Background.

In mathematics, the concept of quantity is an ancient one extending back to the time of Aristotle and earlier. Aristotle regarded quantity as a fundamental ontological and scientific category. In Aristotle's ontology, quantity or quantum was classified into two different types, which he characterized as follows:  In his "Elements", Euclid developed the theory of ratios of magnitudes without studying the nature of magnitudes, as Archimedes, but giving the following significant definitions:  For Aristotle and Euclid, relations were conceived as whole numbers (Michell, 1993). John Wallis later conceived of ratios of magnitudes as real numbers as reflected in the following:  That is, the ratio of magnitudes of any quantity, whether volume, mass, heat and so on, is a number. Following this, Newton then defined number, and the relationship between quantity and number, in the following terms: "By "number" we understand not so much a multitude of unities, as the abstracted ratio of any quantity to another quantity of the same kind, which we take for unity" (Newton, 1728).

Quantitative structure.

Continuous quantities possess a particular structure that was first explicitly characterized by Hölder (1901) as a set of axioms that define such features as "identities" and "relations" between magnitudes. In science, quantitative structure is the subject of empirical investigation and cannot be assumed to exist "a priori" for any given property. The linear continuum represents the prototype of continuous quantitative structure as characterized by Hölder (1901) (translated in Michell & Ernst, 1996). A fundamental feature of any type of quantity is that the relationships of equality or inequality can in principle be stated in comparisons between particular magnitudes, unlike quality, which is marked by likeness, similarity and difference, diversity. Another fundamental feature is additivity. Additivity may involve concatenation, such as adding two lengths A and B to obtain a third A + B. Additivity is not, however, restricted to extensive quantities but may also entail relations between magnitudes that can be established through experiments that permit tests of hypothesized observable manifestations of the additive relations of magnitudes. Another feature is continuity, on which Michell (1999, p. 51) says of length, as a type of quantitative attribute, "what continuity means is that if any arbitrary length, a, is selected as a unit, then for every positive real number, "r", there is a length b such that b = "r"a". A further generalization is given by the theory of conjoint measurement, independently developed by French economist Gérard Debreu (1960) and by the American mathematical psychologist R. Duncan Luce and statistician John Tukey (1964).

Quantity in mathematics.

Magnitude (how much) and multitude (how many), the two principal types of quantities, are further divided as mathematical and physical. In formal terms, quantities—their ratios, proportions, order and formal relationships of equality and inequality—are studied by mathematics. The essential part of mathematical quantities consists of having a collection of variables, each assuming a set of values. These can be a set of a single quantity, referred to as a scalar when represented by real numbers, or have multiple quantities as do vectors and tensors, two kinds of geometric objects.  The mathematical usage of a quantity can then be varied and so is situationally dependent. Quantities can be used as being infinitesimal, arguments of a function, variables in an expression (independent or dependent), or probabilistic as in random and stochastic quantities. In mathematics, magnitudes and multitudes are also not only two distinct kinds of quantity but furthermore relatable to each other.  Number theory covers the topics of the discrete quantities as numbers: number systems with their kinds and relations. Geometry studies the issues of spatial magnitudes: straight lines, curved lines, surfaces and solids, all with their respective measurements and relationships.  A traditional philosophy of mathematics, stemming from Aristotle and remaining popular until the eighteenth century, held that mathematics is the "science of quantity". Quantity was considered to be divided into the discrete (studied by arithmetic) and the continuous (studied by geometry and later calculus). The theory fits reasonably well elementary or school mathematics but less well the abstract topological and algebraic structures of modern mathematics.

Quantity in physical science.

Establishing quantitative structure and relationships "between" different quantities is the cornerstone of modern physical sciences. Physics is fundamentally a quantitative science. Its progress is chiefly achieved due to rendering the abstract qualities of material entities into physical quantities, by postulating that all material bodies marked by quantitative properties or physical dimensions are subject to some measurements and observations. Setting the units of measurement, physics covers such fundamental quantities as space (length, breadth, and depth) and time, mass and force, temperature, energy, and quanta.  A distinction has also been made between intensive quantity and extensive quantity as two types of quantitative property, state or relation. The magnitude of an "intensive quantity" does not depend on the size, or extent, of the object or system of which the quantity is a property, whereas magnitudes of an "extensive quantity" are additive for parts of an entity or subsystems. Thus, magnitude does depend on the extent of the entity or system in the case of extensive quantity. Examples of intensive quantities are density and pressure, while examples of extensive quantities are energy, volume, and mass.

Quantity in natural language.

In human languages, including English, number is a syntactic category, along with person and gender. The quantity is expressed by identifiers, definite and indefinite, and quantifiers, definite and indefinite, as well as by three types of nouns: 1. count unit nouns or countables; 2. mass nouns, uncountables, referring to the indefinite, unidentified amounts; 3. nouns of multitude (collective nouns). The word ‘number’ belongs to a noun of multitude standing either for a single entity or for the individuals making the whole. An amount in general is expressed by a special class of words called identifiers, indefinite and definite and quantifiers, definite and indefinite. The amount may be expressed by: singular form and plural from, ordinal numbers before a count noun singular (first, second, third...), the demonstratives; definite and indefinite numbers and measurements (hundred/hundreds, million/millions), or cardinal numbers before count nouns. The set of language quantifiers covers "a few, a great number, many, several (for count names); a bit of, a little, less, a great deal (amount) of, much (for mass names); all, plenty of, a lot of, enough, more, most, some, any, both, each, either, neither, every, no". For the complex case of unidentified amounts, the parts and examples of a mass are indicated with respect to the following: a measure of a mass (two kilos of rice and twenty bottles of milk or ten pieces of paper); a piece or part of a mass (part, element, atom, item, article, drop); or a shape of a container (a basket, box, case, cup, bottle, vessel, jar).

Further examples.

Some further examples of quantities are:

Quantity is a property that can exist as a multitude or magnitude, which illustrate discontinuity and continuity. Quantities can be compared in terms of "more", "less", or "equal", or by assigning a numerical value in terms of a unit of measurement. Mass, time, distance, heat, and angular separation are among the familiar examples of quantitative properties.


Description.

The "Fletcher" class (named for Admiral Frank F. Fletcher) was the largest class of destroyer ordered, and was also one of the most successful and popular with the destroyer men themselves. Compared to earlier classes built for the Navy, they carried a significant increase in anti-aircraft weapons and other weaponry, which caused displacements to rise. Their flush deck construction added structural strength, although it did make them rather cramped, as less space was available below decks compared with a raised forecastle.

Design.

The "Fletcher"-class was the first generation of destroyers designed after the series of Naval Treaties that had limited ship designs heretofore. The growth in the design was in part to answer a question that always dogged U.S. Navy designs, that being the long range required by operations in the Pacific Ocean. They were also to carry no less than five guns and ten deck-mounted torpedo tubes on the centerline, allowing them to meet any foreign design on equal terms. Compared to earlier designs, the "Fletcher"s were large, allowing them to eventually absorb the addition of two 40 mm Bofors quadruple mount AA guns as well as six 20 mm Oerlikon dual AA gun positions. This addition to the AA suite required the deletion of the forward quintuple torpedo mount, a change done under the 4 April 1945 anti-"kamikaze" program.  "Fletcher"s were also much less top-heavy than previous classes, allowing them to take on additional equipment and weapons without major redesign. They were fortunate in catching American production at the right moment, becoming "the" destroyer design, and only "Fletcher"-class derivatives, the "Sumner" and "Gearing" classes, would follow it. The first design inputs were in the fall of 1939 from questionnaires distributed around design bureaus and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. The design parameters were the armaments desired of the next destroyer. As such, the questions were of how many guns, torpedoes, and depth charges were seen as desirable. Also asked was at what point would the design grow large enough to become a torpedo target instead of a torpedo delivery system. The answer that came back was that five dual purpose guns, twelve torpedoes, and twenty-eight depth charges would be ideal, while a return to the 1500-ton designs of the past was seen as undesirable. Speed requirements varied from, and shortcomings in the earlier "Sims" class, which were top heavy and needed lead ballast to correct this fault, caused the "Fletcher" design to be widened by of beam. As with other previous U.S. flush deck destroyer designs, seagoing performance suffered. This was mitigated by deployment to the Pacific Ocean, which is relatively calm.  To achieve with a 500-ton increase in displacement, shaft horsepower was increased from 50,000 to 60,000 compared to the previous "Benson" and "Gleaves" classes. The "Fletcher"s featured air-encased boilers producing steam at and, with emergency diesel generators providing 80 kW of electric power. Typically, Babcock & Wilcox boilers and General Electric geared steam turbines were equipped, although other designs and manufacturers were probably used to maximize the rate of production.

Armament.

The main gun armament of the Fletcher was five dual-purpose 5 inch/38 caliber (127 mm) guns in single mounts, guided by a Mark 37 Gun Fire Control System, including a Mk 12 fire control radar and a Mk 22 height-finder (both replaced by the circular Mk 25 radar postwar) linked by a Mark 1A Fire Control Computer and stabilized by a Mk 6 8,500 rpm gyroscope.  Ten torpedo tubes were fitted in two quintuple mounts on the centerline amidships, firing the 21-inch Mark 15 torpedo. Anti-submarine armament was two depth charge racks for 600-pound charges at the stern, augmented by six K-gun depth charge throwers for 300-pound charges amidships.  Besides the main dual-purpose guns, initial (April-May 1942) anti-aircraft armament was light; a quadruple 1.1"/75 caliber gun (located in an elevated tub between the number three and four 5"/38 caliber gun mounts), and six Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (two in front of and below the bridge, and four amidships). Beginning in June 1942, the 1.1" gun was replaced by a twin Bofors 40 mm gun mount, plus another twin mount on the fantail between the depth charge racks. In February 1943, the fantail-mounted Bofors was removed, and instead, one twin mount was placed on each side of the aft funnel, bringing the total number of 40 mm barrels to six. In 1942 and 1943, the number of Oerlikon cannons was steadily increased. Ships were often modified before leaving the shipyard with a seventh 20 mm mount in front of the bridge behind the number two 5"/38 caliber gun mount, and anywhere from one to three mounts on the flying bridge depending upon the bridge configuration of the ship. In combat, commanders often requisitioned additional guns, and some Fletchers mounted up to thirteen 20 mm cannons. In June and July 1943, two more twin Bofors mounts were added in place of the 20 mm cannons in front of and below the bridge, giving a total of ten barrels. With this modification, the Oerlikon cannons were rearranged and their number was standardized at seven; four amidships and three in a heart-shaped mount on the fantail.  Due to the increasing threat from "kamikaze" attacks, beginning in July 1945 some ships returning to the United States for refit received further antiaircraft modifications, replacing the forward set of quintuple torpedo tubes with a large gun platform housing two quadruple 40 mm guns (for a total of fourteen barrels). The seven single 20 mm guns were replaced with six twin mounts (four amidships and two on the fantail, rather than three as before).  Three (, "Stevens", and "Halford") were built with aircraft catapults, resulting in the deletion of the rear torpedo tube mount and number 3 5-inch gun mount. This alteration was not a success in service, and was not repeated. These three destroyers were later converted to the normal "Fletcher"-class configuration.

Service.

Nineteen were lost during World War II; six more were damaged, evaluated as constructive total losses, and not repaired. Postwar, the remainder were decommissioned and put into reserve.  With the outbreak of the Korean War many were returned to active duty. During this time 39 were refitted, reducing their overall main armament and the number of torpedo tubes to accommodate other weapons. A new ahead-throwing weapon called Weapon Alpha was installed in many of the ships. Others carried trainable Hedgehogs. Eighteen ships were redesignated as escort destroyers (DDE), optimized for anti-submarine warfare; these reverted to destroyer (DD) designation in 1962.

Other navies.

Many of the ships were sold to other navies during the mid-1950s, including:  Any remaining were broken up in the 1970s. The last "Fletcher" in service, BAM "Cuitlahuac" (ex-"John Rodgers"), left the Mexican navy in 2001, meaning the total service life of the "Fletcher"s stretched over almost six decades and into the 21st century.  Four ships have been preserved as museum ships, although only "Kidd" was never modernized and retains her World War II configuration:

Argentina.

A total of five "Fletcher"s were transferred to the Argentine Navy in two batches. The first batch of three ships was transferred in 1961 and the second in 1971. By the late 1970s, the ships were obsolete and they did not play a significant role in the Falklands War, being stricken that year for scrapping or use as a target ship.

The "Fletcher" class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the "Porter" and "Somers" classes. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War.


Early years.

Born as heir apparent of a vassal prince, Zhu Houcong was not brought up to succeed to the throne. However, the throne became vacant in 1521 with the sudden death of the Hongzhi Emperor's son, the Zhengde Emperor, who did not leave an heir. Prior to Zhengde Emperor's death, the line of succession was as follows:  The 14-year-old Zhu Houcong, then heir presumptive, succeeded to the throne, and so relocated from his father's princedom (near present-day Zhongxiang, Hubei) to the capital, Beijing. As the Jiajing Emperor, Zhu Houcong had his parents posthumously elevated to an "honorary" imperial rank, and had an imperial-style Xianling Mausoleum built for them near Zhongxiang.

Reign as emperor.

Custom dictated that an emperor who was not an immediate descendant of the previous one should be adopted by the previous one, to maintain an unbroken line. Such a posthumous adoption of Zhu Houcong by the Hongzhi Emperor was proposed, but he resisted, preferring instead to have his father declared emperor posthumously. This conflict is known as the "Great Rites Controversy." The Jiajing Emperor prevailed and hundreds of his opponents were banished, flogged in the imperial court (), or executed. Among the banished was the poet Yang Shen.  The Jiajing Emperor was known to be intelligent and efficient; whilst later he went on strike, and choose not to attend any state meetings, he did not neglect the paperwork and other governmental matters. The Jiajing Emperor was also known to be a cruel and self-aggrandizing emperor and he also chose to reside outside of the Forbidden City in Beijing so he could live in isolation. Ignoring state affairs, the Jiajing Emperor relied on Zhang Cong and Yan Song to handle affairs of state. In time, Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan – who gained power only as a result of his father's political influence – came to dominate the whole government even being called the "First and Second Prime Minister". Ministers such as Hai Rui and Yang Jisheng challenged and even chastised Yan Song and his son but were thoroughly ignored by the emperor. Hai Rui and many ministers were eventually dismissed or executed. The Jiajing Emperor also abandoned the practice of seeing his ministers altogether from 1539 onwards, and for a period of almost 25 years refused to give official audiences, choosing instead to relay his wishes through eunuchs and officials. Only Yan Song, a few handful of eunuchs and Daoist priests ever saw the emperor. This eventually led to corruption at all levels of the Ming government. However, the Jiajing Emperor was intelligent and managed to control the court.  The Ming dynasty had enjoyed a long period of peace, but in 1542 the Mongol leader Altan Khan began to harass China along the northern border. In 1550, he even reached the suburbs of Beijing. Eventually the Ming government appeased him by granting special trading rights. The Ming government also had to deal with wokou pirates attacking the southeastern coastline. Starting in 1550, Beijing was enlarged by the addition of the outer city.  The deadliest earthquake of all times, the Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 that killed over 800,000 people, occurred during the Jiajing Emperor's reign.

Plot of Renyin year.

The Jiajing Emperor's ruthlessness and lecherous life also led to an internal plot by his concubines and palace maids to assassinate him in October, 1542 by strangling him while he slept. His pursuit of eternal life led him to believe that one of the elixirs of extending his life was to force virgin palace maids to collect menstrual blood for his consumption. These arduous tasks were performed non-stop even when the palace maids were taken ill and any unwilling participants were executed on the Emperor's whim. A group of palace maids who had had enough of the emperor's cruelty decided to band together to murder him in an event known as the Renyin Plot (). The lead palace maid tried to strangle the emperor with ribbons from her hair while the others held down the emperor's arms and legs but made a fatal mistake by tying a knot around the emperor's neck which would not tighten. Meanwhile, some of the young palace maids involved began to panic and one (Zhang Jinlian) ran to the empress. The plot was exposed and on the orders of the empress and some officials, all of the palace maids involved, including the emperor's favourite concubine (Consort Duan) and another concubine (Consort Ning, née Wang), were ordered to be executed by slow slicing and their families were killed. The Jiajing Emperor later determined that Consort Duan had been innocent, and dictated that their daughter, Luzheng, be raised by Imperial Noble Consort Shen.

Taoist pursuits.

The Jiajing Emperor was a devoted follower of Taoism and attempted to suppress Buddhism. After the assassination attempt in 1542, the emperor moved out of the imperial palace, and lived with a 13-year-old teenage girl who was small and thin, and was able to satisfy his sexual appetite (Lady Shan). The Jiajing Emperor began to pay excessive attention to his Taoist pursuits while ignoring his imperial duties. He built the three Taoist temples Temple of Sun, Temple of Earth and Temple of Moon and extended the Temple of Heaven by adding the "Earthly Mount". Over the years, the emperor's devotion to Taoism was to become a heavy financial burden for the Ming government and create dissent across the country.  Particularly during his later years, the Jiajing Emperor was known for spending a great deal of time on alchemy in hopes of finding medicines to prolong his life. He would forcibly recruit young girls in their early teens and engaged in sexual activities in hopes of empowering himself, along with the consumption of potent elixirs. He employed Taoist priests to collect rare minerals from all over the country to create elixirs, including elixirs containing mercury, which inevitably posed health problems at high doses.

Legacy and death.

After 45 years on the throne (the second longest reign in the Ming dynasty), the Jiajing Emperor died in 1567 – possibly due to mercury overdose from Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning – and was succeeded by his son, the Longqing Emperor. Though his long rule gave the dynasty an era of stability, the Jiajing Emperor's neglect of his official duties resulted in the decline of the dynasty at the end of the 16th century. His style of governance, or the lack thereof, would be emulated by his grandson later in the century.  The time when the Jiajing Emperor was buried was very close to the time of completion of the manuscript copy of the lost Yongle Encyclopedia was completed. Jiajing Emperor died in December 1566, but was buried three months later, in March 1567. One possibility is that they were waiting for the manuscript to be completed.

Portrayal in art.

The Jiajing Emperor was portrayed in contemporary court portrait paintings, as well as in other works of art. For example, in this panoramic painting below, the Jiajing Emperor can be seen in the right half riding a black steed and wearing a plumed helmet. He is distinguished from his entourage of bodyguards as an abnormally tall figure.

The Jiajing Emperor (; 16September 150723January 1567) was the 12th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1521 to 1567. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the former Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His father, Zhu Youyuan (1476–1519), the Prince of Xing, was the fourth son of the Chenghua Emperor (reigned from 1464 to 1487) and the eldest son of three sons born to the emperor's concubine, Lady Shao. The Jiajing Emperor's regnal name, "Jiajing", means "admirable tranquility".


History.

Originally named the Belgian National Broadcasting Institute (; ), the state-owned broadcasting organization was established by law on 18 June 1930. On 14 June 1940 the INR was forced to cease broadcasting as a result of the German invasion. The German occupying forces, who now oversaw its management, changed the INR's name to '. A number of INR personnel were able to relocate to the BBC's studios in London from where they broadcast as " / " under the'(RNB) established by the Belgian government in exile's Ministry of Information.  At the end of the war the INR and the RNB coexisted until 14 September 1945, when a Royal Decree merged the two and restored the INR's original mission. The INR was one of 23 broadcasting organizations which founded the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. Television broadcasting from Brussels began in 1953, with two hours of programming each day. In 1960 the INR was subsumed into RTB (') and moved to new quarters at the Reyers building in 1967. RTB's first broadcast in colour,'(a gardening and nature programme), was transmitted in 1971. Two years later, RTB began broadcasting news in colour.  In 1977, broadcasting became a concern for Belgium's language communities, rather than the national government as a whole. Accordingly, the French-language section of RTB became RTBF (') and a second television channel was set up with the name. In 1979 became. Along with French channels,, and Swiss channel TSR, RTBF jointly established the European French-speaking channel in 1984. On 21 March 1988, became. On 27 September 1989 a subsidiary company of RTBF was set up with the name, which subsequently became'in May 1995. In 1993, was replaced by and.  In mid January 2010, RTBF became RTBF.be. The change was made because of the growing importance of new media. The '.be' suffix stresses these new developments. RTBF.be underlines that this change isn't anecdotal and that the internet has gained its place in the media landscape, just as TV and radio have done years ago.  On 11 June 2013, RTBF was one of the few European public broadcasters to join in condemning the closure of Greece's public broadcaster ERT. By 2011, the analogue systems for RTBF.be were planned to be phased out for Wallonia.

Television channels.

Television channels are transmitted:

Video on demand.

The VOD, Video on demand offer of the RTBF is available on several platforms:

Radio channels.

The RTBF broadcasts radio channels in either analogue format (FM and digital format (using DAB and DVB-T). All channels are also broadcast live over the Internet.

Digital-only channels.

They also have a TMC service transmitted on Classic 21.

"Bye Bye Belgium".

On 13 December 2006, at 20:21 CET (19:21 UTC), RTBF replaced an edition of its regular current affairs programme "" with a fake special news report in which it was claimed that Flanders had proclaimed independence, effectively dissolving the Belgian state. The programme had been preceded by a caption reading "This may not be fiction", which was repeated intermittently as a subtitle to the images on screen. After the first half-hour of the 90-minute broadcast, however – by which point RTBF.be's response line had been flooded with calls – this was replaced with a caption reading "This is fiction".  The video featured images of news reporters standing in front of the Flemish Parliament, while Flemish separatists waved the flag of Flanders behind them. Off to the side, Francophone and Belgian nationalists were waving Belgian flags. The report also featured footage of King Albert and Queen Paola getting on a military jet to Congo, a former Belgian colony.  RTBF justified the hoax on the grounds that it raised the issue of Flemish nationalism, but others felt that it raised the issue of about how much the public can trust the press.

RTBF ("Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française") is a public-service broadcasting organisation delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Community of Belgium, in Wallonia and Brussels. Its counterpart in the Flemish Community is the Dutch-language VRT ("Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie"), and in the German-speaking Community it is BRF ("Belgischer Rundfunk").


History.

Zenwalk was originally called Minislack up to version 1.1, taking its current name with version 1.2 released 2005-08-12. Originally using KDE as its desktop environment, Zenwalk now uses Xfce as of version 0.3, although GNOME and KDE packages have always been available separately.

Aims.

The Zenwalk Project aims to create a lightweight Linux distribution (through using only one application per task on the release ISO image), optimization for a specific instruction set architecture to increase execution speed, and introduces a comprehensive package management system with dependency resolution.

Community.

The Zenwalk Project has a forum that allows users and developers alike to post their issues, concerns and praise.  The newest official software packages are published in the "-snapshot" tree. When sufficient testing and debugging have been completed, a package is moved to the "-current" tree, where most users can download software to update their systems.  The community is also encouraged to take part in software package development, since the official software pool is considered limiting by some users. This allows third-party software to be made compatible with the Zenwalk directory structure, as well as improved interoperability with the rest of the distribution.

Package management.

Zenwalk uses the netpkg package management system. It is developed in-house, and it provides the main functionality of the apt-get variety of package managers. It uses Slackware's.tgz package format, but adds dependency resolution capabilities. The system uses meta files to provide dependency information, as well as package description during the install process. This convenience is only available to the official Zenwalk mirrors listed in the netpkg configuration file, "netpkg.conf". In addition to the original "netpkg" command line interface, "xnetpkg" provides a GUI frontend with similar capabilities.  Additionally, Zenwalk is compatible with Slackware package management tools such as slapt-get and its frontends, and have similar functionality as that of netpkg.  As of Zenwalk 4.6, package compatibility with Slackware is still maintained. Slackware packages may be used to substitute Zenwalk packages where necessary. Additional package availability can be found at LinuxPackages.net.

Supported architectures.

Starting with version 8.0, Zenwalk Linux is built and optimized primarily for the x86_64 architecture, the old 32 bits i486 architecture is no longer supported.

Project versions.

There are five main versions of Zenwalk :

Derivatives.

There are currently three known Zenwalk-based distributions:

Live USB.

A Live USB of Zenwalk Linux for versions up to 5.2 can be created manually or with UNetbootin.

Zenwalk is a Desktop focused Linux distribution founded by Jean-Philippe Guillemin. It is based on Slackware with very few modifications at system level making it 100% compatible with it. Zenwalk aims to be a modern and multi-purpose Linux distribution by focusing on Internet applications, multimedia and programming tools. Additionally, Zenwalk comes with many specialized tools, designed for beginner through advanced users as it offers system configuration via both graphical and command-line operations.


Description.

Wild mint is a herbaceous perennial plant generally growing to and rarely up to tall. It has a creeping rootstock from which grow erect or semi-sprawling squarish stems. The leaves are in opposite pairs, simple, long and broad, hairy, and with a coarsely serrated margin. The flowers are pale purple (occasionally white or pink), in whorls on the stem at the bases of the leaves. Each flower is long and has a five-lobed hairy calyx, a four-lobed corolla with the uppermost lobe larger than the others and four stamens. The fruit is a two-chambered carpel.

Subspecies.

Subspecies include:  The related species "Mentha canadensis" is also included in "M. arvensis" by some authors as two varieties, "M. arvensis" var. "glabrata" Fernald (in reference to North American plants) and "M. arvensis" var. "piperascens" Malinv. ex L. H. Bailey (in reference to eastern Asian plants).

Uses.

Chemical substances that can be extracted from wild mint include menthol, menthone, isomenthone, neomenthol, limonene, methyl acetate, piperitone, beta-caryophyllene, alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, tannins and flavonoids. Mint extracts and menthol-related chemicals are used in food, drinks, cough medicines, creams and cigarettes. Menthol is widely used in dental care, as a mouthwash potentially inhibiting streptococci and lactobacilli bacteria.

Diseases.

Two main diseases that can significantly damage Japanese mint ("M. arvensis" var. "piperascens)" and its yield are the rust fungus and the mildew attacks. Mildew attacks usually only occur on the west coast of United States where the weather can be foggy and humid, a condition that attracts mildew. Rust fungus is a disease that is common for most of the Mentha plants such as peppermint and spearmint. These diseases are flagged due to the almost to none probability of controlling once it starts in a mint farm. They are typically cut immediately when discovered to help reduce the probability of contaminating the rest of the plant leaves.

Mentha arvensis, the corn mint, field mint, or wild mint, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It has a circumboreal distribution, being native to the temperate regions of Europe and western and central Asia, east to the Himalaya and eastern Siberia, and North America. "Mentha canadensis", the related species, is also included in "Mentha arvensis" by some authors as two varieties, "M. arvensis" var. "glabrata" Fernald (North American plants such as American Wild Mint) and "M. arvensis" var. "piperascens" Malinv. ex L. H. Bailey (eastern Asian plants such as Japanese mint).


Airline ticket.

E-tickets in the airline industry were devised in about 1994, and have now largely replaced the older multi-layered paper ticketing systems. Since 1 June 2008, it has been mandatory for IATA members to use e-ticketing. Where paper tickets are still available, some airlines charge a fee for issuing paper tickets.  When a reservation is confirmed, the airline keeps a record of the booking in its computer reservations system. Customers can print out or may be provided with a copy of a e-ticket itinerary receipt which contains the record locator or reservation number and the e-ticket number. It is possible to print multiple copies of an e-ticket itinerary receipt.  Besides providing itinerary details, an e-ticket itinerary receipt also contains:

Checking in with an e-ticket.

Passengers with e-tickets are required to check-in at the airport for a flight in the usual manner, except that they may be required to present an e-ticket itinerary receipt or personal identification, such as a passport, or credit card. They can also use the Record locator, often called booking reference, a code of six letters and digits. Producing a print-out of an e-ticket itinerary receipt may be required to enter the terminal of some airports or to satisfy immigration regulations in some countries.  The introduction of e-tickets has allowed for various enhancements to checking-in processes.

Self-service and remote check-in.

Several websites assist people holding e-tickets to check in online in advance of the twenty-four-hour airline restriction. These sites store a passenger's flight information and then when the airline opens up for online check-in the data is transferred to the airline and the boarding pass is emailed back to the customer. With this e-ticket technology, if a passenger receives his boarding pass remotely and is travelling without check-in luggage, he may bypass traditional counter check-in.

E-ticket limitations.

The ticketing systems of most airlines are only able to produce e-tickets for itineraries of no more than 16 segments, including surface segments. This is the same limit that applied to paper tickets.  Another critical limitation is that at the time e-tickets were initially designed, most airlines still practiced product bundling. By the time the industry began 100% e-ticket implementation, more and more airlines began to unbundle previously included services (like checked baggage) and add them back in as optional fees (ancillary revenue). However, the e-ticket standard did not anticipate and did not include a standardized mechanism for such optional fees.  IATA later implemented the Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) standard for such information. This way, airlines could consistently expose and capture such fees at time of booking through travel reservation systems, rather than having to surprise passengers with them at check-in.

IATA mandated transition.

As part of the IATA Simplifying the Business initiative, the association instituted a program to switch the industry to 100% electronic ticketing. The program concluded on June 1, 2008, with the association saying that the resulting industry savings were approximately US$3 billion.  In 2004, IATA Board of Governors set the end of 2007 as the deadline for airlines to make the transition to 100% electronic ticketing for tickets processed through the IATA billing and settlement plan; in June 2007, the deadline was extended to May 31, 2008.  As of June 1, 2008 paper tickets can no longer be issued on neutral stock by agencies reporting to their local BSP. Agents reporting to the ARC using company-provided stock or issuing tickets on behalf of an airline (GSAs and ticketing offices) are not subject to that restriction.  The industry was unable to comply with the IATA mandate and paper tickets remain in circulation as of February 2009.

Train tickets.

Amtrak started offering electronic tickets on all train routes on 30 July 2012. These tickets can be ordered over the internet and printed (as a PDF file), printed at a Quik-Trak kiosk, or at the ticket counter at the station. Electronic tickets can also be held in a smart phone and shown to the conductor using an app. Mobile tickets are common with operators of US commuter train networks (e.g. MTA LIRR and Metro North) but they are usually only offered on the US version of the App Store and only accept US-issued credit cards as the app's payment page asks the user for the credit card's ZIP code to complete the purchase.  Several European train operators also offer self-printable or downloadable tickets. Often tickets can also be delivered by SMS or MMS. Railway operators in other countries also issue electronic tickets. The national operators of Denmark and Netherlands have a nationwide system where RFID smartcards are used as train tickets. In the UK, the issuance of printable or mobile tickets is at the discretion of train operators and is often available for advance tickets only (i.e. valid only on a specific train). This is very common in Europe for local urban rail, such as rapid transit/metros.  In India, an SMS sent by the Indian Railways, along with a valid proof of identity is considered equivalent to a ticket.

Sport, concert, and cinema tickets.

Many sport, concert venues, and cinemas use electronic ticketing for their events. Electronic tickets, or "eTickets" as they are sometimes referred, are often delivered as PDFs or another downloadable format that can be received via email or through a mobile app. Electronic tickets allow spectators to download their tickets, as opposed to waiting for physical tickets to arrive in the mail. A printed copy of these tickets or a digital copy on a mobile phone should be presented on coming to the venue. These tickets now normally also have a barcode, which may be scanned on entry into the venue to streamline crowd processing. Electronic tickets have become increasingly prevalent in the entertainment industry over the last decade.  In some cases, spectators who want to see a match may not need a printable electronic ticket. If someone with a membership to a football team books a ticket online, the member can just verify his/her reservation with a membership card at the entrance. This is common with teams in the English Premiership League.

Implementations.

In January 2017 it was reported that Germany's Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt wants to create an electronic ticket to connect public bus and train services as well as parking spaces and potentially car-sharing services across all cities.

An electronic ticket, often called e-ticket, is the digital ticket equivalent of a paper ticket. The term is most commonly associated with airline issued tickets. Electronic ticketing for urban or rail public transport is usually referred to as travel card or transit pass. It is also used in ticketing in the entertainment industry.


History.

The formal concept of business incubation began in the US in 1959 when Joseph L. Mancuso opened the Batavia Industrial Center in a Batavia, New York, warehouse. Incubation expanded in the U.S. in the 1980s and spread to the UK and Europe through various related forms (e.g. innovation centres, pépinières d'entreprises, technopoles/science parks).  The U.S.-based International Business Innovation Association estimates that there are about 7,000 incubators worldwide. A study funded by the European Commission in 2002 identified around 900 incubation environments in Western Europe. As of October 2006, there were more than 1,400 incubators in North America, up from only 12 in 1980. Her Majesty's Treasury identified around 25 incubation environments in the UK in 1997; by 2005, UKBI identified around 270 incubation environments across the country. In 2005 alone, North American incubation programs assisted more than 27,000 companies that provided employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenues of $17 billion. In 2018, research group named Social Innovation Monitor (SIM) has identified 197 incubators in Italy where almost 60% of them are in the North of Italy. Moreover, big corporations are applying strategies of open innovation through the creation of programme of corporate incubation. Some examples these programmes are: TIM #Wcap Accelerator and FoodForward by Deloitte Italia.  Incubation activity has not been limited to developed countries; incubation environments are now being implemented in developing countries and raising interest for financial support from organizations such as UNIDO and the World Bank.

Types of services.

Since startup companies lack many resources, experience and networks, incubators provide services which helps them get through initial hurdles in starting up a business. These hurdles include space, funding, legal, accounting, computer services and other prerequisites to running the business.  According to the Small Business Administration's website, their mission provides small businesses with four main services. These services are:  Among the most common incubator services are:

Types.

There are a number of business incubators that have focused on particular industries or on a particular business model, earning them their own name.  More than half of all business incubation programs are "mixed-use" projects, meaning they work with clients from a variety of industries. Technology incubators account for 39% of incubation programs.  One example of a specialized type of incubator is a "bio incubator". Bioincubators specialize in supporting life science-based startup companies. Entrepreneurs with feasible projects in life sciences are selected and admitted to these programs.

Overview.

The incubation process.

Unlike many business assistance programs, business incubators do not serve any and all companies. Entrepreneurs who wish to enter a business incubation program must apply for admission. Acceptance criteria vary from program to program, but in general only those with feasible business ideas and a workable business plan are admitted. It is this factor that makes it difficult to compare the success rates of incubated companies against general business survival statistics.  Although most incubators offer their clients office space and shared administrative services, the heart of a true business incubation program are the services it provides to startup companies. More than half of incubation programs surveyed by the National Business Incubation Association in 2006 reported that they also served affiliate or virtual clients. These companies do not reside in the incubator facility. Affiliate clients may be home-based businesses or early-stage companies that have their own premises but can benefit from incubator services. Virtual clients may be too remote from an incubation facility to participate on site, and so receive counseling and other assistance electronically.  The amount of time a company spends in an incubation program can vary widely depending on a number of factors, including the type of business and the entrepreneur's level of business expertise. Life science and other firms with long research and development cycles require more time in an incubation program than manufacturing or service companies that can immediately produce and bring a product or service to market. On average, incubator clients spend 33 months in a program. Many incubation programs set graduation requirements by development benchmarks, such as company revenues or staffing levels, rather than time.

Goals and sponsors.

Business incubation has been identified as a means of meeting a variety of economic and socioeconomic policy needs, which may include job creation, fostering a community's entrepreneurial climate, technology commercialization, diversifying local economies, building or accelerating growth of local industry clusters, business creation and retention, encouraging minority entrepreneurship, identifying potential spin-in or spin-out business opportunities, or community revitalization.  About one-third of business incubation programs are sponsored by economic development organizations. Government entities (such as cities or counties) account for 21% of program sponsors. Another 20% are sponsored by academic institutions, including two- and four-year colleges, universities, and technical colleges. In many countries, incubation programs are funded by regional or national governments as part of an overall economic development strategy. In the United States, however, most incubation programs are independent, community-based and resourced projects. The U.S. Economic Development Administration is a frequent source of funds for developing incubation programs, but once a program is open and operational it typically receives no federal funding; few states offer centralized incubator funding. Rents and/or client fees account for 59% of incubator revenues, followed by service contracts or grants (18%) and cash operating subsidies (15%).  As part of a major effort to address the ongoing economic crisis of the US, legislation was introduced to "reconstitute Project Socrates". The updated version of Socrates supports incubators by enabling users with technology-based facts about the marketplace, competitor maneuvers, potential partners, and technology paths to achieve competitive advantage. Michael Sekora, the original creator and director of Socrates says that a key purpose of Socrates is to assist government economic planners in addressing the economic and socioeconomic issues (see above) with unprecedented speed, efficiency and agility.  Many for-profit or "private" incubation programs were launched in the late 1990s by investors and other for-profit operators seeking to hatch businesses quickly and bring in big payoffs. At the time, NBIA estimated that nearly 30% of all incubation programs were for-profit ventures. In the wake of the dot-com bust, however, many of those programs closed. In NBIA's 2002 State of the Business Incubation survey, only 16% of responding incubators were for-profit programs. By the 2006 SOI, just 6% of respondents were for-profit.  Although some incubation programs (regardless of nonprofit or for-profit status) take equity in client companies, most do not. Only 25% of incubation programs report that they take equity in some or all of their clients.

Incubator networks.

Incubators often aggregate themselves into networks which are used to share good practices and new methodologies. Europe's European Business and Innovation Centre Network ("EBN") association federates more than 250 European Business and Innovation Centres (EU|BICs) throughout Europe. France has its own national network of technopoles, pre-incubators, and EU|BICs, called RETIS Innovation. This network focuses on internationalizing startups.  Of 1000 incubators across Europe, 500 are situated in Germany. Many of them are organized federally within the ADT ("Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Innovations-, Technologie-, und Gründerzentren e.V.").

A business incubator is a company that helps new and startup companies to develop by providing services such as management training or office space. The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) defines business incubators as a catalyst tool for either regional or national economic development. NBIA categorizes their members' incubators by the following five incubator types: academic institutions; non-profit development corporations; for-profit property development ventures; venture capital firms, and combination of the above.


Origins.

The "back to Kant" movement began in the 1860s, as a reaction to the German materialist controversy in the 1850s.  In addition to the work of Hermann von Helmholtz and Eduard Zeller, early fruits of the movement were Kuno Fischer's works on Kant and Friedrich Albert Lange's "History of Materialism" ("Geschichte des Materialismus", 1873–75), the latter of which argued that transcendental idealism superseded the historic struggle between material idealism and mechanistic materialism. Fischer was earlier involved in a dispute with the Aristotelian idealist Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg concerning the interpretation of the results of the Transcendental Aesthetic, a dispute that prompted Hermann Cohen's 1871 seminal work "Kants Theorie der Erfahrung" ("Kant's Theory of Experience"), a book often regarded as the foundation of 20th-century neo-Kantianism. It is in reference to the Fischer–Trendelenburg debate and Cohen's work that Hans Vaihinger started his massive commentary on the "Critique of Pure Reason".

Varieties.

Hermann Cohen became the leader of the Marburg School (centered in the town of the same name), the other prominent representatives of which were Paul Natorp and Ernst Cassirer. Another important group, the Southwest (German) School (also known as the Heidelberg School or Baden School, centered in Heidelberg, Baden in Southwest Germany) included Wilhelm Windelband, Heinrich Rickert and Ernst Troeltsch. The Marburg School emphasized epistemology and philosophical logic, whereas the Southwest school emphasized issues of culture and value. A third group, mainly represented by Leonard Nelson, established the neo-Friesian School (named after post-Kantian philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fries).  The neo-Kantian schools tended to emphasize scientific readings of Kant, often downplaying the role of intuition in favour of concepts. However, the ethical aspects of neo-Kantian thought often drew them within the orbit of socialism, and they had an important influence on Austromarxism and the revisionism of Eduard Bernstein. Lange and Cohen in particular were keen on this connection between Kantian thought and socialism. Another important aspect of the neo-Kantian movement was its attempt to promote a revised notion of Judaism, particularly in Cohen's seminal work, one of the few works of the movement available in English translation.  The neo-Kantian school was of importance in devising a division of philosophy that has had durable influence well beyond Germany. It made early use of terms such as epistemology and upheld its prominence over ontology. Natorp had a decisive influence on the history of phenomenology and is often credited with leading Edmund Husserl to adopt the vocabulary of transcendental idealism. Emil Lask was influenced by Edmund Husserl's work, and himself exerted a remarkable influence on the young Martin Heidegger. The debate between Cassirer and Heidegger over the interpretation of Kant led the latter to formulate reasons for viewing Kant as a forerunner of phenomenology; this view was disputed in important respects by Eugen Fink. An abiding achievement of the neo-Kantians was the founding of the journal "Kant-Studien", which still survives today.  By 1933 (after the rise of Nazism), the various neo-Kantian circles in Germany had dispersed.

Contemporary neo-Kantianism.

In the analytic tradition, the revival of interest in the work of Kant that has been underway since Peter Strawson's work "The Bounds of Sense" (1966) can also be viewed as effectively neo-Kantian, not least due to its continuing emphasis on epistemology at the expense of ontology. Around the same time as Strawson, Wilfrid Sellars also renewed interest in Kant's philosophy. His project of introducing a Kantian turn in contemporary analytic philosophy has been taken up by his student Robert Brandom. Brandom's work has transformed Sellars' project to introducing a Hegelian phase in analytic philosophy. In the 1980s, interest in neo-Kantianism has revived in the wake of the work of Gillian Rose, who is a critic of this movement's influence on modern philosophy, and because of its influence on the work of Max Weber. The Kantian concern for the limits of perception strongly influenced the antipositivist sociological movement in late 19th-century Germany, particularly in the work of Georg Simmel (Simmel's question 'What is society?' is a direct allusion to Kant's own: 'What is nature'?). The current work of Michael Friedman is explicitly neo-Kantian.  Continental philosophers drawing on the Kantian understandings of the transcendental include Jean-François Lyotard and Jean-Luc Nancy.  Classical conservative thinker Roger Scruton has been greatly influenced by Kantian ethics and aesthetics.

In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism () was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. More specifically, it was influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer's critique of the Kantian philosophy in his work "The World as Will and Representation" (1818), as well as by other post-Kantian philosophers such as Jakob Friedrich Fries and Johann Friedrich Herbart.


Personal life.

Westlake was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Lillian (Bounds) and Albert Joseph Westlake, and was raised in Albany, New York.  Westlake wrote constantly in his teens, and after 200 rejections, his first short story sale was in 1954. Sporadic short story sales followed over the next few years, while Westlake attended Champlain College (a now defunct college created in the post WWII GI Bill boom) of Plattsburgh, New York, and Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York. He also spent two years in the United States Air Force.  Westlake moved to New York City in 1959, initially to work for a literary agency while writing on the side. By 1960, he was writing full-time. His first novel under his own name, "The Mercenaries", was published in 1960; over the next 48 years, Westlake published a variety of novels and short stories under his own name and a number of pseudonyms.  He was married three times, the final time to Abigail Westlake (also known as Abby Adams Westlake and Abby Adams), a writer of nonfiction (her two published books are "An Uncommon Scold" and "The Gardener's Gripe Book"). The couple moved out of New York City to Ancram in upstate New York in 1990. Abby Westlake is a well-regarded gardener, and the Westlake garden has frequently been opened for public viewing in the summer.  Westlake died of a heart attack on December 31, 2008, while on the way to a New Year's Eve dinner, while he and his wife were on vacation in Mexico.

Pseudonyms.

In addition to writing consistently under his own name, Westlake published under several pseudonyms. In the order they debuted:  Westlake sometimes made playful use of his pseudonyms in his work:  Additionally, Westlake conducted a mock "interview" with Richard Stark, Tucker Coe and Timothy J. Culver in an article for the non-fiction book "Murder Ink: The Mystery Reader's Companion".

Writing style.

Donald Westlake was known for the great ingenuity of his plots and the audacity of his gimmicks. His writing and dialogue are lively. His main characters are fully rounded, believable, and clever. Westlake's most famous characters include the hard-boiled criminal Parker (appearing in fiction under the Richard Stark pseudonym) and Parker's comic flip-side John Dortmunder. Westlake was quoted as saying that he originally intended what became "The Hot Rock" to be a straightforward Parker novel, but "It kept turning funny," and thus became the first John Dortmunder novel.  Most of Donald Westlake's novels are set in New York City. In each of the Dortmunder novels, there is typically a detailed foray somewhere through the city. He wrote just two non-fiction books: "Under an English Heaven", regarding the unlikely 1967 Anguillan "revolution", and a biography of Elizabeth Taylor.  Westlake was an occasional contributor to science fiction fanzines such as "Xero", and used "Xero" as a venue for a harsh announcement that he was leaving the science fiction field.

Motion pictures and television.

Several of Westlake's novels have been made into motion pictures: 1967's "Point Blank" (based on "The Hunter") with Lee Marvin as Parker (changed to Walker); "" (based on "The Score") with Michel Constantin as Parker (changed to Georges), also in 1967; 1968's "The Split" (from the book "The Seventh") with Jim Brown as Parker (changed to McClain); "The Hot Rock" in 1972 with Robert Redford; "Cops and Robbers" in 1973; ""The Outfit"" with Robert Duvall as Parker (changed to Macklin), also in 1973; "Bank Shot" in 1974 with George C. Scott; "The Busy Body" (with an "all-star cast") in 1967; "Slayground" with Peter Coyote as Parker (changed to Stone) in 1983; "Why Me?" with Christopher Lambert, Christopher Lloyd, and J. T. Walsh in 1990; "Payback" in 1999, the second film made from "The Hunter", with Mel Gibson as Parker (changed to Porter); "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" in 2001 with Martin Lawrence as Dortmunder (changed to Kevin Caffery); Constantin Costa-Gavras adapted "The Ax" for the European screen in 2005, to great critical and public acclaim – entitled "Le Couperet", the film takes place in France and Belgium rather than the novel's setting of New England; "Parker" in 2013, based on "Flashfire", with Jason Statham as Parker.  In his introduction to one of the short stories in "Thieves' Dozen", Westlake mentioned legal troubles with Hollywood over his continued use of the Dortmunder novel characters; the movie studios attempted to assert that he had sold the rights to the characters to them permanently as a result of the Redford film.  The novel "Jimmy the Kid" has been adapted three times: in Italy as "" in 1976; in the U.S. as "Jimmy the Kid" in 1982, starring Gary Coleman; and in Germany as "Jimmy the Kid" in 1998, starring Herbert Knaup.  The novel "Two Much!" has been adapted twice: in France as "Le Jumeau" ("The Twin") in 1984; and in the U.S. as "Two Much" in 1995, starring Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith.  Jean-Luc Godard's "Made in U.S.A." in 1966 was an extremely loose adaptation of "The Jugger". Neither the film's producer nor Godard purchased the rights to the novel, so Westlake successfully sued to prevent the film's commercial distribution in the United States.  Westlake was himself a screenwriter. His script for the 1990 film "The Grifters," adapted from the novel by Jim Thompson, was nominated for an Academy Award. (Westlake the screenwriter adapted Jim Thompson's work in a straightforward manner, but Westlake the humourist played on Thompson's name later that year in the Dortmunder novel "Drowned Hopes" by featuring a character named "Tom Jimson" who is a criminal psychopath.) Westlake also wrote the screenplay "The Stepfather" (from a story by Westlake, Brian Garfield and Carolyn Lefcourt), the film of which was popular enough to inspire two sequels and a remake, projects in which Westlake was not involved.  In 1987 Westlake wrote the teleplay "Fatal Confession", a pilot for the TV series "Father Dowling Mysteries" based on the novels by Ralph McInerny. He also appeared in a small role (as the mystery writer Rich Vincent) in the third-season episode, "The Hardboiled Mystery."  While the seventeenth James Bond film "GoldenEye" was in post-production, Westlake wrote story treatments for the eighteenth James Bond film (eventually titled "Tomorrow Never Dies") in collaboration with Bond series writer-producer Michael G. Wilson. None of Westlake's ideas made it into the completed film, but in 1998 the author used the first treatment as the basis for a novel, "Fall of the City." The existence of the novel (and its connection to the Bond treatments) was revealed in an article published in issue #32 of the magazine "MI6 Confidential"; the article also provides a detailed analysis of the two treatments. "Fall of the City" was published under the title "Forever and a Death" in June 2017 by Hard Case Crime.  Westlake co-wrote the story for the pilot of the ill-fated 1979 TV series "Supertrain" with teleplay writer Earl W. Wallace; Westlake and Wallace shared "created by" credit.

Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was an American writer, with more than a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction and other genres. Westlake is perhaps best-remembered for creating two professional criminal characters who each starred in a long-running series: the relentless, hard-boiled Parker (published under the pen name Richard Stark), and John Dortmunder, who featured in a more humorous series.


Common names.

Additional common names for "T. lepidus" include eyed lizard, and jeweled lacerta (in the pet trade),

Description.

"Timon lepidus" is one of the largest members of its family. The adult is in total length (including tail) and may reach up to, weighing more than. About two-thirds of its length is tail. Newly hatched young are long, excluding tail.  This is a robust lizard with a serrated collar. The male has a characteristic broad head. It has thick, strong legs, with long, curved claws. The dorsal background colour is usually green, but sometimes grey or brownish, especially on the head and tail. This is overlaid with black stippling that may form a bold pattern of interconnected rosettes. The underside is yellowish or greenish with both the male and female sporting bright blue spots along the flanks, though the male is typically brighter in colour than the female. Young are green, grey, or brown, with yellowish or white, often black-edged, spots all over.

Geographic range.

"Timon lepidus" is native to southwestern Europe. It is found throughout the Iberian peninsula (Spain, Portugal), and is patchily distributed in southern France and extreme northwestern Italy. The range for each subspecies is:

Ecology.

"Timon lepidus" is found in various wild and cultivated habitats from sea level up to in southern Spain. It is rare at higher altitudes. It prefers dry, bushy areas, such as open woodland and scrub, old olive groves and vineyards, and is sometimes found on more open, rocky or sandy areas. It can occasionally be seen basking on roadsides. The lizard usually stays on the ground, but climbs well on rocks and in trees. It can dig holes and sometimes uses abandoned rabbit burrows.

Diet.

"Timon lepidus" feeds mainly on large insects, especially beetles, and also robs birds’ nests and occasionally takes reptiles, frogs, and small mammals. It also eats fruit and other plant matter, especially in dry areas.

Reproduction.

Breeding in "T. lepidus" occurs in late spring or early summer. Males are territorial in spring and fight in the breeding season. The female lays up to 22 eggs in June and July about three months after mating, hiding them under stones and logs or in leaf litter or in loose damp soil. It tends to lay fewer, larger eggs in dry areas. The eggs hatch in eight to 14 weeks. The lizard is sexually mature at two years of age.

Conservation.

"Timon lepidus" was listed as near threatened on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. the species has been under protection in Spain; capture and trade is forbidden.

Gastronomy.

The ocellated lizard was part of the traditional cuisine of Extremadura, Spain. In this region, the lizard was usually prepared in "guisado", made by frying slices of lizard in olive oil, after which they were stewed over a slow fire.

The ocellated lizard or jewelled lizard ("Timon lepidus") is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae (wall lizards). The species is endemic to southwestern Europe.


Islamic theological schools.

The doctrine first reached prominence in the Islamic theological schools of Iraq, especially in Basra. The ninth century theologian Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari argued that there is no Secondary Causation in the created order. The world is sustained and governed through direct intervention of a divine primary causation. As such the world is in a constant state of recreation by God.  The most famous proponent of the Asharite occasionalist doctrine was Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali, an 11th-century theologian based in Baghdad. In "The Incoherence of the Philosophers", Al-Ghazali launched a philosophical critique against Neoplatonic-influenced early Islamic philosophers such as Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina. In response to the philosophers' claim that the created order is governed by secondary efficient causes (God being, as it were, the Primary and Final Cause in an ontological and logical sense), Ghazali argues that what we observe as regularity in nature based presumably upon some natural law is actually a kind of constant and continual regularity. There is no independent necessitation of change and becoming, other than what God has ordained. To posit an independent causality outside of God's knowledge and action is to deprive Him of true agency, and diminish his attribute of power. In his famous example, when fire and cotton are placed in contact, the cotton is burned not because of the heat of the fire, but through God's direct intervention, a claim which he defended using logic. In the 12th century, this theory was defended and further strengthened by the Islamic theologian Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, using his expertise in the natural sciences of astronomy, cosmology and physics.  Because God is usually seen as rational, rather than arbitrary, his behaviour in normally causing events in the same sequence (i.e., what appears to us to be efficient causation) can be understood as a natural outworking of that principle of reason, which we then describe as the laws of nature. Properly speaking, however, these are not laws of nature but laws by which God chooses to govern his own behaviour (his autonomy, in the strict sense) — in other words, his rational will. This is not, however, an essential element of an occasionalist account, and occasionalism can include positions where God's behaviour (and thus that of the world) is viewed as ultimately inscrutable, thus maintaining God's essential transcendence. On this understanding, apparent anomalies such as miracles are not really such: they are simply God behaving in a way that "appears" unusual "to us". Given his transcendent freedom, he is not bound even by his own nature. Miracles, as breaks in the rational structure of the universe, can occur, since God's relationship with the world is not mediated by rational principles.  In a 1978 article in "Studia Islamica", Lenn Goodman asks the question, "Did Al-Ghazâlî Deny Causality?" and demonstrates that Ghazali did not deny the existence of observed, "worldly" causation. According to Goodman's analysis, Ghazali does not claim that there is never any link between observed cause and observed effect: rather, Ghazali argues that there is no "necessary" link between observed cause and effect.

Dualism.

One of the motivations for the theory is the dualist belief that mind and matter are so utterly different in their essences that one cannot affect the other. Thus, a person's mind cannot be the true cause of his hand's moving, nor can a physical wound be the true cause of mental anguish. In other words, the mental cannot cause the physical and vice versa. Also, occasionalists generally hold that the physical cannot cause the physical either, for no necessary connection can be perceived between physical causes and effects. The will of God is taken to be necessary.  The doctrine is, however, more usually associated with certain seventeenth century philosophers of the Cartesian school. There are hints of an occasionalist viewpoint here and there in Descartes's own writings, but these can mostly be explained away under alternative interpretations. However, many of his later followers quite explicitly committed themselves to an occasionalist position. In one form or another, the doctrine can be found in the writings of: Johannes Clauberg, Claude Clerselier, Gerauld de Cordemoy, Arnold Geulincx, Louis de La Forge, François Lamy, and (most notably), Nicolas Malebranche.

Hume's arguments, Berkeley and Leibniz.

These occasionalists' negative argument, that no necessary connections could be discovered between mundane events, was anticipated by certain arguments of Nicholas of Autrecourt in the fourteenth century, and were later taken up by David Hume in the eighteenth. Hume, however, stopped short when it came to the positive side of the theory, where God was called upon to replace such connections, complaining that "We are got into fairy land [...] Our line is too short to fathom such immense abysses." Instead, Hume felt that the only place to find necessary connections was in the subjective associations of ideas within the mind itself. George Berkeley was also inspired by the occasionalists, and he agreed with them that no efficient power could be attributed to bodies. For Berkeley, bodies merely existed as ideas in percipient minds, and all such ideas were, as he put it, "visibly inactive". However, Berkeley disagreed with the occasionalists by continuing to endow the created minds themselves with efficient power. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz agreed with the occasionalists that there could be no efficient causation between distinct created substances, but he did not think it followed that there was no efficient power in the created world at all. On the contrary, every simple substance had the power to produce changes in "itself". The illusion of transeunt efficient causation, for Leibniz, arose out of the pre-established harmony between the alterations produced immanently within different substances. Leibniz means, that if God did not exist, "there would be nothing real in the possibilities, not only nothing existent, but also nothing possible."

Quantum mechanics.

In 1993, Karen Harding's paper "Causality Then and Now: Al Ghazali and Quantum Theory" described several "remarkable" similarities between Ghazali's concept of occasionalism and the widely accepted Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. She stated: "In both cases, and contrary to common sense, objects are viewed as having no inherent properties and no independent existence. In order for an object to exist, it must be brought into being either by God (al Ghazili) or by an observer (the Copenhagen Interpretation)." She also stated: Continuing philosopher Graham Harman's work on Occasionalism in the context of Object Oriented Ontology, in 2020 Simon Weir proposed an alternate view of the relationship between Quantum theory and Occasionalism, opposed to the Copenhagen Interpretation, where virtual particles act as one of many kinds of mediating sensual objects.

Occasionalism is a philosophical theory about causation which says that created substances cannot be efficient causes of events. Instead, all events are taken to be caused directly by God. (A related theory, which has been called "occasional causation", also denies a link of efficient causation between mundane events, but may differ as to the identity of the true cause that replaces them.) The theory states that the illusion of efficient causation between mundane events arises out of God's causing of one event after another. However, there is no necessary connection between the two: it is not that the first event "causes" God to cause the second event: rather, God first causes one and then causes the other.


Early life and education.

Rabanne was born 18 February 1934 in the Basque town of Pasajes, Gipuzkoa province. His father, a Republican Colonel, was executed by Francoist troops during the Spanish Civil War. Rabanne's mother was chief seamstress at Cristóbal Balenciaga’s first couture house in San Sebastian, Spain, and moved Rabanne’s family when he opened Balenciaga at Paris in 1937, due to the Spanish Civil War. In mid-1950s Paris, while studying architecture at l'École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Rabanne earned money making fashion sketches for Dior and Givenchy, and shoe sketches for Charles Jourdan, nevertheless he subsequently took a job with France’s foremost developer of reinforced concrete, August Peret, working there for over ten years.

Career.

Fashion.

He started his career in fashion by creating jewelry for Givenchy, Dior, and Balenciaga and founded his own fashion house in 1966. He used unconventional material such as metal, paper, and plastic for his metal couture and outlandish and flamboyant designs.  For the debut of his namesake brand in 1966, he presented “Manifesto: 12 unwearable dresses in contemporary materials.”  Rabanne is known for the green costume worn by Jane Fonda in the 1968 science-fiction film "Barbarella". Françoise Hardy was a big fan of Rabanne's designs. For and the resulting Live à Bercy, singer Mylène Farmer had Rabanne do her live-concert stage costumes.

Fragrance.

In 1968, he began collaborating with fragrance company Puig, which resulted in the company marketing Rabanne's perfumes. In 1976, the company built a perfume factory in Chartres, France. In the 1980s, in Brazil, his men's perfume brand registration was forfeited due to a court judgement that the brand was never officially present in Brazil despite heavy advertising and a strong local awareness. The court reasoned that because the Puig's local distributor was smuggling perfume into Brazil, the company could not show proof of payment of import duties. It took six or seven years to recover his brand name in Brazil.

Other interests.

In 1994, Rabanne wrote the book, "Has the Countdown Begun? Through Darkness to Enlightenment".  In 2005, Rabanne opened in Moscow, Russia, the first exhibition of his drawings. His reasoning for showing the drawings then was, "I am 72 years old and I wanted to present my drawings this year before disappearing from this planet. I have not shown them to anyone except Salvador Dalí 30 years ago who told me to keep going." One of the black-and-white sketches depicts a child letting go of a dove and a white balloon into the sky, which he said was inspired by the commemoration ceremony for the 2004 Beslan attack in Beslan, North Ossetia, in which 319 hostages were killed, including 186 children, 12 servicemen, and 31 hostage-takers. Rabanne wanted the money that the drawing sold for to go to the women of Beslan.  In 2006, Rabanne visited Kiev, Ukraine. He summed up the changes since the Orange Revolution: "Ukraine reminds me of a flower unfolding its petals before my very eyes."  A re-edit of his classic "le 69" bag was relaunched by Comme des Garçons.

Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo (born 18 February 1934), more commonly known under the pseudonym of Paco Rabanne (; ), is a Spanish fashion designer of Basque origin who became known as an "enfant terrible" of the 1960s French fashion world.


Affair.

In 1917 the war was dragging on towards its fourth year, and Charles decided to secretly enter into peace negotiations with France. He used his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, an officer in the Belgian army, as intermediary as well as enlisting the help of his loyal childhood friend and aide-de-camp Tamás Erdődy. Charles initiated contact with the Prince via contacts in neutral Switzerland, and Empress Zita wrote a letter inviting him to Vienna. Zita's mother Maria Antonia delivered the letter personally. Another intermediary was Jozef Retinger, a London-based Polish literary scholar and budding politician who was a friend of Sixtus, Xavier and Zita de Bourbon-Parma and who had received backing from the British to support the initiative. Sixtus arrived with French-agreed conditions for talks: the restoration to France of Alsace-Lorraine (annexed by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870); restoration of the independence of Belgium; independence for the kingdom of Serbia; and the handover of Constantinople to Russia. Charles agreed, in principle, to the first three points and wrote a letter dated 25 March 1917, to Sixtus giving "the secret and unofficial message that I will use all means and all my personal influence" to the President of France.  This attempt at dynastic diplomacy eventually foundered. Germany refused to negotiate over Alsace-Lorraine and, seeing a Russian collapse on the horizon, was loath to give up the war.  In April 1918, after the German-Russian Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Austrian Foreign Minister Count Ottokar von Czernin made a speech attacking the incoming French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau as being the main obstacle to a peace favouring the Central Powers. Clemenceau was incensed and had Emperor Charles' 24 March 1917 letter published. For a while, there were fears that Germany might occupy Austria. Czernin persuaded Charles to send a 'Word of Honour' to Austria's allies saying that Sixtus had not been authorised to show the letter to the French Government, that Belgium had not been mentioned, and that Clemenceau had lied about the mentioning of the Alsace. Czernin had actually been in contact with the German Embassy throughout the whole crisis, and was attempting to persuade the Emperor to step down because of the Affair. After this failed, Czernin resigned himself.  This affair was an embarrassment to Charles and forced Austria-Hungary into an even more dependent position with regard to its German ally.

Beatification of Charles I.

For his role as a peacemaker during 1917-1918, Emperor Charles I of Austria was solemnly declared blessed in a Mass of Beatification on 3 October 2004 by Pope John Paul II.

The Sixtus Affair () was a failed attempt by Emperor Charles I of Austria to conclude a separate peace with the allies in World War I. The affair was named after his brother-in-law and intermediary, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma.


History.

The island is first mentioned in chronicles of 421, when people from Padua and Este fled there to escape the barbarian invasions. In the 9th century the island's population began to grow, and in the following centuries its importance grew steadily, until it was governed by a dedicated Podestà. In 1379 Venice came under attack from the Genoan fleet; the people of Poveglia were moved to the Giudecca.  The island remained uninhabited in the subsequent centuries; in 1527 the doge offered the island to the Camaldolese monks, who refused the offer. From 1645 on, the Venetian government built five octagonal forts to protect and control the entrances to the lagoon. The Poveglia octagon is one of four that still survive.  In 1776 the island came under the jurisdiction of the "Magistrato alla Sanità" (Public Health Office), and became a check point for all goods and people coming to and going from Venice by ship. In 1793, there were several cases of the plague on two ships, and consequently the island was transformed into a temporary confinement station for the ill ("lazaretto"); this role became permanent in 1805, under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, who also had the old church of San Vitale destroyed; the old bell-tower was converted into a lighthouse. The "lazaretto" was closed in 1814.  The island was used as a quarantine station from 1793 until 1814. In 1922 the existing buildings were converted into an asylum for the mentally ill and later used as a nursing home/long-term care facility, until its closure in 1968. Afterwards, the island was briefly used for agriculture and then completely abandoned.  In 2014 the Italian state auctioned a 99-year lease of Poveglia, which would remain state property, to raise revenue, hoping that the buyer would redevelop the hospital into a luxury hotel. The highest bid was from Italian businessman Luigi Brugnaro, (€513,000); he planned to invest €20 million euros in a restoration plan. The lease did not proceed because his project was judged not to meet all the conditions. Other sources suggested that the deal was annulled because the bid was too low. Brugnaro initially fought the cancellation of the lease, but after he became mayor of Venice, he renounced any intentions to the island.  In 2015, a private group, Poveglia per Tutti, was hoping to raise €25–30 million for a new plan to include "a public park, a marina, a restaurant, a hostel [and] a study centre" according to The Telegraph. As of mid-2019, however, the island still sat vacant.

Buildings and structures.

The surviving buildings on the island consist of a cavana, a church, a hospital, an asylum, a bell-tower and housing and administrative buildings for the staff. The bell-tower is the most visible structure on the island, and dates back to the 12th century. It belonged to the church of San Vitale, which was demolished in 1806. The tower was re-used as a lighthouse.  The existence of an asylum on Poveglia seems to be confirmed by a sign for "Reparto Psichiatria" (Psychiatric Department) still visible among the derelict buildings, as photographed by Ransom Riggs in his May 2010 photo-essay documenting his visit to Poveglia. However, there seems to be no evidence of an alleged prison.  A bridge connects the island on which the buildings stand with the island that was given over to trees and fields. The octagonal fort is on a third, separate island, next to the island with the buildings, but unconnected to it. The fort itself today consists solely of an earthen rampart faced on the outside with brick.  The island contains one or more plague pits. An estimate published by National Geographic suggest that over 100,000 people died on the island over the centuries and were buried in plague pits. Another source, Atlas Obscura, provides an estimate of 160,000 people.  News reports published in 2014/2015 confirmed that the building and rusting artefacts still existed. The island contained dilapidated buildings including the church of St Vitale, a hospital, an asylum, and prison plus residential and office buildings.  Photographer Mike Deere visited the island in 2014, after paying a fisherman to take him there.

Popular culture.

Some time after the island had become a quarantine station for ships arriving at Venice in the 18th century, a plague was discovered on two ships. The island was sealed off and used to host people with infectious diseases, leading to legends of terminally ill Venetians waiting to die before their ghosts returned to haunt the island.  A doctor allegedly experimented on patients with crude lobotomies. According to various reports, most recently by the Travel Channel, the doctor jumped from the bell tower in the 1930s after claiming he had been driven mad by ghosts. He later died. Decades later, nearby residents claimed to still hear the bell, although it was removed many years earlier. That report, titled "Haunted History", also states that some restoration work had started recently but that "abruptly stopped without explanation".  The island has been featured on the paranormal shows "Ghost Adventures" and "Scariest Places on Earth".  Poveglia was also featured in the "Alex Rider" series by Anthony Horowitz as "Malagosto", the main assassin training centre for SCORPIA.  A dark Polish graphic novel by Roman Pietraszko (art) and Maciej Kur (script) titled "Żyjesz?" ("Are you alive?") is set on the island of Poveglia during the Plague and focuses on a sick girl and a boy trying to escape from the island while being hunted down by the plague doctors.  An island inspired by Poveglia is the main location in the "Sandman" graphic novel "", in the first story "Death and Venice". The island is owned in the 18th century by a rich nobleman and alchemist, who finds a way to shield his palazzo, himself, and his guests from the ravages of time to repeat the same day over and over. The narrator visits the island as a boy and later as an adult, where (like Poveglia) it has been long since abandoned with a reputation of being haunted.  Linda Medley's graphic novel "Castle Waiting" refers to Poveglia as 'The Island of No Return'. The character Dr. Fell was driven mad attempting to treat the plague victims.  Laurie R. King's novel "Island of the Mad" features Poveglia as the hiding place of a group of women who wish to escape the rising Fascist regime, and use the ghost stories of the island as cover to keep unwanted visitors away.  David Nathaniel Holcomb’s gothic fantasy novels “Grim’s Squad” features Poveglia as Grim’s Squad’s home base.  In the novel "The Dark Temple" by R.D. Shah, the island is one of the centers of the cult of Mithraism, with an underground Mithras temple (Mithraeum), in a cavern.

Poveglia () is a small island located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. A small canal divides the island into two separate parts. The island first appears in the historical record in 421, and was populated until the residents fled warfare in 1379. For more than 100 years beginning in 1776, the island was used as a quarantine station for those suffering the plague and other diseases, and later as a mental hospital. Because of this, the island is frequently featured on paranormal shows. The mental hospital closed in 1968, and the island has been vacant since.


Slovenian euro design.

The Slovenian euro coins were the first to feature a new common side, with a new map of Europe on the bicoloured and Nordic-gold coins. For images of the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see euro coins.

Circulating mintage quantities.

The following table shows the mintage quantity for all Slovenian euro coins, per denomination, per year.

Mints.

2007: Finland 2008: Netherlands 2009–2011: Finland 2012–2013: Slovakia 2014–2018: Netherlands

Commemorative coins.

Slovenia joined the Eurozone on January 1, 2007. In such a short time they already built a small collection of collectors coins, with face value ranging from 3 to 100 euro. Although they are all legal tender in Slovenia, these coins are not really intended to be used as means of payment, so generally they do not circulate (the only exception is the 3 euro coins which can be found in circulation although very, very rarely).

Selection process for the national side.

The first stage of the selection process started in April 2004, involving preliminary discussions with numismatists, designers and experts. The general public was also invited through the mass media to participate in a public tender concerning proposals of motifs (132 tenderers proposed 699 motifs). A special expert commission (9 different individual experts and members of different institutions, including the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Slovenia) dealt with the proposals and the process. The second stage of selection started when the Government of the Republic of Slovenia confirmed the commission's decision that invitations would be addressed to some prominent designers for the production of designs.  The commission invited five well-known Slovene designers. A special jury of reputable Slovene artists, designers, professors and connoisseurs of Slovene cultural heritage was appointed to review and assess the designs submitted for the Slovene euro coins. The commission of the Bank of Slovenia and Ministry of Finance unanimously agreed with the proposed selected designs prepared by Mr Miljenko Licul, along with Ms Maja Licul and Mr Janez Boljka. The Government of the Republic of Slovenia gave their consent and adopted the decision on 28 July 2005 to submit the selected design proposals for the national side of the Slovene euro coins to ECOFIN (Economic and Financial Committee) - Coins Sub-Committee, which acknowledged the compliance of the Slovene design proposals with European legislation on 5 October 2005.

Controversy.

The use of the Prince's Stone (, ) on the 2-cent coin caused a minor political stir in the Austrian State of Carinthia. The stone, a fragment of an ancient Roman column from nearby Virunum that was used in the ritual of installing the princes of Carantania and later of the Duchy of Carinthia, is kept in a museum in Klagenfurt (Slovene: Celovec), the Carinthian capital, where it is also considered a historical icon of the state. The Carinthian state government (headed by governor Jörg Haider) issued a resolution of protest on 25 October 2005, which was rejected as "not to be taken seriously" by the then Slovenian foreign minister, Dimitrij Rupel. However, there were also objections against its use on the Slovene side. On academic grounds, for instance, Peter Štih, professor of history at the Ljubljana University and member of the Slovene Academy of Sciences, argued that the Prince's Stone cannot be considered a Slovenian but rather a Carinthian historic symbol.

Slovenian euro coins were first issued for circulation on 1 January 2007 and a unique feature is designed for each coin. The design of approximately 230 million Slovenian euro coins (total value of approximately €80 million) was unveiled on 7 October 2005. The designers were Miljenko Licul, Maja Licul and Janez Boljka. The Mint of Finland was chosen to mint the coins through an international tender in 2007.


Family.

Born in 1849 into a Protestant family at Herimoncourt, in eastern France, Armand Peugeot was the son of Emile Peugeot and grandson of Jean-Pierre Peugeot. The family had a metal working business, producing a range of practical goods such as springs, saws, spectacle frames and coffee grinders. In 1872 he married Sophie Leonie Fallot (1852-1930) and they had five children, but their only son, Raymond, died in 1896. Armand Peugeot died on 2 January 1915 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. He was a great great grandson of Jean-Pierre Peugeot.

Education.

He was a graduate of the École Centrale Paris, a prestigious engineering school in France. In 1881, Armand travelled to England where he saw the potential of bicycles and their manufacture.

Business.

From 1865, Armand and his second cousin Eugène became involved with the running of the company, then called Peugeot Frères Aînés. They took it into cycle manufacture in 1882, and exhibited a steam-powered tricycle at the 1889 World Fair in Paris. They created their first car in their workhouse which is located in eastern France.  By 1892, the company name was Les Fils de Peugeot Frères, and they had begun to manufacture cars with Daimler engines. Armand wanted to increase production, but Eugène did not want to commit the company to the necessary investment. So, on 2 April 1896, Armand set up his own company, Société Anonyme des Automobiles Peugeot. He built a factory at Audincourt, dedicated to the manufacture of cars with an internal combustion engine.  In February 1910, without a male heir, he agreed to merge his company with Eugène’s. When he stepped down from managing the company in 1913, Peugeot were the largest car manufacturer in France, producing 10,000 cars per year.

Armand Peugeot (; born 26 March 1849 – died 2 January 1915) was an industrialist in France, pioneer of the automobile industry and the man who transformed Peugeot into a manufacturer of bicycles and, later, of automobiles. He was accepted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1999.


Biography.

Military career.

Franz Epp was born in Munich in 1868, the son of the painter Rudolph Epp and Katharina Streibel. He spent his school years in Augsburg and after this joined the military academy in Munich. He served as a volunteer in East Asia during the Boxer rebellion in 1900–01 and then became a company commander in the colony of German South-West Africa (now Namibia), where he took part in the bloody Herero and Namaqua Genocide. During the First World War, he served as the commanding officer of the Royal Bavarian Infantry Lifeguards Regiment in France, Serbia, Romania, and at the Isonzo front.  For his war service, Epp received numerous medals, of which the Pour le Mérite (29 May 1918) was the most significant. He was also knighted, being made Ritter von Epp on 25 February 1918, and received the Bavarian Military Order of Max Joseph (23 June 1916).

Freikorps.

After the end of the war, Epp formed the "Freikorps Epp", a right-wing paramilitary unit mostly made up of war veterans, of which the future leader of the SA Ernst Röhm was a member. This unit took part in the crushing of the Bavarian Soviet Republic in Munich, being responsible for various massacres. Epp joined the "Reichswehr" and was promoted to Generalmajor in 1922. He took his leave from the German Army after getting involved with right-wing associations in 1923.  When it became necessary for the Nazi Party to purchase a newspaper to publicize its political creed, Epp made available some 60,000 Reichsmarks from secret army funds to acquire the "Völkischer Beobachter", which became the daily mouthpiece of the party.  As the "Sturmabteilung" (SA) expanded, it became an armed band of several hundred thousand men, whose function was to guard Nazi rallies and disrupt those of other political parties. Some of its leaders, particularly Ernst Röhm, visualized the SA as supplanting the regular army when Adolf Hitler came to national power. To this end, a department was set up under Epp called the "Wehrpolitisches Amt" (Army political office). Nothing came of this, as a distrustful Hitler had the SA crushed and many of its leaders killed in the Night of the Long Knives in the summer of 1934.

Career in parliament.

Epp became a member of the German parliament, the "Reichstag", for the Nazi Party after leaving the Bavarian People's Party in 1928, holding this position until 1945. He served as the Nazi Party's head of its Military-Political Office from 1928 to 1945, and later as leader of the German Colonial Society, an organization devoted to regaining Germany's lost colonies.

Reichskommissar of Bavaria.

Epp's final notable historical action occurred on 9 March 1933, two weeks before the Reichstag passed the enabling act, which granted Hitler dictatorial powers. On the orders of Hitler and Wilhelm Frick, he abolished the Government of Bavaria and set up a Nazi regime. He became "Reichskommissar", later "Reichsstatthalter", for Bavaria in 1933, in this position clashing with Bavaria's Nazi prime minister Ludwig Siebert, with Siebert eventually succeeding Epp.  On 8 May 1933, von Epp's "DO X" crashed at the Passau Kachlet. The city named one of its streets "Ritter-von-Epp-Straße".  Epp's attempt to limit the influence of the central government on Bavarian politics failed. He, however, retained his post as "Reichsstatthalter" until the end of the war, although by then he was politically insignificant.

Arrest and death.

He was arrested on Paul Giesler's orders in 1945, for being associated with the "Freiheitsaktion Bayern", an anti-Nazi group led by Rupprecht Gerngroß. However, Epp had not wanted to be directly involved with the group, as he considered their goal—surrender to the Allies—a form of backstabbing of the German Army.  Suffering from a heart condition, he was hospitalised at Bad Nauheim at the end of the war. On 9 May 1945, a clerk at the hospital alerted agents from the US Counterintelligence Corps that Epp was a patient there, and he was arrested and sent to a prison camp in Munich to await trial at Nuremberg. He died in detention on 31 January 1947.

Franz Ritter von Epp, from 1916 "Ritter von Epp", (16 October 1868 – 31 January 1947) was a German general and politician who started his military career in the Bavarian Army. Successful wartime military service earned him a knighthood in 1916. After the end of World War I and the dissolution of the German Empire, von Epp was a commanding officer in the "Freikorps" and the "Reichswehr". He was a member of Bavarian People's Party, before joining the Nazi Party in 1928, when he was elected as a member of the German parliament or "Reichstag", a position he held until the fall of Nazi Germany. He was the "Reichskommissar", later "Reichsstatthalter", for Bavaria.