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Strategic bombing during World War II | After the war, Marxist historians in the Soviet Union and East Germany claimed that the Soviet strategic bombing campaign was limited by moral qualms over bombing civilian centres. One early bombing theorist, Vasili Chripin, whose theories influenced the Soviet Union's first strategic bombing guidelines and the service regulations of 26 January 1940, drew back from terror bombing as advocated by Western theorists. The Spanish Civil War also convinced Soviet war planners that the air force was most effective when used in close cooperation with ground forces. Nonetheless, after the war, Marshal Vasili Sokolovsky admitted that the Soviets would have gladly launched a strategic bombing offensive had they the capability. In reality, the Soviets never geared aircraft production towards long-range bombers, beyond the small force of indigenously designed and produced Petlyakov Pe-8 four-engined "heavies", and so never had enough to mount an effective campaign. The land-based nature of warfare on the Eastern Front also required closer cooperation between the air forces and ground troops than did, for example, the defence of Great Britain. |
Strategic bombing during World War II | Much of the doubt about the effectiveness of the bomber war comes from the fact that German industrial production increased throughout the war. A combination of factors helped increase German war material output, these included; continuing development from production lines started before the war, limiting competing models of equipment, government enforced sharing of production techniques, a change in how contracts were priced and an aggressive worker suggestion program. At the same time production plants had to deal with a loss of experienced workers to the military, assimilating untrained workers, culling workers incapable of being trained, and utilizing unwilling forced labor. Strategic bombing failed to reduce German war production. There is insufficient information to ascertain how much additional potential industrial growth the bombing campaign may have curtailed. However, attacks on the infrastructure were taking place. The attacks on Germany's canals and railroads made transportation of materiel difficult. |
Strategic bombing during World War II | Adam Tooze contends that many of the sources on bombing effectiveness are "highly self-critical after-the-battle analyses" by the former Western Allies. In his book The Wages of Destruction, he makes the case that the bombing was effective. Richard Overy argues that the bombing campaign absorbed a significant proportion of German resources that could have been used on the Eastern Front; according to Overy, in 1943 and 1944, two-thirds of German fighters were being used to fend off bomber attacks, which Overy argues was a significant hindrance for the Luftwaffe as it prevented them from conducting bombing operations against the Soviets even though such an air campaign had caused considerable damage to the Soviets early in the war. Overy also reports that by the end of 1943, 75% of Flak 88mm guns were being used in air defence, preventing them from being used for anti-tank work on the Eastern Front despite their effectiveness in such a role. Overy also estimates that Britain spent about 7% of her war effort on bombing, which he concludes was not a waste of resources. |
Strategic bombing during World War II | The impact of bombing on German morale was significant according to Professor John Buckley. Around a third of the urban population under threat of bombing had no protection at all. Some of the major cities saw 55–60 percent of dwellings destroyed. Mass evacuations were a partial answer for six million civilians, but this had a severe effect on morale as German families were split up to live in difficult conditions. By 1944, absenteeism rates of 20–25 percent were not unusual and in post-war analysis 91 percent of civilians stated bombing was the most difficult hardship to endure and was the key factor in the collapse of their own morale. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey concluded that the bombing was not stiffening morale but seriously depressing it; fatalism, apathy, defeatism were apparent in bombed areas. The Luftwaffe was blamed for not warding off the attacks and confidence in the Nazi regime fell by 14 percent. By the spring of 1944, some 75 percent of Germans believed the war was lost, owing to the intensity of the bombing. |
Strategic bombing during World War II | Raids of Japan from mainland China, called Operation Matterhorn, were carried out by the Twentieth Air Force under XX Bomber Command. Initially the commanding officer of the Twentieth Air Force was Hap Arnold, and later Curtis LeMay. Bombing Japan from China was never a satisfactory arrangement because not only were the Chinese airbases difficult to supply—materiel being sent by air from India over "the Hump"—but the B-29s operating from them could only reach Japan if they traded some of their bomb load for extra fuel in tanks in the bomb-bays. When Admiral Chester Nimitz's island-hopping campaign captured Pacific islands close enough to Japan to be within the B-29's range, the Twentieth Air Force was assigned to XXI Bomber Command, which organized a much more effective bombing campaign of the Japanese home islands. Based in the Marianas (Guam and Tinian in particular), the B-29s were able to carry their full bomb loads and were supplied by cargo ships and tankers. The first raid from the Mariana was on 24 November 1944, when 88 aircraft bombed Tokyo. The bombs were dropped from around 30,000 feet (10,000 m) and it is estimated that only around 10% hit their targets. |
Strategic bombing during World War II | The first raid of this type on Tokyo was on the night of 23–24 February when 174 B-29s destroyed around one square mile (3 km2) of the city. Following on that success, as Operation Meetinghouse, 334 B-29s raided on the night of 9–10 March, of which 282 Superforts reached their targets, dropping around 1,700 tons of bombs. Around 16 square miles (41 km2) of the city was destroyed and over 100,000 people are estimated to have died in the fire storm. It was the most destructive conventional raid, and the deadliest single bombing raid of any kind in terms of lives lost, in all of military aviation history, even when the missions on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are taken as single events. The city was made primarily of wood and paper, and the fires burned out of control. The effects of the Tokyo firebombing proved the fears expressed by Admiral Yamamoto in 1939: "Japanese cities, being made of wood and paper, would burn very easily. The Army talks big, but if war came and there were large-scale air raids, there's no telling what would happen." |
Strategic bombing during World War II | A year after the war, the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey reported that American military officials had underestimated the power of strategic bombing combined with naval blockade and previous military defeats to bring Japan to unconditional surrender without invasion. By July 1945, only a fraction of the planned strategic bombing force had been deployed yet there were few targets left worth the effort. In hindsight, it would have been more effective to use land-based and carrier-based air power to strike merchant shipping and begin aerial mining at a much earlier date so as to link up with effective submarine anti-shipping campaign and completely isolate the island nation. This would have accelerated the strangulation of Japan and perhaps ended the war sooner. A postwar Naval Ordnance Laboratory survey agreed, finding naval mines dropped by B-29s had accounted for 60% of all Japanese shipping losses in the last six months of the war. In October 1945, Prince Fumimaro Konoe said the sinking of Japanese vessels by U.S. aircraft combined with the B-29 aerial mining campaign were just as effective as B-29 attacks on industry alone, though he admitted, "the thing that brought about the determination to make peace was the prolonged bombing by the B-29s." Prime Minister Baron Kantarō Suzuki reported to U.S. military authorities it "seemed to me unavoidable that in the long run Japan would be almost destroyed by air attack so that merely on the basis of the B-29s alone I was convinced that Japan should sue for peace." |
Strategic bombing during World War II | On 6 August 1945, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay flew over the Japanese city of Hiroshima in southwest Honshū and dropped a gun-type uranium-235 atomic bomb (code-named Little Boy by the U.S.) on it. Two other B-29 aircraft were airborne nearby for the purposes of instrumentation and photography. When the planes first approached Hiroshima, Japanese anti-aircraft units in the city initially thought they were reconnaissance aircraft, since they were ordered not to shoot at one or few aircraft that did not pose a threat, in order to conserve their ammunition for large-scale air raids. The bomb killed roughly 90,000–166,000 people; half of these died quickly while the other half suffered lingering deaths. The death toll included an estimated 20,000 Korean slave laborers and 20,000 Japanese soldiers and destroyed 48,000 buildings (including the headquarters of the Second General Army and Fifth Division). On 9 August, three days later, the B-29 Bockscar flew over the Japanese city of Nagasaki in northwest Kyushu and dropped an implosion-type, plutonium-239 atomic bomb (code-named Fat Man by the U.S.) on it, again accompanied by two other B-29 aircraft for instrumentation and photography. This bomb's effects killed roughly 39,000–80,000 people, including roughly 23,000–28,000 Japanese war industry employees, an estimated 2,000 Korean forced workers, and at least 150 Japanese soldiers. The bomb destroyed 60% of the city. The industrial damage in Nagasaki was high, partly owing to the inadvertent targeting of the industrial zone, leaving 68–80% of the non-dock industrial production destroyed. |
Rang-du-Fliers | Rang-du-Fliers became a commune in 1870, having been previously only a hamlet of Verton. The population of this hamlet lived poorly amid the marshes and fields that had formed over the centuries behind the dunes. Boatmen, weavers, labourers and a few tenants occupying the cob houses built on land by the edge of the many drainage ditches. "Rang" comes from Rin meaning canal or "Tringue" a drainage trench (this term is still found in Great Tringue, north of the town), and closely related to the English rhyne. "Fliers" comes from the Flemish Vliet which means "Little River". Hence the name "Rein-Vliet" (Rang-du-Fliers). This etymology has shifted somewhat over time, so we find Reng-du-Fliez in an entry of at the castle of Beaurain dated 1633, "Le Rang Deflier" on a map of 1790 and "Le Rang d'Effliers" on a military map of 1830. The future of Rang-du-Fliers turned in the middle of the 19th century with the construction of the railway line from Paris to Calais. In 1848, the mayor of Verton refused the building of a station in the town because of alleged pollution, and it was decided instead to build it at Rang-du-Fliers. The railway station rapidly took on an importance, especially when a sugar mill was built in 1858 and the commune enjoyed ever-growing prosperity, employing up to 800 people in the years before 1914 during the beet campaigns. Since 1867, the village of Rang-du-Fliers had everything to make a commune: a church , a priest, a cemetery, a station, a school and a factory that encouraged more and more workers to settle there. The idea of separating from Verton had its way, helped by the lack of interest shown by the Verton council. After two petitions and many heated debates, Rang-du-Fliers was elevated to separate commune status by imperial decree on 17 July 1870. |
Carska Bara | Condition of the reserve gradually worsened since 2001. Fish farm "Еčka" was privatized and sold to the "Mirotin" company from Vrbas, and the maintenance of the reserve stopped almost immediately. Additionally, the fish ponds of "Еčka" extends directly to the north from the Carska Bara and are considered the greatest polluters of the bog. City of Zrenjanin formed a special ecological institute "Natural reserves" and since 2014 has been asking the state government to change the decision on the reserve's management, claiming that it is not logical that the greatest polluter administers the reserve, that Vojvodina's provincial government provided funds for the dredging of the canals but that hasn't been done and that managers of the company openly stated that they have neither the experts nor the interest to work on the preservation of the bog. In August 2017 the touristic cruise by the boat on the bog was suspended as the canals got filled with silt, due to the lack of maintenance, which prevents the navigation. |
Bullet time | Bullet time (also known as frozen moment, dead time, flow motion or time slice) is a visual effect or visual impression of detaching the time and space of a camera (or viewer) from that of its visible subject. It is a depth enhanced simulation of variable-speed action and performance found in films, broadcast advertisements, and realtime graphics within video games and other special media. It is characterized by its extreme transformation of both time (slow enough to show normally imperceptible and unfilmable events, such as flying bullets), and of space (by way of the ability of the camera angle—the audience's point-of-view—to move around the scene at a normal speed while events are slowed). This is almost impossible with conventional slow motion, as the physical camera would have to move implausibly fast; the concept implies that only a "virtual camera", often illustrated within the confines of a computer-generated environment such as a virtual world or virtual reality, would be capable of "filming" bullet-time types of moments. Technical and historical variations of this effect have been referred to as time slicing, view morphing, temps mort (French: "dead time") and virtual cinematography. |
Bullet time | The technique of using a group of still cameras to freeze motion occurred before the invention of cinema itself with preliminary work by Eadweard Muybridge on chronophotography. In The Horse in Motion , Muybridge analyzed the motion of a galloping horse by using a line of cameras to photograph the animal as it ran past. Eadweard Muybridge used still cameras placed along a racetrack, and each camera was actuated by a taut string stretched across the track; as the horse galloped past, the camera shutters snapped, taking one frame at a time. Muybridge later assembled the pictures into a rudimentary animation, by having them traced onto a glass disk, rotating in a type of magic lantern with a stroboscopic shutter. This zoopraxiscope may have been an inspiration for Thomas Edison to explore the idea of motion pictures. In 1878–1879, Muybridge made dozens of studies of foreshortenings of horses and athletes with five cameras capturing the same moment from different positions. For his studies with the University of Pennsylvania, published as Animal Locomotion , Muybridge also took photos from six angles at the same instant, as well as series of 12 phases from three angles. |
Bullet time | It is well-established for feature films' action scenes to be depicted using slow-motion footage, for example the gunfights in The Wild Bunch (directed by Sam Peckinpah) and the heroic bloodshed films of John Woo. Subsequently, the 1998 film Blade featured a scene that used computer-generated bullets and slow-motion footage to illustrate characters' superhuman bullet-dodging reflexes. The 1999 film The Matrix combined these elements (gunfight action scenes, superhuman bullet-dodging, and time-slice effects), popularizing both the effect and the term "bullet-time". The Matrix's version of the effect was created by John Gaeta and Manex Visual Effects. Rigs of still cameras were set up in patterns determined by simulations, and then shot either simultaneously (producing an effect similar to previous time-slice scenes) or sequentially (which added a temporal element to the effect). Interpolation effects, digital compositing, and computer-generated "virtual" scenery were used to improve the fluidity of the apparent camera motion. Gaeta said of The Matrix's use of the effect: |
Bullet time | Bullet time evolved further through The Matrix series with the introduction of high-definition computer-generated approaches like virtual cinematography and universal capture. Universal capture, a machine vision guided system, was the first ever motion picture deployment of an array of high definition cameras focused on a common human subject (actor, Neo) in order to create a volumetric photography. Like the concept of bullet time, the subject could be viewed from any angle yet, at the same time, the depth based media could be recomposed as well as spatially integrated within computer-generated constructs. It moved past a visual concept of a virtual camera to becoming an actual virtual camera. Virtual elements within the Matrix Trilogy utilized state-of-the-art image-based computer rendering techniques pioneered in Paul Debevec's 1997 film The Campanile and custom evolved for The Matrix by George Borshukov, an early collaborator of Debevec. Inspiration aside, virtual camera methodologies pioneered within the Matrix trilogy have been often credited as fundamentally contributing to capture approaches required for emergent virtual reality and other immersive experience platforms. |
USS Frederick C. Davis | Continuing her escort duty in the western Mediterranean Sea, Frederick C. Davis took part in an attack on 16 December 1943 which resulted in the sinking of U-73 by two of her group. On 21 January 1944 the escort sortied from Naples for the Anzio landings, during which her superlative and courageous performance was to win her a Navy Unit Commendation. After providing protection from submarines and aircraft to ships giving fire support to the assault on 22 January, Frederick C. Davis maintained a patrol off the besieged beachhead for the next six months, leaving only for brief periods of replenishment at Naples. Equipped with special equipment to jam the control frequency of the enemy's rocket-propelled, radio-directed glider bombs, Frederick C. Davis fought off enemy air attacks, protecting shipping in the anchorage and the men enduring the fighting ashore. Particularly during the earlier stages of this bitter operation, Frederick C. Davis came under shellfire from shore batteries. Shrapnel caused slight damage to the ship, but only one man was wounded during this service. |
The 50th Reunion Tour | Reflecting upon the band's reunion in 2013, Love stated: "I had a wonderful experience being in the studio together. Brian has lost none of his ability to structure those melodies and chord progressions ... Touring was more for the fans. ... It was a great experience, it had a term to it, and now everyone's going on with their ways of doing things." Biographer Jon Stebbins speculated that Love declined to continue working with the group because of the lesser control he had over the touring process, coupled with the lower financial gain, noting: "Night after night after night after night, Mike is making less money getting reminded that Brian is more popular than him. And he has to answer to people instead of calling all the shots himself." Writer Stacey Anderson called Love's arguments "wholly unconvincing", facetiously summarizing: "He insists that the larger ensemble with Wilson would have overpowered the modest venues he'd already booked; as anyone can infer, this really means he would have lost money by including Wilson." |
Flirting | During World War II, anthropologist Margaret Mead was working in Britain for the British Ministry of Information and later for the U.S. Office of War Information, delivering speeches and writing articles to help American soldiers better understand British civilians, and vice versa. Mead found a pattern of misunderstandings in the flirtations between American soldiers and British women regarding who was supposed to take which initiative. She wrote of the Americans, "The boy learns to make advances and rely upon the girl to repulse them whenever they are inappropriate to the state of feeling between the pair", as contrasted to the British, where "the girl is reared to depend upon a slight barrier of chilliness... which the boys learn to respect, and for the rest to rely upon the men to approach or advance, as warranted by the situation." When flirting with each other, British women could interpret an American soldier's gregariousness as something more intimate or serious than he had intended. |
Nikos Athanasou | As Nicholas Athanasou he has written widely on bone, joint and soft tissue pathology and on the pathobiology of osteoarticular cells and tissues. With TJ Chambers he developed the osteoclast lacunar bone resorption assay system. His work was the first to show that the human osteoclast shares specific surface antigens with macrophages and that the mononuclear human osteoclast precursor circulates in the (CD14+) monocyte fraction. This led to the discovery of cellular and molecular mechanisms of pathological bone resorption associated with primary and secondary bone tumours, particularly breast cancer metastasis, Ewing sarcoma and giant cell–rich lesions such as giant cell tumour of bone and pigmented villonodular synovitis. In addition, his work has studied synovial and inflammatory macrophages and their role in osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, infection and Paget disease. His work on hip and knee implants focused on the importance of biomaterial wear particles on promoting osteoclast formation, osteolysis and implant loosening. He also characterised inflammatory criteria for the histological diagnosis of infection using frozen section procedure and was the first to provide a pathological description of pseudotumors associated with metal on metal hip implants. |
Galaxy (British TV channel) | Galaxy broadcast early episodes of Doctor Who every week, and on the weekend of Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 September, the channel presented a complete weekend. Saturday 22 September: 9.15am An Unearthly Child, 11.15am The Daleks (episodes 1–3), 12.35pm Doctor Who's Who's Who, 1.40pm The Daleks (episodes 4–7), 3.30pm The Edge of Destruction, 4.30pm The Yeti Rarities (The Abominable Snowmen episode 2 and The Web of Fear episode 1), 6.00pm The Space Museum, 8.00 The Keys of Marinus, 11.00pm The Aztecs, 1.00am Dr. Who and the Daleks (film). Sunday 23 September: 9.15am The War Games (episodes 1–5), 11.30am Whose Doctor Who, 12.45pm The War Games (episodes 6–10), 3.00pm The Dominators, 5.45pm The Mind Robber, 8.00pm The Three Doctors, 10.00pm Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (film), 11.30pm The Yeti Rarities (The Abominable Snowmen episode 2 and The Web of Fear episode 1), 12.30am The Edge of Destruction. Between the stories, there were also many editions of BSB's own programme, 31 Who, presented by Debbie Flint, Shyama Perera and John Nathan-Turner, and featuring interviews with Sylvester McCoy, Carole Ann Ford, Elisabeth Sladen, Peter Purves, Wendy Padbury, Terrance Dicks, Bob Baker & Dave Martin, Nicholas Courtney, William Russell, Jon Pertwee, Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling and many more. |
Edward Coates (pirate) | harges relating to Governor Fletcher's administration at New York, delivered to him at the Board, 28 November 1698. (1) That he accepted £700 to permit the ship Jacob, returning from a piratical voyage, to come up to New York, and to grant the crew protection. (2) That he prevailed with the Council to consent thereto under colour of allowing the said pirates the benefit of an Act of New York, to which they were not entitled. (3) That in consequence thereof the ship came up to New York and was accepted by him as a present and sold by him for £800. (4) That he granted protections to other pirates for money. (5) That there is no mention of securities given in the said protections, and that none of the persons so protected appear to have been prosecuted for piracy. (6) That in 1696 he released a chest of money which had been seized from one Rayner, a pirate. (7) That Edward Coates, the pirate, asserted that it cost him £1,300 to obtain Colonel Fletcher's protection. (8) That he granted commissions as privateers to Tew, Hore and Glover, though they had no ship at New York, and spoke openly of making piratical voyages. (9) That he was intimate with the pirate Tew, and received money for the aforesaid commissions. (10) That he granted a like commission to Thomas Moston of the ship Fortune, though intended only for illegal trade. (11) That the bonds which he took from the said pirates on giving them commissions were inadequate, and that one of them was tampered with by his Secretary. … Draft. 5 pp. Endorsed, 24 Nov. Delivered to him 28 Nov., 1698. |
Taennchel | The peak of the mountain, situated opposite to the Haut-Koenigsbourg, in the massif des Vosges, separates the valley of Ribeauvillé from the val de Lièpvre on a surface of about 800 hectares. On the north-east of the Taennchel hides the village of Thannenkirch, and south from the mountain can be reached the old glass arts of the Ribeaupierre which overhang the rocky blocks of the Mittelberg (about 600 metres), the Venuskopf and the Schelmenkopf (905 m). The Taennchel is one of the summits which, from west to east, make up the continental divide between the basin of the Liepvrette up north and the one of the Strengbach down south. It's a huge mountain, its sides are widely open and strongly backed up on the side of the valley of the Liepvrette, while on the opposite side towards Ribeauvillé, it hollows out vertically in a grandiose cirque around the small twin valleys of the Big and Little Glass Art. The Taennchel has the shape of a crescent extending on almost 4 kilometers from the rock of the Rammelstein which is 988 meters high to the mountain which overhangs the low Taennchel from where can be seen the three ruined castles belonging to the sires of Ribeaupierre : Haut-Ribeaupierre, Saint-Ulrich and Girsberg. |
Arena Naucalpan 21st Anniversary Show | The location at Calle Jardín 19, Naucalpan Centro, 53000 Naucalpan de Juárez, México, Mexico was originally an indoor roller rink for the locals in the late part of the 1950s known as "Cafe Algusto". By the early-1960s, the building was sold and turned into "Arena KO Al Gusto" and became a local lucha libre or professional wrestling arena, with a ring permanently set up in the center of the building. Promoter Adolfo Moreno began holding shows on a regular basis from the late 1960s, working with various Mexican promotions such as Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) to bring lucha libre to Naucalpan. By the mid-1970s the existing building was so run down that it was no longer suitable for hosting any events. Moreno bought the old build and had it demolished, building Arena Naucalpan on the same location, becoming the permanent home of Promociones Moreno. Arena Naucalpan opened its doors for the first lucha libre show on December 17, 1977. From that point on the arena hosted regular weekly shows for Promociones Moreno and also hosted EMLL and later Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) on a regular basis. In the 1990s the UWA folded and Promociones Moreno worked primarily with EMLL, now rebranded as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). |
Arena Naucalpan 21st Anniversary Show | In the first round of the Ruleta de la Muerte Guardia and Kato Kung Lee Jr. defeated Kato Kung Lee, the father of Kato Kung Lee Jr, and Mr. Niebla to escape the tourmanet with their mask and hair. In the second match Los Oficiales ("The Officials"; Maniacop and Vigilante) used their experience as a tag team to defeat the masked Mega and Judo Suwa. Masked wrestler Dr. Cerebro and the unmasked wrestler El Salsero defeated America and Shiima Nobunaga, while Bombero Infernal and Kro 2000 lost the last match of the first round. In the second round of the tournament lucha libre legend Kato Kung Lee and Mr. Niebla defeated Mega and Suwa, sending Mega and Suwa to the final tag team match of the tournament. Bombero Infernal and Kro 2000 ensured that America and Nobunaga became Mega and Suwa's opponents. After a quick fall Mega and Suwa lost, which meant Mega would risk his mask and Suwa would risk his hair as the two faced off moments after the loss. In the end Mega pinned the rookie Suwa, forcing the Japanese wrestler to have all his hair shaved off as a result. |
Para-fascism | The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista, commonly known as FET y de las JONS or simply "FET," was the exclusive legal political party of the Francoist regime in Spain. Established by General Francisco Franco in 1937, it was a fusion of the fascist Falange Española de las JONS (FE de las JONS) with the monarchist neo-absolutist and integralist Catholic Traditionalist Communion associated with the Carlist movement. Despite the amalgamation, FET largely retained the platform of FE de las JONS, preserving 26 out of its original 27 points, as well as a similar internal structure. This party remained in effect until April 1977, after which it was rebranded as the Movimiento Nacional in 1958 which caused it to transform into an Authoritarian Conservative movement. Some academics considered the pre-merge FE de las JONS to be fascist and that the merger with the Traditionalist Communion caused it to lose its fascist characteristics and thus become para-fascist. |
Imamzadeh Hosein Reza | The most interesting feature of the mausoleum is its stucco decoration. Two patterns are used to frame the arches of the squinch zone; one, mainly geometrical, round the squinch arches, the other mainly vegetal, round the arches in between. The elegant thulth inscription just below the squinch zone begins on the back wall of the west recess. A Quranic scription accompanied the following phrase at the end:"At the beginning of the month of Jumdda I year 841 "/November 1437. The decade of the figure is not quite clear; a case could also be made for 821. Structurally the monument presents no innovations. The fourteenth century tomb towers of Qom, e.g. the Imamzada Ja'far, present close parallels. Had the monument not been dated one might have been tempted to ascribe it to the fourteenth century. The remains of stucco decoration on the double minaret portal at Qum was probably one factor in its attribution to c. 1325 when in fact the date 830/1426-27 is preserved on one of the minarets.The importance of the Imamzada Husain Rida lies in the extension of the terminus ante quem for this type of stucco decoration, which had died out by the middle of the fifteenth century. |
Arch of Septimius Severus | The master architect is unknown, but he worked with a skill level that allowed him to create the arch in a quick and traditional manner. Although traditional with the columns, piers, and cornices, the style in which the architect shows the effects of texture, and the prominent and versatile planes, show a hint of deviation from the classical style. According the scholar Richard Brilliant, the variety of styles shown on the arch signify that many different workshops and sculptors were involved. This was a way to have the commission completed quickly. Brilliant made this conclusion by identifying how the same models for the motifs have small differences throughout the reliefs. Even individual sections such as the panels, middle reliefs, and column pedestals have distinctive techniques or styles that must have come from separate artists. The differences in styles are not so drastic as to stick out, but they are enough that an expert can identify a shift. The arch also has some sections that are more detailed than the others indicating more time was spent on them, which is normal when different sculptors in a workshop work on the same object. Those who worked on the arch were taught in the Antonine style, which was known for its rich ornamentation and use of Proconnesian marble. |
Arch of Septimius Severus | The decorations of the attic were meant to show the achievements of the Imperial family. Evidence from Severan coins show that although no longer standing, the top of the attic used to have a chariot pulled by six horses and two riders made of gilded bronze. These sculptures most likely acted as trophy-bearers. The attic was designed to decoratively frame the inscription on the arch. This is evident through the gilding and sizing of the letters. Because the letters were gilded, the reflection on them during a sunny day would have made the sentences hard to read, but they would have been legible in the afternoon. The dowel-holes on the base of the attic show that there used to be some sort of metal ornament attached, most likely in the form of floral or trophic symbols. The attic has cornices with Lesbian cymation with a rosette around the inscription and there is double molding with an Acanthus bands as well. The arch uses the style that was common in Imperial architecture that used the Corinthian columns. |
Battle of Beirut (1912) | At a distance of 6,000 metres (6,600 yards), the Italians opened fire upon the Ottoman corvette. The Ottomans returned fire ineffectively until 09:35 when the Italian gunfire set Avnillah afire. Receiving heavy damage and outgunned, the corvette struck her colours and the crew abandoned ship. At this point Garibaldi sailed in close and engaged Angora at 600 metres (660 yards) with gunfire but failed to damage it. Garibaldi then attempted to finish off Avnillah by firing a torpedo at her. However, the torpedo deviated from its trajectory and hit several lighters moored nearby, sinking six of them. Undeterred, the Italian cruiser fired a second torpedo that struck the Ottoman corvette amidships. By 11:00 the corvette was sunk in shallow water and the pair of cruisers withdrew to the north. The action was not over however; at 13:45, the Italian cruisers returned and once more engaged the Ottoman forces. The only warship left in the harbour was the torpedo boat Angora so Ferruccio moved in close and engaged it with gunfire for three minutes before it joined Avni-Illah at the bottom of Beirut's harbour. Once the fighting had ended the two Italian cruisers sailed off in a westward direction. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton , focused on relations between employers and workers in Manchester from the perspective of the working poor; North and South uses a protagonist from southern England to show and comment on the perspectives of mill owners and workers in an industrialising city. The novel is set in the fictional industrial town of Milton in the north of England. Forced to leave her home in the unruffled, rural south, Margaret Hale settles with her parents in Milton. She witnesses the ruthless world wreaked by the Industrial Revolution, seeing employers and workers clashing in the first strikes. Sympathetic to the needy (whose courage and tenacity she admires and among whom she makes friends), she clashes with John Thornton: a nouveau riche cotton-mill owner who is scornful of his workers. The novel traces her growing understanding of the complexity of labour relations and their influence on well-meaning mill owners and her conflicted relationship with John Thornton. Gaskell based her depiction of Milton on Manchester, where she lived as the wife of a Unitarian minister. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Gaskell's novels, with the exception of Cranford, gradually slipped into obscurity during the late 19th century; before 1950, she was dismissed as a minor author with "good judgment and feminine sensibilities". Archie Stanton Whitfield wrote that her work was "like a nosegay of violets, honeysuckle, lavender, mignonette and sweet briar" in 1929, and Cecil said that she lacked the "masculinity" necessary to properly deal with social problems. However, the tide began to turn in Gaskell's favour when, in the 1950s and 60s, socialist critics like Kathleen Tillotson, Arnold Kettle and Raymond Williams re-evaluated the description of social and industrial problems in her novels, and—realising that her vision went against the prevailing views of the time—saw it as preparing the way for vocal feminist movements. In the early 21st century, with Gaskell's work "enlisted in contemporary negotiations of nationhood as well as gender and class identities", North and South, one of the first industrial novels describing a conflict between employers and workers, is seen as depicting complex social conflicts and offering more satisfactory solutions through Margaret Hale: spokesperson for the author and Gaskell's most mature creation. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | The change in title of Gaskell's fourth novel from Margaret Hale to Dickens' suggested North and South underscores its theme of modernity versus tradition. Until the end of the 18th century, power in England was in the hands of the aristocracy and landed gentry based in the south. The Industrial Revolution unsettled the centuries-old class structure, shifting wealth and power to manufacturers who mass-produced goods in the north. Cities such as Manchester, on which Gaskell modelled her fictional Milton, were hastily developed to house workers who moved from the semi-feudal countryside to work in the new factories. The south represents the past (tradition): aristocratic landowners who inherited their property, collected rent from farmers and peasants and assumed an obligation for their tenants' welfare. The north represents the future (modernity): its leaders were self-made men like Gaskell's hero, John Thornton, who accumulated wealth as working, middle-class entrepreneurs. In their view, philanthropy or charity – giving something for nothing – was a dangerous imbalance of the relationship between employers and employees (which was based on the exchange of cash for labour). |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Rebellion against an authority seen as unfair is woven throughout the story. Established institutions are seen as inhumane or selfish, and therefore fallible; Mr. Hale breaks with the church on a matter of conscience, and Frederick Hale participates in a mutiny against the navy and is forced into exile because the law would hang him for what he considered a just cause. His rebellion parallels the strike by workers who take up the cause to feed their children. Both are impotent and engaged in a struggle (a war, in the eyes of the workers) whose terms are dictated by those who maintain their power by force: the law and the mill masters. Margaret rebels in ways that express her liberty: ignoring social proprieties and challenging authority by lying to the police to protect her brother, from whom she learns that arbitrary, unjust, and cruel power can be defied not for oneself but on behalf of the unfortunate. Even Mrs. Hale rebels in her own way; she is "prouder of Frederick standing up against injustice, than if he had been simply a good officer". |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Thornton and Higgins, while not denying their masculinity, demonstrate compassion. Higgins in particular, whom Thornton considers among "mere demagogues, lovers of power, at whatever costs to others", assumes the responsibility for raising the Boucher children and embodies maternal tenderness (lacking in Mrs. Thornton) and strength (not possessed by Mrs. Hale) and dignity. Gaskell endows John Thornton with tenderness (a soft spot, according to Nicholas Higgins). Although Thornton's pride hides this capacity from public view, he shows it in his affection for his mother and his quiet attention to the Hales. He expresses it more obviously when he later develops relations with his workers beyond the usual cash-for-labour, builds a canteen for the workers, and sometimes shares meals with them. Margaret and Thornton's evolution eventually converges and, after learning humility, they are partially freed from the shackles of separate spheres; he develops friendly relations at the mill, and she asserts her independence from her cousin's life. Margaret initiates their business meeting, which he interprets as a declaration of love. In the final scene, she controls the financial situation and he reacts emotionally. They now meet as man and woman, no longer the manufacturer from the north and the lady from the south. The blurring of roles is also evident among the workers, many of whom (like Bessy) are women. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Certain family relationships are emphasised (Margaret and her father, Higgins and Bessy, Mrs. Hale and Frederick), all interrupted by death. The tie between Thornton and his mother is particularly deep and, on Mrs. Thornton's side, exclusive and boundless: "her son, her pride, her property". Ordinarily cold, she tells him: "Mother's love is Given by God, John. It holds fast for ever and ever". Parent-child relationships are often metaphors for relations between employers and workers in Victorian literature. In chapter XV, "Men and Master", Margaret rejects this paternalistic view (expressed by Thornton) as infantilising the worker. She favours, instead, helping workers grow and become emancipated. Friendships between people of different social classes, education and cultural backgrounds (between Mr. Hale and Thornton, Margaret and Bessy, and Thornton and Higgins) prefigure Gaskell's desired human relations which blur class distinctions. Margaret performs "lowly" tasks and Dixon becomes a confidante of Mrs. Hale, who develops a relationship of respect, affection, and understanding with the maid. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Biblical references appear in several forms. Chapter VI cites the Book of Job, ii. 13); there is an allusion to the elder brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and Margaret paraphrases the definition of charity ("that spirit which suffereth long and is kind and seeketh not her own") from the First Epistle to the Corinthians. However, Gaskell cautions against misuse; Bessy Higgins reads the Apocalypse to cope with her condition and interprets the parable of Dives and Lazarus so simplistically that Margaret counters vigorously: "It won't be division enough, in that awful day, that some of us have been beggars here, and some of us have been rich—we shall not be judged by that poor accident, but by our faithful following of Christ". Margaret and Thornton follow a path of conversion which leads to reconciliation, acknowledging their "unworthiness". Margaret, who has the longest way to go, is crushed by guilt from her lie and by shame from being debased in Thornton's eyes. Francis de Sales encourages her to seek "the way of humility", despite Mr. Bell's attempts to minimise and rationalise her lie as told in a panic. Thornton, on the brink of ruin like Job, tries not to be outraged while his mother rebels against the injustice of his situation ("Not for you, John! God has seen fit to be very hard on you, very") and gives fervent thanks for the "great blessing" his existence gives her. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | The influence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice on North and South is frequently noted. From plot points such as Margaret refusing Thornton's first proposal, to the protagonists' character traits, the parallels between the two novels are clear. Margaret and Elizabeth Bennet both share haughty, intelligent, but prejudiced natures, while Thornton is proud, reticent and powerful like Darcy. According to Nils Clausson in "Romancing Manchester: Class, Gender, and the Conflicting Genres of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South", the "same romance plot - a rich, proud man subdued by a strong-willed, independent and intelligent woman - reappears half a century later in North and South" (3). Clausson asserts that Austen created the prototypical romance which Gaskell "transposed to mid-Victorian Manchester" (3). Combining romance with the conflicting realism of the social problem novel, Gaskell updates and complicates the earlier plot, a point explored at length by Matthew Sussman in "Austen, Gaskell, and the Politics of Domestic Fiction." In The Politics of Stories in Victorian Fiction , Rosemarie Bodenheimer writes that she prefers to study the novel's relationship with Charlotte Brontë's Shirley but sees in the "description of strong domestic qualities" and "social optimism" an industrial Pride and Prejudice. Patricia Ingham also compares North and South to Shirley. Ann Banfield compares North and South to Mansfield Park for two reasons: Margaret Hale, like Fanny Price, is transplanted in a place she conquers, and the novel is built on an opposition of places on a larger scale. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Gaskell's novel of manners has the broader context of an industrial novel about the north-west of England, where young girls (like Bessy) die of "cotton consumption"; capitalists disregard legal obligations, and workers refuse prophylactic facilities, instigate strikes and foment riots. It can be criticised, as by Martin Dodsworth, for giving the love affair precedence over the industrial context and for dwelling on the emotional conflict between Margaret and Thornton. However, North and South is not simply an industrial Pride and Prejudice. Margaret acquires stature and a public role, challenging the Victorian idea of separate spheres. She befriends Bessy Higgins (a young, working-class woman), gradually abandons her aversion to "shoppy people" and, recognising Thornton's qualities, crosses social classes to consider herself "not good enough" for him. Although the novel ends in Harley Street (where it began), Margaret's estrangement from the vain, superficial world of her cousin Edith and Henry Lennox is emphasised by her choice of Thornton and Milton. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Other gaffes are due to Margaret's ignorance; accustomed to London's chic salons, she is unaware that she is seen as wearing her shawl "as an empress wears her drapery" and serving tea with "the air of a proud reluctant slave". She receives marriage proposals awkwardly: Henry Lennox's declaration of love is "unpleasant" and makes her uncomfortable, and she feels "offended" and assaulted by John Thornton's proposal. Margaret naively believes that the rioters can be negotiated with and is unaware that she and her brother, Frederick, resemble a loving couple on a train-station platform . Bodenheimer sees this "mistakenness" as purposeful: "In its every situation, whether industrial politics or emotional life, traditional views and stances break down into confusing new ones, which are rendered in all the pain of mistakenness and conflict that real human change entails". Perhaps this is why Margaret's blunders do not always have negative consequences; when she admits she is disappointed that Thornton has refused to hire Higgins, she is ashamed that he hears her remark. Thornton reconsiders, eventually offering Higgins a job. In the final chapter, she does not seem to realise that a "simple proposition" to bail out the factory (a business arrangement) could hurt Thornton's pride or be seen as shocking from a "lady". Bodenheimer interprets scenes like this as "deep confusion in a time of personal change and revision" which brings the lovers together. |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | Bodenheimer believes that the narrator is interested in the psychology of her characters: their inner selves, how their contentious interactions with others subconsciously reveal their beliefs and how the changes they experience reflect their negotiation of the outside world. also focuses on Gaskell's depiction of "interiority" (the psychic process), expressed in dreams and trances such as Thornton's dream of Margaret as a temptress or the rioters' "trance of passion". The phrase "as if" appears over 200 times, suggesting Gaskell's reluctance to appear too definitive in her narration: "Bessy, who had sat down on the first chair, as if completely tired out with her walk" and " spoke as if this consequence were so entirely logical". The phrase is primarily used when exploring the characters' sensations and feelings: "As if she felt his look, she turned to him"; "He had shaken off his emotion as if he was ashamed of ever giving way to it", and "She lifted up her head as if she took pride in any delicacy of feeling which Mr. Thornton had shown". Gaskell uses it when exploring the unconscious process that allows Thornton, whose suffering in love disturbs his composure and control of his feelings, to communicate with Higgins: " ... and then the conviction went in, as if by some spell, and touched the latent tenderness of his heart". |
North and South (Gaskell novel) | North and South belongs to the canon of "condition of England" novels (also known as social-problem, industrial or social novels) which analyse Victorian social realities, offering "first-hand detailed observations of industrialism, urbanism, class, and gender conflicts". It attempts to answer questions posed by contemporary changes positioning itself between the individual worker freedom championed by John Stuart Mill and developed by Thornton in Chapter 15 and the responsibility of employers to their employees promoted by John Ruskin and Arthur Helps. It represents a certain paternalism, challenging the cutoff between public and private spheres, freedom and responsibility, workplace and family life, trying to define a balance in relations between employers and workers. Through Margaret and her father, Gaskell criticises the autocratic model which infantilises workers and is defended by Thornton (who does not feel accountable to his workers for his actions or decisions). She advocates for an authority which takes into account the needs of workers, a social and economic contract as advocated by John Locke in Two Treatises of Government, where masters and workers are in solidarity. After the strike, Thornton finally acknowledges that "new forms of negotiation between management and labor are part of modern life"; the strike, which ruined him, was "respectable" because the workers depend on him for money and he depends on them to manufacture his product. |
Battle of Argvani | At dawn, on a signal, all three columns with drumming moved to storm. In the right column of Colonel Labyntsev, two battalions (the 2nd Kabardian and the 2nd Kurinsky) rushed to the beam at a quick pace, descended into it and began to climb the steep ascent on all fours to the village itself, under deadly rifle fire from all the houses. At the same time, the 1st Kurinsky battalion with difficulty made its way down the left side of the stream and rushed to the front blockages, from which the enemy hit the assault columns from the flank. These blockages were defended by the most desperate murids, who decided to lay their lives here. The rapid movement of the columns showed the mountaineers that they could not be held back by the strongest fire, then the murids themselves rushed to the meeting of the columns with sabers and daggers in their hands and died under the blows of the bayonets of the forward teams. Some remained in hutches until their last breath, refusing all salvation, selling their lives dearly. Despite the desperate defense, Labyntsev's column broke into the village and occupied the front ranks of the hut, meanwhile, Colonel Pullo's column invaded from the other side. After that, a stubborn, hand-to-hand fight began in the village itself, in the streets and houses. |
Battle of Argvani | By 9 o'clock in the morning, the troops occupied most of the village, the flat roofs of those houses where the murids stubbornly defended themselves. However, the battle in Argvani continued all day until dark. There was no other way to force the highlanders out of the stone houses but to punch a hole in the roofs, throw in combustibles and set fire to the beams. Despite this, the murids remained for several hours in the house, sometimes they managed to break through their exits and hide through hidden messages from one sakli to another, but many bodies were found charred. For all their disadvantageous position, the highlanders managed to inflict a lot of harm on the troops. With swords and daggers, they fought back one by one until they died on bayonets, while some murids rushed at dozens of soldiers without any weapons. Only 15 people, suffocating inside one hut from smoke and hand grenades thrown there, agreed to surrender. Many soldiers died from their own negligence, rushing into the inside of the hut, there were no fewer casualties from the enemy, the streets were littered with corpses. |
2009 Anbar car bombing campaign | The first attack was on July 15, when six people (including five policemen) were killed and another 19 wounded in Ramadi when a suicide bomber driving a minibus struck a checkpoint of Iraqi soldiers and police. On July 21, a pair of car bombs were simultaneously detonated near a group of restaurants in Ramadi, killing 1-3 people and wounding 13-18. That same day a state of emergency was declared in Ramadi along with vehicle bans both there and in Fallujah. Four days later on July 25, four people were killed and another 12 wounded when a car bomb was detonated outside the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party in Fallujah. On August 3, two car bombs hit the cities of Haditha and Saqlawiyah. The Haditha bomb targeted a crowded marketplace, killing seven civilians and wounding 20, while the Saqlawiyah attack unsuccessfully targeted the local police chief, but killed two civilians. On September 7, two car bombs were detonated against police checkpoints in Ramadi, killing seven (including three police) and wounding seventeen. Another car bomb attack against a police station in Ramadi on September 27 killed three police and wounded four. On October 6, a suicide car bomb was detonated near a residential compound in Fallujah, killing nine civilians and wounding 30. |
Sarajevo Open Centre | The Pink Report is an annual report made by the organization on the state of the Human Rights of LGBTI People in the country and is supported by the Norwegian Embassy. The most recent Pink Report that has been published by the Sarajevo Open Centre was in 2023. These types of reports document issues such as various incidents of discrimination, hate crimes, and violations of human rights against women and members of the LGBTI community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They also include suggestions for measures that can be taken to address these issues and protect the individuals moving forward, such as the 2021-2024 Action Plan to Improve the State of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of LGBTI People. This plan aims to promote equality and diversity by advocating for LGBTI rights such as, but not limited to, legal regulations of same-sex partnerships and social inclusion of transgender individuals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through the documentation of such topics in these reports, the Sarajevo Open Centre (SOC) advocates for the rights and protection of members of the LGBTI community who have been subjected to prejudice, discrimination, and injustice. |
Washington Township, Burlington County, New Jersey | In the 2012 presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney received 221 votes (59.2% vs. 40.2% countywide), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 142 votes (38.1% vs. 58.1%) and other candidates with 7 votes (1.9% vs. 1.0%), among the 373 ballots cast by the township's 533 registered voters, for a turnout of 70.0% (vs. 74.5% in Burlington County). In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 250 votes (57.9% vs. 39.9% countywide), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 168 votes (38.9% vs. 58.4%) and other candidates with 11 votes (2.5% vs. 1.0%), among the 432 ballots cast by the township's 545 registered voters, for a turnout of 79.3% (vs. 80.0% in Burlington County). In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 272 votes (62.1% vs. 46.0% countywide), ahead of Democrat John Kerry with 160 votes (36.5% vs. 52.9%) and other candidates with 4 votes (0.9% vs. 0.8%), among the 438 ballots cast by the township's 558 registered voters, for a turnout of 78.5% (vs. 78.8% in the whole county). |
Washington Township, Burlington County, New Jersey | Students in ninth through twelfth grades attend Cedar Creek High School, which is located in the northern section of Egg Harbor City and opened to students in September 2010. The school is one of three high schools operated as part of the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District, which is comprised of the constituent municipalities of Egg Harbor City, Galloway Township and Hamilton Township, and participates in sending/receiving relationships with Mullica Township and Port Republic. Cedar Creek High School is zoned to serve students from Egg Harbor City, Mullica Township, Port Republic and Washington Township, while students in portions of Galloway and Hamilton townships have the opportunity to attend Cedar Creek through the school of choice program or through attendance in magnet programs offered at Cedar Creek. Prior to the opening of Cedar Creek, students from Washington Township had attended Oakcrest High School, together with students from Hamilton Township, Mullica Township and Port Republic. As of the 2018–19 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 930 students and 73.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.7:1. |
South African Class 23 4-8-2 | In general appearance and power, the Class 23 locomotive is very similar to the Classes 15E and 15F. As originally designed, the locomotive would have had 66 inches (1,676 millimetres) coupled wheels which would have required a newly designed boiler to accommodate the extra length brought about by the long coupled wheelbase. The increasing political turmoil in Europe and the resulting urgency, however, prohibited time being spent on designing a new boiler. As a result, the existing Watson Standard no. 3B boiler was incorporated in the design with an extra long smokebox which was extended by 1 foot 6 inches (457 millimetres) to partially compensate for the shorter boiler. This boiler was one of the range of standard type boilers which was designed by Day's predecessor as CME, A.G. Watson, as part of the latter's standardisation policy. To maintain approximately the same tractive effort as the Class 15E, the boiler pressure was raised to 225 pounds per square inch (1,551 kilopascals), at the time the highest yet used on the SAR since the SAR loading gauge did not permit horizontal cylinders of greater bore diameter than 24 inches (610 millimetres) with normal cylinder spacing. |
South African Class 23 4-8-2 | Each caboose-working cycle began with the picking up of a string of 34 empty hopper wagons and a guard's van in Bloemfontein. These were worked through to Postmasburg, with the engines recoaling at Kamfersdam outside Kimberley. At Postmasburg they picked up 34 loaded hopper wagons and a guard's van, an approximate load of 2,700 tons, and worked all the way through to Kroonstad, where the loads were re-marshalled into 1,500 ton bites for the 1 in 66 (1½%) grades east of there to Harrismith. At Kroonstad the loaded hoppers were exchanged for empties and the whole cycle repeated. Recoaling points were at Postmasburg, Kamfersdam, Hamilton and Kroonstad and en route rewatering points were at Kloofeind and Glen. It took roughly two days to complete a loaded-empty cycle over the full route and an average of ten cycles were managed on each three-week tour of duty. Caboose-working was always with pairs of Class 23 locomotives, until the Class 25 condensers took over the section from Postmasburg to Kamfers Dam c. 1962 and the practice was discontinued. After electrification of the Postmasburg branch late in 1966, steam only came on at Beaconsfield and crews and engines were once more being changed in the traditional manner at Bloemfontein, Kroonstad and Bethlehem. |
Glen Davis, New South Wales | The works and the associated shale and coal mines were closed and abandoned, in May 1952, because the works was unprofitable and accumulated losses were approaching the value of the capital and advances involved. By late 1952, there were 50 vacant houses in the town. Home owners received some compensation from the Commonwealth Government. Equipment in the plant was auctioned off in early 1953, by which time the ambulance station had closed, the town was taking on a forlorn unkempt appearance, and the population had fallen to 460. There was some work available in dismantling parts of the shale oil works during 1953. By mid-1954, the population had fallen to 320, there were 80 empty houses, only three shops were left open— general merchant, butcher and newsagent— and the town had lost its doctor, police station and clergymen. What was left uninhabited was subject to damage by vandals and thieves from outside the town The population had dwindled to 195, by late 1954. The skeleton of a town survived in the form of some properties, a hotel, a post office, and a shop or two that operated intermittently. Many houses and other building in the town were either relocated or demolished; some others just decayed away over time. The school closed in February 1962. The post office closed on 1 October 1986. |
Madison, Maine | Settled by English colonists about 1773, the land would be surveyed in 1791. In 1775, Benedict Arnold and his troops would march through Norridgewock Plantation, as it was known, on their way to the ill-fated Battle of Quebec. The town had originally been settled under the name "Norridgewock Falls." This was later changed to "Bernardstown," after the major land owning family, the Bernards. It was then officially incorporated on March 7, 1804, the town was named after United States president James Madison. Farming was an early industry, with hay and cattle the principal products. The native rock is slate, and a quarry was established to extract it. Because of the region's abundant forests, lumbering developed as an industry, with four sawmills operated by water power on the Kennebec. Here the Norridgewock Falls drop 90 feet (27 m) over a mile, which attracted other manufacturers as well. In the 19th century, the small mill town had factories which produced carriages, window sash, window blinds, doors and coffins. |
Politics of Kazakhstan | The president is the head of state. He also is the commander in chief of the armed forces and may veto legislation that has been passed by the Parliament. President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was in office since Kazakhstan became independent, won a new 7-year term in the 1999 election that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said fell short of international standards. A major political opponent, former prime minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, was prohibited from running against the president because he had attended an unauthorized meeting of "the movement for free elections". On top of this the election was unconstitutionally called two years ahead of schedule. Free access to the media is also denied to opposing opinions. In 2002 a law set very stringent requirements for the maintenance of legal status of a political party, which lowered the number of legal parties from 19 in 2002 to 8 in 2003. The prime minister, who serves at the pleasure of the president, chairs the Cabinet of Ministers and serves as Kazakhstan's head of government. There are three deputy prime ministers and 16 ministers in the Cabinet. Bakhytzhan Sagintayev became the Prime Minister in September 2016. |
EGSY8p7 | After studying the galaxy with James Webb Space Telescope, researchers "have concluded that the intense star-forming activity within these interacting galaxies energised hydrogen emission and cleared swathes of gas from their surroundings, allowing the unexpected hydrogen emission to escape." The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, through its NIRCam instrument as part of the CEERS survey, has made groundbreaking discoveries regarding hydrogen emission in the early Universe. This includes capturing a detailed image of the galaxy EGSY8p7 and its companions, revealing intense star-forming activity within a cluster of interacting galaxies. Moreover, Webb's unprecedented sensitivity uncovered not only EGSY8p7 but also its two companion galaxies, revolutionizing our understanding of this cosmic region. This observation provides crucial insights into the visibility of hydrogen emission, indicating the impact of intense star-forming activity in clearing gas from the surroundings and addressing long-standing astronomical puzzles. |
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force | On 16 December 2022, Second Kishida Reshuffled Cabinet approved a trio of defense-related policy documents, including its new National Security Strategy (NSS or 国家安全保障戦略), the strategic guideline document for the Japanese government's policies regarding diplomacy, defense, and economic security for the next decade. Based on the NSS, the National Defense Strategy (国家防衛戦略) outlined Japan's defense policy goals and the means to achieve them while the Defense Buildup Program (防衛力整備計画) outlined the scale of the introduction of specific defense equipment within the budgetary objectives. According to the Defense Buildup Program, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) will increase the number of Aegis-equipped guided-missile destroyers (DDG) from the current eight to ten, as well as two Aegis system-equipped vessels (ASEV) to be deployed in ballistic missile defense (BMD) operations. By the end of the decade, the JMSDF will operate 12 ships equipped with Aegis Weapon System (AWS) and likewise plans to replace its fleet of older, less capable destroyers and destroyer escorts with Mogami-class frigates. |
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force | On 16 December 2022, the Japanese Cabinet approved a trio of defense-related policy documents, including its new National Security Strategy (NSS or 国家安全保障戦略), the strategic guideline document for the Japanese government's policies regarding diplomacy, defense, and economic security for the next decade. Based on the NSS, the National Defense Strategy (NDS or 国家防衛戦略) document outlined Japan's defense policy goals and the means to achieve them while the Defense Buildup Program (DBP or 防衛力整備計画) document outlined the scale of the introduction of specific defense equipment within the budgetary objectives. According to the Defense Buildup Program document, the JMSDF will increase the number of Aegis-equipped guided-missile destroyers (DDG) from the current 8 to 10 warships, as well as the introduction of two Aegis system-equipped vessels (ASEV) to be deployed in ballistic missile defense (BMD) operations. By the end of the decade, the JMSDF will operate 12 ships equipped with Aegis Weapon System (AWS) and likewise plans to replace its fleet of older, less capable destroyers and destroyer escorts with Mogami-class frigates. |
Hawkwood, London | In 1832, Rev. T. Snell, lord of the manor of Chingford St. Pauls, lived in Hawkwood, but the location of his house is not known. He died in 1843 and the estate was bought by Richard Hodgson, together with the manorial rights, part of Chingford Plain, and some land at Chingford Green, for £2900. During the late 1840s, he established the Hawkwood estate, constructing a manor house to a design by Vulliamy, as well as the bailiff's cottage, stables, coach house and other outbuildings. The house was built in red brick with stone dressings and had a Gothic entrance hall, drawing room, dining room, library opening into a handsome conservatory, domestic offices, and billiard room. There were eight bedrooms and dressing rooms as well as day and night nurseries. In separate buildings there was a coach house and brick-built stables for four horses, as well as a cow house and piggeries. The elevated site afforded fine views over the valley and a long carriage drive led to the road. A ring of bricks in the ground near the site of the house indicates that the water supply was initially from a well. The bailiff's cottage, now known as Hawkwood Lodge, had a sitting room, kitchen, scullery, wash-house and four bedrooms as well as two acres of pasture. The cottage survives and now has Listed Building status; the London Borough of Waltham Forest converted it into a Field Study Centre in 1981. In 1848 Hodgson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and built an observatory in the grounds of Hawkwood, a short distance west of the house. Hodgson died in 1872 and the estate, described in probate records as "Effects under £30,000", passed to his widow Jane, who died in 1880. |
Hawkwood, London | Sidney Cooper , a retired tea merchant, bought the house, lodge and piggeries in 1886 for £6250. The Great Eastern Railway rail service between Chingford and central London had opened in 1873, and the current railway station, only about a mile from Hawkwood, had opened in 1878. In 1898, Cooper purchased part of a nearby farm, an area that later became a housing estate in the 1930s. Sidney Cooper died in 1913, leaving an estate valued over £125,783. Hawkwood remained in the family until it was sold at auction for £3500 in 1921 to Adolphus Herman Louis of Beaulieu. In 1924, when Cooper's widow Emily died, Hawkwood was sold to G. C. Nokes of Forest Road, Walthamstow for £3,600. George Nokes and his wife Constance were the last private owners of Hawkwood. George Nokes died in 1933, and in 1937 Mrs. Nokes transferred the outlying farms to the Conservators of Epping Forest and the main Hawkwood estate was sold to Chingford Urban District Council for £7250 with a covenant for it to be preserved as an open space and as a memorial to King George V. |
Hawkwood, London | Near the western edge of the estate, an ornamental garden had been constructed around a pond in the grounds of the house. This subsequently became publicly accessible under the previous owner's 1937 covenant, and remained so until 1979, when Waltham Forest Council fenced it off. Widespread objections ensued from many quarters: members of the Friends of Epping Forest, conservators, Waltham Forest Civic Society, the Drysdale & District Residents Association, Members of Parliament, and Lord Murray of Epping Forest. Eventually the 'Open Space' status of Hawkwood was confirmed, with reference to the 'Open Space' covenant unearthed in the minutes of the 1937 council meeting by a local campaigner which were held in the Vestry House Museum, and public access was restored. Authorisation was given to those campaigners to create a voluntary organisation called "The Friends of Hawkwood Nature Reserve" as caretakers of the pond and surrounding area. The Reserve volunteers have since gone on to win the reserve The first National 'Green Flag' award for the London Borough of Waltham Forest, and annually for the last consecutive eleven years |
Sylvia Fowles | In the 2017 season, Fowles would be the focal point of the Lynx's offense, leading the team in scoring. Fowles scored 26 points along with 10 rebounds in the Lynx's season home opener against her former team, the Chicago Sky in a 70–61 victory. On June 11, 2017, Fowles scored a season-high 30 points along with 9 rebounds in a 91–74 victory over the Dallas Wings. Fowles was also voted into the 2017 WNBA All-Star Game, making it her fourth career all-star appearance. On August 12, 2017, the Lynx made history as they defeated the Indiana Fever 111–52, marking it the largest margin of victory in WNBA history, they also exploded on a league record 37-0 scoring run during the game. Fowles finished off the season averaging a double-double in points and rebounds for the fourth time in her career and also led the league in field goal shooting for the fifth time in her career. The Lynx would once again finish with the league's best record of 27–7, earning the number 1 seed with a double-bye to the semi-finals. On September 14, 2017, the WNBA announced that Fowles won the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award (Fowles had received 35 of 40 first-place votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters). |
Sylvia Fowles | On May 23, 2018, Fowles put on a historic performance in a 76–68 victory against the Dallas Wings in which scored 23 points along with 20 rebounds and 5 steals, becoming the first player in Lynx franchise history to have a 20-point, 20-rebound performance, secondly making it the 18th in league history and also marking the league's first ever stat line of 20 points, 20 rebounds and 5 steals. Fowles would be voted into the 2018 WNBA All-Star Game, making it her fifth all-star game appearance. On July 19, 2018, Fowles scored a season-high 30 points along with 16 rebounds in an 89–65 win over the Indiana Fever. In 2018, Fowles was chosen All-WNBA second team, Associated Press WNBA Defensive Player of the Year for the 4th time, and she broke the single-season record for rebounds with 404. Fowles would lead the league in field goal percentage and rebounds and tied the record for highest rebound per game average in a season, but the Lynx finished 18–16 with the number 7 seed, making it the first time in 8 years they did not finish as a top 2 seed. They lost in the first round elimination game to the rival Los Angeles Sparks 75–68, ending their streak of three consecutive finals appearances. |
Sylvia Fowles | In 2020, the season was delayed and shortened to 22 games in a bubble at IMG Academy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 29, 2020, Fowles grabbed her 3,357th career rebound during the second game of the 2020 season to surpass Rebekkah Brunson, who happened to be the assistant coach of the Lynx at the time, and became the WNBA all-time leading rebounder. She finished the game with 15 points and 10 rebounds, bringing her total career rebounds to 3,360. On August 14, 2020, Fowles suffered a calf injury and was ruled out indefinitely, causing her to miss the rest of the regular season. Fowles would make her return just in time for the playoffs. The Lynx finished 14–8 with the number 4 seed, receiving a bye to the second round. In the second round elimination game, the Lynx beat the Phoenix Mercury 80–79, advancing the franchise back to the semi-finals. However, in the semi-finals, they would get swept by the Seattle Storm who would end up being the eventual champions, Fowles was unable to play for the entire series. |
Azotemia | The BUN:Cr in prerenal azotemia is greater than 20. The reason for this lies in the mechanism of filtration of urea and creatinine. Renal Plasma Flow (RPF) is decreased due to hypoperfusion which results in a proportional decrease in Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR). In turn, the decreased flow and pressure to the kidney will be sensed by baroreceptors in the Juxtaglomerular (JG) Cells of the afferent arteriole. If the decrease in blood pressure is systemic (rather than occlusion of the renal artery) baroreceptors in the carotid sinus and aortic arch will be stimulated. This leads to sympathetic nerve activation, resulting in renin secretion through β 1 -receptors. Constriction of the afferent arterioles causes a decrease in the intraglomerular pressure, reducing GFR proportionally. Renin is the main effector of the juxtaglomerular baroreceptors. Renin is secreted from granules in the JG cells, and once in the blood stream, it acts as a protease to convert angiotensinogen to angiotensin I, which is converted by angiotensin converting enzyme, to angiotensin II, which, in turn, stimulates aldosterone release. Increased aldosterone levels results in salt and water absorption in the distal collecting tubule. |
Rosalynn Sumners | In 1982–1983, Sumners showed improvement in compulsory figures. She won Skate America, defeating strong competitors including Claudia Leistner and Kristina Wegelius. She took the bronze at Skate Canada, that was won by Vikki De Vries, after several falls in the long program. She won silver behind Katarina Witt at NHK, after a pair of lackluster performances. By U.S. Nationals though, Rosalynn was at her best, her jumps showing improved fitness and power, easily defending her title over reigning World Champion and 1981 U.S. Champion Elaine Zayak, winning all three phases (compulsory figure, short program, long program). Especially impressive was her short program, delivering a clean performance including a triple jump combination for the only time of her career in the short, earning mostly 5.9s on both technical and artistic marks. At the World Championships that year she came in as one of the favorites, winning her first and only World title. She won the figures and 4th in the short due a missed triple jump combination she had previously executed well at Nationals, then winning the long program. Her main rivals were Elaine Zayak, who withdrew with injury after 11th place in figures, and Katarina Witt who finished 4th overall after placing 8th place in figures, despite a 1st place in the short, and 2nd to Rosalynn (on a 5–4 split) in the final long program. |
Rosalynn Sumners | Sumners struggled throughout 1983-1984 and seemed less technically proficient compared to her stellar 1982–1983 season. She lost (while ill) to little-known Yugoslav skater Sanda Dubravčić in one international event. She won her third straight U.S. title, but only after technical problems in both the short and long programs left her in 2nd place in both phases to rising star Tiffany Chin. She went into the Olympics as a narrow favorite for the gold medal in an open field with Katarina Witt, Elaine Zayak, reigning World silver medalist Claudia Leistner, Tiffany Chin, and reigning World bronze medalist Elena Vodorezova, who were considered strong contenders. The event was so competitive that the perceived third Soviet skater behind Anna Kondrashova and Vodorezova- Kira Ivanova, who had not competed at a World Championships since 1981 due to a travel ban, and was only 4th at the recent European Championships (without Leistner or Vodorozova), took the bronze medal. Rosalynn won the compulsory figures but, main rival Katarina Witt, known to struggle in figures, was a close 3rd. Looking to win the short program to put Witt out of reach, and after a clean jump combination, a foot touching down on the double axel left Sumners in 5th at that phase, and dropped her to a close 2nd overall going into the long program behind Katarina Witt. Had she won the short program, she would have only required a 2nd place in the long program to win. Now the winner would be whether Sumners or Witt won the final long program between her and Witt. Witt delivered a strong, clean, and charismatic performance, with three triples and three double axels, including a difficult and then rare double lutz-triple toe. Witt's skating was hesitant at times, and she omitted her famed triple flip. With 5 5.9s, 12 5.8s and 1 5.7 out of 18 marks she had positioned herself in good shape, but the judges still left room for Sumners to win with a great performance. Rosalynn followed with a reasonably strong skate, but a doubled triple toe and singled double axel in the closing seconds (which left her only two triples and two double axels as opposed to Witt's 3 of each, and also no triple jump combination in the whole performance) likely cost her the gold medal which she would lose by only one tenth of a point on a 5–4 split of the judges. Had any of the Soviet, West German, or Canadian judges rose her technical mark by .1 she would have been the winner of the long program and the gold medal. She received a perfect 6.0 for artistic impression from the Italian judge, the first 6.0 awarded in the ladies event at the Olympics since 1972. |
John Chafee | He was appointed Secretary of the Navy in 1969 by President Richard Nixon. Chafee's tenure as secretary was marked by a willingness to make bold decisions and stand by them. Emblematic of this was his decision to elevate Admiral Elmo Zumwalt as Chief of Naval Operations over 33 more senior officers, and his judicious handling of the USS Pueblo situation, in which North Korean forces, during the previous administration, had boarded and captured a navy intelligence ship. His action as Secretary of the Navy that is most clearly remembered is his disapproval of the recommendation to court martial Commander Lloyd Bucher, the commanding officer of the Pueblo, once the release of the crew had been secured. Because it was clear that the guilt clearly rested on the North Koreans and not Bucher or the sailors on the Pueblo, Chafee stated that "Bucher and his men have suffered enough", and that a court martial would only add insult to injury. He served as Secretary of the Navy until 1972, when he resigned to run for the U.S. Senate. |
John Chafee | Like most Republicans from New England, Chafee's voting record was moderate to liberal. He was pro-choice on abortion and supported the North American Free Trade Agreement. He took a moderate stance on taxes and government assistance to the needy. He opposed the death penalty, school prayer, and the ban on homosexuals serving in the military. Chafee was one of the few Republicans to support strict gun control laws. He sponsored a bill that, if passed, would have prohibited the "manufacture, importation, exportation, sale, purchase, transfer, receipt, possession, or transportation of handguns and hand ammunition." Chafee voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Reagan's veto). Chafee voted in favor of the nomination of William Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the United States and the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, but voted against the nomination of Robert Bork. |
John Chafee | During the late 1980s and 1990s, Senator Chafee became an advocate for improving the U.S. health care system. He supported legislation to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income children and pregnant women, sponsored legislation to expand the availability of home and community-based services for persons with disabilities, and worked to enact legislation to establish Federally Qualified Health Centers. In 1992, he was appointed chairman of the Senate Republican Task Force on Health, and he worked to develop a consensus among Republicans on health care. In 1993, he joined with Democratic Louisiana Senator John Breaux to form the Senate Mainstream Coalition, a coalition of six Democratic and six Republican senators seeking bipartisan consensus on health reform. He sponsored legislation that increased funds to states to assist youths in making the transition from foster care to independent living; recognized the need for special help for youths ages 18 to 21 who have left foster care; offered states greater flexibility in designing their independent living programs; and, established accountability for states in implementing independent living programs. As a testimonial to the late Senator Chafee, the program is now entitled the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program. |
Ian Botham | Botham went on to Bucklers Mead Comprehensive School in Yeovil, where he continued to do well in sport and played for the school's cricket and football teams. He became captain of their under-16 cricket team when he was thirteen. His performances for the school drew the attention of Somerset County Cricket Club's youth coach Bill Andrews. Still thirteen, he scored 80 runs on debut for Somerset's under-15s side against Wiltshire, but the team captain Phil Slocombe did not call on him to bowl as he considered him to be a specialist batsman. Two years later, Botham had the opportunity to choose between football and cricket: Bert Head, manager of Crystal Palace offered him apprentice forms with the First Division club. He already had a contract with Somerset and, after discussing the offer with his father, decided to continue to pursue a cricket career, as he believed he was a better cricketer. When informed that he wanted to be a sportsman, Botham's careers teacher said to him: "Fine, everyone wants to play sport, but what are you really going to do?" |
Ian Botham | In 1972, at the age of 16, Botham left school intent on playing cricket for Somerset, who retained his contract but felt he was too young to justify a full professional deal. So, Botham joined the ground staff at Lord's. As a ground boy, he had numerous tasks such as "cleaning the pavilion windows, pushing the roller on matchdays, selling scorecards, pressing electronic buttons on the scoreboards and rushing bowling analyses to the dressing-room". He also received coaching and plenty of time in the practice nets, and was often the first to arrive and the last to leave practice. Despite his time in the nets, Botham was only considered by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) coach Harry Sharp to have the potential to become a "good, average county cricketer." Botham travelled to play for Somerset under-25s a number of times during the season, but failed to excel in any of the matches. His appearances for the MCC were of a similar vein: he rarely scored more than 50 runs, and was used sparingly as a bowler. In one such match against "Scotland A", the MCC Young Cricketers used eight bowlers in their second innings, but Botham was not among them. |
Ian Botham | 1976 was a significant season for Botham as he scored over 1,000 runs for the first time, completed his first century and earned international selection by England in two Limited Overs Internationals. Somerset improved in the County Championship to finish seventh, winning seven matches. They were one of five teams tied for first place in the JPL but their run rate was less than that of Kent, who were declared the champions. Somerset lost their opening match in the Gillette Cup and were eliminated at the group stage of the B&H Cup. Botham, though, came on in leaps and bounds. He totalled 1,022 first-class runs in 20 matches with a highest of 167*, his first-ever century and he also scored six half-centuries. With the ball, he took 66 wickets with a best of six for 16. He had four 5wI and, for the first time, ten wickets in a match (10wM). He played in a total of 22 List A matches, including the two for England, scoring 395 runs with a highest of 46. He took 33 wickets with a best of four for 41. |
Ian Botham | In the County Championship match against Sussex at Hove in May, Botham came very close to his maiden century but was dismissed for 97, his highest score to date. The match was drawn. At the end of the month, Somerset played Gloucestershire in a remarkable match at Taunton. Batting first, Somerset scored 333 for seven (innings closed) and then, thanks to six for 25 by Botham, bowled out Gloucestershire for only 79. The follow-on was enforced but Gloucestershire proved a much tougher nut to crack second time around. With Zaheer Abbas scoring 141, they made 372 and left Somerset needing 118 to win. Botham took five for 125 in the second innings for a match analysis of 11 for 150, his maiden 10wM. This match ended the same way as the famous Test at Headingley in 1981 but the boot was on the other foot for Botham here because he was on the team that enforced the follow-on – and lost. Mike Procter and Tony Brown did the damage and bowled Somerset out for 110 in 42 overs, Gloucestershire winning by just eight runs. |
Ian Botham | Botham scored his maiden first-class century at Trent Bridge on Tuesday 3 August 1976 in the County Championship game against Nottinghamshire (Notts) who won the toss and decided to bat first. Derek Randall scored 204* and the Notts innings closed at 364 for 4 (Botham one for 59). Somerset were 52 for one at close of play. On day two, Somerset scored 304 for 8 (innings closed) and Botham, batting at number six, scored 80. At close of play, Notts in their second innings were 107 for four, thus extending their lead to 167 with six wickets standing. On day three, Notts advanced to 240 for nine declared (Botham one for 16), leaving Somerset with a difficult target of 301. At 40 for two and with both their openers gone, Brian Close changed his batting order and summoned Botham to come in at number four. Close himself had gone in at three but he was out soon afterwards for 35. With support from Graham Burgess (78), Botham laid into the Notts bowling and scored an impressive 167 not out. Somerset reached 302 for four in only 65 overs and won by six wickets. |
Ian Botham | Botham's international début for England was on 26 August 1976 in a Limited Overs International (LOI) against the West Indies at the North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough. The series was called the Prudential Trophy and the teams had 55 overs each per innings. Botham, still only 20, was the youngest player. At Scarborough, England captain Alan Knott lost the toss and Clive Lloyd, captaining the West Indies, elected to field first. Botham was number seven in the batting order and came in at 136 for five to join Graham Barlow. He scored only one before he was caught by Roy Fredericks off the bowling of his future Sky Sports colleague Michael Holding. England's innings closed at 202 for eight with Barlow 80 not out. West Indies lost Fredericks almost immediately but that brought Viv Richards to the crease and he hit 119 not out, winning the man of the match award, and leading West Indies to victory in only 41 overs by six wickets. Botham had the consolation of taking his first international wicket when he had Lawrence Rowe caught by Mike Hendrick for 10. He bowled only three overs and took some punishment from Richards, his return being one for 26. |
Ian Botham | In the second match at Lord's, Botham was replaced by returning England captain Tony Greig. England lost by 36 runs as Richards, this time with 97, was again the difference between the teams. Having lost the series, England recalled Botham for the final match at Edgbaston on 30–31 August. The match was extended to two days and overs reduced to 32 per side. Tony Greig won the toss and decided to field. England began well and dismissed Fredericks and Richards, for a duck, in only the second over. West Indies were then seven for one but a powerful innings by Clive Lloyd pulled them out of trouble and they reached 223 for nine, innings closed. Botham bowled three very expensive overs, conceding 31 runs, but he did manage to bowl out Michael Holding for his second international wicket. England were never in the hunt and were bowled out for 173, West Indies winning by 50 runs and claiming the series 3–0. Botham again batted at number seven and made a good start, scoring 20 at a run a ball, but he was then caught by Bernard Julien off Fredericks and England were 151 for seven with only Knott and the tailenders left. |
Ian Botham | Botham produced a number of good batting and bowling performances for Somerset in 1977 and these impressed the Test selectors who included him in the team for the third Test against Australia at Trent Bridge, starting on 28 July. Having captured 36 first-class wickets through May and June, Botham had something of a purple patch in July which earned him his Test call-up. In the match against Sussex at Hove, which Somerset won by an innings and 37 runs, he took four for 111 and six for 50 for his second 10wM. In Somerset's innings of 448 for eight, he shared a 4th wicket partnership of 174 with Viv Richards. Botham scored 62, Richards 204. He took 22 more wickets, including two 5wI, in the next three County Championship games before his Test debut. In the whole season, playing 17 first-class matches, he took 88 wickets with six 5wI and one 10wM, his second innings return at Hove being his best. His batting was not quite as good as in 1976 as his average was down but he scored 738 runs with a highest of 114, which was his sole century, and five half-centuries. He scored the century in July against Hampshire at Taunton, 114 in Somerset's first innings of 284, and followed it with bowling returns of four for 69 and four for 43, another impressive all-round effort which earned Somerset a win by 152 runs. Somerset had a good season in the County Championship, finishing fourth. They reached the semi-final of the Gillette Cup but, without the injured Botham, were well beaten by eventual winners Middlesex. They were a poor tenth in the JPL and were eliminated from the B&H Cup at the group stage. |
Ian Botham | Botham made his Test début at Trent Bridge on 28 July 1977 in the third Test against Australia. His début was somewhat overshadowed by the return from self-imposed Test exile of Geoffrey Boycott. England went into the match with a 1–0 series lead having won the second Test after the first had been drawn. The series was played against the background of the so-called "Packer Affair" which resulted in the establishment of World Series Cricket in the next Australian season. Because of Tony Greig's involvement, he had been stripped of the England captaincy but remained in the team under new captain Mike Brearley. England had three all-rounders at Trent Bridge with Greig, Geoff Miller and Botham all playing. Australian captain Greg Chappell won the toss and decided to bat first. Australia scored 243 and were all out shortly before the close on day one. Botham, aged 21, made an immediate impact and took five for 74, the highlight being the wicket of Chappell, bowled for just 19. England batted all through day two and into day three as Boycott, in his first Test innings since 1974, and Knott both made centuries. Botham came in at number eight on day three and scored 25 before he was bowled by Max Walker. England were all out not long afterwards for 364, a first innings lead of 121. Botham had no joy in Australia's second innings with none for 60. A century by Rick McCosker enabled Australia to score 309 before they were all out in the evening session on day four. Bob Willis took five for 88. England needed 189 to win and completed the job, by seven wickets, well into the final day with Brearley scoring 81 and Boycott, who batted on all five days, 80 not out. Botham didn't get a second innings. |
Ian Botham | England won the second Test at Lancaster Park by 174 runs after an outstanding all-round performance by Botham who scored 103 and 30 not out and took five for 73 and three for 38. He also held three catches. In the second innings, promoted up the order to get quick runs before an overnight declaration, he was responsible for calling for a risky run that led to the run-out dismissal of acting-captain Geoff Boycott: Botham's own published autobiography alleges that this was deliberately done, on the orders of acting vice-captain Bob Willis, because Boycott was scoring too slowly. The final Test was played at Eden Park and was drawn, the series ending 1–1. New Zealand batted first and totalled 315 with Geoff Howarth scoring 122. Botham took five for 109 in 34 overs. England replied with 429 all out (Clive Radley 158, Botham 53). New Zealand then chose to bat out time and Howarth scored his second century of the match (Botham none for 51). Botham's form in New Zealand cemented his place in the England team. |
Ian Botham | The England v India series in 1979 took place after the World Cup ended and four Tests were played. England won the first at Edgbaston by an innings and 83 runs after opening with a massive total of 633 for five declared. Botham scored 33 and then took two for 86 and five for 70. On the first day of the second Test at Lord's, Botham swept through the Indian batting with five for 35 and a catch off Mike Hendrick to dismiss them for only 96 in 56 overs. Surprisingly, however, India recovered to salvage a draw. In the third Test at Headingley, it was Botham the batsman who did the business, scoring 137 from 152 balls in England's first innings total of 270 (the next highest innings was 31 by Geoff Boycott). The match was ruined by the weather and was drawn. In the final Test at The Oval, England opened with 305 (Botham 38); India replied with 202 (Botham four for 65); and England with 334 for eight declared (Botham run out for a duck) extended their lead to 437 with four sessions remaining. Thanks to a brilliant 221 by Sunil Gavaskar, India came agonisingly close to pulling off a remarkable last day victory but ran out of time on 429 for eight (Botham three for 97), just nine runs short, and so England won the series 1–0 with three draws. |
Ian Botham | The matches were widely perceived to be semi-official only and received "a definite thumbs down". Botham was a member of the England team and played in all three matches which nevertheless count towards his Test statistics. England were largely faithful to the players who had toured Australia the previous winter and Derek Underwood was the only World Series player they recalled; they did not recall Alan Knott, for example, while Tony Greig was beyond the pale. Australia recalled Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Jeff Thomson, fielding a team that was a mixture of old and new. In the first match, played at the WACA Ground, Botham had match figures of eleven for 176 but to no avail as Australia won by 138 runs. Having excelled with the ball in that match, Botham did so with his bat in the third one, scoring an unbeaten 119 in the second innings of the third. Australia won all three matches of a series best forgotten for all its attendant politics, but Botham had enhanced his reputation as a world-class all-rounder. |
Ian Botham | India won the toss and decided to bat first but, with Botham taking six for 58, they were all out on day one for 242. England replied with 296, the highlight being Botham's 114 from just 144 balls; he began his innings with England in trouble at 57 for four. This quickly became 58 for five and Botham was joined by England's other match hero Taylor. England's first five batsmen had contributed just 51 to the total. Botham was often unfairly labelled a "big hitter" but in fact his style was very orthodox (i.e., he "played straight") and in this innings he scored 17 fours but, significantly, no sixes. Taylor provided dogged support and their sixth wicket partnership realised 171 runs. When Botham was out near the end of day two, the score was 229 for six and England reached 232 for six at close of play, still ten runs behind. On the third morning, Taylor led England past India's total and, with useful batting performances by the specialist bowlers, England totalled 296 to gain a first innings lead of 54. |
Ian Botham | In 1980, which was a wet summer, West Indies arguably had the better of all five Test matches, although, with the rain constantly intervening, they were able to win only one of them. West Indies won the first Test by only two wickets, and being at one stage 180/7 chasing a tricky 208. Rain saved England from a probable heavy defeat in the 2nd and 5th Tests: they fared better in between. In the 3rd, England conceded a first-innings lead of 110, but replied strongly in the second innings with a painstakingly slow and defensive 391/7, which would have resulted in a difficult target for the Windies had there been another day to chase it – but the third day had been rained off, and time ran out. In the Fourth Test, England picked up their only first-innings lead of the series – of 105 runs – but collapsed catastrophically in the second, before being saved by a century partnership for the last wicket between Willey (100*) and Willis (24*) to reach a total 201/9, and again the loss of a day and a half to rain left no time for the Windies to chase a potentially tough target above 300. |
Ian Botham | Botham led England on the controversial tour of the West Indies from January to April 1981. The second Test, scheduled to be played at Bourda, was cancelled after the Guyanese government revoking the visa of Robin Jackman because of his playing and coaching links with South Africa. The other four Tests were played and West Indies won the series 2–0 but England were helped by rain in the two drawn matches. Botham took the most wickets for England, but Wisden said "his bowling never recovered the full rhythm of a year before". His batting, however, apart from one good LOI performance in the first one-day international "was found wanting in technique, concentration and eventually in confidence". In Wisden's view, Botham's loss of form "could be cited as eloquent evidence of the undesirability of saddling a fast bowler and vital all-rounder with the extra burden of captaincy". The closest England came to a victory was in the first ODI, in which England bowled the West Indies out for 127 but, thanks to six wickets from Colin Croft, failed by two runs in the chase which was anchored by Botham's 60: this was, at the time, the lowest ODI total batting first to be successfully defended. |
Ian Botham | Botham continued to play for England under Brearley and achieved the highpoint of his career in the next three Tests as England recovered to win The Ashes. In the third Test at Headingley, Australia opened with 401 for 9 declared, despite good bowling by Botham who took 6 for 95. England responded poorly and were dismissed for 174. Botham was the only batsman to perform at all well and scored 50, which was his first Test half-century since he had been awarded the captaincy thirteen Tests earlier. Having been forced to follow-on, England collapsed again and at 135 for 7 on the afternoon of the fourth day, an innings defeat looked certain. Bookmakers had reportedly been offering odds of 500/1 against an England win after the follow-on was enforced. Botham, himself not long at the wicket, was the sole remaining recognised batsman as he was joined by the fast bowler Graham Dilley, number nine in the batting order, with only Chris Old and Bob Willis to come. With able support from Dilley (56) and Old (29), Botham hit out and by the close of play was 145 not out with Willis hanging on at the other end on 1 not out. England's lead was just 124 but there remained a glimmer of hope. On the final day's play, Botham reached 149 not out before Willis's wicket fell. Australia, with plenty of time remaining, needed 130 to win and were generally expected to get them; but after Botham took the first wicket, Willis took 8 for 43 to dismiss Australia for only 111. England had won by 18 runs; it was only the second time in history that a team following on had won a Test match. |
Ian Botham | In the 1983 English season, Somerset won the NatWest Trophy for the first time, defeating Kent in the Lord's final by 24 runs with Botham as their captain. They were very close to taking the JPL title too but, having tied with Yorkshire on 46 points, they were placed second on run rate. In the County Championship, they won only three matches and finished tenth. They were knocked out of the B&H Cup early. Botham had a good season with the bat, scoring 852 runs in his 14 first-class matches at 40.57 with a highest score of 152 among three centuries. He did less well with the ball: only 22 wickets at the high average of 33.09. New Zealand played a four-match Test series against England after the World Cup and, at the 29th attempt, finally defeated England for the first time in a Test match in England. England won the other three matches convincingly, however, to take the series 3–1. Botham did little with the ball, the same story as in his whole season, but he did score a century (103) in the final Test at Trent Bridge (see photo). |
Ian Botham | In the third morning, Viv Richards was dismissed by Botham under dubious circumstances but Botham was inspired by the capture of his great friend's wicket and went on to take eight for 103, dismissing West Indies for 245 and for once giving England a chance of victory against the world's best team, with a first innings lead of 41. This was Botham's best-ever bowling performance against West Indies by some distance. England began their second innings and had been reduced to 88 for four when Botham joined Allan Lamb. They reached 114 for four at day three close. There was no Sunday play and England resumed on the Monday 155 runs ahead with six wickets standing. Botham and Lamb added 128 for the fifth wicket before Botham was out for 81, including nine fours and one six, easily his highest score and best innings against West Indies. Lamb made a century and England were all out on the Tuesday morning (final day) for exactly 300. West Indies needed 342 to win in five and a half hours. They lost Desmond Haynes to a run out at 57 for 0, whereupon Larry Gomes (92 not out) joined Gordon Greenidge (214 not out) and West Indies went on to win by nine wickets with 11.5 of the last twenty overs to spare. |
Ian Botham | Botham was suspended for 63 days by the Test and County Cricket Board in 1986 after he admitted in an interview that he had smoked cannabis. Due to the ban, Botham played in only one Test which was the final one of the series against New Zealand. He made his mark on that Test though: beginning it by taking the wicket of Bruce Edgar with his very first delivery, to go level with Dennis Lillee on 355 as holder of the world record for Test wickets. The next delivery was edged through the slip cordon by Jeff Crowe. Botham went past the mark in his second over to hold the record outright, by trapping Crowe leg-before. Then on the fourth day of the match, coming in after centuries from Gatting and Gower, he bashed a quickfire half-century in just 32 balls, including 24 off one over from Derek Stirling – equalling the record at the time, for most runs off an over in Tests... a record which he was responsible for, but from the other side, having conceded 24 runs to Andy Roberts back in the 1980/81 tour of the West Indies. England declared with a massive first-innings lead, but rain came after lunch on the fourth day and only one further over was bowled. |
Ian Botham | Botham suffered a severe rib injury in the Second Test in Perth, which kept him out of the 3rd Test entirely and reduced the pace of his bowling for the remainder of the tour as he tried to manage it: as a result, with reasonable success, he changed his bowling style to a defensive, miserly military-medium pace. England also won the two one-day tournaments, the one-off Benson & Hedges Perth Challenge (against Australia, West Indies and Pakistan) and the World Series (against Australia and Windies): Botham produced several match-winning performances with both bat and ball despite being not fully fit, and was Man of the Match in both matches of the best-of-three final of the World Series – with the bat in the first, opening the batting for 71 (scored out of 91 while he was at the crease), and with the ball in the second, for a particularly miserly spell which also took three wickets as England defended a low total by nine runs, to win the finals 2–0. Once again, thanks to the fielding restrictions in place for the World Series tournament, Botham opened the batting - a tactic that had been trialled in the 1982-3 tour: the tactic met with mixed success in the group stages, but it came good in the final. |
Ian Botham | Botham played in the five 1987 Tests against Pakistan, the last time he represented England in a full series. He scored 232 runs in the series with one half-century (51*) at 33.14; and took only seven wickets which were enormously expensive. Pakistan won by an innings at Headingley with the other four Tests drawn, although England were in superior positions in the First and Fourth tests which lost much time to rain, and only narrowly failed to level the series in the Fourth, running out of overs chasing a small target. When Pakistan totalled 708 at The Oval, the 217 runs conceded by Botham, from 52 overs, were the most by an England bowler, passing the 204 by Ian Peebles, from 71 overs, against Australia at The Oval in 1930, although he took three wickets and also ran out Imran Khan. The half-century, his final and by far his slowest Test fifty, was a dogged, defensive effort occupying most of the last day in a drawn match, in an unbroken partnership with Gatting (150*) to save the 5th test and keep England's margin of defeat at 1–0. He declined to go on tour with England the following winter, either for the 1987 World Cup in India and Pakistan (in which England reached the final) or for the subsequent tours of Pakistan (lost 1–0) and New Zealand (a rain-ruined 0–0 drawn series). |
Ian Botham | Botham spent the 1987–88 Australian season with Queensland, playing for them in the Sheffield Shield. Queensland were one of the better state teams in the 1980s and were always in the Shield's top three from the 1983–84 season through to the 1990–91 season, but didn't win it. In Botham's season there, his teammates including Allan Border (captain), wicketkeeper Ian Healy and pace bowler Craig McDermott, they finished second to Western Australia. Botham scored several half-centuries and took a reasonable number of wickets and helped Queensland make the Sheffield Shield final. Botham and Dennis Lillee were fined for damaging the Queensland dressing room in Launceston, Tasmania during a one-day match. When the Queensland team flew to Perth for the Shield final, Botham was involved in an altercation where he allegedly assaulted a fellow airline passenger who had intervened in an argument between the Queensland players. Queensland lost the final. Botham was fined $800 by a magistrate and $5,000 by the Australian Cricket Board. He was consequently sacked by Queensland. |
Ian Botham | Writing in Barclays World of Cricket , former England captain Tony Lewis commented on Botham's strength, enthusiasm and aggression "which he took into every game". Lewis, however, pointed out that Botham's exuberance often reduced the efficiency of his play, in that he would take too many risks or refuse to give up on a bowling tactic despite ongoing heavy cost. He summarised Botham as an exciting cricketer who lacked self-discipline. Botham was in the middle of his career when the book was published, but Lewis emphasised the speed at which Botham had achieved certain milestones such as 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket. At that time there seemed no reason why Botham should not go on reaching milestones, but he had already peaked and, in retrospect, his career had a meteoric aspect. His rival Imran Khan said: "Botham was someone who I don't think ever did justice to his talent. When he started he could have done anything, but he declined very quickly. In a way our careers were the opposite of each other. I started quite slowly but got better, maximised my talent. He went the other way, I think". |
Ian Botham | Botham has been a prodigious fundraiser for charitable causes, undertaking a total of 12 long-distance charity walks. His first, in 1985, was a 900-mile trek from John o' Groats to Land's End. His efforts were inspired after a visit to Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital in 1977 whilst receiving treatment for a broken toe. When he took a wrong turn into a children's ward, he was devastated to learn that some of the children had only weeks to live, and why. At the time he was an expectant father. Since then his efforts have raised more than £12 million for charity, with leukaemia research the main cause to benefit. In recognition of this work, Botham in 2003 became the first-ever President of Bloodwise, the UK's leading blood cancer charity. In November 2014, Botham designed a Paddington Bear statue, one of fifty created by various celebrities which were located around London prior to the release of the film Paddington, with the statues auctioned to raise funds for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). |
Ian Botham | On 9 August 2009, while commentating on the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley that season, Botham was invited to take part in an on-field ceremony to induct him into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame along with former Yorkshire players Geoffrey Boycott, Wilfred Rhodes and Fred Trueman. Boycott was also in attendance, along with Fred Trueman's widow Veronica and Colin Graves who, as Yorkshire County Cricket Club chairman, accepted the honour on behalf of Wilfred Rhodes. Botham said: "To be named amongst 55 of the most prolific players in cricketing history is a great honour for me. To have my cricketing career recognised in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame is not something I would have thought when I began playing cricket but to be receiving this award today is something I'm extremely grateful for". Colin Graves included Botham in his tribute to Rhodes when he said: "It is a great honour to accept the cap on behalf of a Yorkshire legend. Wilfred Rhodes was an exceedingly gifted player and is rightly regarded as one of England's greatest all-rounders. I am also delighted to see two other great Yorkshiremen and another great all-rounder inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame today". |
The Line of Beauty (TV series) | The Tories are at the height of power with elections approaching. Leo's lesbian sister Rosemary arrives to Nick's office to inform him that Leo died from complications of AIDS, to let Nick know that Leo did have a special love for him, and to be sure that Nick hadn't become sick. Nick's boyfriend Wani, however, has contracted the disease. Eventually his condition causes the relationship to end and their mutual business ventures to falter. Not long after the elections in which Gerald wins another term, his affair and his dealings with corrupt investors are exposed by the press, plunging him into a major financial scandal. They discover that the source is a fully manic Cat, who has long been off her medications and ran away from home. The magnitude of the scandal forces Gerald to resign in disgrace. Further scandal erupts when Nick's homosexuality is leaked, destroying his relationship with the Feddens. They question how he became integrated into their lives and project their anger about betrayal onto Nick, forcing him to move out of their house. While Nick was saying farewell to their housekeeper, with whom he thought he had a close bond from the four years of living there, she said that she knew he was no good from the moment she first laid eyes on him. Nick leaves the Feddens a broken man with an uncertain future. |
Mutiny Within | Their tours lined up included a North American summer tour supporting Soilwork with Death Angel running from July 14 through August 15, 2010. The band parted ways with drummer Bill Fore months after their self-titled debut album release. Bill Fore went on to play with former Black Market Hero guitarist and solo guitar instrumentalist Angel Vivaldi. Wishing him the best of luck on moving forward, he was temporarily replaced with 25-year-old Chad Anthony, who is also from New Jersey. Anthony learned all of the songs in only two weeks to be ready in time for the 2010 North American tour with Soilwork and Death Angel. They announced on September 20, 2010, that they needed to cancel their touring with Nevermore to do take the time to properly audition and rehearse for a new drummer. On October 5, 2010, they announced that they also cancelled their tour with Scar Symmetry and Epica, to concentrate on their new material for their second album and find a new permanent drummer instead of using yet another fill in drummer. |
Harold O. Whitnall | Whitnall was an alternate delegate to the 1920 Republican National Convention and a presidential elector to the 1924 presidential election. In 1926, he was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Republican, representing Madison County. He served in the Assembly in 1927. He became Madison County Republican Chairman in 1940 and held that position until his death. During World War I, he was a major in the Home Guard and a deputy food administrator. During World War II, he worked as a consultant for the State Department of Commerce from 1943 until his death. In March 1942, a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he publicly announced a scheme to end the war with Japan by using aerial bombs to cause volcano eruptions, which would in turn also cause earthquakes and tidal waves. In December 1944, he claimed that B-29 bombs dropped in or near Japanese volcanos caused a tidal wave that occurred there during that time, although Father Joseph Lynch, Fordham University's chief seismologist, called the theory "utterly fantastic." |
Adnan Ibrahim | During a speech at the Strasbourg Islamic center, a video of which was posted on the internet in January 2011 (as translated by MEMRI), Ibrahim claimed that Nicolaus Copernicus had actually stolen ideas from the Arab Islamic astronomer Abu Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Shatir. He is not the only scholar to suggest this. He also claimed that other western scientists, including Galileo Galilei, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Leonardo da Vinci were actually "thieves...who robbed the Islamic heritage, which was kept in the darkness of church crypts for over 200 years." Ibrahim claimed these comments were made by "a Polish prime minister" when, on a visit to Syria, supposedly admitted all of this to then president Hafez al-Assad that all of these scientists had stolen knowledge from Islamic scholars. Ibrahim also claimed that Muslim scientist Baha Al-Amili had developed a formula for "perpetual energy" and created lighting in a mosque in the city of Isfahan that burned indefinitely without any energy source. |
41st Aero Squadron | Finally, on 14 August, fully trained and anxious to get to the front lines in France, orders were received for the squadron to report to the Replacement Concentration Center, AEF, at St. Maixent Replacement Barracks, France. Moving through Winchester, and Southampton, the squadron reached Cherbourg, France on the morning of 19 August. It reached St. Maixent on the 22d. There, the squadron was fully equipped with clothing and was mustered to full strength. The squadron then was ordered to Air Service Production Center No. 2, Romorantin Aerodrome. At Romorantin, the squadron was engaged in fatigue and garrison duties. On 18 September, it was again ordered to the 1st Air Depot, Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome, where it arrived on 18 September. There, gas masks were received and the squadron was fully trained in their use by experiencing the tear gas training class. It also was tasked for fatigue and garrison duties. However, the 41st Aero Squadron was designated as a Pursuit Squadron, and ordered to report to the 5th Pursuit Group, Second Army, which was being formed at Lay-Saint-Remy Aerodrome. |
Elliott Jones | Vanderbilt played its first football game in 1890 at Nashville Athletic Park, against Nashville (Peabody). Vanderbilt won 40 to 0. Jones, captain and fullback of the 1890 Vanderbilt Commodores football team, recalled the meeting which beget the game. William Lofland Dudley called for a meeting of the Athletic Association, after Peabody had issued a challenge to play a contest on Thanksgiving Day. He felt the challenge a serious matter; that the pride of the university was at stake. In front of some 150 students in the gymnasium, Dudley explained that if the challenge were met, a new era of athletics would be created with the game of football. From his Kansas City law office many years later Jones remembered: "There followed a general discussion of the whole situation. The difficulties, particularly the shortness of time for preparation, and the fact that regular football had not been theretofore played at Vanderbilt at all, were dealt upon. Many thought that it would be unfair to ourselves to hazard a contest under the circumstances. We knew that Peabody Normal had been playing intramural football for several years. The predominating note, however, for discussion was that we had never taken anything off Peabody Normal and should not do now. Finally, P. M. (Pat) Estes, then of St. Louis, made a motion to the effect that the challenge be accepted and that E. H. Jones be authorized and directed to organize and captain a team for the occasion. The motion was unanimously carried." |
Eberhard of Friuli | Eberhard organized his home in a way so perfectly that it was more like a monastery than a castle. He was seconded in this task by his pious wife, Gisèle, who dedicated herself to the education of their many children. The poor and ill were sure of finding not only security at Cysoing, but also help and protection. The social question of the time, that of serfs, also preoccupied Saint Evrard. He had freed a good number. In their testimony, he expressly refrained from impeding their liberty. He never forgot those who he didn't free, and tried to improve their lots. Though he was a courageous and formidable, he worked all his life for peace. His private virtues were no less remarkable. In his elevated position, he strove to preserve modesty and humility, to avoid splendor and arrogance. His zeal for the glory of God, to spread the Truth, to convert the infidels, was celebrated throughout the Church. Also, his piety, his taste for ceremonies of worship, his devotion to the saints, and his respect for the precious relics was apparent in his every act. |
Framing hammer | Wooden handles are usually made of hickory, an extremely tough wood, but can be readily broken if one misses the nail and hits the handle instead. Broken wooden handles can often be replaced. Single piece steel hammers are available and are the most durable, but typically do not absorb the shock of the hammer blows well. Fiberglass is becoming a common handle material due to its increased durability and shock and vibration absorbing capabilities. Steel and fiberglass handles generally have rubber or rubber-like grips for increased comfort and better grip. Low quality rubber handled hammers are known to often separate from the hammer and cause injury to the user. Wooden hammers have relatively little grip, which can allow the hammer to slide from the hand. Some carpenters and other users prefer this, as they can begin a stroke by gripping the hammer towards the center of the handle, and allow the handle to slide through their hand as they swing. This allows greater control during the beginning of the stroke, but increased leverage and more power when the hammer actually strikes the nail. |
Pakistan Rangers | The Pakistan Rangers (Urdu: پاکستان رینجرز) are a pair of paramilitary federal law enforcement corps' in Pakistan. The two corps are the Punjab Rangers (operating in Punjab province with headquarters in Lahore) and the Sindh Rangers (operating in Sindh province with headquarters in Karachi). There is also a third corps headquarters in Islamabad but is only for units transferred from the other corps for duties in the federal capital. They are both part of the Civil Armed Forces. The corps' operate administratively under the Pakistan Army but under separate command structures and wear distinctly different uniforms. However, they are usually commanded by officers on secondment from the Pakistan Army. Their primary purpose is to secure and defend the approximately 2,200 km (1,400 mi) long border with neighbouring India. They are also often involved in major internal and external security operations with the regular Pakistani military and provide assistance to provincial police forces to maintain law and order against crime, terrorism and unrest. In addition, the Punjab Rangers, together with the Indian Border Security Force, participate in an elaborate flag lowering ceremony at the Wagah−Attari border crossing east of Lahore. The mutually-recognized India–Pakistan international border is different from the disputed and heavily militarized Line of Control (LoC), where the Pakistani province of Punjab adjoins Jammu and Kashmir (a conflict territory between India and Pakistan) and the undisputed international border effectively ends. Consequently, the LoC is not managed by the paramilitary Punjab Rangers, but by the regular Pakistan Army. |