Biography.

Eugène Adrien Roland Georges Garros was born in Saint-Denis, Réunion, and studied at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and HEC Paris.  At the age of 12, he contracted pneumonia, and was sent to Cannes to recuperate. He took up cycling to restore his health, and went on to win an inter-school championship in the sport. He was also keen on football, rugby and tennis.  When he was 21 he started a car dealership in Paris. He was a close friend of Ettore Bugatti and in 1913 became the first owner of a Garros Bugatti Type 18, later christened "Black Bess" by its second owner, British racing driver Ivy Cummings, which survives today at the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands.

Aviation.

During his summer holiday in 1909, at Sapicourt near Reims, staying with a friend's uncle, he saw the Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne which ran from 22 to 29 August. After this, he knew he had to be an aviator.  He started his aviation career in 1909 flying a Demoiselle (Damselfly) monoplane, an aircraft that only flew well with a small lightweight pilot. He gained Ae.C.F. licence no. 147 in July 1910. In 1911 Garros graduated to flying Blériot monoplanes and entered a number of European air races with this type of aircraft, including the 1911 Paris to Madrid air race and the Circuit of Europe (Paris–London–Paris), in which he came second.  On 4 September 1911, he set an altitude record of. The following year, on 6 September 1912, after Austrian aviator Philipp von Blaschke had flown to, he regained the height record by flying to.  By 1913 he had switched to flying the faster Morane-Saulnier monoplanes, and on 23 September gained fame for making the first non-stop flight across the Mediterranean Sea from Fréjus-Saint Raphaël in the south of France to Bizerte in Tunisia in a Morane-Saulnier G. The flight commenced at 5:47 am and lasted nearly eight hours during which Garros had to solve two engine malfunctions. The following year, Garros joined the French army at the outbreak of World War I.

Myth of first air battle.

Reports published in August 1914 claimed Garros was involved in the "first air battle in world history" and that he had flown his plane into a Zeppelin, destroying the airship and killing its pilots and himself. This story was quickly contradicted by reports that Garros was alive and well in Paris. Such early reports maintained that an unidentified French pilot had indeed rammed and destroyed a Zeppelin, however, German authorities denied the story. Later sources indicated the first aerial victory against a Zeppelin occurred in June 1915 and that earlier reports, including that of Garros, had been discredited.

Development of interrupter gear.

In the early stages of the air war in World War I the problem of mounting a forward-firing machine gun on combat aircraft was considered by several people. So-called "interrupter gear" came into use when Anthony Fokker developed a synchronization device which had a large impact on air combat, after Garros used deflector plates.  As a reconnaissance pilot with the Escadrille MS26, Garros visited the Morane-Saulnier Works in December 1914. Saulnier's work on metal deflector wedges attached to propeller blades was taken forward by Garros; he eventually had a workable installation fitted to his Morane-Saulnier Type L aircraft. The Aero Club of America awarded him a medal for this invention three years later. Garros achieved the first ever shooting-down of an aircraft by a fighter firing through a tractor propeller, on 1 April 1915; two more victories over German aircraft were achieved on 15 and 18 April 1915.  On 18 April 1915, Garros's fuel line clogged or his aircraft was hit by ground fire, and he glided to a landing on the German side of the lines. Garros failed to destroy his aircraft completely before being taken prisoner: most significantly, the gun and armoured propeller remained intact. It was reported that after examining the plane, German aircraft engineers, led by Fokker, designed the improved interrupter gear system. In fact the work on Fokker's system had been going for at least six months before Garros's aircraft fell into their hands. With the advent of the interrupter gear the tables were turned on the Allies, with Fokker's planes shooting down many Allied aircraft, leading to what became known as the Fokker Scourge.

POW camp internment and escape.

After almost three years in captivity in various German POW camps Garros managed to escape on 14 February 1918 together with fellow aviator lieutenant Anselme Marchal. Via the Netherlands they made it to London, England and from there back to France where he rejoined the French army. He settled into Escadrille 26 to pilot a SPAD, and claimed two victories on 2 October 1918, one of which was confirmed.

Death.

On 5 October 1918, he was shot down and killed near Vouziers, Ardennes, a month before the end of the war and one day before his 30th birthday. His adversary was probably German ace Hermann Habich from "Jasta 49", flying a Fokker D.VII.

Legacy.

Garros is erroneously called the world's first fighter ace. In fact, he shot down only four aircraft; the definition of "ace" is five or more victories. The honour of becoming the first ace went to another French airman, Adolphe Pégoud, who had six victories early in the war.

Eponyms.

A tennis centre constructed in Paris in the 1920s was named after him, the "Stade Roland Garros". The stadium accommodates the French Open, one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. Consequently, the tournament is officially called "Les Internationaux de France de Roland-Garros" (the "French Internationals of Roland Garros").  According to Vũ Trọng Phụng's urban novel, "Dumb Luck," (1936), during colonial times the Hanoi government named the city's main tennis stadium after Roland Garros.  The international airport of La Réunion, Roland Garros Airport, is also named after him. There is a monument to Garros in Bizerte at the site of his landing, which is called "Roland Garros Plaza". The town of Houlgate in Normandy has named their promenade after Roland Garros in celebration of his altitude record breaking location.  The French car manufacturer Peugeot commissioned a 'Roland Garros' limited edition version of its 205 model in celebration of the tennis tournament that bears his name. The model included special paint and leather interior. Because of the success of this special edition, Peugeot later created Roland Garros editions of its 106, 108, 206, 207, 208, 306, 307, 406, and 806 models.

Eugène Adrien Roland Georges Garros (; 6 October 1888 – 5 October 1918) was a French pioneering aviator and fighter pilot during World War I and early days of aviation. In 1928, the Roland Garros tennis stadium was named in his memory; the French Open tennis tournament takes the name of Roland-Garros from the stadium in which it is held.


Early life.

The younger of two sons, Horst was born in Weißenfels-an-der-Saale, Germany, to Klara (Schönbrodt) and Max Bohrmann. His father was a successful merchant. In his teens, he met dancer Evan Weidemann at the home of his aunt, and this aroused his interest in avant-garde art. In the late 1920s, Horst studied at Hamburg Kunstgewerbeschule, leaving there in 1930 to go to Paris to study under the architect Le Corbusier.

Youth.

While in Paris, he befriended many people in the art community and attended many galleries. In 1930 he met "Vogue" photographer Baron George Hoyningen-Huene, a half-Baltic, half-American nobleman, and became his photographic assistant, occasional model, and lover. He traveled to England with him that winter. While there, they visited photographer Cecil Beaton, who was working for the British edition of "Vogue". In 1931, Horst began his association with "Vogue", publishing his first photograph in the French edition of "Vogue" in December of that year. It was a full-page advertisement showing a model in black velvet holding a Klytia scent bottle.  His first exhibition took place at La Plume d'Or in Paris in 1932. It was reviewed by Janet Flanner in "The New Yorker", and this review, which appeared after the exhibition ended, made Horst instantly prominent. Horst made a portrait of Bette Davis the same year, the first in a series of public figures he would photograph during his career. Within two years, he had photographed Noël Coward, Yvonne Printemps, Lisa Fonssagrives, Count Luchino Visconti di Madrone, Duke Fulco di Verdura, Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley, Daisy Fellowes, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Cole Porter, Elsa Schiaparelli, and others like Eve Curie.  Horst rented an apartment in New York City in 1937, and while residing there met Coco Chanel, whom Horst called "the queen of the whole thing". He would photograph her fashions for three decades.  He met Valentine Lawford, British diplomat in 1938, and they lived together until Lawford's death in 1991. They adopted and raised a son, Richard J. Horst, together.  In 1941, Horst applied for United States citizenship. In 1942, he passed an Army physical, and joined the Army on July 2, 1943. On October 21, he received his United States citizenship as Horst P. Horst. He became an Army photographer, with much of his work printed in the forces' magazine "Belvoir Castle". In 1945, he photographed United States President Harry S. Truman, with whom he became friends, and he photographed every First Lady in the post-war period at the invitation of the White House. In 1947, Horst moved into his house in Oyster Bay, New York. He designed the white stucco-clad building himself, the design inspired by the houses that he had seen in Tunisia during his relationship with Hoyningen-Huene.

Work.

Horst is best known for his photographs of women and fashion, but is also recognized for his photographs of interior architecture, still lifes, especially ones including plants, and environmental portraits. One of the great iconic photos of the Twentieth-Century is "The Mainbocher Corset" with its erotically charged mystery, captured by Horst in "Vogue"’s Paris studio in 1939. Designers like Donna Karan continue to use the timeless beauty of "The Mainbocher Corset" as an inspiration for their outerwear collections today. His work frequently reflects his interest in surrealism and his regard of the ancient Greek ideal of physical beauty.  His method of work typically entailed careful preparation for the shoot, with the lighting and studio props (of which he used many) arranged in advance. His instructions to models are remembered as being brief and to the point. His published work uses lighting to pick out the subject; he frequently used four spotlights, often one of them pointing down from the ceiling. Only rarely do his photos include shadows falling on the background of the set. Horst rarely, if ever, used filters. While most of his work is in black & white, much of his color photography includes largely monochromatic settings to set off a colorful fashion. Horst's color photography did include documentation of society interior design, well noted in the volume "Horst Interiors". He photographed a number of interiors designed by Robert Denning and Vincent Fourcade of Denning & Fourcade and often visited their homes in Manhattan and Long Island. After making the photograph, Horst generally left it up to others to develop, print, crop, and edit his work.  One of his most famous portraits is of Marlene Dietrich, taken in 1942. She protested the lighting that he had selected and arranged, but he used it anyway. Dietrich liked the results and subsequently used a photo from the session in her own publicity.

Later life.

In the 1960s, encouraged by "Vogue" editor Diana Vreeland, Horst began a series of photos illustrating the lifestyle of international high society which included people like: Consuelo Vanderbilt, Marella Agnelli, Gloria Guinness, Baroness Pauline de Rothschild and Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Helen of Greece and Denmark, Baroness Geoffroy de Waldner, Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Lee Radziwill, Duke of Windsor and Duchess of Windsor, Peregrine Eliot, 10th Earl of St Germans and Lady Jacquetta Eliot, Countess of St Germans, Antenor Patiño, Oscar de la Renta and Françoise de Langlade, Desmond Guinness and Princess Henriette Marie-Gabrielle von Urach, Andy Warhol, Nancy Lancaster, Yves Saint Laurent, Doris Duke, Emilio Pucci, Cy Twombly, Billy Baldwin, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Amanda Burden, Paloma Picasso and Comtesse Jacqueline de Ribes. The articles were written by the photographer's longtime companion, Valentine Lawford, a former English diplomat. From this point until nearly the time of his death, Horst spent most of his time traveling and photographing. In the mid 1970s, he began working for "House & Garden" magazine as well as for "Vogue".  Horst's last photograph for British "Vogue" was in 1991 with Princess Michael of Kent, shown against a background of tapestry and wearing a tiara belonging to her mother-in-law, Princess Marina, who he had photographed in 1934. He died at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida at 93 years of age.

Publications.

Books featuring Horst's photography:

Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann (August 14, 1906November 18, 1999), who chose to be known as Horst P. Horst, was a German-American fashion photographer.


History.

The cards were developed by Olympus and Fujifilm, and introduced into the market in July 2002. Toshiba Corporation and Samsung Electronics manufactured the cards for Olympus and Fujifilm. xD cards were sold under other brands, including Kodak, SanDisk, PNY, and Lexar, but were not branded with the respective companies' logos, except for Kodak. Previously, xD competed primarily with Secure Digital (SD) cards, CompactFlash (CF), and Sony's Memory Stick. Because of its higher cost and limited usage in products other than digital cameras, xD lost ground to SD, which is broadly used by cellular phones, personal computers, digital audio players and many other digital cameras.  Olympus began to move away from the xD format with the mid-2009 announcement of the E-P1 camera, which supported only Secure Digital memory cards. As of Spring 2010, all new Olympus cameras announced at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show and Photo Marketing Association International Trade Show can use SD cards. This changeover to the SD card format has never been officially announced by Olympus Corporation. The higher-end DSLR cameras such as the E-3 and E-5 among others continue to use Compact Flash cards as well.  Fuji released its last digital camera accepting that card, namely Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR (a variant of 2008 FinePix F100fd), being released back in Q2 2009, as being moving away from xD format since Q4 2008.

Comparison with rival formats.

The xD format has been discontinued. New cards are still manufactured, but cameras supporting xD memory cards exclusively are no longer manufactured.

Other information.

Type M/M+ and Type H cards.

The original xD cards were available in 16 MB to 512 MB capacities. The Type M card, released in February 2005, uses multi-level cell (MLC) architecture to achieve a theoretical storage capacity of up to 8 GB., Type M cards are available in sizes from 256 MB to 2 GB. However, the Type M suffers from slower read/write speeds than the original cards.  The Type H card, first released in November 2005, offers higher data rates than Type M cards (theoretically as much as 3 times faster). As of 2008, Type H cards were only available in 256 MB, 512 MB, 1000 MB, and 2000 MB capacities. Both Fuji and Olympus discontinued the production of Type H cards in 2008, citing high production costs.  The Type M+ card, first released in April 2008, offers data rates 1.5 times that of Type M cards. As of 2008, cards are available only in 1 and 2 GB capacities.  Olympus says that its xD cards support special "picture effects" when used in some Olympus cameras, though these software features are not intrinsically hardware-dependent. Type H and M+ cards however, are required in newer models to capture video at high rate (640×480 @ 30fps). Due to changes in the cards' storage architecture, newer Type M and H cards may have compatibility issues with some older cameras (especially video recording). Compatibility lists are available for Olympus: Olympus America's and Fujifilm's. Newer cards are incompatible with some card readers.

Theoretical transfer speeds.

Pictures may be transferred from a digital camera's xD card to a personal computer by plugging the camera into the PC via a USB or IEEE 1394 cable, or by removing the card from the camera and inserting it into a card reader. In both cases, the computer sees the card as a mass storage device containing image files, although software or firmware can alter this representation. Card readers may be integrated into the PC or attached via cable. Adapters are available to allow an xD picture card to be plugged into other readers (and in some cases cameras), including PC card, parallel port, CompactFlash and SmartMedia.

Detailed specifications.

Detailed specifications are tightly controlled by Olympus and Fujifilm, which charge licensing fees and royalties and require non-disclosure agreements in exchange for the technical information required to produce xD-compatible devices.  The memory format used is not well documented. It is difficult to study it directly, since most camera devices and most USB card readers do not provide direct access to the flash memory. Since the cards are controller-less, cameras and card readers must perform wear leveling and error detection. They normally hide the portion of the memory which stores this information (among other things) from higher level access.  However, a few models of xD card readers based on the Alauda chip "do" allow direct access (bypassing the above mechanisms) to an xD card's flash memory. These readers have been reverse-engineered and Linux drivers have been produced by the Alauda Project, which has documented the on-chip data structures of the xD card. According to this information, xD card headers are similar to those used by SmartMedia, and include chip manufacturer information.

Raw hardware.

At the raw hardware level, an xD card is simply an ordinary NAND flash integrated circuit in an unusual package. Comparing the pinout of an xD card to the pinout of a NAND flash chip in a standard TSOP package, one finds a nearly one-to-one correspondence between the active pins of the two devices. xD cards share this characteristic with the older SmartMedia cards, which are also basically raw NAND flash chips, albeit in a larger package.  xD and SmartMedia cards can be used by hobbyists as a convenient source of NAND flash memory chips for custom projects. For example, the Mattel Juice Box PMP can be booted into Linux using a modified cartridge containing an xD card with a boot image written on it. Additionally, SmartMedia and xD card readers can be used to read the data from NAND flash chips in electronic devices, by soldering leads between the chip and the card reader.

Panoramic mode.

Some Olympus cameras offer camera-based panoramic processing. In those cameras that support both xD and CompactFlash cards, panoramic processing only works with images stored on the xD card, if installed. Newer Olympus cameras have neither xD cards nor this restriction.  Unsubtantiated reports claim that some cameras such as the E-450 only support panoramic processing when using Olympus branded xD cards. The model numbers have not been documented. In this case, there appears to be a workaround: it appears that the card manufacturer information is simply stored in the flash memory, in the Card Information Structure (described in the Alauda Project's documentation, see above). Thus, it is possible to alter another brand of xD card to present itself as Olympus xD card by accessing the raw flash memory. This can be done by using a hacked device driver for a USB card reader.

xD-Picture Card is a flash memory card format, used in digital cameras made by Olympus and Fujifilm. The xD in the xD-Picture Card stands for eXtreme Digital.


History.

The dandy-horse was a two-wheeled vehicle, with both wheels in-line, propelled by the rider pushing along the ground with the feet as in regular walking or running. The front wheel and handlebar assembly was hinged to allow steering.  Drais was inspired, at least in part, by the need to develop a form of transit that did not rely on the horse. After the eruption of Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer (1816), which followed close on the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars, widespread crop failures and food shortages resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of horses, which either starved to death or were killed to provide meat and hides. "In wartime," he wrote, "when horses and their fodder often become scarce, a small fleet of such wagons at each corps could be important, especially for dispatches over short distances and for carrying the wounded.”  Several manufacturers in France and England made their own dandy-horses during its brief popularity in the summer of 1819—most notably Denis Johnson of London, who used an elegantly curved wooden frame that allowed the use of larger wheels. Riders preferred to operate their vehicles on the smooth pavements instead of the rough roads, but their interactions with pedestrians caused many municipalities worldwide to enact laws prohibiting their use. Later designs avoided the initial drawback of this device when it had to be made to measure, manufactured to conform with the height and the stride of its rider. An example is Nicéphore Niépce's 1818 model with an adjustable saddle for his'velocipede' built by Lagrange.  However, in the 1860s in France, the vélocipède bicycle was created by attaching rotary cranks and pedals to the front-wheel hub of a dandy-horse.

Modern adaptation.

The dandy horse has been adapted as a starter bicycle for children, and is variously called a balance bike or run bike.

In popular culture.

Buster Keaton rides a dandy-horse in his 1923 film "Our Hospitality", which is set in the 1830s. Keaton's technical crew were unable to obtain a vintage dandy horse, so they built one to match existing drawings and prints. Keaton later donated the machine to the Smithsonian Institution, which had lacked an authentic example.  George Arliss, as the title character of the 1929 film "Disraeli", rides a dandy-horse through a London park until he collides with a pedestrian. This occurs in the opening scene of the film, set in the 1830s, when Disraeli was still a writer and a famous dandy.  In the 1997 film "Amistad", a citizen is briefly seen riding a dandy-horse through a forest trail when the escaped slaves first land on American soil.  A bi-annual magazine called "dandyhorse", based in Toronto, Canada, promotes art, fashion and cycling culture.

The dandy horse, a derogatory term for what was first called a Laufmaschine (in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, is a human-powered vehicle that, being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is regarded as the forerunner of the bicycle. A dandy horse is powered by the rider's feet on the ground instead of the pedals of later bicycles. It was invented by Karl Drais (who called it a "Laufmaschine" [, "running machine"]) in 1817, and then patented by him in France in February 1818 using the term "vélocipède". It is also known as a "Draisine" ( in German, a term used in English only for light auxiliary railcars regardless of their form of propulsion), and as a "draisienne" ( in French and English. In English, it is also sometimes still known as a velocipede, but that term now also has a broader meaning.


Plot.

The film is set in East Berlin, from October 1989 to just after German reunification a year later.  Alex Kerner lives with his mother Christiane, his sister Ariane, and her infant daughter Paula. Alex's father purportedly abandoned the family for a mistress in the West in 1978. His mother joined the Socialist Unity Party and devotes her time to advocating for citizens. While Christiane believes socialism can improve Germany and the world, her children are cynical. Alex is disgusted with the celebration of East Germany's 40th anniversary and participates in an anti-government demonstration. There he meets a girl but they are separated by the "Volkspolizei" before they can introduce themselves.  Christiane, seeing Alex being arrested and beaten, suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma. Visiting his mother in hospital Alex finds that her nurse, Lara, is the girl from the demonstration. She and Alex begin dating.  Erich Honecker resigns, the borders are opened, the Berlin Wall falls, East Germany holds free elections, and capitalism comes to East Berlin. Alex begins working for a West German firm selling and installing satellite dishes. He befriends a western coworker, aspiring filmmaker Denis Domaschke. Ariane's university closes and she works at Burger King. She begins dating the manager, Rainer, who moves into their apartment.  After eight months Christiane awakens from her coma. Her doctor warns that she is still weak and any shock might cause another, possibly fatal, heart attack. Alex resolves to conceal the profound societal changes from her and maintain the illusion that the German Democratic Republic is just as it was before her coma. He, Ariane, and Lara retrieve their old East German furniture from storage, dress in their old clothes, and repackage new Western food in old East German jars. The deception is increasingly complicated as Christiane witnesses strange occurrences, such as a gigantic Coca-Cola banner on an adjacent building. Denis and Alex create fake news broadcasts from old East German news tapes to explain these odd events. Alex and Ariane fail to find where Christiane keeps her life savings (in East German marks) in time to exchange them for West German marks before the deadline.  Christiane gets stronger and one day wanders outside while Alex is asleep. She sees her neighbors' furniture stacked in the street, new West German cars for sale, advertisements for Western corporations, and a statue of Lenin being flown away by helicopter. Alex and Ariane take her home and show her a fake newscast explaining East Germany is now accepting refugees from the West following an economic crisis there.  At the family dacha Christiane reveals her own secret: Her husband had fled not for a mistress but because his refusal to join the ruling party had made his life and job increasingly difficult, and the plan had been for the rest of the family to join him. Christiane, fearing the government would take her children if things went wrong, decided to stay. Contrary to what she had told her children their father wrote many letters which she hid. As she declares her wish to see her husband one last time to make amends, she relapses and is taken back to hospital.  Alex meets his father, Robert, who has remarried, has two children, and lives in West Berlin. He convinces him to see Christiane one last time. Under pressure to reveal the truth about the fall of the East, Alex creates a final fake news segment, persuading a taxi driver (who is or resembles cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn, the first German in space and Alex's childhood hero) to act in the false news report as the new leader of East Germany and to give a speech about opening the borders to the West. However, unbeknownst to Alex, Lara had already recounted the true political developments to Christiane earlier that day. Christiane reacts fondly to her son's effort without revealing her knowledge.  Christiane dies two days later, outliving the German Democratic Republic by three days after German reunification. The family and friends scatter her ashes in the wind using a toy rocket Alex made with his father during childhood.

Soundtrack.

The film score was composed by Yann Tiersen, except the version of "Summer 78" sung by Claire Pichet. Stylistically, the music is very similar to Tiersen's earlier work on the soundtrack to "Amélie". One piano composition, "Comptine d'un autre été : L'après-midi", is used in both films.  Several famous East German songs are featured. Two children, members of the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation, sing "Unsere Heimat" (Our Homeland). Friends of Christiane (living in the same building) follow with "" (Build Up! Build Up!), another anthem of the Free German Youth. The final fake newscast with Sigmund Jähn features a rousing rendition of the East German national anthem, "Auferstanden aus Ruinen".

"Ostalgie".

Alex creates fictional newscasts to reminisce about his earlier East German lifestyle as well as a communist environment. He goes out of his way to use East German products to fool his mother such as Spreewald gherkins and although this is for his mother, there is also a hint he himself is creating a fantasy in which he would like to live. Alex lived his whole life with this barrier; therefore the drastic change is hard for him unlike his older sister Ariane. Ariane quickly adopts the new Western ideals and lifestyle, but Alex experiences nostalgia for their former way of life. "Ostalgie" is a neologism for the nostalgia for a communist past which is a common theme in "Good Bye, Lenin!" Alex shows signs of "ostalgie" when he increasingly begins to reprove the Western changes in themselves.  In 2004 the "New York Times" commented on "Ostalgie" which was embodied in the town of Eisenhüttenstadt. It became popular because of "Good Bye, Lenin!" which imitated Christiane's bedroom. This put a lot of light on the "ostalgie" situation, in addition to the film.

Reception.

The film received strong positive reviews, holding a rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. "Empire" gave the film four stars out of five with a verdict of, "An ingenious little idea that is funny, moving and—gasp!—even makes you think."  "Empire" magazine ranked it 91st in "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.  "Good Bye, Lenin!" is frequently contrasted with "The Lives of Others", which was released three years later in 2006. Both films portray the legacy of East Germany, but with decidedly different tones.

Accolades.

"Good Bye, Lenin!" was submitted for consideration for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but not nominated.

Good Bye Lenin! is a 2003 German tragicomedy film, directed by Wolfgang Becker. The cast includes Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova, and Maria Simon. The story follows a family in East Germany; the mother (Saß) is dedicated to the socialist cause and falls into a coma in October 1989, shortly before the November revolution. When she awakens eight months later in June 1990, her son (Brühl) attempts to protect her from a fatal shock by concealing the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism.


Life.

Clausius was born in Köslin (now Koszalin, Poland) in the Province of Pomerania in Prussia. His father was a Protestant pastor and school inspector, and Rudolf studied in the school of his father. In 1838, he went to the Gymnasium in Szczecin. Clausius graduated from the University of Berlin in 1844 where he had studied mathematics and physics since 1840 with, among others, Gustav Magnus, Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and Jakob Steiner. He also studied history with Leopold von Ranke. During 1848, he got his doctorate from the University of Halle on optical effects in Earth's atmosphere. In 1850 he became professor of physics at the Royal Artillery and Engineering School in Berlin and Privatdozent at the Berlin University. In 1855 he became professor at the ETH Zürich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, where he stayed until 1867. During that year, he moved to Würzburg and two years later, in 1869 to Bonn.  In 1870 Clausius organized an ambulance corps in the Franco-Prussian War. He was wounded in battle, leaving him with a lasting disability. He was awarded the Iron Cross for his services.  His wife, Adelheid Rimpau died in 1875, leaving him to raise their six children. In 1886, he married Sophie Sack, and then had another child.  Two years later, on 24 August 1888, he died in Bonn, Germany.

Work.

Clausius's PhD thesis concerning the refraction of light proposed that we see a blue sky during the day, and various shades of red at sunrise and sunset (among other phenomena) due to reflection and refraction of light. Later, Lord Rayleigh would show that it was in fact due to the scattering of light, but regardless, Clausius used a far more mathematical approach than some have used.  His most famous paper, "Ueber die bewegende Kraft der Wärme" ("On the Moving Force of Heat and the Laws of Heat which may be Deduced Therefrom") was published in 1850, and dealt with the mechanical theory of heat. In this paper, he showed that there was a contradiction between Carnot's principle and the concept of conservation of energy. Clausius restated the two laws of thermodynamics to overcome this contradiction (the third law was developed by Walther Nernst, during the years 1906–1912). This paper made him famous among scientists.  Clausius' most famous statement of thermodynamics second law was published in German in 1854, and in English in 1856. During 1857, Clausius contributed to the field of kinetic theory after refining August Krönig's very simple gas-kinetic model to include translational, rotational and vibrational molecular motions. In this same work he introduced the concept of 'Mean free path' of a particle.  Clausius deduced the Clausius–Clapeyron relation from thermodynamics. This relation, which is a way of characterizing the phase transition between two states of matter such as solid and liquid, had originally been developed in 1834 by Émile Clapeyron.

Entropy.

In 1865, Clausius gave the first mathematical version of the concept of entropy, and also gave it its name. Clausius chose the word because the meaning (from Greek ἐν "en" "in" and τροπή "tropē" "transformation") is ""content transformative"" or ""transformation content"" (""Verwandlungsinhalt""). He used the now abandoned unit 'Clausius' (symbol: Cl) for entropy.  The landmark 1865 paper in which he introduced the concept of entropy ends with the following summary of the first and second laws of thermodynamics:

Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (; 2 January 1822 – 24 August 1888) was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founders of the science of thermodynamics. By his restatement of Sadi Carnot's principle known as the Carnot cycle, he gave the theory of heat a truer and sounder basis. His most important paper, "On the Moving Force of Heat", published in 1850, first stated the basic ideas of the second law of thermodynamics. In 1865 he introduced the concept of entropy. In 1870 he introduced the virial theorem which applied to heat.


History.

First flash mob.

The first flash mobs were created in Manhattan in 2003, by Bill Wasik, senior editor of "Harper's Magazine". The first attempt was unsuccessful after the targeted retail store was tipped off about the plan for people to gather. Wasik avoided such problems during the first successful flash mob, which occurred on June 17, 2003 at Macy's department store, by sending participants to preliminary staging areas—in four Manhattan bars—where they received further instructions about the ultimate event and location just before the event began.  More than 130 people converged upon the ninth floor rug department of the store, gathering around an expensive rug. Anyone approached by a sales assistant was advised to say that the gatherers lived together in a warehouse on the outskirts of New York, that they were shopping for a "love rug", and that they made all their purchase decisions as a group. Subsequently, 200 people flooded the lobby and mezzanine of the Hyatt hotel in synchronized applause for about 15 seconds, and a shoe boutique in SoHo was invaded by participants pretending to be tourists on a bus trip.  Wasik claimed that he created flash mobs as a social experiment designed to poke fun at hipsters and to highlight the cultural atmosphere of conformity and of wanting to be an insider or part of "the next big thing". "The Vancouver Sun" wrote, "It may have backfired on him... [Wasik] may instead have ended up giving conformity a vehicle that allowed it to appear nonconforming." In another interview he said "the mobs started as a kind of playful social experiment meant to encourage spontaneity and big gatherings to temporarily take over commercial and public areas simply to show that they could".

Precedents and precursors.

In 19th-century Tasmania, the term "flash mob" was used to describe a subculture consisting of female prisoners, based on the term "flash language" for the jargon that these women used. The 19th-century Australian term "flash mob" referred to a segment of society, not an event, and showed no other similarities to the modern term "flash mob" or the events it describes.  In 1973, the story "Flash Crowd" by Larry Niven described a concept similar to flash mobs. With the invention of popular and very inexpensive teleportation, an argument at a shopping mall—which happens to be covered by a news crew—quickly swells into a riot. In the story, broadcast coverage attracts the attention of other people, who use the widely available technology of the teleportation booth to swarm first that event—thus intensifying the riot—and then other events as they happen. Commenting on the social impact of such mobs, one character (articulating the police view) says, "We call them flash crowds, and we watch for them." In related short stories, they are named as a prime location for illegal activities (such as pickpocketing and looting) to take place. Lev Grossman suggests that the story title is a source of the term "flash mob"  Flash mobs began as a form of performance art. While they started as an apolitical act, flash mobs may share superficial similarities to political demonstrations. In the 1960s, groups such as the Yippies used street theatre to expose the public to political issues. Flash mobs can be seen as a specialized form of smart mob, a term and concept proposed by author Howard Rheingold in his 2002 book "".

Use of the term.

The first documented use of the term "flash mob" as it is understood today was in 2003 in a blog entry posted in the aftermath of Wasik's event. The term was inspired by the earlier term "smart mob".  Flash mob was added to the 11th edition of the "Concise Oxford English Dictionary" on July 8, 2004 where it noted it as an "unusual and pointless act" separating it from other forms of smart mobs such as types of performance, protests, and other gatherings. Also recognized noun derivatives are flash mobber and flash mobbing. "Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English" defines "flash mob" as "a group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse." This definition is consistent with the original use of the term; however, both news media and promoters have subsequently used the term to refer to any form of smart mob, including political protests; a collaborative Internet denial of service attack; a collaborative supercomputing demonstration; and promotional appearances by pop musicians. The press has also used the term "flash mob" to refer to a practice in China where groups of shoppers arrange online to meet at a store in order to drive a collective bargain.

Legality.

The city of Brunswick, Germany has stopped flash mobs by strictly enforcing the already existing law of requiring a permit to use any public space for an event. In the United Kingdom, a number of flash mobs have been stopped over concerns for public health and safety. The British Transport Police have urged flash mob organizers to "refrain from holding such events at railway stations".

Crime.

Referred to as "flash robs", "flash mob robberies", or "flash robberies" by the media, crimes organized by teenage youth using social media rose to international notoriety beginning in 2011. The National Retail Federation does not classify these crimes as "flash mobs" but rather "multiple offender crimes" that utilize "flash mob tactics". In a report, the NRF noted, "multiple offender crimes tend to involve groups or gangs of juveniles who already know each other, which does not earn them the term "flash mob"." Mark Leary, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, said that most "flash mob thuggery" involves crimes of violence that are otherwise ordinary, but are perpetrated suddenly by large, organized groups of people: "What social media adds is the ability to recruit such a large group of people, that individuals who would not rob a store or riot on their own feel freer to misbehave without being identified."  "HuffPost" raised the question asking if "the media was responsible for stirring things up", and added that in some cases the local authorities did not confirm the use of social media making the "use of the term flash mob questionable." Amanda Walgrove wrote that criminals involved in such activities don't refer to themselves as "flash mobs", but that this use of the term is nonetheless appropriate. Dr. Linda Kiltz drew similar parallels between flash robs and the Occupy Movement stating, "As the use of social media increases, the potential for more flash mobs that are used for political protest and for criminal purposes is likely to increase.".

A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs may be organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.


Personal life.

Peyo was born in 1928 in the Belgian municipality Schaerbeek, as the son of an English father and a Belgian mother. On Christmas Eve 1992, Peyo died of a heart attack in Brussels at age 64.

Career.

He took on the name "Peyo" early in his professional career, based on an English cousin's mispronunciation of Pierrot (a diminutive form of Pierre).  Peyo began work, fresh from his coursework at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, at the (CBA), a small Belgian animation studio, where he met a few of his future colleagues and co-celebrities, like André Franquin, Morris, and Eddy Paape. When the studio folded after the war, the other artists went to work for Dupuis, but Peyo, a few years younger than the others, was not accepted. He made his first comics for the newspaper "La Dernière Heure" (The Latest Hour), but also accepted many promotional drawing jobs for income. From 1949 to 1952, he drew "Poussy", a gag-a-day comic about a cat, for "Le Soir". For the same newspaper, he also created "Johan".  In 1952, Franquin introduced Peyo to "Spirou", a children's Franco-Belgian comics magazine published by Dupuis. Peyo wrote and drew a number of characters and storylines, including "Pierrot", and "Benoît Brisefer" (translated into English as "Steven Strong"). But his favourite was "Johan et Pirlouit" (translated into English as "Johan and Peewit"), which was a continuation of the series "Johan" he had created earlier. He also continued "Poussy" in "Spirou".  Set in the Middle Ages in Europe, "Johan et Pirlouit" stars a brave young page to the king, and his faithful, if boastful and cheating, midget sidekick. Johan rides off to defend the meek on his trusty horse, while Peewit gallops sporadically behind on his goat, named Biquette. The pair was driven by duty to their king and the courage to defend the underpowered. Peewit only appeared in the third adventure in 1954 but would stay for all later adventures.

Smurfs.

The first Smurf appeared in "Johan and Peewit" on 23 October 1958 in the album "La Flûte à Six Schtroumpfs" ("The Six Smurfed Flute"). As the Smurfs became increasingly popular, Peyo started a studio in the early 1960s, where a number of talented comics artists started to work. Peyo himself supervised the work and worked primarily on "Johan and Peewit", leaving the Smurfs to the studio. The most notable artists to come out of this studio were Walthéry,, (Gos), Derib,, and.  In 1959, the Smurfs got their own series, and in 1960, two more began: "Steven Strong" and "Jacky and Célestin". Many authors of the Marcinelle school collaborated on the writing, or on the artwork, including Willy Maltaite (aka 'Will'), Yvan Delporte, and Roger Leloup. Peyo became more of a businessman and supervisor and was less involved in the actual creation of the comics. He let his son, Thierry Culliford, lead the studio, while his daughter Véronique was responsible for the merchandising (I.M.P.S. was established in 1985 by her).  The merchandising of the Smurfs began in 1959, with the PVC figurines as the most important aspect until the late 1970s. Then, with the success of The Smurfs records by Pierre Kartner, the Smurfs achieved more international success, with a new boom in toys and gadgets. Some of these reached the United States, where Hanna-Barbera created a Saturday morning animated series in 1981 for which Peyo served as story supervisor. Peyo's health began to fail. In 1989, after his partnership with Dupuis ended, he established Cartoon Creation to publish new Smurf stories. In late 1991, the company was forced to shut down due to mismanagement. The publishing rights were soon sold to Le Lombard. Peyo died at age 64, on Christmas Eve 1992, of a heart attack in Brussels. His studio still exists, and new stories for various series are regularly produced under his name.  In the 2011 film "The Smurfs", Peyo was included in the plot as a researcher who studied the myths concerning the Smurfs, who were made to be real-life legendary creatures in the film's storyline.

Bibliography.

Only those comics Peyo collaborated on are listed here: the comics made in those series after his death can be found in the articles for each series. Artist and writers mentioned are only those officially credited: unnamed studio collaborators are not listed here.

Pierre Culliford (; 25 June 1928 – 24 December 1992) was a Belgian cartoonist who worked under the pseudonym Peyo (). His best-known works are the comic strips "The Smurfs" and "Johan and Peewit", in which the Smurfs first appeared.


Early life.

Born in Siegen, Southern Westphalia, on 25 February 1896, Heinrich Gontermann grew into a tall slender man, full of vitality. He abstained from smoking and was only a social drinker. He was a patriotic, religious introvert.  Gontermann's father, a cavalry officer, pushed him towards a career in the military. After leaving school, Heinrich enlisted into the 6th Uhlan Cavalry Regiment in Hanau on 14 August 1914. Only days after arriving in his regiment, he was sent into action.  Gontermann had a reputation for being aloof, but during his time with the Uhlans he displayed leadership abilities. He was slightly wounded in September 1914, and he was promoted to Feldwebel. Early in the spring of 1915, he was given a field commission as leutnant and he was also awarded the Iron Cross Second Class. While he continued to lead his men through 1915 Gontermann applied for a transfer to the newly formed German Army Air Service, but in October 1915 he was transferred to the 80th Fusilier Regiment.

Aerial service.

Gontermann was finally accepted for pilot/observer training, and upon his graduation in early 1916 was posted to "Kampfstaffel Tergnier" as a reconnaissance pilot flying the Roland C.II. Later that spring he was posted to "Field-Abteilung" 25 where he flew both as a pilot and as an observer on AGO C.Is.  Gontermann applied for aviation training at "Jastaschule" and a transfer to a fighter unit. He was accepted and on 11 November 1916 joined Jasta 5. Three days later, while on his first combat sortie, he shot down his first aircraft: an FE.2b on patrol over Morval.  There was a lull in his scoring until 6 March 1917, when Gontermann shot down an FE.2d of No. 57 Squadron RFC the day after being awarded the Iron Cross First Class. He scored regularly in March, becoming an ace on the 24th by downing a Sopwith 11⁄2 Strutter. He added a second one the following day. It was after this victory that he wrote home, "Today I shot down a two-seater... He broke up into dust in the air... It is a horrible job but one must do one's duty."  During Bloody April, 1917, Gontermann had 12 victories. On the 8th, he achieved his first success as a balloon buster, with all its extraordinary hazards, by downing an observation balloon. He shot down 4 others within the month, including a double victory on the 16th.  On 26 April 1917, Gontermann brought his victory total to 17 victories. Gontermann was also promoted to Staffelführer of Prussian Jagdstaffel 15 four days later. He replaced Max Reinhold, who was killed in action.

Gontermann as commander.

Gontermann's personal reputation was that of an aloof man with few friends. Professionally, he was a student of enemy aircraft types, with a special knack for picking off his foes from point-blank range within their blind spots. He was considered the premier marksman of his unit, as well as a skilled aerobaticist. Udet wrote of Gontermann, "Before he opens fire, he defeats his enemy by outflying him. When he finally fires, he requires, at most, a dozen rounds to tear apart the other's machine." Gontermann was noted as nervous, stressed, and slept poorly. Such was the strain of combat that he was sent on a month's leave during May to recuperate.  On 6 May 1917, Gontermann was awarded the Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. He scored his 19th triumph, over five-victory ace Didier Lecour Grandmaison, on 10 May 1917. Heinrich Gontermann received Bavaria's Military Order of Max Joseph on the 11 May. The Pour le Merite followed on the 17th.  Gontermann was granted four weeks leave in May–June 1917 upon receipt of the Blue Max. Upon Gontermann's return to the Jasta on 19 June, he found that acting "Staffelführer" Ernst Udet had requested a transfer. Under Udet's leadership the Jasta had suffered three demoralizing losses. For the remainder of June, Gontermann again targeted observation balloons, shooting down one on both the 24th and the 27th. He also scored two triumphs in July, one of which was a balloon.  August was as productive a month for Gontermann. After shooting down a Nieuport on the 5th, he shot down two balloons each on both the 9th and the 17th. 19 August saw the peak of Gontermann's career. He shot down a Spad in the morning, while at 1923 hours, he took out an observation balloon south of Aisne-Tal; three others were destroyed in as many minutes. The downing of the balloons brought his score to 35.  In September, Gontermann shot down three more enemy aircraft. By 2 October 1917, Gontermann had become a celebrated ace with 39 victories. He was credited with defeating 21 enemy aircraft and 18 balloons, plus an unconfirmed balloon shot down. He would rank eighth among balloon busting aces of the war; only Friedrich Ritter von Röth outscored him amongst German fliers.

Last mission.

On 29 October Gontermann took off in a Fokker Dr.I. He had not yet recovered fully from a bout of dysentery. Nevertheless, he was anxious to try his new airplane, despite misgivings about it. After a few minutes, he tried aerobatics at 700 meters altitude. He pulled out of the second loop and dived into a left turn. The upper wing collapsed and broke completely off. His airplane plunged into the ground.  Gontermann was pulled from the wreck alive, though with severe head injuries after slamming into the machine gun breeches. He was taken to the Jasta's medical bay, where he died from his injuries several hours later. Some sources say his death occurred the day after his accident.  Gontermann was only one of several German pilots killed testing the new Dr.I. As a result, Fokker was accused of shoddy construction and directed to change production methods for the manufacture of the plane.

Heinrich Gontermann (25 February 1896 – 30 October 1917) was a German fighter ace credited with 39 victories during the First World War.


Biography.

Bitzius was born at Murten, where his father was pastor. The Bitzius family had once belonged to the Bernese patriciate, but was known for its craftsmen and pastors since the 17th century. In 1804 the family home was moved to Utzenstorf, a village in the Bernese Emmental. Here young Bitzius grew up, receiving his early education and consorting with the boys of the village, as well as helping his father to cultivate his glebe. In 1812 he went to complete his education at Bern. He was a founding member of the Student Society Zofingia, the second-oldest fraternity in Switzerland (founded in 1819).  In 1820 he was received as a pastor. In 1821 he enrolled for a year at the University of Göttingen, but returned home in 1822 to act as his father's assistant. On his father's death (1824) he went in the same capacity to Herzogenbuchsee, and later to Bern (1829). Early in 1831 he went as assistant to the aged pastor of the village of Lützelflüh, in the Lower Emmental (between Langnau and Burgdorf), being soon elected his successor (1832) and marrying one of his granddaughters, Henriette Zeender (1833).  He spent the rest of his life in Lützelflüh, where he died, leaving three children (the son was a pastor, the two daughters married pastors). During the 1840s, he steadfastly opposed radicalism and secularism and placed a conservative emphasis on piety and ecclesiastical authority. There are lives of Bitzius by C. Manuel, in the Berlin edition of Bitzius's works (Berlin, 1861), and by J. Ammann in vol. i. (Bern, 1884) of the "Sammlung Bernischer Biographien".

Writings.

Bitzius started writing late in life. His first work, the "Der Bauernspiegel, oder die Lebensgeschichte des Jeremias Gotthelf", appeared in 1837. It purported to be the life of Jeremias Gotthelf, narrated by himself, and this name was later adopted by the author as his pen name. It sketches the development of a poor country orphan boy, but is not an autobiography. It is a living picture of Bernese (or, strictly speaking, Emmental) village life, true to nature, and not attempting to gloss over its defects and failings. It is written (like the rest of his works) in German, but contains expressions from the Bernese dialect of the Emmental, though Bitzius was not (like Auerbach) a peasant by birth, but belonged to the educated classes, so that he reproduces what he had seen and learnt, and not what he had himself personally experienced. The book was a great success, as it was a picture of real life, and not of fancifully beribboned eighteenth-century villagers. Henceforth Bitzius was a prolific writer, and in the last 18 years of his life became one of the important novelists not only of Switzerland but of the German language in general. His best known work is without doubt the short novel "The Black Spider" ("Die schwarze Spinne"), a semi-allegorical tale of the plague in form of the titular monster that devastates a Swiss valley community; first as a result of a pact with the devil born out of need and a second time due to the moral decay that releases the monster from its prison again.  Among his later tales are the "Leiden und Freuden eines Schulmeisters" (1838–1839), "Uli der Knecht" (The story of a poor peasant laborer who develops into the owner of a prosperous farm; 1841), with its continuation, "Uli der Pächter" (1849), "Anne-Bäbi Jowäger" (1843–1844), "Käthi, die Großmutter" (1846), "Die Käserei in der Vehfreude" (1850), and the "Erlebnisse eines Schuldenbauers" (1853). He also published several volumes of shorter tales.  His works were issued in 24 volumes at Berlin, between 1856 and 1861, while 10 volumes, giving the original text of each story, were issued at Bern between 1898 and 1900.

Cultural references.

Literature.

In the novel "2666" by Roberto Bolaño Gotthelf is mentioned as the subject of the novel "Bitzius": (...) and in "Bitzius", a novel less than one hundred pages long, similar in some ways to "Mitzi's Treasure", (...) and that told the story of the life of Albert Bitzius, pastor of Lützelflüh, in the canton of Bern, an author of sermons as well as a writer under the pseudonym Jeremias Gotthelf. All six films were directed by the Swiss film director Franz Schnyder.

Albert Bitzius (4 October 179722 October 1854) was a Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf.


Name.

Julius Pokorny believed the name "Pannonia" is derived from Illyrian, from the Proto-Indo-European root "*pen-", "swamp, water, wet" (cf. English "fen", "marsh"; Hindi "pani", "water").  Pliny the Elder, in "Natural History", places the eastern regions of the Hercynium jugum, the "Hercynian mountain chain", in Pannonia (present-day Hungary) and Dacia (present-day Romania). He also gives us some dramaticised description of its composition, in which the proximity of the forest trees causes competitive struggle among them ("inter se rixantes"). He mentions its gigantic oaks. But even he—if the passage in question is not an interpolated marginal gloss—is subject to the legends of the gloomy forest. He mentions unusual birds, which have feathers that "shine like fires at night". Medieval bestiaries named these birds the "Ercinee". The impenetrable nature of the "Hercynian Silva" hindered the last concerted Roman foray into the forest, by Drusus, during 12–9 BC: Florus asserts that "Drusus invisum atque inaccessum in id tempus Hercynium saltum" (Hercynia saltus, the "Hercynian ravine-land")" patefecit".

History.

Prior to Roman conquest.

The first inhabitants of this area known to history were the Pannonii (Pannonians), a group of Indo-European tribes akin to Illyrians. From the 4th century BC, it was invaded by various Celtic tribes. Little is known of Pannonia until 35 BC, when its inhabitants, allies of the Dalmatians, were attacked by Augustus, who conquered and occupied Siscia (Sisak). The country was not, however, definitively subdued by the Romans until 9 BC, when it was incorporated into Illyricum, the frontier of which was thus extended as far as the Danube.

Under Roman rule.

In AD 6, the Pannonians, with the Dalmatians and other Illyrian tribes, engaged in the so-called Great Illyrian Revolt, and were overcome by Tiberius and Germanicus, after a hard-fought campaign, which lasted for three years. After the rebellion was crushed in AD 9, the province of Illyricum was dissolved, and its lands were divided between the new provinces of Pannonia in the north and Dalmatia in the south. The date of the division is unknown, most certainly after AD 20 but before AD 50. The proximity of dangerous barbarian tribes (Quadi, Marcomanni) necessitated the presence of a large number of troops (seven legions in later times), and numerous fortresses were built on the bank of the Danube.  Some time between the years 102 and 107, between the first and second Dacian wars, Trajan divided the province into Pannonia Superior (western part with the capital Carnuntum), and Pannonia Inferior (eastern part with the capitals in Aquincum and Sirmium). According to Ptolemy, these divisions were separated by a line drawn from Arrabona in the north to Servitium in the south; later, the boundary was placed further east. The whole country was sometimes called the Pannonias (Pannoniae).  Pannonia Superior was under the consular legate, who had formerly administered the single province, and had three legions under his control. Pannonia Inferior was at first under a praetorian legate with a single legion as the garrison; after Marcus Aurelius, it was under a consular legate, but still with only one legion. The frontier on the Danube was protected by the establishment of the two colonies Aelia Mursia and Aelia Aquincum by Hadrian.  Under Diocletian, a fourfold division of the country was made:  Diocletian also moved parts of today's Slovenia out of Pannonia and incorporated them in Noricum. In 324 AD, Constantine I enlarged the borders of Roman Pannonia to the east, annexing the plains of what is now eastern Hungary, northern Serbia and western Romania up to the limes that he created: the Devil's Dykes.  In the 4th-5th century, one of the dioceses of the Roman Empire was known as the Diocese of Pannonia. It had its capital in Sirmium and included all four provinces that were formed from historical Pannonia, as well as the provinces of Dalmatia, Noricum Mediterraneum and Noricum Ripense.

Post-Roman.

During the Migrations Period in the 5th century, some parts of Pannonia was ceded to the Huns in 433 by Flavius Aetius, the magister militum of the Western Roman Empire. After the collapse of the Hunnic empire in 454, large numbers of Ostrogoths were settled by Marcian in the province as foederati. The Eastern Roman Empire controlled it for a time in the 6th century, and a Byzantine province of Pannonia with its capital at Sirmium was temporarily restored, but it included only a small southeastern part of historical Pannonia.  Afterwards, it was again invaded by the Avars in the 560s, the Slavs, who first settled c. 480s but became independent only from the 7th century, and the Franks, who named a frontier march the March of Pannonia in the late 8th century. The term Pannonia was also used for a Slavic duchy that was vassal to the Franks.  Between the 5th and the 10th centuries, the romanized population of Pannonia developed the Romance Pannonian language, mainly around Lake Balaton in present-day western Hungary, where there was the keszthely culture. This language and the related culture became extinct with the arrival of the Magyars.

Cities and auxiliary forts.

The native settlements consisted of pagi (cantons) containing a number of vici (villages), the majority of the large towns being of Roman origin. The cities and towns in Pannonia were:  Now in Austria:  Now in Bosnia and Hercegovina:  Now in Croatia:  Now in Hungary:  Now in Serbia:  Now in Slovakia:  Now in Slovenia:

Economy and country features.

The country was fairly productive, especially after the great forests had been cleared by Probus and Galerius. Before that time, timber had been one of its most important exports. Its chief agricultural products were oats and barley, from which the inhabitants brewed a kind of beer named sabaea. Vines and olive trees were little cultivated. Pannonia was also famous for its breed of hunting dogs. Although no mention is made of its mineral wealth by the ancients, it is probable that it contained iron and silver mines. Its chief rivers were the Dravus, Savus, and Arrabo, in addition to the Danuvius (less correctly, Danubius), into which the first three rivers flow.

Legacy.

The ancient name Pannonia is retained in the modern term "Pannonian plain".

Pannonia () was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory of present-day western Hungary, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Name.

The majority of the primary sources of information for his life are presented in Latin or the medieval French language. In French his name usually appears as "Hugues de Payens" or "Payns" (). His earliest certain appearance in documents is under the part-Latin, part-French name "Hugo de Peans" (1120–1125; details below). Later Latin sources call him "Hugo de Paganis". In English works he often appears as "Hugh de Payns", in Italian sometimes as "Ugo de' Pagani'.

Origin and early life.

There is no known early biography of Hugues de Payens in existence, nor do later writers cite such a biography. None of the sources on his later career give details of his early life. Information is therefore scanty and uncertain; embellishments depend partly on documents that may not refer to the same individual, partly on histories written decades or even centuries after his death.  The earliest source that details a geographical origin for the later Grand Master is the Old French translation of William of Tyre's "History of Events Beyond the Sea". The Latin text calls him simply "Hugo de Paganis", but the French translation, dated to c. 1200, describes him as "Hues de Paiens delez Troies" ("Hugh of Payens near Troyes"), a reference to the village of Payns, about 10 km from Troyes, in Champagne (eastern France).  In early documents of that region "Hugo de Pedano, Montiniaci dominus" is mentioned as a witness to a donation by Count Hugh of Champagne in a document of 1085–90, indicating that the man was at least sixteen by this date—a legal adult and thus able to bear witness to legal documents—and so born no later than 1070. The same name appears on a number of other charters up to 1113 also relating to Count Hugh of Champagne, suggesting that "Hugo de Pedano" or "Hugo dominus de Peanz" was a member of the Count's court. By the year 1113 he was married to Elizabeth de Chappes, who bore him at least one child, Thibaud, later abbot of Abbaye de la Colombe|la Colombe at Sens. The documents span Hugues' lifetime and the disposition of his property after his death.  The one belated statement that the founder of the Knights Templars came from "Payns near Troyes" has some circumstantial confirmation. Bernard of Clairvaux, who favoured the Order and helped to compose its "Latin Rule", also had the support of Hugh of Champagne. The "Latin Rule" of the Order was confirmed at the Council of Troyes in 1129. A Templar commandery was eventually built at Payns. Some scholars have however looked for Hugues' origins elsewhere. There was an early claim that he came from the Vivarais (the district of Viviers in the modern "département" of Ardèche). Hugues has also been identified with Hug de Pinós, third son of Galceran I, lord of Pinós in Catalonia; however, Galceran married only in 1090, far too late a date for him to be the father of the founder of the Knights Templars.  There is also a claim that Hugues de Payens or "Ugo de' Pagani" came from Nocera de' Pagani in Campania, southern Italy. Reference to Nocera as his birthplace is found at least as early as Baedeker's "Southern Italy" (1869) and is also found in the Old Catholic Encyclopedia. Two more recent writers say that the theory is supported by a letter that Hugues wrote from Palestine in 1103, in which he talked of writing to "my father in Nocera" to tell him of the death of his cousin Alessandro.

The foundation of the Order.

Hugh, Count of Champagne made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1104–07 and visited Jerusalem for a second time in 1114–16. It is probable that he was accompanied by Hugues de Payens, who remained there after the Count returned to France as there is a charter with "Hugonis de Peans" in the witness list from Jerusalem in 1120 and again in 1123. In 1125 his name appears again as a witness to a donation, this time accompanied by the title "magister militum Templi" ("Master of the Knights of the Temple"). He most likely obtained approval for the Order from King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem at the Council of Nablus in 1120.  One early chronicler, Simon de St. Bertin, implies that the Knights Templar originated earlier, before the death of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1100: "While he [Godfrey] was reigning magnificently, some had decided not to return to the shadows of the world after suffering such dangers for God's sake. On the advice of the princes of God's army they vowed themselves to God's Temple under this rule: they would renounce the world, give up personal goods, free themselves to pursue purity, and lead a communal life wearing a poor habit, only using arms to defend the land against the attacks of the insurgent pagans when necessity demanded."  Later chroniclers write that Hugues de Payens approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem (whose reign began in 1118) with eight knights, two of whom were brothers and all of whom were his relatives by either blood or marriage, in order to form the Order of the Knights Templar. The other knights were Godfrey de Saint-Omer, Payen de Montdidier, Archambaud de St. Agnan, André de Montbard, Geoffrey Bison, and two men recorded only by the names of Rossal and Gondamer. Baldwin approved the foundation of the Order and entrusted the Temple of Jerusalem to its care.  Count Hugh of Champagne himself joined the Knights Templar on his third visit to the Holy Land in 1125.  As Grand Master, Hugues de Payens led the Order for almost twenty years until his death, helping to establish the Order's foundations as an important and influential military and financial institution. On his visit to England and Scotland in 1128, he raised men and money for the Order, and also founded their first House in London and another near Edinburgh at Balantrodoch, now known as Temple, Midlothian. The "Latin Rule" laying down the way of life of the Order, attributed to Hugues de Payens and Bernard of Clairvaux, was confirmed in 1129 at the Council of Troyes over which Pope Honorius II presided.  Hugues de Payens died, apparently on Bornholm, in 1136. He had lived on the island in his older days and has also used hammerhus to meetings, with the templegroup. The circumstances and date of his death are not recorded in any chronicle, though the Templars commemorated him every year on 24 May, and it's presumed he died of old age. The 16th century historian Marco Antonio Guarini claimed that Hugues was buried in the Church of San Giacomo at Ferrara. He was succeeded as Grand Master by Robert de Craon.

In popular culture.

It has recently been claimed that the wife of Hugues de Payens was Catherine St. Clair within the context of the alternative history of Rosslyn.  Hugues is the main protagonist of the Jack Whyte novel "Knights of the Black and White".

Hugues de Payens or Payns ( 1070 – 24 May 1136) was the co-founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar. In association with Bernard of Clairvaux, he created the "Latin Rule", the code of behavior for the Order.


Geography.

Säntis is located in the Alpstein region, nearly 10 km (as the crow flies) southwest of the town of Appenzell. Three cantons meet on Säntis: Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, and St. Gallen, the mountain being split between the municipalities of Hundwil, Schwende and Wildhaus-Alt St. Johann. Even though its summit is at only 2502 metres above sea level, the mountain ranks number 13th in the Alps and 29th in Europe in topographic prominence at 2021 metres. Peaks with high prominence often have impressive summit views, even if their elevations are relatively modest, Säntis being a prime example. Säntis is also the highest mountain of both cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden.

Climate.

The exposed position of Säntis results in weather conditions normally observed in the high Alps, which means being a typically polar climate (Köppen: "ET") with heavy precipitation not found in most of the Arctic. For example, in April 1999, just beneath the summit on the northern snowfield of the mountain, a snow height of was recorded. The daily mean temperature is with a precipitation of per year.

History.

The name "Säntis" dates back to the 9th century. It is an abbreviation of the Romansh language for "Sambatinus" (English: "the one born on Saturday"), which was thought to be the name of a nearby area. The name was later used to refer to the summit. In the German language it was called "Semptis" or "Sämptis". The mountain later gave its name to a canton of the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803).

Weather station.

The International Meteorological Congress of Rome in 1879 declared it as a necessity to build weather stations on adequate and accessible summits. Therefore, the Swiss built a weather station on Säntis. The position of the northern ridge proved to be ideal for such an endeavour. The weather station was commissioned in autumn of 1882.

Säntis murder.

The so-called "Säntismord" (English: "Säntis murder") happened in the winter of 1922. It refers to a crime in which the weather station keeper and his wife were murdered. The murder was only discovered because of missing weather reports on 21 February. As a result of the missing reports, a search party was sent to Säntis, where they discovered the bodies. The prime suspect was shoemaker Gregor Anton Kreuzpointner, who committed suicide three weeks after the murder. The truth about this double murder hence remains unclear to this day.

Lightning measurements station.

Säntis has one of the highest rate of lightning strikes in Europe. In 2010 a lightning measurement station was installed atop a tall telecommunications tower on the mountain by the Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab of the EPFL in Lausanne. The station automatically records about one gigabyte of data per strike and then notifies researchers. In the first nine months of operation it recorded about 50 strikes, including 7 positive lightning strikes.

Economy.

Transmission tower.

Located at the peak of the Säntis is a 123.55 meter high transmission tower, which was commissioned in November 1997. The original tower stemming from the year 1955 had to be renovated several times due to the rough weather conditions before finally being replaced. The antenna of the new transmission tower got a fibre-glass enforced plastic layer on the outside in order to prevent ice falling onto the visitors' terrace. Swiss radio channels such as DRS 1, DRS 2, DRS 3, RSR la Première and RSI Rete Uno are broadcast from the tower. Swiss television channels such as SF 1, SF 2, SF Info, TSR 1 and TSI 1 are also broadcast from this location.

Tourism.

Today, the summit is easily accessible by aerial tramway from Schwägalp. It had been a popular destination for tourists since the mid 19th century. However, even though many ideas to make the summit more easily accessible existed since those days, it took almost another century for them to materialize. Many approaches, using various types of railways starting from several nearby towns, were tried, but ultimately failed. One project planned to access Säntis from Wasserauen or Unterwasser by rack-and-pinion railway. While the lower section of this project between Appenzell and Wasserauen was built and is still part of today's active railway network, the rest of it was halted due to a lack of funding. Finally, local businessman Dr. Carl Meyer of Herisau came forward with the idea to construct an aerial tramway from the base of the mountain, at Schwägalp, and build a mountain road from the nearby town of Urnäsch for easier access to its lower terminal. On 22 September 1933, his project was ultimately selected for construction and Meyer was awarded with the necessary licences by the federal government. Finally, on 1 July 1935, the aerial tramway started operations. The original cabins were replaced by larger ones in 1960. The entire aerial tramway installation was replaced between 1968 and 1976. In 2000, new cabins were commissioned. The aerial tramway Luftseilbahn Schwägalp-Säntis is one of the most frequented tramways in Switzerland. It has a total length of 2307 meters. The altitude gain between the terminals is 1123 meters. The journey takes roughly 8 minutes. The first tramway was constructed from 1933 to 1935.

Miscellaneous.

In honour of the Swiss National Day, which is celebrated 1 August each year, the world's largest Swiss flag was to be seen on Säntis from 31 July – 2 August 2009. The square national flag was 120 meters each side and weighed 1.2 tons. The flag ripped on 2 August 2009 due to strong winds in the area.

At 2,501.9 metres above sea level, Säntis is the highest mountain in the Alpstein massif of northeastern Switzerland. It is also the culminating point of the whole Appenzell Alps, between Lake Walen and Lake Constance. Shared by three cantons, the mountain is a highly visible landmark thanks to its exposed northerly position within the Alpstein massif. As a consequence, houses called "Säntisblick" (English: "Säntis view") can be found in regions as far away as the Black Forest in Germany. Säntis is among the most prominent summits in the Alps and the most prominent summit in Europe with an observation deck on the top. The panorama from the summit is spectacular. Six countries can be seen if the weather allows: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France, and Italy.


Biography.

Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt was born 1929 as Austrian citizen in Berlin, Germany. His Austrian mother, Ladislaja, born Gräfin von Meran, Freiin von Brandhoven, was the great-granddaughter of the Habsburg Archduke Johann, the 13th child of Emperor Leopold II, making him a descendant of various Holy Roman Emperors and other European royalty. His father, Eberhard Harnoncourt, born de la Fontaine Graf d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt, was an Austrian engineer working in Berlin who had two children from a previous marriage. Two years after Nikolaus's birth, his brother Philipp was born. The family eventually moved to Graz, where Eberhard had obtained a post in the state government ("Landesregierung") of Styria.  Harnoncourt was raised in Graz, Austria, and studied music in Vienna. During his youth, he served in the Hitler Youth under duress, where, as he noted: At the Vienna Music Academy, Harnoncourt studied cello with Paul Grümmer and Emanuel Brabec, and also learned viola da gamba.

Career.

Harnoncourt was a cellist with the Vienna Symphony from 1952 to 1969. In 1953, he founded the period-instrument ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien with his wife, Alice Hoffelner, whom he married that year. The Concentus Musicus Wien was dedicated to performances on period instruments, and by the 1970s his work with it had made him quite well known. He played the viola da gamba at this time, as well as the cello. For the Telefunken (later Teldec) label, Harnoncourt recorded a wide variety of the Baroque repertoire, beginning with the viol music of Henry Purcell, and extending to include works like Bach's "The Musical Offering", Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea", and Rameau's "Castor et Pollux". One of his final recordings with the Concentus Musicus Wien was of Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5.  One reason that Harnoncourt left the Vienna Symphony was to become a conductor. He made his conducting debut at La Scala, Milan, in 1970, leading a production of Monteverdi's "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria".  In 1971, Harnoncourt started a joint project with conductor Gustav Leonhardt to record all of J. S. Bach's cantatas. The Teldec Bach cantata project was eventually completed in 1990 and was the only cantata cycle to use an all-male choir and soloist roster, with the exception of cantatas nos. 51 and 199, which were intended for a female soprano voice. He also made the first recordings in historically informed performance of Bach's Mass in B minor (1968) and "St Matthew Passion" (1970). In 2001 a critically acclaimed and Grammy Award winning recording of the "St Matthew Passion" with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir was released, which included the entire score of the piece in Bach's own hand on a CD-ROM. This was his third recording of the work.  Harnoncourt later performed with many other orchestras that played on modern instruments, but still with an eye on historical authenticity in terms of tempi and dynamics, among other things. He also expanded his repertoire, continuing to play the baroque works, but also championing the Viennese operetta repertoire. He made a benchmark recording of Beethoven's symphonies with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE), and recorded Beethoven's piano concertos with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the COE.  Harnoncourt was also a guest conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic and made several recordings with the orchestra. Between 1987 and 1991, he conducted four new productions of Mozart operas at the Vienna State Opera (1987–91: "Idomeneo"; 1988–90: "Die Zauberflöte"; 1989: "Die Entführung aus dem Serail"; 1989–91: "Così fan tutte"). He directed the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day concerts in 2001 and 2003.  In 1992, Harnoncourt debuted at the Salzburg Festival conducting a concert with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In the following years, he led several concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Concentus Musicus. Harnoncourt also served as the conductor for major opera productions of the Festival: "L'incoronazione di Poppea" (1993), Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" (1995 and 2006), "Don Giovanni" (2002, marking also Anna Netrebko's international breakthrough as Donna Anna, and 2003) and "La clemenza di Tito" (2003 and 2006), and Purcell's "King Arthur" (2004). In 2012, Harnoncourt conducted a new production of "Die Zauberflöte" staged by Jens-Daniel Herzog.  Harnoncourt made his guest-conducting debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, in 1975. He continued as a guest conductor with the orchestra, including in several opera productions and recordings. In October 2000, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (KCO) named him their "Honorair gastdirigent" (Honorary Guest Conductor). His final appearance with the KCO was in October 2013, leading Bruckner's Symphony No. 5.  Other recordings outside of the baroque and classical era repertoire included his 2002 recording of Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Philharmonic. An accompanying second CD contained a lecture by Harnoncourt about the symphony with musical examples, including the rarely heard fragments from the unfinished finale. In 2009, Harnoncourt recorded Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess", taken from live performances at Graz.  On 5 December 2015, one day before his 86th birthday, Harnoncourt announced his retirement via his website. "My bodily strength requires me to cancel my future plans," he wrote in a hand-written letter inserted into the program on his 86th birthday of a concert by the Concentus Musicus Wien.

Styriarte.

Harnoncourt was the focus of the annual festival of classical music Styriarte, founded in 1985 to tie him closer to his hometown Graz. He programmed the festival for 31 years. Events have been held at different venues in Graz and in the surrounding region.

Personal life.

Harnoncourt met his wife Alice through their mutual interest in historically informed performances of Baroque music and co-founded the Concentus Musicus Wien. Their daughter is the mezzo-soprano Elisabeth von Magnus. Their two surviving sons are Philipp and Franz. Their third son Eberhard, a violin maker, died in 1990 in an automobile accident.  Harnoncourt died on 5 March 2016 in the village of Sankt Georgen im Attergau, north east of Salzburg. His widow Alice, their three adult children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren survive him.

Awards.

Harnoncourt was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, Honorary Doctor of the University of Edinburgh and of the Order Pour le Mérite for Science and Art.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt, nobility historically Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt; 6 December 1929 – 5 March 2016) was an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble, Concentus Musicus Wien, in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement. Around 1970, Harnoncourt started to conduct opera and concert performances, soon leading renowned international symphony orchestras, and appearing at leading concert halls, operatic venues and festivals. His repertoire then widened to include composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2001 and 2003, he conducted the Vienna New Year's Concert. Harnoncourt was also the author of several books, mostly on subjects of performance history and musical aesthetics.


History.

Hesse-Darmstadt was a member of Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine during the Napoleonic Wars. Rapidly expanding during the mediatizations, Hesse-Darmstadt became an amalgamation of smaller German states, such as the Electorate of Cologne. The legal patchwork of the state culminated in a decree issued on 1 October 1806 by Louis I. The old territorial estates were abolished, which altered Hesse-Darmstadt "from a mosaic of patrimonial fragments into a centralized, absolute monarchy." The Duchy of Westphalia, which Hesse-Darmstadt had received in 1803, was ceded to the Kingdom of Prussia during the Congress of Vienna. However, Hesse-Darmstadt was compensated with some territory on the western bank of the Rhine, including the important federal fortress at Mainz.  The neighboring Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel had backed Prussia against Napoleon and was absorbed into the Kingdom of Westphalia. At the Congress of Vienna, Hesse-Kassel was reestablished as the Electorate of Hesse. To distinguish the two Hessian states, the grand duchy changed its name to the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () in 1816.  In 1867, the northern half of the Grand Duchy (Upper Hesse) became a part of the North German Confederation, while the half of the Grand Duchy south of the Main (Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse) remained outside. In 1871, it became a constituent state of the German Empire. The last Grand Duke, Ernst Ludwig (a grandson of Queen Victoria and brother to Empress Alexandra of Russia), was forced from his throne at the end of World War I, and the state was renamed the People's State of Hesse ("Volksstaat Hessen").  After World War II, the majority of the state combined with Frankfurt am Main, the Waldeck area (Rhine-Province) and the former Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau to form the new state of Hesse. Excluded were the Montabaur district from Hessen-Nassau and that part of Hessen-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine (Rhenish Hesse), which became part of the Rhineland-Palatinate state. (Bad) Wimpfen—an exclave of Hessen-Darmstadt—became part of Baden-Württemberg, in the district of Sinsheim. After a plebiscite on 29 April 1951, Bad Wimpfen was transferred from Sinsheim district to Heilbronn District. This change to Heilbronn was carried out on 1 May 1952.

Transport.

Because of the disjointed nature of the state, it did not develop its own state railway to begin with, but set up joint railway projects with its neighbouring states: These were the:  In addition the state encouraged numerous other projects by the privately owned Hessian Ludwig Railway Company. Finally, in 1876 the state founded its own company, the Grand Duchy of Hesse State Railways, which continued to expand the network until it was finally merged into the Prussian-Hessian Railway Company in 1897.

Subdivisions of Hesse.

The Grand Duchy of Hesse was divided into three provinces:

The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 (the period of German mediatization) to the end of the German Empire in 1918. The grand duchy originally formed on the basis of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (). After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, it changed its name in 1816 to distinguish itself from the Electorate of Hesse, which had formed from neighboring Hesse-Kassel. Colloquially, the grand duchy continued to be known by its former name of Hesse-Darmstadt. It joined the German Empire in 1871 and became a republic after the German defeat in World War I in 1918.


Biography.

Michels born to a wealthy German family, studied in England, Paris (at the Sorbonne), and at universities in Munich, Leipzig (1897), Halle (1898), and Turin. He became a Socialist while teaching at the University of Marburg and became active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany for whom he was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1903 German federal election. In Italy, he associated with, a leftist branch of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). He left both parties in 1907.  He achieved international recognition for his historical and sociological study, "Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens in der modernen Demokratie. Untersuchungen über die oligarchischen Tendenzen des Gruppenlebens", which was published in 1911; its title in English is "Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy". In it, he presented his "Iron law of oligarchy" theory that political parties, including those considered socialist, cannot be democratic because they quickly transform themselves into bureaucratic oligarchies. Michels attended the First International Eugenics Congress in 1912 where he delivered a papaer entitled "Eugenics in Party Organization". Michels was considered a brilliant pupil of Max Weber, who began publishing his writings in the "Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik" in 1906 and appointed him as co-editor in 1913, but they disagreed over Michels' opposition to World War I.  Michels criticized what he perceived to be Karl Marx's materialistic determinism. Michels borrowed from Werner Sombart's historical methods. Because Michels admired Italian culture and was prominent in the social sciences, he was brought to the attention of Luigi Einaudi and Achille Loria. They succeeded in procuring for Michels a professorship at the University of Turin, where he taught economics, political science and socioeconomics until 1914. He then became professor of economics at the University of Basel, Switzerland, a post he held until 1928.  In 1924 he joined the Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini, former director of the Italian Socialist Party's newspaper ""Avanti!"". Michels was convinced that the direct link between Benito Mussolini's charisma and the working class was in some way the best means to realize a real lower social class government without political bureaucratic mediation. In 1928, he became professor of economics and the history of doctrines at the University of Perugia and occasionally lectured in Rome where he died on May 3, 1936.

Robert Michels (; 9 January 1876, Cologne, Germany – 3 May 1936, Rome, Italy) was a German-born Italian sociologist who contributed to elite theory by describing the political behavior of intellectual elites. He belonged to the Italian school of elitism. He is best known for his book "Political Parties", published in 1911, which contains a description of the "iron law of oligarchy." He was a friend and disciple of Max Weber, Werner Sombart and Achille Loria. Politically, he moved from the Social Democratic Party of Germany to the Italian Socialist Party, adhering to the Italian revolutionary syndicalist wing and later to Italian Fascism, which he saw as a more democratic form of socialism. His ideas provided the basis of moderation theory which delineates the processes through which radical political groups are incorporated into the existing political system.


Definition.

Camping describes a range of activities and approaches to outdoor accommodation. Survivalist campers set off with as little as possible to get by, whereas recreational vehicle travelers arrive equipped with their own electricity, heat, and patio furniture. Camping may be combined with hiking, as in backpacking, and is often enjoyed in conjunction with other outdoor activities such as canoeing, climbing, fishing, and hunting. Fastpacking involves both running and camping.  There is no universally held definition of what is and what is not camping. Just as with motels which serve both recreational and business guests, the same campground may serve recreational campers, migrant workers, and homeless at the same time. Fundamentally, it reflects a combination of "intent" and the nature of activities involved. A children's summer camp with dining hall meals and bunkhouse accommodations may have "camp" in its name but fails to reflect the spirit and form of "camping" as it is broadly understood. Similarly, a homeless person's lifestyle may involve many common camping activities, such as sleeping out and preparing meals over a fire, but fails to reflect the elective nature and pursuit of spirit rejuvenation that are integral aspect of camping. Likewise, cultures with itinerant lifestyles or lack of permanent dwellings cannot be said to be "camping", it is just their way of life.

History.

The history of recreational camping is often traced back to Thomas Hiram Holding, a British travelling tailor, but it was actually first popularised in the UK on the river Thames. By the 1880s large numbers of visitors took part in the pastime, which was connected to the late Victorian craze for pleasure boating. The early camping equipment was very heavy, so it was convenient to transport it by boat or to use craft that converted into tents. Although Thomas Hiram Holding is often seen as the father of modern camping in the UK, he was responsible for popularising a different type of camping in the early twentieth century. He experienced the activity in the wild from his youth, when he had spent much time with his parents traveling across the American prairies. Later he embarked on a cycling and camping tour with some friends across Ireland. His book on his Ireland experience, "Cycle and Camp in Connemara" led to the formation of the first camping group in 1901, the Association of Cycle Campers, later to become the Camping and Caravanning Club. He wrote "The Campers Handbook" in 1908, so that he could share his enthusiasm for the great outdoors with the world.  Possibly the first commercial camping ground in the world was Cunningham's camp, near Douglas, Isle of Man, which opened in 1894. In 1906 the Association of Cycle Campers opened its first own camping site, in Weybridge. By that time the organization had several hundred members. In 1910 the Association was merged into the National Camping Club. Although WW1 was responsible for a certain hiatus in camping activity, the association received a new lease of life after the war when Sir Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scouts movement) became its president.  In the US, camping may be traced to William Henry Harrison Murray 1869 publication of "Camp-Life in the Adirondacks" resulting in a flood of visitors to the Adirondacks that summer.  The International Federation of Camping Clubs (Federation Internationale de Camping et de Caravanning) was founded in 1932 with national clubs from all over the world affiliating with it. By the 1960s camping had become an established family holiday standard and today camp sites are ubiquitous across Europe and North America.

Forms.

Different types camping may be named after their form of transportation, such as with Canoe camping, car camping, RVing, and backpacking, which can involve ultralight gear.  Camping is also labeled by lifestyle: Glamping (glamorous camping) combines camping with the luxury and amenities of a home or hotel, and has its roots are in the early 1900s European and American safaris in Africa. Workamping allows campers to trade their labor variously for discounts on campsite fees, campground utilities, and even some degree of pay. Migrant camps are formed not for recreation, but as a temporary housing arrangement. Campgrounds for custom harvesters in the United States may include room to park combines and other large farm equipment.  Another way of describing camping is by the manner of arrangement: reservation camping vs. drop camping. Campgrounds may require campers to check in with an employee or campground host prior to setting up camp, or they may allow "drop camping," where this is not required. Drop-in campsites may be free or a drop-box may be provided to accept payments on the honor system. Although drop camping is often specifically allowed by law, it may also exist in a legal grey area, such as at California's Slab City. Social media-oriented towards drop camping provides information on recent police enforcement, campsite quality, cost, and length-of-stay requirements.

Campgrounds and commercial campsites.

Campers span a broad range of age, ability, and ruggedness, and campsites are designed in many ways as well. Many campgrounds have sites with facilities such as fire rings, barbecue grills, utilities, shared bathrooms and laundry, as well as access to nearby recreational facilities, however, not all campsites have similar levels of development. Campsites can range from a patch of dirt, to a level, paved pad with sewer and electricity. (For more information on facilities, see the campsite and RV park articles.)  Other vehicles used for camping include motorcycles, touring bicycles, boats, canoes, pack animals, and even bush planes; although backpacking on foot is a popular alternative.  Tent camping sites often cost less than campsites with full amenities, and most allow direct access by car. Some "walk-in" sites lie a short walk away from the nearest road, but do not require full backpacking equipment. Those who seek a rugged experience in the outdoors prefer to camp with only tents, or with no shelter at all ("under the stars").

By country.

United States.

According to an infographic produced by Red Rover Camping and based on data from the 2014 American Camper Report published by the Coleman Company, Inc. and the Outdoor Foundation, camping in the United States is gaining popularity after a fall of 4.2 million participants from 2011 to 2012.

United Kingdom.

According to data provided by the Great British Tourism Survey conducted by Visit England, almost 4.5 million camping and caravanning holidays were taken by British residents during the first half of 2015, for an average of 3.7 nights. As in the United States, camping is gaining popularity, with an 8% increase in trips compared to the same period in 2014.

France.

Data collected by the Fédération Nationale De L'Hôtellerie De Plein Air (FNHPA) shows that around 113 million nights were taken at French campsites in 2015, which was up by 3.9% on the same period in 2014. French holidaymakers took 77 million of these, and the rest was made up of other nationalities, the majority of whom were Dutch, German and UK tourists. The French Government hopes to have 100 million tourists each year by 2030. The most popular region for camping is Languedoc and Roussillon with around 19,331,663 nights spent at campsites during 2015, whilst the department with the most campsites is the Vendée.

Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home in a shelter, such as a tent or a recreational vehicle. Typically participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more natural ones in pursuit of activities providing them enjoyment. To be regarded as "camping" a minimum of one night is spent outdoors, distinguishing it from day-tripping, picnicking, and other similarly short-term recreational activities. Camping can be enjoyed through all four seasons.