Gilles Binchois (probably born in Mons about 1400; died Soignies, 20 September, 1460), was a Franco-Flemish composer. His name is spelt in various ways: "Binchoys", "Binch" or "Binche" or "Gilles de Bins". He is one of the earliest composers of the group known as the Burgundian School. His style of composition had a very important influence on music at the Burgundian court. Together with Guillaume Dufay and John Dunstaple he belongs to the greatest of 15th century composers.

Life

He was probably born in Mons in what is now Belgium. His father, a councillor to Duke Guillaume IV of Hainault, had a job in a church in Mons. Nothing is known about Gilles until 1419, when he became organist at the church of Ste. Waudru in Mons. In 1423 went to live in Lille. He may have worked as a soldier.

Sometime near the end of the 1420s he joined the court chapel of Burgundy. He sang with the choir there. He spent many years working at the Burgundian court. He was not allowed much time to be away, so he did not travel much. We know that he went to Mons in 1449 on which occasion he met Guillaume Dufay. When he retired he went to live in Soignes. He had a good pension.

Music and influence

Binchois wrote beautiful melodies which were much simpler than a lot of the music of the Middle Ages. They are easy to sing and remember. Many later composers used melodies by Binchois as a basis for their own masses. Most of his secular songs are rondeaux, which became the most common song form during the century. Binchois did not often write in strophic form. He preferred to write music which did not follow the rhyming rhythm of the verse.

Renaissance composers
Franco-Flemish composers
1400 births
1460 deaths

Gilles Binchois


Frigyes Schulek (19 November 1841 – 5 September 1919) was a Hungarian architect, a professor at József Technical University and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia).

Life

Education

Schulek was born in Pest and began school in Buda. His mother was Auguszta Zsigmondy. His father Ágost Schulek held a position in the Finance Ministry of Lajos Kossuth. The Schulek family accompanied Kossuth's government on its flight to Debrecen during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, then returned to the capital. After the suppression of the struggle for independence, Ágost Schulek was declared persona non grata, and the family returned to Debrecen.

Graduating in 1857, Frigyes Schulek enrolled in the Buda Polytechnic (József Technical University), from which he received his diploma in 1861. Thereafter he attended the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademie der bildenden Künste) in Vienna which he finished in 1867.

He became a member of the "Wiener Bauhütte" where he studied under Friedrich von Schmidt, who profoundly influenced his later interest in Middle Ages architecture.

In 1866 he briefly worked on the restoration of the Regensburg Cathedral, subsequently visiting France and Italy.

From 1871 he taught architectural drawing at the Budapest Art School, where, as a colleague of Imre Steindl, he helped design Pest's City Hall. In 1872 he was appointed architect of the newly founded Provisional Monuments Commission (Műemlékek Országos Bizottság), later known as the National Monuments Commission, the first such independent Hungarian organization. Here he coordinated the reconstruction and restoration of mediæval castles and churches.

Ancestors of Frigyes Schulek: :hu: Schulek család (felvidéki)

Matthias church (Mátyás Templom)

Between 1874 and 1896 Schulek rebuilt the Church of Our Lady in Buda Castle, which is generally regarded as his chief work. Dating to 1247, the edifice was used for coronations from the crowning of Charles I in 1309 and is today known as the Matthias Church, after King Matthias, who added side chapels and an oratory in 1470.

In the course of planning the reconstruction, he did a thorough field survey of the Gothic church to expose the varying original elements of the building to learn how it had been built, rebuilt and enlarged over time. Originally built in an early French Gothic style, it had been destroyed by fire in 1526, then reopened as a mosque in 1541. After the Ottoman period and its 1586 reconversion to a church, the Franciscans and, later, the Jesuits maintained the edifice. Rather than choosing a particular historic period to interpret while conserving evidence of its earlier and later appearance, as is modern practice, Schulek practically constructed the church anew, without preserving the various historic interventions, and had nearly every stone replaced or recarved. On the west façade and the spire, where he could find no documentary evidence to assist him, he detailed his own new designs, to the point that the building as it stands today is almost entirely his creation.

Professorship
In 1903, following Imre Steindl's death, Schulek was appointed professor of medieval architecture at the Technical University of Budapest, a post he held until 1913. He became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1895 and was made an honorary member in 1917.

Architectural designs
His other restorations include the town hall of Lőcse (now Levoča, Slovakia) and churches at Ákos (now Acâș in Romania), Karcsa and Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia).

Of the few buildings Schulek designed himself, most are in the Neo-Romanesque style. These include the Calvinist Reformed Church (1880–83) in Szeged and the Elisabeth Lookout (1908–10) at János-hegy, Budapest. Between 1895 and 1903 Schulek designed corridors, terraces and towers to connect still-extant portions of the hill fortress behind Matthias Church. Known as the Fisherman's Bastion (Halászbástya), the viewpoint has become a city landmark.

His 1909 design for the Votive Church of Szeged (Fogadalmi templom), a twin-spired structure with red-brick façades and white stone trim, was modified by Ernő Foerk, and construction was completed by 1930.

Personal life
He married Johanna Riecke. They had together five children - four daughters and a son:
 János (26 December, 1872 - 7 July, 1948)
 Margit (31 March, 1874 - 29 August, 1945)
 Márta (1876 - 1964)
 Klára Paula Erika (30 July, 1882 - 13 Januar, 1975)
 Irén (20 March, 1888 - 9 May, 1968)

References

Bibliography
J. S isa: Schulek, Frigyes (Friedrich). In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 11, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1999, , p. 314 f.

1841 births
1919 deaths
People from Pest, Hungary
Hungarian architects
Budapest University of Technology and Economics alumni
Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Academic staff of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni

Frigyes Schulek


The Citadel of Besançon () is a 17th-century fortress in Franche-Comté, France. It is one of the finest masterpieces of military architecture designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The Citadel occupies  on Mount Saint-Etienne, one of the seven hills that protect Besançon, the capital of Franche-Comté. Mount Saint-Etienne occupies the neck of an oxbow formed by the river Doubs, giving the site a strategic importance that Julius Caesar recognised as early as 58 BC. The Citadel overlooks the old quarter of the city, which is located within the oxbow, and has views of the city and its surroundings.

The fortification is well preserved. Today it is an important tourist site (over a quarter of a million visitors per year) due both to its own characteristics and because it is the site of several museums. These museums include a museum of the Resistance and deportation, a museum focusing on traditional life in Franche-Comté and the region's archeological history, and a museum of natural history that includes a zoo, an insectarium, an aquarium, vivariums, a noctarium, a climatorium, a pedagogical exhibit on evolution, botanical gardens, and a children's farm. There is also a restaurant and shops.

On 7 July 2008, UNESCO listed the Citadel, together with nearby Fort Griffon, as a World Heritage Site for its testimony to Vauban's work and its influence in the design of military fortifications and strategy from the 17th through 20th centuries. Since 1942, the French Ministry of Culture has listed the Citadel as a Monument historique.

The citadel of Besançon is today the symbol of the city and a high place of tourism in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, the third paying monument in the region in terms of attendance with 200,000 to 300,000 visitors each year.

Early history
In Gallo-Roman times the promontory on which the citadel sits was already used as an acropolis. A wall enclosed a temple, probably dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus. (Reference to the Roman history of the town is preserved in the town's arms, which show an eagle clasping two Roman columns in its claws.) The fortifications were renovated during the Middle Ages and again in the 16th century.

Some columns of the Roman temple survive to the present in the area between the Saint Stephen's Front and the Royal Front. Where Saint Stephen's Front, which Vauban built, now stands, there was once a cathedral dedicated to Saint Stephen. The cathedral and its cloister dated back to the 5th century, and received further work in the 11th, 13th and 14th centuries.

Construction (1668-1711)
Between 1668 and 1672, the Spaniards started to construct a modern citadel on the site. Some of the buildings they constructed were incorporated into the subsequent enlargement of the Citadel. The Royal Front (Front meaning bastion or enclosure), and the Relief Front, both include buildings that the Spaniards erected.

The Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678, gave the region of Franche-Comté to Louis XIV, who decided to improve significantly the city of Besançon's defences. In March 1668 Louis appointed the military architect Vauban to design the Citadel. The initial construction, which took place under the supervision of Ambrose Precipiano, took six years. Work continued over thirty years with the result that by 1711, the Citadel was one of the strongest fortifications of the period. The construction was so expensive that – so the story goes – the king asked Vauban if he was building the walls of gold.

Military architecture

The Citadel is built on top of a large syncline on a rectangular field crossed across its width by three successive bastions (enclosures, or fronts) behind which extend three plazas. The whole is surrounded by walls covered by circular paths and punctuated by watchtowers and sentry posts. The walls are up to  high with a thickness between .

As mentioned above, Vauban built the first line of defense, Saint Stephen's Front, on the site of the eponymous cathedral that he destroyed in order to establish the defences.

In front of the curtain is ready a half-moon, surrounded by ditches, equipped to the canon – the flag of entry is extended to both sides of the curtain and completed by half bastions at the ends. The curtain, which was the section of wall between the 2 half bastions, was the weak point of the wall.

A rift in the rock, which could be dry or flooded. It was bounded by the escarpment (lower slope of a ditch) and Contrescarpe (masonry wall at the end of ditch). This divide was crossed by the bridge frame, which was completed by the drawbridge. Then the 2 half bastions laterally protected access to the door. They included: – one side exposed to the enemy army and cannons – which joined the side curtain to the bastions. He could be right (as in front royal) or orillons, i.e. sheltered behind a corner covering artillery stationed on the flank. The same system on the front orillons Saint-Etienne. Finally, two ties were arranged on each side of buildings to protect views and firing from the side hills and Chaudanne Bregille.

So this system was constructed so that for all positions, we could monitor the enemy wherever he is and he was so identified. Even if there were an enemy to the aplomb of a wall, rather than risking to look to achieve, you could touch from another post. In fact, all the shots and angles of view were studied to better defend the defensive system.

Then, to get to Royal Front, there was a large sloping grassy area, which forms the glacis. This allowed glacis, where the Front St. Etienne is crossed, to see the enemy coming and to anticipate any attack. Formerly, he was on naked and without trees. At the extreme left along the cliff, an underpass allowing front of the first defenders to retreat to the front royal. The Front Royal is flanked by two boxes of surveillance: the tower of the king and the tower of the queen. The front and the Front Royal Relief (at the other end of the Citadel) was built by the Spanish and edited by Vauban.

These fronts are linked by two huge walls, who married almost perfect topography and rock. The walls are made of limestone, and are 5 to 6 m thick and 15 to 20 m high. Vauban intended the walls to screen the Citadel's precincts from the view of any enemy occupying the surrounding hills.

The upper part of the parapet was built in brick because their chips were much less deadly than the limestone. These walls define the inner courtyard, and were surmounted by a walkway.  Over ten sentry posts lined the walls, of which only one or two survive. These sentry posts were of limited use in combat as they were fragile.

Other buildings

The courtyard contains several buildings. At the centre is a school for cadets, built in 1682, on the orders of Louvois, minister of the Sun King. A court divides the building into two parts. One part was a barracks that housed up to 600 cadets. The other part is the school. In terms of its architecture, the fire is divided over its entire length by a thick wall that put the occupants to escape the shooting side.

Built fortified against the wall, away from enemy fire, the powder magazine: building for the conservation of barrels of powder, especially protected and strengthened to prevent the potential of ignition in fire and explosion hazards . It was built under a canopy in the open arch and "the test" (able to withstand bomb). Nails and hinges were bronze to avoid the risk of spark. It came in wooden clogs.

The arsenal was responsible for the storage, maintenance and repair of weapons. The ground floor was reserved for the gun and other gear; the first floor housed the guns, knives, ammunition.

In the seventeenth century, a system of pipes brought water to the citadel. However, this made the citadel vulnerable to siege as an enemy could easily destroy the pipe system. Therefore, in 1692, Vauban had a well cut to a depth of  through the rock to the water table. A wheel with a diameter of four metres, operated by a man who walked within it, served to lift buckets. Unfortunately, the water turned out to be brackish and undrinkable. Instead, the citadel relied on cisterns that stored rainwater. There was one at the front. The water was still of average quality.

The Citadel's chapel is dedicated to Saint Stephen. It was consecrated in 1683, and commemorated the cathedral and cloisters that Vauban demolished when constructing the Royual Front. Vauban included a chapel in each of his fortresses for the garrison to attend Sunday mass. The chapel has an attractive portal adorned with Doric columns but is otherwise simple. Otto I, Count of Burgundy was buried there.

The buildings that Vauban undertook not randomly constructed and responded to specific needs.

The Citadel in recent times
In the following centuries, successive French governments used the Citadel as a prison or a garrison. The prisoners included the accomplices of the Voisin, accused of poisonings during the reign of Louis XIV, deserters from the armies of Louis XIV and those of Louis XV, and Royalists during the Revolution. During the First Empire the Citadel housed Austrian, French and, Spanish prisoners of war. Still, in the nineteenth century, the Citadel performed its military function when it withstood attacks by the Austrians in 1814, and the Prussians in 1871, attacks that caused little damage.

During the First World War, Besançon was sufficiently far from the front that the fighting left the Citadel untouched. Instead, its primary role was a logistical one.

During World War II the Germans captured the Citadel in 1940. Later, between 28 April 1941, and 18 August 1944, during the Occupation, German firing squads executed some one hundred resistance fighters. The fighters included eighty Frenchmen, five Spaniards, two Italians, a Luxembourgian, one Swiss and one Pole. The most painful episode occurred on Sunday 26 September 1943. The sixteen Resistance fighters who died on that day included Henri Fertet, a sixteen-year-old who, like Guy Môquet, wrote a poignant last letter confirming his commitment to the cause. A memorial, in the form of four stakes standing between the well and the chapel of Saint Stephen, commemorates "les fusillés" – the men who were shot.

After heavy fighting, the Americans captured the Citadel in 1944, and used it to hold German prisoners of war. After the Second World War, the Citadel initially served as a military depot.

Current use
In 1958, the city of Besançon acquired the site from the French government and decided to use the Citadel as a tourist site and the locus for various culture activities. Thus, it now contains several museums, both historical and scientific. The number of visitors is now approaching 300,000 per year, making the Citadel the most visited monument in the region of Franche-Comté. The following table shows the attendance figures for recent years.

Museum of the Resistance and Deportation
This museum, which was established in 1971 at the initiative of Denise Lorach, a former deportee, exhibits art, photographs, and documents pertaining to the resistance during World War II and the deportation of citizens. It receives an average 65,000 visitors per annum. The museum has twenty rooms, and the location was chosen in part because a hundred resistance members were shot there during the Occupation. A memorial is dedicated to them.

Two galleries are dedicated concentration in the work of John Daligault, Nacht und Nebel deported / Night and Fog, and that of Léon Delarbre, deported resistant to Auschwitz. The collection presented for all collections of this museum in France, in large part, is a deposit The National Museum of Modern Art.

The Education Department, led by a teacher seconded from Education, is available for teachers to prepare for a visit or student work. it also provides writing materials, in connection with the programs of the classes of cycle 3 to the end, it also offers assistance in the preparation of the National Competition of the resistance and deportation

Museum of Natural History

 The Course of Evolution is a pedagogic display based on collections originally established by the University of Franche-Comté.
 The zoo is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and holds two endangered species of big cats, the Asian lion and the Siberian tiger, twenty species of primates, and some thirty species of exotic birds. The zoo's primary objective is the conservation and reproduction of endangered species. It also conducts research on animal behaviour.
 The Insectarium, the largest in France, highlights insects, which represent 85% of world fauna.
 The Aquarium features local fish, from tiny minnows to large carp and catfish; there is also a farm breeding endangered "red foot" crayfish and aprons of the Rhone region as part of a conservation project while increasing awareness to improve their living environments.
 The Noctarium reverses day and night, and so makes it possible for visitors to watch the activities of the nocturnal mammals it contains.
 The Children's Farm provides a discovery space for children.
 The Climatorium features displays on the evolution of climate on a global and regional scale and its impact on life forms.

Heritage identity

The museum comtois, which has been installed since 1960 in the Front Royal, focuses on the interaction between the land and human adaptation. It highlights the art and popular traditions of Franche-Comté. Through its sixteen showrooms it describes daily life in the 19th and 20th centuries by focusing on four main themes: food, entertainment, thought and work. The museum also has a large photographic collection of regional ethnography. Lastly, there is a model of the entire citadel.
Space Vauban covers the era of Vauban (1638–1697), who was famous for designing impregnable fortifications. The four exhibits describe Vauban, the wars for control of the Franche-Comté, and the musketeers at the Citadel. The exhibit on Vauban in Besançon is part of the background to the classification of the city as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A project aimed at changing the presentation in the interpretive centre is now under study.

Service Régional d'Archéologie, under the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs, is only accessible by appointment. This division manages the inventory of regional sites, mapping, and management of preservation efforts and planned excavations.

See also
 Fortifications of Vauban
 List of castles in France

References

External links

Besancon
Buildings and structures in Besançon
Besancon
Bescancon
Besancon
Museums in Besançon
Military and war museums in France
Natural history museums in France
World War II museums in France
Zoos in France
Insectariums
Aquaria in France
History museums in France
Tourist attractions in Besançon
Organizations based in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

bg:Безансон#История
el:Μπεζανσόν#Αξιοθέατα
hr:Vaubanove utvrde#Utvrde u Besançonu
hu:Besançon#Látnivalók

Citadel of Besançon


Geshe Chekhawa (or Chekawa Yeshe Dorje) (1102–1176) was a prolific Kadampa Buddhist meditation master who was the author of the celebrated root text Training the Mind in Seven Points, which is an explanation of Buddha's instructions on training the mind or Lojong in Tibetan. These teachings reveal how sincere Buddhist practitioners can transform adverse conditions into the path to enlightenment, principally, by developing their own compassion. Before Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje's root text this special set of teachings given by Buddha were secret teachings only given to faithful disciples.

Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje was born into a family that practiced the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. However, as is common in all the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, he also sought teachings from other traditions. He received teachings from Rechungpa (one of Milarepa's main disciples) and later from Kadampa Geshes. After reading the text Eight Verses of Training the Mind by Geshe Langri Tangpa he immediately set out to Lhasa in search of Langri Tangpa. When he arrived in Lhasa, he discovered that Geshe Langri Tangpa had died. So he searched for his disciples and found Geshe Sharawa who was one of his main disciples.

When Chekawa Yeshe Dorje met Sharawa, he asked him "How important is the practice of accepting defeat and offering the victory to others?" Sharawa replied, "If you want to attain enlightenment, this practice is essential." Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje then requested full instructions on this practice and Sharawa said "If you stay with me for several years I will teach you."  Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje stayed with Sharawa for 12 years until he mastered the practice of training the mind. He had to face many different kinds of ordeals: all sorts of difficulties, criticism, hardships, and abuse. And the teaching was so effective, and his perseverance in its practice so intense, that he completely eradicated any self-grasping and self-cherishing.

At this time in Tibet, leprosy was very common in Tibet, because doctors were unable to cure it. When Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje encountered lepers, he developed heartfelt compassion for them and wished to help them. He gave them teachings on training the mind, especially the teachings on Tonglen or taking and giving. Through these practices many lepers were able to cure themselves. After overhearing Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje's teaching to lepers on training the mind, his brother who strongly disliked Dharma teachings even began to put them into practice and receive great benefit from them.

As a result of these successes, Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje decided not to keep these teachings secret any longer and he composed Training the Mind in Seven Points. This is one of the essential root texts of the Kadampa tradition and was the basis for Je Tsongkhapa's text Sunrays of Training the Mind, which is regarded as one of the most authoritative commentaries on training the mind.

Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje's conclusion of Training the Mind in Seven Points is as follows:

Because of my many wishes,
Having endured suffering and a bad reputation,
I received the instructions for controlling self-grasping.
Now, if I die, I have no regrets.

Root Verses

Root Verses Of The Seven Point Mind Training
by Geshe Chekawa (1102–1176)

Homage to Great Compassion.

These instructions are the essence of the nectar.
They have been passed down from Serlingpa.
They are like a diamond, the sun, and a medicinal tree.
Understand the purpose and so forth of these texts.
When the five degenerations are flourishing, transform
them into the path to enlightenment.

One: Preliminary Supporting Dharma Practices
Initially, train in the preliminaries.

Two: Training The Mind In The Path To Enlightenment
Training in relative bodhicitta
Put all the blame on the one.
Meditate on everyone as kind.
Train alternately in the two, taking and giving.
Begin taking with yourself.
Mount the two upon the breath.
There are three objects, three poisons, and three roots of virtue.
These, in brief, are the instructions for the post-meditation period.
Be mindful in order to admonish yourself.
Train yourself with the verses during all activities.

Training in ultimate bodhicitta
Having attained stability, be shown the secret.
Consider phenomena to be like a dream.
Analyze the nature of ungenerated awareness.
Even the antidote itself is naturally free.
Focus on the nature of the basis of all, the entity of the path.
Between sessions be an illusionist.

Three: Bringing Unfavorable Conditions Into The Path To Enlightenment
When the vessel and its contents are filled with negativities,
Transform these unfavorable conditions into the path to enlightenment.
Immediately apply whatever you meet to meditation.
Possess the four preparations, the supreme method.

Four: Integrating The Practices In A Single Lifetime
In brief, the essence of the instructions is to apply the five forces.
The Great Vehicle instructions on transference
are those very five forces; cherish this behavior.

Five: The Measure Of A Trained Mind
Combine all the Dharma into one intention.
Of the two witnesses, rely on the primary one.
Always rely on mental happiness alone.
The measure of being trained is to no longer regress.
To be trained is to possess the five signs of greatness.
You are trained when able even if distracted.

Six: The Commitments Of Mind Training
1. Constantly train in the three general points.
2. Change your attitude, but remain natural.
3. Do not mention [others'] impaired limbs.
4. Do not think about others' affairs.
5. Initially, purify whatever affliction is the strongest.
6. Give up all hope of reward.
7. Avoid poisoned food.
8. Do not hold a grudge.
9. Do not respond to malicious talk.
10. Do not lie in ambush.
11. Do not strike to the core.
12. Do not put the load of a dzo on an ox.
13. Do not aim to win the race.
14. Do not use perverse means.
15. Do not turn a god into a demon.
16. Do not seek [others'] suffering as a means to your own happiness.

Seven: Advice Regarding Mind Training
1. Perform all yogas with the one.
2. Apply the one to all perverse oppressors.
3. Do the two activities, one at the beginning and one at the end.
4. Be patient whichever of the two occurs.
5. Guard the two at the risk of your life.
6. Train in the three difficult ones.
7. Obtain the three principal causes.
8. Cultivate the three without deterioration.
9. Possess the three without separation.
10. Train in purity and impartiality with respect to objects.
11. Cherish all of the encompassing and profound trainings.
12. Meditate constantly on the special cases.
13. Do not look for other conditions.
14. Practice the most important right now.
15. Avoid the distorted understandings.
16. Do not be erratic.
17. Train continuously.
18. Attain liberation with the two, investigation and analysis.
19. Do not boast.
20. Refrain from retaliating.
21. Do not act impetuously.
22. Do not wish for gratitude.

References

External links
  Seven-talk series by Dhammadinna based on Geshe Chekhawa, Atisha and Langri Tangpa
 Samye Institute library page

1102 births
1176 deaths
Buddhist meditation

Chekawa Yeshe Dorje


Paracentrotus lividus is a species of sea urchin in the family Parechinidae commonly known as the purple sea urchin. It is the type species of the genus and occurs in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean.

Description
Paracentrotus lividus has a circular, flattened greenish test with a diameter of up to seven centimetres. The test is densely clothed in long and sharply pointed spines that are usually purple but are occasionally other colours including dark brown, light brown and olive green. There are five or six pairs of pores on each ambulacral plate. The tube feet are in groups of 5 or 6, arranged in small arcs.

Distribution
P. lividus is found throughout the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from western Scotland and Ireland to the Azores, Canary Islands and Morocco. It is most common in the western Mediterranean, the coasts of Portugal and the Bay of Biscay, where the water temperature in winter varies between 10 and 15 °C.

Habitat

P. lividus is usually found just below low water mark at depths down to twenty metres and sometimes also in rock pools. It is found on rocks and boulders, and in seagrass meadows of Zostera marina and Posidonia oceanica. Although Cymodocea nodosa is a preferred food item, it is seldom found in meadows of this seagrass, perhaps because the shifting sand substrate does not suit it or because of pressure from predators. In fact it avoids soft substrates and can sometimes be found clustered on stones or shell "islands" surrounded by sand. In shallow or exposed waters it can use its mouth and spines to dig into soft rocks to create cavities into which it returns and in which it exactly fits. Where the urchins are numerous, the rock may be honeycombed by these excavations. Smaller individuals particularly use these retreats, which provide some protection from predators. In lagoons and rock pools, individuals are smaller than they are in the open sea. P. lividus is unable to tolerate low salinity. After exceptional quantities of rain fell in Corsica in the autumn of 1993, there was mass mortality of urchins in the Urbini Lagoon. However, the urchin is relatively unaffected by organic pollution and heavy metals. In fact, it flourishes near sewage outlets. There are wide swings in population densities over its range, which have not been completely explained.

Biology
Individual P. lividus are either male or female although hermaphroditism has been observed. They aggregate for spawning and release gametes into the water column. The larvae form part of the zooplankton for about 28 days before settling and undergoing metamorphosis.

Ecology
Paracentrotus lividus is a generalist browser, eating a range of red, green and brown algae in addition to seagrass. The benthic community is much affected by the number of urchins and their food preferences. Where they are numerous they tend to be surrounded by "barren ground" colonised by encrusting Corallinaceae species and characterised by a low biomass of primary producers with a small number of associated species. Where numbers are low, there tend to be forests of Laminaria and Cystoseira and a much richer, three-dimensional community. The barren grounds can persist for years though whether this is due to overgrazing by urchins or prevention of recruitment of multicellular photosynthetic organisms by encrusting algae is unclear.

Some juveniles of small fish species shelter among the spines. These include the clingfishes Apletodon incognitus and Lepadogaster candolii and the gobies, Gobius bucchichi, Zebrus zebrus and Millerigobius macrocephalus.

The main predators on P. lividus in the Mediterranean Sea are the spider crab (Maja crispata), the fish Diplodus sargus, Diplodus vulgaris, Labrus merula and Coris julis and the gastropod, Hexaplex trunculus. The spiny starfish (Marthasterias glacialis) is a main predator elsewhere. Predation is dependent on size; juvenile urchins are more vulnerable as their spines are less formidable. In most locations the urchins are nocturnal feeders, but where predators are more active at night the urchins may feed during day instead.

Use as food

The gonads are considered a delicacy in Lebanon, France, Italy, Spain, Malta, and parts of Croatia, most notably on the island of Korčula, and are also eaten to a lesser extent in Greece. The urchins have been harvested for export over a wider area including Croatia, Portugal and Ireland.

References

External links

Parechinidae
Edible shellfish
Fauna of the Atlantic Ocean
Fauna of the Mediterranean Sea
Animals described in 1816
Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Paracentrotus lividus


Antinomy (Greek ἀντί, antí, "against, in opposition to", and νόμος, nómos, "law") refers to a real or apparent mutual incompatibility of two laws. It is a term used in logic and epistemology, particularly in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant.

There are many examples of antinomy. A self-contradictory phrase such as "There is no absolute truth" can be considered an antinomy because this statement is suggesting in itself to be an absolute truth, and therefore denies itself any truth in its statement. It is not necessarily also a paradox. A paradox, such as "this sentence is false" can also be considered to be an antinomy; in this case, for the sentence to be true, it must be false.

Kant's use

The term acquired a special significance in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), who used it to describe the equally rational but contradictory results of applying to the universe of pure thought the categories or criteria of reason that are proper to the universe of sensible perception or experience (phenomena). Empirical reason cannot here play the role of establishing rational truths because it goes beyond possible experience and is applied to the sphere of that which transcends it.

For Kant there are four antinomies, connected with:
the limitation of the universe in respect to space and time
the theory that the whole consists of indivisible atoms (whereas, in fact, none such exist)
the problem of free will in relation to universal causality
the existence of a universal being

In each antinomy, a thesis is contradicted by an antithesis. For example: in the first antinomy, Kant proves the thesis that time must have a beginning by showing that if time had no beginning, then an infinity would have elapsed up until the present moment. This is a manifest contradiction because infinity cannot, by definition, be completed by "successive synthesis"—yet just such a finalizing synthesis would be required by the view that time is infinite; so the thesis is proven. Then he proves the antithesis, that time has no beginning, by showing that if time had a beginning, then there must have been "empty time" out of which time arose. This is incoherent (for Kant) for the following reason: Since, necessarily, no time elapses in this pretemporal void, then there could be no alteration, and therefore nothing (including time) would ever come to be: so the antithesis is proven. Reason makes equal claim to each proof, since they are both correct, so the question of the limits of time must be regarded as meaningless.

This was part of Kant's critical program of determining limits to science and philosophical inquiry. These contradictions are inherent in reason when it is applied to the world as it is in itself, independently of any perception of it (this has to do with the distinction between phenomena and noumena). Kant's goal in his critical philosophy was to identify what claims are and are not justified, and the antinomies are a particularly illustrative example of his larger project.

Marx's use

In Das Kapital, Volume I in the chapter entitled "The Working Day", Karl Marx claims that capitalist production sustains "the assertion of a right to an unlimited working day, and the assertion of a right to a limited working day, both with equal justification". Furner emphasizes that the thesis and antithesis of this antinomy are not contradictory opposites, but rather "consist in the assertion of rights to states of affairs that are contradictory opposites".

See also

Mutual incompatibility
Law:
Alternative pleading
Logic:
Mutual exclusivity
Kettle logic
Paradox
Religion:
Antinomianism (Christianity)
Others:
Oxymoron
Double bind

References

External links

Kantianism
Concepts in logic

Antinomy


Hibernation is a time of inactivity. Some endothermic (warm-blooded) animals hibernate, usually during the winter, when food is short. They fall into a sleep-like state. They regulate their metabolism to consume less energy. They lower their body temperature, slow their breathing, and slow other vital functions. During hibernation, the body uses fat for energy, which the animal has gathered in summer and autumn. They hibernate from the end of autumn to the start of winter. Animals try and eat as much as they can to increase the fats in their body.

Mammals like bats, ground squirrels (like marmots), hedgehogs, marsupials and others hibernate.

The phases of sleeping (called torpor) are different for the different animals. Hedgehogs sleep for 1–3 weeks, without waking, The fat dormouse sleeps for 20–33 days, without waking. The winter sleep of bears is not as deep as hibernation.

Only mammals hibernate. However, a few birds including hummingbirds do something similar.

Related pages
 Torpor
 Dormancy
 Aestivation

Physiology

Hibernation


Joseph Howe  (December 13, 1804 – June 1, 1873) was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, public servant, and poet. Howe is often ranked as one of Nova Scotia's most admired politicians and his considerable skills as a journalist and writer have made him a provincial legend.

He was born the son of John Howe and Mary Edes at Halifax and inherited from his loyalist father an undying love for Great Britain and her Empire. At age 23, the self-taught but widely read Howe purchased the Novascotian, soon making it into a popular and influential newspaper. He reported extensively on debates in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and travelled to every part of the province writing about its geography and people.
In 1835, Howe was charged with seditious libel, a serious criminal offence, after the Novascotian published a letter attacking Halifax politicians and police for pocketing public money. Howe addressed the jury for more than six hours, citing example after example of civic corruption. The judge called for Howe's conviction, but swayed by his passionate address, jurors acquitted him in what is considered a landmark case in the struggle for a free press in Canada.

The next year, Howe was elected to the assembly as a liberal reformer, beginning a long and eventful public career. He was instrumental in helping Nova Scotia become the first British colony to win responsible government in 1848. He served as premier of Nova Scotia from 1860 to 1863 and led the unsuccessful fight against Canadian Confederation from 1866 to 1868. Having failed to persuade the British to repeal Confederation, Howe joined the federal cabinet of John A. Macdonald in 1869 and played a major role in bringing Manitoba into the union. Howe became the third Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia in 1873, but died after only three weeks in office.

Early life
The Howe family was of Puritan stock from Massachusetts. Having remained loyal to the crown during the American Revolution, the family of John Howe joined the flood of United Empire Loyalists out of the United States after the American revolutionaries succeeded in their claims of independence. John Howe arrived at Halifax in 1779 and set up a printing shop, where he published the first issue of the Halifax Journal in December 1780. In 1801, Howe was rewarded for his loyalty by appointment as the King's Printer and in 1803 he became deputy postmaster for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.

In 1798, John Howe in married Mary Edes; their son Joseph was born at Halifax on December 13, 1804. Joseph was John's eighth child and Mary's second. John's first wife, Martha Minn, died from complications following childbirth.

Like many lads of that time, Joseph Howe attended the Royal Acadian School before beginning an apprenticeship, which he served at his father's printing shop starting at the age of 23. He married Catherine Ann Susan McNab on February 2, 1828.

That same year he went into the printing business himself with the purchase of the Nova Scotian, a Halifax newspaper. Howe acted as its editor until 1841, turning the paper into the most influential in the province. Not only did he personally report the legislative assembly debates in its columns, he also published provincial literature and his own travel writings, using the paper as a means for educating the people of Nova Scotia, and himself.  "His name ranks as perhaps the greatest in Canadian journalism."

Libel trial

On January 1, 1835, Howe's Novascotian published an anonymous letter accusing Halifax politicians and police of pocketing £30,000 over a thirty-year period. The outraged civic politicians had Howe charged with seditious libel, a serious criminal offence. Howe's case seemed hopeless since truth was not a defence. The prosecution had only to prove that Howe had published the letter. Howe decided to act as his own lawyer. For more than five hours, he addressed the jury, citing case after case of civic corruption. He spoke eloquently about the importance of press freedom, urging jurors "to leave an unshackled press as a legacy to your children." Even though the judge instructed the jury to find Howe guilty, jurors took only 10 minutes to acquit him. The decision was a landmark event in the slow evolution of press freedom in Canada.

Brenton Halliburton presided over the Libel trial of Joseph Howe. The outcome of the trial and Howe's writings in the Novascotian so enraged Haliburton's son John C. Halliburton that the son called Howe out for a duel.  The duel took place on March 14, 1840, at Point Pleasant.  When Haliburton missed with his shot, Howe "deloped" deliberately missing by firing his gun in the air. (The last lethal duel in Nova Scotia took place in 1819, in which William Bowie was killed.)

Political career

Eventually, Howe decided to run for office in order to effect the changes he championed in his newspaper. He was first elected in 1836, campaigning on a platform of support for responsible government. Howe initially proposed only an elected legislative council but he was quick to agree with the concept of a fully representative government. He was suspicious of formal political parties feeling that they were too restrictive. It was, however, largely his doing that members favouring Liberal principles were able to dominate assembly from 1836 to 1840. He formed a coalition with Conservative leader James William Johnston in 1840 hoping to further the cause of responsible government. Howe held the office of Speaker of the assembly in 1841 and collector of excise for Halifax in 1842.

The coalition collapsed under various political conflicts, leading to Howe's resignation from the Council in 1843. The promotion of political ideas in his newspapers were rewarded with a seven-seat Liberal majority in the 1847 election. This led to the formation of the first responsible government in Canada in January 1848. While James Uniacke was officially the Premier, many regarded it as Joseph Howe's ministry. Howe assumed the post of Provincial Secretary, adapting existing institutions to the new system of government. He also began a campaign of railway construction, resigning as Provincial Secretary in 1853 to become Nova Scotia's first Chief Commissioner of Railways;  as Commissioner he oversaw the initial construction of the Nova Scotia Railway. In addition, Howe was involved with recruiting American troops for the Crimean War. These activities left him with little time to campaign in the 1855 general election which he lost to Charles Tupper in Cumberland. This election also led to conflict with Catholic members of the Liberal party because Howe had ridiculed their religious doctrine. This resulted in a Liberal defeat in 1856. The Liberals did not return to power until 1860 at which time Howe became provincial secretary.  When the Premier, William Young, was appointed as a judge later that year, Joseph Howe assumed the leadership of the party and therefore became Premier. He served as Premier until 1863 when he accepted the position of Imperial Fisheries Commissioner.

Confederation debate

Howe's fisheries duties prevented his attendance at the Charlottetown Conference. By the time he returned to Nova Scotia in November 1864, the Quebec Conference had taken place, and the Quebec Resolutions widely disseminated. He had no chance to influence their content. He led Nova Scotia's anti-Confederation movement believing the Quebec Resolutions to be bad for the province. Because he was still linked with the imperial fishery he expressed his initial opposition anonymously through the Botheration Letters, a series of 12 editorials that appeared in the Morning Chronicle between January and March 1865. This was the extent of his participation in the union debate until March 1866. He learned that Charles Tupper planned to force the Confederation Resolution through the legislature. When he failed to prevent passage of the resolution Howe began a vigorous campaign for repeal by delegations to London and then publishing a variety of anti-Confederation papers and pamphlets. This strategy failed to prevent the Imperial Parliament enacting the British North America Act in 1867. Nova Scotians elected 18 out of 19 anti-Confederation candidates as members of the first Dominion Parliament. Joseph Howe led the anti-Confederates in the House of Commons of Canada where he made a speech about his opposition to confederation.

Having failed to win repeal of Confederation in 1868, Howe recognized the futility of further protests. He refused to contemplate secession from the Canadian Confederation nor American annexation because of his loyalty to Britain.  He ran in the great Hants County by election of 1869 to create better terms for Nova Scotia within Canada rather than continue to seek repeal of Confederation.  The Great Hants Campaign of 1869 was very difficult and compromised Howe's physical health. Many Nova Scotians continued to support the anti-confederation efforts but the Hants County electorate continued to support Joseph Howe.

In 1869 Howe joined the Canadian Cabinet as President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada after receiving a promise of "better terms" for Nova Scotia. In November 1869, he became secretary of state for the provinces in which post he played a role in Manitoba's entry into Confederation. He resigned his Cabinet post to become the 3rd Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia post Confederation in 1873. He died in office only a few weeks after his appointment. He is buried in Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Railway promotion

In 1854, he resigned as the provincial secretary in order to head a bi-partisan railway commission.  Due to the cost of the project, it was never fully completed.  However, Howe was successful in completing lines from Halifax to Windsor.  This railway enabled Halifax to monopolize the trade of Minas Basin because it passed through the land between Halifax and Hants County.  This wealth helped the midland counties improve their economic stability. Due to the economic benefits being realized in Halifax, Howe even proposed the creation of a hotel to attract wealthy travellers using the railway, however this was never built.

Poetry
Howe created a substantial body of poetry, much of it related to his appreciation of Nova Scotia and its history. While he had published some poems during his life and had been preparing others for publication, it was not until a year after his death that his family made them public through the publishing of Poems and Essays.

Family
Prior to his marriage, Howe had a son by a woman other than his later wife, whose identity is unknown. This first child was Edward Howe, who lived with his mother in a home Howe maintained in Maitland, Nova Scotia.

Joseph Howe later married Catherine Susan Ann McNab, daughter of Captain John McNab, Nova Scotia Regiment of Fencible Infantry, on February 2, 1828. She was born in 1808 in the barracks at the entrance to the harbour of St. John's, Newfoundland, where her father was in command of the troops. She lived with her father on McNab's Island, which had previously been occupied by her uncle, Peter McNab. In Joseph Howe's "Poems and Essays" (Montreal: 1874), there are two poems addressed to his wife. Towards the close of her life, the Legislature of Nova Scotia granted her a small pension. She died in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, July 6, 1890, and is buried alongside her husband in Camp Hill Cemetery, Halifax.

Joseph Howe had ten children with Catherine Susan Ann McNab.
 Mary Howe: b. 9 May 1829, d. 12 May 1829 aged 3 days.
 Ellen Howe: b. 3 Dec 1830, m. 22 Oct 1851 to Cathcart Thomson (son of James Thomson of Spital, Jamaica, and Christian [Renny] Thomson of Falkirk, Scotland). Cathcart Thomson was thus a first cousin of Hon. William Young, who was premier and later chief justice of Nova Scotia. Cathcart and Ellen had four sons and two daughters: Katherine Christian married William Chadwick Bourchier, Dean of Cashel in Ireland and Mary Ellen married Admiral Sir Charles Knowles, 4th Baronet from whom descends the present holder of the baronetcy. Ellen d. 5 Feb 1910 aged 79 years.
 Mary Howe: b. 29 Nov 1832, d. 1 Nov 1853 aged 20 years.
 Joseph Howe: b. 7 July 1834, d. 24 Aug 1888 in Cookstown, Queensland, Australia aged 54 years. No issue.
 Sophia Howe: b. 13 Aug 1836, d. 13 Sep 1837 aged 1 year.
 James Howe: b. 24 July 1839, d 14 Oct 1839 aged 2 months.
 Frederick Howe, bapt. 24 Dec 1840. Served in the American Civil War. Died c. 1887–1889 in the US, aged about 47–49.
 Sydenham Howe, bapt. 19 Mar 1843. Married 26 Apr 1870 Fanny Westphal McNab (daughter of James B. McNab and Sarah [Currie] McNab). Worked as a dominion auditor, and he was a founding member of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. Lived in Middleton, Nova Scotia. Died 14 Apr 1929. Sydenham and Fanny had 4 sons and 2 daughters.
 John Howe: b. 16 May 1864(?), d. 20 June 1856 (birth year in source article is a clear typographical error as it states that he was born in 1864, yet his information appears before William Howe who was born 1848, and he is stated to have died in 1856, therefore the likely year of his birth was 1844), if his birth was in 1844, then he died at the age of 12 years.
 William Howe: b. 27 July 1848, 1st m. 23 Sep 1873 to Helen F. Ross (daughter of Rev. Principal James Ross, D.D.). William and Helen had two daughters. Second marriage 4 Mar 1884 to Maggie Clark (daughter of Robert Clark of Ottawa), no issue. William died 28 Apr 1890, aged 41.

Legacy

 Howe Hall, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
 Joseph Howe Drive, Halifax, Nova Scotia
 Joseph Howe Building, Halifax, Nova Scotia
 Joseph Howe School, Halifax, Nova Scotia
 Joseph Howe Falls, Victoria Park, Truro
 Joseph Howe Park, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
 Joseph Howe Senior Public School, Scarborough (Toronto), Ontario
 The 100th anniversary of Howe's death was commemorated with the issue of an 8-cent stamp by Canada Post.
 From 1973 until 1985 a Joseph Howe Festival was held in Halifax and in other places in Nova Scotia.

Archives
There is a Joseph Howe fonds at Library and Archives Canada.

Media
 To the editor: Sir (1983, published 1985 in "Three Bluenose Plays" by Lancelot Press), Play by Arthur L. Murphy depicting Joseph Howe's historical trial for libel.
 The Night They Killed Joe Howe (1960) (TV drama), starring Douglas Rain, Austin Willis (as William Annand) and Star Trek's James Doohan
 Apr 26, 1961: The place of Joseph Howe in Canadian history (TV drama). James Barron plays Howe
 Nov 7, 1956: "The Case of Posterity versus Joseph Howe," (CBC Folio) a dramatic argument by Joseph Schull
 Joseph Howe: The Tribune of Nova Scotia (1961 short film)

Gallery

Electoral record

See also

 C. D. Howe, 20th century politician and distant relative born in the United States
 The Novascotian
 Nova Scotia Heritage Day
History of Nova Scotia

Notes

References

 John Roulston Saul - Joseph Howe
 William Lawson. The Tribune of Nova Scotia

External links

Poems and essays by Joseph Howe

1804 births
1873 deaths
Fathers of Confederation
Anti-Confederation Party MPs
Canadian people of English descent
Politicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia
Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs
Nova Scotia Liberal Party MLAs
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Premiers of Nova Scotia
Colony of Nova Scotia people
19th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people)
Canadian newspaper publishers (people)
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Canadian activists
Canadian theatre critics
Lieutenant Governors of Nova Scotia
Canadian duellists
Nova Scotia political party leaders

Joseph Howe


Condé Benoist Pallen (December 5, 1858 – May 26, 1929) was an American Catholic editor and author. He was editor of Church Progress and the Catholic World from 1887 to 1897. He was managing editor of the Catholic Encyclopedia from 1904 to 1920. He wrote essays, poetry, and novels.

Early life and education
Pallen was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1858. His father, Montrose A. Pallen, was a physician who was a native of Mississippi. His mother, Anne Benoist Pallen, was a member of an old French family in St. Louis.

He graduated from Georgetown University in 1880 and received a master's degree from Georgetown in 1883 and a Ph.D. from Saint Louis University in 1885. In 1896, Georgetown awarded him an honorary degree, the LL.D.

Death
Pallen died in New York City on May 26, 1929, after suffering from arteriosclerosis. His remains were buried in a family plot at a cemetery in St. Louis.

Works
The Philosophy of Literature (1897)
Epochs of Literature (1898)
What is Liberalism? (1889)
New Rubáiyat (1889), poems
The Feast of Thalarchus: A Dramatic Poem (1901)
The Death of Sir Lancelot, and Other Poems (1902)
The Meaning of the Idylls of the King (1904)
The Education of Boys (1916)
Crucible Island (1919)

Selected articles
 "Scepticism and its Relations to Modern Thought," The Catholic World (1883)
 "A Meaning of Idyls of the King," The Catholic World (1885)
 "A Chat by the Way," The Catholic World (1885)
 "Practical People," The Catholic World (1886)

References

External links

 Works by Condé Benoist Pallen, at Internet Archive

1858 births
1929 deaths
American male journalists
American lexicographers
19th-century American poets
American male poets
Georgetown University alumni
Writers from St. Louis
Saint Louis University alumni
American Roman Catholic poets
20th-century American poets
19th-century American male writers
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
Philodemic Society members
Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia

Condé Benoist Pallen


A Geiger counter (sometimes called Geiger-Müller counter) is an instrument that measures ionizing radiation such as alpha particles, beta particles, or gamma rays. It is best known as a hand held radiation survey instrument, but it can also be used as a bench instrument or permanently installed.

The original operating principle was discovered in 1908 and since the subsequent development of the Geiger-Müller tube in 1928 the counter has been a very popular instrument due to its robust sensing detector and element and relatively low cost.

Principle of operation
The radiation sensor is a Geiger-Müller tube which gives out an electronic signal when radiation is present.
The readout is counts or radiation dose. The counts display is commonly "counts per second". Radiation dose rate is displayed in a unit such as the sievert.

The readout can be analogue or digital, and modern instruments have communications with a computer or network.

There is usually an option to produce audible  representing the radiation intensity. This allows the user to concentrate on manipulation of the instrument without looking at the display.

Types and applications

For alpha particles and low energy beta particles the "end window" type of GM tube is used as these particles have a limited range even in free air and are easily stopped by a solid material.

Geiger counters can be used to detect gamma radiation, and for this the windowless tube is used. A special type of the Geiger tube is used to measure neutrons.

Physical design
For hand-held units there are two fundamental physical configurations: the "integral" unit, with both detector and electronics in the same unit, and the "two-piece" design which has a separate detector probe and an electronics module connected by a short cable.
There is a particular type of gamma instrument known as a "hot spot" detector which has the detector tube on the end of a long pole or flexible conduit. These are used to measure  high radiation gamma locations whilst protecting the operator by means of distance shielding.

History
In 1908 Hans Geiger, developed a technique for detecting alpha particles that would later be used in the Geiger-Müller tube. This counter was only capable of detecting alpha particles but in 1928 Geiger and Walther Müller developed the sealed Geiger-Müller tube which could detect more types of ionizing radiation and it became a practical radiation sensor. Once this was available, Geiger counter instruments could be produced relatively cheaply.

Related pages
 Dosimeter - Device used by personnel to measure radiation dose they have received
 Radioactive decay - Description of where much radiation originates from

References

Other websites

 How a Geiger counter works.

Measuring tools

Geiger counter


A video game composer is a person who writes music for a video games. For example Kōji Kondō, who created several songs for games made by Nintendo, and Austin Wintory, who made music for Journey, are video game composers. The job of a video game composer is to create music that suits the game well. Because there are more mobile games and indie games in recent years, there have been more jobs for people who make music for video games.

Video game composers are important because they affect the way the game feels to the player. The music in a game can bring a feeling to the environment within the game.

Entertainment occupations

Video game composer


Fenwick Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Delaware, United States, on the Delaware/Maryland state line. The structure dates back to 1858 making it the oldest lighthouse in the state of Delaware.

History
In 1856, the United States Congress appropriated $25,000 for the Fenwick Island Lighthouse and on January 11, 1858 a ten-acre tract for the station was obtained from Mary C. Hall for only $50. The Fenwick Island Lighthouse was completed on December 29, 1858, but would not be lit until August 1, 1859. Construction was supervised by U.S. Army Captain William F. Raynolds. The lighthouse was built on an isolated peninsula in the southernmost portion of Delaware at the Maryland state line.  It is 87 feet tall, brick, with a central cast iron spiral staircase, and equipped with a third-order Fresnel lens. It was automated in 1940.

The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1978 and remained dark for several years.  A public movement to save the lighthouse resulted in ownership of the lighthouse being transferred to the State of Delaware, and the lighthouse was relit in 1982.  In 1997, after extensive fundraising efforts made it possible, the rapidly aging lighthouse underwent a full restoration. It was rededicated in July 1998.

The lighthouse is owned by the state of Delaware and maintained by the private, non-profit New Friends of the Fenwick Island Lighthouse.  The "isolated" lighthouse now stands surrounded by a neighborhood of houses and businesses.  Visitors can enter the base to view a small museum and gift shop. The lighthouse, however, is not open for climbing.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

References

External links

  Official Fenwick Island Lighthouse Website - includes 2009 season visiting information
Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Fenwick Island Light

Fenwick Island (Delaware–Maryland)
Lighthouses completed in 1858
Lighthouses in Sussex County, Delaware
Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware
Museums in Sussex County, Delaware
Lighthouse museums in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Sussex County, Delaware
1858 establishments in Delaware

Fenwick Island Light


Kenneth J. Gergen (born 1935) is an American social psychologist and emeritus professor at Swarthmore College. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University (1957) and his PhD from Duke University (1962).

Biography

The son of John Jay Gergen, the chair of the Mathematics Department at Duke University, and Aubigne Munger (née Lermond), Gergen grew up in Durham, North Carolina. He had three brothers, one of whom is David Gergen, the prominent political analyst. After completing public schooling, he attended Yale University. Graduating in 1957, he subsequently became an officer in the U.S. Navy. He then returned to graduate school at Duke University, where he received his PhD in psychology in 1963. His dissertation advisor was Edward E. Jones. Gergen went on to become an assistant professor in the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University, where he also became the chairman of the board of tutors and advisors for the department and representative to the university's Council on Educational Policy.

In 1967, Gergen took a position as chair of the Department of Psychology at Swarthmore College, a position he held for ten years. Subsequently, he became the Gil and Frank Mustin Professor in Psychology. After his retirement (emeritus) in 2006, he took the position of Senior Research Professor. At various intervals, he served as visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Marburg, the Sorbonne, the University of Rome, Kyoto University, and Adolfo Ibanez University. At Swarthmore, he spearheaded the development of the academic concentration in interpretation theory. In an attempt to link his academic work to societal practices, he collaborated with colleagues to create the Taos Institute in 1993. He now serves as the president of the institute.

Gergen is married to Mary Gergen, professor emeritus at Penn State University, and a major contributor to feminist psychology and performance inquiry. She is the author of over 50 articles and is the co-author (with Ken Gergen) of books on social construction, and performative social science. They publish the Positive Aging Newsletter with a readership of around 20,000

Contributions

Gergen's earliest studies challenged the presumption of a unified or coherent self. He then raised questions about the value of altruism, by exploring the ways in which helping others leads to the recipient's resentment and alienation.

A major point in Gergen's career was his 1973 article "Social Psychology as History". In the article, he argues that while empirical research attempts to establish general laws or principles, the empirical support is always derived from historically situated observations. Yet, because patterns of human action undergo continuous change, support for any principle may wax or wane over time. Further, the scientific knowledge the laws and principles of social interaction are variable over time, and that the scientific knowledge generated by social psychologists actually influences the phenomena it is meant to passively describe. For example, studying obedience to authority may reduce the likelihood of obedience. He argued therefore that social psychology was not fundamentally a cumulative science, but was effectively engaged in the recording and transformation of cultural life. The article proved widely controversial, and was ultimately listed as a "citation classic" in the  Social Science Citation Index. Also contributing to what was called "the crisis in social psychology"[3] was Gergen's subsequent publication on generative theory. Here he proposed that, because theoretical suppositions were not so much recordings of social life as creators, theories should not be judged so much by their integration of "what is" as their potential to open new spaces of action.

Combining these ideas with developments in literary and critical theory, along with the history of science, Gergen went on to develop a radical view of socially constructed knowledge. This view was proposed as a successor project to what Gergen considered an inherently flawed positivist conception of knowledge.  From Gergen's perspective, all human intelligibility (including claims to knowledge) is generated within relationships. It is from relationships that humans derive their conceptions of what is real, rational, and good. From this perspective, scientific theories, like all other reality posits, should not be assessed in terms of truth, but in terms of pragmatic outcomes. Such assessments are inevitably wedded to values, and thus all science is morally and politically weighted in implication. As he saw it, this same form of assessment also applies to social constructionist theory. The question is not its accuracy, but its potentials for humankind.

This latter conclusion informed most of Gergen's subsequent work, in areas including therapy and counseling, education, organizational change, technology, conflict reduction, civil society, and qualitative inquiry. In one form or another, this work is concerned with transforming social life. For the most part, his preferred direction of change is toward more collaborative and participatory relationships. Additionally, he has been concerned with fostering a "relational" view of the self, where the "traditional emphasis on the individual mind is replaced by a concern with the relational processes from which rationality and morality emerge." He is also known for his comment "I am linked therefore I am" as an answer to Descartes' proposition "I think, therefore I am". Most of these developments are summarized in Relational Being, Beyond the Individual and Community, which attempts to demonstrate that what are considered mental processes are not so much "in the head" as in relationships. It also attempts to answer charges of moral relativism with a non-foundational morality of collaborative practice, and to outline a way to bring science together with concerns for the sacred.

The development of social constructionist, relational theory, and their professional applications is associated with relations between, ethics in a pluralistic world, qualitative inquiry in the social sciences, explanations of human action, and reconstructing the conception of ageing. He also served as a co-founder of the journals, Theory and Psychology, and Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology.

Notable concepts
Concepts that Gergen has written about include:
Enlightenment effects. The moral and political effects on cultural behavior of disseminating scientific knowledge. ("Social psychology as history")
Generative theory: Theory that unsettles common assumptions, and opens up possibilities or new forms of action. ("Toward generative theory")
Deficit discourse: By constructing the world, and particularly individuals, in terms of problems, there is an objectification of deficit and a suppression of positive possibilities. (Realities and Relationships)
Cycle of progressive infirmity: With the dissemination of information about categories of mental illness, people come to see themselves in these terms. As a result, they seek help from the mental health professions, which are in turn, expanded in numbers. With the expansion of the mental health industry, new diagnostic categories are developed and disseminated. The society becomes progressively infirmed. (Realities and Relationships)
Multiphrenia: The condition, largely attributed to technologies that increase social contact, of being simultaneously drawn in multiple and conflicting directions. (The Saturated Self)
Pregression. To unsettle the modernist value placed on progress, the proposal that for every change that is effected in societal life, the repercussions will unsettle multiple conditions that people define as positive. (The Saturated Self)
Positive aging: As an alternative to the pervasive view of aging as decline (deficit discourse), it is possible to discover and construct myriad ways of creating later life as a period of unparalleled growth and enrichment.
First and second order morality: All collaborative relationships will be about some understanding of the good. With multiple groups proclaiming their own good, the stage is set for interminable conflict. Second order morality is achieved through practices that bring otherwise embattled groups into a condition of positive collaboration. (Relational Being)
Transformative dialogue: Forms of dialogic practice that dissolve the barriers of meaning separating otherwise conflicted parties. (Relational Being)
Co-action. One's actions have no meaning in themselves, but come into meaning through another's collaborative action. At the same time, another's potentially collaborative actions only become so as they are supplemented. All human intelligibility emerges not from individual actors but through co-action. (Relational Being)
Multi-being. What is commonly viewed as the individual subject is the common intersection of multiple relationships. (Relational Being)
Future forming research. In a world of increasingly rapid change, research focused on what is currently the case rapidly loses relevance. As a result, research should shift its emphasis to creating the future. Action research is illustrative.

Awards
Gergen has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Barra Foundation. His work has merited awards from the American Psychological Association, the National Communication Association, the University of Buenos Aires, Adolfo Ibanez University in Santiago, Nanjing Normal University, and Absalon University College in Denmark. Gergen received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Graduate School of Duke University in 2017, and in 2018 was listed as amount the 50 most influential living psychologists in the world (The Best Schools). He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He also holds honorary degrees from Tilburg University, Saybrook Graduate School, and the University of Athens.

Bibliography

Books (selected)
 Toward Transformation in Social Knowledge.  New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982. Second Edition, London: Sage, 1994.
 Historical Social Psychology.  Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum 1984, (edited with M. Gergen).
 The Social Construction of the Person.  New York: Springer-Verlag, 1985 (edited with K. E. Davis).
 The Saturated Self, Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. New York: Basic Books. 1991; 2nd. Ed. 2001.
 Therapy as Social Construction. London: Sage (1991). (edited with S. McNamee).
 Realities and Relationships, Soundings in Social Construction. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. 1994
 Relational Responsibility. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage. 1999 With S. McNamee
 An Invitation to Social Construction. London: Sage, 1999. 3d ed 2015
 Social Construction in Context. London: Sage, 2001.
 Therapeutic Realities, Collaboration, Oppression and Relational Flow. Chagrin Falls, OH: Taos Institute Publications. 2006
 Relational Being. New York: Oxford University Press. 2009
  (Adobe eReader Format). Essay originally published 1996. See article listing below.
Playing with Purpose: Adventures in Performative Social Science. Lanham, Md: Alta Mira Press. (2012) With M. Gergen

Articles (selected)

 (Scroll down to page 3 for article).

 See also chapter in book, listed above.

Gergen, K.J. (2015) "From Mirroring to World-Making: Research as Future Forming." Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 45: 287–310.(Winner of the 2014 essay competition, Independent Social Research Foundation, London, UK)
Gergen, K.J. (2018) The Limits of Language as the Limits of Psychological Explanation. Theory and Psychology. (1–15) DOI: 10.1177/09593543 1881 1641

Notes

References
 Gergen, K. (1993). Refiguring Self and Psychology: Kenneth J. Gergen, Hampshire: Dartmouth Publishing.
 Stroebe, W. and Kruglanski, A.W. (1989). Social psychology at epistemological cross-roads: On Gergen's choice. European Journal of Social Psychology, 19, 485–489.
 Wallach, L. and Wallach, M.A. (1994). Gergen versus the mainstream: Are hypotheses in social psychology subject to empirical test? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 233–242.

External links

1935 births
Living people
21st-century American psychologists
American social psychologists
Yale University alumni
Duke University alumni
People from Durham, North Carolina
Constructivism (psychological school)
Social constructionism
20th-century American psychologists

Kenneth J. Gergen


Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest is the sixth episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted and the season one finale. It was the first episode to be scripted and submitted by the writers.

Synopsis
Sister Monica has visited the Parochial House. As she sits calmly, Dougal's only idea for conversation is "So, you're a nun?" At that point, Ted enters, saying they plan to visit the Holy Stone of Clonrichert, and Sister Monica says she will go to freshen up. Dougal says she's wanting to "impress the lads" and is confused when Ted comments on nuns providing "a woman's touch". When Sister Monica returns, Dougal confuses her by saying "Ted says you were touching him."

Meanwhile, in Jack's room, Jack is sitting motionless in his chair, with many bottles of alcohol and floor polish around him. He appears dead, but Dougal passes him off as merely "very drunk", saying "I haven't seen him this bad since he disappeared with Sister Imelda" ("the Blue Nun"). Dougal holds up an empty bottle of floor polish, called 'Purge: Floor Polish'. Ted lectures Jack on what "the Windolene did to you", and Sister Monica enters. She checks his pulse, and after also noticing rigor mortis and decomposition, concludes that he has died.

Sister Monica tells Dougal to perform the last rites. He demonstrates his incompetence through a long speech, saying "I don't know if I should be looking up down here or up there, and you're up there with our Lord and Stalin and Bob Marley and my parents". When prompted by Monica to say the Latin, Dougal reads "last rites" consisting of the names of Italian footballers Alessandro Costacurta and Roberto Baggio (this stems from Graham Linehan and Ardal O'Hanlon being fans of Football Italia).

At Jack's funeral, Mrs Doyle goes around pestering priests to have a sandwich. Meanwhile, Father Fay and another priest (who is in hysterics) shakes his fist at the ceiling, saying "You bastard!" and then falls to his knees, exclaiming "Imagine, Ted! A Polish Pope! It should've been Jack!" and Father Fay goes crazy, throwing books off the bookshelf.

Dougal, later, then fools around, sitting in Jack's old chair and acting like him by uttering his numerous catchphrases, until Ted catches him. Mrs Doyle announces that a woman has come to see the remaining Craggy Island priests; she is Laura Sweeney, the executor of Jack's will, and tells them that Jack was actually very rich and has left £500,000 between Ted and Dougal. However, this bequest is on condition that they spend one night with Jack's body, because of his great fear of being buried alive and of enclosed spaces, a fear which caused him not to take confessions ("also, he just didn't want to do it"). When they tell Miss Sweeney that they'll need to discuss the inheritance with the solicitor, they are greatly amused when she tells them that she is the solicitor, with Dougal telling her "if you're a solicitor, I'm Boy George".

The next scene commences with Dougal sitting by Jack's coffin singing "Karma Chameleon", and Ted nursing wounds after Miss Sweeney flew into a rage and punched him and swore at him after they did not believe her claims that she was the solicitor. Ted and Dougal then muse about how Jack managed to save up so much money during his life, by never giving to charity and not wearing trousers during summer, among other things. They also comment on him being the first priest to "denounce the Beatles" ("he could see what they were up to"). Ted remarks that a friend of his, Father Jimmy Ranable, studied under Jack in his youth and praised his teaching methods. When Dougal asks where Jimmy is now, Ted replies "Remember the Drumshanbo massacre? That was him." Flashbacks are shown of Jack as an especially vicious teacher at a Catholic school, beating male students with a hurley stick, and telling them they would all burn for eternity in Hell. He is also shown punching Ted over a game of chess.

Ted and Dougal, bored, then play charades, at which Dougal fails miserably, before they settle down on the floor in their sleeping bags. Dougal enquires whether Ted believes in an afterlife, prompting Ted to ask Dougal if he became a priest through sending in "twelve packets of crisps". Dougal also asks how Ted plans to spend his money, with Ted lying to him by telling him he'll give it to charity, while envisioning partying and gambling.

While Dougal sleeps, Ted gets up and looks out on the snow falling, quoting from The Dead as he does so. Father Jack, standing behind him, shouts "Shut the feck up!", causing Ted to pass out from the shock of seeing him, waking Dougal, who then does the same.

Back at the parochial house, with Jack back in his chair, Ted explains that the floor polish had brought about all the symptoms of death, but that it just wore off. The pair, clearly very disappointed at losing out on the inheritance, then head to the shops to buy some more floor polish, suggesting that they might start leaving it round the house, or even in Jack's room, "in case we run out".

The episode ends with Jack turning to camera and telling the audience to "Feck off!"

Production
Although this episode was aired as a series finale, it was the first episode written. It was based on an earlier script Linehan and Mathews had written for Irish Lives, their planned mockumentary series. Each episode would have focused on a different character living in Ireland. In the Father Ted Crilly episode, Ted visited all the priests with whom he had been in the seminary. Father Jack was a priest who died shortly before Ted arrived, and whom Ted failed to realise was dead.

In the finished episode, the scene where Ted finds Jack seemingly dead is largely intact from the mockumentary draft. While reworking the premise as a sitcom for Channel 4, the writers were not confident that they could write a full episode. They submitted only the scene where Ted finds Jack dead and several of the philosophical conversations the characters had in the crypt, which they thought were a "handy way of exploring the characters and also telling the people at Channel 4 what the style of the comedy would be, that's it's these two priests who don't seem to know a lot about religion". Linehan noted that one of the great things about writing a "silly sitcom" is that the writers can invent rules: Jack can die and come back to life "because his body works differently from other people". The executives were bemused by an incomplete story where one of the main characters was dead, but commissioned the series soon after receiving the full script.

In retrospect, Linehan and Mathews noticed that the plot was very similar to that of the Fawlty Towers episode "The Kipper and the Corpse". Despite being fans of the show, they only noticed the parallels afterwards, and would probably have abandoned the episode if they had seen them earlier.

Kevin Sharkey, who plays the black Donegal priest, was a friend of the writers, and was brought in specifically for a one-line joke.

The flashbacks with Father Jack abusing students were inspired by the Christian Brothers. Mathews said that he had the impression that Jack was a member of the order.

The writers had the idea for the elderly 'monkey' priest in a TV studio, when they were going to see Ben Elton's sketch show, which Mathews called "one of the worst comedy nights of my life". They created the character because they were "desperate for something to laugh at".

The writers expressed some regret over the charades scene, regarding it as a lazy way to fill screentime.

Ted's speech about death was quoted from the ending of The Dead, John Huston's film adaptation of James Joyce's short story.

References

External links

Father Ted episodes
1995 British television episodes
Television episodes about death

Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest


Alexander Shafto "Sandy" Douglas CBE (21 May 1921 – 29 April 2010) was a British professor of computer science, credited with creating the first graphical computer game, OXO, a version of noughts and crosses, in 1952 on the EDSAC computer at University of Cambridge.

Biography

Early life

Douglas was born on 21 May 1921 in London. At age eight, his family moved to Cromwell Road, near what would become the London Air Terminal.

A 74 bus ride for one old penny took me to Exhibition Road, from which I could go towards South Kensington station to my father's office (which is still there) and workshop (now demolished) down by what became the Lycée Français. Alternatively, I could turn north to the Science Museum – a trip I took often.

In the winter of 1938–39, Douglas and his future wife Andrey Parker made a snowman in the grounds of the Natural History Museum.  Douglas and his wife would go on to have two children and at least two grandsons.

During the Blitz, in 1940–41, Douglas's Home Guard Unit, 'C' Company of the Chelsea and Kensington Battalion of the KRRC, had its headquarters in the basement of the Royal School of Mines, just the other side of Exhibition Road from the museums.  He appeared to commission into the Corps of Royal Engineers on 7 March 1943 as a second lieutenant, but this was later corrected to show that he actually commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals.

Cambridge
Douglas attended the University of Cambridge in 1950. In 1952, while working towards earning his PhD, he wrote a thesis which focused on human-computer interactions and he needed an example to prove his theories. At that time, Cambridge was home to the second stored-program computer, the EDSAC or Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (the first being Manchester University's "Baby", which ran its first program on 21 June 1948). This gave Douglas the opportunity to prove his findings by programming the code for a simple game where a player can compete against the computer, OXO.

Jobs

Trinity College

1953–1957

1953: Elected as a Prize Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Douglas spends a year at the University of Illinois Computation laboratory as assistant Professor.

1955: Became Junior Bursar of Trinity College. The Junior Bursar is responsible for the administration of the College buildings: allocation of accommodation, building works, security, staff, and general maintenance

Leeds

1957: The Leeds Pegasus computer was installed in autumn 1957 in the Eldon Chapel on Woodhouse Lane. Douglas set up the Computer Laboratory of the University of Leeds, and it was there that he first became interested in the application of computers to business problems

The Pegasus holds an especial place in my affection, it being the machine I installed as the central University machine in a disused chapel in Leeds in 1957 – it was known as Lucifer, for Leeds University Computing Installation (FERranti). Our au pair girl from Spain made a beautiful little devilish doll which decorated the machine – it has probably disappeared by now.

In June 1960 the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals set up a Working Party to explore the creation of a national system for handling university admissions. Douglas was appointed a member of the Working Party to provide advice on the use of computers in this system. He had previously worked at Leeds with Ronald Kay, who was to become UCCA's general secretary, on "an early and primitive but successful attempt to introduce computer methods into student registration procedures".

CEIR
1960: Entered the commercial field as Technical Director of the UK subsidiary of C-E-I-R (now Scientific Control Systems).

Leasco
1968: Left CEIR to initiate the European software interests of Leasco Systems and Research Ltd. as chairman.

Douglas died in sleep on 29 April 2010 from pneumonia.

Writings
Over 60 papers have been published by Professor Douglas covering topics in Atomic Physics, Crystallography, Solution of Differential Equations, Computer Design, Programming and Operational Research in the Shipbuilding, Oil Chemical Mining, Engineering and Transportation Industries, and in the Printing Industry.

 Computers and Society: an Inaugural Lecture [Delivered on 27 April 1972, by Alexander Shafto Douglas; Publisher: London School of Economics and P; Date Published: 1973.  .
 Science Journal, October 1970 "Computers in the Seventies", Alexander "Sandy" Douglas.
 Computer Networks, Volume 5, 1981, pp. 9–14. "Computers and Communications in the 1980s: Benefits and Problems", Alexander S. Douglas
 Sandy Douglas, "Some Memories of EDSAC I: 1950–1952", IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 98–99, 208, October 1979.

References

External links
 EWD1285, Edsger Dijkstra
 Letter from Leeds:
 Note for researchers: Do not confuse with another researcher from same time and area: http://pb.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/17/4/252.pdf
 Video (Go to 4:40): Video
 Obituary by Frank Land and T. William Olle in Resurrection, the Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society, issue 51, Summer 2010
A simulator of EDSAC Computer on the website of University of Warwick, England.

1921 births
2010 deaths
Academics from London
Royal Corps of Signals officers
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Members of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory
Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge
University of Illinois faculty
Academics of the University of Leeds
English computer scientists
Fellows of the British Computer Society
Presidents of the British Computer Society
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
People from Kensington
British Army personnel of World War II
British Home Guard soldiers
UCAS

Sandy Douglas


Electric pouer is the rate at which electric energy is transferred bi an electric circuit. The SI unit o pouer is the watt, ane joule per seicont.

Electric pouer is uisually produced bi electric generators, but can an aa be supplied bi chemical soorces such as electric batteries. Electric pouer is generally supplied tae businesses an homes bi the electric pouer industry. Electric pouer is uisually sauld bi the kilowatt oor (3.6 MJ) which is the product o pouer in kilowatts multiplied bi runnin time in oors.  Electric utilities measur pouer uisin an electricity meter, which keeps a runnin tot o the electric energy delivered tae a customer.

Electromagnetism

Electric pouer


Lorenzo de' Medici (1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492) was an Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. He was called Lorenzo the Magnificent (Lorenzo il Magnifico) by Florentines. He was a diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists, and poets. He is probably best known for what he gave to the world of art. He gave large amounts of money to artists so that they could make very good artwork. When he died, the Golden Age of Florence ended. The peace he helped keep between the many Italian states collapsed when he died. Lorenzo de' Medici is buried in the Medici Chapel in Florence.

Renaissance

Lorenzo was an artist. He wrote poetry in Tuscan.

Lorenzo's agents took a lot of classical works from the east. Lorenzo had a large workshop to copy his books and spread their content across Europe. He supported the development of humanism through his friends who studied Greek philosophers, and tried to merge the ideas of Plato with Christianity. In this group were the philosophers Marsilio Ficino, Poliziano and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

Related pages
 Medici

More reading

 Miles J. Unger, Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de Medici (Simon and Schuster 2008), biography of Lorenzo.
 Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall (Morrow-Quill, 1980); general history of the family.
 F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de- Medici and the Art of Magnificence (The Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comparative History (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004); summarises Lorenzo's relationship with the arts.
 Peter Barenboim, Michelangelo Drawings - Key to the Medici Chapel Interpretation ( Moscow, Letny Sad, 2006) .

References

Other websites

 Works of Lorenzo de' Medici

1449 births
1492 deaths
Lorenzo I
Renaissance
People from Florence
Italian artists
15th century in Italy

Lorenzo de' Medici


Jean Gabin (; 17 May 190415 November 1976) was a French actor.  He also sometimes was a singer. Gabin is considered one of the great stars of French cinema.  He was made a member of the Légion d'honneur. A museum in Mériel contains his story and features, his war and film memorabilia.

At the age of 19, Gabin received a small role in a Folies Bergère production. He continued acting until he joined the military.  After his military service he began acting again.  He became part of a troupe that toured South America.  After returning to France they worked at the Moulin Rouge.

Gabin gained notice and received roles in films.  He became popular after being in films directed by Julien Duvivier.  He had many offers to work in Hollywood. When Germany occupied France in World War II, he went to the United States.  While there he had a romance with actress Marlene Dietrich.  He was difficult to work with and did not have success with his career in Hollywood.

Jean Gabin joined General Charles de Gaulle's Free French Forces.  He earned the Médaille militaire and a Croix de guerre for his wartime service in North Africa.

After the war Gabin returned to acting. For several years his films did not make much money. Then the 1954 film Touchez pas au grisbi (Don't Touch the Loot) was a very profitable international success. Over the next twenty years, Gabin made close to 50 more films.

Other websites

1904 births
1976 deaths
French actors

Jean Gabin


Miso (味噌 or みそ) is a thick or solid paste. It is a traditional Japanese seasoning.

Miso is similar to the Korean doenjang. It is made by fermenting soy beans with sea salt or salt and kōji. Kōji is the product of fermenting rice, barley, or soybeans with a mold culture, Kōji-kin (Aspergillus oryzae). Often, grains such as barley or rice, and sometimes other ingredients, are added. Miso is high in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals. Miso tastes salty and, depending on the grains used and fermentation time, may also be sweet. Miso is used to make miso soup.

Miso is a very important part of Japanese food. There are different kinds of miso. Kome miso  (米味噌) is made from rice and beans. Mame miso (豆味噌) is made from beans. Mugi miso (麦味噌) is made from barley  and beans. Awase miso (合せ味噌) is a mix of these misos.

History
Miso first came to Japan from China or the Korean peninsula. Ancient Chinese jan (醤) is the origin of miso. Jan is an ancient fermented seasoning. According to classical scholars, jan was called hishio or kuki in the Edo era. In China, jan was written about in the Shurai.

Miso existed in the Jomon era in Japan. Jan is the Japanese original seasoning. In the Nara era, jan was found in Nishi city, Heiankyo. Miso was used for seasoning porridge made of rice and vegetables. In the Sengoku period, Miso was important to preserved food.

Many Japanese used to make miso in their own homes. This was called Temae-miso. In the Muromachi era, it was used as a food preservative and as a seasoning. Miso was an important source of nutrients for soldiers. In the Edo era, industrial mass production method of miso began. Temae-miso became less common. "Temae-miso" nowadays also used when a person is proud of something.

There are many different flavors of miso. It depends on regions. Shiromiso (白味噌) is popular in the western Kansai region, especially in Kyoto. Akamiso is popular in the eastern Kantō region or northern region. Shinshumiso (信州味噌) is generally popular after the second world war, because it is mass-produced in factories and sold in supermarkets in over Japan.

Gallery

References
http://miso.or.jp/misoonline/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/miso-english-leaflet.pdf
Japan Federation of Miso Manufacturers Cooperatives - official site

Japanese food

Miso


The trophic state index (TSI) is a measure of how much nutrient, such as nitrogen and phosphorus are in a lake, or other body of water. Nutrients increase plant growth, and raise the trophic levels. The TSI can be used to make an estimate of the biological condition of a lake.

Carlson's Trophic State Index
Carlson's Index is a Trophic State Index. It is used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The trophic state is the total weight of biomass in a given water body at the time of measurement. The Carlson index uses the algal biomass to classify a lake's trophic status.

Index variables
Three variables are used to work out the Carlson Index: chlorophyll pigments, total phosphorus and Secchi depth. Chlorophyll is the most accurate measure, as it is the best predictor of biomass. Phosphorus may be better in summer. Secchi depth is the least accurate measure, but it is the cheapest and easiest to use. It measures how clear the water is. This shows how much dissolved and particulate material is in the water. This can be used to work out the biomass.

Trophic classifications
A lake can be put into one of three possible classes: oligotrophic, mesotrophic or eutrophic. Lakes with extreme trophic indices can also be called hyperoligotrophic or hypereutrophic. Each trophic class has different types of fish and other organisms which live in them. If there is too much algal biomass in a lake or pond, then many fish can die as the decomposing biomass takes the oxygen from the water.

Oligotrophic

Oligotrophic lakes have very little or no aquatic vegetation and the water is clear. They have low levels of nutrients. The water is suitable as drinking water. The bottom waters of such lakes typically have lots of oxygen; thus, such lakes often support many fish species. Lake trout, for example, need cold, oxygen rich water. The oxygen content is likely to be higher in deep lakes, because of their larger amount of dense cold water.

Oligotrophic lakes are most common in cold areas. They are often on top of a layer of igneous rocks (especially granitic bedrock).

Mesotrophic
Mesotrophic lakes are lakes with a medium level of productivity. They usually have clear water with beds of submerged aquatic plants and medium levels of nutrients.

The term mesotrophic is also applied to terrestrial habitats.  Mesotrophic soils have moderate nutrient levels.

Eutrophic

Eutrophic lakes have large amounts of organisms, including algal blooms. They have a lot of nutrient and can support a lot of
aquatic plants and algae. Usually the water body will be dominated either by aquatic plants or algae. When there are a lot of aquatic plants the water tends to be clear. When there is a lot of algae the water tends to be darker. The process of  photosynthesis in the algae supplies oxygen to the fish and plants which live these waters. Sometimes an excessive algae bloom will occur. This can kill fish by using all the oxygen in the water. The process of eutrophication can occur naturally and by human impact on the environment.

Eutrophic comes from the Greek eutrophos meaning well-nourished, from eu meaning good and trephein meaning to nourish

Hypereutrophic
Hypereutrophic lakes are very nutrient-rich lakes with frequent large algal blooms and low transparency. Hypereutrophic lakes have a visibility depth of less than three feet. They also have high levels of chlorophyll and phosphorus. The algal blooms can also reduce oxygen levels which can cause dead zones beneath the surface.

Trophic Index drivers
Both natural and human actions can decide a lake or other water body's Trophic Index. A lake in a nutrient-rich region may be
naturally eutrophic. Nutrients carried into water bodies, such as agricultural runoff, residential fertilisers, and sewage will all increase the algal biomass, and can easily cause an oligotrophic lake to become hypereutrophic.

Management targets
Often, different people want different trophic states. For example duck hunters may want a lake to be eutrophic so that it will support large numbers of ducks. Residents, on the other hand, may want the same lake to be oligotrophic, as this is more pleasant for swimming and boating. Natural Resource agencies are generally responsible for managing the different demands and deciding what a lake's trophic index should be.

Related pages
 Biomass (ecology)
 Eutrophication
 Surface runoff

References

Water pollution
Lakes

Trophic state index