Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.

Ibert pursued a successful composing career, writing (sometimes in collaboration with other composers) seven operas, five ballets, incidental music for plays and films, works for piano solo, choral works, and chamber music. He is probably best remembered for his orchestral works including Divertissement (1930) and Escales (1922).

As a composer, Ibert did not attach himself to any of the prevalent genres of music of his time, and has been described as an eclectic. This is seen even in his best-known pieces: Divertissement for small orchestra is lighthearted, even frivolous, and Escales (1922) is a ripely romantic work for large orchestra.

In tandem with his creative work, Ibert was the director of the Académie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome. During World War II he was proscribed by the pro-Nazi government in Paris, and for a time he went into exile in Switzerland. Restored to his former eminence in French musical life after the war, his final musical appointment was in charge of the Paris Opera and the Opéra-Comique.

Biography

Early years
Ibert was born in Paris. His father was a successful businessman, and his mother a talented pianist who had studied with Antoine François Marmontel and encouraged the young Ibert's musical interests. From the age of four, he began studying music, first learning the violin and then the piano from his mother, despite his father's wishes that his son would follow in his business profession. After leaving school, he earned a living as a private teacher, as an accompanist, and as a cinema pianist. He also started composing songs, sometimes under the pen name William Berty, and helped his father's business, which had suffered a financial setback. In 1910, Ibert became a student at the Paris Conservatoire, studying with Émile Pessard (harmony), André Gedalge (counterpoint) and Paul Vidal (composition). Gédalge also gave him private lessons in orchestration; Ibert's fellow-students at these private classes included Arthur Honegger and Darius Milhaud.

Ibert's musical studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, in which he served as a naval officer. After the war he married Rosette Veber, daughter of the painter Jean Veber. Resuming his studies, he won the Conservatoire's top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, in 1919. The prize gave him the opportunity to pursue further musical studies in Rome. In the course of these, Ibert composed his first opera, Persée et Andromède (1921), to a libretto by his brother-in-law, the author Michel Veber, writing under the pen name "Nino".

Composer and administrator

Among Ibert's early orchestral compositions were La Ballade de la geôle de Reading, inspired by Oscar Wilde's poem, and Escales (Ports of Call), inspired by his experiences of Mediterranean ports while he was serving in the navy. The first of these works was played at the Concerts Colonne in October 1922, conducted by Gabriel Pierné; the second was performed in January 1924 with Paul Paray conducting the Orchestre Lamoureux. The two works made Ibert an early reputation both at home and abroad. His publisher Alphonse Leduc commissioned two collections of piano music from him, Histoires and Les Rencontres, which enhanced his popularity. In 1927 his opéra-bouffe Angélique was produced; it was the most successful of his operas, a musical farce, displaying eclectic style and flair.

In addition to composing, Ibert was active as a conductor and in musical administration. He was a member of professional committees, and in 1937 he was appointed director of the Académie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome. Ibert, with the enthusiastic support of his wife "threw himself wholeheartedly into his administrative role and proved an excellent ambassador of French culture in Italy." He held the post until the end of 1960, except for an enforced break while France and Italy were at war during World War II.

Later years
The war years were difficult for Ibert. In 1940 the Vichy government banned his music and he retreated to Antibes, in the south of France, and later to Switzerland and the Haute-Savoie. In August 1944, he was readmitted to the musical life of the country when General de Gaulle recalled him to Paris. In 1955 Ibert was appointed administrator of the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux, which ran both the Paris Opera and the Opéra-Comique. After less than a year, his health obliged him to retire. Shortly afterwards he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Ibert died in Paris aged 71, and is buried at Passy Cemetery in the city's 16th arrondissement.

Music
Ibert refused to ally himself to any particular musical fashion or school, maintaining that "all systems are valid", a position that has caused many commentators to categorise him as "eclectic". His biographer Alexandra Laederich writes, "His music can be festive and gay … lyrical and inspired, or descriptive and evocative … often tinged with gentle humour … all the elements of his musical language bar that of harmony relate closely to the Classical tradition." The early orchestral works, such as Escales, are in "a lush Impressionist style", but Ibert is at least as well known for lighthearted, even frivolous, pieces, among which are the Divertissement for small orchestra and the Flute Concerto.

Ibert's stage works similarly embrace a wide variety of styles. His first opera, Persée et Andromède, is a concise, gently satirical piece. Angélique displays his "eclectic style and his accomplished writing of pastiche set pieces". Le roi d'Yvetot is written, in part in a simple folklike style. The opéra bouffe Gonzague is another essay in the old opera bouffe style. L'Aiglon, composed jointly with Honegger, employs commedia dell'arte characters and much musical pastiche in a style both accessible and sophisticated. For the farcical Les petites Cardinal the music is in set pieces in the manner of an operetta. By contrast Le chevalier errant, a choreographic piece incorporating chorus and two reciters, is in an epic style. Ibert's practice of collaborating with other composers extended to his works for the ballet stage. His first work composed expressly for the ballet was a waltz for L'éventail de Jeanne (1929) to which he was one of ten contributors, others of whom were Ravel and Poulenc. He was the sole composer of four further ballets between 1934 and 1954.

For the theatre and cinema, Ibert was a prolific composer of incidental music. His best-known theatre score was music for Eugène Labiche's Un chapeau de paille d'Italie, which Ibert later reworked as the suite Divertissement. Other scores ranged from music for farce to that for Shakespeare productions. His cinema scores covered a similarly broad range. He wrote the music for more than a dozen French films, and for American directors he composed a score for Orson Welles's 1948 film of  Macbeth, and the Circus ballet for Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance in 1952.

Works

Operas
 Persée et Andromède, 1921
 Angélique, 1927
 Le roi d'Yvetot, 1930
 Gonzague, 1931
 L'Aiglon (Acts 1 and 5, the rest by Arthur Honegger), 1937
 Les petites cardinal (operetta, with Honegger), 1938
 Barbe-bleue, 1943

Ballet
 Les amours de Jupiter, ballet (1945)
 Le chevalier errant, épopée choréographique (1951)

Orchestral
 La ballade de la geôle de Reading (1920)
 Escales (1922)
 Rome – Palerme
 Tunis – Nefta
 Valencia
 Valse (1927; for the children's ballet L'éventail de Jeanne, to which ten French composers each contributed a dance)
 Divertissement (1929)
 Suite symphonique (1930)
 Symphonie marine (1931)
 Ouverture de fête (1940)
 Louisville Concerto (1953)
 Hommage à Mozart (1955)
 Bacchanale (1956)
 Tropismes pour des amours imaginaires (1957)
 Bostoniana (1961; first movement of an unfinished symphony)

Concertos
 Concerto for Cello and Wind Instruments (1925)
 Flute Concerto (1934)
 Concertino da camera for Alto Saxophone and Eleven Instruments (1935–1936)
 Symphonie Concertante for Oboe and String Orchestra

Vocal/choral orchestral
 Le poète et la fée

Chamber/instrumental
 Six pièces for harp solo (1916–1917)
 Trois Pièces for organ Pièce Solennelle, Musette, Fugue (1920)
 Deux mouvements for 2 flutes (or flute and oboe), clarinet and bassoon (1921)
 Jeux, Sonatine for flute and piano (1923)
 Le Jardinier de Samos for flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, cello and percussion (1924)
 Française for guitar (1926)
 Arie (Vocalise) for flute, violin and piano (1927)
 Aria for flute (or other instrument) and piano (1927, 1930)
 Trois pièces brèves for wind quintet (1930)
 Ariette for guitar (1935)
 Cinq pièces en trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon (1935)
 Entr'acte for flute (or violin) and  harp (or guitar) (1935)
 Pièce for flute solo (1936)
 String Quartet (1937–1942)
 Capriccio pour dix instruments for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, harp, 2 violins, viola, and cello (1936–1938)
 Trio for violin, cello and harp (1944)
 Deux interludes for flute, violin and harpsichord (or harp) (1946)
 Étude-caprice pour un Tombeau de Chopin for cello solo (1949)
 Ghirlarzana for cello solo (1950)
 Caprilena for violin solo (1950)
 Impromptu for trumpet and piano (1950)
 Carignane for bassoon and piano (1953)
 Arabesque for bassoon and piano

Piano
 Histoires, ten pieces for piano (1922)
 La meneuse de tortues d'or (D minor)
 Le petit âne blanc (F major)
 Le vieux mendiant (E major)
 A Giddy Girl (G major)
 Dans la maison triste (C minor)
 Le palais abandonné (B minor)
 Bajo la mesa (A minor)
 La cage de cristal (The crystal cage) (E minor)
 La marchande d'eau fraiche (The water seller) (F minor)
 Le cortège de Balkis (F major)
 Toccata (D major)
 Escales (arr. for piano by the composer)
 Le vent dans les ruines (En Champagne)
 Les rencontres (Petite suite en forme de ballet)
 Matin sur l'eau
 Noel en Picardie
 Petite suite en 15 images (1944)
 Prélude
 Ronde
 Le gai vigneron
 Berceuse aux étoiles
 Le cavalier Sans-Souci
 Parade
 La promenade en traineau
 Romance
 Quadrille
 Sérénade sur l'eau
 La machine à coudre
 L'adieu
 Les crocus
 Premier bal
 Danse du cocher
 Valse de L'éventail de Jeanne (arr. for piano by the composer)

Incidental music
 Suite Élisabéthaine for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1942)
 Entr'acte for Pedro Ignacio Calderón's El médico de su honra (Le médecin de son honneur) (1937)

Film music
 S.O.S. Foch (director, Jean Arroy), 1931
 Moon Over Morocco (Julien Duvivier), 1931
 Don Quichotte (Georg Wilhelm Pabst), 1932
 The Two Orphans (Maurice Tourneur), 1933
 Maternité (Jean Choux), 1934
  Justin de Marseille  (Tourneur), 1935
 Golgotha (Duvivier), 1935
 Le Coupable (Raymond Bernard), 1936
 Anne-Marie, 1936
 The Former Mattia Pascal (L'Homme de nulle part) (Pierre Chenal), 1937
 Conflict  (Léonide Moguy), 1938
 The Patriot (1938)
 Angelica (1939)
 Thérèse Martin (1939)
 The Phantom Carriage (1939)
 Heroes of the Marne (André Hugon), 1939
 La Comédie du bonheur (Marcel L'Herbier), 1940
 Les Petites du quai aux fleurs (Marc Allégret), 1944
 Macbeth (Orson Welles), 1948
 Circus (ballet for Invitation to the Dance, Gene Kelly), 1952;
 Marianne of My Youth (Duvivier), 1955

References

External links

 The official website of Jacques Ibert

1890 births
1962 deaths
Composers from Paris
20th-century classical composers
Composers for piano
French male film score composers
French male classical composers
French opera composers
Male opera composers
Prix de Rome for composition
French ballet composers
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
French military personnel of World War I
Burials at Passy Cemetery
French exiles
French expatriates in Switzerland
Directors of the Paris Opera
20th-century French composers
20th-century French male musicians

Jacques Ibert


Bangladesh–South Korea relations are foreign relations between Bangladesh and South Korea. Bangladesh is the nation which established both relations among two Koreas. North Korea made its official diplomacy with Bangladesh in 1973.

In 1974, South Korea opened its embassy in the capital Dhaka while her counterpart in 1987.

South Korea
Bangladesh

Bangladesh–South Korea relations


Centre (center in the United States) is a position in ice hockey. A centre plays in the middle of the ice as one of three forwards. The centre is between the left wing and the right wing, and is the one who takes faceoffs. Because they are in the middle, the centre sometimes has to help the two defencemen when they need help.

Ice hockey positions

Centre (ice hockey)


Goth can also stand for a member of the Goth subculture

The Goths (Gothic: , Gutans) were an East Germanic tribe. They spoke the Gothic language. Jordanes was a scholar from the 6th century who wrote a summary of a twelve volume work by Cassiodorus about the Goths. Jordanes work is commonly called Getica. The original work by Cassiodorius was lost, Getica is the only surviving contemporary account about the Goths. According to this book they left Scandinavia via Gotland and settled close to the mouth of the Vistula river (in present day Poland). In the 3rd and 4th centuries they settled Scythia, Dacia and parts of Moesia and Asia Minor. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, they fought with the Roman Empire and later adopted Arianism (a form of Christianity).

In the 4th and 5th centuries, they split into the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths. With this move, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in Italy and on the Iberian peninsula (now Spain & Portugal).  Traces of Gothic blood can be found in many people .

References

Germanic tribes
Ancient Rome

Goths


Austin Churton Fairman (15 November 1924 – 4 April 1997), who used the name Churton Fairman but was more widely known under the pseudonym Mike Raven in the 1960s and early 1970s, was a British radio disc jockey, actor, sculptor, sheep farmer, writer, TV presenter and producer, ballet dancer, flamenco guitarist and photographer.

Early life and career
Churton Fairman was born in London, the son of actors Austin Fairman (1892–1964) and Hilda Moore (c.1886–1929). His mother died in the United States when he was a child, after catching an infection from him, and he was brought up by three aunts, who sent him to Aldenham School. He went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, but was called up for wartime service in the Royal Ulster Rifles, where he served as a lieutenant. After the war he joined the Ballet Rambert as a dancer, but then turned to photography, specialising in ballet shots. He also worked as a conjuror and interior decorator.

In 1949, he married Aurelia Pascual y Pérez, a refugee from the Spanish Civil War, and returned with her to her home. They had one son and three daughters together; they later divorced. He wrote a well-regarded travel book, Another Spain, published in 1952, about Spain's undiscovered countryside and in particular Aurelia's home village of Quintanarraya.

While in Seville for the Holy Week celebrations there, he met the director Peter Brook. This led to him returning to London and becoming an actor, director and production manager on dramas on ITV. When ITV's Stars on Sunday religious series ended, he presented both the Ten Commandments programme and its successor, Songs That Matter, as well as contributing to ATV's weekday Epilogue. He also acted on stage in Moscow in the 1950s with John Gielgud, and occasionally played flamenco guitar music in a Spanish restaurant in London.

Radio career
In the early 1960s, still using his real name, he began working for BBC radio, presenting talks and, occasionally, Woman's Hour. However, when his cousin, Liberal Party politician Oliver Smedley, founded the pirate radio station Radio Atlanta, he joined the station as a disc jockey, broadcasting from the ship Mi Amigo moored off the Essex coast near Frinton-on-Sea. At that point, he began using the name Mike Raven, and presented shows which focused on his love of American blues, rhythm and blues and soul music, of which he owned a large record collection. In 1964 he married Mandy Kilbey, sometimes presenting radio programmes jointly with her; they later had two sons.

With Smedley, he became an active campaigner lobbying Parliament for the legalisation of the pirate radio stations, until Smedley was accused of causing the death of rival radio entrepreneur Reg Calvert by shooting him with a shotgun; he was later acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. Raven then moved to another pirate station, Radio Invicta, which broadcast from a wartime defence tower on a sandbank in the mouth of the River Thames. The station was later known as Radio King and Radio 390. There, he was programme controller and presented a daily R&B show until November 1966.

A compilation album, The Mike Raven Blues Show, billed as "twice voted top pirate radio show", was issued on the Xtra label, a subsidiary of Transatlantic Records, in 1966. It featured recordings by Texas Alexander, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Gus Cannon, Robert Johnson, Speckled Red, Victoria Spivey, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Boy Williamson, Brownie McGhee, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Elmore James.

After working for a short time for Radio Luxembourg, presenting an EMI-sponsored soul show, he joined BBC Radio 1 – the first national radio channel in the UK playing predominantly popular music – for its launch day in September 1967. The Mike Raven Blues Show debuted on the first day of Radio 1, and was a regular feature, usually on Sunday evenings, until November 1971, eventually expanding to a two-hour slot. Raven was regarded as a leading authority on the subject, and the show was highly influential in promoting the music of African American culture within the UK, being described as "essential listening for every self-respecting blues fan".

Later life
In 1971 he decided to leave radio and to return to acting, combining his former career with his passion for the occult to work in horror movies. The pre-publicity for these films centred on Raven's interests in the occult – he reputedly always dressed in black, often with a matching cloak. He first appeared as Count Karnstein in the Hammer horror film Lust for a Vampire (1971) but suffered the indignity of having his voice re-dubbed. He then moved to the Amicus production company for I, Monster (1971), and worked with producer Tom Parkinson on Crucible of Terror, in which he played a mad sculptor. The filming introduced him to Cornwall, where he moved with his family to live in a converted 17th-century pigsty at Penpol, Lesnewth. Raven and Parkinson collaborated again on Disciple of Death (1972), which Raven partly financed. However, its poor commercial performance effectively ended his acting career – one critic described the film as "so incoherent that it comes across as a Dada nightmare". He also appeared on the television music show 2 G's and the Pop People (1972), performing a version of "Monster Mash".

He reverted to using his real name in 1974, and began to produce carvings in wood and granite, combining religious and erotic imagery. In 1977 he moved with his family to South Penquite, near Blisland on Bodmin Moor, where, with no prior knowledge, he began sheep farming, eventually establishing a successful farm. Later, he had to give up farming because of a heart condition, turning instead to his art. He determined not to sell any work until he had enough for an exhibition, but was initially thwarted by the unexpected deaths of two of his sponsors, the critic Peter Fuller and then the artist Christina Hoare. His first show of sculptures was eventually arranged in Cornwall, but shortly before it was due to open the sponsors pulled out on the grounds that some of the works were in bad taste. They were eventually, and successfully, displayed in the crypt of St George's Church, Bloomsbury, in 1990, and later at the Penzance Gallery. One of his pieces, The Deposition from the Cross, was later exhibited in the Images of Christ exhibition of 20th-century religious art staged at Northampton and St Paul's Cathedral, London. A series of commissions followed, from around Europe.

On the 25th anniversary of the start of Radio 1, in 1992, it was at first rumoured that he was dead, and someone making personal appearances as Mike Raven was exposed as a fraud. Eventually an appeal for information about him was heard by a butcher in Cornwall, who revealed Fairman's change of name and whereabouts.

He wrote of himself:

Now, looking back from the comparative serenity of old age, I can see that my whole life has been conditioned by two main elements; my consistently unsuccessful struggle to come to terms with my own sexuality, and my, consequently, equally unsuccessful attempts to live up to my Christian beliefs...

Death
Fairman died in 1997, and was buried in a grave he had dug for himself on Bodmin Moor.

Filmography
 Lust for a Vampire (1971)
 I, Monster (1971)
 Crucible of Terror (1971)
 Disciple of Death (1972)

References

External links
Video of Mike Raven interview, 1970, about his time on pirate radio
Radio shows on SoundCloud

1924 births
1997 deaths
British DJs
British radio people
British Catholics
Converts to Roman Catholicism
Offshore radio broadcasters
Pirate radio personalities
BBC Radio 1 presenters
20th-century British sculptors
British male sculptors
20th-century British musicians
British Army personnel of World War II
Royal Ulster Rifles officers
Musicians from London

Mike Raven


Augustus Edward Hough Love FRS (17 April 1863, Weston-super-Mare – 5 June 1940, Oxford), often known as A. E. H. Love, was a mathematician famous for his work on the mathematical theory of elasticity. He also worked on wave propagation and his work on the structure of the Earth in Some Problems of Geodynamics won for him the Adams prize in 1911 when he developed a mathematical model of surface waves known as Love waves.
Love also contributed to the theory of tidal locking and introduced the parameters known as Love numbers, used in problems related to Earth tides, the tidal deformation of the solid Earth due to the gravitational attraction of the Moon and Sun.

Life and career
He was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School and in 1881 won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where he was at first undecided whether to study classics or mathematics. His successful progress (he was placed Second Wrangler) vindicated his choice of mathematics, and in 1886 he was elected Fellow of the college. In 1899 he was appointed Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Oxford, a position which he retained until his death in 1940. He was also a Fellow of Queen's College.

He authored the two volume classic, A Treatise on the Mathematical Theory of Elasticity. He was the author of several articles in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, including Elasticity and Infinitesimal Calculus.

His other awards include the Royal Society Royal Medal in 1909 and Sylvester Medal in 1937, and the London Mathematical Society De Morgan Medal in 1926. He was secretary to the London Mathematical Society between 1895 and 1910, and president for 1912–1913.

Further reading
A.E.H. Love, "Theoretical mechanics, an introductory treatise on the principles of theoretical dynamics", 1897, Cambridge University Press
A.E.H. Love, "Some problems of geodynamics", first published in 1911 by the Cambridge University Press and published again in 1967 by Dover, New York, USA.

See also
Twist (mathematics)

References

1863 births
1940 deaths
People from Weston-super-Mare
19th-century British mathematicians
20th-century British mathematicians
Fellows of the Royal Society
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
Fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford
Sedleian Professors of Natural Philosophy
People educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School
Royal Medal winners
Second Wranglers
De Morgan Medallists
Geodynamics

Augustus Edward Hough Love


The flash point of a volatile substance is the lowest temperature at which it can become vapor, mix with air, and burn.

The flash point describes liquid fuel. It helps to tell about the danger of fire from liquids. "Flash point" can describe both flammable liquids and combustible liquids.

Measurement
Several national and international committees and organizations decide how everyone should measure the flash point. The three main groups that decide this standard for measurement are the CEN / ISO Joint Working Group on Flash Point (JWG-FP), ASTM D02.8B Flammability Section, and the Energy Institute's TMS SC-B-4 Flammability Panel.

The standard for testing the temperature of the flash point tells the equipment, units of measure, the steps to follow, and the precision of the test method.

Chemistry
Fire

Flash point


The FG 42 (German: Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 or "paratrooper rifle 42") was a battle rifle. It was made in Nazi Germany during World War II. The weapon was made for use by Fallschirmjäger airborne infantry in 1942. It was used in small amounts until the war ended.

The FG 42 had the power of a light machine gun. It was light and was no larger than the Kar 98k bolt-action rifle. The FG 42 is thought to be one of the most advanced weapons of World War II. It helped shape the modern assault rifle idea.

History

At the time of the Battle of Crete (Operation Mercury), German Fallschirmjäger had the same weapons as the regular army. When they jumped from aircraft, they only had pistols and hand grenades. Submachine guns, rifles and other heavier weapons were dropped in crates. The design of the German parachutes meant that it was not safe to carry heavier weapons like rifles on jumps. At Crete, Commonwealth defenders killed or injured many German soldiers. This is because the German paratroopers had to go and collect their weapons from containers. These could be all over the battlefield. This showed that the weapons the regular army used were not good for air operations.

Development
In 1941, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe), asked for a selective fire weapon for the paratroopers. Senior Staff Air Secretary Ossenbach at the Luftwaffe Weapons Development Branch (at Tarnewitz near Lübeck) was asked to develop this new weapon. The Reich Air Ministry (Reichsluftfahrtministerium or RLM) wanted to develop an automatic rifle which would be fired from the shoulder. It would replace the bolt-action rifle, submachine gun and light machine gun for air assault. The weapon would also make logistics simpler and give more firepower to a normal paratrooper.

The RLM tried to start a formal development program using the Heereswaffenamt (the HWaA, or Army Ordnance Department). The HWaA was in charge of German small arms development. However, the HWaA and the Luftwaffe had different priorities. Also, there were some disagreements between the Luftwaffe and the Army (the HWaA said no to the program because they thought it was not realistic. They tried to give their G 41(W) semi-automatic rifle instead). This meant that the Luftwaffe had to develop the weapon by itself. The engineers who would develop the weapon were skilled at developing light automatic weapons (they managed to change the MG 15 aircraft machine gun so that it could also be used on the ground). However, the paratroopers had many casualties during Operation Mercury. Because of this, Hitler decided that air assaults were not important, and the plans for the weapon were cancelled. However, Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, secretly ordered the program to continue.

The RLM went straight to German companies with its plans. The first plan was the LC-6. It was given out on 14 December 1941. It said that the weapon should not be longer than , that it should not be longer than the Kar 98k rifle, fire single shots from a closed bolt, fire fully automatically from an open bolt, take its bullets from a 10 or 20-round magazine and be able to fire rifle grenades. Although the 7.9mm Kurz cartridge used by the Heer (the main army) (developed for the MP 43 assault rifle) was in service, the Luftwaffe decided to use the 7.92 x 57mm Mauser rifle round. This was because it had long range. This caliber was also mentioned in the plans for the design.

Prototypes
Six companies were asked to design prototypes. These were: Gustloff-Werke, Mauser, Johannes Großfuß Metall- und Lackierwarenfabrik, C.G. Hänel, Rheinmetall-Borsig and Heinrich Krieghoff Waffenfabrik. Several contracts were given out, but only a few prototypes are known to have been given. Mauser gave a version of the MG 81. However, it was turned down because it was too heavy and got its bullets from a belt. There was one design, made by Louis Stange at Rheinmetall-Borsig, that was accepted. It was tested at a test station at Tarnewitz in mid-1942. This prototype was called Gerät 450 ("device 450") or Ausführung "A" ("type A"). It was supposed to be a  sheet metal design. The type "A" was never made (except for some models). However, the basic design was kept for more development.

The basic parts of the LC-6 were accepted. A group of changes to the design came afterwards. The improved version of the LC-6 was called the Ausführung'' "B". This improvement changed the hand guard so that it gave better protection against heat and a better grip when it was wet.

These tests showed many problems. They were fixed by Stange in April 1942. This other improved version was called the LC-6/II. The prototype was then given many tests. These tests were set up by the HWA. The prototype was changed even more, and finally it became the LC-6/III prototype. This became the FG 42.

50 rifles were made in early 1943. Six of these were sent away to be tested more. These weapons had some serious faults. One rifle failed after firing only 2,100 rounds. Also, a soldier was injured when he tried to fire a rifle grenade.

Production
Several other changes were made to the FG 42 before it was allowed to be made. The first Rheinmetall design used chrome-nickel steel a lot. It was used on many parts which were needed to make the weapon work. There was not much of this material around. When the Luftwaffe was allowed to make 3,000 rifles for some more testing, the weapon was changed and manganese steel was used instead of chrome-nickel steel. The Heinrich Krieghoff company was asked to make some FG 42s. This was because Rheinmetall was not large enough to make lots of FG 42s. The weapon was first used by commandos during Operation Eiche in 1943. Operation Eiche was the dangerous mission that some Fallschirmjäger went on. During this mission, they had to rescue Benito Mussolini. The Fallschirmjäger team was led by Otto Skorzeny.

The weapon kept being changed. Because its first design was changed many times and the Luftwaffe'' needed different things, many different types of FG 42 were made. Papers and books written after World War II usually say that there were three main versions of FG 42. However, the Germans never said that they were different models. The "Model I", "Model II" and "Model III" were never officially mentioned. German papers just call the weapon the "FG 42". It was always the latest version of FG 42 that was mentioned.

BD 42
The BD 42/I is a semi-automatic copy of the early FG 42 rifle. The BD 42/II is a semi-automatic copy of the later FG 42. Both of these were made by HZA Kulmbach GmbH.

Design details

General information
The FG 42 was a selective fire weapon. It was cooled by the air. The FG 42 also had its magazine at the side. It was quite easy to control if it was being fired on fully automatic mode.

Feeding and firing
The FG 42 got its bullets from a box-shaped magazine. This magazine could hold 10 or 20 rounds.

The FG 42 was semi-automatic when it was being fired from a closed bolt. There was not very much movement when the weapon was being fired. This meant that firing single shots was more accurate. When the weapon was being fired in automatic mode, it was fired from an open bolt. When automatic mode was on, the bolt stayed open to keep the weapon cool.

Testing
The FG 42 was supposed to give some useful firepower to Nazi Germany. However, only a small amount were made. When it was tested, the paratroopers quite liked it. However, the FG 42 did have some issues. The FG 42 had a 20, or sometimes 10, round magazine which was put into the left side of the rifle. It was quite usual for submachine guns to have magazines on the side, but the bigger magazine with the heavier cartridges of a rifle quite unbalanced. Also, the end of the FG 42 rose into the air quite quickly when it was being fired in automatic mode. This made accurate automatic fire difficult. It also meant that automatic fire was not very useful. The U.S. M14 rifle had problems similar to these.

Weapons based on the FG 42

The American M41 Johnson LMG has many things that are similar to the FG 42. Both of these had their magazines on the left side. They also fired from an open bolt in automatic mode and closed bolt in semi-automatic mode. Although there are some things that are similar, there is no evidence that the designers of one weapon copied the design of another.

The last known weapons that were based on the FG 42 are the Sturmgewehr 52 and M60 machine gun.

Use

After around 2,000 FG 42s were made by Krieghoff, the manganese steel that many important parts were made from were moved away to be used for other things. This meant that the weapon had to be redesigned to use stamped steel. Soldiers using the FG 42 asked for many small changes to be made to the design. These changes can be seen on later FG 42s. The FG 42 also had a simple bayonet under the barrel. It was hidden by the bipod. In the later version of the FG 42, the bayonet was shortened. Before the update, it was . Afterwards, it changed to about .

References and notes

Bibliography

Other websites

Battle rifles
Light machine guns
8 mm firearms

FG 42


Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood (BPVC for short) is a medical problem that happens in children.  "Benign" means "harmless;" "paroxysmal" means something comes and goes suddenly; and "vertigo" means "dizziness."  So BPVC is harmless dizziness in children that comes and goes suddenly.

The dizziness usually makes children feel like they are moving or spinning, or that the inside of their head is moving or spinning.

Usually, BPVC starts in children between two and five years old.  It often goes away by the age of eight.  But in some children, BPVC may start when they are much younger (as young as a few months old) or older (as old as 12 years old).

BPVC is the most common cause of dizziness in children who do not have hearing loss or a diagnosed ear disease.  It is a common problem that happens to about 2.6% of children (26 out of 1,000 children).

Causes
Doctors don't know for sure what causes BPVC.  Some doctors think it is related to problems of the inner ear that affect balance.  For example, some doctors think BPVC is similar to a different disorder which often happens in adults over 50.  This disorder is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).  BPPV is a "vestibular disorder" - a disorder in the inner ear which affects balance.

Other doctors believe BPVC is related to migraine headaches, but most children with BPVC do not get headaches.

Signs and symptoms

[[Image:Optokinetic nystagmus.gif|left|thumb|Horizontal (side to side) optokinetic nystagmus. The eyes may also move up and down (vertical optokinetic nystagmus).]]
Nystagmus (sometimes called "dancing eyes"): Fast, uncontrollable eye movements. These eye movements may happen on their own or be caused by staring.  When a child with BPVC is not having other symptoms, they may have positional nystagmus, which happens when the head is in a certain position.
Nausea: Feeling like throwing up.
Vomiting: Throwing up.
Gait ataxia: Problems walking because a medical problem (like BPVC) makes the muscles not work together.  This symptom may be harder to see in infants who cannot walk yet.
Postural imbalance: Having trouble staying balanced, which makes it hard to stand up straight.  This symptom may be harder to see in infants who cannot stand yet.
Looking scared: Children may look scared because of the physical symptoms that BPVC is causing, like loss of balance and dizziness.

 Diagnosis
For a doctor to diagnose Benign Paroxysmal Vertigo of Childhood, all of these things must be true:
 The child has had at least five attacks of vertigo.
 The child gets vertigo a lot; the dizziness happens all of a sudden, and goes away after a few minutes to a few hours.
 The child had a normal neurological examination (which tests whether there are problems with how the brain is working)
 The child had normal audiometric and vestibular functions between attacks (this means that between attacks, the child had normal hearing, and there were no obvious problems with the inner ears)
 The child had normal electroencephalography (EEG) (this is a test that looks for unusual electrical activity in the brain).
Differential diagnosesDifferential diagnoses'' are different medical disorders which may cause the same symptoms.  When a doctor asks what the differential diagnoses for BPVC are, she is asking "what other disease could cause these symptoms?  What else could this be?"  Before a doctor makes a final diagnosis, they must think of what other medical conditions have the same or similar symptoms, and make sure one of them is not the problem.

Some of the differential diagnoses for BPVC are:
 Posterior fossa tumor: A tumor in the part of the brain that is in or near the bottom of the skull. Posterior fossa tumors happen more in children than they do in adults.  About 54%-70% of all brain tumors that children get start in the posterior fossa.
 Cervical spine abnormalities: Problems with the part of the spine in the neck.
 Otological disorders: Problems with the insides of the ears.
 Benign occipital epilepsy: A kind of epilepsy that most children outgrow.
 Metabolic disorders: Problems with the way the body makes energy from food.

References

Migraine
Health problems
Children

Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood


Rear Admiral Richard Joseph Naughton (October 5, 1946 – February 25, 2011)   was the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy from 2002 to 2003.

Navy career
Designated a Naval Flight Officer in 1969, Rear Admiral Naughton was initially assigned to Fighter Squadron 84, for the F-14 Tomcat, and was assigned to Fighter Squadron TWENTY FOUR, where he participated in the squadron's first F-14 deployment in USS Constellation.  In 1978, he reported to his next assignment as aide and flag lieutenant to commander, Fleet Air Western Pacific, home ported in Atsugi, Japan.

In 1980, Rear Admiral Naughton reported to Fighter Squadron 111, and made deployments to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean in USS Kitty Hawk and USS Carl Vinson.  Rear Admiral Naughton joined the staff of Commander, Naval Air Forces, US Pacific Fleet in 1983, where he served as Fighter and Airborne Early Warning Training Officer.

Rear Admiral Naughton returned to Fighter Squadron 24 for his next assignment as executive officer.  He assumed command of the squadron in April 1985.  During this tour, VF-24 made deployments in USS Ranger and again in USS Kitty Hawk.  VF-24 was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation during his tenure as commanding officer.

Following squadron command, Rear Admiral Naughton reported to Cruiser Destroyer Group FIVE as air operations officer and once again deployed in USS Kitty Hawk.  In February 1987, Rear Admiral Naughton began Navy Nuclear Power Training, and reported to USS Enterprise as executive officer in October 1988.

On 5 January 1991, Rear Admiral Naughton assumed command of USS New Orleans.  During her nine-month deployment to the Persian Gulf, USS New Orleans landed Marines in Kuwait in support of Operation Desert Storm ground offensive, and served as the United States flagship for coalition minesweeping operations in the harbors of Kuwait. He detached on 29 July 1992 to attend Aircraft Carrier Prospective Commanding Officer (PCO) training.

On 27 August 1993, Rear Admiral Naughton assumed command of USS Enterprise.  During his command, he supervised a $2.1 billion refueling of the USS Enterprise nuclear plant.  He led a 5,000-man crew through an intense shipyard refit, nuclear qualifications, and a multimillion-dollar ship's force habitability project.   He re-energized a shipyard overhaul that was $100 million over budget and behind schedule. Teamed with all levels of Newport News Shipbuilding, the ship was delivered in 15 months and on budget.  His shipyard acumen resulted in a comprehensive Navy-wide study for other shipyard projects and, more importantly, phase two of the overhaul was completed 17% ahead of schedule and $30M under budget.  Enterprise returned to the fleet with the most modern C4I systems and engineering plant on schedule and under budget. He detached on 2 February 1996.

In 1996, Rear Admiral Naughton reported to the staff of Joint Task Force-South West Asia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he served as deputy director of operations before assuming duties as deputy commander in 1999.

From 1996 to 1998, he was director for plans and policy (J-5) United States Transportation Command where he developed an innovative strategy for worldwide transportation and supply chain distribution. This included the first application of radio frequency tracking tags for military cargo and distributed in transit visibility by customers.  He  adjudicated critical concept development for future time phased deployment needs of equipment and resources in times of crisis worldwide and orchestrated the first-ever Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement that gives military access to the Global Intermodal Transportation System at a predetermined cost during time of conflict. Personally awarded the Vice President of the United States Hammer Award for outstanding government and industry cooperation.

From 1998 to 2000, Naughton served as commander, Carrier Group FOUR/Carrier Striking Force where he trained all deploying battle groups (over 100,000 sailors and marines) within the Atlantic area of responsibility and ensured all commanders were fully prepared for any contingency, had maintenance support, supply infrastructure and the proper skills to fight and win around the world. He was responsible for coordinating installations and testing with Sea, Air and Space Systems Commands to ensure configuration control and supply support for every aircraft and ship that deployed.  His innovative approach completely changed and streamlined the training process increasing readiness while reducing costs.

From 2000 to 2002, he served as commander, Naval Strike & Air Warfare Center, Naval Air Station Fallon, NV, where he led a team in developing significant skills to fly high performance aircraft in the most difficult environment. He consolidated eleven advanced training organizations, brought online a unique reach back command and control system for deployed war fighters at a fraction of original cost estimates, and trained every deploying Battle Group /Airwing team that served in Afghanistan and Iraq.  These initiatives reduced cost and significantly improved readiness.

Naughton's last assignment in the Navy was as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, an organization of over 4,000 midshipmen and 3,000 support staff with an annual budget responsibility of $220 million.  He was relieved of duty after assaulting an enlisted Marine gate guard returning to the academy following a New Year's Eve party in his first year.  Though a vice admiral at the time, he was reprimanded and retired at the lower rank of rear admiral (upper half).

He died February 25, 2011, in San Diego.

Decorations

  Defense Superior Service Medal
  Legion of Merit with Gold Star
  Bronze Star
  Defense Meritorious Service Medal
  Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star
  Joint Service Commendation Medal
  Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with two Gold Stars

Education
B.S. United States Naval Academy, 1968
M.S. Aeronautical Engineering, Naval Postgraduate School, 1973
Aeronautical Engineer Degree, Naval Postgraduate School, 1974
Industrial College of the Armed Forces, 1993

Resignation

On May 16, 2003, Naugton was relieved as superintendent of the Naval Academy. The decision came after an investigation by the Navy's Inspector General (IG) into an allegation that he improperly interfered with a Marine sentry at the Naval Academy by grabbing the sentry's wrist.

After the Navy
Naughton became a director of Xenonics Holdings, Inc in May 2004, and later became chief executive officer in April 2005, and then a consultant. He was also president of International Data Security (IDS).

See also
 List of Superintendents of the United States Naval Academy

References

PC World, January 11, 2008
Reuters Biography

External links

1946 births
2011 deaths
Military personnel from Los Angeles
United States Navy admirals
United States Naval Academy alumni
Recipients of the Legion of Merit
Superintendents of the United States Naval Academy
Naval Postgraduate School alumni
Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal

Richard J. Naughton


A boomerang is a flying tool that is best known for its ability to return to the thrower. In the past, it was made of wood, but most of the modern boomerangs are made of other materials.

Despite being an Australian icon, ancient boomerangs have also been discovered elsewhere in Africa, the Americas, and Eurasia.

History
Most people know that Australian Aborigines used boomerangs for hunting. But the oldest boomerang was found in a cave in Poland and is more than 20,000 (twenty thousand) years old. This kind of boomerang does not return to the thrower, but it can fly longer distances and more stably than other things which can be thrown. These days (returning) boomerangs are usually used for recreation.

Technical aspects
Most of the boomerangs do not have the classical "L"-shape. The modern boomerang is special in that it will return to the one who threw it, if it is thrown correctly. However, some boomerangs do not return because their wings do not have the right profile. Most of the boomerangs are made for right-handed use. Left-handed people have to use other boomerangs that are mirror-inverted, or have to throw with their right hand.

Throwing instructions
A boomerang is not thrown like a frisbee. It has to be thrown almost vertically, with an inclination of about 10–20 degrees and with a lot of rotation (spin). When facing the wind, throw with an angle of 30–45 degrees to the right (left-handed: to the left) of the wind. Be sure to choose a field that is big enough. Watch out for passers-by, and do not throw when people are standing in the range of the boomerang. See also the link provided in the section below.

Clubs
There are a lot of boomerang clubs in many countries all over the world. These clubs organise workshops and tournaments. The best boomerang-throwers come from Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the United States of America. A few years ago, the International Federation of Boomerang Associations (IFBA) was founded to help to spread knowledge about boomerangs.

Other websites
Illustrated throwing instructions
International Federation of Boomerang Associations
United States Boomerang Association
British Boomerang Society

Tools
Weapons
Indigenous Australian culture

Boomerang


The Orto botanico di Pisa, also known as the Orto Botanico dell'Università di Pisa, is a botanical garden, and the University of Pisa takes care of it. The garden is at via Luca Ghini 5, Pisa, Italy. It is open weekday mornings and it does not cost money to see it.

The garden was started in 1544 under Cosimo I de' Medici as the first university botanical garden in Europe, and it was put under the care of the famous botanist Luca Ghini of Imola. In 1563 the garden was moved from its original place near a river (now the Medicean Arsenal) to one near the convent of Santa Marta. In 1591 the garden was again moved to a third place, where it still is. From these early times, the garden has contained a gallery of natural objects (now Pisa's Museo di Storia Naturale), a library (now part of the university library), and portraits of its directors throughout the centuries. It also includes one of the earliest iron-framed hothouses built in Italy.

Today there are different sections in the garden containing the botanical school, gardens, ponds, greenhouses, and various buildings. Major collections include herb gardens and arboreta, as well as the old botany institute, built 1591–1595, with a facade ornamented with sea-shells.

Related pages
 List of botanical gardens in Italy
 List of botanical gardens

Other websites

 University of Pisa website for the Orto botanico di Pisa

Buildings and structures in Italy
Botanical gardens in Europe
Pisa

Orto botanico di Pisa


Postscript is a programming language. It was developed by Adobe, in 1984. It is a standard used by many computer printers. There are three different versions of it, Postscript Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3.

The Portable Document Format is another standard, also from Adobe. It is better adapted to printing. Many things computer languages have, have been dropped to develop PDF.

"Hello world"
And finally, a Hello World program, the customary way to show a small example of a complete program in a given language, might look like this in Postscript:
 %!PS
 /Courier findfont
 20 scalefont
 setfont
 72 500 moveto
 (Hello world!) show
 showpage

or if the output device has a console

 %!PS
 (Hello world!) =

Programming languages

Postscript


A mullet is a kind of fish. Mullet often jump out of water. In recent years, "mullet" also came to be a slang word for a hairstyle that is short at the front and top, and long at the back. This slang word is said to have been started by Mike D of the Beastie Boys in 1995, and after 2000 was spread by a small group of people in San Francisco through the Internet.

Teleosts

Mullet


A game engine is a tool box that carries all the necessary equipment needed to rapidly build a consistent world just like the real world. For example, in real life you would expect an apple to fall to the floor if you let it go from your hand. Game makers use game engines to apply similar rules into their games which allow consistency across their game.

Components

Main game program
Game engines help game creators make rules for their games, which is also known as game logic.

Rendering engine
The rendering engine creates the 3D images found in video games; most rendering engines rely on dedicated graphics tools and applications to complete these functions. To put it simply, graphics applications like Direct3D, OpenGL, or Vulkan streamline the difficult process of dealing directly with the computers graphics processing unit , the component of the computer that handles the display of images.

Audio engine
The Audio Engine components of the Game Engine incorporates algorithms related to loading and modifying audio input and output. Audio engine's allow developers to load sound onto the game by decompressing and playing audio files to simulate game sound. Possibilities are endless, an example of how complex audio engine's can expand is the idea of a doppler effect. Doppler effects can be represented as echoes, pitch/amplitude adjustments, and oscillations.

Physics engine
Is responsible for emulating realistic laws of physics within the application. This consists of a set of functions for simulating physical forces and collisions. Which acts on various objects within the application during run time.

Artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is implemented into different parts of the main game program. For example, in player vs player video games, AI is used to create bots players can play against.

Other websites
 GameMiddleware.org , a reference website concerning game middleware and game engines available for commercial use
 3D Game and Graphics Engines Database, a comprehensive database of today's graphics and game engines
 Terrain in Games, an extensive overview of terrain rendering in 1997-2000 game engines

Video game engines
Software

Game engine


Nazi Germany naam Germany ke 1933 aur 1945 ke biich waala time ke dewa jaawe hae.

Ii time me Adolf Hitler ke Nazi Party  Germany pe raj karat rahaa. Iske Third Reich (German bhasa: Drittes Reich), jiske ke matlab "The Third Empire", bola jaawat rahaa. Nazis log ii batawat rahin ki uu logan pahila empire (the Holy Roman Empire) aur duusra waala 1971-1918 waala Duusra Empire rahaa . Iske official naam (German bhasa: Großdeutsches Reich), the Greater (that is, bigger) German State rahaa.

Nazi Germanynaam  World War II ke baad  kaam me laae ke Nazi-run aur nawaa  peaceful Germany ke antar dekhawa jaawe hae.

Itihaas (mota taur pe)

World War II: 1939-1941
1933 me, jab Hitler, Germany ke neta banaa, tab uu Germany ke army ke fir fir se barrhae lagaa. Jab ke Treaty of Versailles ke niche, Germany ke Air Force rakkhe ke ijajat nai rahaa, uu chuppe chuppe airforce banais aur 1935 me khule duniya bhar ke batais ke uske lage England ke baraabar Air Force hae. Uske army ke 100,000 se jaada hoe ke ijaajat nai rahaa, lekin you chuppe se iske bhi barrhais aur 1935 talak etna taagatwar hoe gais rahaa ki uu aapan army ke Rhineland ilaka me bhejis, jhaa pe uske Treaty of Versailles ke niche army rakkhe ke ijaajat nai rahaa.
1930s me  Hitler dusra des pe hamla kare lagaa. Pahile uu, 1938 me,  Austria ke aapan niche kar liis. (Hitler apne Austria me paida bhais rahaa.) Iske baad you 1939 me Chekoslavakia ke Sudentland ilaka, jahaan pe dher German logan rahat rahin , ke aapan niche karis. Iske baad you promise karis ki uu aur kuchh nai maangi, lekin kuch mahina baad, puura Chekoslavakia ke aapan niche kar liis. Baad me, 1 September 1939 me uu Poland pe hamla karis jiske kaaran World War II suruu hoe gais. Kaaheki Germany ke army dher barraa aur tagrraa rahaa, uu Poland ke sahaj me aapan niche kar liis. Ii larrai me Poland ke 900000 soldier logan ke maut bhais rahaa.

Hitler continued on and took over France in the Battle of France. Afterwards, on October 12, 1939, Hitler sent a letter to the United Kingdom demanding they surrender and that if they do surrender, the Germans won't do anything bad to them. However, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister at the time refused and the Battle of Britain began.

The Battle of Britain lasted throughout July to October 1940. The battle resulted in heavy losses for the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), and in early October they retreated back into Greater Germany. Hitler was unhappy and furious with the failure of the Battle and demanded that Britain be taken over one way or another.

In 1941, Hitler gave orders to attack the Soviet Union. The first attack was codenamed "Operation Barbarossa" and went from June 22, 1941 into winter that year. Russian winter is very harsh and many soldiers got sick from the cold weather. Hitler lost 250,000 men, over 2,000 aircraft and over 2,500 tanks until December 5, 1941 when Hitler's soldiers couldn't last longer there and were pushed back by the Russian defenders. Hitler, although a good strategist, had not thought this plan through and ended up losing over 20% of his army of 3.9 million.

After that, the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union teamed up and fought Hitler's army. On April 30, 1945 Hitler killed himself and on 8, May 1945 the war was over. Nazi Germany was taken over by the four allied nations.

N
World War II
Germany

Nazi Germany


Ad hominem is a Latin word for a type of argument. It is a word often used in rhetoric. Rhetoric is the science of speaking well, and convincing other people of your ideas.

Translated to English, ad hominem means against the person. In other words, when someone makes an ad hominem, they are attacking the person they are arguing against, instead of what they are saying.

The term comes from the Latin word homo, which means human. Hominem is a gender neutral version of the word homo. In ancient Rome it referred to all free men, or in other words, all free human beings.

Ad hominem can be a way to use reputation, rumors and hearsay to change the minds of other people listening. When a social network has already excluded or exiled one person, or applied a negative label to them, this can work more often.

It is most of the time considered to be a weak and poor argument. In courts and in diplomacy ad hominems are not appreciated.

Ad hominems are not wrong every time. For example, when people think that someone can't be trusted, things that they have said previously can be doubted.

What an ad hominem argument looks like
In logic, a proof is something that starts with premises, and goes through a few logical arguments, to reach a conclusion.

Normal (valid) proof
 All humans are mortal.
 Socrates is human.
 Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

Ad hominem example
 Person A thinks abortion should be illegal.
 Person A is uneducated and poor.
 Therefore, abortion should not be illegal.

In this example it can be seen that the (completely unrelated) fact that person A is uneducated and poor is used to prove that abortion should not be illegal.

Related pages
 Fallacy for a list of other types of (false) rhetorical arguments.

Latin words used in English

Ad hominem


Comedy Central is a Polish channel focusing on comedy which was launched on 19 October 2006. It was the first channel outside the United States to use the Comedy Central name and the fourth channel launched by MTV Networks International in Poland. It broadcasts some local TV series and a variety of imported comedy programming, including older sitcoms such as The Cosby Show and newer series such as Sex and the City.

Since 2008 the channel broadcasts Polish shows like Włatcy móch, 1000 złych uczynków, Camera Café, Kasia i Tomek, Król przedmieścia and classic show Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy.

On 12 June 2012, Comedy Central Poland, together with its sister channel Comedy Central Family Poland, started broadcasting in 16:9 picture format.

Programming
 The Office - in Polish "Biuro"
 South Park
 Family Guy - in Polish "Głowa Rodziny"
 How I Met Your Mother - in Polish "Jak Poznałem Waszą Matkę"
 30 Rock - in Polish "Rockefeller Plaza 30"
 The Big Bang Theory - in Polish "Teoria Wielkiego Podrywu"
 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - in Polish "U nas w Filadelfii"
 Two and a Half Men - in Polish "Dwóch i pół"
 The Middle - in Polish "Pępek świata"
 Californication
 Mike & Molly
 Weeds - in Polish "Trawka"
 Call Me Fitz - "Mów mi Fitz"
 Scrubs - in Polish "Hoży Doktorzy"
 My Name Is Earl - in Polish "Mam na imię Earl"
 Rules of engagement - in Polish "Sposób użycia"
 Better Off Ted - in Polish "Korporacja według Teda"
 The New Adventures of Old Christine - "Nowe przygody starej Christine"
 Accidentally on Purpose - in Polish "Przypadek zgodny z planem"
 Arrested Development - in Polish "Bogaci Bankruci"
 Saturday Night Live
 Reno 911! - in Polish "Posterunek w Reno"
 Trailer Park Boys - in Polish "Chłopaki z Baraków"
 IT Crowd - in Polish "IT Crowd - Technicy Magicy"
 Everybody Hates Chris - in Polish "Wszyscy nienawidzą Chrisa"
 Teachers - in Polish "Nauczyciele"
 According to Jim - in Polish "Jim wie lepiej"
 Desperate Housewives - in Polish "Gotowe na wszystko"
 Peep Show
 Sex and the City - in Polish "Seks w Wielkim Mieście"
 Keen Eddie - in Polish "Inspektor Eddie"
 King of the Hill - in Polish "Bobby kontra wapniaki"
 Knights of Prosperity - in Polish "Jak obrabować Micka Jaggera"
 The King of Queens - in Polish "Diabli nadali" - moved to the Comedy Central Family
 My Wife and Kids - in Polish "On ona i dzieciaki"
 Everybody Loves Raymond - in Polish "Wszyscy kochają Raymonda" - moved to the Comedy Central Family
 Yes, Dear - in Polish " "Tak Kochanie"
 8 Simple Rules - in Polish "8 prostych zasad"
 Drawn Together - in Polish "Przerysowani"
 SpongeBob SquarePants - in Polish "SpongeBob Kanciastoporty"
 The Penguins of Madagascar - in Polish "Pingwiny z Madagaskaru"
 Włatcy móch
 1000 złych uczynków
 Blok Ekipa

References

Comedy Central
Television channels and stations established in 2006
Television channels in Poland

Comedy Central (Polish TV channel)


István Kertész (born Budapest, Hungary, 28 August 1929; died near Tel Aviv, Israel, 16 April 1973) was a world-famous  Hungarian Jewish conductor.

Early life
Kertész was born in Budapest.  His family were Jewish.  His father was director at a leather factory.  When his father died of appendicitis in 1938, his mother had to go out to work to earn money.  It was not easy at the time for women in Hungary to find work, but she was successful.  István started to learn the violin when he was six, and after a few years he started learning the piano as well.

When the Nazis invaded  Hungary during World War II his family had to hide.  Most of them were found and taken to Auschwitz where they died.  In spite of the terrible situation István's mother encouraged him to keep practising music.  After the war he graduated from school and went to the Royal Academy of Music (now the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied violin, piano, and composition.   Zoltán Kodály was one of his teachers.  He soon became interested in conducting, and learned a lot from Bruno Walter, and Otto Klemperer, then the director of the Budapest Opera.

Career
From 1953 to 1955, István Kertész conducted at Györ, and the Budapest Opera orchestra.  After the 1956 uprising in Hungary he and his family left their country and went to Germany.  He settled there and took German nationality.

Kertész became conductor at Augsburg (1958-1963) and then at Cologne.  He first appeared in Britain in 1960 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and then with the London Symphony Orchestra.  He first conducted in America in 1961, touring with the Hamburg RSO.  He conducted at Covent Garden in 1965, and then took over from Pierre Monteux as conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Kertész had a very large repertoire and conducted nearly all of the world's great orchestras.   He conducted many operas, and was especially fond of the music of Bartok, Henze, Stravinsky and Britten.  He gave the first Vienna performance of Britten's War Requiem and the first performance in Germany of his opera Billy Budd.  He made many recordings.

On 16 April 1973, while on a concert tour, István Kertész drowned while swimming off the coast of Israel near Tel Aviv.  He was survived by his wife, three children, mother and sister.

References
New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie; 1980;

Other websites
Istvan Kertesz Biography  at Decca Records

1929 births
1973 deaths
Accidental deaths by drowning
Musicians from Budapest
German conductors
Hungarian conductors

István Kertész


The Orosirian is the third geological period in the Palaeoproterozoic. It began 2.05 billion years ago (bya) and ended at 1.8 bya.

The latter half of the period was a time of mountain-building on nearly all continents. It was the time when the supercontinent Columbia began to form.

Two of the largest known impact events on Earth happened during the Orosirian. At the beginning of the period, 2023 million years ago (mya), a large asteroid hit the earth and created the Vredefort impact structure. The event that created the Sudbury Basin structure happened near the end of the period about 1850 mya.

Palaeoproterozoic

Orosirian


La reine de Saba (The Queen of Sheba) is a grand opera in four or five acts by Charles Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré inspired by Gérard de Nerval's La Reine de Saba, in Le voyage en Orient. It was premiered at the Salle Le Peletier by the Paris Opera on February 28, 1862. The magnificent first production was directed by Eugène Cormon, with costumes designed by Alfred Albert and Paul Lormier, and scenery by Édouard Desplechin (Act I), Charles-Antoine Cambon and Joseph Thierry (Acts II and IV, scene 2), Hugues Martin (Act III), and Joseph Nolau and Auguste Alfred Rubé (Act IV, scene 1).

Roles

Synopsis

Act 1

The workshop of Adoniram in Jerusalem

Adoniram, sculptor and architect of Soliman's temple, prays to Tubal-cain, who was the first metal-worker according to the Bible, for help in his latest monumental project, the forging of an enormous bowl, a "sea of bronze" (Air: "Inspirez-moi, race divine!"). Three of Adoniram's workers, Amrou, Phanor and Méthousaë, enter and demand of him increased privileges and better pay, but Adoniram dismisses them. An emissary from Soliman invites him to the ceremony welcoming the legendary beauty, Balkis the Queen of Sheba, at the temple he designed. The three disgruntled employees of Adoniram plot to get back at him.

In front of the magnificent temple of Soliman

A march and procession announce the arrival of Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, on a state visit to Jerusalem. Soliman asks her for the ring she promised him as a symbol of their engagement; she gives it to him with reluctance. Balkis is tremendously impressed by the splendour of the temple and asks to meet the architect. She is presented to Adoniram and gives him a necklace as a mark of her esteem. This, and Adoniram's popularity with the crowd, arouse Soliman's jealousy.

Act 2

A site in Jerusalem, with a blast furnace

The King, Balkis and the people have come to watch the casting of Adoniram's "sea of bronze". However, Amrou, Phanor and Méthousaël have sabotaged the process and molten metal pours out uncontrolled.
All run for cover as the furnace explodes.

Act 3

A clearing in the woods where Balkis and her suite have their quarters

After a ballet of her serving- women Balkis reflects on the love she feels for Adoniram (Cavatina:  Plus grand dans son obscurité). He appears, and abashed by the public failure of his forging of the "sea of bronze", tries to return to her the necklace she gave him. She refuses to take it and the pair confess the love they feel for each other (Duet:  Qu'importe ma gloire effacée). Benoni, Adoniram's assistant, appears with the news that the mould of the "bronze sea" was repaired, apparently by supernatural agency, and the cast is now completed. As Adoniram, Balkis and her suite give thanks to Tubal-cain for hearing Adoniram's prayers, Amrou, Phanor and Méthousaël, who have been watching these proceedings unobserved, resolve to tell the King of Adoniram's and Balkis' love.

Act 4

A splendid room in Soliman's summer palace

Soliman is distressed by Balkis' apparent reluctance to wed him as she agreed (Air:Sous les pieds d'une femme). Amrou, Phanor and Méthousaël inform the King about Adoniram's and Balkis' tryst but the King does not believe them. Adoniram appears and rejects the King's attempts to appease him. After he leaves, Balkis enters and asks to delay the wedding, which arouses Soliman's fury. A sleeping powder is put into his drink and Balkis slips the ring she gave him off his finger while he is unconscious.

Act 5

A narrow gorge in the midst of a storm

Adoniram is waiting for Balkis to elope with him, as they had arranged, at this spot. Instead, Amrou, Phanor and Méthousaël appear and renew their demands, which he again rejects. They stab him and flee.
The Queen arrives and is horrified to find Adoniram dead. She slips the ring she had given to Soliman on to Adoniram's finger and bitterly mourns his death over his body (Finale:Emportons dans la nuit ).

US premiere

Odyssey Opera,  Boston, gave the US premiere of the opera in a concert version on 22 September 2018.

English version by Henry Farnie
An English reworking of the libretto by Henry Farnie "interwoven [with] certain legends and traditions of freemasonry" was titled Irene.  It transposed the action to Istanbul in the time of Suleyman the Magnificent and the building of the Great Mosque and used almost all of Gounod's music. It was not a success.

Highlights

One of the main fragments from La reine de Saba is the tenor aria 'Inspirez-moi, race divine!', in which the hero invokes the example of the sons of Tubal-cain (son of Lamech and Zillah, the founder of metalworking) as the molten metal flows into its mould. In its English version 'How vain and weak a thing is man... Lend me your aid, O race divine', this became a war-horse of the concert repertoire, surviving into the 20th century in the recordings of Edward Lloyd and Walter Widdop. It was also recorded by Enrico Caruso, in one of whose versions the English text was re-translated back into French with the exceptionable formula: 'Prête-moi ton aide'.

Balkis' cavatina "Plus grand dans son obscurité" has been recorded by Francoise Pollet, Elīna Garanča, Elizabeth Whitehouse, Marian Anderson and Karine Deshayes.

Recordings
Francesca Scaini (soprano) La Reine Balkis, Jeon-Won Lee (tenor) Adoniram, Anna Lucia Alessio (soprano) Bénoni, Annalisa Carbonara (sop.) Sarahil, Luca Grassi (bar.) Le Roi Soliman, Salvatore Cordella (ten) Amrou, Jean Vendassi (bar) Phanor, Pietro Naviglio (bass) Méthousaël, Volodymyr Deyneka (bass) Sadoc ; Bratislava Chamber Choir Italian International Orchestra Manlio Benzi

References
Notes

Sources
Huebner, Steven (1992). "Reine de Saba, La ('The Queen of Sheba')", vol. 3, p. 1283, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, four volumes, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan. .

External links
 Reine de Saba. Inspirez-moi, race divine. Vocal score. English & French from the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection
 Review of La Reine de Saba (2 March 1862) (in French) in Le Ménestrel (digitized by the Bibliothèque nationale de France)

Operas
1862 operas
French-language operas
Operas by Charles Gounod
Opera world premieres at the Paris Opera
Libretti by Jules Barbier
Libretti by Michel Carré
Operas based on plays
Cultural depictions of the queen of Sheba
Cultural depictions of Solomon
Jerusalem in fiction
Gérard de Nerval

La reine de Saba


The Central Library of Astan Quds Razavi is a large library in Mashad, Iran. Established before 1457, it holds over 1.1 million volumes. It is an international center for Islamic research, containing numerous manuscripts and rare works of antiquity of Islamic history.

The library has 35 branches:

 17 libraries in Mashhad, Iran.
  5 libraries in Khorasan province.
 12 libraries in other cities of Iran.
  1 library in India.

It contains around 3 million digital information sources, including manuscripts, lithographic prints, movable type prints, historic documents, image sources, maps, and treatises.

History
The Organization of Libraries, Museums, and the Documentation Centre of Astan Quds Razavi is considered as one of the most important treasures of the recorded knowledge of Iran and the world of Islam.

There is no information about the exact date of the establishment of the library of Asta- Quds - Razvi. Some consider the endowment date (974 AD) of the oldest Quran to the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS) by a person called Ali Ibn Simjour, as the year of establishment date of the library of Asta- Quds - Razvi (or recitation place of Quran). It can also be assumed from some extant documents concerning the endowments that the library was open to the public and used by them in 1457 AD. From about 1737 AD, a special place was allocated to the library but a serious attention was paid to it in the early period of 20th century. However, an increasing inclination of using the library by the researches and scholars, prompted a faster development and growth to the library.

Although the location of the library has been changed many times over years, it has always been remained in the vicinity of the Holy Shrine.

Features

The construction of the present building was completed in 1995, with a constructed area of 28,800 square meters and was opened to the public in April 1995. Some of the outstanding features of the complex are as follows:

 Affiliation of the complex to the shrine of Imam Reza
 Many manuscripts of very long life, artifacts and museum objects, dating back 1000 years.
 Exquisite copies of Qur'an, manuscripts, and printed books.
 A vast collection of printed books in different fields.
 sophisticated facilities and technologies.
 A rich collection of documents and serials.

The number of manuscripts held by the library in 2003 was 30,250 volumes, 25,000 of earlier lithographic books, 17,240 other handwritten materials; 72,490  volumes in total.

The Bureau of Museums of Astan Quds
Affiliated with the library are eleven different museums which are located in different buildings near each other. They collectively form the Astan Quds Razavi Central Museum:

The Museum of Qur'an and Precious Objects
The Museum of precious objects donated by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The specialized Museum of Carpets
The Museum of Armaments
The Museum of Astronomical Tools and Clocks
The Museum of Coins and Medals
The Museum of the History of Mashhad
The Museum of pottery and glassware
The Museum of fine arts
The Museum of Stamps and Banknotes
The Museum of Shellfishes and Mollusks

The bureau of museums maintains an office for the preservation and repair of historical objects of the Museum and library by a technical staff of specialists.

See also
Mashhad
Ayatollah al-Shirazi, one of the benefactors of the library.
National Library of Iran
MS 5229
Ahmad ibn Fadlan

References

External links

Online Library

Government of Iran
Cultural organisations based in Iran
Libraries in Iran
Iran
Buildings and structures in Mashhad
Education in Razavi Khorasan Province

Central Library of Astan Quds Razavi


Venice and Dalmatia were an Italian city-state and an eastern adriatic region very much related from the Middle Ages until the 19th century.

Middle Ages
Venice influenced Dalmatia commercially since the times of Charlemagne. But only at the end of the first millennium the Republic of Venice started to conquest Dalmatia.

Indeed, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Illyrian towns on the dalmatian coast continued to speak Latin and their language evolved relatively independent from other Romance languages, progressing toward a regional variant and finally to a distinct language called Dalmatian language.

The earliest reference on the language dates from the 10th century and it is estimated that about 50,000 people spoke it at that time (according to the linguist Matteo Bartoli).

The Dalmatian language is an extinct Romance language that was spoken along the eastern Adriatic in the Dalmatian coast from Fiume (Rijeka) as far south as Kotor (Cattaro) in Montenegro.

The Dalmatian speakers lived mainly in the coastal towns of Zadar, Trogir, Split, Dubrovnik and Kotor (Zara, Traù, Spalato, Ragusa and Cattaro in Italian), each of these cities having a local dialect, and also on the islands of Krk, Cres and Rab (Veglia, Cherso and Arbe)

Almost every city developed its own dialect, but the most important dialects we have information on are the Vegliot a northern dialect, spoken on the island of Krk (Veglia in Italian, Vikla in Dalmatian) and the Ragusan''', a southern dialect, spoken at Dubrovnik (Ragusa in both Italian and Dalmatian).

The dialect of Zara disappeared because of the strong Venetian influence while the two other dialects due even to the assimilation by Slavic language speakers.

We know about the dalmatian dialect of Ragusa from two letters, from 1325 and 1397, and other medieval texts, which show a language influenced heavily by Venetian. The available sources include hardly 260 Ragusan words. Surviving words include pen (bread), teta (father), chesa (house) and fachir (to do), which were quoted by an Italian, Fillipo Diversi, the head of school of Ragusa in the 1430s.

The "Republic of Ragusa" had at one time an important fleet, but its influence decreased. We know that the language was in trouble in the face of Croatian expansion, as the Ragusan Senate decided that all debates had to be held in lingua veteri ragusea (ancient Ragusan language) and the use of the lingua sclava (Croatian) was forbidden. Nevertheless, in the 16th century, Ragusan fell out of use and became extinct.

Other languages influenced the Ddalmatian language, but without erasing its Latin roots (superstrates): the Slavs, then the Republic of Venice. Several cities of the regions have Italian names, and other mostly the romanized Illyrian ones (like Zara, Spalato, etc..)

The oldest preserved documents written in Dalmatian are some 13th century inventories, in the Ragusan dialect. A letter of the 14th century from Zara (Zadar) shows strong Venetian influence, which was also the cause of its extinction soon after.

The Christian schism was an important factor in the history of Dalmatia. While the Croatian-held branch of the Catholic Church in Nin was under Pope's jurisdiction, they still used the Slavic liturgy. Both the Latin population of the cities and the Holy See preferred the Latin liturgy, which created tensions between different dioceses.

The great schism between Eastern and Western Christianity of 1054 further intensified the rift between the coastal cities and the hinterland, with many of the Slavs in the hinterland preferring the Eastern Orthodoxy. Areas of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina also had an indigenous "Bosnian Church" which was often mistaken for "Bogomils".

The Latin influence in Dalmatia was increased and the Byzantine practices were further suppressed on the general synods of 1059-1060, 1066, 1075-1076 and on other local synods, notably by demoting the bishopric of Nin, installing the archbishoprics of Spalatum (Split) and Dioclea (Montenegro), and explicitly forbidding use of any liturgy other than Greek or Latin.

The Republic of Venice
Dalmatia never attained a political or racial unity and never formed as a "nation", but it achieved a remarkable development of art, science and literature. Politically, the neolatin Dalmatian city-states were often isolated and compelled to either fall back on the Venetian Republic for support, or tried to make it on their own.

The geographical position of the Dalmatian city states suffices to explain the relatively small influence exercised by Byzantine culture throughout the six centuries (535-1102) during which Dalmatia was part of the Eastern empire. Towards the close of this period Byzantine rule tended more and more to become merely nominal, while the influence of the Republic of Venice increased.

The medieval Dalmatia had still included much of the hinterland covered by the old Roman province of Dalmatia. However, the toponym of "Dalmatia" started to shift more towards including only the coastal, Adriatic areas, rather than the mountains inland. By the 15th century, the word "Herzegovina" would be introduced, marking the shrink of the borders of Dalmatia to the narrow littoral area where was spoken the Dalmatian language (that was being assimilated into the venetian language).

In the thirteenth century the Republic of Venice took definitive control of the Montenegro coast and created the Albania Veneta.

Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Hungary in Dalmatia
As the city states gradually lost all protection by Byzantium, being unable to unite in a defensive league hindered by their internal dissensions, they had to turn to either Venice or Hungary for support. Each of the two political factions had support within the Dalmatian city states, based mostly on economic reasons.

The Venetians, to whom the Dalmatians were already bound by language and culture, could afford to concede liberal terms as its main goal was to prevent the development of any dangerous political or commercial competitor on the eastern Adriatic.
The seafaring community in Dalmatia looked to Venice as mistress of the Adriatic. In return for protection, the cities often furnished a contingent to the army or navy of their suzerain, and sometimes paid tribute either in money or in kind. Arbe (Rab), for example, annually paid ten pounds of silk or five pounds of gold to Venice.

Hungary, on the other hand, defeated the last Croat king in 1097 and laid claim on all lands of the Croatian noblemen since the treaty of 1102. King Coloman of Hungary proceeded to conquer Dalmatia in 1102-1105.
The farmers and the merchants who traded in the interior favoured Hungary as their most powerful neighbour on land that affirmed their municipal privileges.
Subject to the royal assent they might elect their own chief magistrate, bishop and judges. Their Roman law remained valid. They were even permitted to conclude separate alliances. No alien, not even a Hungarian, could live in a city where he was unwelcome; and the man who disliked Hungarian dominion could emigrate with all his household and property. In lieu of tribute, the revenue from customs was in some cases shared equally by the king, chief magistrate, bishop and municipality.

These rights and the analogous privileges granted by Venice were, however, too frequently infringed. Hungarian garrisons were being quartered on unwilling towns, while Venice interfered with trade, the appointment of bishops, or the tenure of communal domains. Consequently, the Dalmatians remained loyal only while it suited their interests, and insurrections frequently occurred. Even in Zara four outbreaks are recorded between 1180 and 1345, although Zadar was treated with special consideration by its Venetian masters, who regarded its possession as essential to their maritime ascendancy.

The once rival Romanic and Slavic population eventually started contributing to a common civilization, and Ragusa (Dubrovnik) was the primary example of this. By the 13th century, the councilmen from ragusan names were mixed, and in the 15th century the ragusan literature was even written in the Slavic language (from which Croatian language is directly descended), and the city was often called by its Slavic name, Dubrovnik. Only in 1918 Ragusa was called officially "Dubrovnik", with the creation of Yugoslavia.

The doubtful allegiance of the Dalmatians tended to protract the struggle between Venice and Hungary, which was further complicated by internal discord due largely to the spread of the "Bogomil heresy", and by many outside influences.

The cities of Zara (Zadar), Spalato (Split), Trau (Trogir) and Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and the surrounding territories each changed hands several times between Venice, Hungary and the Byzantium during the 12th century.

In 1202, the armies of the Fourth Crusade rendered assistance to Venice by occupying Zadar for it. In 1204 the same army conquered Byzantium and finally eliminated the Eastern Empire from the list of contenders on Dalmatian territory.

The early 13th century was marked by a decline in external hostilities. The Dalmatian cities started accepting foreign sovereignty (mainly of the Republic of Venice) but eventually they reverted to their previous desire for independence. The Mongol invasion severely impaired Hungary, so much that in 1241, the king Bela IV had to take refuge in Dalmatia (in the Klis fortress). The Mongols attacked the Dalmatian cities for the next few years but eventually withdrew.

The Croats were no longer regarded by the city folk as a hostile people, in fact the power of certain Croatian magnates, notably the counts Šubić of Bribir, was from time to time supreme in the northern districts (in the period between 1295 and 1328).

In 1346, Dalmatia was struck by the Black Death. The economic situation was also poor, and the cities became more and more dependent on Venice.

Stephen Tvrtko, the founder of the "Bosnian kingdom", was able in 1389 to annex the Adriatic littoral between Cattaro and Sebenico (Šibenik), and even claimed control over the northern coast up to Fiume (Rijeka) except for the Venetian-ruled Zara (Zadar), and his own independent ally, Ragusa (Dubrovnik). This was only temporary, as the Hungarians and the Venetians continued their struggle over Dalmatia as soon as Tvrtko died in 1391.

An internal struggle of Hungary, between King Sigismund and the Neapolitan house of Anjou, also reflected on Dalmatia: in the early 15th century, all Dalmatian cities welcomed the Neapolitan fleet except for Dubrovnik (Ragusa). The Bosnian duke Hrvoje controlled Dalmatia for the Angevins, but later switched loyalty to Sigismund.

Over the period of twenty years, this struggle weakened the Hungarian influence. In 1409, Ladislaus of Naples sold his rights over Dalmatia to Venice for 100,000 "Ducats". Venice gradually took over most of Dalmatia by 1420. In 1437, Sigismund recognized Venetian rule over Dalmatia in return for 100,000 Ducats. The city of Omiš yielded to Venice in 1444, and only Ragusa (Dubrovnik) preserved temporarily its freedom.

The rule of Venice on most of Dalmatia will last nearly four centuries (1420 - 1797).

Venetian and Ottoman rule in Dalmatia
During the Venetian rule in Dalmatia from 1420 to 1797 the number of Orthodox Serbs in Dalmatia was increased by numerous migrations.

An interval of peace ensued, but meanwhile the Ottoman advance continued.

Hungary was itself assailed by the Turks, and could no longer afford to try to control Dalmatia. Christian kingdoms and regions in the east fell one by one, Constantinople in 1453, Serbia in 1459, neighbouring Bosnia in 1463, and Herzegovina in 1483. Thus the Venetian and Ottoman frontiers met and border wars were incessant.

Dubrovnik sought safety in friendship with the invaders, and in one particular instance, actually sold two small strips of its territory (Neum and Sutorina) to the Ottomans in order to prevent land access from the Venetian territory.

In 1508 the hostile "League of Cambrai" compelled Venice to withdraw its garrison for home service, and after the overthrow of Hungary in 1526 the Turks were able easily to conquer the greater part of Dalmatia by 1537. The peace of 1540 left only the maritime cities to Venice, the interior forming a Turkish province, governed from the fortress of Klis by a "Sanjakbeg" (an administrator with military powers).

Christian Croats from the neighbouring lands now thronged to the towns, outnumbering the Romanic population even more, and making their language the primary one. The pirate community of the "Uskoks" had originally been a band of these fugitives, especially near Segna (Senj); its exploits contributed to a renewal of war between Venice and Turkey (1571-1573). An extremely curious picture of contemporary manners is presented by the Venetian agents, whose reports on this war resemble some knightly chronicle of the Middle Ages, full of single combats, tournaments and other chivalrous adventures. They also show clearly that the Dalmatian levies far surpassed the Italian mercenaries in skill and courage. Many of these troops served abroad; at the Battle of Lepanto, for example, in 1571, a Dalmatian squadron assisted the allied fleets of Spain, Venice, Austria and the Papal States to crush the Turkish navy.

The continental bits of Dalmatia were under Ottoman rule, parts of the Viyalet of Bosnia or the Klis Sanjak. The desolated areas of the Knin Frontier and Bukovica were inhabited by Orthodox Serbs from Bosnia, while the Albania veneta received constant Serb migrations from Herzegovina and Montenegro. The Serbs formed one quarter of Dalmatia's population in the 16th century. They had absolute majority in the Knin Frontier, Bukovica and the Cattaro area. The Ottomans have resettled this populace to create a living defence towards the territories of the Venetian Republic. A great portion of this population fled to Venetian land and gladly fought against the Ottomans. The number of Serbs in Venetian Dalmatia rapidly increased during the War of Crete in 1645 - 1669 and the Great Viennese War in 1683 - 1699, after which the "Peace of Karlowitz" gave the whole of Dalmatia and coastal Montenegro (from Sutorina to Cattaro) to the Venetian Republic. After the Venetian-Turkish war of 1714-1718, Venetian territorial gains were confirmed by the 1718 "Treaty of Passarowitz". The number of Dalmatian Serbs remained between 20% and 25% by the end of Venetian rule, while the venetian speaking population in the Dalmatian cities and islands increased with colonists from north-east Italy.

The Serbian peasant population of infertile Upper Dalmatia was freed of "Feudal bonds", according that they fight wars for the Venetian Republic. The Serbs living in urban area of cities in Dalmatia were much wealthier. The Serbs in Dalmatia with Boka have had strong national and religious determination through numerous old monasteries as beacons of culture and faith. Such were the early 14th century Krupa, Krka and Dragović monasteries in the Knin Frontier and Bukovica. The Serbs in the area of Cattaro (Kotor) had much more cultural advancement due to the nearby Cetinje capital area, and the Venetians had to fall back from influencing the religious life of people there.

Dalmatia was the largest Europe's concentration of Roman Catholic Bishops, Priesthood, Churches, Monasteries and religious institutions. The Catholic Bishops controlled the Orthodox Episcopy in Dalmatia by naming the Eastern Othodox Christian Episcopes themselves.

Dalmatia experienced a period of intense economic and cultural growth in the 18th century, given how trade routes with the hinterland were reestablished in peace. Christians that noticeably migrated from the Ottoman-held territory into the Dalmatian cities converted from Orthodoxy to Catholicism.

Because the Venetians were able to reclaim some of the inland territories in the north during the Turkish wars, the region of Dalmatia was no longer restricted to the coastline and the islands. However, the Venetian influence wasn't as strong in the former southern Dalmatia, meaning that the toponym did not extend inland into areas of Herzegovina or Montenegro.

This period was abruptly interrupted with the fall of the Venetian republic in 1797.

Napoleon united for the last time Dalmatia and Venice in his Kingdom of Italy in 1805. After his fall Venice followed the history of Italy with the Risorgimento, while Dalmatia was aggregated to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Gallery

Related pages
 Dalmatian Italians
 Italian cultural and historic presence in Dalmatia
 List of Italian place names in Dalmatia
 Albania veneta

Bibliography
 Chambers, D.S. (1970). The Imperial Age of Venice, 1380-1580. London: Thames & Hudson.
 Garrett, Martin, "Venice: a Cultural History" (2006). Revised edition of "Venice: a Cultural and Literary Companion" (2001).
 John Rigby Hale. Renaissance Venice (1974) ()

 Martin, John Jeffries and Dennis Romano (eds). Venice Reconsidered. The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297-1797. (2002) Johns Hopkins UP.
 Manfredo Tafuri. Venice and the Renaissance (1995) architecture review.
 Gasparo Contarini (1599). The Commonwealth and Government of Venice. Lewes Lewkenor, trsl. London: "Imprinted by I. Windet for E. Mattes."
 Praga, Giuseppe. Storia di Dalmazia. Dall'Oglio editore. Varese, 1981
 Mileta, Olinto. Popolazioni dell'Istria, Fiume, Zara e Dalmazia''. Edizioni A.D.ES. Trieste, 2005

References

Italian states
Venice
Dalmatia

Venice and Dalmatia


Love on a Diet () is a 2001 Hong Kong romantic comedy film produced and directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai, starring Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng.

The film reunites Lau and Cheng, who last paired up in 2000's Needing You....  For their roles, both actors play obese characters and had to wear fatsuits with prosthetic makeup.

Plot

Mini Mo (Sammi Cheng) is a Hong Kong resident living in Japan.  She suffers from depression, low self-esteem and a binge eating disorder – the result which sees her suffers from extreme obesity. A suicide attempt causes her to meet Fatso (Andy Lau), a Hong Kong salesman working in Japan who is also obese.

Mini sticks with Fatso everywhere, and although initially vexed by Mini, Fatso discovers the reason behind her depression. Mini cannot forget her former boyfriend, Kurokawa, who is now a world-famous pianist. Ten years ago, the two had pledged to meet at the foot of Yokohama Marine Tower on the night of their break-up. Mini is fearful of meeting Kurokawa in her present size. Touched by her story and her sweet nature, Fatso promises to whip her back into shape.

After trying desperate means of losing weight (such as swallowing tapeworms and exercising to Dance Dance Revolution), Mini finally sheds pounds. But Fatso finds his funds running low. To earn enough to finance Mini's weight-loss programs, he opens a boxing gig on the streets allowing on-lookers to punch him to vent their pent-up frustrations. He next enrolls Mini on an expensive weight-loss program, which proves to be very successful. Mini regains her former slim and pretty look.

On the night of her reunion with Kurokawa, Fatso drops Mini off at Tokyo Tower and she meets up with former beau under the gazing eyes of the local media. The pair are interviewed by a local network, but Mini notices another broadcast featuring Fatso's street boxing gig.  She finally realizes how much Fatso has sacrificed himself for her and is moved to tears. Turning to apologize to Kurokawa, she leaves hastily.

Months later, Mini publishes a bestseller on dieting, and finds a slimmed-down Fatso carrying her book in a park. The two kiss, promising never to leave each other again.

Cast
 Andy Lau as Fatso
 Sammi Cheng as Mini Mo
 Wong Tin-lam as Fatso's fat friend
 Lam Suet as Bun Man
 Rikiya Kurokawa as Kurokawa
 Kenji Sato as Fatso's boxing customer
 Asuka Higuchi as Ms. Kudo
 Wong Mei-fan as Radio DJ
 Po Ming-nam as Cocaine Ken
 Hung Wai-leung as Fatso's fat friend
 Cheung Chi-ping as Fatso's fat friend
 Cheng Kam-cheung as Fatso's fat friend
 Lo Ching-ting

Awards and nominations

Trivia
 Fatso's car is a Mitsubishi Minica Toppo

External links

2001 films
2001 romantic comedy films
Hong Kong romantic comedy films
Films about obesity
Films set in Japan
Films shot in Japan
2000s Japanese-language films
2000s Cantonese-language films
China Star Entertainment Group films
Milkyway Image films
Films directed by Johnnie To
Films directed by Wai Ka-Fai
Films with screenplays by Yau Nai-hoi
Films with screenplays by Wai Ka-fai
Japan in non-Japanese culture
2000s Hong Kong films

Love on a Diet


Backgammon is a game played by two players. Each player moves pieces around a board. Players roll two dice to find out how far their pieces can move in one turn. The winner of one game is the first to get all pieces all the way around, and off, the board.

The game is laid-out asymmetrically. White's direction of travel is counter-clockwise, whereas black's direction of travel is clockwise. (There is no advantage  to either side due to this asymmetry.)

White moves from white's far right to white's home area on white's close right, in the shape of a right-hand "C" from white's point of view. Black moves along the same "C", beginning from black's far left and ending at black's home area on black's close left. (The "C" is the same for both sides - the "C" points to the right for white and points to the left for black.)

As shown in the image, some pieces (for each side) begin already in the home quadrant, and some pieces must make their way all the way around. Pieces can be sent backwards to their starting position during play.

The roll of two dice introduces a random component in the game, but Backgammon is basically a game of strategy.

Usual playing time is around 15– 30 minutes, for a single game (which could be thought of as something like one particular long "hand" of a card game). An overall championship or round of backgammon involves a number of ongoing single games, with the involvement of points, a "doubling cube," and other complications.

The game has a long history. Games that resemble it have been played for thousands of years. Archaeologists doing excavations at a place called Burnt City in modern-day Iran have found parts of a game that resembled backgammon. They have found 60 pieces to play with, and two dice. They could show that the game utensils date from around 3000 BC. These pieces around 100–200 years older than another set, found in Ur, in Mesopotamia.

Other websites
http://www.backgammon-fr.com

References

Dice games
Backgammon

Backgammon


A mudflow or mudslide occurs when mud travels down a slope very quickly. Mudflows, which are like giant moving mud pies, happen when lots of water mixes with soil and rock. The water makes the slippery mass of mud flow quickly down. Mudflows happen most in mountainous places where a long dry season is followed by heavy rains.

Mudflows of volcanic eruptions are the most dangerous, and are called lahars. A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars can move as quickly as 80km/h and are as thick as liquid concrete.

Lahars have several possible causes:
 Snow and glaciers can be melted by lava or pyroclastic flows during an eruption
 A flood caused by a glacier, lake breakout, or heavy rainfall can release a lahar, also called glacier run
 Water from a crater lake, combined with volcanic material in an eruption
Lahars can occur without volcanic activity, if conditions are right for the collapse and movement of mud from existing volcanic ash deposits.
 Snow and glaciers can melt during periods of mild weather
 Earthquakes underneath or close to the volcano can shake material loose and cause it to collapse triggering a lahar avalanche.
Rainfall or typhoons can cause slabs of solidified mud to come rushing down the slopes, with devastating results.

References

Volcanoes
Natural disasters

Mudflow


Centralism is an idea on how to organize a state or government. The idea is to focus this organization under a single government instead of using many local government bodies. In many cases, this makes communication easier. An organization that is an example for centralism is the Roman Catholic Church.

Related pages
 Devolution, the opposite concept
 Democratic centralism, a concept of Vladimir Lenin; he used the idea of centalism to organise political parties.

Forms of government

Centralism