Greenstone belts are large regions of very ancient metamorphosed volcanic rocks. The name comes from the green colour of the minerals in the rocks. Chlorite, actinolite and other green amphiboles are the typical green minerals.

Greenstone belts were originally formed of igneous rocks, such as basalt. The belts formed at ancient oceanic spreading centers and in volcanic island arcs. They may be several thousand kilometres long. Later, they were metamophosed, with minor sedimentary rocks in-between the volcanic formations.

Those greenstone belts which formed in ancient oceans are now found on land in Archaean and Proterozoic cratons between granite and gneiss bodies.
The rocks are mafic, meaning they are high in magnesium and silica.

Metamorphic rocks

Greenstone belt


The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487) were a series of civil wars fought over the throne of England between supporters of the House of Lancaster, the Lancastrians, and supporters of the House of York, the Yorkists. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet royal house and were related through King Edward III.

The wars began for several reasons, and historians have debated the one that was most important. King Henry VI was seen as a poor ruler by many of his people because of his lack of interest in politics and his mental illness (his French queen, Margaret of Anjou, often made key decisions instead). Also, England's defeat in the Hundred Years' War in France, economic problems after the war and problems with the feudal system of government were other causes.

The name of the Wars of the Roses, which was first used only in the 19th century, comes from the white rose symbol for the House of York and the red rose symbol for the House of Lancaster. However, the red rose symbol was not used until after the wars had ended, and most soldiers fought under the symbol of their local nobleman. At the time, they were called the "Civil Wars". The houses were named after the cities of Lancaster and York, but neither city played a big role during the war, and both houses owned land all over England and Wales.

Background
King Edward III had many sons, as is shown in the family tree below. His oldest son, known by his nickname "The Black Prince" died first, and the throne passed to the Black Prince's son, Richard, who became King Richard II of England in 1377 although he was only ten. He grew up to be a weak and unpopular king, and one of his actions was to send his cousin Henry into exile.

Henry later returned while Richard was away in Ireland and took over the country. When Richard returned, Henry tricked him into giving himself up. Richard was put into prison, where he died, and Henry became King Henry IV of England.

Henry IV reigned until his death and was followed by his son, King Henry V (in 1413). Henry V died in 1422 and was followed by his son King Henry VI, who was only a baby. Henry VI did not run the government until 1437. He then ruled until 1461, six years after the Wars of the Roses began.

Henry VI was considered a poor ruler by some of his people for several reasons. He was shy and did not like politics and war. He was easily led by a small number of friends, such as his French queen Margaret of Anjou and his advisor Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset.

Henry VI's reign also saw England's defeat in the Hundred Year's War. England had done well in the war while he was still a child, and by 1428, the English appeared to be close to defeating their House of Valois enemies. However, they soon had problems, including Joan of Arc's rebellions in 1429-1430 and Burgundy's decision to switch sides in 1435. Because of these problems, England's control in France was already weakened when Henry VI started to run the government in 1437. Henry VI tried to end the war with a peace agreement, but his French enemies realised that they could win a complete victory. In 1453, England had lost all their lands in France apart from Calais.

Also in 1453, Henry VI was for the first time overcome with mental illness and could not run the country. A powerful nobleman called Richard, Duke of York persuaded the other nobles to make him "Lord Protector". That meant that he would run the country until the king recovered.

While York ran the country, he locked his enemy Somerset in the Tower of London. Henry recovered in 1454 and began to run the country again. He let Somerset out and gave him back his position. York and his supporters then became afraid that the king and Somerset would have them executed.

War

Early fighting (1455)
York decided that he could protect himself only by defeating the king in battle. He raised an army of many people who were unhappy with Henry and Margaret, which led to the First Battle of St Albans in 1455. That was the first to be fought between the Yorkists, who supported York, and the Lancastrians (who supported Henry). York won with the help of the Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. Henry was found hiding in a leather shop, taken prisoner and was again overcome with mental illness. Somerset and some of the king's other key supporters were killed in the battle. York was again made Lord Protector.

The next year, Henry recovered. York let him go back to running the country and was put in charge of running Ireland. Henry and Margaret knew that they could not get rid of York easily. For the next few years, both sides wanted to stop a war from breaking out but could not agree on several things. York wanted to be the next king after Henry died, rather than Henry and Margaret's newborn son, Edward. Margaret would not allow that and so Henry moved to Coventry, where he had more support.

Main fighting (1459-61)

A more serious war broke out in 1459 and started because Warwick had attacked other country's ships during his time in charge of Calais. Henry asked Warwick to meet to explain what he doing, but Warwick refused. Soon enough, York and Warwick started putting together an army. They were stopped at the Battle of Ludford Bridge and fled England. Henry and the Lancastrians now had control. They ordered that York and Warwick were to be executed if they were found.

The peace did not last long. York and Warwick returned and raised an army and won the Battle of Northampton. For the second time, Henry was captured after he was overcome with mental illness. York was made Lord Protector for the third time.

York then announced that he wanted to take the throne for himself. Many of his supporters thought that was a step too far and so they agreed that Henry would still be king, but York, not Henry's son, would be the next king.

York then travelled to the north of England to attack the remaining Lancastrians. That led to a disaster, and York lost the Battle of Wakefield at the end of 1460 and was killed. His son Edward the became leader of the Yorkists. The next year saw mixed results for both sides. Edward defeated a Lancastrian army at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, but the Lancastrians won the Second Battle of St Albans where Henry escaped. In London, Edward was met with a lot of support, announced that he wanted to take the throne and defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton. That was the bloodiest battle that was ever fought on British soil.

After Towton, Edward was in control of England and was crowned as Edward IV in June 1461. Over the next few years, he and his allies put down small Lancastrian rebellions. Henry was again captured in 1465.

Warwick changes sides (1469-71)

Fighting broke out again in 1469 when Edward's most powerful supporter, the Earl of Warwick, switched sides. Warwick was furious that Edward had married Elizabeth Woodville, a common woman. Many people also thought that was wrong since kings were then expected to marry the daughters of noblemen or other kings. Warwick led a rebellion against the king. The country was left in confusion. At one point Warwick captured Edward and so he had captured two kings.

Warwick soon let Edward go and then supported making Henry king again. Warwick believed that he could run the country while Henry was on the throne. He also arranged for Henry's son to marry Warwick's daughter Anne Neville. Edward could not raise an army to fight and so he fled the country in 1470. Henry VI then became the ruler again. Warwick's role in bringing Edward and then Henry to power led to him being nicknamed "Kingmaker".

Henry's return did not last long. Warwick planned to help France invade Burgundy, which helped Edward find soldiers. Edward returned in 1471 and won two great victories over the Lancastrians. The first was the Battle of Barnet in which Warwick was killed. The second was the Battle of Tewksbury in which Margaret was taken prisoner and her son was killed.

Edward IV took the throne again and Henry VI was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died one month later, and historians think Edward had him murdered since that left the Lancastrians without a leader.

There was little fighting for the next 12 years. Margaret was released in 1475, went back to France and died in 1482.

Richard III (1483-85)

Edward IV ruled until his sudden death in 1483. Just before dying, Edward had said that his 12-year-old son should become king as Edward V, and Edward's brother Richard would be "Lord Protector". Richard would run the country until Edward V became an adult.

Edward V was the king for 78 days before Richard took the throne for himself. He was crowned as Richard III. The young Edward and his brother disappeared a few months later while they were living in the Tower of London. Many people thought Richard had ordered the boys to be killed, and some historians agree. That caused many Yorkists to turn against Richard III.

Richard managed to win against a rebellion by his old friend, the Duke of Buckingham. Henry Tudor, a distant relative of Henry VI who returned to England, became the leader of the rebellions and created a new Lancastrian army. Elizabeth, Edward IV's widow, supported Henry after he promised to marry her daughter Elizabeth of York. In the Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard III was killed, and his army was defeated. Henry took the throne as King Henry VII, the first king of the House of Tudor.

Afterwards
The Battle of Bosworth Field is often seen as the end of the war. However, there was another great battle two years later, but Henry VII stopped a rebellion and brought peace to the country.

Henry married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York and told people that he was bringing the two houses together. He also started the Tudor rose symbol, with a red rose and white rose joined.

References

Other websites

 The Wars of the Roses Chronology World History Database
 The Wars of the Roses  Has a large article on 'Soldiers and Warfare during the Wars of the Roses' with interesting information on the fighting and tactics of the day, plus battles and people
 warsoftheroses.com includes a map, timeline, info on major players and summaries of each battle
 A complicated but comprehensive diagram of the Wars of the Roses  is at threetwoone.org
 An extensive chronological account is at Wars Of The Roses . The historical interpretation which accompanies it is the personal view of the author

Civil wars involving Europe
Wars involving England
15th century in England
15th-century conflicts

Wars of the Roses


Martin Leach (born 11 January 1959 in New Zealand), is a convicted rapist and double murderer in Australia, and has been described as one of, if not the Northern Territory's worst, killer.

Leach is the longest serving prisoner in the Northern Territory, and is currently imprisoned at the Darwin Correctional Centre, serving three consecutive life sentences without parole for his crimes.

Early life
Leach met his wife when aged sixteen and they married in 1979. In 1978, Leach had been involved in a serious motor vehicle accident near Mataranka which left him seriously injured.

Rape
In 1979, Leach raped a woman at knifepoint after breaking into her house. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment.

In June 1982, Leach was released from prison and resumed his relationship with his wife and held a job for some time with a cleaning company. He was made redundant in December 1982 and, apart from employment for a period of one week in March 1983, he remained unemployed. His wife was in full-time employment.

Double murder
On 20 June 1983, an eighteen-year-old local woman, Janice Carnegie, and her fifteen-year-old cousin, Charmaine Aviet, were swimming at a popular recreational waterhole at Berry Springs. Leach watched the pair for some time, before forcing them at knifepoint to accompany him to a nearby gully.

He stabbed Janice in the stomach when she attempted to reach for Leach's knife. Following the stabbing, he then raped her. He stabbed and killed Charmaine, then stabbed Janice in the neck; a pathologist testified it probably took her 5 to 10 minutes to die. Their naked bodies were later found bound and gagged in a shallow grave.

Trials and appeals
On 10 May 1984, Leach was charged with two counts of murder and one count of rape by Northern Territory Police. Six days later he was convicted by a jury on all three counts, and Justice Muirhead sentenced him to imprisonment for life on each count, to run consecutively with each other and with a three-month sentence for assaulting a prison officer while on remand.

At the time he was sentenced for murdering the two girls, there was no power to fix a non-parole period for life sentences in the Northern Territory and the only possibility of release was executive clemency.

Legislation came into effect in 2004 providing for non-parole periods for life sentences for murder after that date; for an offender already serving life sentence(s), a section provided that the sentence be taken to include a 20-year non-parole period, or 25 years for those jailed for aggravated murder. On that basis, Leach would have been eligible for parole in 2009. The legislation also included that the Director of Public Prosecutions (Northern Territory) could apply to the Supreme Court to extend or exclude the non-parole period.

Less than a month after the law took effect, the Director of Public Prosecutions made an application to revoke Leach's non-parole period, and order that he spend the remainder of his life in jail. It was granted by Chief Justice Brian Martin, and upheld in a majority decision by the NT Court of Criminal Appeal, who ruled that his culpability was so extreme that the community's interest could only be served if he was imprisoned for the term of his natural life without the possibility of release on parole; the dissenting judge, Justice Stephen Southwood, said that he would have fixed a non-parole period of 40 years, making Leach eligible for parole in 2024 at the age of 65.

Leach appealed to the High Court, arguing that Chief Justice Martin had not shown he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Leach's culpability was so extreme as to require a life sentence without parole. The High Court found Justice Martin had applied the correct tests: Chief Justice Murray Gleeson remarked that "He considered each of the specific aspects of community interest ... and ultimately came to the conclusion that he should refuse to fix a non-parole period". Judges also described Leach's crimes as "horrific" and said he had shown no remorse.

Leach will now die in jail, having officially exhausted all avenues of appeal.

References

1954 births
Australian murderers of children
Australian rapists
Australian prisoners sentenced to multiple life sentences
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
Living people
People from the Northern Territory
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the Northern Territory
Australian people convicted of murder
People convicted of murder by the Northern Territory
1982 murders in Australia
1983 murders in Australia
1979 crimes in Australia

Martin Leach (murderer)


Collared doves (Eurasian collared dove, Streptopelia decaocto) are relatively small and slim doves. Males and females look alike, with a pastel buff/grey body with pink accents and slightly darker grey on their wings and tail. It is about 32 cm long. They nest near inhabited buildings for preference.

This dove is hugely successful in the present-day world. It is one of the great colonisers of the bird world. It has travelled far beyond its original range to colonise colder countries. It is now a permanent resident in several of these northern countries. The species has also colonised much of North America. In Asia it is thought of as the "National dove of Pakistan" respectively.

Doves
National symbols of Pakistan

Eurasian collared dove


Cleeve Abbey is a medieval monastery located near the village of Washford, in Somerset, England. It is a Grade I listed building and has been scheduled as an ancient monument.

The abbey was founded in the late twelfth century as a house for monks of the austere Cistercian order. Over its 350-year monastic history Cleeve was undistinguished amongst the abbeys of its order, frequently ill-governed and often financially troubled. The sole member of the community to achieve prominence was John Hooper, who became a bishop during the Reformation.

In 1536 Cleeve was closed by Henry VIII in the course of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the abbey was converted into a country house. Subsequently, the status of the site declined and the abbey was used as farm buildings until the latter half of the nineteenth century when steps were taken to conserve the remains. In the twentieth century Cleeve was taken into state care; the abbey is now looked after by English Heritage and is open to the public. Today Cleeve Abbey is one of the best-preserved medieval Cistercian monastic sites in Britain. While the church is no longer standing, the conventual buildings are still roofed and habitable and contain many features of particular interest including the 'angel' roof in the refectory and the wall paintings in the painted chamber.

Foundation
The abbey was founded by William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln. On 25 June 1198 a colony of 12 monks led by Abbot Ralph arrived at the site from Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire. The official name of the abbey was Vallis Florida, (Latin: 'Flowering Valley') but throughout its history it was generally known as Cleeve after the nearby village. The initial funding for the foundation was increased by land and money from the family of William de Mohun of Dunster, 1st Earl of Somerset and the Beckerolles family. In addition to various landholdings with produced rent for the abbey they held the Right of Wreck, which meant they could claim shipwrecks washed up on the shore of their lands.

Abbey buildings

Work immediately began on constructing the abbey church, a task that took many decades. It was a conservative design, heavily influenced by the thoughts of St. Bernard and the order's early churches in its homeland of Burgundy. It was cruciform in shape with an aisled nave of seven bays, a short, square east end, and transepts each with two side chapels. The eastern parts of the church were built first, and were likely finished in 1232, at which point the abbey received a royal donation of oak to build choir stalls. The remainder was probably completed by mid-century.

To the south of the church a cloister was laid out, surrounded by the domestic buildings of the house. The east range, which was completed first (probably by around 1250), held the chapter house, sacristy, the monks' dormitory, day room, and a  long reredorter (latrine). The south range was built next, it contained the kitchens, warming house and refectory which projected south beyond the main body of the building, following the usual Cistercian plan.

It is suggested from the heraldry used in the tiled floors of the refectory that it was finished at the end of the thirteenth century. The encaustic tiles, which are  square, include the arms of Henry III, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and the Clare family. It is believed they were produced to celebrate the marriage of Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall and Margaret de Clare in 1272. The final part to be finished was the small west range, which was used for storage and quarters for the lay brothers. East of the core buildings, and linked to them, was a second cloister around which was the monastic infirmary.

The monastery, which is next to the River Washford, would have been surrounded by gardens, fishponds, orchards, barns, guesthouses, stables, a farmyard and industrial buildings. The abbey grounds were defended by a water filled moat and a gatehouse. Excavation has revealed that a large stone cross, like a market cross, stood just west of the main building.

Though Cleeve was by no means a wealthy house, the monks were able to make significant investment in remodelling their home so as to match the rising living standards of the later mediaeval period. In the fourteenth-century elaborate polychrome tiled floors (an expensive and high status product) were laid throughout the abbey and in the mid-fifteenth century radical works were undertaken. A wooden shelter was constructed over the tiled floor in 2016. Abbot David Juyner (r. 1435–87) commissioned a complete redesign of the south range of the monastery. He demolished the old refectory and built a new one parallel to the cloister on the first floor. This grand chamber with its wooden vaulted ceiling (carved with angels) was the equal of the hall of any contemporary secular lord. Beneath it he built several self-contained apartments. These were probably used by corrodians, pensioners of the abbey. Juyner may also have been responsible for decorating the abbey with wall paintings of religious and allegorical subjects. Some of these wall paintings survive. As well as one depicting the Crucifixion, there is an arrangement of St Catherine and St Margaret on either side of, and facing, a man standing on a bridge: the bridge is over water full of fish, and the man has an angel on either side of his head, and is being attacked by a lion to his left on the bridge, and a dragon to his right. Work continued under Juyner's successors to the eve of the Dissolution. The last building work to be completed was the remodelling of the gatehouse, performed after 1510, though as late as 1534 the monks were engaged in a major project of renewing the cloister walks in the latest fashion. As at the neighbouring house of Forde Abbey, this was never completed, due to the dissolution of the abbey.

Monastic history

Like most of the smaller Cistercian houses, comparatively little is known about the internal history of the abbey. In its early years Cleeve received grants of land and property from local lords and the Crown to supplement its initial endowment and in the prosperous years of the thirteenth century grew steadily, reaching 26 monks in 1297. The abbey held various local churches, including those at Cleeve, Queen Camel, Woolavington while also holding the rectory of Lundy. The abbey was also responsible for the chapel of Our Lady between Old Cleeve and what is now Blue Anchor; however although this has since disappeared, the inn for pilgrims attending the chapel has been expanded into the present Chapel Cleeve Manor.

A major source of income was the export of wool. However, the fourteenth century saw a change in fortunes: the Black Death, a worsening economic climate and poor administration left the abbey (like many others of its order) with sharply declining numbers of monks and saddled with major debt. The internal discipline and morals of the community declined too: in 1400–01 it was reported to the government that the abbot of Cleeve and three other monks were leading a group of 200 bandits and attacking travellers in the region. However, things improved in the fifteenth century and despite the vast expense caused by the extravagant building projects of the last abbots, better management, access to new resources (for instance from the profits from the right to hold markets granted by the crown) and a general improvement in the circumstances facing the house meant that just prior to the dissolution Cleeve was enjoying an Indian Summer of comfortable stability.

Dissolution
In 1535, the abbey's income was only assessed at £155 in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, Henry VIII's great survey of church finances. It meant the following year that it came under the terms of the first Suppression Act, Henry's initial move in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Abbot William Dovell and his 16 monks were forced to surrender the abbey on 6 September 1536. There were proposals from local gentry and even some of the king's officials for the Dissolution such as Sir Thomas Arundell that Cleeve should be granted a reprieve, as a number of others among the smaller monasteries were, however, it was not to be and the monks finally left in the spring of 1537. Abbot William was given a pension of 40 marks per year, not large but certainly comfortable, which he was still drawing 20 years later. Most of the other monks were given pensions too. One former monk of Cleeve rose to prominence and came to a sticky end. This was John Hooper who became Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester and was killed in 1555 for his Protestant beliefs by Mary I.

Later history

Soon after Cleeve became Crown property, it was leased to Anthony Busterd for 21 years. In 1538, the freehold of the site was granted to Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex. The church was demolished, save for the south wall which bounded the cloister, and the rest of the abbey converted into a mansion suitable for a gentleman. By the early seventeenth century, however, Cleeve had turned into a farm. The dormitory was now a large barn, the cloister was the farmyard and the rest of the buildings were used for agricultural purposes and a farm house. A red sandstone barn was built which abuts the south-west corner of the abbey.

George Luttrell of Dunster Castle acquired the site in 1870. The abbey stopped being used as a farm and extensive archaeological excavations took place. The farm house was converted into rental cottages, and the site became a tourist attraction, partly to bring traffic to the West Somerset Railway. Cleeva Clapp a local farmers daughter, who was named after the abbey, acted as a guide and described her nightly "communings" with the ghosts of the monks for a shilling a head.

Cleeve Abbey was passed back to the Crown in 1950–51 to pay Death Duties on the Luttrell estate and was managed by the Department for the Environment. Major restoration and archaeological work followed. In 1984, English Heritage took over responsibility for Cleeve Abbey, carrying out excavations and earthwork surveys and continues to care for it today.

Present day

The church and infirmary have almost entirely vanished, but the site boasts some of the finest and best-preserved monks' living quarters still surviving in southern England. The buildings round the cloister are still roofed and habitable and many of the rooms retain their vaults. Among the most important preserved rooms are the chapter house, the refectory with its magnificent arch braced wooden vault and the painted chamber. Much of the abbey's medieval tiled flooring remains. Other major survivals include the abbey gatehouse, which still provides entrance to the visitor, the moat and fishponds. Cleeve is open to the public.

The remains of the buildings have been designated as a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled monument.

Cultural references
The Abbey was the original site on which 'Gracedieu', the setting for the Abbey Series of books by Elsie J. Oxenham, was based. Many of its features described by Oxenham, who visited Cleeve in the early years of the twentieth century, can be identified at the site today, although literary licence allowed her to add features from elsewhere or from her imagination.

The castle scenes in the children's musical-comedy television series Maid Marian and her Merry Men were filmed in Cleeve Abbey.

See also

 List of monastic houses in Somerset
 Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset
 List of monastic houses in England

References

Bibliography

External links

 English Heritage: Cleeve Abbey

1186 establishments in England
1536 disestablishments in England
Christian monasteries established in the 12th century
Church ruins in England
Cistercian monasteries in England
English Heritage sites in Somerset
Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset
History museums in Somerset
History of Somerset
Monasteries in Somerset
Museums in Somerset
Religious museums in England
Scheduled monuments in West Somerset
Tourist attractions in Somerset
West Somerset
Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation

Cleeve Abbey


Sordes was a small pterosaur from the late Jurassic (Oxfordian/Kimmeridgian) Karabastau Svita of Kazakhstan.

This genus was named in 1971 by Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov. The type species is Sordes pilosus. The genus name is Latin for "filth" or "scum"; but Sharov translates it as "", which means "devil" or "evil spirit", so the  intended translation is "hairy devil" (the specific name is Latin for "hairy"; despite sordes being feminine, it has not yet been emended to pilosa).

Discovery
Sordes is based on the holotype PIN 2585/3, which consists of a crushed relatively complete skeleton on a slab. It was found in the 1960s at the foothills of the Karatau in Kazakhstan.

Sharov had already referred a paratype or second specimen: PIN 2470/1, again a fairly complete skeleton on a slab. By 2003 another six specimens had been discovered.

Description

Sordes had a 0.63 m (2 ft) wingspan. The wings were relatively short. Sordes had, according to Sharov and Unwin, wing membranes attached to the legs and a membrane between the legs. It had a short neck. It had a long tail, accounting for over half its length, with at the end an elongated vane.

Skull and dentition

It had a slender, not round, head with moderately long, pointed jaws. The skull was about 8 cm (3.2 in) long. Unlike many pterosaurs, it had no head crest. The teeth in the frontal half of the jaws are large and pointed to facilitate prey capture. The teeth beyond these in the rear half of the jaw are much smaller and more numerous than those at the front, suggesting that they were more for crushing. Together these two types of teeth indicate specialisation for prey that was difficult to catch yet required some effort to eat. Likely contenders are invertebrates with tougher exoskeletons, or amphibians that were slippery to catch and then required some crunching before they could be swallowed.

Pycnofibers

The fossil shows remains of the soft parts, such as membranes and hair-like filaments. This was the first unequivocal proof that pterosaurs had a layer of hair-like filaments covering their bodies, later named pycnofibres. The pycnofibres served as insulation, an indication the group was warm-blooded, and provided a streamlined flight profile. The pycnofibres are present in two main types: longer at the extreme part of the wing membrane and shorter near the body. In the 1990s, David Unwin argued that both types were essentially not hairs but reinforcing fibres of the flight membranes. Later he emphasized that "hair" in the form of pycnofibres was indeed present on the body, after the find of new specimens clearly showing this.

Classification
Sordes has been assigned to the family Rhamphorhynchidae. These were among the earliest of the pterosaurs, evolving in the late Triassic and surviving to the late Jurassic. According to Unwin, within Rhamphorhynchidae Sordes belonged to the Scaphognathinae. Other researchers however, such as Alexander Kellner and Lü Junchang, have produced cladistic analyses showing that Sordes was much more basal, and not a rhamphorhynchid.

See also
 List of pterosaur genera
 Timeline of pterosaur research

References

External links
Artistic reconstruction of a Sordes pilosus at the Fossilsmith Studios
A fossil of a Sordes at paleo.ru
Article and picture of Sordes

Late Jurassic pterosaurs of Asia
Novialoids
Taxa named by Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov
Fossil taxa described in 1971

Sordes


The Waltz of the Toreadors (La Valse des toréadors) is a 1951 play by Jean Anouilh.

Plot
This bitter farce is set in 1910 France and focuses on General Léon Saint-Pé and his infatuation with Ghislaine, a woman with whom he danced at a garrison ball some 17 years earlier. Because of the General's commitment to his marriage, the couple's love remained unconsummated. Now faced by the reality of retirement with his hypochondriac wife, the General finds himself lost in fond memories of his old flirtation. When Ghislaine suddenly reappears, he is delighted — until he finds himself competing for her hand with a considerably younger suitor.

Background
The General and his mad wife had previously appeared in Anouilh's 1948 play Ardèle ou la Marguerite, and a further variant on the character appeared in the 1958 comedy L'Hurluberlu, ou le Réactionnaire amoureux. By the time of Anouilh's last play, Le Nombril (1981), Léon St Pé had transformed into a grouchy and unfashionable old playwright intended by Anouilh as a cynical self-portrait.

Stage productions
The Waltz of the Toreadors premiered in Paris at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées on 8 January 1952, with Claude Sainval and Marie Ventura in the leading roles. Four years later, it premiered in London in an English translation by Lucienne Hill. Directed by Peter Hall, the production opened at the Arts Theatre on 24 February 1956, then transferred to the larger Criterion Theatre on 27 March, running in all for 700 performances. The cast included Welsh character actor Hugh Griffith as the General and Beatrix Lehmann as Mme St Pé, with Brenda Bruce as Ghislaine and Trader Faulkner as Gaston. For part of the Criterion run, Renée Asherson took over as Ghislaine.

"This is an extraordinary work," claimed T C Worsley in the New Statesman. "It is at the same time wildly comic and savagely cruel; it moves with a virtuoso's freedom up and down the emotional scale from pure farce at one extreme to real pathos at the other. There are scenes of pure horror and there are scenes of pure comedy, and M Anouilh modulates between them with an absolutely sure touch." According to the News Chronicle, "the play, though deplorable, is a bit of a masterpiece." "This farce," added The Times, "has a bitter, some will say sour, flavour, but even those who resent its hard realism will be highly amused in spite of themselves, for a resourceful wit is supported by a brilliant sense of the theatre."

A Broadway production, directed by Harold Clurman, opened on 17 January 1957 at the Coronet Theatre, where it ran for 132 performances. The cast included Ralph Richardson as the General, his real-life wife Meriel Forbes as Ghislaine, and Mildred Natwick as Mme St Pé. The production received Tony Award nominations for Best Play, Best Direction, Best Actor in a Play (Richardson), Best Featured Actress in a Play (Natwick), and Best Scenic Design (Ben Edwards). It won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times pronounced it "startling and funny ... original, bright, tart and worldly." Other US estimates included "endlessly fascinating and uproariously funny" (New York Herald Tribune), "a genuinely uproarious sex comedy, witty, ironic, sophisticated" (New York Post) and "exhilarating entertainment" (The New Yorker).

On 4 March 1958 the play returned to the Coronet, where it ran for 31 performances. Again directed by Clurman, it starred Melvyn Douglas as the General, Betty Field as Ghislaine, and Lili Darvas as Mme St Pé.

The second Broadway revival, directed by Brian Murray, opened on 13 September 1973 at the Circle in the Square Theatre, where it ran for 85 performances. The cast included Eli Wallach as the General, Diana van der Vlis as Ghislaine, and Anne Jackson (Wallach's real-life wife) as Mme St Pé. This was the first of several revivals around this time. In October 1973, Louis de Funès starred in a new production at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées (with Luce Garcia Ville as his wife and Mony Dalmés as Ghislaine); this production was directed by Anouilh himself in conjunction with Roland Piétri (who also played the Curé). Then in 1974 Trevor Howard starred opposite Coral Browne (Mme St Pé), Zena Walker (Ghislaine) and Ian Ogilvy (Gaston) in a revival at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Among more recent revivals of the play, Peter Bowles starred in a 2007 production at the Chichester Festival Theatre; the new translation was by Ranjit Bolt.

Adaptations
A television production aired on 16 November 1959 as part of David Susskind's anthology series Play of the Week. It was directed by Stuart Burge, and starred Hugh Griffith as the General and Mildred Natwick as Mme St Pé, reprising their roles from the West End and Broadway productions respectively, as well as Beatrice Straight as Ghislaine.

A 1962 feature film, Waltz of the Toreadors, directed by John Guillermin, transported the setting to England and anglicised the lead characters' names to General Leo and Emily Fitzjohn. The cast included Peter Sellers as the General, Dany Robin as Ghislaine (who remained French), and Margaret Leighton as Mrs Fitzjohn. Wolf Mankowitz was nominated for a BAFTA for Best British Screenplay and Sellers was awarded the Silver Shell for Best Actor at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

The play was adapted by Howard Marren and Joe Masteroff as the 1998 musical Paramour. It had its premiere in 1998 at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in a production directed by Joseph Hardy and starring Len Cariou.

References

External links
 The Waltz of the Toreadors at the Internet Broadway Database

1952 plays
Broadway plays
Plays by Jean Anouilh
Fiction set in 1910

The Waltz of the Toreadors


Linear momentum, translational momentum or simply momentum is the product of a body's mass and its velocity:

where p is the momentum, m is the mass and v is the velocity.

Momentum can be thought of as the "power" when a body is moving, meaning how much force it can have on another body.  For example,
a bowling ball (large mass) moving very slowly (low velocity) can have the same momentum as a baseball (small mass) that is thrown fast (high velocity).
A bullet is another example where the momentum is very-very high, due to the extraordinary velocity.
Another example where very low-velocities cause greater momentum is the push of Indian subcontinent towards the rest of Asia, causing serious damages, such as earthquakes in the area of the Himalayas. In this example, the subcontinent is moving as slowly as few inches per year but the mass of the Indian-subcontinent is very high.

Momentum is a vector quantity, which has both direction and magnitude. Its unit is kg m/s (kilogram metre per second) or N s (newton second).

Momentum is a conserved quantity, meaning that the total initial momentum of a system must be equal to  the total final momentum of the system. The total momentum remains unchanged.

Formula
In Newtonian physics, the usual symbol for momentum is the letter p ; so this can be written

where p is the momentum, m is the mass and v is the velocity

If we apply Newton's 2nd Law, we can derive

The meaning is that the net force on an object is equal to the rate of change in momentum of the object.

In order to use this equation in special relativity, m has to change with speed.  That is sometimes called the "relativistic mass" of the object.  (Scientists who work with special relativity use other equations instead.)

Impulse
Impulse is the change in momentum caused by a new force: this force will increase or decrease the momentum depending on the direction of the force; towards or away from the body that was moving before. If the new force (N) is going in the direction of the momentum of the body (x), the momentum of x will increase; therefore if N is going towards body x in the opposite direction, x will slow down and its momentum will decrease.

Law of conservation of momentum

In understanding conservation of momentum, the direction of the momentum is important.  In a system, momentum is added up using vector addition.  Under the rules of vector addition, adding a certain amount of momentum together with the same amount of momentum going in the opposite direction gives a total momentum of zero.

For instance, when a gun is fired, a small mass (the bullet) moves at a high speed in one direction.  A larger mass (the gun) moves in the opposite direction at a much slower speed.  The momentum of the bullet and the momentum of the gun are exactly equal in size but opposite in direction.  Using vector addition to add the momentum of the bullet to the momentum of the gun (equal in size but opposite in direction) gives a total system momentum of zero.  The momentum of the gun-bullet system has been conserved.

A collision also shows conservation of momentum: if a car (1000 kg) is going right at 8 m/s, and a truck (6000 kg) is going left at 2 m/s, the car and truck will be moving left after the collision. This exercise shows why:
Momentum = Mass x Velocity
The car's momentum: 1000 kg x 8 m/s = 8000kgm/s    (Going right)
The truck's momentum: 6000 kg x 2 m/s = 12000kgm/s (Going left)
This means their total momentum is 4000kgm/s.    (Going left)

Related pages
Angular momentum

Physical quantity
Mechanics
Basic physics ideas

Momentum


Karl Oskar Medin (14 August 1847 – 24 December 1927) was a Swedish pediatrician. He was born at Axberg, Örebro and died in Stockholm. He is most famous for his study of poliomyelitis, a condition sometimes known as the Heine-Medin disease, named after Medin and another physician, Jakob Heine. Medin was the first to describe the epidemic character of infantile paralysis.

Medin studied in Uppsala and Stockholm, and received his medical doctorate in 1880 from the Uppsala University. He was appointed extraordinary professor at the Karolinska Institute in 1883 and went on to become professor of paediatrics the following year. He became professor emeritus in 1914.

In addition to his research of poliomyelitis, he had influenced the study of meningitis epidemica, infant scurvy and tuberculosis in children.

In recognition of his polio research accomplishments he was elected posthumously to the Polio Hall of Fame in Warm Springs, Georgia, which was dedicated in January 1958.

References

1847 births
1927 deaths
Swedish scientists
Swedish pediatricians
Academic staff of the Karolinska Institute
Uppsala University alumni
Karolinska Institute alumni

Karl Oskar Medin


Nino Cocchiarella (born 1933) is an American philosopher who is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Indiana University Bloomington. He is best known for his work in formal logic and ontology.

Among his important articles are:
 "Nominalism and Conceptualism as Predicative Second Order Theories of Predication", Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, vol. 21 (1980)
 "Richard Montague and the Logical Analysis of Language", in Contemporary Philosophy: A New Survey, vol. 2, Philosophy of Language/Philosophical Logic, G. Fløistad, ed., Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague (1981)
 "The Development of the Theory of Logical Types and the Notion of a Logical Subject in Russell's Early Philosophy", Synthese, vol. 45 (1980).

His books include Logical Investigations of Predication Theory and the Problem of Universals (1986); Logical Studies in Early Analytic Philosophy (1987); Formal Ontology and Conceptual Realism, New York, Springer (2007); and Modal Logic. An Introduction to its Syntax and Semantics (with Max Freund), Oxford, Oxford University Press (2008).

External links
 "The Conceptual Realism of Nino Cocchiarella"
 Complete and annotated bibliography of Nino Cocchiarella:
 1966–1985
 1986–2018

Logicians
Philosophers of language
1933 births
Living people

Nino Cocchiarella


Soyuz 11 was a manned space mission. It was the only mission to live on Salyut 1, the first space station. It was a backup mission of Soyuz 10, which was failed to dock. The mission killed three men in space when it lost air pressure during re-entry of the atmosphere. They were Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev.

Crew

Backup crew

Original crew

Crew notes
An X-ray testing of the original crew found that Kubasov might have tuberculosis. According to the mission rules, the backup crew replaced the original crew. Dobrovolski and Patsayev never flew to space before. Kubasov and Leonov became the crew to Soyuz 19 for the Apollo-Soyuz in 1975.

Death of crew
On 30 June 1971, after returing to the Earth of the capsule, the recovery team knocked on the side. There was no response. Opening the hatch, they found all three men in their couches, no motion. There had dark-blue patches on their faces and trails of blood from their noses and ears. They brought them out from the capsule. Dobrovolsky was still warm. According to their reports, the reason of death was suffocation.

The cosmonauts were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis at Red Square, Moscow near the remains of Yuri Gagarin. US astronaut Tom Stafford was one of the pallbearers. They were also each awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal.

References

Soviet spacecraft
1971 in Europe
Soviet Union
1970s in spaceflight

Soyuz 11


A barn raising, also historically called a raising bee or rearing in the U.K., is a collective action of a community, in which a barn for one of the members is built or rebuilt collectively by members of the community. Barn raising was particularly common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America. A barn was a necessary structure for any farmer, for example for storage of cereals and hay and keeping of animals. Yet a barn was also a large and costly structure, the assembly of which required more labor than a typical family could provide. Barn raising addressed the need by enlisting members of the community, unpaid, to assist in the building of their neighbors' barns. Because each member could ask others for help, reciprocation could eventually reasonably be presumed for each participant if the need were to arise.

The tradition of "barn raising" continues, more or less unchanged, in some Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities, particularly in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and some rural parts of Canada. The practice continues outside of these religious communities, albeit less frequently than in the 19th century. Most frames today are raised using a crane and small crew.

Description

A large amount of preparation is done before the one to two days a barn raising requires. Lumber and hardware are laid in, plans are made, ground is cleared, and tradesmen are hired. Materials are purchased or traded for by the family who will own the barn once it is complete.

Generally, participation is mandatory for community members. These participants are not paid. All able-bodied members of the community are expected to attend. Failure to attend a barn raising without the best of reasons leads to censure within the community. Some specialists brought in from other communities for direction or joinery may be paid, however.

One or more people with prior experience or with specific skills are chosen to lead the project. Older people who have participated in many barn raisings are crew chiefs. On the whole, the affair is well organized. At most barn raisings, the community members have raised barns before and approach the task with experience both in the individual tasks and the necessary organization. Young people participating physically for the first time have watched many barn raisings and know what is expected of them.

Only certain specialists are permitted to work on the more critical jobs, such as the joinery and doweling of the beams. (Post and beam construction is the traditional method of construction in barn raisings.) There is competition for these jobs, and they are sought after. Workers are differentiated by age and gender: men construct the barn, women provide water and food, the youngest children watch, and older boys are assigned to fetch parts and tools.

Most barn raisings were accomplished in June and July when the mostly agrarian society members had time between planting season and harvest season. Timber for the framing was mostly produced in the winter by the farmer and his crew hewing logs to the correct shape with axes or felling the trees and bringing them to a sawmill.

An ancient tradition is to place a bough, wreath and/or flag at the high point of the frame after the last piece is in place. This celebration is called topping out and historically the master carpenter may also make a speech and a toast.

Social framework
In earlier American rural life, communities raised barns because many hands were required. In areas that were sparsely settled or on the edge of the frontier, it was not possible to hire carpenters or other tradesmen to build a barn. The harsher winters gave more urgency to the matter of barn construction than was present in the relatively milder climate in much of Europe. Similar conditions have given rise to similar institutions, such as the Finnish one of 'talkoot'.  As is clear from the account, for example, in Stevenson Whitcomb Fletcher's Pennsylvania Agriculture and Country Life 1640-1840, (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Historical Commission, p. 440 ff.),  barn-raisings were typically occasions of community good-feeling, solidarity and festivity, as well as cooperative labor, and figured as part of a wider culture of neighborly mutual assistance (at harvest, for instance), sharing of tools and ox-teams, etc.  Customarily the women of the families involved prepared hearty lunches for the builders and completion was celebrated with a feast and dance -- often till dawn.  Paid help was not a feature of these events.

Barn raisings occurred in a social framework with a good deal of interdependence. Members of rural communities often shared family bonds going back generations. They traded with each other, buying and selling land, labor, seed, cattle, and the like. They worshipped and celebrated together, because cities were too far away to visit with any frequency by horse and wagon.

Contrast with church construction
Churches were considered as important to communities of the 18th and 19th centuries as barns. In like fashion, they were often constructed using unpaid community labor. There were important differences. Churches were not constructed with the same degree of urgency, and were most often built of native stone in some regions — a more durable material than the wood of which barns were made, and more time-consuming to lay. Barns, once completed, belonged to an individual family, while churches belonged to the community.

Decline
Barn raising as a method of providing construction labor had become rare by the close of the 19th century. By that time, most frontier communities already had barns and those that did not were constructing them using hired labor. Mennonite and Amish communities carried on the tradition, however, and continue to do so to this day.

Group construction by volunteers enjoyed something of a resurgence during the 1970s, when houses, sheds, and barn-shaped structures were constructed for a variety of purposes. Echoes of the tradition can still be found in other community building projects, such as house building and renovation carried out by Habitat for Humanity.

See also
 Amish
 Dugnad
 Gadugi
 Talkoot
 Timber framing

References

External links

 Толока

Agriculture in the United States
Amish
Barns
Construction in the United States
Construction
History of agriculture
Mutualism (movement)
Timber framing
Vermont culture

Barn raising


The Mali Empire was a West African country from 1235 to 1645. The Mandinka people lived there. It is also called the Manding Empire or Manden Kurufa. Sundiata Keita started the empire and the empire became famous because its rulers were very rich, especially Mansa Musa I. The Mali Empire had many important cultural effects on West Africa, spreading language, laws and customs along the Niger River. This was because of the spread of Islam by verbal wording.

For such a prolific empire, there are few written accounts of its greatness. Most of the written accounts that do exist came from Arab scholars who traveled through the region. Instead of written accounts, most of the stories from the locals were passed down through oral histories, songs and poems. Until this day, 'griots' still tell stories of the ancient history in the area. Architects in the Mali Empire combined styles of the Sahel region and Middle East together, particularly after Emperor Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca. There were several royal palaces built during the time, many of which are still standing. Mud bricks, log beams and plaster helped these palaces to remain standing. The most famous work of architecture from the time period is the Great Mosque of Djenné, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mosque was rebuilt in 1907 and can still be visited in Djenné. However, if you aren't a Muslim, you can't go inside.

The Mali Empire had one of the richest leaders in history. The richest and most famous of all the leaders of the Mali Empire was Mansa Musa. It is thought by some that Mansa Musa could have been the wealthiest person in history. According to stories, he took 60,000 people on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 along with camels loaded down with gold.
Islam was very important to the Mali Empire. Most of the kings of the Mali Empire eventually converted to Islam, with their people subsequently practicing as well. However, unlike many empires, they didn't make their subjects convert, and the version of Islam that they practiced was combined with the local traditions of the villages. You can still see many relics in cities like Bamako, Djenné and Timbuktu.

The Mali Empire's most important industry was gold. People in the ancient world were drawn to it. The Mali Empire (Timbuktu in particular) was a huge trading center for the gold industry. Camel caravans would come to the area before leaving across the trans-Saharan trade routes. The empire had so much gold that it caused the market to crash for a period of time when Mansa Musa brought almost a ton of gold to Cairo. The army of the Mali Empire was massive.
During the height of the Mali Empire, the army numbered around 100,000 men and 10,000 cavalry, making it one of the largest in the world at the time. The empire used this army to gain new lands. Mansa Musa was the richest person in the world.

History of Mali
Former countries in Africa
1235 establishments
1645 disestablishments
1230s establishments in Africa
Disestablishments in Africa
Former monarchies of Africa

Mali Empire


Tatnet (short for "Tatar Internet") is the name Tatar-speaking Internet users commonly use for the "segment of the Internet" about the Tatar people or Tatarstan. It includes webpages and websites in many languages.

The first e-mail message in Tatar was probably sent and received in 1991 when employees of the Tatar-Bashkir Service of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe Inc. started using the Internet and electronic communication on a regular basis. In 1994, a Tatar-language mailing list (TMG, standing for Tatar Mailing Group) was established and this year is commonly regarded as the birthyear of the Tatar Internet. Since approximately 2000, Tatnet has been developing explosively, with many web pages and web sites added to it annually. The existence of Tatnet continues to contribute tremendously to the cohesion and consolidation of the Tatar people, a significant achievement because Tatars are despersed all over the world and a substantial majority of Tatars live outside their ethnic homeland, Tatarstan. Tatar Internet users employ Latin and Cyrillic scripts with the former gradually becoming more dominant.

Internet
Tatars
Tatarstan

Tatnet


MAD Magazine is a humor and satire magazine that started in 1952 as a 10 cent comic book parody of other comics. For its 25th issue it converted to a 25 cent magazine. It remains popular in the United States.

Each issue features the grinning red-headed mascot, Alfred E. Neuman on the cover, and comic-like articles making fun of recent movies, television series, music, trends, etc. as well as regular monthly features (Spy Vs. Spy, Monore, etc.)

American magazines

MAD Magazine


Chaikovskiy is a town in Perm Krai, an administrative centre of Chaikovskiy region. It was established in 1962. 82,400 people live in the town.

The town is west of the Ural Mountains, on the left bank of the Kama at the mouth of the small river Saygatka in the southwest of Perm Krai. The territory of Chaikovskiy is about 31 square kilometers. The town is on the plain at the bank of the Kama river.

Chaikovskiy is relatively far from Perm, but it has a good geographical position. It is at the meeting point of  Udmurt Republic, Bashkortostan and  Perm Krai.

Chaikovskiy is a green, comfortable town. It is surrounded by water from three sides. There are parks in the town and forests around it. A notable place of interest is a quiet street with many apple trees  going from the river port to the town center. The  air and water are clean in Chaykovskiy.

Local people like swimming, boating and water skiing in the summer. Ski jumping and biathlon are popular winter sports.
Cities and towns in Perm Krai

Chaykovskiy, Perm Krai


Bionicle (stylized BIONICLE) is a line of toys by the LEGO Group marketed primarily for 5- to 16-year-olds. The line was launched on December 30, 2000 in Europe and June/July 2001 in Canada and the United States. "Bionicle" is a portmanteau constructed from the words "biological" and "chronicle", which is also actually derived from the word "bionics". The concept is similar to Lego Group's earlier themes, Slizers/Throwbots and RoboRiders in that each of those lines had characters based on classical elements. Earlier Bionicle packages had displayed the Technic Logo, but it has since been phased out, evolving Bionicle into its own branch of LEGO. It has recently been announced by the director of LEGO that they will stop making new Bionicle sets after Winter 2010 "for the foreseeable future". However, while production of sets will stop, the story  will not, as Greg Farshtey will continue to update it on the website. Bionicle was replaced by Hero Factory, which was released later in July 2010.

The Bionicle story is set in a science fantasy world and is primarily told through the book series, Bionicle Chronicles, Bionicle Adventures, and Bionicle Legends as well as through comic books published by DC Comics. Four films have also been made. As of 2010, the main Bionicle story will be published online.

The 2001–2008 Bionicle story arc was set in a world inhabited predominantly by part-organic, part-machine beings (most notably the Matoran) in a subterranean world, which exists in massive domes underground. 2009 began a new saga of the story-line, leaving behind the previous years and venturing out to newer possibilities as Mata Nui, after having been banished by Makuta Teridax, finds his way to a mysterious barren planet called Bara Magna. Here he becomes the center of the story and makes new allies as he tries to find a way to save the Matoran from Makuta Teridax's tyrannical rule.

Production
The concept of Bionicle was proposed in 2000. During that time, Lego was suffering a ten-year downturn. In 1998, the company suffered its first loss, resulting layoffs for the first time with 1000 people being laid off the following year. In January 2004, Lego posted a loss of 1.4 billion Danish kroner (140 million British pounds and 223.86 million USD). A few weeks earlier, in order to "stabilise its financial situation," another 500 jobs were cut.

Initially, the idea of Bionicle was faced with resistance from "company traditionalists" as Lego had "no experience of creating the kind of story-based, multichannel brand that was being proposed." Also, the war-like appearance of the Bionicle characters went against the company's values: "high-quality products, an emphasis on free play and encouraging the imagination, and no modern warfare or violence."

However, the Bionicle line soon became the "biggest of the recent hits" and the number one product of Lego in 2003. The series made its first debut in virtual form on the web in December 2000. In 2004, the sets accounted for approximately all of Lego's turnover. As the sets were produced, Lego developed them on the sets' website through "character bios and an episodic adventure game." The main storyline is developed by a team of eight people around the world, who decide "which media gets which bit of the story." Because the Bionicle story is told through multiple media (books, comics, and movies), the purpose of the website is to put the different parts together. The practice of making every Bionicle product "from toys to toothbrushes" promote the website resulted in web traffic averaging more than a million page views per month in August 2004. Another strategy used to promote the website was the use of "Kanoka points". Each toy packaging had special access codes that allows users to earn the points ("the Bionicle equivalent of a loyalty scheme") that can be used to play web games.

Story
The 2001–2008 storyline arc of Bionicle was set in a science fantasy world inhabited predominantly by part-organic, part-machine beings in a subterranean world, which exists in massive domes underground. This world (dubbed "The Matoran Universe") and its races were once protected by a Great Spirit named Mata Nui, until he was cast into an eternal slumber by the evil Makuta Teridax and the Brotherhood of Makuta. The world of the Matoran began to fall apart. But mask of life that was stored inside Mata Nui was sent out to space to find a new planet. The mask landed on the planet of Bara Magna and the mask created a small body.

2009 began a whole new saga of the story-line, leaving behind the previous years, and venturing out to newer possibilities as Mata Nui, after having been banished by Makuta Teridax, crash lands on a mysterious barren planet, called Bara Magna. Here he becomes the center of the story, and makes new allies as he tries to find a way to save the Matoran and the Toa from Makuta Teridax's tyrannical rule.

2001 – Quest for the Masks
The story begins with six Toa Mata: Tahu, Lewa, Gali, Kopaka, Pohatu, and Onua, arriving on an island known as the Island of Mata Nui, remembering nothing beyond their names. They discovered that the inhabitants, the Matoran villagers, face constant attacks from infected Rahi, savage beasts controlled by the powerful influence of Makuta Teridax through use of Infected Kanohi masks, causing a war which lasted about 1000 years. After searching for and finding numerous Kanohi masks, the Toa each receive a Golden Kanohi mask with tremendous power and seek out Makuta himself. After challenging the ferocious Manas crabs and the Shadow Toa (evil doppelganger-like illusional replicas of the Toa ), the Toa confront Makuta and defeat him by uniting their elemental powers.

2002 – The Bohrok Swarms
Upon his defeat, Makuta released the ancient Bohrok. Bohrok are robotic drones that were designed to "cleanse" the island of Mata Nui to its state "in the before-time". The Bohrok began to tear through the villages on the island, forcing Matoran to flee. One inventive Matoran of Earth, Nuparu, builds a powerful vehicle called the Boxor, made from parts of a damaged Bohrok in order to fight off the swarms. The Toa, unaware of the Bohrok's purpose, collected the Bohrok's Krana (mask-like creatures that function as their brains) to confront the Bohrok Queens, the Bahrag: Cahdok and Gahdok. The defeated Cahdok and Gahdok are sealed in a prison created by the Toa's elemental powers. The Toa Mata are then exposed to a substance called Energized Protodermis, which transforms them, granting them new armor and weapons. They renamed themselves the "Toa Nuva".

2003 – The Bohrok-Kal Strike and the Mask of Light
With Cahdok and Gahdok defeated, the Bohrok Swarms are stopped and returned to their hives. However, six new elite Bohrok, called the Bohrok-Kal, appeared with the purpose of releasing the Bahrag. They then proceeded to steal the Toa Nuva's powers, which are the key to breaking the seal. On the verge of defeat, the Toa force all of their powers into the Bohrok-Kal, overloading and defeating them.

Shortly afterwards, two Matoran, Takua and Jaller, discovered the Kanohi Mask of Light. They were tasked with traveling across the island of Mata Nui to find the Toa of Light. Meanwhile, Makuta created and sent out six creatures called Rahkshi to find the mask and stop the coming of the Toa of Light. The Rahkshi tore across Mata Nui, destroying the villages of Ta-Koro and Onu-Koro. The Rahkshi were stopped by the Toa, but not before killing Jaller. Jaller's death caused Takua to realize he was the Toa of Light, and he donned the mask to become Toa Takanuva. Takanuva went to confront Makuta and, during their battle, they both fell into a pool of energized protodermis, a silvery substance with the power to change or destroy a being, and became fused together into the being Takutanuva. Takutanuva then proceeded to open the door to the city of Metru Nui, allowing the Matoran and Toa through. Using some of his life energy, he revived Jaller while still holding the door open. However, the use of energy was too great and Takutanuva was crushed by the door, seeming to kill both Takanuva and Teridax, leaving only Takanuva's Mask of Light. Takanuva was promptly revived when his mask was used to activate the beacon to Metru Nui. Afterwards, the Matoran prepared to return to the island city of Metru Nui.

2004 – Legends of Metru Nui
As the Matoran prepared to journey to Metru Nui, the Turaga (village elders) revealed that they had once been Toa, fighting in Metru Nui against threats such as the Morbuzakh plant creature and the Dume-controlled Vahki enforcement squads. They, as Matoran, were transformed into the Toa Metru by Toa stones containing power sacrificed by Toa Lhikan. Their mission was to find the six Great Disks and defeat the Morbuzakh, a plant menace that threatened to destroy the city. When they did, however, they were betrayed by Dume, the Turaga of the city. Later, they discovered that Makuta Teridax had taken the disguise of Dume and taken control of the Vahki (law enforcement robots). His plan was to put the Matoran to sleep, wipe out their memories, and reawaken them "as their conqueror." The Toa fled, but were attacked by Teridax. Combining their elemental powers, they were able to seal Teridax in a prison of crystallized protodermis. The Toa traveled to a new island, which would later be known as Mata Nui, vowing to return to save the Matoran.

2005 – Web of Shadows
They do return. However, the evil king Sidorak and his viceroy Roodaka had been reigning on the island, with vicious spider-like creatures called Visorak. The Toa were soon captured and mutated into bestial Toa Hordika. To revert to normal, the Toa sought out the legendary Rahi Keetongu. Toa Vakama, however, betrayed the other Toa and joined Sidorak, who made him the leader of the Visorak. The other Toa confronted the Visorak horde in a great battle, and convinced Vakama to rejoin them. Vakama then ordered the Visorak to be free. Keetongu then killed Sidorak, whom Roodaka and Vakama betrayed. The six Toa then defeated Roodaka with all six of their elemental powers. However, this had the side effect of freeing Makuta because Roodaka carried a fragment of his prison. The Toa struck her for this reason. Having been restored by Keetongu, the Toa Metru brought the Matoran to a new island. When they sacrificed their power to awaken the Matoran, they become Turaga, and later established new villages on this island called Mata Nui.

2006 – Island of Doom
The Toa Nuva learned that Mata Nui was not only asleep but dying. To save him, they must travel to the island of Voya Nui and seek the mysterious Kanohi Ignika, the Mask of Life.  The Toa Nuva set out on this adventure but are quickly taken prisoner by six new and powerful enemies, the Piraka: Zaktann, Hakann, Vezok, Thok, Reidak, and Avak. They sought the mask for their own dark purposes. When the Toa failed to return, a group of six Matoran followed after them. Jaller, Hahli, Hewkii, Nuparu, Kongu, and Matoro escaped to the island in Toa canisters, but as they traveled, bolts of lighting from the Red Star transformed them into the Toa Inika. Upon their arrival, they learn of the Piraka and how they enslaved the local Matoran by posing as false Toa, in order to make the Matoran build them a fortress. With the help of a small Matoran Resistance and the ancient guardian Axonn, the Toa Inika were able to free the Toa Nuva, find the temple of the mask, and battle the Piraka as well as the other creatures guarding it. They eventually emerged victorious with the Kanohi. But the Mask of Life possessed a will of its own, and in the last moment evades them all, rushing into the depths of the sea.

2007 – Sea of Darkness
Following the chase for the Mask of Life, the Toa Inika descended into the waters after receiving the mysterious clue "save the sunken city" from an unknown Matoran, who had saved Hahli from drowning at the cost of him dying from decompression sickness.[14] A burst of energy from the Mask of Life transformed the Toa Inika into water-breathing forms. They discovered an inhabited village of Mahri Nui that had broken off from Voya Nui and sunk a thousand years ago. The village was threatened by ancient warlords known as Barraki that had been mutated by the nearby mutagenic waters called "The Pit". The Toa, now known as Toa Mahri, faced off against the Barraki to survive. However, by the time the Toa retrieved the mask, the Great Spirit died. Realizing there was still hope, Toa Matoro rushed to the core of the universe and sacrificed his life to revive Mata Nui. In the last moments of his life, Toa Matoro used the Mask's power to teleport the Toa Mahri back to Metru Nui and allow them to breathe air again. The Great Spirit's life was saved but he still had to be awakened.

2008 – The Final Battle
After being given new armor and weapons by Artakha, the Toa Nuva arrived at Karda Nui, the core of the universe. There, they came to face the Makuta who were trying to turn the population of Av-Matoran – Matoran of Light – into Shadow Matoran. The Toa Nuva were helped by the arrival of Takanuva, now able to control Light and Shadow because of a shadow leech attack, and Toa Ignika, who is the Mask of Life itself. The Kanohi Ignika had made a body for itself because it wished to see what it was like to be a living being. With their combined forces, they reached a structure in the center of Karda Nui called the Codrex, where Toa Ignika had to sacrifice his new body to awaken Mata Nui. Takanuva, with the help of the remaining uncorrupted Av-Matoran, returned the Shadow Matoran to their previous states. Shortly afterwards, the Toa escaped the core before the energy storm caused by Mata Nui's awakening could destroy them. The Makuta, however, failed to escape, and were all killed. Back in Metru Nui, Mata Nui's awakening was celebrated, but celebration was cut short when it was revealed that Teridax had taken over the body of Mata Nui, revealed to be the universe of the Matoran. Trapping the spirit of Mata Nui in the Mask of Life, he sent it flying into space so that the former Great Spirit cannot interfere with his control over the universe.

2009 – The Legend Reborn
The Bionicle story continues after Mata Nui was banished from his body by Makuta Teridax, onto a planet called Bara Magna. With the exception of a few wildlife species, Bara Magna is a barren desert planet which only supports few resources, so each tribe on the planet has a few warriors, called Glatorian, to battle for them. These resources, such as food and water, are distributed accordingly. The villagers of this world are known as Agori. The Agori together make up six different tribes, each affiliated with a region. After the Mask of Life lands on Bara Magna, it creates a body for Mata Nui to use. Mata Nui then teams up with a few Glatorian to defeat the combined forces of the Skrall and Bone Hunters, two major threats to the villages, and look for a way to return to his body. With the help of his new Glatorian and Agori friends he exposes a traitor known as Metus and defeats the Skrall and Bone Hunters. He helps the villages of the world to unite, taking all of the giant pieces of robot and linking them into a large prototype robotic body, a body like the one the Matoran Universe resides in.

2010 – Journey's End
After defeating the Skrall and seeing the rest of the villages unite, Mata Nui stands against the challenge of taking back his old body from Teridax. He learns that he was created by the Great Beings on the planet of Spherus Magna, which is now divided into a jungle moon (Bota Magna), an ocean moon (Aqua Magna), and the remaining desert planet (Bara Magna), as the result of the Core War. Mata Nui also learns that before he was built, there was a previous robot, which the Agori use as their home. An Agori of Tesara named Tarduk helps Mata Nui by showing him an ancient power source that could power up the old robot.

In this final journey, two heroes return to finish the fight: Tahu, returned to his original form to wear the powerful Golden Armor, and Takanuva. They are aided by Gresh. They fight off the Skakdi Warlord, Nektann to defeat Makuta, and his army; hordes of Rahkshi, armed with heat vision; and Skrall.

The story continues as the forces of both the Matoran Universe and Glatorian face the oncoming onslaught of Skakdi, Rahkshi, and Skrall. The golden armour, scattered by Makuta's blast is collected by Tahu, Gresh, and Takanuva from the many enemies. Tahu defeats Skakdi warlord Nektann, and then dons the armour, which incinerates every Rahkshi Kraata on Bara Magna.

Teridax claims that he will destroy Bara Magna with gravitic energy, until Mata Nui forces his arm upwards, causing Teridax to send the energy wave to the moons above. Mata Nui pushes Teridax back into one of the onrushing moons, the green moon of Bota Magna, whose impact destroys his core processor, which kills Teridax. Mata Nui then mourns the brother that he could have had, in his mind.

The finale concludes when Mata Nui uses his strength, and the power of the Mask of Life, to bring Spherus Magna together once more, to heal those who were mutated by Pit Mutagen, to bring life back to the planet, and to reconstruct destroyed geographical features. The strain causes his power core to dissipate, destroying the prototype robot. When the Glatorian and Toa discover the Ignika unscathed in the location where Mata Nui was, Mata Nui speaks to them from within the Mask of Life. He tells them that the future is their own and theirs to build. He then remains dormant in the Ignika. The Agori, Matoran, Toa, Glatorian and all others begin a new life on Spherus Magna.

Future of Bionicle
The Bionicle toyline drew to a close in late 2009, after the 2010 sets were finalized for release, and was replaced in the summer of 2010 by Hero Factory, a Lego theme that´s compatible with Bionicle sets. But despite this, the story is continuing in serials written by Greg Farshtey online at BIONICLEstory.com .

Reception
The Bionicle franchise has been well received, with one reviewer describing the sets as "good combination of assembly and action figure" and first-year sales of 100 million British pounds (161.7 million USD). Bionicle had received a Toy of the Year Award for Most Innovative Toy in 2001 from the Toy Industry Association.

Māori language controversy
In 2001, several Māori tribal groups from New Zealand threatened legal action against Lego for allegedly trademarking Māori words used in naming the Bionicle product range. In response, a Lego spokesperson stated that only the term "Bionicle" had been trademarked. Lego agreed to stop commercial use of the Māori language after sending an executive to meet with Māori representatives in New Zealand. Some Māori terms used by Lego were changed, such as "Huki", which was changed to "Hewkii", and "Tohunga", which was changed to "Matoran". Within the fictional Bionicle universe, these changes were explained by the introduction of a "Naming Day" holiday, in which characters who have done heroic deeds for their village are honored by having the spelling of their name changed (though the pronunciation remains the same). However, a number of Māori terms such as "Toa", which means "warrior", "Kanohi", which means "face", and "Kopaka", which means "cold", were not changed. Since this controversy, Lego has not made any more names that are common terms in other living languages (with the exception of Umbra, a Latin word, and some names that are real names in some languages).

Impact
The rapid success of Bionicle has had a major impact on the Lego company. According to Stephanie Lawrence, the global director of licensing for Lego, "We've created an evergreen franchise to complement the many event-based properties on the children's market. An increasing number of category manufacturers want to tap into the power of the BIONICLE universe, and the key for us now is to manage the excitement to stay true to the brand and the lifestyle of our core consumer." According to one source, Bionicle has changed the way children think of, and play with, LEGO products by combining "the best of LEGO building with the story telling and adventure of an action figure line," and that 85% of American boys age 6–12 know of the Bionicle brand and 45% own the toys.

Music
Paul Hardcastle and Simon Fuller produced the first soundtracks for Bionicle's commercials used in 2001 to 2003. Music for the first three Bionicle films featured a more classical tune, rather that the techno-like beats used in the ads and animations. In 2005, the first official Bionicle songs were released. They were produced by rock band All Insane Kids and are called "Hero" and "Caught In A Dream" (the latter being used as the theme of Bionicle 3). Further down Bionicle's history, more songs were used to help advertise their sets, most of which were produced by Danish band Cryoshell, as well as songs by other artists, like "Crashed" by Daughtry and "Move Along" by The All-American Rejects.

References

Other websites

 Bionicle.com , Official Bionicle Website
 BionicleStory.com , Bionicle.com subsite to feature storyline information
 BZPower, Bionicle fan forum and news site
 BIONICLEsector01, External Bionicle wiki
 KanohiJournal , Bionicle fan emagazine

Lego
DC Comics

Bionicle


Good-bye, My Lady is a 1956 American drama film adaptation of the novel Good-bye, My Lady (1954) by James H. Street. The book had been inspired by Street's original 1941 story which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. Street was going to be the principal advisor on the film when he suddenly died of a heart attack. A boy learns what it means to be a man by befriending and training a stray Basenji dog and then is forced to surrender her to its rightful owner. Both readers of the story and film-goers found the boy's eventual loss of the dog unexpected.

Directed by William A. Wellman, the film starred Walter Brennan and Brandon deWilde, with Sidney Poitier and Phil Harris in supporting roles. Brennan and Harris previously co-starred in 1951's The Wild Blue Yonder, and Brennan and deWilde would reunite for the cameras in 1965 for Disney in Those Calloways. That same year, deWilde would play producer John Wayne's son in In Harm's Way. The film was produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions.

Plot
Young orphan boy Skeeter (Brandon deWilde) is being raised in a Mississippi swamp cabin by his poor and toothless Uncle Jesse Jackson (Walter Brennan). One night, a mysterious noise is heard. They later discover that the noise was caused by a strange breed of dog (My Lady of the Congo) they do not recognize. Rather than a bark, the dog has a yodel or laugh. The animal has keen senses, and they decide to train her for bird hunting.

In time, Skeeter learns that an ad had been placed for a female Basenji which had been lost in their swamp months earlier. Skeeter arranges for a telegram to be sent, and a representative (William Hopper) of the dog's rightful owner appears to take it back. Skeeter is forced to "come of age" and surrender the animal. With the $100 reward money given, he is able to purchase Jesse the false teeth that he needs and put a down payment on a 20 gauge shotgun.

Cast
 Walter Brennan as Uncle Jesse Jackson
 Phil Harris as Cash Evans
 Brandon deWilde as Claude "Skeeter" Jackson
 Sidney Poitier as Gates Watson
 William Hopper as Walden Grover
 Louise Beavers as Bonnie Drew

The dog
Chosen for the film was My Lady of the Congo, a six-month-old Basenji puppy of Miss Veronica Tudor-Williams of Molesey, England. My Lady was flown to Hollywood, to be followed later by four young dogs as doubles, including her little brother My Lord of the Congo and Flageolet of the Congo, subsequently an International Champion. As it was, My Lady wound up doing most of the scenes. When not filming with then 13-year-old deWilde, the dog spent all her time with him, and an attachment developed between them. Unknown to theater-goers that saw boy and dog parted in the film was the fact that the written agreement supplying the animal stated that My Lady would become the personal property of Brandon deWilde upon completion of filming.

The rare breed of dog had been unknown to most Americans. Affected by either the story, the novel or the movie, many people were inclined to become Basenji owners at this time.

Music
Song: "When Your Boy Becomes a Man". Music by Don Powell, lyrics by Moris Erby.

Home media
Good-bye, My Lady was originally released on VHS in the United States by Warner Home Video, on December 13, 1993. On December 10, 2010, Warner Archive Collection released Good-bye, My Lady as a manufactured on-demand remastered wide-screen DVD-R release.

In an interview for Turner Classic Movies, Gretchen Wayne, the daughter-in-law of John Wayne and current president of Batjac Productions, was asked about a DVD. "I'm not sure who owns Good-bye, My Lady -- it might be Warner Brothers. It's a charming story and it should be released," she said.

See also
 List of American films of 1956

References

External links

1956 films
1950s coming-of-age drama films
Batjac Productions films
American coming-of-age drama films
Films about dogs
Films about orphans
Films based on American novels
Films produced by John Wayne
Warner Bros. films
1956 drama films
1950s English-language films
Films directed by William A. Wellman
1950s American films
American black-and-white films

Good-bye, My Lady (film)


The Problem-Oriented Medical Information System, or PROMIS, was a hypertext system specially designed for maintaining health care records. PROMIS was developed at the University of Vermont in 1976, primarily by Jan Schultz and Dr. Lawrence Weed, M.D.

Apparently, the developers of Carnegie Mellon University's ZOG system were so impressed with PROMIS that it reinspired them to return to their own work.

PROMIS was an interactive, touchscreen system that allowed users to access a medical record within a large body of medical knowledge. At its peak, the PROMIS system had over 60,000 frames of knowledge.

PROMIS was also known for its fast responsiveness, especially for its time.

External links
A History of the PROMIS Technology: An Effective Human Interface (PDF file)

Hypertext
Health informatics


The Penguin (Oswald Cobblepot) is a fictional character and an enemy of Batman appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character made his first appearance in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941) and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. He is one of Batman's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues gallery.

The Penguin is a Gotham City mobster who calls himself the "Gentleman of Crime". He is most often seen wearing a monocle, top hat, and tuxedo while carrying his umbrella as a weapon. The character appears most times as a short, obese man with a long nose. Penguin uses high-tech umbrellas as different tools. His umbrellas have been used as guns, gas guns, swords/knives, a mini-helicopter and many other unconventional tools. The Penguin owns and runs a nightclub called the Iceberg Lounge which provides a cover for his criminal activity.

The character has subsequently been adapted to different forms of media, including movies, tv shows and video games as well. He was played by Burgess Meredith in the 1960s television series Batman and in Batman: The Movie. He was played by Danny DeVito in Batman Returns, Robin Lord Taylor in the 2014 TV series Gotham. He was played by Colin Farrell in the 2022 movie The Batman.

The Penguin has repeatedly been named one of the best Batman villains and one of the greatest villains in comics. Penguin was ranked #51 in IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time.

References

Batman characters
DC Comics characters
Fictional characters introduced in 1941

Penguin (comics)


The Oselvar or Oselver is a small wooden rowing boat traditionally built and used along the west coast of Norway. The Oselvar is a clinker built boat with thin, very wide planks. Almost all parts of an Oselvar are made of pine, with only the keel of oak.

History
This type of boat has been very common in the outer regions of Hordaland for hundreds of years.  It was named after the major important building site for this type of boat during the 18th century, at the mouth of the Oselva River in Os in Hordaland county. In the early 1800s, boat building was an important industry in Os and the neighboring village of Tysnes, on the other side of the fjord. The stylized figure of an Oselvar appears on the coat of arms of the municipality of Os.

Dating from at least the 1500s and continuing until 1860, these boats were exported in kit form principally to the Shetland and Orkney islands.  During the North Sea crossing, the wooden boats were taken apart and then 'flat packed' for shipping. Instead of sending complicated assembly instructions, they sent Norwegian boatbuilders to re-build them.

Although initially a working row or sail boat, the Oselvar also has a long tradition as a leisure craft. A boat which could achieve both grace and speed was perfect for sailing and rowing competitions. The first regatta was arranged by the Bergen Sailing Association on Midsummer's Day in 1871. Today several clubs and sailing associations are engaged in promoting the traditions of the Oselvar, both as a sports and leisure boat. In 2009, the boat was voted Norwegian national boat in a poll held by the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue.

See also
Yoal
Faering

References

Related reading
Leather, John (1990) Clinker Boatbuilding (Adlard Coles)

External links
Film footage from Oselvar-regatta.
Video from sailing the Oselvar at Austevoll, west coast of Norway.
Video from sailing Oselvar regatta at the Tysnes island, June 2016, Norway.
bt.no, Video, ends with footage of two brothers rowing an oselvar.]
Photograph Gallery
Oselvar Boat Yard

Os, Hordaland
Boat types

Oselvar


Jehoram ( Yəhōrām; also Joram) was the ninth king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 8:16, 2 Kings 8:25–28). He was the son of Ahab and Jezebel, and brother to Ahaziah and Athaliah.

According to 2 Kings, 2 Kings 8:16, in the fifth year of Jehoram of Israel, (another) Jehoram became king of Judah. The author of Kings speaks of both Jehoram of Israel and Jehoram of Judah in the same passage.

Reign
Jehoram began to reign in Israel in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat of Judah and ruled 12 years (2 Kings 3:1). William F. Albright dated his reign to 849–842 BCE, whereas E. R. Thiele proposed  852–841 BCE.

Unlike his predecessors, Jehoram did not worship Ba'al, and he removed the pillar of Baal, probably a special pillar which Ahab had erected near his palace at Jezreel for his own and Jezebel's worship. However, the writer of 2 Kings says that he still "followed in the ways of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who led the Israelites to sin". With Jehoshaphat of Judah, Jehoram attacked Mesha, King of the Moabites. In the war between Aram-Damascus and Israel, Elisha befriended Joram, revealing to him the plans of the enemy. Subsequently, when Ben-hadad besieged Samaria, reducing the city almost to starvation and cannibalism, Jehoram sought to behead the prophet. The latter, however, foretold that a period of plenty was imminent; the siege was soon lifted, the city's food supplies were replenished, and the old relation between the king and the prophet was restored.

When Hazael, king of the Arameans, violently revolted in Damascus, as Elisha had predicted (), Jehoram made an alliance with his nephew Ahaziah, King of Judah. The two kings set forth to take Ramoth-gilead from Aram. The battle failed; Jehoram was wounded in the fighting, and he withdrew to Jezreel to recover. It is likely that his defeat at Ramoth-Gilead was a disaster. As a result, while Jehoram was recuperating at Jezreel, his general, Jehu, incited a revolt. Jehu executed Jehoram by shooting him in the back with an arrow and had his body thrown into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, as punishment for his parents' sin in illegally stealing Naboth's land. With the death of Jehoram and his other family members, the Ahab Dynasty came to an end. Jehu claimed the throne of Israel as his own.

Archeology
The author of the Tel Dan Stele claimed to have slain both Ahaziah and Jehoram. Hazael is the most likely to have written it.

References

840s BC deaths
9th-century BC Kings of Israel
9th-century BC murdered monarchs
Year of birth unknown
Biblical murder victims
Children of Ahab
Dethroned monarchs
Male murder victims

Jehoram of Israel


Leonardo De Lorenzo (August 29, 1875 – July 29, 1962) was an Italian virtuoso flutist and music educator.

Biography
Born at Viggiano, in the province of Potenza, De Lorenzo started playing the flute at the age of 8 and went to Naples to attend the Music conservatory "San Pietro a Majella". At 16, he moved to the United States, working at a hotel in Cerulean, Kentucky, but in 1896 he returned to Italy for the military service in Alessandria, becoming a member of a military band directed by Giovanni Moranzoni.

Subsequently, he began his own career and toured in Italy, Germany, England and South Africa. He joined an orchestra in Cape Town at 25. In 1907, he returned to Naples to complete the studies, then he went to America again, becoming first flautist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Gustav Mahler, and played with the New York Symphony Orchestra, in substitution of Georges Barrère.

He was also flautist of the orchestras of Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Rochester. In 1914, during his collaboration with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, he met Maude Peterson, a pianist who frequently accompanied him and became his wife. In 1917, the Los Angeles Flute Club played a musical in his honor and De Lorenzo was appointed the first Honorary Member of the association.

From 1923 to 1935 he was professor for flute at the Eastman School of Music, where one of his students was Julius Baker, considered one of the greatest American flutist of his generation. After his retirement, De Lorenzo focused on composition and writing of theoretical publications. Works such as Saltarello and Pizzica-pizzica are a homage to the characteristic sounds of the traditional music of his native town. In 1951 he released the book My complete story of the flute, a result of intensive research by De Lorenzo which made him one of the most eminent flute pedagogues of the 20th century.

All of his research material was donated to the University of Southern California, on October 25, 1953. In the same year, he received an honorary doctorate of the Washington International Academy of Rome and was godfather for the newly formed flute club in Milan. On August 29, 1955 the Los Angeles Flute Club organized a concert playing his compositions for his 80th birthday. De Lorenzo died in his home in Santa Barbara, California. The International Flute Competition "Leonardo De Lorenzo", held every two years in Viggiano from 1997 to 2013, was dedicated to him.

Compositions
 Appassionato, for flute, op. 5
 Giovialità, for flute and piano, op. 15
 Serenata, for flute and piano, op. 16
 2 Pieces for flute and piano, op.17
 2 Pieces for flute and piano, op.18
 2 Pieces for flute and piano, op.19
 2 Pieces for flute and piano, op.20
 2 Pieces for flute and piano, op.21
 2 Pieces for flute and piano, op.22
 2 Pieces for flute and piano, op.23
 Saltarello, for flute, op. 27
 Carnevale di Venezia, for flute
 Nove grandi studi
 I tre virtuosi, for three flutes, op. 31
 I seguaci di Pan, for four flutes, op. 32
 Non plus ultra, for flute, op. 34
 Pizzica-Pizzica, for flute, op. 37
 Suite mitologica, for flute, op. 38
 Idillio, for flute and piano, op. 67
 Improvviso, for flute and piano, op. 72
 Sinfonietta (Divertimento Flautistico), for five flutes, op. 75
 Trio Eccentrico, for flute, clarinet and bassoon, op. 76
 Trio Romantico, for flute, oboe and clarinet, op. 78
 I quattro virtuosi (Divertimento fantastico), for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, op. 80
 Capriccio, for four flutes, op. 82

Didactic works
L'Indispensabile. A complete modern school for the flute (1912)
My complete story of the flute (1951)

External links

 Biography of Leonardo De Lorenzo
 Biography of Leonardo De Lorenzo
 Official site of the International Flute Competition "Leonardo De Lorenzo"

1875 births
1962 deaths
People from Viggiano
Musicians from Santa Barbara, California
Italian classical flautists
Italian music educators
Eastman School of Music faculty

Leonardo De Lorenzo


Queentastic is a group of Norwegian drag artists, established in early 2005.

Background
Members Dean Erik Andersen, born in 1971 in Kristiansand, and Geir Lillejord, born in Skien in 1968, both have previous drag experience from their membership in Great Garlic Girls - another Norwegian drag act (two members of which backed Ketil Stokkan's Eurovision Song Contest 1986 entry as dancers. In fact, Dean had previously substituted for Geir (a founder of the group), which marked the beginning of their association. The duo competed as one of 18 acts in the Norwegian selections for Eurovision Song Contest, the Melodi Grand Prix 2006. They had previously presented their weekly show Sex, Drag & Rock 'n' Roll together at the current premium queer nightclub in Norway - the Oslo-based Naken  - in company with a third drag queen and designer Cårejånni Enderud. Enderud also designed the duo's costumes for their Melodi Grand Prix performances. The show also toured to Kristiansand and Bergen. Geir has also performed as part of the Ruth & Vigdis duo along with Enderud.

Melodi Grand Prix
Queentastic's Melodi Grand Prix entry was the Alcazar-inspired disco song Absolutely Fabulous, inspired by the British comedy series with the same name. (See Absolutely Fabulous.) The song was written by Gerard James Borg and composed by Thomas G:son. G:son also wrote Carola's entry in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2006, Invincible (which became Sweden's Eurovision Song Contest 2006 entry). The duo competed against Norwegian musicians such as Trine Rein and Christine Guldbrandsen in Grand Prix final, however did not prove successful in their attempt to represent Norway (that honour falling to Gulbrandsen). In 2007 Queentastic released a  new song for the Norwegian pride called Drop-Dead Gorgeous also penned by Gerard James Borg and composed by Thomas G:son.

See also
Melodi Grand Prix 2006
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Absolutely Fabulous (BBC series)
Scandinavian drag artists
After Dark (Sweden)
Babsan (Sweden)
DQ (Denmark)
Rickard Engfors (Sweden)
The Pink Lady´s (Norway)

References

External links
 Behind the scene article (in Norwegian)
 Naken, the Oslo night club where they have their weekly show
 Melodi Grand Prix: Queentastic

Norwegian musical groups
Norwegian drag queens
Melodi Grand Prix contestants
LGBT culture in Norway
Drag groups

Queentastic


The caste system is a system in India that was once mainly used by Hindus. This system has been generally accepted for about 3000 years. There are four castes in this system, and one outcast group regarded as "untouchables". There are also castes in countries other than India as the system spread to South Asia about 2000 years ago. For centuries, this system has dictated one's marriages, geographical location, and occupation. People must not marry someone from another caste, and they must not do things that another caste does. The Indian government today works to decrease this discrimination with the quotas set in government jobs in 1950.

 Brahmin - priests and scholars
 Kshatriya - warriors and kings
 Vaishya - merchants and landowners
 Shudra - peasants and labourers
 Untouchables or Dalits - came much later after the other four groups and consisted of people who did jobs considered ritually polluting. This included sweeping ashes after cremations or ridding of animal waste or skinning animals such as cows.

Caste