Molecular biology.

The genetic structure of Schmallenberg virus is typical for Bunyavirales viruses, which are a family of enveloped negative-sense single stranded RNA viruses with a genome split into three parts—Small (S), Medium (M) and Large (L). The L RNA segment encodes an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (L protein), the M RNA segment encodes two surface glycoproteins (Gc and Gn) and a nonstructural protein (NSm), while the S RNA segment encodes a nucleocapsid protein (N) and, in an alternative overlapping reading frame, a second nonstructural protein (NSs). The genomic RNA segments are encapsidated by copies of the N protein in the form of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes. The N protein is the most abundant protein in virus particles and infected cells and, therefore, the main target in many serological and molecular diagnostics.

Signs of disease.

The virus causes two different profiles of Schmallenberg: These disease signs have occurred during the period when the disease vectors (mosquitos, sandflies, midges) are active, during the summer and autumn of 2011, mainly affecting cattle. Congenital malformations in newborn sheep, goats and calves are the most obvious symptoms. In many cases, the dam apparently has not presented signs of illness. These cases have occurred from December 2011, especially in sheep. The major malformations observed were: scoliosis, hydrocephalus, arthrogryposis, hypoplasia of the cerebellum and an enlarged thymus.

Diagnosis.

Blood samples from live animals with suspicious symptoms are taken for analysis. Dead or aborted fetuses suspected of having the virus are sampled by taking a piece of the brain or spleen for analysis. The samples are tested with the RT-PCR for Schmallenberg virus that has been developed by the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute in Germany. A commercial kit is now available from AdiaVet which targets the L region of the tripartite ssRNA genome of the virus.

Cases in the United Kingdom.

The disease was confirmed as present in the UK on 22 January 2012, on being formally identified in four sheep farms in Norfolk, Suffolk and East Sussex. By 27 February 2012, the disease was reported in other counties in the south of England including the Isle of Wight, Wiltshire, West Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Cornwall. It is likely that it was carried to Eastern England by midges from mainland Europe, a possibility previously identified as a risk by Defra.

Import bans.

Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Egypt and Mexico have all suspended imports of live cattle and sheep, along with embryos and semen from affected countries.  United States ban import of bovine germplasm collected in EU countries after June 1, 2011.

Schmallenberg orthobunyavirus, initially reported in October 2011 causes congenital malformations and stillbirths in cattle, sheep, goats, and possibly alpaca. It appears to be transmitted by midges ("Culicoides" spp.) which are likely to have been most active in causing the infection in the northern hemisphere summer and autumn of 2011, with animals subsequently giving birth from late 2011. Schmallenberg virus falls in the Simbu serogroup of Orthobunyaviruses; as of January 2013, it is considered to be most closely related to the Sathuperi and Douglas viruses.


Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange

History and Role.

IPEX came about as the result of a recommendation made by the Conference of the Speakers of the European Union Parliaments in Rome in 2000. In accordance with the Guidelines for interparliamentary cooperation, agreed in The Hague in 2004, the official launch of the website took place in June 2006 during the EU Speakers Conference in Copenhagen. The website was later redesigned, launching its new format in 2011.  IPEX aims to support: the Speakers Conference; the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC); meetings of the specialized committees of the national Parliaments and of the European Parliament; interparliamentary meetings; and the liaison offices of the national parliaments in Brussels. IPEX is thus one of the major pillars of interparliamentary communication on European affairs, drawing together information from each of the national parliaments across the EU.  IPEX is intended to enable the national parliaments of EU Member States to cooperate more closely and coordinate their approaches to European affairs, whilst also seeking to make interparliamentary cooperation on EU matters accessible to European citizens. In this context, IPEX offers multilingual navigation and publishes fundamental texts and opinions of the national parliaments in English, French and other EU languages.  IPEX receives contributions from all national Parliaments of the Member States of the European Union, the national parliaments of the candidate countries and from the European Parliament. In order to promote interparliamentary cooperation, IPEX is open to COSAC and the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD).

Organisation of IPEX.

According to the IPEX Guidelines, the IPEX Board is responsible for decisions concerning the development of IPEX. The Board is appointed on a yearly basis by the Secretaries General of the national Parliaments and the European Parliament on behalf of their Speakers.  IPEX is managed by the Central Support, the permanent IPEX information officer and a network of national IPEX Correspondents.

Features of IPEX.

IPEX features a database of national parliamentary scrutiny information, forums, and a news section. It is publicly accessible.  The website aims to provide the following:  IPEX also hosts the EU Speakers Conference website.

IPEX, the InterParliamentary EU information eXchange, is a platform for the exchange of information between EU national parliaments as well as the European Parliament concerning issues related to the European Union, especially in light of the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Treaty of Lisbon explicitly sets out the role of the national parliaments in the Protocol on the role of national Parliaments in the European Union and in the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.


History.

The Tizen project was formed by the Linux Foundation in 2011 as a successor to MeeGo, another Linux-based mobile operating system, with its main backer Intel joining Samsung Electronics, as well as Access Co., NEC Casio, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile, SK Telecom, Telefónica, and Vodafone as commercial partners. Tizen would be designed to use HTML5 apps, and target mobile and embedded platforms such as netbooks, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and in-car entertainment systems. U.S. carrier Sprint Corporation (who was a backer of MeeGo) joined the Tizen Association in May 2012. On September 16, 2012, Automotive Grade Linux announced its intent to use Tizen as the basis of its reference distribution.  In January 2013, Samsung announced its intent to release multiple Tizen-based phones that year. In February 2013, Samsung merged its Bada operating system into Tizen.  In October 2013, the first Tizen tablet was shipped by Systena. The tablet was part of a development kit exclusive to Japan.  In 2014, Samsung released the Gear 2 smartwatch that used a Tizen-based operating system as opposed to Android.  On May 14, 2014, it was announced that Tizen would ship with Qt. This project was abandoned in January 2017.  On February 21, 2016, Samsung announced the Samsung Connect Auto, a connected car solution offering diagnostic, Wi-Fi, and other car-connected services. The device plugs directly into the OBD-II port underneath the steering wheel.  On November 16, 2016, Samsung said they would be collaborating with Microsoft to bring.NET Core support to Tizen.  According to Strategy Analytics research, approximately 21% of the smart TVs sold in 2018 run on the Tizen platform making it the most popular smart TV platform.

Controversies.

On April 3, 2017, "Vice" reported on its "Motherboard" website that Amihai Neiderman, an Israeli security expert, has found more than 40 zero-day vulnerabilities in Tizen's code, allowing hackers to remotely access a wide variety of current Samsung products running Tizen, such as Smart TVs and mobile phones. After the article was published, Samsung, whom Neiderman tried to contact months before, reached out to him to inquire about his allegations.

Tizen () is a Linux-based mobile operating system backed by the Linux Foundation but developed and used primarily by Samsung Electronics.


The First Basin.

The first Bassin de la Villette is 699 metres long and 70 metres wide. It has served several functions.  Its original function was to serve as a reserve of drinking water for Parisians. Its secondary function, in association with the second basin, was to provide water for navigation on the canals of Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin.  At the beginning of the 19th century the first basin was surrounded by gardens where Parisians came to spend pleasant interludes (walking in summer, skating in winter). But the industrial era of the 1850s saw the disappearance of this aspect of recreation. Goods depots were built on the banks.  In 1832 Paris was hit by a great epidemic of cholera. Parisians using water from the Bassin de la Villette were less severely affected than those using water from the Seine (the Javel and Samaritaine steam pumps) because of waste waters being discharged into the river by the city - especially the waste of the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, where there were many sick, which spanned the small arm of the river between the Ile de la Cité and the left bank.  In the late 19th century, commercial activities developed at the basin. In the same period the Moselle footbridge (13 metres high and a span of 85 metres) was built by Armand Moisant. It was decorated with a clock 3 metres in diameter. This bridge was replaced in 1966.

The Second basin.

The Lifting bridge of the Rue de Crimée or Pont de Flandre, a lifting bridge weighing 85 tons built in 1885, separates the two basins. It allows traffic on the "Rue de Crimée" to cross the canal and connects the "Quai de l'Oise" on the north-west side to the "Quai de la Marne" on the south-east side. When the bridge is raised pedestrian traffic can still continue on a fixed elevated walkway. At the time of its construction it was the third largest lifting bridge to be built in France. It is now the last one in Paris and is registered as an historical monument.  The second basin measures 30 m wide and 730 m long. This basin, which is often prematurely named the "Canal de l'Ourcq", originally ran along the back of the old village of La Villette.  At its northern end is the "roundabout of canals" where the Bassin de la Villette converges with the Canal de l'Ourcq (which brings water for more than 100 km from the river Ourcq) and the Saint-Denis canal which, with a length of 6,647.50 m and a slope of 28.45 m, joins the Seine at Saint-Denis, as well as the small "Darse du fond de Rouvray" canal (a port for the canal ferry boats).

Warehouses.

There are two buildings at the end of the Bassin de la Villette that were built between 1845 and 1853 as commercial warehouses, but which had a certain utilitarian beauty.  They were known as "general merchandise warehouses" and they were first used to store grain and flour. Their design, execution, and placement were based on the urban plans originally conceived by Claude Nicolas Ledoux in the eighteenth century, and they operated in perfect symmetry at the Bassin de la Villette, one on the Quai de la Seine side, and one on the Quai de la Loire side.  Later, they gradually lost their original purpose and at the end of the 20th century were transformed into artists' studios and workshops, small offices, and other small enterprises.  In 1990 the building on the Quai de la Seine side was burned beyond repair. For security reasons the storehouse on the quai de la Loire side was also closed. These warehouses have now been replaced by the MK2 cinema complexes.

River transport and the economic role of the basin.

Intensive freight and port activity developed around the canals from the second quarter of the 19th century. In the last half of the same century there was a great deal of industrialization in Paris in the area of the present Seine-Saint-Denis. At the same time port traffic in the Bassin de la Villette was at its peak and equal to the port of Bordeaux.  During the 20th century this freight traffic experienced significant peaks mainly related to construction activity after the world wars. Steadily declining since the middle of the 20th century this traffic disappeared for the Bassin de La Villette and is currently at its lowest level in history for all Parisian canals (around 1 million tons in 2000).  At the same time tourism-related passengers from the Bassin de la Villette slowly began to increase.

Cultural and leisure activities.

Barges are moored along the banks of the basin throughout the year offering cultural activities such as theatre, cinema, concerts, etc.  In summer the banks of the basin are used by fishermen, bowls players, and picnickers. On summer evenings it is not unusual for the left bank (exposed longer to the sun) to be occupied from one end to the other.  Every year in June is the festival of the basin. There are festive activities on both sides (concerts, mini-shows, exhibitions). The celebration ends with a big fireworks display from the bridge.  Since 2007 an extension of the Paris-Plages has taken possession of a large part of the quay of the Seine and offers taverns, restaurants, boat rides, children's play area, petanque, etc.  Rowing is practiced throughout the year on the water.  On the Quai de la Seine there are the Sup de Pub and Sup Career schools which are both INSEEC Business Schools.

The Bassin de la Villette (La Villette Basin) is the largest artificial lake in Paris. It was filled with water on 2 December 1808. Located in the 19th arrondissement of the capital, it links the Canal de l'Ourcq to the Canal Saint-Martin, and it represents one of the elements of the "Réseau des Canaux Parisiens" (Parisian Canal Network), a public-works authority operated by the city. The other components of the network are the Canal de l'Ourcq, the Canal Saint-Denis, the Canal Saint-Martin, and the Bassin de l'Arsenal. Together, these canals and basins extend roughly.


Venues.

The championship was played at eight venues in Paris-Bercy, Rouen, Nantes, Metz, Albertville, Montpellier, Lille, and Brest. All the venue capacities are the capacity for handball events. 8 venues

Bidding process.

Denmark and France were bidding to host the 2017 Men's World Championships. The IHF Council awarded the Men’s and Women’s World Championships 2017 at their meeting on the fringes of the Women’s World Championships in São Paulo, Brazil on Thursday 15 December 2011.  Denmark was the co-host of the 1999 Women’s World Championship and host of the 1978 Men's World Championship. Denmark has also hosted the Women's EHF EURO twice and was awarded with the Men's EHF EURO 2014.  France hosted the Men's World Championships in 1970 and 2001 and was host of the 2007 Women's World Championship.

Qualification.

Twenty-four teams participated in the final tournament. France were automatically qualified as hosts. An additional automatic qualification spot was given to the defending champions, but because this was also France, the berth was given to the next best placed team from the last World Championship, losing finalists Qatar. The remaining 22 available places were for the best teams of each continental qualification tournament, the winners of an additional European qualification competition and an additional intercontinental qualification tournament.

Draw.

The draw was held on 23 June 2016 at 14:00 in Paris, France.

Referees.

16 referee pairs are selected:

Preliminary round.

The schedule was announced on 23 September 2015.  "All times are local (UTC+1)."

Final ranking.

For places 5–16 the criteria was the number of points gained against the teams ranked first to fourth in the preliminary round in their group.

Awards.

All-Star Team.

All-Star Team of the tournament:

The 2017 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 25th event hosted by the International Handball Federation. The event was held in France from 11 to 29 January 2017.


History.

Alexandre Lenoir.

In 1795, Alexandre Lenoir opened the Musée des monuments français to the public in the Petits Augustins convent, now the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and served as its administrator for 30 years, but he had to restore most of its collections to their former private and public owners on the Bourbon Restoration in 1816. What remained would be partly moved to the Louvre in 1824 (in the galerie d'Angoulême under the generic term of musée de la sculpture française) and partly to the musée de Versailles in 1836.

Viollet-le-Duc.

The architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc suggested gathering reproductions of French sculpture and architecture at a single site in the palais du Trocadéro in 1879, in buildings left vacant after the Exposition universelle in 1878. His proposal was accepted on 4 November. Alexandre du Sommerard would be designated on 20 December to form the musée de la Sculpture comparée. The institution opened its four rooms to the public on 28 May 1882, three more in 1886 and finally its library and foundational documents in 1889.  The palais du Trocadéro, refaced and widened by a second gallery but deprived of its central hemispherical hall, under the direction of architect Jacques Carlu for the Exposition universelle of 1937, became the palais de Chaillot. Wholly redesigned, the museum became the musée des Monuments français. Very avant-garde in terms of its museographic conception and intellectual experimentation, notably through the efforts of the archaeologist Paul Deschamps, it had to close down due to an insufficient budget. In July 1995, a fire partially destroyed the building. Its planned reopening in 1998 was pushed back to 15 September 2007 in connection with the creation of the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine.

Today.

It occupies the aile Paris of the Palais de Chaillot and is made up of three galleries. The galerie Davioud (1878) and galerie Carlu (1937) form a gallery of plaster casts. The upper gallery serves as an exhibition space for modern and contemporary architectural models. Wall paintings and stained glass windows are located at the end of the modern and contemporary architecture gallery; they are shown on two levels. There is also a library as well as rooms for temporary exhibitions.

Collections.

It contains about 6,000 casts of sculptures of all periods including ancient Greece, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, but with a strong emphasis on French sculptures of the Romanesque and Gothic periods. It also contains scale models of buildings, copies of architectural elements, sculpture, frescoes, and stained glass from French churches and châteaux, as well as a collection of about 200,000 photographs. Most copies were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Of particular interest is the Galerie Davioud, which displays casts of sculptures from the Strasbourg Cathedral (13th century), Bourges Cathedral (late 13th century), and the Notre-Dame de Reims. The museum also contains copies of elements from Angoulême Cathedral, Aulnay, Autun, Cluny, Conques, Jouarre, Moissac, Sainte-Marie-des-Dames at Saintes, Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, Saint-Trophime d'Arles, Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines, Saint-Sernin at Toulouse, and Notre-Dame du Port at Clermont-Ferrand.

The Musée national des Monuments Français is today a museum of plaster casts of French monuments located in the Palais de Chaillot, 1, place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, Paris, France. It now forms part of the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, and is open daily except Tuesday. An admission fee is charged.


Club career.

Chelsea.

In August 2010, it was reported that Traoré had joined the Chelsea Academy from French club Auxerre, rejecting Manchester United in the process.  In January 2011, however, Traoré had not yet signed for the club, and in January 2012 the club confirmed that Traoré was not and had never been a Chelsea player, but had appeared once for the club's youth team in a friendly as part of a six-week trial earlier in the season. On 17 July 2013, however, he made his debut, as a trialist, in a pre-season friendly against the Singha All Stars.  On 31 October 2013, Traoré officially signed a four-and-half-year contract with Chelsea. He signed a contract for Chelsea's senior team in December 2013, and completed the transfer on 1 January 2014.

Loan to Vitesse.

On 2 January 2014, Traoré signed on loan for Eredivisie side Vitesse. On 26 January, he made his debut, coming on in the 67th minute for fellow Chelsea loanee Lucas Piazon. On 29 March 2014, Traoré scored his first goal, against Heerenveen. He replaced Mike Havenaar after half-time; in the 67th minute, he scored Vitesse's second goal of the game which was assisted by fellow Chelsea loanee, Christian Atsu. On 6 April, Traoré scored his second goal of the season in a home match against Ajax which ended in a 1–1 draw. On 12 April, Traoré put Vitesse in the lead for the first time in the match against Cambuur, although Vitesse lost the game 4–3 in the end.  On 7 July 2014, it was confirmed that Traoré would stay at Vitesse on loan for the 2014–15 season. Traoré scored his first goal of the season in a 4–1 victory over Willem II on 18 October. While he primarily played on the right wing during his first loan to Vitesse, around December, Traoré made the switch from the right to being the lone striker up top leading up to him scoring on 14 December in a 1–1 draw against Groningen. In the following games, Traoré scored his first brace in a 4–0 win over Ajax in the KNVB Cup, then three days later scored his first league brace in a 3–0 win over Heracles.

2015–16 season: Promotion to first-team.

On 22 June 2015, Traoré received a work permit and therefore clearance to play for Chelsea for the 2015–16 season onwards. He was given the number 14 shirt, previously worn by André Schürrle. On 16 September, Traoré made his Chelsea debut in a 4–0 victory against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the UEFA Champions League group stage, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Ruben Loftus-Cheek. His Premier League debut came on 5 December, playing the final seven minutes of a 0–1 home loss to AFC Bournemouth.  Traoré scored four goals in five matches in early 2016. On 31 January 2016, Traoré scored his first Chelsea goal in a 5–1 victory at Milton Keynes Dons in the FA Cup, confirming the result five minutes after coming on in place of Diego Costa. Two weeks later, after again replacing Costa, he scored his first Premier League goal in a game of the same result against Newcastle United. On 5 March, with Costa rested ahead of a Champions League game, Traoré was given a start in a home Premier League match against Stoke City and scored from 20 yards to open a 1–1 draw, but his performance was described as "mixed" due to "failing to control the ball in the box on a couple of occasions and being caught offside needlessly".

Loan to Ajax.

On 12 August 2016, Traoré signed a new three-year contract with Chelsea and joined Ajax on loan for the 2016–17 campaign, which reunited him with former Vitesse manager, Peter Bosz. On the following day, Traoré made his league debut off the bench, replacing Kasper Dolberg in a 2–2 home draw against Roda JC. On 16 August, Traoré made his first start in a Champions League play-off round against Rostov, a 1–1 draw.  On 15 September, Traoré scored his first Ajax goal in a Europa League group stage tie against Panathinaikos, scoring Ajax's equaliser in a 2–1 win. Just over a week later, he scored his first league goal in a 5–1 win over PEC Zwolle.  On 3 November 2016, Bosz criticised Traoré in an interview stating that there's "nothing wrong with his attitude, but his form is not good".  Traoré scored four goals in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, including two goals in the first leg of the semi-final against his future club Olympique Lyonnais. He played every minute of the final, with Ajax losing to Manchester United 2–0.

Lyon.

On 26 June 2017, Traoré signed for Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais on a five-year contract for an initial transfer fee of €10 million (£8.8 million), plus potential add-ons. Chelsea reportedly inserted a buy-back clause into Traoré's contract and would receive 15 per cent of any profit made by Lyon on the fee should they sell Traoré in the future. Chelsea would also have first refusal should Traoré move again.  In his first season in France, Traoré formed an attacking trio with Mariano Díaz and Memphis Depay, all of whom reached double figures in league goals. He was sidelined with knee ligament injury from November 2017 until January, when he returned and scored a free kick for the reserve team in a 3–2 home loss to SC Schiltigheim in the fourth tier.

International career.

Traoré participated at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup and 2011 African U-17 Championship, and helped Burkina Faso beat Rwanda 2–1 in the continental final.  At the age of 15, Traoré made his debut for the Burkina Faso senior national team on 3 September 2011, in a friendly match against Equatorial Guinea. He made his first appearance at an Africa Cup of Nations finals in the 2012 edition, becoming one of the youngest players to do so. He came on as a 66th-minute substitute for Narcisse Yaméogo in the 2–1 loss to Sudan in their final group stage match with Burkina Faso already eliminated from the tournament after losing their first two group stage matches.  Traoré scored his first goal for the senior national team on 14 August 2013, opening the scoring in a 2–1 friendly away win over Morocco. At the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, he played all three of the team's games in another group stage exit, starting the first two.  Burkina Faso came third at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. Traoré scored in a 2–0 win over Guinea-Bissau in Marrakesh, sending his country to the quarter-finals.

Personal life.

Traoré's father, Feu Traoré Isaï, was also a footballer. He played for RC Bobo and also represented Burkina Faso at international level. Bertrand is the youngest of four children. The second-eldest, Alain, is also a footballer. After moving to Chelsea's academy, Traoré was educated at Whitgift School. He is a Muslim.

Honours.

International.

Burkina Faso U17 Burkina Faso

Bertrand Isidore Traoré (born 6 September 1995) is a Burkinabé professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Lyon and the Burkina Faso national team.


History.

According to the ICOMOS evaluation of this patrimony, "the erection of Marian (plague) columns on town squares is an exclusively Baroque, post-Tridentine, phenomenon. Its iconographic basis lies in the Book of Revelation. The basic model is thought to have been the column in the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, from 1614.  This monument for Olomouc was the culmination of work of several artists and master craftsmen, but it did not bring much fortune to them. The first to die during the work was Wenzel Render, a monumental mason and privileged imperial architect. He came first with the idea to build the column, enforced his will upon the city council, designed it, built the first stage and helped to finance it. His followers Franz Thoneck, Johann Wenzel Rokický and Augustin Scholtz also did not live long enough to see the column finished; it was completed by Johann Ignaz Rokický. The sculptural decoration was started by Phillip Sattler. After his death Andreas Zahner continued and made 18 sculptures and 9 reliefs in 7 years before he died as well. Goldsmith Simon Forstner, who made gilded copper sculptures of the Holy Trinity and of the Assumption of the Virgin, was somewhat luckier and managed to finish his brilliant work. However he lost his health when working on the sculptures and using toxic mercury compounds during the gilding process.  After the Holy Trinity Column was finished in 1754, it became a source of great pride for Olomouc, since all people participating in its creation were citizens of the town. The column was consecrated in a great celebration attended by Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Francis I.  Only four years later, when Olomouc was besieged by a Prussian army and the Holy Trinity Column was hit by shots from Prussian cannons several times, Olomouc citizens went in a procession to beg the Prussian general not to shoot at the monument. General James Keith complied with their wishes. The column was repaired soon after the war and a replica of a stone shot was half-buried in its stem on the place where it was hit to remind people of this event.

Description.

The column is dominated by gilded copper sculptures of the Holy Trinity accompanied by the Archangel Gabriel on the top and the Assumption of the Virgin beneath it.  The base of the column, in three levels, is surrounded by 18 more stone sculptures of saints and 14 reliefs in elaborate cartouches. At the uppermost stage are saints connected with Jesus’ earth life – his mother’s parents St. Anne and St. Joachim, his foster-father St. Joseph, and St. John the Baptist, who was preparing his coming – who are accompanied by St. Lawrence and St. Jerome, saints to whom the chapel in the Olomouc town hall was dedicated. Three reliefs represent the Three theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Love.  Below them, the second stage is dedicated to Moravian saints St. Cyril and St. Methodius (Czech "Metoděj"), who came to Great Moravia to spread Christianity in 863 (St. Methodius became Moravian Archbishop), St. Blaise, in whose name one of the main Olomouc churches is consecrated, and patrons of neighbouring Bohemia St. Adalbert of Prague (Czech "Vojtěch") and St. John of Nepomuk (Czech "Jan Nepomucký"), whose following was very strong there as well.  In the lowest stage one can see the figures of an Austrian patron St. Maurice and a Bohemian patron St. Wenceslas (Czech "Václav"), in whose names two important Olomouc churches were consecrated, another Austrian patron St. Florian, who was also viewed as a protector against various disasters, especially fire, St. John of Capistrano (Czech "Jan Kapistránský"), who used to preach in Olomouc, St. Anthony of Padua, a member of the Franciscan Order, which owned an important monastery in Olomouc, and St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a patron of students. His sculpture showed that Olomouc was very proud of its university.  Reliefs of all twelve apostles are placed among these sculptures.

John Sarkander.

The last missing in this list of saints is St. John Sarkander (Czech "Jan Sarkander"), whose statue (holding a lily as a symbol of purity) is on the second stage. John Sarkander was a priest who was tortured to death in Olomouc prison in the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, because he, as the legend says, refused to break the seal of confession. The decision to place him here violated the tradition, since Sarkander had not been canonized and not even beatified in that time yet, which could have resulted in problems with the Holy See. However, his following was so strong here that the craftsmen decided to take the risk. Sarkander was beatified in 1859 and canonized in 1995 on the occasion of the visit of Pope John Paul II in Olomouc.

Inner chapel.

The column also houses a small chapel inside with reliefs depicting Cain's offering from his crop, Abel's offering of firstlings of his flock, Noah's first burnt offering after the Flood, Abraham's offering of Isaac and of a lamb, and Jesus' death. The cities of Jerusalem and Olomouc can be seen in the background of the last mentioned relief.

Bibliography.

Books in Czech language:

The Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, in the Czech Republic is a Baroque monument (Trinity column) that was built between 1716 to 1754. The main purpose was to celebrate the Catholic Church and faith, partly caused by feeling of gratitude for ending a plague, which struck Moravia (now in the Czech Republic) between 1713 and 1715. The column was also understood to be an expression of local patriotism, since all artists and master craftsmen working on this monument were Olomouc citizens, and almost all depicted saints were connected with the city of Olomouc in some way.


Early life and education.

Earle was born in 1935 in the Gibbstown section of Greenwich Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, to Alice Freas (Richie) Earle and Lewis Reade. Both her parents were enthusiastic about the outdoors and supportive of their daughter's early interests in the natural world. The family moved to Dunedin on the western coast of Florida during Earle's childhood. Earle received an associate degree from St. Petersburg Jr. College (1952), a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida State University (1955), a Master of Science (1956) and a Doctorate of Phycology (1966) from Duke University.

Career.

Earle was the Curator of Phycology at the California Academy of Sciences (1979–1986) and a research associate at the University of California, Berkeley (1969–1981), Radcliffe Institute Scholar (1967–1969) and research fellow at Harvard University (1967–1981).  After receiving her Ph.D. in 1966, Earle spent a year as a research fellow at Harvard, then returned to Florida as the resident director of the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory. In 1969, she applied to join the Tektite Project, an installation fifty feet below the surface of the sea off the coast of the Virgin Islands which allowed scientists to live submersed in their area of study for up to several weeks. Although she had logged more than 1,000 research hours underwater, Earle was rejected from the program. The next year, she was selected to lead the first all-female team of aquanauts in Tektite II.  In 1979, she made an open-ocean JIM suit dive to the sea ocean floor near Oahu, setting a women's depth record of. In 1979 she also began her tenure as the Curator of Phycology at the California Academy of Sciences, where she served until 1986.  From 1980 to 1984, she served on the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere.  In 1982 she and her later husband, Graham Hawkes, an engineer and submersible designer, founded Deep Ocean Engineering to design, operate, support and consult on piloted and robotic subsea systems. In 1985, the Deep Ocean Engineering team designed and built the "Deep Rover" research submarine, which operates down to. By 1986, "Deep Rover" had been tested and Earle joined the team conducting training off Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas.  Earle left the company in 1990 to accept an appointment as Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where she stayed until 1992. She was the first woman to hold that position. During this post, given her expertise on the impact of oil spills, Earle was called upon to lead several research trips during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 to determine the environmental damage caused by Iraq's destruction of Kuwaiti oil wells.  In 1992, Earle founded Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER Marine) to further advance marine engineering. The company, now run by Earle's daughter Elizabeth; designs, builds, and operates equipment for deep-ocean environments.  Since 1998, Earle has been a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. She is sometimes called "Her Deepness" or "The Sturgeon General".  From 1998 to 2002, she led the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, a five-year program sponsored by the National Geographic Society and funded by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund to study the United States National Marine Sanctuary. During this time, Earle was a leader of the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, council chair for the Harte Research Institute for the Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and chair of the Advisory Council for the Ocean in Google Earth. She also provided the DeepWorker 2000 submersible used to quantify the species of fish as well as the space resources utilized within the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.  Earle founded Mission Blue (also known as the Sylvia Earle Alliance, Deep Search Foundation, and Deep Search) in 2009.  Given her past experience with the "Exxon Valdez" and "Mega Borg" oil spills, Earle was called to consult during the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. During this year she also gave a 14-minute speech in front of 3,500 delegates and United Nations ambassadors at The Hague International Model United Nations Conference.  In July 2012, Earle led an expedition to NOAA's Aquarius underwater laboratory, located off Key Largo, Florida. The expedition, entitled "Celebrating 50 Years of Living Beneath The Sea", commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Jacques Cousteau's Conshelf I project and investigated coral reefs and ocean health. Mark Patterson co-led the expedition with Earle. Their aquanaut team also included underwater filmmaker D.J. Roller and oceanographer M. Dale Stokes.  Earle made a cameo appearance in the daily cartoon strip Sherman's Lagoon in the week starting September 17, 2012, to discuss the closing of the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory.  In May 2013, the Science Laureates of the United States Act of 2013 (H.R. 1891; 113th Congress) was introduced into Congress. Earle was listed by one commentator as a possible nominee for the position of Science Laureate, if the act were to pass.  In January 2018, the Seattle Aquarium granted its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award to Earle and renamed the Seattle Aquarium Medal in her honor. The Aquarium's first Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Earle.  Alongside her work at Mission Blue, she also serves on several boards, including the Marine Conservation Institute.  With TED's support, she launched Mission Blue, which aims to establish marine protected areas (dubbed "Hope Spots") around the globe. Mission Blue's vision is to achieve 30% protection of the ocean by 2030, and more than two hundred organisations have supported them in this mission to date (2019). These supporters range from large, global companies to small, bespoke research teams.  With Mission Blue and its partners, Earle leads expeditions to Hope Spots around the globe. Past expeditions include Cuba in 2009, Belize in January 2010, the Galápagos Islands in April 2010, Costa Rica and the Central American Dome in early 2014 and the South African Coast in late 2014.  In August 2014, a Netflix exclusive documentary titled 'Mission Blue' was released. It focuses on Earle's life and career as her Mission Blue campaign to create a global network of marine protected areas.  The organization has continued to grow with Earle's work and the help of her team. As of 2020, Mission Blue has created 122 Hope Spots around the world. (2020).

Publications.

Earle has authored more than 150 publications.

Sylvia Alice Earle (née Reade; born August 30, 1935) is an American marine biologist, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and was named by "Time Magazine" as its first Hero for the Planet in 1998. She is also part of the group Ocean Elders, which is dedicated to protecting the ocean and its wildlife.


Education.

Luks studied at the Pilsen Conservatoire in classes of French horn and piano and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague; in 1992, he resumed his studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in the studios of Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Jesper Christensen (in the fields of historical keyboard instruments and historical performance practice), graduating as a soloist in 1997. During his studies in Basel and in the years that followed, he gave concerts in Europe and overseas as the principal horn player of the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin.

Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704.

Upon his return from abroad, Luks transformed a chamber ensemble which he founded during his studies into the Prague baroque orchestra Collegium 1704 and the affiliated vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704: the most immediate impulse was the project Bach — Prague — 2005, initiated by Luks himself. Since 2007, the ensemble has been making regular guest appearances at festivals and concert halls all over Europe: the Salzburger Festspiele (2015, 2016, 2018), the Berliner Philharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Theater an der Wien and Konzerthaus, the Lucerne Festival, BOZAR (Palais des Beaux-Arts) in Brussels, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, Wratislavia Cantans, and the Elbphilharmonie, and it is an ensemble-in-residence at the festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht and at the Leipzig Bachfest. In 2008, Music Bridge Prague — Dresden began, bringing together the two cities’ wealth of cultural traditions. In 2012 Collegium 1704 started a concert series at the Rudolfinum in Prague. Since autumn 2015, the two cycles have been merged into a single concert season that continues to take place in parallel in Prague and Dresden. In 2019 Collegium Vocale 1704 launched a series of chamber choir concerts in Prague. The ensemble cooperates with prominent soloists, both Czech and international, including Magdalena Kožená, Bejun Mehta, Simona Houda-Šaturová, Martina Janková, Hana Blažíková, Karina Gauvin, Lisandro Abadie, and others.

Work with other ensembles.

In addition to his work with Collegium 1704, Václav Luks also collaborates with international ensembles including Camerata Salzburg, the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, and the Dresdner Kammerchor. Amongst his recent projects have been performances of Purcell’s opera "Dido and Aeneas" with Ensemble Pygmalion at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and a programme with works by Polish composers with the ensemble Orkiestra Historyczna. At a benefit concert for the restoration of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Václav Luks conducted the Orchestre nationale de France.

Teaching.

Between 1996 and 1999, Luks taught basso continuo at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and in 2001–2003 he lectured at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” in Leipzig. He has also worked with the Janáček Academy of Music in Brno and he is regularly invited to sit on juries of international competitions (Schmelzer-Wettbewerb Melk, Prague Spring 2012).

Opera and theatre.

In 2009/2010, Collegium 1704 under Luks's baton performed Handel's "Rinaldo" at the National Theatre in Prague at Théâtre de Caen, Opéra de Rennes, and Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg. In 2013, they performed Josef Mysliveček’s opera "L’olimpiade" and the production was nominated for the 2014 International Opera Awards. In 2017, they followed with Antonio Vivaldi’s "Arsilda, regina di Ponto" in its modern-era world premiere, directed by David Radok - the premiere took place at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava and the production toured several European citites, including Opéra de Lille, Théâtre de la ville de Luxembourg, Théâtre de Caen, and Opéra Royale de Versailles.

Film projects.

In 2014 Collegium 1704 led by Luks collaborated with Bejun Mehta on a DVD of Gluck’s opera "Orfeo ed Euridice" with the stage director Ondřej Havelka, and with Rolando Villazón on the making of the BBC 2 documentary "Mozart in Prague". The ensemble took part in making the director Petr Václav’s upcoming epic film "Il Boemo" about the life of Josef Mysliveček, and previously in the director's documentary about Mysliveček, "Confessions of the Vanished".

Cooperation with radio stations.

Václav Luks works in cooperation with a number of broadcasting networks such as Deutschlandradio Berlin, Schweizer Radio DRS, the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ÖRF), and Radio France and with music publishers including Supraphon, Pan Classics, Zig-Zag Territoires, Arta, and Accent.

Václav Luks (born 14 November 1970) is a Czech harpsichordist, horn player, conductor, musicologist and pedagogue, founder and artistic director of the Prague baroque orchestra Collegium 1704 and of the vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704. He specialises in Baroque music, especially in the works of Jan Dismas Zelenka, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and others. His activities have played an important role in reviving interest in the works of Czech composers including Zelenka and Josef Mysliveček.


Description.

Cape porcupines are the largest rodents in Africa and also the world's largest porcupines. Cape porcupines seem to be the world's fourth heaviest living rodents, after the capybara and the Eurasian and North American beavers. They are similar in appearance to, and only slightly larger than, their close relatives, the crested porcupines, and can most easily be distinguished from them by the presence of a band of short white spines along the midline of the rump. Indian porcupines are almost the same size on average as well, being slightly heavier on average than crested porcupine but slightly lighter than Cape porcupines. Cape porcupines measure long from the head to the base of the tail, with the tail adding a further. They weigh from, with exceptionally large specimens weighing up to ; males and females are not significantly different in size. The average weight of males from Zimbabwe was and while the average for females there was while in the Orange river valley of South Africa males averaged and females averaged.  They are heavily built animals, with stocky bodies, short limbs, and an inconspicuous tail. The body is covered in long spines up to in length, interspersed with thicker, sharply pointed, defence quills up to long, and with bristly, blackish or brownish fur. The spines on the tail are hollow, and used to make a rattling sound to scare away predators. An erectile crest of long, bristly hairs runs from the top of the head down to the shoulders. The spines and quills cover the back and flanks of the animal, starting about a third of the way down the body, and continuing onto the tail. The quills have multiple bands of black and white along their length, and grow from regularly spaced grooves along the animal's body; each groove holding five to eight quills. The remainder of the animal, including the undersides, is covered with dark hair.  The eyes and ears are relatively small, and the mobile whiskers are short. The feet have five clawed toes, although the first toes on the forefeet are vestigial. Females have two pairs of teats.

Distribution and habitat.

Cape porcupines are found across the whole of southern and central Africa, to southern Kenya, Uganda, and Congo at the northern edge of their range. They inhabit a wide range of habitats, from sea level to, although they are only marginally present in dense forests and the driest of deserts, and are not found in swampland. There are no currently recognised subspecies.

Diet and behaviour.

Cape porcupines eat mostly plant material: fruits, roots, tubers, bulbs, and bark. They have a long small intestine and large caecum, employing hindgut fermentation to break down the tough materials in their food. They have also been reported to gnaw on carrion and bones. They are often considered pests by local farmers, because they can feed on crops and damage trees. However, their debarking of trees may also play a role in the maintenance of local savannah ecosystems, helping to prevent the development of denser forested environments.  Cape porcupines are nocturnal and monogamous, typically living as mated pairs of adults, caring for any young together. Each pair may inhabit up to six burrows, jointly defending their shared territory, although they typically forage as individuals. Both sexes scent mark their territory, although males do so more frequently, and may play a more active role in its defence. The size of the home range varies depending on the local habitat and availability of food, but can range between at least.  When attacked, the porcupine freezes. If cornered, it turns vicious and charges to stab its attacker with its quills. Otherwise, the porcupine may retreat into its burrow, exposing only its quills and making it hard to dislodge.

Reproduction.

Cape porcupines mate throughout the year, although births are most common during the rainy season, between August and March. Unless a previous litter is lost, females typically give birth only once each year. Oestrus lasts for an average of nine days, during which a membrane across the vagina opens to allow insemination. After mating, a copulatory plug forms, which is expelled about 48 hours later.  Gestation lasts around 94 days, and results in the birth of a litter of up to three young, although over half of births are of singletons. Newborn young weigh, and initially have soft quills. Although they are born with their incisor teeth fully erupted, the remaining teeth begin to appear at 14 days, with the full set of adult teeth present by 25 months. They are weaned at around 100 days of age, and grow rapidly for the first twenty weeks, reaching the full adult size, and sexual maturity, at the end of their first year.  Relative to most other rodents, Cape porcupines are long-lived, surviving for ten years in the wild, or up to twenty years in captivity.

The Cape porcupine ("Hystrix africaeaustralis") or South African porcupine, is a species of Old World porcupine native to central and southern Africa.


Description.

Chinkapin oak is monoecious in flowering habit; flowers emerge in April to late May or early June. The staminate flowers are borne in catkins that develop from the leaf axils of the previous year, and the pistillate flowers develop from the axils of the current year's leaves. The fruit, an acorn or nut, is borne singly or in pairs, matures in 1 year, and ripens in September or October. About half of the acorn is enclosed in a thin cup and is chestnut brown to nearly black.  Chinkapin oak is closely related to the smaller but generally similar dwarf chinkapin oak ("Quercus prinoides"). Chinkapin oak is usually a tree, but occasionally shrubby, while dwarf chinkapin oak is a low-growing, clone-forming shrub. The two species generally occur in different habitats: chinquapin oak is typically found on calcareous soils and rocky slopes, while dwarf chinkapin oak is usually found on acidic substrates, primarily sand or sandy soils, and also dry shales.  Chinkapin oak is also sometimes confused with the related chestnut oak ("Quercus montana"), which it closely resembles. However, unlike the pointed teeth on the leaves of the chinkapin oak, chestnut oak leaves generally have rounded teeth. The two species have contrasting kinds of bark: chinkapin oak has a gray, flaky bark very similar to that of white oak ("Q. alba") but with a more yellow-brown cast to it (hence the occasional name yellow oak for this species), while chestnut oak has dark, solid, deeply ridged bark. The chinkapin oak also has smaller acorns than the chestnut oak or another similar species, the swamp chestnut oak ("Q. michauxii"), which have some of the largest acorns of any oaks.  Key characteristics of "Quercus muehlenbergii" include:

Classification and nomenclature.

Since its recognition as a different species from the similar-appearing chestnut oak ("Quercus prinus"), "Q. muehlenbergii" has generally been regarded as a distinct species; no subspecies or varieties are currently recognized within it, although a few infraspecific variants had been accepted in the past.  The tree's scientific name honors Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753–1815), a Lutheran pastor and amateur botanist in Pennsylvania. In publishing the name "Quercus mühlenbergii", German-American botanist George Engelmann mistakenly used an umlaut in spelling Muhlenberg's name, even though Pennsylvania-born Muhlenberg himself did not use an umlaut in his name. Under the modern rules of botanical nomenclature, umlauts are transliterated, with "ü" becoming "ue", hence Engelmann's "Quercus mühlenbergii" is now presented as "Quercus muehlenbergii". In lack of evidence that Engelmann's use of the umlaut was an unintended error, and hence correctable, the "muehlenbergii" spelling is considered correct, although the more appropriate orthographic variant "Quercus muhlenbergii" is often seen.  The low-growing, cloning "Q. prinoides" (dwarf chinkapin oak) is similar to "Q. muehlenbergii" and has been confused with it in the past, but is now generally accepted as a distinct species. If the two are considered to be conspecific, the earlier-published name "Quercus prinoides" has priority over "Q. muehlenbergii", and the larger chinkapin oak can then be classified as "Quercus prinoides "var." acuminata", with the dwarf chinkapin oak being "Quercus prinoides "var." prinoides". "Q. prinoides" was named and described by the German botanist Karl (Carl) Ludwig Willdenow in 1801, in a German journal article by Muhlenberg.

Ecology.

Soil and topography.

Chinkapin oak is generally found on well-drained upland soils derived from limestone or where limestone outcrops occur. Occasionally it is found on well-drained limestone soils along streams. Chinkapin oak is generally found on soils that are weakly acid (pH about 6.5) to alkaline (above pH 7.0). It grows on both northerly and southerly aspects but is more common on the warmer southerly aspects. It is absent or rare at high elevations in the Appalachians.

Associated cover.

It is rarely a predominant tree, but it grows in association with many other species. It is a component of the forest cover type White Oak-Black Oak-Northern Red Oak (Society of American Foresters Type 52) and the Post Oak-Blackjack Oak (Type 40) (2).  It grows in association with white oak "(Quercus alba)," black oak (Q. velutina), northern red oak (Q. rubra), scarlet oak "(Q. coccinea)," sugar maple "(Acer saccharum)," red maple (A. rubrum), hickories ("Carya" spp.), black cherry "(Prunus serotina)," cucumbertree "(Magnolia acuminata)," white ash "(Fraxinus americana)," American basswood "(Tilia americana)," black walnut "(Juglans nigra)," butternut "(J. cinerea)," and yellow-poplar "(Liriodendron tulipifera)." American beech "(Fagus grandifolia)," shortleaf pine "("Pinus echinata")," pitch pine "(P. rigida)," Virginia pine "(P. virginiana)," Ozark chinkapin "(Castanea ozarkensis)," eastern redcedar "(Juniperus virginiana)," bluejack oak "(Quercus incana)," southern red oak "(Q. falcata)," blackgum "(Nyssa sylvatica)," and winged elm "(Ulmus alata)" also grow in association with chinkapin oak. In the Missouri Ozarks a redcedar-chinkapin oak association has been described.  The most common small tree and shrub species found in association with chinkapin oak include flowering dogwood "(Cornus )," sassafras "(Sassafras albidum)," sourwood "(Oxydendrum arboreum)," eastern hophornbeam "(Ostrya virginiana)," "Vaccinium" spp., "Viburnum" spp., hawthorns "(Crataegus" spp.), and sumacs "(Rhus" spp.). The most common woody vines are wild grape "(Vitis" spp.) and greenbrier "(Smilax" spp.).

Reaction to competition.

Chinkapin oak is classed as intolerant of shade. It withstands moderate shading when young but becomes more intolerant of shade with age. It is regarded as a climax species on dry, drought prone soils, especially those of limestone origin. On more moist sites it is subclimax to climax. It is often found as a component of the climax vegetation in stands on mesic sites with limestone soils. However, many oak-hickory stands on moist sites that contain chinkapin oak are succeeded by a climax forest including beech, maple, and ash.

Diseases and pests.

Severe wildfire kills chinkapin oak saplings and small pole-size trees, but these often resprout. However, fire scars serve as entry points for decay-causing fungi, and the resulting decay can cause serious losses.  Oak wilt ("Bretziella fagacearum"), a vascular disease, attacks chinkapin oak and usually kills the tree within two to four years. Other diseases that attack chinkapin oak include the cankers "Strumella coryneoidea" and "Nectria galligena", shoestring root rot ("Armillarea mellea"), anthracnose ("Gnomonia veneta"), and leaf blister ("Taphrina" spp.).  The most serious defoliating insects that attack chinkapin oak are the gypsy moth ("Lymantria dispar"), the orangestriped oakworm ("Anisota senatoria"), and the variable oakleaf caterpillar ("Heterocampa manteo"). Insects that bore into the bole and seriously degrade the products cut from infested trees include the carpenterworm ("Prionoyxstus robiniae"), little carpenterworm ("P. macmurtrei"), white oak borer ("Goes tigrinus"), Columbian timber beetle ("Corthylus columbianus"), oak timberworm ("Arrhenodes minutus"), and twolined chestnut borer ("Agrilus bilineatus"). The acorn weevils ("Curculio" spp.), larvae of moths ("Valentinia glandulella" and "Melissopus latiferreanus"), and gall forming cynipids ("Callirhytis" spp.) feed on the acorns.

Uses.

Like that of other white oak species, the wood of the chinkapin oak ("Quercus muehlenbergii") is a durable hardwood prized for many types of construction.  The chinquapin oak is especially known for its sweet and palatable acorns. Indeed, the nuts contained inside of the thin shell are among the sweetest of any oak, with an excellent taste even when eaten raw, providing an excellent source of food for both wildlife and people. The acorns are eaten by squirrels, mice, voles, chipmunks, deer, turkey, and other birds.

Quercus muehlenbergii, the chinkapin or chinquapin oak, is a deciduous species of tree in the white oak group ("Quercus" sect. "Quercus"). The species was often called "Quercus acuminata" in older literature. "Quercus muehlenbergii" (often misspelled as "muhlenbergii") is native to eastern and central North America. It ranges from Vermont to Minnesota, south to the Florida panhandle, and west to New Mexico in the United States. In Canada it is only found in southern Ontario, and in Mexico it ranges from Coahuila south to Hidalgo.


Biography.

Somerset, born about January 1436, was the son of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, and Eleanor, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and widow of Thomas, fourteenth baron Roos of Hamlake. From 1443 to 1448 Henry was styled Earl of Mortain or Morteign, and from 1448 to 1455 Earl of Dorset. While still a youth he fought at the First Battle of St Albans (1455), where he was wounded and his father was killed; thereby he inherited the title of 3rd Duke of Somerset.  He was regarded as "the hope of the [Lancastrian] party", but he also inherited the "enmities entailed upon him by his father's name". He was brought to the council at Coventry, where in October 1456 an effort was made to reconcile the two parties; but the meeting was disturbed by quarrels between Somerset and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and by a brawl between Somerset's men and the town watch of Coventry. In 1457 Queen Margaret of Anjou suggested a marriage between Somerset and his cousin Joan, sister of James II of Scotland, but the proposal came to nothing. On 14 October of that year Somerset was made lieutenant of the Isle of Wight and warden of Carisbrooke Castle. Early in 1458 he took part in the council at London which again endeavoured to effect a political reconciliation, and it was agreed that Richard, Duke of York should pay the widowed Duchess of Somerset and her children an annual pension of five thousand marks as compensation for the death of the 2nd Duke. He then participated in The Love Day with the King, Queen and other leading nobles.  The truce, however, was hollow; Margaret continued to intrigue against York, and in October 1458 proposed that Somerset should be appointed captain of Calais in place of Warwick. War broke out in 1459, and Somerset nearly encountered Warwick at Coleshill just before the Battle of Blore Heath. After the defeat of the Yorkists at Ludford Bridge, he was on 9 October nominated captain of Calais. He crossed the Channel and was refused admittance to Calais by Warwick's adherents, but made himself master of the outlying fortress of Guisnes (appointing Andrew Trollope its bailiff). Somerset fought several skirmishes with the Yorkists between Calais and Guisnes until on 23 April 1460 he suffered a decisive reverse at the Battle of Newnham Bridge (called "Pont de Neullay" by the French).  During his absence the Yorkists had won the Battle of Northampton, but Somerset joined the Lancastrians at Pontefract in December 1460, captured a portion of the Yorkist forces at Worksop on 21 December, and won the Lancastrian victory at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December. He marched south with Margaret and fought at the Second Battle of St Albans (17 February 1461). This second victory was not followed up; the Lancastrians retired north, and on 29 March Edward IV won the Battle of Towton (29 March 1461). Somerset escaped from the battlefield, and in the following July was sent by Margaret to seek aid from Charles VII of France. Charles died before their arrival, but Louis XI summoned Somerset to Tours and sent him back in March 1462 laden with promises of support, but with very little else.  Somerset now began to consider making his peace with Edward IV. He had been attainted by parliament on 4 November 1461, and most of his lands had been granted to Edward's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester and other Yorkists. On his return from France he took command of the Lancastrian forces in Scotland while Margaret went to France, and in the autumn of 1462 he was holding Bamburgh Castle for the Lancastrians. On 24 December, however, he surrendered the castle to Sir Ralph Percy and submitted to King Edward. The king took him to London, and treated him with marked favour. He received a general pardon on 10 March 1462/1463, and was restored to his dignities by act of the parliament which met on 29 April following.  Somerset, however, soon returned to his old allegiance. Early in 1464 he escaped from Holt Castle in North Wales, where he seems to have been kept in some sort of confinement, and after nearly being recaptured made his way to Margaret on the borders. The Lancastrians now made one more effort to recover the crown, but at the Battle of Hexham on 15 May 1464 they were utterly defeated by John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu. Somerset was captured in a barn at the site of what is now known as Dukes House, and beheaded shortly afterwards that same day. He was buried at Hexham Abbey. Parliament annulled the act restoring him to his dignities, which again became forfeit and were never restored. Somerset was unmarried, and his younger brother, Edmund Beaufort, was styled 4th Duke of Somerset by the Lancastrians.  In 1485, some twenty-one years after his death, Somerset, along with Jasper Tudor, had all acts of attainder against him annulled in the first Parliament of Henry VII, "for their true and faithfull Allegeaunces and Services doune to the said blessed King Herrie [VI]."

Character.

Somerset was described by Chastellain as ""un très grand seigneur et un des plus beaulx josnes chevaliers qui fust au royaume anglais"" ("A very great lord and one of the most handsome knights in the English kingdom"). He was probably as competent as any of the Lancastrian leaders, but their military capacity was not great.

Illegitimate progeny.

By his mistress Joan Hill he had an illegitimate son:

References.

Attribution

Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset (26 January 143615 May 1464) was an important Lancastrian military commander during the English Wars of the Roses. He is sometimes numbered the 2nd Duke of Somerset, because the title was re-created for his father after his uncle died. He also held the subsidiary titles of 5th Earl of Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Dorset and 2nd Earl of Dorset.


Early life and education.

Elias Boudinot was born in Philadelphia on May 2, 1740. His father, Elias Boudinot III, was a merchant and silversmith; he was a neighbor and friend of Benjamin Franklin. His mother, Mary Catherine Williams, was born in the British West Indies; her father was from Wales. Elias' paternal grandfather, Elie (sometimes called Elias) Boudinot, was the son of Jean Boudinot and Marie Suire of Marans, Aunis, France. They were a Huguenot (French Protestant) family who fled to New York about 1687 to avoid the religious persecutions of King Louis XIV.  Mary Catherine Williams and Elias Boudinot Sr. were married on August 8, 1729. Over the next twenty years, they had nine children. The first, John, was born in the British West Indies-Antigua. Of the others, only the younger Elias and his siblings Annis, Mary, and Elisha reached adulthood. Annis became one of the first published women poets in the Thirteen Colonies, and her work appeared in leading newspapers and magazines. Elisha Boudinot became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.  After studying and being tutored at home, Elias Boudinot went to Princeton, New Jersey to read the law as a legal apprentice to Richard Stockton. An attorney, he had married Elias' older sister Annis Boudinot. Richard Stockton was later a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.

Career.

In 1760, Boudinot was admitted to the bar, and began his practice in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He owned land adjacent to the road from Elizabethtown to Woodbridge Township, New Jersey.

Marriage and family.

After getting established, on April 21, 1762, Boudinot married Hannah Stockton (1736–1808), Richard's younger sister. They had two children, Maria Boudinot, who died at age two, and Susan Vergereau Boudinot.  Susan married William Bradford, who became Chief Justice of Pennsylvania and Attorney General under George Washington. After her husband's death in 1795, Susan Boudinot Bradford returned to her parents' home to live. The young widow edited her father's papers. Now held by Princeton University, these provide significant insight into the events of the Revolutionary era.  In 1805, Elias, Hannah and Susan moved to a new home in Burlington, New Jersey. Hannah died a few years after their move, and Elias lived there for the remainder of his years.

Later career.

In his later years, Boudinot invested and speculated in land. He owned large tracts in Ohio including most of Green Township in what is now the western suburbs of Cincinnati, where there is a street bearing his surname. At his death, he willed to the city of Philadelphia for parks and city needs. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, New Jersey.

Political career.

Boudinot became a prominent lawyer and his practice prospered. As the revolution drew near, he aligned with the Whigs, and was elected to the New Jersey provincial assembly in 1775. In the early stages of the Revolutionary War, he was active in promoting enlistment; several times he loaned money to field commanders to purchase supplies. Boudinot helped support the activities of rebel spies. After the British occupation of New York City, spies were sent to Staten Island and Long Island, New York to observe and report on movements of specific British garrisons and regiments.  On May 5, 1777, General George Washington asked Boudinot to be appointed as commissary general for prisoners. Congress through the board of war concurred. Boudinot was commissioned as a colonel in the Continental Army for this work. He served until July 1778, when competing responsibilities forced him to resign. The commissary managed enemy prisoners, and also was responsible for supplying American prisoners who were held by the British.  In November 1777, the New Jersey legislature named Boudinot as one of their delegates to the Second Continental Congress. His duties as Commissary prevented his attendance, so in May 1778 he resigned. By early July he had been replaced and attended his first meeting of the Congress on July 7, 1778. As a delegate, he still continued his concerns for the welfare of prisoners of war. His first term ended that year.  In 1781, Boudinot returned to the Congress, for a term lasting through 1783. In November 1782, he was elected as President of the Continental Congress for a one-year term. The President of Congress was a mostly ceremonial position with no real authority, but the office did require him to handle a good deal of correspondence and sign official documents. On April 15, 1783 he signed the Preliminary Articles of Peace. When the United States (US) government was formed in 1789, Boudinot was elected from New Jersey to the US House of Representatives. He was elected to the second and third congresses as well, where he generally supported the administration. He refused to join the expansion of affiliated groups that formed formal political parties.  In 1794, he declined to serve another term, and left Congress in early 1795. In October 1795, President George Washington appointed him as Director of the United States Mint, a position he held through succeeding administrations until he retired in 1805.

Later public service.

In addition to serving in political office, Elias supported many civic, religious, and educational causes during his life. Boudinot served as one of the trustees of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) for nearly half a century, from 1772 until 1821. When the Continental Congress was forced to leave Philadelphia in 1783 while he was president, he moved the meetings to Princeton, where they met in the College's Nassau Hall.  On September 24, 1789, the House of Representatives voted to recommend the First Amendment of the newly drafted Constitution to the states for ratification. The next day, Congressman Boudinot proposed that the House and Senate jointly request of President Washington to proclaim a day of thanksgiving for "the many signal favors of Almighty God." Boudinot said that he could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them.  Boudinot was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814.  A devout Presbyterian, Boudinot supported missions and missionary work. He wrote "The Age of Revelation" in response to Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason." He was one of the founders of the American Bible Society, and after 1816 served as its President.  He argued for the rights of black and American Indian citizens, and sponsored students to the Board School for Indians in Connecticut. One of these, a young Cherokee named "Gallegina Uwatie", also known as "Buck Watie", stayed with him in Burlington on his way to the school. The two so impressed each other that "Gallegina" asked for and was given permission to adopt the statesman's name. Later known as Elias Boudinot, he was an editor of the "Cherokee Phoenix", the nation's first newspaper, which was published in Cherokee and English.

Archival collections.

The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia has a collection of incoming correspondence and several legal agreements pertaining to land ownership related to Boudinot from 1777–1821 in its holdings. The correspondence dating from 1777–1778 almost exclusively deals with the trading and releasing of prisoners.

Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as President of Congress from 1782 to 1783. He was elected as a U.S. Congressman for New Jersey following the American Revolutionary War. He was appointed by President George Washington as Director of the United States Mint, serving from 1795 until 1805.


History.

The website was co-founded in 2009–2010 by a group of 5 Hong Kong people: University of Hong Kong student Ray Chan, his brother Chris Chan, Derek Chan, Marco Fung and Brian Yu, with the intention of creating an alternative online platform to email on which users could easily share humorous photos or videos. In a 2012 interview, its CEO Ray Chan declined to explain the origins of the name "9GAG".  Starting the company under a "Just for Fun" mentality, 9GAG's co-founders began using 9GAG as a résumé-builder for the 500 Startups accelerator program. During the summer program, the 9GAG team worked on other startup ideas, including StartupQuote and Songboard.  In July 2012, 9GAG raised an additional US$2.8 million in funding from Silicon Valley-based venture capital, including True Ventures and Greycroft Partners. In August 2012, 9GAG received another US$2.8 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capitalists, including True Ventures and Greycroft Partners, as well as individual investors like Christopher Sacca, Kevin Rose, and Naval Ravikant. This funding was able to support 9GAG's engineering team growth both in Hong Kong and in Silicon Valley. 9GAG is headquartered in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong with offices in Mountain View, California.

Mobile app development.

9GAG has a mobile application on iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, and BlackBerry 10.  In July 2012, 9GAG launched an app for iOS and Android. The mobile application serves as a streamlined version of the web-based content. In summer 2014 9GAG launched 9CHAT. 9GAG users are able to log into their account and write to others by sending them a message. 9CHAT also added support for the creation of groups in different sections. January 2015, 9GAG launched its first game called "9GAG Redhead redemption".

Content and authorship.

9GAG users and admins may also re-post content (usually without any consent from its respective authors) from other websites (e.g. 4chan, Newgrounds, Reddit, SomethingAwful, FunnyJunk, YTMND, Instagram, etc.), replacing the source site's watermark with their own. In 2011, 9GAG and 4chan disputed authorship of internet memes published on both websites, whereby each company claimed the memes originated from their own website. As stated by 9GAG co-founder Ray Chan, "9GAG does not create memes or rage comics, but helps spread them." In a 2015 "Slate" article, writer Amanda Hess described 9GAG's reposting of content from Instagram as part of an "online ecosystem of joke stealing".  In his 2014 article "Building Identity and Building Bridges Between Cultures: The Case of 9gag", the linguist Albin Wagener examined 446 posts found on 9GAG's main page; of these, 40 (8.97%) were clearly discriminatory Most of the discriminatory posts were misogynist (57.5%), followed by cultural discrimination (25%) and homophobia (12.5%). According to Wagener, 9GAG brings people together in an international context, but through masculine and heterosexual symbolism and the devaluation of other groups.

9GAG is a Hong Kong–based online platform and social media website, which allows its users to upload and share "user-generated content" or other content from external social media websites. Since the platform for collections of Internet memes was launched on July 1, 2008, it has grown in popularity across the social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


Life and career.

1986–2010: Early life and work.

Madden was born on 18 June 1986 in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, outside the city of Glasgow, where he was also raised alongside his two sisters. His mother, Pat, is a primary school teacher, and his father, Richard, worked as a firefighter. At age 11, Madden joined PACE Youth Theatre to help overcome his shyness. He was soon cast in his first role as young Andy in the film adaptation of Iain Banks' "Complicity", which was released in 2000. He was then cast in the lead role of Sebastian in the children's television series "Barmy Aunt Boomerang", which aired from 1999 until 2000. Madden later stated that he experienced bullying following his performance in "Complicity", especially in high school.  He later attended the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, in Glasgow, graduating in 2007. He worked with The Arches and the Glasgow Repertory Company during his studies; he also performed in Franz Xaver Kroetz's play "Tom Fool" at the Citizens Theatre. After receiving positive reviews, the "Tom Fool" production transferred to London, where Madden was spotted by a team from Shakespeare's Globe. In his final year at the conservatoire, he was cast as Romeo in a production of "Romeo and Juliet" at the modern Globe Theatre in London, after which the company embarked on a tour of the production during the summer of 2007. In her review of the production, Susan Elkin of "The Stage" highlighted Madden's "gravelly Glaswegian, almost childlike Romeo".  He played Callum McGregor in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Malorie Blackman's "Noughts & Crosses" in 2008. He then starred as Mark McNulty in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of "Be Near Me" in 2009, during which Warwick Thompson of "Bloomberg" noted Madden's performance to be "especially good". Susan Mansfield of "The Scotsman" reported that Madden has caught the eye of critics for his work and reported additional positive reviews of his work by "The Daily Telegraph" and "The Observer." He later gained the lead role of Dean McKenzie in the 2009 BBC comedy-drama series "Hope Springs", followed by his roles as Ripley in the 2010 film "Chatroom", and as Theatre of Hate singer Kirk Brandon in the 2010 film "Worried About the Boy".

2011–present: Breakthrough.

Madden starred as Robb Stark in the HBO series "Game of Thrones", based upon the series of novels titled "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R. R. Martin, from 2011 to 2013. Madden's performance in the series propelled him to prominence. During this period, Madden also starred in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series "Sirens" and in the BBC drama series "Birdsong". Madden first obtained his Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card for the 2014 miniseries "Klondike", in which he played Bill Haskell, a real-life adventurer who participated in the Klondike Gold Rush. He then portrayed the prince in the live action Disney film "Cinderella", which was released in March 2015. The film became a commercial and critical success, receiving positive reviews and grossing over $542 million.  Between 12 May and 13 August 2016, Madden appeared on stage in London's West End playing the part of Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet", where he was reunited with his "Cinderella" co-star Lily James, who played Juliet, and director Kenneth Branagh. Madden was replaced as Romeo in July 2016 after suffering an ankle injury. He then played the leading role of Cosimo de' Medici, the son of the founder of the Medici Bank during the Italian Renaissance, in the first season of the Italian-British television drama series, "Medici", subtitled "Masters of Florence". In the same year, he portrayed American pickpocket Michael Mason in the 2016 action film "Bastille Day", starring alongside Idris Elba.  In 2018, Madden garnered acclaim and recognition for his portrayal of Sergeant David Budd, a war veteran and Principal Protection Officer, in the BBC thriller series "Bodyguard". After achieving high levels of popularity in the UK, the show was released to a worldwide audience on Netflix in October 2018. His performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. The series went on to become the UK's most watched television drama since current records began. "Bodyguard" was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, however, critics and viewers alike expressed disappointment over the fact that Madden did not receive an Emmy nomination for his performance, deeming it a snub. Following his performance in "Bodyguard", Madden starred in the Netflix romantic comedy film "Ibiza" alongside Gillian Jacobs, Vanessa Bayer and Phoebe Robinson. In 2019, Madden portrayed music manager John Reid in the Elton John biopic "Rocketman", which was released in May, and appeared as a lieutenant in Sam Mendes' war film "1917", which was released in December.  Madden will also star as Ikaris in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film "The Eternals", directed by Chloé Zhao, which is scheduled for a February 2021 release. He has also been cast in a leading role in an upcoming Amazon Studios "multi-series" titled "Citadel", executive produced by Anthony and Joe Russo.

Public image.

Madden won Most Stylish Male at the Scottish Style Awards in October 2009 and was also named in "Esquire"s Hottest Stars for 2010. He was named one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow in 2011. In 2019, Madden was recognised with the "GQ" Men of the Year Award for Hugo Boss Most Stylish Man. He was also named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by "Time" magazine in the same year.

Personal life.

Madden was previously in a relationship with English actress Jenna Coleman. As of May 2019, Madden split his time between his residence in London and Los Angeles. When asked about his romantic life during a "New York Times" interview, Madden stated: "I just keep my personal life personal." In July 2019, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Drama from his alma mater, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Richard Madden (born 18 June 1986) is a Scottish film and television actor. Born and raised in Renfrewshire near Glasgow, Madden rose to prominence in 2011 for his portrayal of Robb Stark in the first three seasons of HBO's fantasy drama "Game of Thrones", for which he received the Screen International Award for Star of Tomorrow. In 2018, he gained acclaim for his performance as a war veteran and Principal Protection Officer in the BBC thriller series "Bodyguard", for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.


Early life.

Diamond was educated at Norwich School and later studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1824. He set up in private medical practice in Soho, London, and then decided to specialise in psychiatry, being appointed to Springfield asylum, the first Surrey County Asylum. Diamond later moved to Brookwood Hospital, also in Surrey. Diamond was one of the founders of the Photographic Society, was later its Secretary and also became the editor of the Photographic Journal.

Work.

Diamond was fascinated by the possible use of photography in the treatment of mental disorders; some of his many calotypes depicting the expressions of people suffering from mental disorders are particularly moving. These were used not only for record purposes, but also, he claimed in the treatment of patients - although there was little evidence of success.  Perhaps it is for his attempts to popularize photography and to lessen its mystique that Diamond is best remembered. He wrote many articles and was a popular lecturer, and he also sought to encourage younger photographers. Among the latter was Henry Peach Robinson, who was later to refer to Diamond as a "father figure" of photography.  Recognition for his encouragement and for his willingness to share his knowledge came in 1855, in the form of a testimonial amounting to £300 for services to photography; among those who subscribed were such people as Delamotte, Fenton and George Shadbolt. In 1867, the Photographic Society awarded its Medal in recognition of "his long and successful labours as one of the principal pioneers of the photographic art and of his continuing endeavours for its advancement." The following year, at his own initiative, he relinquished any further salary as Secretary of the Society, and became its Hon. Secretary.

Hugh Welch Diamond (1809 – June 21, 1886) was an early British psychiatrist and photographer who made a major contribution to the craft of psychiatric photography.


Early life.

O'Hare was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Margaret Karene (née Kennedy; January 25, 1931 – October 8, 2008) and John M. O'Hare. He has three sisters, Pam, Patricia and Kathleen, and one brother, Michael. O'Hare grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, living in Southfield until he was 15, when his family moved to Wing Lake in Bloomfield Hills. His mother was a musician and he grew up playing the church organ. O'Hare is of Irish descent and holds an Irish passport.  As a teenager, O'Hare was in his school's choir and in 1974 he went to his first audition, gaining a chorus part in a community theatre production of "Show Boat". In 1980, O'Hare left Detroit for Chicago to study theatre at Northwestern University.

Career.

O'Hare won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Richard Greenberg's "Take Me Out", where his character's lengthy monologues in which he slowly falls in love with the game of baseball were considered the main reason for his award. He won the 2005 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Oscar Lindquist in the Broadway revival of "Sweet Charity".  In 2003 O'Hare played a doctor in "21 Grams". In 2004, he played Charles J. Guiteau in the Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins", for which he was nominated for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award. He lost to co-star Michael Cerveris who played John Wilkes Booth. Before appearing in those shows, he appeared on Broadway in the 1998 revival of "Cabaret", in which he played Ernst Ludwig onstage and the clarinet in the show's orchestra, the Kit Kat Band. O'Hare was featured in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of "Saint Maybe". He has appeared as a guest star on several episodes of "Law & Order" and its spin-offs, "" and "".  In 2008, he appeared as a guest star on several episodes of "Brothers & Sisters". His feature film credits include "The Anniversary Party", "21 Grams", "Garden State", "Derailed", "Michael Clayton", "A Mighty Heart", "Half Nelson", "Milk", "Edge of Darkness", "Charlie Wilson's War" and "Changeling". In 2009, O'Hare portrayed Phillip Steele (an amalgam character based on Quentin Crisp's friends Phillip Ward and Tom Steele) in a television biopic on Crisp entitled "An Englishman in New York". The same year he played therapist Dr. David Worth in the series "Bored to Death" (episode 1.3). In 2010, O'Hare joined the cast of HBO's "True Blood" in its third season as Russell Edgington, the vampire king of Mississippi who is 2,800 years old. In 2011, he appeared in the film "The Eagle" as a Roman officer named Lutorius. Recently he has appeared in a recurring role as Judge Charles Abernathy on the television drama series "The Good Wife". O'Hare also co-starred as Larry Harvey in FX's first season of "American Horror Story", "".  In 2012, O'Hare starred alongside Amy Adams and Donna Murphy as the Baker in Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" at The Public Theater. The production played at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, NYC, from July 23 to September 1, 2012. In 2013, O'Hare returned to "American Horror Story" for its third season, "", where he portrayed Spalding, the house butler. O'Hare portrayed con artist, Stanley on the fourth season of the series, "". In 2015, O'Hare played a hotel worker, Liz Taylor on the fifth season of the series, "", and in 2016 he was Dr. Elias Cunningham on the sixth season, "".

Personal life.

O'Hare is gay and has been married to designer Hugo Redwood since July 28, 2011. The couple have an adopted son, Declan. He identifies as an atheist.

Denis Patrick Seamus O'Hare (born January 17, 1962) is an American actor, singer, and author noted for his award-winning performances in the plays "Take Me Out" and "Sweet Charity", as well as portraying vampire king Russell Edgington on HBO's fantasy series "True Blood". He is also known for his supporting roles in such films as "Charlie Wilson's War", "Milk", "Changeling", and "Dallas Buyers Club". In 2011, he starred as Larry Harvey in the of the FX anthology series "American Horror Story", for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie in 2012. He returned to the show in 2013, playing Spalding in "" and once more as Stanley in "", the latter for which he earned a second Primetime Emmy Award nomination. For his performance in "" as Liz Taylor, O'Hare received critical acclaim.


History.

21st century.

During the Syrian Civil War, Douma has been a major flashpoint and witnessed numerous demonstrations against the Syrian government and armed clashes against the Syrian Army and Security forces during the early stages of the conflict.  On 30 January 2012, the Syrian Army gained control of the city after the Battle of Douma, a major operation against the opposition armed groups in Rif Dimashq Governorate.  On 29 June 2012, the Syrian Army was accused of committing a massacre in Douma, where more than 50 people were killed.  As of 18 October 2012, the Free Syrian Army was in control of most of the suburb. Fighting and bombardments continued in the town.  Douma is the main city of the Siege of Eastern Ghouta, begun in April 2013, isolating 400,000 people in a 100 square kilometre area. UN and Red Cross aid convoys were able to reach Douma with food and supplies once in 2018.  In the 2015 Douma market massacre, the city was attacked by Syrian Army ground-to-ground missiles, leaving at least 50 dead and several more missing.  In early 2018, the main rebel faction based in the city was Saudi Arabian-backed Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam), with an estimated 10-15,000 fighters in the region.  On 7 April 2018, a chemical attack was carried out in the city. Douma had been the target of four reported chemical attacks over four months in 2018, as pro-government forces intensified their aerial bombardment before launching a ground offensive. The last - and deadliest, according to medics and rescue workers occurred when a yellow industrial gas cylinder was reportedly dropped onto the balcony of a block of flats. The opposition's surrender came a day later. In September 2018 the UN Commission of Enquiry on Syria reported: "Throughout 7 April, numerous aerial attacks were carried out in Douma, striking various residential areas. A vast body of evidence collected by the Commission suggests that, at approximately 7.30 p.m., a gas cylinder containing a chlorine payload delivered by helicopter struck a multi-storey residential apartment building located approximately 100 metres south-west of Shohada square. The Commission received information on the death of at least 49 individuals, and the wounding of up to 650 others... the Commission cannot make yet any conclusions concerning the exact causes of death, in particular on whether another agent was used in addition to chlorine that may have caused or contributed to deaths and injuries" Local rebels and civilians were sent into northern Syria in forced exile. Similar forced displacement deals have taken place all over Syria.

Climate.

Douma has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification "BSk").

Douma () is a city in Syria. Its centre is about northeast of the centre of Damascus. Being the centre of Rif Dimashq governorate (which completely surrounds the Damascus Governorate), the town is also the administrative centre of Douma District. Douma is a major city of the region known as Ghouta, for the peri-urban settlements to the east and south of Damascus.


Club career.

Early years / Espanyol.

Born in Sabadell, Barcelona, Catalonia, Tello started playing at the age of eight with CFU Can Rull, moving to FC Barcelona shortly after and being loaned to another club in the region, CF Damm, for one year.  In 2008, his contract expired and RCD Espanyol signed him. He made his senior debut in the 2009–10 season, playing four games with the B-team and being relegated from the third division.

Barcelona.

In June 2010, Tello moved back to FC Barcelona B, who competed in the second level. On 9 November 2011 he made his debut for "Barça"'s main squad, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away win against CE L'Hospitalet in that season's Copa del Rey; he scored a brace in the second leg, a 9–0 demolition.  Tello made his first La Liga appearance on 28 January 2012, coming on as a substitute for Adriano in the 75th minute of a 0–0 away draw at Villarreal CF. The following weekend, in his first league start, he opened the score in the eighth minute of a 2–1 home victory over Real Sociedad after a through ball by Lionel Messi, and played the entire match. On 7 March 2012, Tello replaced Andrés Iniesta early into the second half of a match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Camp Nou, taking his bow in the UEFA Champions League: he scored his first goal within two minutes, after Cesc Fàbregas played him through over the top and he ran from the halfway line to net from just inside the penalty area for the 4–0; six minutes later, from a similar position, he made it 6–0 for the hosts in an eventual 7–1 win (10–2 on aggregate).  Even though his future initially seemed uncertain, Tello managed to convince new manager Tito Vilanova and stayed in roster for 2012–13, inclusively going on to start in several games. On 19 September 2012 he scored the opener and assisted Messi in the second goal, in an eventual 3–2 home defeat of FC Spartak Moscow in the campaign's Champions League group stage, where he was also chosen as "Player of the match".  On 13 December 2012, Tello signed a new contract with Barcelona, keeping him with the "Blaugrana" until June 2016. Nine days later he scored after only 30 seconds on the pitch, in the last play of a 3–1 away win against Real Valladolid.  Tello fell further down the offensive pecking order in the 2013–14 season, following the arrival of Neymar. He scored his first goal of the campaign on 11 December in a 6–1 home rout of Celtic in the Champions League group stage, and six days later he also found the net, in a 3–0 victory against FC Cartagena in the domestic cup (7–1 on aggregate). In the quarter-finals of the latter competition, away to Levante UD, he profited from three Messi assists to score his first hat-trick as a professional as his team won 4–1.  On 16 July 2014, Tello was loaned to FC Porto of the Primeira Liga in a two-year deal. He scored his first goal for the club on 25 November, entering as a substitute for Ricardo Quaresma and concluding a 3–0 victory at FC BATE Borisov for the Champions League group stage. Five days later, he netted his first league goal, the opener in a 5–0 home win over Rio Ave FC.  Tello scored all of his team's goals as they beat Sporting CP 3–0 on 1 March 2015.  On 22 January 2016, Barcelona and ACF Fiorentina reached an agreement for the loan of Tello until 30 June 2016. He made his Serie A debut on 3 February, starting a 2–1 win over Carpi F.C. 1909 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, and scored his first goal 18 days later in a 3–2 success at Atalanta BC.  On 16 August 2016, the loan was renewed for the upcoming season.

Betis.

On 30 June 2017, Tello joined Real Betis for €4 million (potentially €5 million).

International career.

Tello was a member of the Spanish squad that participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, playing all three games in an eventual group stage exit. He made his debut with the full side on 14 August 2013, starting in a 2–0 friendly win in Ecuador.

Honours.

Club.

Barcelona

International.

Spain U21

Cristian Tello Herrera (; born 11 August 1991) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for Real Betis.