling them “landmarks.” The second book was selected for "500 Great Books by Women".
Interest in Virginia Woolf’s novels and essays led Sternburg to produce, co-direct and write the short film, "Virginia Woolf: The Moment Whole", featuring Marian Seldes as Woolf. In an interview Sternburg said, “Woolf’s work has a powerful sense of experience in the world. I felt that the person who had written her novels could not have been the ethereal creature that many people have imagined.” The Woolf film was broadcast on public television.
Through the 1970s and 80s, Sternburg continued to publish essays and poems. She served as director of Writers in Performance at the Manhattan Theatre Club from 1971-80. In an article about the series, journalist David Kaufman wrote, ”Sternburg’s background as a writer, a filmmaker, and director of films for public television, lent a unique blend of administrative and programming expertise with literary and creative insights–a mixture that would shape the series’ future and mold it into the important force it has become.”
In 1980 she became Senior Program Officer at the New York Council for the Humanities, co-editing a book, "Historians and Filmmakers: Toward Collaboration", intended to break barriers between artists and scholars. From 1988-1994 Sternburg served as Senior Program Advisor to The Rockefeller Foundation, fostering intercultural film and video projects and co-curating the exhibition "Re-Mapping Cultures" at the Whitney Museum with John G. Hanhardt.
In 1988, Sternburg married Steven D. Lavine who had recently been appointed president of California Institute of the Arts. In January 1994, the Northridge earthquake severely damaged the CalArts campus. For Sternburg, the experience served as a profound object lesson in the fragility of all things, leading her to write the book "Phantom Limb: A Meditation on Memory." The book has been described as “part moving account of greater love in the face of her mother’s death, part medical inquiry into neurology, and part spiritual meditation on the struggles and sufferings that living visits on each of us.” Her most recent book, "White Matter: A Memoir of Family and Medicine" (September, 2015) is the second in a projected trilogy. A story of family secrets and mental illness, "White Matter" spans one hundred years and the lives of five sisters and one brother, interwoven with science and history.
White Matter was chosen for a Publishers Weekly "Big Indie Book of the Fall." Forbes Magazine suggested that in writing "White Matter" “Sternburg uses all the skills at her disposal, the sensitivity, precision and lyricism of a poet, the hard edges of a photographer, the intelligence and scholarship of an academic, to plumb the many facets of this story and its legacy on her and her family."
Photography.
In 1998, Sternburg began making photographs with disposable cameras, using their technical limitations to see “the layers of time and space that are present in a single moment.” Her photographs have been exhibited in solo shows in New York, Los Angeles, Korea, Mexico, Berlin, Freiburg, Heidelberg and Munich, and are in the collection of The Fisher Museum at the University of Southern California. Portfolios of her photographs have been published in "Aperture" magazine and "Art Journal". In his essay, “The Lyrical View,” German cultural critic Joern Jacob Rohwer writes: “[Sternburg’s] vision captivates audiences with intellectual and emotional depth, precision of observation, and an unmistakable sense of the moment.” Her continuing exploration of the relationships between word and image led to the publication of "Optic Nerve: Photopoems". In this book, she combined poems with photographs “which do not act as an adjunct to the poem, but in a subtle way complement and finish each piece.” In 2017, a monograph of her photographic work, "Overspilling World: The Photographs of Janet Sternburg" was published by DIstanz Verlag with a Foreword by Wim Wenders who writes: “Photographers don’t have eyes in the back of their head. Janet Sternburg does. This book makes you understand the act of seeing and the reflection that might lead to a photograph in a whole new way.” Her newest book is "I’ve Been Walking": Janet Sternburg Los Angeles Photographs, published also by Distanz Verlag (Berlin). The images were taken during the COVID lockdown, when Sternburg walked through her city at a time when it appeared to be frozen but where she found traces of ongoing life.
Awards and affiliations.
Sternburg was a board member of PEN Center USA from 1988-2002. Since 1974, she has been awarded residencies at The MacDowell Colony, The Millay Colony, Blue Mountain Artist Residency, and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. She has received grants from the American Embassy in Germany and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2003, she was selected as one of 40 artists recognized by "Utne Reader" in an article titled "Movers and Shakers: The Most Exciting Soulful Artists of 2003." In 2016 she was co-recipient of the REDCAT AWARD, given to individuals who exemplify the creativity and talent that define and lead the evolution of contemporary culture |
Altstätten
Altstätten is a small historic rural town and a municipality in the district Rhine Valley, in the canton of St. Gall in Switzerland. It is located with some secure distance of about west from the Alpine Rhine in the flat and wide St. Gall Rhine Valley, which also designates the border with Austria. It further gives access to the higher situated Appenzell to the west.
The official language of Altstätten is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
Overview.
The town consists of the following tracts: Alter Zoll, Altstätten, Bächis, Baumert, Bieser, Büeberg, Bühl, Bühl (Gätziberg), Bühl bei Hinterforst, Burgfeld, Bürglen, Burst, Domishäuser, Fidern, Gätziberg, Gfell, Hoher Kasten, Hub, Kornberg, Krans, Kreuzstrasse, Lithen, Lienz (exclave), Lüchingen, Mariahilf (monastery), Oberbüchel, Plona, Riet, Rosenhaus, Ruppen, Strick, Unterlitten, Warmesberg, Weidest und Ziel.
Altstätten is situated between the town of St. Margrethen and the town of Buchs/SG, near to the border of Austria, at the foot of the Alpstein-Mountains. In Altstätten has the start of the rack-and-pinion railway line of the Appenzeller Trams to Gais.
An electric tramway served the town from 1897 until 1973, operated by the "Rheintaler Vekehrsbetriebe", which also operated trolleybuses from 1940 to 1977, on a route to Berneck. Altstätten now operates a bus transport network, RTB.
Supra-regional popularity was attained by Altstätten by its long and upscale Shrove-Tuesday tradition (carnival). Each January and February performances are held by the Röllelibutzen-club, founded in 1919, as well as many of the town's and region's Youth Music Societies. A highlight is the international parade, which attracts over 30'000 spectators from all of Switzerland.
History.
Altstätten is first mentioned in 853 as "Altsteti".
Coat of arms.
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Or a bear passant Sable langued, armed and in his virility Gules and in chief a Mullet of Five of the last."
Geography.
Altstätten has an area, , of . Of this area, 63.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 21.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 12.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.9%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).
The municipality is the capital of the Rheintal "Wahlkreis" and formerly the capital of the Oberrheintal district. The traditional farming city is located on the western side of the Rhine river between the Appenzell hill country.
Demographics.
Altstätten has a population (as of ) of . , about 21.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 175 are from Germany, 228 are from Italy, 1108 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 143 are from Austria, 82 are from Turkey, and 316 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 3.5%. Most of the population () speaks German (89.0%), with Albanian being second most common ( 3.1%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 2.7%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 9,243 speak German, 17 people speak French, 172 people speak Italian, and 22 people speak Romansh.
The age distribution, , in Altstätten is; 1,296 children or 12.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,438 teenagers or 13.9% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,337 people or 12.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,614 people or 15.5% are between 30 and 39, 1,410 people or 13.6% are between 40 and 49, and 1,300 people or 12.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 884 people or 8.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 689 people or 6.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 350 people or 3.4% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 62 people or 0.6% who are between 90 and 99, and 1 person who is 100 or more.
there were 1,323 persons (or 12.7% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 2,162 (or 20.8%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 5,673 (or 54.6%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 575 (or 5.5%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 68 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 37 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 49 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 494 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 41.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (28%), the SP (9.9%) and the FDP (9.4%).
In Altstätten about 64.4% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a "Fachhochschule"). Out of the total population in Altstätten, , the highest education level completed by 2,532 people (24.4% of the population) was Primary, while 3,579 (34.5%) have completed Secondary, 905 (8.7%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 488 (4.7%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.
The historical population is given in the following table:
Religion.
From the , 6,216 or 59.9% are Roman Catholic, while 2,050 or 19.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are 12 individuals (or about 0.12% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 310 individuals (or about 2.99% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 152 individuals (or about 1.46% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 3 individuals (or about 0.03% of the population) who are Jewish, and 762 (or about 7.34% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 74 individuals (or about 0.71% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 468 (or about 4.51% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 334 individuals (or about 3.22% of the population) did not answer the question.
Economy.
, Altstätten had an unemployment rate of 2.17%. , there were 399 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 147 businesses involved in this sector. 2,675 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 152 businesses in this sector. 3,313 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 426 businesses in this sector.
the average unemployment rate was 4.0%. There were 726 businesses in the municipality of which 148 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 443 were involved in the third.
there were 3,302 residents who worked in the municipality, while 2,025 residents worked outside Altstätten and 3,269 people commuted into the municipality for work.
Sights.
The village of Altstätten as well as a concentration of castles, which is known as the "Schlosslandschaft Ober/Unterrheintal" and spans Altstätten, Balgach, Berneck and Marbach, is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Sport.
In the 1970s, Altstätten's football club, FC Altstätten founded in 1945, was at national league B level, and played in the premiership. Today the club plays in the 2. Liga.
Transport.
Altstätten has two train stations: Altstätten Stadt, the eastern terminus of the Altstätten–Gais railway, and Altstätten SG, an intermediate stop on the Chur–Rorschach line with frequent local and long-distance service.
Notable people.
18th century
19th century
20th century
Sport |
Native American flute
The Native American flute is a flute that is held in front of the person playing it, has open holes for the player's fingers, and has two separate parts:
one for the breath of the person playing the flute and another that makes the sound of the flute.
The player breathes into one end of the flute.
A "block" on the outside of the flute
directs the player's breath from the first part to the second part,
causing air to vibrate in the second part.
The vibration causes a steady resonance of air in the second part that creates sound.
Native American flutes are made in many different designs, sizes, and variations —
far more other woodwind instruments.
Names.
The Native American flute has many other names.:
"American Indian courting flute",
"courting flute",
"Grandfather's flute",
"Indian flute",
"love flute",
"Native American courting flute",
"Native American love flute",
"Native American style flute" (see the Indian Arts And Crafts Act),
"North American flute",
"Plains flute",
and "Plains Indian courting flute".
The correct way to spell the name of the instrument is "Native American flute" using capital letters for "N" and "A" and lower-case letters for the "f" in "flute".
A person who plays Native American flutes is called a "flutist". The word "flautist" is used, but much less often.
History.
There are many stories about how different Native American peoples invented the Native American flute.
In one story, a woodpecker pecked holes in the branch of a tree while searching for termites.
When the wind blew along the holes, people heard music.
It is not well known how the design of the Native American flute developed before 1823.
Some of the influences may have been:
It is also possible that instruments were carried from other cultures during migrations.
The oldest Native American flute made of wood is from 1823. It is now in a museum in Bergamo, Italy.
Parts.
The Native American flute has two parts:
the "slow air chamber" and the "sound chamber".
A "plug" inside the instrument separates the slow air chamber from the sound chamber.
The parts of the Native American flute can have many alternate names.
The plug is sometimes called the "internal wall".
The slow air chamber is also called the "SAC", the "compression chamber", or the "mouth chamber".
The sound chamber is also called the "pipe body",
the "playing chamber", the "resonating chamber", the "tone chamber", or the "variable tube".
The "block" on the outside of the instrument is a separate part that can be removed.
The block is also called the "bird", the "fetish", the "saddle", or the "totem".
The block is tied by a "strap" onto the "nest" of the flute.
The block moves air through a "flue" from the slow air chamber to the sound chamber.
The block is often in the shape of a bird.
The slow air chamber has a "mouthpiece" and "breath hole" for the player's breath.
Air flows through the slow air chamber and up the "exit hole" into the flue.
The sound chamber contains the "sound hole", which creates the vibration of air that causes sound when the airflow
reaches the "splitting edge".
The sound hole can also be called the "whistle hole", the "window", or the "true sound hole" ("TSH").
The splitting edge can also be called the "cutting edge", the "fipple edge", the "labium", or the "sound edge".
The sound chamber also has "finger holes" that allows the player to change the
frequency of the vibrating air.
Changing the frequency of the vibration changes the pitch of the sound produced.
The finger holes on a Native American flute are "open", meaning that fingers of the player cover the finger hole
(rather than metal levers or pads such as those on a clarinet).
This means that the player must be able to reach all the finger holes on the instrument with their fingers.
The finger holes can also be called the "note holes", the "playing holes", the "tone holes", or the "stops".
The "foot end" of the flute — the end far away from the player's mouth — can have "direction holes".
These holes affect the pitch of the flute when all the finger holes are covered.
They also relate to the "Four Directions" of
East, South, West, and North found in many Native American stories.
The direction holes can also be called the "tuning holes" or "wind holes".
The picture shown above
– "Parts of the Native American flute" with
can also be seen with labels in
,
,
,
,
and
Spacer Plate.
Another way to build Native American flutes uses a "spacer plate" to create the flue.
The spacer plate sits between the nest area on the body of the flute and the block.
The spacer player is usually held in place by the same strap that holds the block onto the instrument.
The splitting edge can also be part of the spacer plate.
The spacer plate is often made of metal, but spacer plates can be made of wood, bark, and ceramic.
Dimensions.
Many old Native American flutes were made using measurements of the body.
The length of the flute was the distance from inside of the elbow to tip of the index finger.
The length of the slow air chamber was the width of the fist.
The distance between the sound hole and first finger hole was the width of the fist.
The distance between finger holes would be the width of a thumb.
The distance from the last finger hole to the end of the flute was the width of the fist.
Currently, makers of Native American flutes use many methods to design the dimensions of their flutes.
This is very important for the location of the finger holes, since they control the pitch of the different notes of the instrument.
Flute makers may use calculators to design their instruments,
or use dimensions provided by other flute makers.
Materials.
Many Native American flutes are made from river cane, bamboo, wood,
or even plastic. Some makers of Native American flutes use ceramic or glass.
Music.
Many Native American flutes have a musical scale called the pentatonic scale
in a minor key.
This musical scale is used in most Native American flute music.
However, some makers of Native American flute now use different musical scales.
Also, many makers of Native American flutes tune flutes carefully so that they
sound good when played with other instruments such as guitars and pianos.
Native American flutes may be large or small and have a wide range from very low notes to very high notes.
From the largest flutes (lowest pitch) to the smallest flutes (highest pitch),
they span a range of about three and a half octaves,
from C2 to A5.
Early recordings of Native American flutes are available from several sources.
Fingering.
Most Native American flutes have either five finger holes or six finger holes.
However, a flute may have no finger holes or as many as seven finger holes, including a hole for the thumb.
Different makers employ different musical scales and fingerings for their flutes.
Written Music.
Written music for the Native American flutes is often in the key of F-sharp minor, although some music is scored in other keys.
However, music written for the Native American flute uses a key signature of four sharps.
This is known as "Nakai tablature".
Many pieces of written music adds finger diagrams below the notes to show which finger holes to cover for that note.
The use of a standard key signature for written music that can be used across Native American flutes in a variety of keys classifies the instrument as a transposing instrument.
Revival.
There were few Native American flute players before 1960.
However, use of the Native American flute increased in the late 1960s.
Many people began playing Native American flutes, such as Doc Tate Nevaquaya,
John Rainer, Jr.,
Sky Walkinstik Man Alone, and
Carl Running Deer.
The music of R. Carlos Nakai became popular in the 1980s.
The album "Canyon Trilogy" was issued in 1989.
In 1998 it was the first Native American music album certified as a Gold Record
by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Canyon Trilogy was certified as a Platinum Record
on July 8, 2014.
Mary Youngblood won two Grammy Awards in the "Native American Music" category for her Native American flute music
in 2002 and 2006.
Today, Native American flutes are being played and recognized by many different peoples and cultures around the world.
Community Music.
Groups of players of the Native American flute meet every month or two.
These groups are known as "flute circles".
These organizations help flute circles within their country: |
Environmental impact of Mardi Gras beads
When the parade season ended in 2014, the New Orleans city government spent $1.5 million to pick up about 1,500 tons of Mardi Gras-induced waste, consisting mostly of beads. This is a recurring problem every year for the city. In addition, the city must also deal with the environmental repercussions endured after Mardi Gras. Because they are not biodegradable and contain high amounts of heavy metals, Mardi Gras beads put the local
environment and health of southern Louisianians at risk.
Bead composition.
Polyethylene and polystyrene are popular plastics used in beads. Polystyrene is very stable and can last for many decades as the beads lay in landfills. Eventually, it will begin to slowly oxidize via UV light from the sun. In contrast, polyethylene cannot decompose with UV radiation and biodegrades extremely slowly.
Lead, cadmium, and other elements have been detected in beads in extremely high amounts through various analytical techniques. Many of these elements exceed the suggested safety limits set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. For example, the safe amount of lead in a product is 100 ppm; however, there have been findings where the amount of lead in a bead surpassed the limit 300 times over. This threatens parade-goers with exposure to high amounts of lead, especially younger children that could potentially put the beads in their mouths.
History.
Plastic beads became popular in the 1960s, and were not always a part of Mardi Gras; they were introduced only in the late 1970s. The ritual of throwing Mardi Gras beads dates back to the nineteenth century, particularly the 1970s, in New Orleans. Beads used to be manufactured of glass, and many of them were imported from Czechoslovakia. the delicate glass beams were then replaced with the brightly colored and inexpensive plastic beads
Entry into the environment.
Beads can accidentally enter storm drains, which
empty into Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico. The metals in the beads put fish and other marine lifeforms at risk for lead and cadmium poisoning. Exposure to these metals in water causes high mortality rates and increased biomass of these metals among fish species within a month of exposure. Seafood is prevalent in the south Louisiana diet, most of which is harvested from the Gulf. Eating seafood contaminated with lead and cadmium puts people at risk for poisoning.
Beads also can get tangled in trees during parades. Here, the lead in the beads can get washed off via rain water and find its way into leaves and soil. Lead has been shown to be an inhibitor of cell division, water uptake, and photosynthesis, eventually causing death to the plant.
Impact on humans.
Lead exposure has been evidenced to significantly inhibit neurological function. One study examined identical twins who worked together as painters using lead-based paint. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, it was discovered that they both had lead levels in their bones about 5-10 times more than the average adult. One twin put himself at a higher risk of lead exposure because he was the only one that removed paint on the job. His lead concentration was 2.5 times higher than his twin’s; and after further testing, his memory was shown to be much worse than his twin’s.
Cadmium has been shown to be carcinogenic due to interactions with DNA topoisomerase IIα. This enzyme helps facilitate cell division and DNA repair, specifically with double strand breaks. Cadmium cations react with the topoisomerase in the following manner:
Here, the cadmium ions react with sulfur-containing thiol groups in cysteine residues, effectively ruining the structure and function of the topoisomerase.
Solutions.
Mardi Gras will unlikely be cancelled due to its popularity, cultural significance, and economic importance, but a concerted effort can still be made to curb the negative environmental effects of the beads. One suggested avenue is to replace currently used plastics with polylactic acid (PLA), an environmentally much more friendly material. This polymer can be degraded naturally into lactic acid via hydrolysis or self-hydrolysis, which decomposes whole PLA products in as quickly as a month. A second way is to “recycle” by purchasing used beads rather than buying new ones, which can also translate into cost savings for individual purchasers or re-sellers who buy the beads in large quantities; recycling also provides an environmentally friendly method of "disposal" for those who initially purchased Mardi Gras beads.
Another alternative that has an exponentially reduced environmental impact is to impose restrictions on the presence of the current Mardi Gras beads, such as banning them altogether but permitting non-toxic, eco-friendly alternatives such as beads made from paste, paper, clay, wood, or even vegetables (peas painted with a water-based, non-toxic paint, for example). Some cities and communities in the United States have successfully banned plastic bags, so this would not be an impossible goal. To support and enforce the restriction on toxic beads and ensure implementation of the non-toxic alternatives, the City of New Orleans could also begin imposing a substantial tax or fee on vendors, entertainers, attendees, and other individuals and businesses associated with Mardi Gras to alleviate the hefty financial cost of clean-up that the city itself must bear every year. |
Driving licence in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a driving licence is the official document which authorises its holder to operate motor vehicles on highways and other public roads. It is administered in England, Scotland and Wales by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and in Northern Ireland by the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA). A driving licence is required in England, Scotland, and Wales for any person (except the sovereign) driving a vehicle on any highway or other "road", as defined in s.192 Road Traffic Act 1988, irrespective of the ownership of the land over which the road passes. Similar requirements apply in Northern Ireland under the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981.
Prior to the UK leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020 and during the transition period which ended on 31 December 2020, a UK driving licence was a European driving licence, adhering to Directive 2006/126/EC and valid throughout the European Economic Area. A new updated design has been issued from January 2021, now simply reading “UK” in larger blue letters, where the EU flag with the circle of stars surrounding the "UK" code used to be.
Since July 2015, all UK driving licence photocards issued by the DVLA have displayed the Union Jack flag, and since December 2021 also the Royal Coat of Arms on the front of the driving licence. This does not apply to driving licences issued by the DVA in Northern Ireland.
As UK nationals do not normally have identity cards, a photographic driving licence can serve many of the purposes of an identity card in non-driving contexts, such as proof of identity (e.g. when opening a bank account) or of age (e.g. when buying age-restricted goods such as alcohol or tobacco).
Regulations.
Provisional Licences and Learner Drivers.
Applications for a provisional driving licence can be made in Great Britain from the age of 15 years and 9 months and in Northern Ireland from 16 years and 10 months. Once a United Kingdom driving test has been passed, the driving licence is valid for driving a moped or light quad bike from age 16, and a car from age 17, or 16 for those who receive, or have applied for, the higher or enhanced rate of the mobility component of PIP or DLA. A driving test consists of three sections: theory, hazard perception and a driving examination. Until this test has been passed, a driver may hold only a provisional licence and is subject to certain conditions.
The conditions attached to provisional licences for a particular category of vehicle are:
In Northern Ireland, learner drivers are limited to a speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) and are not permitted on motorways regardless of whether or not they are under instruction by an ADI (Approved Driving Instructor), and drivers who have passed their test within the previous year must display R plates (restricted) and are also limited to a maximum speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) until the expiry of the restricted period. R plates are similar in style to L plates, with a thick-set dark orange R displayed on a white background and most L plates have the orange R on the reverse side.
After passing a driving test, the provisional licence may be surrendered within two years in exchange for a full UK licence for the relevant kind of vehicle. Full car licences allow use of mopeds and motorcycles provided a CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) course is completed (the requirement to have a CBT in Northern Ireland was introduced on 21 February 2011).
Newly qualified drivers.
There are currently no restrictions on newly qualified drivers in England, Wales or Scotland; however if a newly qualified driver receives six penalty points within two years of passing, the licence is automatically revoked and the driver must pass the full test again; this also applies in Northern Ireland. These six points remain on the new licence until their designated expiry time.
In Great Britain, some new drivers may display green "P" plates ("probationary") on their vehicle to alert other drivers that they have recently passed their driving test. This is optional and not a legal requirement and may be displayed for as long as desired. P plates are not commonly used in Northern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland, new drivers must display orange "R" plates for 1 year after passing the test, and are limited to a maximum speed of . This is a legal requirement and failure to display R plates is 2 penalty points and a fine. These drivers are known as restricted drivers.
In the Isle of Man (a UK Crown dependency), new drivers must display "R" plates similar to those in Northern Ireland, but red, for 1 year after passing the test, and are limited to a maximum speed of .
Towing restrictions.
The rules on what a driver can tow are different depending on when they passed their driving test. If they passed their car driving test on or after 1 January 1997, they may drive a car or van up to maximum authorised mass (MAM) towing a trailer of up to MAM, and they may tow a trailer over MAM as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than MAM when loaded. They must pass the car and trailer driving test to tow anything heavier. If a driver passed their car test before 1 January 1997, they are usually allowed to drive a vehicle and trailer combination up to MAM. They are also allowed to drive a minibus with a trailer over MAM.
On 16 September 2021, the Secretary of State for Transport laid a statutory instrument to retrospectively grant the B+E (car and trailer) entitlement to all category B licence holders. From 15 November 2021, all standard car licence holders will be able to tow a trailer with a MAM of up to .
An additional legislative
change from the 16th
December 2021 also means
that drivers with B (Car)
entitlement will
automatically have B+E
(Car & Trailer) entitlement
without the need to take a
B+E test. This will allow you
to tow a vehicle up to
3,500kg Maximum
Authorised Mass (MAM).
Other regulations.
Motor car licences issued in the United Kingdom distinguish between automatic and manual transmission vehicles, depending on whether or not a driving test was passed in a vehicle with manual transmission (unless a vehicle test was taken in the UK before such distinction was made). While a manual transmission vehicle licence permits the holder to drive a vehicle of either kind, an automatic transmission vehicle licence is solely for vehicles with automatic transmission. The licence also shows whether a driver requires glasses or contact lenses to meet the legal driving requirements, if known.
Drivers who obtained rights to drive category D1 minibuses before 1997 (by passing a test for the obsolete class A) must not drive such vehicles for hire or reward, nor accept any form of payment in money, goods or kind from any passengers carried.
Category B licences automatically cover both groups C1 (lorries not exceeding 7.5 tomnnes MAM) and D1 but as the holder approaches 45, they must renew their licence. They must provide a doctor's medical report plus an optometrist's report (if the doctor cannot certify the eyesight requirement). Anyone who has C1 and D1 rights on an older paper licence (before the photocard licence) retains the right to drive C1 and D1 without medical evidence until age 70 (so called:grandfather rights). Though like any responsible driver, should have regular eye checks.
There is no maximum age for driving or holding a driving licence, but holders must renew their licences at age 70 and every three years thereafter, at which times they must provide evidence of a medical exam and separate eyesight test if the right to drive C1 and D1 vehicles is to be retained.
History.
Driver registration was introduced in 1903 with the Motor Car Act. Holders of the sulphur-yellow coloured document were entitled to "drive a motor car or motor cycle". The wording was changed in 1930 after which holders were allowed to "drive or steer a motor car or to drive a motor cycle". Shortly afterwards, the document cover was changed to a dark red colour. Holders were for a period entitled to drive a vehicle of "any class or description". Subsequent changes saw the document list precisely those vehicle types for which holders were licensed.
Competency tests were introduced by the Motor Vehicles Regulations 1935 applicable to all drivers who started driving after 1 April 1934. Competency tests were suspended in 1939 for seven years due to the Second World War and in 1956 for one year due to the Suez Crisis. The only person in the United Kingdom who is not required to have a driving licence in order to drive is the King.
Until 1973, driving licences (and tax discs) were issued by local authorities and had to be renewed every three years. In 1971, the decision was taken to computerise the licensing system to enable it to be linked to the Police National Computer and to extend the life of the licence up to the driver's 70th birthday, extendable at intervals thereafter provided the driver can prove fitness.
Except for Northern Ireland, driving licences issued before July 1998 did not have photographs on them. Anyone who holds a licence issued before this date may retain their photo-less licence until expiry (normally one's seventieth birthday) or until they change address, whichever comes sooner. The new plastic photocard driving licences have to be renewed every ten years, for a fee. Until 2015, the licence consisted of both the photocard and a paper counterpart which detailed the individual's driving entitlements and convictions ("endorsements"). The counterpart was abolished on 8 June 2015 and the information formerly recorded on it is now available online via the View Driving Licence service, except in Northern Ireland where the counterpart must be kept with the photocard.
Licences issued to residents of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland appear only in English, while those issued to residents of Wales appear in both English and Welsh. The Union Jack Flag has been included on GB licences since July 2015, but not on Northern Ireland licences. Since December 2021 the Royal Coat of Arms is included on GB licences.
Up until 28 September 2021, the distinguishing sign of the United Kingdom was "GB". The allocation of codes is maintained by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, authorised by the UN's Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. The UK is party to both conventions, and shall hence issue licences in conformity with the conventions. Annex 9 of the Geneva convention states that the distinguishing sign (UK) shall be inscribed in an oval. According to the Vienna convention Article 43 domestic licences have to comply with Annex 6, which says that driving licences shall include the name and/or the distinguishing sign of the country which issued the permit. UK licences did include the "GB" distinguishing code until 1990.
In Directive 91/439/EEC which EU Member States had to implement before 1 July 1994, the UK had to include the emblem of the EU with the code "UK", instead of "GB" encircled by an ellipse on the front page. As the UK has subsequently withdrawn from the EU, the EU flag is no longer featured on UK driving licences issued after the transition period ended on 31 December 2020. The "GB" code or the ellipse from the aforementioned conventions have not been reintroduced, since January 2021, the licences simply reads “UK" in larger blue letters where the EU flag with the circle of stars surrounding the "UK" code used to be.
On 30 June 2021 the United Nations published a notification stating that the United Kingdom had given three months notification that it intended to change its distinguishing sign from "GB" to "UK". This came into effect on 28 September 2021.
Since December 2021, new driving licence styles were introduced. Changes were made to all versions of the GB driving licence cards and includes:
The same changes apply to all versions of the Northern Ireland driving licence, excluding the Union Jack flag and Royal Coat of Arms.
Driver numbers.
Great Britain.
Each licence holder in England, Scotland and Wales has a unique driver number, which is 16 characters long. The characters are constructed in the following way:
Northern Ireland.
Driver numbers in Northern Ireland differ from those issued to drivers in GB.
Each Northern Ireland licence holder is assigned a unique, 8 digit driving licence number, e.g. 12345678. This number is assigned randomly and in no specific order.
Brexit.
The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, starting an 11-month transition period which terminated on 31 December 2020 in accordance with the Brexit withdrawal agreement. EU law continued to apply to the UK during the transition period, and hence UK driving licences were valid in the EEA and vice versa until 31 December 2020. UK licence holders living in the EU were advised to exchange their UK driving licence for a local one before the transition period ended. The EU flag was removed from UK driving licences when the transition period ended.
From 1 January 2021, with some exceptions, UK licence holders can use their driving licence when visiting EEA countries. International Driving Permits might be needed in some cases, and depending on which convention the country in question has ratified, a 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic IDP might be required in some countries, and a 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic IDP in others. However, none of the EEA countries currently require IDPs for visitors staying shorter than 12 months. EEA countries are no longer obligated to recognise or exchange UK licences if the holder moves to an EEA country, except if the UK has agreed a bilateral agreement with the country.
European driving licences are recognised by the UK if the driving test was passed in an EU/EEA country, and can be used both if the holder is visiting or residing in the country. They can also be exchanged for a UK (both GB and NI) licence.
Driving licence categories.
Current categories.
This is a list of the categories that might be found on a driving licence in the United Kingdom.
Obsolete goods classes.
Although the category system was changed over 25 years ago (1 January 1997), the freight industry and driver recruitment agencies still predominantly use the obsolete class numbers for the entitlement of HGV drivers.
The two systems are not exactly compatible, so the descriptions given are only a guideline.
Points and endorsements.
The UK uses a cumulative points system for driving offences. Points are added for driving offences by law courts or where the driver accepts a fixed penalty in lieu of prosecution, and the licence is endorsed accordingly. A UK driving licence may be endorsed for various offences, not only for those committed while driving or in charge of a vehicle. If the individual committing the offence does not hold a valid driver's licence the endorsements may be put by until a licence is held.
Most endorsements remain valid for four years; some (such as driving under the influence) are recorded on the licence for 11 years because more severe penalties apply to those convicted twice within 10 years of drink or drug driving offences.
Twelve points on the licence within three years makes the driver liable to disqualification under the "totting-up" procedure; however this is not automatic and must be decided on by a court of law. Endorsements remain on the licence for one year longer than their validity (three or ten years) because a court can consider points awarded even though they are not valid for 'totting up'.
Driving licence codes.
Certain codes are included on driving licences to indicate restrictions on use. These codes are listed on the back of the card under the column headed "12. Codes" and are listed for each category that is licensed.
As long as the UK remained within the EU, the codes 1–99 were the same as in the rest of the EU, harmonized by Directive 2006/126/EC.
The codes and their meanings are as follows:
Use as proof of identity.
Identity cards for UK nationals were introduced in 2009 on a voluntary basis, and the attempt to introduce a nationwide identity-card scheme in 2010 was reversed mid-course. Its in-progress database was halted and then destroyed. Only workers in certain high-security professions, such as airport workers, were required to have an identity card in 2009, and this remains the case today. Therefore, driving licences, particularly the photocard driving licence introduced in 1998, along with passports, are the most widely used ID documents in the United Kingdom. Most people do not carry their passports with them; this leaves driving licences as the only valid form of ID to be presented. In day-to-day life there is no legal requirement to carry identification whilst driving or otherwise, and most authorities do not arbitrarily ask for identification from individuals.
Non-professional drivers are not legally obliged to carry a driving licence while driving, but section 164 of the Road Traffic Act 1998 allows a police officer to require a driver to produce a driving licence within seven days at a police station chosen by the driver. The form which was once issued in such circumstances, the HO/RT 1, was known colloquially as "a producer", as exemplified in Smiley Culture's hit single "Police Officer".
Exchange agreements.
The UK has an exchange agreement with 22 'designated' countries/regions which allows the holder of a foreign driving licence who is deemed to be resident in the UK to exchange it for a British licence. Initially, there were 18 such countries/regions, but an additional four, namely Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and the Republic of North Macedonia, were added from 20 May 2021.
To do such licence exchange, the holder must send the licence, a translation thereof if required, an application form and a fee to the DVLA or DVA (for Northern Ireland).
Post-Brexit arrangements.
The UK and Ireland have signed a bilateral agreement, allowing those holding a UK driving licence and living in Ireland to continue to be able to swap it for an Irish licence after the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December 2020.
The UK and Norway have agreed to continue existing arrangements on mutual recognition of driving licences after Brexit. |
John Abercrombie (guitarist)
John Laird Abercrombie (December 16, 1944 – August 22, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. His work explored jazz fusion, free jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Abercrombie studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for his understated style and his work with organ trios.
Career.
Early life and education.
John Abercrombie was born on December 16, 1944, in Port Chester, New York. Growing up in the 1950s in Greenwich, Connecticut he was attracted to the rock and roll of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, and Bill Haley and the Comets. He also liked the sound of jazz guitarist Mickey Baker of the vocal duo Mickey and Silvia. He had two friends who were musicians with a large jazz collection. They played him albums by Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis. The first jazz guitar album he heard was by Barney Kessel.
He took guitar lessons at the age of ten, asking his teacher to show him what Barney Kessel was playing. After high school, he attended Berklee College of Music. At Berklee, he was drawn to the music of Jim Hall, the 1962 album "The Bridge" by Sonny Rollins, and Wes Montgomery on his albums "The Wes Montgomery Trio" (1959) and "Boss Guitar" (1963). He cites George Benson and Pat Martino as inspirations. He often played with other students at Paul's Mall, a jazz club in Boston connected to a larger club, Jazz Workshop. Appearing at Paul's Mall led to meetings with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, and organist Johnny Hammond Smith, who invited him to go on tour.
Stark Reality, Dreams, and Gateway.
Abercrombie graduated from Berklee in 1967 and attended North Texas State University before moving to New York City in 1969. Before becoming a popular session musician, he joined Monty Stark's band, Stark Reality, in 1969 and recorded several sides including Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop. Abercrombie went on to record with Gato Barbieri in 1971, Barry Miles in 1972, and Gil Evans in 1974. In 1969 he joined the Brecker Brothers in the jazz-rock fusion band Dreams. He continued to play fusion in Billy Cobham's band, but found that he disliked its focus on rock over jazz. Nonetheless his reputation grew with the popularity of both Cobham and Dreams. The band shared billing with such acts as the Doobie Brothers, but Abercrombie found his career taking an unwanted direction. "One night we appeared at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and I thought, 'What am I doing here?' It just didn't compute."
An invitation from drummer Jack DeJohnette led to the fulfillment of Abercrombie's desire to play in a jazz-oriented ensemble. Around the same time, record producer Manfred Eicher, founder and president of ECM Records, invited him to record an album. He recorded his first solo album, "Timeless", with DeJohnette and keyboardist Jan Hammer, who had been his roommate in the 1960s. In 1975 he formed the band Gateway with DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland, recording the albums "Gateway" (1976) and "Gateway 2" (1978). Though Abercrombie would record for other labels going forward, ECM became his mainstay, and his association with that label continued for the rest of his career.
Working as a leader.
The Gateway band played songs written by all three members, in a free jazz style. Following his albums as a member of the Gateway trio, Abercrombie moved to playing in a more traditional style, recording for ECM three albums, "Arcade" (1979), "Abercrombie Quartet" (1979), and "M" (1981) with a quartet that included pianist Richie Beirach, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Peter Donald. Abercrombie said, "it was extremely important to have that group ... it was my first opportunity to really be a leader and write consistently for the same group of musicians." During the mid-1970s and into the 1980s, he contributed to ensembles led by DeJohnette and participated in other sessions for ECM, occasionally doubling on electric mandolin. He toured with guitarist Ralph Towner with whom he recorded two albums, "Sargasso Sea" (1976) and "Five Years Later" (1981). During the mid-1980s, he continued to play standards with bassist George Mraz, and he played in a bop duo with guitarist John Scofield. He also appeared on a number of ECM releases in various ensembles with other artists on the label.
Between 1984 and 1990, Abercrombie experimented with a guitar synthesizer. He first used the instrument, though not exclusively, in 1984 in a trio with Marc Johnson on bass and Peter Erskine on drums, as well as with pianist Paul Bley in a free jazz group. The synthesizer allowed him to play what he called "louder, more open music." Abercrombie's trio with Johnson and Erskine released three albums during this time showcasing the guitar-synth: "Current Events" (1986), "Getting There" (1988, with Michael Brecker), and a live album, "John Abercrombie / Marc Johnson / Peter Erskine" (1989).
The 1990s and 2000s marked a time of many new associations. In 1992, Abercrombie, drummer Adam Nussbaum, and Hammond organist Jeff Palmer made a free-jazz album. He then started a trio with Nussbaum and organist Dan Wall and released "While We're Young" (1992), "Speak of the Devil" (1994), and "Tactics" (1997). He added trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, violinist Mark Feldman and saxophonist Joe Lovano to the trio to record "Open Land" (1999). The Gateway band reunited for the albums "Homecoming" (1995) and "In the Moment" (1996).
Abercrombie continued to tour and record to the end of his life. He also continued to release albums on the ECM label, an association which lasted for more than 40 years. As he said in an interview, "I'd like people to perceive me as having a direct connection to the history of jazz guitar, while expanding some musical boundaries."
In 2017, Abercrombie died of heart failure in Cortlandt Manor, New York, at the age of 72.
Discography.
As leader or co-leader.
With Gateway
With Andy LaVerne
As sideman.
With Franco Ambrosetti
With Gato Barbieri
With Billy Cobham
With Marc Copland
With Jack DeJohnette
With Peter Erskine
With Danny Gottlieb
With Dave Liebman
With Rudy Linka
With Charles Lloyd
With Barry Miles
With Terry Plumeri
With Enrico Rava
With Johnny "Hammond" Smith
With Lonnie Smith
With Collin Walcott
With Kenny Wheeler
With others |
Franklinton, North Carolina
Franklinton is a town in Franklin County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,456 at the 2020 census.
History.
Franklinton, was established as Franklin Depot in 1839 on land owned by Shemuel Kearney (1791–1860), son of Crawford Kearney and Nancy White. A home constructed by grandfather Shemuel Kearney (1734–1808) was originally located south of town and is currently the second oldest residence in Franklin County, built in 1759. The building was purchased in 2009 and moved to nearby Louisburg for restoration. Franklin Depot changed its name to Franklinton in 1842 when the town was incorporated. Like Franklin County, Franklinton was named for Benjamin Franklin.
According to many locals, Trinity College, originally located in Trinity, was initially planned and approved to be moved to Franklinton in 1889. Generous offers though by local businessmen Washington Duke and Julian S. Carr brought the college to the city of Durham in 1892. This well known school is now called Duke University. A source from the University Archives states that nearby Raleigh was actually the initial approved bidder. This does not mean Franklinton wasn't included as a possible site even though no other bidding communities are mentioned. The citizens of Raleigh offered land now occupied by North Carolina State University and pledged $35,000.00 for a new building which was quickly approved by the Methodist Conference for Trinity College. It eventually lost to a higher bid of $85,000.00 plus donations in 1890.
In December 1919, an African-American veteran of World War I named Powell Green got involved in an altercation with a white man named R.M. Brown over smoking in the movie theater, and Green allegedly killed Brown. The police arrested Green, but then a lynch mob seized him, pulled him behind a car for two miles, and hung him from a tree.
Franklinton was once home to Albion Academy, a co-educational African-American school started by clergyman Moses A. Hopkins in 1879. Once a State Normal & Industrial School (trade school), it eventually became a graded school and later merged with the B.F. Person School in 1957 to become B.F. Person-Albion High School. When schools were fully integrated, the upper grades consolidated with Franklinton High School in 1969. Mary Little was the first African-American teacher to begin teaching at the newly integrated Franklinton High School, who taught there till her death in 1984. The B.F. Person-Albion High School was renamed Franklinton Elementary School.
Also located in Franklinton is the historic Sterling Cotton Mill, founded by Samuel C. Vann and first opened in 1895. Remaining in the Vann family for many years, the mill was purchased in 1972 by Union Underwear Company, manufacturers of Fruit of the Loom fabric products. Sterling Cotton Mill eventually closed in 1991. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
Burlington Industries, another well known textile and fabric maker at the time, had a facility located in Franklinton known as Vamoco Mills. It closed in 1989, and was demolished in 2007. A third mill was also located in Franklinton which has since closed.
On June 10, 1946, former heavyweight champion Jack Johnson died in a car crash on U.S. Highway 1 in Franklinton.
On April 4, 1963, the entire town of Franklinton was threatened by a large wildfire which consumed roughly of woodlands and destroyed several homes north and west of town. A similar incident occurred on February 10, 2008, covering practically the same area (though not as widespread), about . There were a couple homes which were damaged during that event. U.S. Highway 1 was temporarily closed adjacent to the affected area while firefighters battled the fires. No injuries were reported. High winds and dry conditions were factors in both incidents.
In 1996 Franklinton, North Carolina became the home of Opio Holy Spirit Academy a private school providing an academic arena for both academically gifted and students who face academic challenges from grades k-12. The school was established and directed by Lenora E. Attles-Allen a former elementary school teacher from Boston, Massachusetts. Allen's work became known and respected in Wake, Granville, Vance, and Franklin counties as well as her dedication to the Franklin County Community Restitution Program. Opio Holy Spirit Academy closed its doors for the last time after the final High School commencement ceremony in 2012.
Charles Draughn III was elected to the mayoral position of Franklinton for 8 years, from 1987 to 1995. He is currently working with family law. He was followed in office by Larry Kearney from 1995 to 2003, Jenny McGhee Edwards from 2003 to 2007 and Elic Senter from 2007 to 2015. Current Mayor Art Wright was elected in 2015.
Franklinton has been a Tree City USA community since 1985.
In addition to the Sterling Cotton Mill, the Franklinton Depot, Dr. J. H. Harris House, Shemuel Kearney House, C.L. and Bessie G. McGhee House, Person-McGhee Farm, Dr. J. A. Savage House, and Aldridge H. Vann House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. All properties are privately owned and should be respected.
Geography.
Franklinton is located at (36.102635, −78.453157).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
The center of town is at Main Street (U.S. Highway 1A) and Mason Street. Green Street (N.C. Highway 56) passes just south of that point and U.S. Highway 1 bypasses Franklinton to the west. The town is located approximately northeast of Raleigh, North Carolina and south of the Tar River.
A railway operated by CSX Transportation currently passes through Franklinton, which is part of the old Seaboard Coast Line Railroad "S-Line". There was also a spur off this line which ran east from Franklinton to Louisburg, originally built in 1884 by the Louisburg Railroad and leased to the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad as a branch line. The two lines were taken over by Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1900. From 1985 to 1988, the Franklin County Railroad operated the branch line from Franklinton to Louisburg. The section was sold to the North Carolina Department of Transportation in 1990 and the tracks removed a few years later.
Demographics.
2020 census.
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,456 people, 883 households, and 602 families residing in the town.
2010 census.
As of the census of 2010, there were 2,023 people, 876 households, and 551 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,264.4 people per square mile (493.4/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 55.8% White, 40.8% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.7% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.1% of the population.
There were 876 households, out of which 23.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.8% were married couples living together, 21.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.1% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.92.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.7% under the age of 20, 8.3% from 20 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 19.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $30,082, and the median income for a family was $37,656. Males had a median income of $38,015 versus $33,380 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,193. About 31.9% of families and 36.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 62.7% of those under age 18 and 18.3% of those age 65 or over.
Housing.
There were 1,008 housing units at an average density of 630.0 per square mile (245.9/km2). 13.1% of housing units were vacant.
There were 876 occupied housing units in the town. 553 were owner-occupied units (63.1%), while 323 were renter-occupied (36.9%). The homeowner vacancy rate was 4.1% of total units. The rental unit vacancy rate was 6.9%.
Government.
Franklinton is governed by a mayor and five-member Board of Commissioners, who are elected in staggered four-year terms.
Elected officials :
Town Manager: Zachary Steffey |
Gabri Christa
Gabri Christa is a Dutch performance artist, choreographer, professor, film-maker and writer. She is an associate professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College and also the Director for the Movement Lab there.
Christa is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health and received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Choreography. She is affiliated with the New York Women in Film and Television, is on the board for Dance Theatre Workshop and on the advisory board for Dance/NYC. She was also on the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission of the City of New York, appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio for a three-year term in 2015, until 2022.
Early life.
Christa was Born in Curaçao, Dutch Caribbean. She received her BFA from the School of New Dance Development, Amsterdam in 1986 and she got her MFA in Dance, with an additional study in Anthropology, Ethno-musicology and Women Studies from the University of Washington in 1998.
Career.
Christa began her career as a performer and choreographer, with critically acclaimed work Orangemelted in the Netherlands and then started working with Danza Contemporanea de Cuba in 1987. She further went on to becoming a founding member of DanzAbierta. When she moved to New York in 1993, she started working at the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company as a part of the group's eclectic repertory. Along with this, she kept up with her choreography and started her own company Danzaisa, after leaving Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane in 1999, which went on to perform in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.
Some of Christa's administrative positions include being the Artistic Director and Curator of Snug Harbor Cultural Center and founding and curating a Festival of the Moving Body on Screen: called Moving Body-Moving Image. From 2010 to 2014, she was the Director of Performing Arts for the Consulate General of Netherlands in New York.
A few of Christa's academic appointments as a teacher of dance and a lecturer have been at Princeton University, University of Washington and Barnard College Dance Department. She has also been on the faculty of City University of New York (CUNY) College of Staten Island in the Performing and Creative Arts department.
Works.
Stage performances.
Christa has performed at the Symphony Space, Central Park Summer Stage, Lincoln Center Out of Doors and for five seasons at New York Live Arts. Her work, "Dominata", was a multimedia piece of dance theater that used spoken word, video, dance and theatre to capture the emotions and issues surrounding immigration. Writing about it, Jennifer Dunning at "The New York Times" wrote that "She transforms the theater and transports you […] she directs without seeming to lift a finger." Some of her other evening length choreographies were for the 2009 Landscape on Hold, a collaboration with Marianela Boan and Tania Isaac at the Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia. and Remember this moment Duet, collaboration with Niles Ford in 2008. Some of her shorter works were for Five Fingers make a hand at Staten Island Ballet, St. George Theater and Longing for what is lost in 2011 for CUNY Center for the Arts, Staten Island, NY. Her dance conduction project, Burnt Sugar Danz, later started with Greg Tate.
Magdalena is a one-woman multimedia piece which is a culmination of dance, storytelling and visuals as Christa shares personal experiences of her mother's past, her dementia, an interracial marriage, Holland during World War II and her take on motherhood. This is a series of short films which was listed as one of the "7 Dance Performances to See in N.Y.C. This Weekend" by "The New York Times". Elizabeth Zimmer at The Villager described this as "A tissue of fine and funny verbal detail" with "passionate, energetic dancing", while Carrie Lee O’Dell at The Review Hub called her performance "rich and moving” and said that "we’re lucky that she’s generous enough to invite the audience along." According to Eva Yaa Asantewaa at Infinite Body, it is "an act of loving discovery, recall and reclamation." Fire on fire is one of the musical performances that she directed and orchestrated multimedia for. This performance brought together ten African American musicians and ten gypsy musicians in Symphony Space, New York.
Screen work.
Christa has produced and directed many short films that have been screened in galleries. Her short film "High School" won an ABC television award for creative excellence and Pangea Day Festival's one of the World's 100 most promising filmmakers. She made the short film, "Another building", which follows the Dutch African Diaspora and highlights historic buildings in connection to the different environments where people from different cultures reside.
Writing.
Christa's written publications for film and dance have been featured in The Scholar & Feminist and in "Caribbean Dance; from Abekua to Zouk". Her creative publications include "Screendance Festivals and Online Audiences" where she talked about moving the 2020 Moving Body-Moving Image Festival online, an essay called "This Little Black Doll" discussing her performance piece Magdalena and a memorial for Leo Floridas called "In Loving Memory of Leo Floridas". She published an essay in "A Life in Dance: A Practical Guide" (May 2017) called "The Wisdom Of Insecurity As a Guide To Music And Dance Collaboration". |
Steven J. Mulroy
Steven J. Mulroy (born April 9, 1964) is the District Attorney of Shelby County, Tennessee. Previously, he was a University of Memphis law professor who served on the County Commission for Shelby County, Tennessee from District 5 from 2006 to 2014. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he spent his high school years living in Gulf Breeze, Florida and studied at Cornell University, followed by William & Mary Law School. A member of the Democratic Party, his 2006 election to the Memphis-area County Commission seat shifted the balance of power from Republican to Democratic for the first time in the county's history.
Early life and education.
Mulroy was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of a telephone company employee who died in 1998 and a widowed housewife who currently lives in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He attended a Roman Catholic parochial elementary school, Mary, Queen of Heaven, in Brooklyn, and then Gulf Breeze High School following his 1978 childhood move from Brooklyn to Florida. He attended Cornell University on a merit scholarship, spent one semester studying in Washington, D.C. through the Cornell-in-Washington program, and graduated in 1986. Mulroy graduated from William & Mary Law School in 1989 with the "Order of the Coif" honor.
Career.
Mulroy began his legal career in 1989 as a judicial clerk for the Hon. Roger Vinson, a federal district court judge in Pensacola, Florida. In 1991, through the U.S. Justice Department's Honors Program, he joined Department's Civil Rights Division as a trial attorney. He spent 1991-95 in the Voting Section, and 1995 through 1999 in the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section. From 1999-2000 he served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney (a federal prosecutor) in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2000, he began teaching at the University of Memphis, School of Law, attaining tenure in 2006.
In 2006 he was promoted to Associate Professor, and in 2010 from to full Professor of Law. He teaches and publishes in the fields of election law, criminal law and procedure, and constitutional law. Since 2015, he has served as the University of Memphis, School of Law's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
In 2006, Mulroy successfully ran for the Shelby County, Tennessee Commission, representing the 5th District. He served two four-year terms, leaving the Commission due to term limits in late 2014. He ran for County Mayor in 2014, losing the Democratic primary.
While on the County Commission, Mulroy drafted Shelby County's first ethics ordinance, animal welfare ordinance, and "cash for tires" ordinance, and the first ever legislation at any level in Tennessee which provided discrimination protection for the LGBT community." He successfully pushed for substantial increases in county funding for homelessness and pre-K education.
During the body's 2011 redistricting, he led the successful effort to switch from 3-Commissioner multimember districts to single-member districts, arguing, among other things, that the latter led to more competitive elections.
In 2013, Mulroy was one of three names sent to the White House for consideration to fill a federal district court judge vacancy in the Western District of Tennessee in Memphis. He did not ultimately receive the appointment.
In 2022, Mulroy prevailed against two candidates in a competitive Democratic primary for District Attorney. He went on to defeat incumbent District Attorney, Republican Amy Weirich, 56.12% (74,752 votes) to 43.79% (58,328 votes).
Mulroy is the author of "Rethinking US election law: Unskewing the System", which "offers comprehensive considerations of arguments in favour of and against proposed reforms of US election law." As an expert in comparative election law, he contributed to the Routledge Handbook of Election Law. On January 24, 2023, Mulroy charged five Memphis police officers, who were members of the now disbanded scorpion unit, in the killing of Tyre Nichols. The five officers were charged with second degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon, official misconduct, harming another, official misconduct, refraining from performing a duty imposed by law, official oppression. On January 26, 2023, a Shelby County grand jury returned an indictment against the five officers. They have all pleaded not guilty and their next court date is set for May 1, 2023. In addition, during a press conference, Mulroy indicated that further charges may be filed.
Other.
Mulroy led several historic preservation efforts before, during, and after his County Commission tenure. From 2005 through 2010, he led a grass-roots effort to save the historic "Zippin Pippin" rollercoaster and the Grand Carousel, two anchor rides at Memphis' Libertyland Amusement Park which were mothballed when the amusement park closed in 2005. In 2006, the grass-roots group succeeded in preventing the Grand Carousel from being sold at auction, and it was instead held in storage.
In 2010, with the coaster facing demolition, Mulroy arranged for it to be sold and Zippin Pippin moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where it continues to operate at Bay Beach Amusement Park. The Grand Carousel was restored and is a feature at the Children's Museum of Memphis.
In 2013, Mulroy served as one of two pro bono plaintiff attorneys in an effort to prevent the demolition of the historic 19th Century Club Building, also known as the Roland Darnell House. A lawsuit prevented the demolition of the building for about a year, while the preservationist plaintiffs appealed their loss in trial court. In 2014 the preservationists withdrew their appeal, but the building owners later decided to preserve the building and convert it to a high-end restaurant and meeting space.
In 2013, Mulroy made an "altruistic" kidney donation to a stranger. The donation allowed doctors at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee to arrange a nationwide "donor chain" of persons who would donate kidneys in exchange for reciprocal donations to designated loved ones. The chain resulted in 28 kidneys being swapped; at the time, it was the second-longest such chain in history, as well as the swiftest exchange of its type and the one involving the greatest number of high-risk cases. |
Submerged (DJ)
Submerged (alias of Kurt Gluck) is a Brooklyn-based DJ, bassist, founder of the avant-garde drum and bass and experimental music label Ohm Resistance and co-founder of Obliterati, and a prolific multi-genre electronic music producer, first notable for his work with bassist and producer Bill Laswell in creating drum and bass-jazz fusion projects including their band Method of Defiance, and The Blood of Heroes.
In drum and bass, Submerged has pushed the boundaries of the genre beyond dance music through jagged free-form breakbeat structures, historic fusion collaborations with non-drum and bass musicians including Bill Laswell, Pharoah Sanders, Buckethead, and others, as well as publishing confrontational visual artwork.
Submerged performs onstage as a DJ and as a bassist and is a member of avant-garde bands incorporating drum and bass beats and live sound manipulation, such groups including Painkiller and Bill Laswell's project, Method of Defiance. Submerged has also performed live with groups including other artists such as Milford Graves, John Zorn and Toshinori Kondo, and artists Mike Patton and Dr. Israel. He currently collaborates with multi-instrumentalist nem0 in the band You Will Choose Fire, as well as the dark-hop trio, HAVE DEMONS, with Luke Lund.
Submerged has played venues across North America, Europe and Asia, including Russia, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the UK.
He toured with Scorn in 2011 across Europe.
Background.
Gluck was born in Rosedale, Queens, New York. His father was a Brooklyn police officer and his mother an architect.
Gluck played clarinet and bass clarinet in his school jazz band and symphonic band. “I always took band classes because I loved playing music. I had my own metal band in high school. I wrestled (folkstyle) for four years varsity, but I was really into music. I listened mostly to metal. I didn’t start to get into electronic music heavily till my summer after high school. My favourite bands were Slayer, Napalm Death. Godflesh was huge to me, also.”
In 1999 he founded Ohm Resistance, a collective of musicians and DJs on two continents, which was also a label that released progressive Washington, DC artists including Sinthetix, Impulse, Kiko, MC Mecha, and Skynet. For one year, Ohm Resistance threw a Wednesday weekly called Tangent at the U-Turn club.
Submerged moved Ohm's headquarters to Brooklyn in late 2002 to facilitate global distribution of its releases. In 2003 he co-created a second label, Obliterati, to pursue the darker and more experimental roots of Ohm Resistance.
In 2003, Laswell met with Submerged to discuss working together and said he owed John Zorn a record. Submerged came up with eight compositions to which Laswell added more music and live bass. This first historic drum and bass-jazz fusion collaboration by Bill Laswell and Submerged, “Brutal Calling,” was released on Zorn's Avant label in the first half of 2004.
In 2005, Laswell and Submerged as Method of Defiance released a 9-track album, “The Only Way to Go Is Down,” on Sublight Records.
In 2007, Method of Defiance released an album called "Inamorata", a fusion of drum and bass and jazz music, with the collaboration of many artists from the drum and bass and jazz scenes.
Alex Henderson of All Music Guide described Submerged's "Violence as First Nature" (2008) double-CD release as "forceful, abrasive, confrontational stuff" and compared his work to "industrial rockers like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, and the Revolting Cocks (as well as hip-hop agitators Public Enemy)."
In April 2010, Submerged project The Blood of Heroes released its self-titled debut on Ohm Resistance - a collaboration project featuring Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, Napalm Death) and Bill Laswell, with beats from Submerged and End.user and vocals from Doctor Israel, described in an album review as follows: "Post apocalyptic soundscapes and de-imaged electronic beats backed up with heavy guitar and bass. Features live drumming from KJ Sawka and Balazs Pandi, and sound design from film sound architect M. Gregor Filip. Powerful anthemic tracks collide with vicious drum n bass beatdowns and intersperse with breathtaking synth beauty and Aphex Twin style mezzed beats. The soundtrack to post-solarflare humanity!"
In 2016, Submerged moved to the Pacific Northwest and started a shoegaze-influenced live drum and bass band called You Will Choose Fire with multi-instrumentalist nem0. They have toured in the US and Ukraine.
References.
Notes
Sources |
Azande witchcraft
Witchcraft among the Zande people of North Central Africa is magic used to inflict harm on an individual that is native to the Azande tribal peoples. The belief in witchcraft is present in every aspect of Zande society. They believe it is a power that can only be passed on from a parent to their child. To the Azande, a witch uses witchcraft when he has hatred towards another person. Witchcraft can also manipulate nature to bring harm upon the victim of the witch. Oracles and witch doctors determine whether someone is guilty of using witchcraft on another villager. More magic is then created to avenge the victim and punish the one who committed the transgression.
Description.
The African tribe of the Azande are largely found in the African countries of South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Northern Democratic Republic of Congo. Witchcraft surrounds Zande culture and is believed to be the major cause of disease, death, and any other unfortunate events that occur. It clings to a digestive organ of the body, and the only way it can be inherited is if the offspring of the witch is of the same sex. If a witch is male, then his child must be male in order to inherit witchcraft; likewise, if a witch is female, then her child must be female for witchcraft to be passed on to her child. Witchcraft is a psychic power that can only be used at a short range. Because of this, the Azande tend to distance themselves from their neighbors and live closer to oracles. Witchcraft can also use nature to cause injury or even death if the witch allows it. It can manipulate an animal such as a buffalo to kill someone or cause a structure such as a storage house to collapse on top of someone.
Although they believe that witchcraft is the cause of most negative occurrences, the Azande do not blame it for human errors. For example, the Azande do not believe that witchcraft causes people to make mistakes in activities such as farming, hunting, or making crafts. Witchcraft also does not influence anyone to commit moral crimes such as lying, cheating, or deceiving someone. Evans-Pritchard's example of the collapsing granary is cited by other scholars as illustrative: "If a person is killed by the collapse of the granary, the Azande call it witchcraft. This does not mean they deny that the poles on which the granary rested were destroyed by termites. And the Azande know very well that many persons rest under a granary to avoid the heat in summer. However, that the granary collapsed in exactly the moment in which this specific human being sat under it, and not a moment before or after, is supposed to be the result of witchcraft."
A witch will not use his or her powers to hurt someone unless they dislike that person. When a witch uses their witchcraft on a victim, it is said to flow out of them and into the body of the sleeping victim to steal their soul; a group of witches will then eat the soul of the victim, working collaboratively. Killing a person is a slow process, for the witch may have to perform witchcraft several times on the person to actually accomplish it. In turn, while the witch is performing their witchcraft, the victim's relatives can prepare a plan of defense and strike back at the evil magic, but before they are allowed to do this, they must seek advice from an oracle.
Azande witches do not use magical spells or use any medicines. Witches perform their witchcraft through physical acts. Witches are very different than sorcerers who use who can make people ill by performing magic through the use of bad medicines.
Role of oracles.
Oracles are tasked with finding those responsible for using witchcraft on an individual, and with predicting future tragedies. If someone believes witchcraft is being used to cause misfortune upon one of their relatives, they may seek the wisdom of the oracles to see if that is the case. Different methods are used by oracles to determine whether someone is using witchcraft to bring disaster upon an individual.
The Azande consult the oracles about many different types of things that they need information on. In pre-European times the Zande chiefs consulted the oracles about different types of military decisions that they needed to make. The Azande use three different types of oracles. The most powerful oracle is the “benge” poison oracle, which is used solely by men. The decisions of the oracle are always accepted and no one questions them. This ritual that goes along with the use of the oracle utilizes a chicken and that is administered a special poison and then asked questions to. The answer to the question lies in the fate of the chicken whether it dies or lives after it is administered the poison for a set amount of time.
One such method to find out if witchcraft is being used is the so-called poison oracle; this uses a vegetable poison called benge, which is fed to a chicken. Whether the bird survives determines the answer. There are specific situations where a second fowl is fed the same poison to confirm the results of the first test. In order for the first test to be accepted as solid evidence, the results of the second test must be opposite of the first.
An example of an instance that the “benge” oracle may be used in is can be seen in the ethnographic video "Witchcraft Among the Azande" by anthropologist John Ryle. In order to find out why his wife is sick a husband consults the “benge” oracle to find the witch who is the one that is making his wife sick. He asks this question to the benge oracle and then feed the poison to the chicken if it dies then the witch he asked the question about is guilty. The chicken in this case died and he then asked another chicken if he should divorce the second wife since she is the one causing the illness. But the oracle decides that would be pointless and that the other wife must spit water sincerely in order to purify herself so that the first wife gets well again.
The “benge” oracle can also be used in adultery cases to help decide if the people on trial are guilty. This can be seen in the ethnographic video "Witchcraft Among the Azande" when they have a case of adultery in the village. The adultery case has to go before the “benge” oracle to see if the women should get to live or die and if she is guilty or telling the truth. The chief has to consult the “benge” oracle and the chicken should only die if the two undressed and had sex and the chicken died proving that adultery had taken place. This will then be taken to the court and shown to the judge to prove that the two had lied and were actually a part of adultery.
Another group of oracles that the Zande can seek is the termite oracle. The termite oracle is more readily available to all. Women, men, and children are all allowed to consult this oracle. When a question is presented before these oracles, they take a branch from two trees. One branch is called the "dakpa", another "kpoyo". The oracle takes these branches and sticks them into a termite mound and waits overnight to see which branch the termites eat, which dictates the answer. The termite oracle is not as popular as the poison oracle, because it is more time-consuming. This is less elaborate and costly then the benge oracle. An example of an instance in which the termite oracle can be used in the ethnographic video "Witchcraft Among the Azande" when a woman in the village is sick and her husband wants to know whether or not she is going to live or die.
The least expensive but also least reliable oracle is the rubbing-board oracle. The rubbing board oracle is described in "Culture Sketches" as “a device resembling a Ouija board, made of two small pieces of wood easily carried to be consulted anywhere, and at any time.” They have a wood handle and second piece of wood if the wood catches or sticks then the answer to the question is revealed.
Witch doctors.
In addition to the oracles, witch doctors can also predict disasters and reveal the witches who use their witchcraft to cause harm. Although both oracles and witch doctors have these abilities, witchdoctors are considered to be more accurate as far as pointing out witches. Witch doctors must go through extensive training; when their assistance is needed, they come together and perform a dance near the home of one who is sick or dead to locate the origin of the evil magic. Normally a crowd of villagers are surrounding them during their dance, so the witchdoctors strive to perform their dance perfectly in order to impress those who are watching. The power that allows witch doctors to track down witches comes from medicinal herbs.
Historiography.
Earlier (colonial) observers on Azande witchcraft frequently cast the practice as belonging to a primitive people. Anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard (who acknowledged the importance of the work done by Claude Lévi-Strauss) argued that the pervasive belief in witchcraft was a belief system not essentially different from other world religions; Azande witchcraft is a coherent and logical system of ideas.
Evans-Pritchard's "Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande" (1937) is a standard reference work on Azande witchcraft. It has been subjected to a number of reviews, and is seen as a "turning point in the evaluation of 'primitive thought'". Unlike his predecessors who published on magic, he actually did field work, studying in what was then Anglo-Egyptian Sudan for many years. A critical assessment of his book from 2017 concluded that his "efforts to clarify meaning in this way [seeing magic as a logically consistent system of thought] have proved hugely influential, and have played a major part in guiding later generations of anthropologists". |
Djibouti at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Djibouti competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. The nation's participation marked its eighth appearance at the Summer Olympics. Djibouti did not field any athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
The Djibouti National Olympic Committee () sent its second largest delegation to the Games, falling one athlete short of the record eight athletes sent to compete at the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympic Games. A total of seven athletes, six men and one woman, were selected to the Djibouti team to compete in athletics, judo, and swimming. Marathoner Mumin Gala was the only athlete returning for his second appearance from London 2012, while middle-distance runner Abdi Waiss Mouhyadin led his squad as Djibouti's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.
Djibouti failed to collect an Olympic medal in Rio de Janeiro, which would have been the country's first since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where Hussein Ahmed Salah won the bronze in the men's marathon. Ayanleh Souleiman almost ended the nation's 28-year drought on the podium, but he slipped out of medals to fourth in the men's 1500 metres.
Background.
Djibouti participated in eight Summer Olympic Games between its debut in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Djibouti made their Olympic debut in 1984, sending three athletes to the Games. The highest number of Djiboutian athletes participating in a Summer Games is eight in the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain. Marathon runner Hussein Ahmed Salah is the only Djiboutian athlete to win a medal, which he did in the 1988 marathon.
Athletics (track and field).
Ayanleh Souleiman qualified for the 800 m race by having a qualifying time better than 1:46.00. He placed first in his heat for the 800 m with a time of 1:45.48, which qualified him for the semifinal round along with three other runners in his heat. There were seven heats in the first round. Hassan Mohamed Kamil, Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, congratulated him saying, "May God give him the strength to win the next competitions and always raise the national colors." Souleiman finished with a better time in the semifinal round with a time of 1:45.19, but placed fourth in the heat and did not qualify for the final round. He would have needed to beat Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich's time of 1:44.65 to qualify for the final round.
Djibouti had two athletes qualify for the 1500 m run with a qualification time better than 3:36.20. Ayanleh Souleiman finished third in the first heat with a time 3:39.25, which qualified him for the semifinals. He finished in 2nd place in that heat with a time of 3:39.46, which qualified him for the finals. In the finals, Souleiman finished in fourth place with a time of 3:50.29. He was 0.05 seconds away from the bronze medal, and 0.29 seconds away from the gold. The other Djiboutian that qualified for the 1500 m run, Abdi Waiss Mouhyadin, did not finish the race. On the final lap, he tripped and required help to leave the track. Waiss was also the flagbearer for Djibouti in the opening ceremony.
Mohamed Ismail Ibrahim qualified for the 3000 m steeplechase by performing better than the qualification time of 8:30.00. He finished with a time of 8:53.10 for 12th place in his heat. He would have needed a time of 8:26.59 or better to advance to the finals, and was therefore eliminated. Ibrahim was the closing ceremony flag bearer for Djibouti.
Mumin Gala, the only returning Olympian for Djibouti, qualified for the marathon with a time better than 2:19:00. Gala set his personal record at Rio with a time of 2:13:04 and finished in 12th place out of 155 participants.
Kadra Mohamed Dembil was the sole woman athlete for Djibouti in Rio. She qualified for the 1500 m via a universality placement. Dembil finished 12th out of 14 in her heat, failing to advance to the next round. With her time of 4:42.67, she set a national record.
Judo.
Anass Houssein qualified for the Men's −66 kg via a wildcard spot. He competed on August 7 at the Carioca Arena 2. Houssein started in the second round against Ma Duanbin of the People's Republic of China, but lost the first match which eliminated him from contention.
Swimming.
Djibouti received a universality invitation from FINA to send a male swimmer to the Olympics. Bourhan Abro, a son of diplomat Ahmed Abro, competed in the men's 50 m freestyle at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. He has competed for Djibouti in swimming at other international competitions. Abro arrived at Rio later than the rest of the delegation and joined them there. Abro competed in the second heat and finished with a time of 27.13, placing 74th among 85 competitors. He needed a time of 22.10 to advance to the semifinals. |
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