Charmed is an American television series set in San Francisco. It is the story of three sister witches known as the Charmed Ones who fight demons and warlocks. Charmed was on The WB television network for 8 seasons from 1998 until 2006. Charmed ended production April 2006. Its last episode Forever Charmed was shown on May 21, 2006.

Plot
The story begins when Phoebe finds the Book of Shadows after seeing the word "ATTIC" spelled out on the spirit board. She reads out an incantation which gives them their powers. They remained a threesome until their sister, Prudence (Prue), dies fighting the demon Shax. Shortly after Prue dies, Piper casts a To Find A Lost Soul spell and finds that they have a younger half-sister, Paige Matthews. The triad or Power of Three is once again complete. This continues until the seventh season. After vanquishing the demon Zankou and an astral projection form of themselves everyone believes that they are dead. They give up magic to have normal lives. But the magic is still alive. They are sought out to help a young new witch named Billie who is a college student wanting to fight demons. Paige is first drawn to her because she is Billie's Whitelighter.

Characters

The Sisters
Prue Halliwell: Prue was the oldest sister of the Charmed Ones. She had the powers to move objects with her mind (Telekinesis) and Astral Projection. Prue was in love with a police officer named Andy. He died at the end of season 1. She died at the end of season 3. Prue's power to move objects with her mind is connected with her emotions. It is affected by anger. He power is stronger when she feels the need to protect herself and her sisters, or protect the innocents or the other good creatures.

Piper Halliwell: Piper was the middle child and always the middle. She has a husband, Leo. Leo used to be the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter Piper also has three children: Wyatt and Christopher and a daughter that the sisters (Prue Piper and Pheobe) saw on a trip to the future. Piper has the power to blow things up and to freeze things. Piper's powers are connected with her emotions. When she panics, she has the urge to freeze people and when she gets angry she usually blows things up.

Phoebe Halliwell: Phoebe was the youngest and that will never change noboby can change that. Phoebe was married to a demon. His human name is Cole Turner and his demon name is Belthazor.
She is now married to coop a cupid and has three children. Phoebe has the power to see the past and the future, the ability to levitate, and is able to read others feelings/thoughts.

Paige Mathews: Paige is the half-sister to the Halliwell sisters. She is the youngest of the sisters. She is the daughter of Patricia "Patty" Halliwell (Mother of the Halliwell sisters) and Sam Wilder (Patty's Whitelighter). She came into the series when Prue died. She has Prue's power of telekinesis but with a twist because she is half whitlighter. She has the power to orb things to her. Prue only had to think about something to move it, Paige must reach out to it and call for it, this is known as 'tele-orbing'. She also has the Whitelighter abilities of Orbing and Glamouring (to shapeshift into a different human appearance). She finally receives the power to heal in the middle of season 8.

Their husbands
Leo Wyatt: Piper's husband.
Leo started out on the show as the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter.Then he became and elder Leo died during World War II. Then he was reborn as a whitelighter. He was a medic in the military. After being the Whitelighter for the Charmed Ones for several years, Leo was elevated to the position of Elder. He later joined a group of beings called The Avatars. By the end of the series, he had fallen from grace and was made mortal again. He has killed two Elders and many demons to protect Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Wyatt and Chris.

Cole Turner: Phoebe's ex-husband also known as the demon Belthazor.
He was half human/half demon. His demon side was strongest until he met and fell in love with Phoebe. As a demon, he could not help hurting the sisters. He asked Phoebe to strip (remove) his powers. After he helped vanquish the Source of All Evil, he became the new Source. In spite of Phoebe's love for Cole, she and her two sisters vanquish him, or so they thought. Cole came back and helped the sisters many times. Cole was eventually vanquished for good. Cole loved Phoebe very much. He would stop at nothing to win her back but he never succeeded.

Coop: Phoebe's husband
Coop is a Cupid. He was sent to Phoebe by the Elders to help her find love. He realizes that he loves her and he wants to be with her. Phoebe does not feel the same way until the series finale.

Henry: Paige's husband.
He is a human. He worked as a parole officer. He is one of the few people who understood Paige's powers—well, not understood but accepted. Their love is very strong.

Demons
Demons are evil creatures with powers that try to kill the Charmed Ones. They do not have souls so therefore can kill innocent people with contious. Most demons work for "The Source" but some hate him. The Source of all Evil is a very powerful demon who rules the Underworld. The Charmed ones have killed The Source three times. There are different ranks of demons and the Charmed ones have faced them all. In some situation demons actually helped the Charmed ones. Demons try to kill the Charmed ones to impress the Source and all of the Underworld.

The Book of Shadows
The Book of Shadows is the Charmed One's magical book. It contains spells, potions and information of various magical creatures such as demons and warlocks. The Book of Shadows has been around since beginning of the family line. The book has its own defensive power. Whenever evil tries to touch the book, it jumps away. Each generation has added to the Book of Shadows making it more and more powerful. For example, in the final episode, each of the sisters adds all that they have learned so that future generations of Halliwell witches can learn from their experiences.

Main cast
 Phoebe Halliwell - Alyssa Milano (seasons 1-8)
 Piper Halliwell - Holly Marie Combs (seasons 1-8)
 Prue Halliwell - Shannen Doherty (seasons 1-3)
 Paige Mathews - Rose McGowan (seasons 4-8)
 Leo Wyatt - Brian Krause (seasons 1-8)
 Darryl Morris - Dorian Gregory (seasons 1-7)
 Cole Turner - Julian McMahon (seasons 3-5)
 Chris Perry Halliwell - Drew Fuller (season 6)
 Billie Jenkins - Kaley Cuoco (season 8)
 Dan Gordon - Greg Vaughn (season 2)
 Andy Trudeau Ted King in season 1

Other websites

1998 American television series debuts
2006 American television series endings
1990s American drama television series
2000s American drama television series

Fantasy television series
Telekinesis in fiction
Television series about sisters
Television series set in San Francisco
WB network shows
English-language television programs
The WB original programming

Charmed


Rationalism is the view that reasoning by itself is a source of knowledge or proof. It is a philosophical movement that began in the 17th century, but the same ideas were also talked about before then. Rationalist philosophers believe that all knowledge can be understood through a process of reasoning, without any external sources. They do not believe that human beings can understand everything this way, but that it is theoretically possible. Rationalist philosophers attempt to understand ideas like God and the soul in this manner.

The first people to talk about rationalism were Marin Mersenne and René Descartes, of the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. Other philosophers who are seen as rationalist today include Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant. Famous people opposed to this idea were David Hume and John Locke. These opponents favored a view called empiricism.

Rationalism also influenced natural law. Natural law is a theory that says that there are laws given by nature, valid everywhere. Deism was also influenced by rationalism. According to deism, a supreme being created the universe. This being, and other religious truths can be determined by observing nature, and finding natural laws. This would make religions that are based on  revelation unnecessary.

References

Epistemology
Philosophical movements and positions

Rationalism


Thieme Medical Publishers is a German medical and science publisher in the Thieme Publishing Group. It produces professional journals, textbooks, atlases, monographs and reference books in both German and English covering a variety of medical specialties, including neurosurgery, orthopaedics, endocrinology, urology, radiology, anatomy, chemistry, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, audiology and speech-language pathology, complementary and alternative medicine. Thieme has more than 1,000 employees and maintains offices in seven cities worldwide, including New York City, Beijing, Delhi, Stuttgart, and three other cities in Germany.

History
Georg Thieme Verlag was founded in 1886 in Leipzig, Germany, by Georg Thieme when he was 26 years old. Thieme remains privately held and family-owned. The company received some early success in 1896 by publishing Wilhelm Röntgen's famous picture of his wife's hand in what is still one of Thieme's  and  Germany's oldest journals, the Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift. In 1919, Georg Thieme partnered with Bruno Hauff, a young publisher from Leipzig. When Thieme died in 1925, ownership of the company passed to Hauff. Members of the Hauff family have been the proprietors of the business ever since.

In 1946, two years after Thieme had been bombed and forced to close completely during World War II, the Allies relocated the company from Leipzig in the eastern sector to Stuttgart in the west where it was provided with a license to publish and distribute journals, brochures, and books.

Guenther Hauff, son of Bruno, acquired Stratton International Medical Book of New York in 1979, and several years later, in 1984, the two companies merged to become Thieme Medical Publishers New York.

References

External links

 Thieme Publishing Group (German)

Book publishing companies of Germany
Academic publishing companies
Publishing companies of Germany
1886 establishments in Germany
Publishing companies established in 1886

Thieme Medical Publishers


Deuteronomy is a book in the Bible.  It is the last of the five books of Moses, meaning it deals with Moses, the Israelites and their ancestors, and their relationship with God. It is part of the Torah. The Hebrew name of the book is , which means 'people of the Word.'

Layout

The Beginning
The book begins with the words Moses spoke to the Israelites in the wilderness east of the Jordan.  He told them that they had been very rebellious towards God, so God made them travel from place to place before reaching the land he promised them.  This was the fortieth year they travelled.

The Causes
Moses told the Israelites what had happened throughout their journey.  He scolded them for disobeying God, who made them go through a very hard journey.  Moses then gave them the Law, teaching them what must be done, and what cannot be done.  These laws were given to him by God.  (See Ten Commandments.) The Law warns against worshipping other gods, and tells that all Israel, every one, must obey God alone. He warned them against worshipping idols, and commanded them to treat the poor, foreigners, and orphans well.  If the Israelites obey God, they will prosper (be successful). But God predicted that the future generations will suffer because of their disobedience.  One day, however the Israelites would return to God.

The Tablets
God then commanded Moses to write the Law on stone tablets for the Israelites to remember.  Then Moses formally made Joshua, son of Nun, the new leader over the Israelites.  God gave Moses a song to sing, and asked him to teach it to the Israelites.  The song would remind them in the future about how they had gone against God.

The death of Moses
Moses was very old - 120 years - during that time.  He knew he was going to die because God had told him it would happen.  Therefore, before he died, he gave a blessing to all the twelve tribes of Israel.

Finally God made Moses climb Mount Nebo and showed him all the land he was giving to Israel.  Because Moses and his brother Aaron disobeyed God earlier on, Moses was not allowed to enter the land, only to see it. Moses died on Mount Nebo, and the Israelites mourned for him for thirty days.  After that Joshua began to lead Israel under God's command.

Other websites
 Book of Deuteronomy article (Jewish Encyclopedia)
 Teacher's Guide to Teaching Deuteronomy
 Deuteronomy by Rob Bradshaw
 "Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God", Michael S. Heiser, Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (January-March 2001)

Versions and translations
Jewish translations:
 Deuteronomy at Mechon-Mamre (modified Jewish Publication Society translation)
 Deuteronomy (The Living Torah)  Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's translation and commentary at Ort.org
 Devarim - Deuteronomy (Judaica Press) translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org
 דְּבָרִים Devarim - Deuteronomy (Hebrew - English at Mechon-Mamre.org)

 Christian translations:
Online Bible at GospelHall.org (King James Version)
 Deuteronomy - Chapter Indexed  (King James Version)
 oremus Bible Browser (New Revised Standard Version)
 oremus Bible Browser (Anglicized New Revised Standard Version)
 Deuteronomy at Wikisource  (Authorized King James Version)

Old Testament books
Books of the Hebrew Bible
6th-century BC books

Deuteronomy


The Palau Reial Major (; "Grand Royal Palace") is a complex of historic buildings located in Plaça del Rei, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was a residence of the counts of Barcelona and kings of Aragon. It is composed of three distinct edifices:
the Saló del Tinell, built by King Peter IV in 1359–1362
the Palatine Chapel of St. Agatha  (1302), built under King James II
the Palau del Lloctinent (1549), built by Generalitat of Catalonia under Charles V

The Saló del Tinell was built in the 14th century under the direction of architect Guillem Carbonell. Its gothic round arches are founded over 11th-century vaults (built themselves over a pre-existing monumental structure dating to the Visigoth age). The Chapel of St. Agatha was designed by architect Bertran Riquer to act as the royal chapel, replacing a previous oratory. It has an octagonal tower from the early 14th century, and it consists of a single aisle with a roof ceiling and ends with a polygonal apse. The sacristy is built within the ancient Roman walls. By commission of Peter V of Aragon (1463–1466) painter Jaume Huguet made the chapel altarpiece dedicated to the Epiphany.

Both Saló del Tinell and St. Agatha Chapel are valuated as Catalan Gothic architecture masterpieces. The Epiphany altarpiece is also an outstanding gothic painting. They can be visited as a part of the Barcelona City History Museum MUHBA. Temporary exhibitions are held in them.

After the 16th century, the edifice was no longer used as a royal residence and was divided between the Inquisition and the royal administration. In this period, the door leading to the Royal Audience Hall was built, with a triangular tympanum (currently at the entrance of the Museu Frederic Marès).

The Palau de Lloctinent was built in 1549–1557 by Antoni Carbonell, in late Gothic-Renaissance style as the residence of the Viceroy (Lloctinent) of Catalonia. Also from this period is the so-called Mirador of King Martin, a five-storey tower on a rectangular plan (1555).

Gallery

References

External links

 MUHBA Plaça del Rei

Buildings and structures completed in 1302
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1302
Buildings and structures completed in 1362
Houses completed in the 14th century
Houses completed in 1549
Gothic architecture in Catalonia
Palaces in Barcelona
Royal residences in Spain
1549 establishments in Spain

Palau Reial Major


("Kyoko's House") is a 1959 novel by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.

The book tells the interconnected stories of four young men who represent different facets of the author's personality. His athletic side appears as a boxer, his artistic side as a painter, his narcissistic, performing side as an actor and his secretive, nihilistic side as a businessman who goes through the motions of living a normal life while practicing "absolute contempt for reality".

Mishima's biographer and translator, John Nathan, has called Kyōko no Ie "an unsettling, even a terrifying book", at least partly because it seems prophetic in its anticipation of developments in Mishima's own life: the boxer takes up right-wing politics and the actor becomes involved in a sado-masochistic sexual relationship which ends in double suicide for himself and his lover.

The story of Osamu, the actor in Kyōko no Ie, was one of three Mishima works adapted by Paul Schrader for his film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. Although the novel has not been translated into English, Schrader used it because his original choice, Forbidden Colors, was vetoed by Mishima's widow.

References

1959 Japanese novels
Japanese-language novels
Japanese novels adapted into films
Novels by Yukio Mishima
Novels about artists
Novels about actors
Novels about boxing

Kyōko no Ie


The Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) was a format of magnetic tape, developed to replace the compact cassette. It competed with the Minidisc and the Digital Audio Tape (DAT), but neither format could replace the compact cassette. It was marketed as a cheaper alternative to DAT.

Equipment for the digital compact cassette was able to playback analog compact cassettes as well; recording could only be done to DCC, though. A DCC tape is similar in appearance to a regular cassette, except that it has reel access holes on only one side, and has a shutter covering both the tape and reel access holes, similar to the shutter on a floppy disk. This protects the tape and also prevents it from being accidentally inserted into an analog cassette deck.

Unlike DAT, DCC uses lossy data compression. This means that the copy of the data is not identical to the original. Audio data could be compressed to about 25 percent of its original size.

The main problem of the format was tied to handling: Finding a song in the middle of a 90 minute tape takes several minutes, with Minidisc it is instantaneous. Minidisc allows to delete or move tracks, features which the digital compact cassette cannot offer.

Even though some of the features were addressed (like rewinding a 90 minute tape in less than a minute), the format never gained much market share. The compression format used by DCC is based on MP1, which was a predecessor of MP3. The CD-R, which is compatible with standard CD players, eventually replaced both DCC and MiniDisc for home audio recording. The CD-R also replaced analog tape.

Magnetic tape

Digital Compact Cassette


Deborahe Elizabeth Glasgow (19 January 1966 – 25 January 1994) was an English lovers rock singer of Guyanese parentage, who was active from the late 1970s to the beginning of the 1990s. Though Glasgow released only one album in her lifetime, 1989's Deborahe Glasgow, she began releasing singles in her adolescence. She is perhaps best known for her duet with Shabba Ranks on a song initially released as "Champion Lover" on her eponymous album, but recut by Ranks as "Mr. Loverman" in 1990.

Life and career
Glasgow was born in London in 1965, recording her first single "Fallin' in Love" (as Debbie G) in her mid teens for producer Mad Professor's Ariwa label. She steadily built up a following amongst black Londoners by working the local sound system circuit. This led to a record contract with Greensleeves Records' Bubblers subsidiary, and a series of popular singles, including "Knight in Shining Armour", "When Somebody Loves You Back" and "Don't Stay Away".

An album collaboration in Jamaica in 1989 with dancehall producer Augustus "Gussie" Clarke, backed on many tracks by Steely & Cleevie proved the highlight of Glasgow's short career and "made her name a legend." The resultant collection of songs is representative of the Lovers rock genre and described by some critics as "the best lovers rock album ever recorded". "Champion Lover" revealed an uncharacteristically hard-edged sound, with the 12" "Sex" mix of the track representing a move towards dancehall, and sentiments that were less innocent in content than other Glasgow recordings. In 1990, Shabba Ranks versioned "Champion Lover" under the new title "Mr. Loverman" on his album Rappin' with the Ladies. Four years later, after Glasgow's early death, he re-recorded the tune, this time with Chevelle Franklin as the featured singer, and this version became a worldwide hit.

At the start of the 1990s, Glasgow collaborated briefly with General Lee, resulting in the tracks "Weak" and "Knocking the Boots". However, aside from some lucrative work on advertisement jingles, her recording career was largely dormant. Instead she opted to devote more time to the needs of her young family.  She was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, the complications from which ultimately claimed her life. She died in Wandsworth, South London on 25 January 1994 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of twenty nine. A remembrance tour that played London, Birmingham and Manchester took place to help raise funds for her four surviving children.

Album discography
Deborahe Glasgow (1989), Greensleeves
Gimme Your Love (1994), World
The Legend (1999), World

References

External links

1966 births
1994 deaths
Lovers rock musicians
20th-century Black British women singers
British reggae musicians
Greensleeves Records artists

Deborahe Glasgow


Spring Web Flow (SWF) is the sub-project of the Spring Framework that focuses on providing the infrastructure for building and running rich web applications. The project tries to solve 3 core problems facing web application developers:
 How do you express page navigation rules?
 How do you manage navigation and conversational state?
 How do you facilitate modularization and reuse?
In Spring Web Flow, a web flow answers all of the above questions: it captures navigational rules allowing the Spring Web Flow execution engine to manage a conversation and the associated state. At the same time, a web flow is a reusable web application module.

Since version 2.0, Spring Web Flow also introduces other additional features supporting the construction of rich web applications, such as AJAX support and tight integration with JavaServer Faces.

History

The Spring Web Flow project started as a simple extension to the Spring Web MVC framework providing web flow functionality, developed by Erwin Vervaet in 2004. In 2005 the project was introduced into the Spring portfolio by Keith Donald and grew into the official Spring sub-project it is now. The first production ready 1.0 release was made on 2006-10-26. Version 2.0, first released on 2008-04-29, saw a major internal reorganization of the framework to allow better integration with JavaServer Faces.

References

 Erwin Vervaet: The Definitive Guide to Spring Web Flow, Apress,
 Marten Deinum and Koen Serneels: Pro Spring MVC: With Web Flow, Apress,

External links
 Spring Web Flow Homepage (Spring.io)
 Original Spring Web Flow version (Ervacon)

Cross-platform free software
Free software programmed in Java (programming language)

Spring Web Flow


A mixed drink is a type of drink where two or more diffent drinks are mixed together to create a new drink. Very often, at least one of the ingredients contains alcohol. Usually, spirits like rum or vodka are used in the mixed drinks containing alcohol.

Examples of mixed drinks are Rum & Coke and Bundy & Rum.

Alcopops are pre-fabricated mixed drinks. They were mainly made for the young. Often they are made so that the alcohol in them cannot be tasted easily.

Mixed drinks without alcohol are often called virgin.

Alcoholic drinks

Mixed drink


The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) is a drama school in London, England. It is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1904 by Herbert Beerbohm Tree. It is thought to be one of the best drama schools in the world. Architect Bryan Avery designed the university.

The President of RADA is actor Kenneth Branagh since the death of Richard Attenborough in August 2014. The Vice-Chairman is yet to be announced since the last one Alan Rickman died while in position in January 2016. Many famous actors have studied here.

Notable alumni

Gemma Arterton (born 1986), movie, stage and television actress
Dean Joseph Norris (born c. 1962/1963) movie and television actor
Richard Attenborough (born 1923), actor, director and producer
Sir Alan Bates (1934–2003), movie, stage and television actor
Sean Bean (born 1959), movie & television actor
Sir Kenneth Branagh (born 1960), actor and movie director
Joan Collins (born 1933), actress and producer
Sir Tom Courtenay (born 1937), movie, stage and television actor
Timothy Dalton (born 1946), movie, stage and television actor
Charles Durning (1923-2012), movie, stage and television actor
Brian Epstein (1934–1967), music entrepreneur and manager
Ralph Fiennes (born 1962), movie and stage actor
Elizabeth Sellars (born 1923), movie and stage actress
Albert Finney (born 1936), movie, stage and television actor
Sir Michael Gambon (born 1940), movie, stage and television actor
Sir John Gielgud (1904–2000), actor, director and producer
Maggie Gyllenhaal (born 1977), stage and screen actress
Sir Ronald Harwood (born 1934), playwright and screenwriter
Sally Hawkins (born 1976), stage and screen actress
Tom Hiddleston (born 1981), movie, television, radio, and stage actor
Sir Anthony Hopkins (born 1937), movie, stage and television actor
Sir Ian Holm (born 1931), movie, stage and television actor
John Hurt (born 1940), actor and vocal artist
Glenda Jackson (born 1936), actress and politician
Ted Lange (born 1948), movie, television, stage, and voice actor
Charles Laughton (1899–1962), actor, screenwriter and producer
Mike Leigh (born 1943), movie and theatre director, screenwriter
Vivien Leigh (1913–1967), stage and screen actress
Andrew Lincoln (born 1973), actor
Matthew Macfadyen (born 1974), movie, stage, television and voice actor
Steve McFadden (born 1959), movie and television actor and presenter
Sir Roger Moore (born 1927), movie and television actor
Alan Napier (1903-1988), movie, television and stage actor
Joe Orton (1933–1967), playwright
Peter O'Toole (1932-2013), stage and screen actor
Clive Owen (born 1964), movie actor
Alex Kingston (born 1963), movie, stage and television actress
Harold Pinter (1930–2008), playwright, director and screenwriter
Jonathan Pryce (born 1947), actor and singer
Alan Rickman (born 1946), actor and theatre director
Dame Diana Rigg (born 1938), stage and movie actress
Liev Schreiber (born 1967), movie actor, producer, director and screenwriter
Michael Sheen (born 1969), stage and movie actor
Timothy Spall (born 1957), actor
Ben Whishaw (born 1980), movie, stage, television and radio actor
Susannah York (1939–2011), movie, stage and television actress
Martha Howe-Douglas (born 1980), television actress

References

Other websites

1904 establishments in England
Colleges and universities in London

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art


Sir Thomas Beecham (born St Helens, Lancashire, 29 April 1879; died London, 8 March 1961) was an English conductor. He was one of the most famous conductors of his time. He came from a very rich family and was able to use his money to pay orchestras that he formed. He formed the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was especially well known for conducting the music of Mozart as well as that of his friend Delius.

He often made funny jokes and many amusing stories are told about things that he said.

Early life
Beecham was born in 1879 in St. Helens, Lancashire in the north of England. Beecham was self-taught as a conductor. He had some private composition lessons from Charles Wood in London and Moszkowski in Paris. Beecham's father, Sir Joseph Beecham, had made a lot of money making medicines (the famous Beecham pills) and he also liked music, so he was able to help his son in his career as a musician.

Thomas was only 20 years old when his father was reinstated as mayor of St. Helens. To celebrate this, his father paid for the Hallé Orchestra to give a concert. It was going to be conducted by the famous German conductor Hans Richter. However, a few days before the concert it was announced that Richter was ill. Thomas immediately said he would conduct the concert. The orchestra at first refused to play for a 20 year old who had only once ever conducted a concert, but in the end they changed their minds and the concert was a great success.

Early career

In 1909 Thomas got a group of musicians together to form the Beecham Symphony Orchestra. They gave concerts and played for ballets and operas. Beecham conducted operas in Covent Garden and other London opera houses. He conducted works by composers such as Strauss, Delius, Smythe and Holbrooke. He also played for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes when they first came to England.

During World War I he gave money to the Halle Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Society, all of which he conducted. He often conducted these orchestras outside London, giving people the chance to hear music they had never heard before.

For several years he had money problems and did not conduct much. Then, in 1932, he formed the London Philharmonic Orchestra and quickly made it into an excellent orchestra. They toured Germany in 1936 and the next year went to Paris. During the 1930s he conducted at Covent Garden where he had control of everything that went on. He conducted several cycles of Wagner's Ring. When World War II started in 1939 the theatre was closed. He went to the United States where he conducted several orchestras including the New York Philharmonic. He also went to Australia.

Later career

In 1944 he returned to Britain. His orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, were now a self-governing body (the members themselves made decisions about what the orchestra should do and play). They decided that they did not want Beecham because he would want to have power to rule the orchestra in the way he wanted. So Beecham formed another orchestra: the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He gave many concerts, toured with them and made many great recordings. He was especially known for his concerts of Joseph Haydn and Mozart. He also conducted Die Meistersinger at Covent Garden in 1951 as well as appearing at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1958. The last concert he gave was on 7 May 1960 when he conducted the RPO in Portsmouth.

His fame
Beecham was an enormously talented musician. Because he had a lot of money he did not need to go through the musical education that most other musicians have. He formed his own life, and spent a lot of his energy as well as money creating the right conditions for musicians to work in, conditions that would have been normal in many other European countries, but which were not normal at the time in England.

He was not interested in the music of Bach, though he did conduct Handel. He was famous for his Mozart performances, and particularly enjoyed playing Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Bizet and Dvořák. He was one of the first people in England to conduct the new music of Richard Strauss and Sibelius. He was a close friend of Delius and performed his music as well as editing it so that it could be published.

There are many stories about the witty things that he said. He was knighted in 1916.

Famous quotations

A lady told Beecham that she wanted her son to learn to play a musical instrument but did not want to hear the awful sound it made when he was beginning to learn. She asked him what instrument he should learn. Beecham said he should learn the bagpipes because "they sound exactly the same when you have finished learning them as when you start learning them".

Beecham was rehearsing a very long opera by Wagner. They had been rehearsing for a long time. Beecham took out his watch and said: "My God! We have been playing for two hours and we are still playing this bloody tune!"

Beecham was rehearsing an opera by an English composer. The composer was at the rehearsal, and kept stopping the orchestra and asking Beecham to play it differently. Each time Beecham turned back to the orchestra and said: "The same again, gentlemen, please".

Beecham once met a lady he knew, but could not remember who she was. He asked her whether she was well.
"Oh, very well, but my brother has been rather ill lately", she said.
"Ah, yes, your brother. I'm sorry to hear that. And, er, what is your brother doing at the moment?"
"Well... he's still King", replied Princess Mary.

References

 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians; edited Stanley Sadie; 1980;

British conductors
1879 births
1961 deaths
Grammy Award winners

Thomas Beecham


The First Burial Ground or Park Street Burial Ground is a historic cemetery on Park Street near Centre Street in Woburn, Massachusetts.  Established c. 1646, it is the city's first and oldest cemetery.  It occupies a  parcel at the corner of Park and Centre Streets near Woburn Square.  Most of the burials took place before 1794, and are marked by slate headstones.  The last documented burial took place in 1903.  In a manner typical of early colonial cemeteries, there is no formal circulation pattern, and graves are not laid out in any formal, organized manner.

There are several prominent burials in the cemetery.  Probably the most well-known individuals interred here are members of the Baldwin family.  Loammi Baldwin, an American Revolutionary War veteran and early civil engineer, is buried here, as are two of his sons, Loammi Baldwin, Jr. and James Fowle Baldwin, both of whom followed their father into the civil engineering profession.  Locally notable burials include Edward Johnson (1598-1672), one of Woburn's founders, and four of its early ministers.  Another prominent family monument is that of the Fowle family, an  column topped by an urn.

Some of the early grave markers were carved by Joseph Lamson, a noted Charlestown carver.  Stones attributed to him include slate markers carved with a traditional winged-skull motif, where the skull features eyebrows, a unique characteristic of his work.  Lamson and other members of his family are known to have carved many markers in the area throughout the 18th century.

The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The cemetery is currently locked and can only be opened on weekdays by calling the Woburn Cemetery Commission.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

References

Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Woburn, Massachusetts
Cemeteries in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
1646 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Cemeteries established in the 17th century

First Burial Ground (Woburn, Massachusetts)


Leonard David Sachs (August 7, 1897 – October 27, 1942) was an American basketball and football coach and player. In 1961, he was posthumously enshrined as a coach in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 7, 1897. Sachs attended Carl Schurz High School in Chicago, where he earned 11 varsity letters before his graduation in 1914. Upon graduation from high school, Sachs joined  the United States Navy during World War I, where he continued playing sports, earning an All-Service team honorable mention in football in 1918 while playing on the Cleveland Naval Reserves football team.

After the war, Sachs enrolled at Chicago's American College of Physical Education—which later merged with DePaul University—and graduated in 1923. While at college, Sachs played for the Chicago Cardinals in the National Football League (NFL) from 1920 to 1922.

Sachs was hired as basketball coach in 1923 at Loyola University Chicago, even while continuing his NFL career. From 1923 to 1926 Sachs played for the Milwaukee Badgers, Hammond Pros, and Louisville Colonels, ending his career as a player-coach for the 1926 Louisville Colonels, a road-only team based in Chicago. Sachs was also an assistant football coach at Loyola on the staff of head coach Roger Kiley.

After abandoning his NFL career, Sachs began to flourish as a basketball coach. In the 1926–27 season, the Loyola basketball team improved to 13–4. In 1927–28, the team set a new Loyola record for wins in a season by earning a record of 16–4. And in 1928–29, Loyola was a perfect 16-0 under Sachs' guidance. Loyola recorded 31 consecutive victories between 1928 and 1930.

In the 1930s, Sachs developed an innovative fast-break offense and a 2–2–1 zone defense that prompted a rule change in 1937 to prevent goaltending. His 1938–39 team was 21–0 before losing to 44–32 to Long Island University in the National Invitation Tournament final at Madison Square Garden.

On October 27, 1942, Sachs suffered a fatal heart attack while advising the Wendell Phillips High School football team for their appearance in the Chicago Public League championship. He was 45 years old.

Sachs amassed a record of 224–129 as a college basketball coach. In 1935 he earned a graduate degree from Loyola.

References

External links

1897 births
1942 deaths
American football ends
American men's basketball coaches
Basketball coaches from Illinois
Chicago Cardinals players
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
DePaul University alumni
High school basketball coaches in the United States
Louisville Brecks and Colonels (NFL) coaches
Loyola Ramblers athletic directors
Loyola Ramblers football coaches
Loyola Ramblers men's basketball coaches
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
Players of American football from Chicago
Carl Schurz High School alumni

Lenny Sachs


The major professional sports leagues, or simply major leagues, in  Canada and United States are the highest professional competitions of team sports in the two countries. Although individual sports such as golf, tennis,  auto racing, and gymnastics are also very popular, the term is usually limited to team sports.

The term "major league" was first used in 1921 in reference to Major League Baseball (MLB), the top level of professional American baseball. Today, the major northern North America professional team sports leagues are Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL). Other notable leagues include Major League Soccer (MLS), the Canadian Football League (CFL),  the Arena Football League, Major League Lacrosse, the National Lacrosse League, Professional Lacrosse League and the Women's National Basketball Association.

Sports organizations of North America

Major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada


James H. Bronson (1838 – March 16, 1884) was an African American Union Army soldier during the American Civil War and a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.

Biography
Bronson was born into slavery in Indiana County, Pennsylvania; it is unknown when he gained his freedom. [This is an erroneous statement. There is no indication from any county /federal documents or county historians that James H. Bronson was ever a slave. He was born and raised in Black Lick, Indiana Co., living on a farm. He went west to Ohio as many did in search of more opportunities.] Stewart, Sonja. Working Together:African American Migration and Settlement in Indiana County, Pennsylvania(thesis)  In the 1860 census he was a resident of Weathersfield Township, (Trumbull County) OH and listed his occupation as that of  a barber. His census record estimates his birth year as 1840. He enlisted in the Army from Trumbull County, Ohio, on August 3, 1863, at age 24 or 25. He joined as a private into Company D of the 5th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment.

By the Battle of Chaffin's Farm on September 29, 1864, he had risen to the rank of first sergeant. Bronson's regiment was among a division of black troops assigned to attack the center of the Confederate defenses at New Market Heights. The defenses consisted of two lines of abatis, the first made up of felled trees and the second of chevaux de frise, followed by one line of palisades manned by Brigadier General John Gregg's Texas Brigade. The attack was met with intense Confederate fire and stalled after reaching a line of abatis. Many of the regiment's officers had been killed or wounded in the charge, including the regimental commander and all of Company D's officers. Bronson took command of Company D, rallied the men, and led a renewed attack against the Confederate lines. They successfully broke through the abatis and palisades and captured the Confederate positions after hand-to-hand combat with the defenders. For his actions during the battle, Bronson was awarded the Medal of Honor seven months later, on April 6, 1865.

After the end of the war, the 5th Regiment was stationed in North Carolina, where Bronson's service was marred by disciplinary problems. He was imprisoned at Fort Totten on June 20, 1865, for unknown reasons. He was again in custody, this time for desertion, a day before he and the rest of the 5th Regiment were mustered out on September 20, 1865, in Carolina City.

Bronson died at age 45 or 46 and was buried in Chartiers Cemetery, Carnegie, Pennsylvania.

Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company D, 5th U.S. Colored Troops. Place and date: At Chapins Farm, Va., September 29, 1864. Entered service at: Delaware County, Ohio. Birth: Indiana County, Pa. Date of issue: April 6, 1865.

Citation:

Took command of his company, all the officers having been killed or wounded, and gallantly led it.

See also

List of African American Medal of Honor recipients
List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F
Melvin Claxton and Mark Puls, Uncommon valor : a story of race, patriotism, and glory in the final battles of the Civil War, (Wiley, 2006) ()

Notes

References

External links

1838 births
1884 deaths
African Americans in the American Civil War
19th-century American slaves
United States Army Medal of Honor recipients
Union Army soldiers
People from Indiana County, Pennsylvania
People from Trumbull County, Ohio
American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor

James H. Bronson


The London Agreement between King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres was signed during a secret meeting held at the residence of Lord Mishcon in London on April 11, 1987. Also present in the meeting were Jordanian Prime Minister Zaid al-Rifai and Director General of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry, Yossi Beilin.

Overview

The agreement outlined the framework for an international peace conference hosted by the United Nations, whose purpose would be "the peaceful solution of the Arab–Israeli conflict based on resolutions 242 and 338 and a peaceful solution of the Palestinian problem in all its aspects." The agreement also stipulated that the conference would not impose a solution on the parties, and that the Palestinians would be represented by the Jordanian delegation. Its requirements that all parties accept UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338 as well as renounce violence and terrorism effectively excluded PLO participation. The signatories agreed that their plan would be presented to US Secretary of State George Shultz for its promotion as an American initiative.

Peres, serving as the Foreign Affairs Minister on behalf of the Labor Party in the Israeli National Unity Government, left for the meeting with the approval of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of the Likud. He was hoping the meeting would lead to a breakthrough allowing the promotion of the "Jordanian Option", namely the resolution of the Palestinian issue through Jordanian sovereignty over the entirety or most of the West Bank. Shamir, however, was unenthusiastic about the Jordanian Option and feared that an international conference would force an undesirable solution on Israel. Peres informed him of the agreement on his return to Israel but refused to provide Shamir with a copy and continued to promote it independently. Mistrust between both leaders as well as ideological differences led to Shamir's rejection of the agreement, and subsequently to Peres's failure to approve it in the Israeli cabinet in May. At the same time, Shamir sent Moshe Arens to meet with Shultz and block the peace conference.

Hussein was bitterly disappointed by Peres' inability to implement the agreement, and consequently disengaged from any further initiative to promote a solution to the Arab–Israeli conflict. Following the start of the First Intifada in December 1987, the Jordanian Option became effectively irrelevant, and in July 1988 Hussein announced that Jordan had relinquished any claim to sovereignty over the West Bank. An international peace conference between Israel and the Arab countries was eventually held in Madrid in October 1991, adhering to a framework similar to that agreed by Peres and Hussein in 1987.

References

Israeli–Palestinian peace process
Arab–Israeli peace process
1987 in Israel
1987 in Jordan
Treaties of Israel
Treaties of Jordan
Treaties concluded in 1987
Israel–Jordan relations
Hussein of Jordan
April 1987 events in the United Kingdom
Shimon Peres

Peres–Hussein London Agreement


Display is a form of animal behaviour, linked to survival of the species in various ways.

One function of display is in courtship. In most species the male has a striking feature that is distinguished by colour, shape or size, used to attract a female. In many species the male has another, more cryptic, form out of the mating season.

A related function is armament (horns, teeth) exhibited and used by 'tournament' species. In these species, males fight to gain the 'right' to breed. The display part of the process is a mechanism for younger males to avoid being damaged by prime males. Instinctive behaviour prompts lesser males to leave the field. Peafowl, deer, antelope and elephant seals are good examples.

The other main function is in species which have territorial display behaviour. This may preserve a foraging or hunting territory for its family or group.

Zoology
Ethology

Display (zoology)


Francesco Gianotti (Francisco in Spanish; April 4, 1881February 13, 1967) was an Italian architect who designed many important Art Nouveau buildings in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Born in 1881 in Lanzo, near Turin, Italy, he graduated as an architect from the Fine Arts Academy of Turin in 1904, together with his brother, Giovanni Battista. In 1905 the two brothers took a post-graduate course together in Brussels and later they designed various pavilions for the 1906 International Exhibition in Milan.

Gianotti arrived in Buenos Aires, in 1909 where, together with his compatriot, Mario Palanti, he took charge of the construction and decoration of the Italian Pavilion at the International Centennial Exposition of 1910.  In 1911 he opened his own studio and started to work on the design of residential houses and apartment buildings, using a mixture of Italian and French styles.  Unlike his colleagues Virginio Colombo and Mario Palanti, who worked for wealthy compatriots, Gianotti was also commissioned by upper class Argentine clients for whom he undertook projects in the Beaux Arts style.

Following work on a number of apartment buildings and private residences, Gianotti was commissioned to design the La Inmobiliaria Building (on Avenida de Mayo) in 1910, and Galería Güemes in Florida Street, possibly one of his best works, in 1913; with 14 floors, and a height of 80 m, it was considered to be the first skyscraper in Buenos Aires. Two years later, in 1915, a famous local confectioner, Cayetano Brenna, commissioned him to design the Confitería El Molino.  Located on the corner of Callao and Rivadavia Avenues, the building became a well-known landmark in the city.  Until 1918 he designed mainly in the Art Nouveau style, but later employed a more orthodox Eclecticism combining Italianate and Moorish revival styles, notably in the Italian-American Navigation Company Building (1927) on 622 Diagonal Norte Avenue.  Gianotti also created works of Neoclassical architecture, notably the El Mundo newspaper offices on 647 Diagonal Norte (1925), and the Schaffhausen Building (336 Reconquista St.), in 1932.

Gianotti completed his last project in 1959, and he died in Buenos Aires on 13 February 1967.

References
Mimi Bohm. Buenos Aires, Art Nouveau. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Xavier Verstraeten, 2005.
 El Portal de arte y arquitectura en Internet

20th-century Italian architects
Art Nouveau architects
Accademia Albertina alumni
People from Lanzo Torinese
Italian emigrants to Argentina
1881 births
1967 deaths

Francesco Gianotti


A scrapbook is a book where people can keep pictures, newspapers articles, recipes, letters and similar things. It is often used to keep memorable things or a collection of things. It is also often used in the hobby of scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is the use of a scrapbook as a hobby rather than a more practical use such as keeping collections of recipes used in daily cooking. It is a way to preserve pictures and memories in a book that can last throughout a person's whole life.  Scrapbooking is becoming more popular. The hobby interest has created a business phenomenon with many companies selling various tools, paper and equipment to make the craft easier and more enjoyable.
Scrapbooking, also known as 'cropping,' is an art that creates family heirlooms.  Each page of a scrapbook become a family treasure, especially when the author writes in his/her own handwriting about the pictures.

Stationery
Hobbies

Scrapbook


Kabbalah (also Cabala or Qabbālâ) is a Jewish mysticism of the Torah. The kabbalah started in the 1st-century by Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai. It continued in the 13th century in Spain by Rabbi Moses de León. It tries to explain how something beyond thought and imagining can still be seen and felt. The kabbalah has a great influence on the Jewish spiritual life. It is based on the various spiritual movements.

Tree of Life
The kabbalah is based on the tree of the 10 Sephirot called the "Tree of Life". In the tree are presented the 10 powers that affect each domain in the world.

Other websites

 Cabala - 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia's scholarship view
 Kabbalah Red Bracelets - Information about Kabbalah Bracelets, history and meaining
 Don Karr's Bibliographic Surveys of contemporary academic scholarship on all traditions of Kabbalah
 "What is Kabbalah?" - Article from Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidism at Chabad.org
 Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism - Kabbalah article at JewFaq.org
 Kabbalah.com - Official site of the Kabbalah Centre
 Kabbalah.info - Official site of Bnei Baruch
 Kabbalaonline.org  - Orthodox kabbalah reference portal

Esotericism
Judaism

Kabbalah


A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.

There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboard surface vessels. Deck-mounted torpedo launchers are usually designed for a specific type of torpedo, while submarine torpedo tubes are general-purpose launchers, and are often also capable of deploying mines and cruise missiles. Most modern launchers are standardized on a  diameter for light torpedoes (deck mounted aboard ship) or a  diameter for heavy torpedoes (underwater tubes), although other sizes of torpedo tube have been used: see Torpedo classes and diameters.

Submarine torpedo tube
A submarine torpedo tube is a more complex mechanism than a torpedo tube on a surface ship, because the tube has to accomplish the function of moving the torpedo from the normal atmospheric pressure within the submarine into the sea at the ambient pressure of the water around the submarine. Thus a submarine torpedo tube operates on the principle of an airlock.

Torpedo tube operation

The diagram illustrates the operation of a submarine torpedo tube. The diagram is somewhat simplified but does show the working of a submarine torpedo launch.

A torpedo tube has a considerable number of interlocks for safety reasons. For example, an interlock prevents the breech door and muzzle door from opening at the same time.

The submarine torpedo launch sequence is, in simplified form:

Open the breech door in the torpedo room. Load the torpedo into the tube.
Hook up the wire-guide connection and the torpedo power cable.
Shut and lock the breech door.
Turn on power to the torpedo. A minimum amount of time is required for torpedo warmup. Fire control programs are uploaded to the torpedo.
Flood the torpedo tube.  This may be done manually or automatically, from sea or from tanks, depending on the class of submarine.  The tube must be vented during this process to allow for complete filling and eliminate air pockets which could escape to the surface or cause damage when firing.
Open the equalizing valve to equalize pressure in the tube with ambient sea pressure.
Open the muzzle door.  If the tube is set up for Impulse Mode the slide valve will open with the muzzle door.  If Swim Out Mode is selected, the slide valve remains closed.  The slide valve allows water from the ejection pump to enter the tube.
When the launch command is given and all interlocks are satisfied, the water ram operates, thrusting a large volume of water into the tube at high pressure, which ejects the torpedo from the tube with considerable force. Modern torpedoes have a safety mechanism that prevents activation of the torpedo unless the torpedo senses the required amount of G-force.
The power cable is severed at launch. However, if a guidance wire is used, it remains connected through a drum of wire in the tube.  Torpedo propulsion systems vary but electric torpedoes swim out of the tube on their own and are of a smaller diameter.  Torpedoes with  diameter and fuel-burning engines usually start outside the tube.
Once outside the tube the torpedo begins its run toward the target as programmed by the fire control system.  Attack functions are programmed but with wire guided weapons, certain functions can be controlled from the ship.
For wire-guided torpedoes, the muzzle door must remain open because the guidance wire is still connected to the inside of the breech door to receive commands from the submarine's fire-control system. A wire cutter on the inside of the breech door is activated to release the wire and its protective cable.  These are drawn clear of the ship prior to shutting the muzzle door.
The drain cycle is a reverse of the flood cycle.  Water is returned to the boat's tanks and can be moved as necessary.  The tube must be vented to completely drain the tube since it is usually by gravity.
Open the breech door and remove the remnants of the torpedo power cable and the guidance wire basket.  The tube must be wiped dry to prevent a buildup of slime.  This process is called "diving the tube" and tradition dictates that "ye who shoots, dives".
Shut and lock the breech door.

Spare torpedoes are stored behind the tube in racks.

Speed is a desirable feature of a torpedo loading system, but safety is paramount. There are various manual and hydraulic handling systems for loading torpedoes into the tubes. Prior to the , US SSBNs utilized manual block and tackle which took about 15 minutes to load a tube.  SSNs prior to the  used a hydraulic system that was much faster and safer in conditions where the ship needed to maneuver.

The German Type 212 submarine uses a new development of the water ram expulsion system, which ejects the torpedo with water pressure to avoid acoustic detection.

See also

 List of torpedoes by name

References

External links
The Fleet Type Submarine Online 21-Inch Submerged Torpedo Tubes United States Navy Restricted Ordnance Pamphlet 1085, June 1944
Torpedo tubes of German U-Boats

Torpedoes

Torpedo tube


An Orc is a mythical creature.

In the 20th century, orcs most often refer to the creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books. Tolkien's orcs are human-shaped creatures, and servitors of evil.

The word can probably be traced to Orcus. This is a different name for Pluto or Hades. Pliny the Elder writes about orcs in his Naturalis historia. They are long-toothed sea monsters. Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533)wrote an epic Orlando Furioso: There, the virgin Angelica is captured by a sea monster called orc. The hero, Rogero, is able to free her as he rode a Hippogriff. The Latin name of the Killer Whale, Orcinus orca is }likely to come from that story. There is another creature called orc in Orlando Furioso: a blind man-eating giant who abducts King Norandin of Damascus and his lover Lucina. This orc cannot be vanquished; only fooled by trickery.

There is another Orc that lives in the Alps. It is a demon living on mountain tops. It sometimes is described as protector of the forest. At other times it is said to be an evil spirit who brings doom to cattle and wild beasts.

From the early Middle Ages, the orc was seen as an evil creature, much like other creatures of Celtic origin.

Fictional races
Middle-earth

Orc


Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American movie and television director, producer and actor.

Pollack was born in Lafayette, Indiana. During his childhood he moved to South Bend, Indiana. He moved to New York City when he was 17.

He won an Emmy Award in 1966. He won two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for 1985 movie Out of Africa.

He died of cancer of unknown primary origin in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.

Other websites

1934 births
2008 deaths
Academy Award winning directors
Actors from South Bend, Indiana
American movie actors
American television actors
American television directors
American television producers
American voice actors
Cancer deaths in Los Angeles
Deaths from cancer of unknown primary origin
Emmy Award winning directors

Jewish American actors
Movie directors from Indiana
Movie producers from Indiana

Sydney Pollack


The Sports Network (commonly known as TSN) is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel and is Canada's first English language sports television channel. TSN started in 1984, in the second group of Canadian specialty cable channels. TSN is owned by CTV Speciality Television Inc; a division of Bell Media (80%) and ESPN (20%).

Programming
TSN features a variety of live sports programming, such as:
 NHL hockey
 CFL football
 NFL football
 Curling
 NBA basketball
 IIHF Hockey Events
 Olympics
 NASCAR, along with other automobile competitions
 PGA Tour
 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, along with other NCAA basketball
 NCAA and CIS football
 Miscellaneous soccer

TSN also features original TV shows about sports, including:
 SportsCentre (not to be confused with ESPN's SportsCenter)
 Off the Record
 That's Hockey
 That's Hockey 2nite

TSN also airs non-original TV shows centred around sports, including
 ESPN's Pardon the Interruption
 ESPN's Around The Horn

Canadian television channels

The Sports Network


A beauty contest or beauty pageant, is a public contest to decide which person is the most beautiful. Usually, the entrants are young females, but there are some contests for men. Each contests has its own rules as to who may enter, and what the prizes are. A person who enters a beauty contest or pageant is called a contestant.

The usual reason for holding such contests is to create publicity for the organisation which runs the contest. The contests are often shown on television and reported (with photographs) in newspapers. The first local event was probably in the United States in the late 19th century. 1880 in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware has been claimed.

With most contests the criteria for judging is physical appearance, plus some judgement of personality. "Beauty Queen" is a term often used to describe the winners. Usually the winner acts as a publicity representative for the year following the contest. Examples are:

Miss America
Miss World
Miss Universe
Miss Earth
Miss Grand International

There are many local events round the world.

Beauty contest


Ruth Edmonds Hill (March 5, 1925 - April 15, 2023) was an American scholar, oral historian, oral storytelling editor, journal editor, educator, historic preservation advocate. Her oral history office is part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She is an iconic figure among oral storytellers, particularly in the United States but also abroad, and has advised storytellers' organizations. Her spouse is Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill who is also known as Brother Blue. Ruth Edmonds Hill is sometimes known as Sister Ruth. Ruth Edmonds Hill is the daughter of Florence Edmonds of western Massachusetts, whose life story is chronicled and has been critically analyzed as part of African-American oral history. Hill has degrees from Simmons College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Hill is most widely known among oral history researchers for conducting the Black Women Oral History Project at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of American Women at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study which has often been cited within related fields of study in journal articles, dissertations, and in panel discussions and has been acclaimed as a pioneering work in its genre.

Hill has also made oral history field recordings, including guided interviews, of Cambodians, Chinese Americans and other ethnic and sociolect communities, traveling widely in research as well as conference participation.

After the death of her husband Brother Blue in 2009, Ruth Edmonds Hill hosted Memorial Tributes in the Blue Circle community of artists, ministers and educators formed during his lifetime and from his joint opus with Ruth Edmonds Hill, most recently in 2010.

Personal genealogy and historic conservation
In addition to being the daughter of health care specialist Florence Edmonds (1889–1983) of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, who was later chosen to be among the subjects of the Black Women Oral History Project which Ruth Edmonds Hill conducted, Hill is the great-granddaughter of Reverend Samuel Harrison (born April 15, 1818, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to enslaved parents, died August 11, 1900, Pittsfield, Massachusetts), pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield and of Sanford Street Congregational Church (now St. John's Congregational Church) in Springfield, Massachusetts, who successfully crusaded to obtain equal pay for black soldiers serving in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Reverend Harrison served as chaplain of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first all-black infantry regiment to see action in the Civil War, whose exploits were dramatized in the motion picture Glory. Reverend Harrison also served as Chaplain of the W.W. Rockwell Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.

In May 2004, Ruth Edmonds Hill and her husband, Brother Blue, met with Pittsfield residents interested in conserving, as a historic site, the modest 19th century Samuel Harrison House at 82 Third Street in the Morningside neighborhood (plot purchased by Harrison 1852 for $50, house completed and occupied by the Harrison family fall 1858) which was Reverend Harrison's homestead. The City of Pittsfield had moved to demolish the structure, which was in poor condition. Hill petitioned the Massachusetts Historical Commission, citing her great-grandfather's works and "lifelong pioneering spirit," and the Commission denied the City's motion for demolition. The Samuel Harrison Society's preservation initiative gained support as a consequence of the documentary A Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho: The Untold Story of Samuel Harrison by filmmaker Mike Kirk which PBS television aired in February, 2005.  Congressman John Olver secured a Save America's Treasures matching grant of $246,000 for the Samuel Harrison Society, starting endowment of the preservation project, and the initiative which Hill had placed into historic conservation procedures resulted in the Samuel Harrison House being designated a National Register of Historic Places landmark on March 22, 2006, a National Park Service "Save America's Treasures" Preservation Project, and a Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Project. On August 22, 2008, Ruth Edmonds Hill participated in groundbreaking ceremonies to mark the official start of renovation work on the Samuel Harrison House. After renovations costing $500,000, the house's new function became that of a black museum.

The Black Women Oral History Project

In the mid 1970s, the Radcliffe College Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America responded to recommendations that selected memoirs of older living black women be collected and made available by opening The Black Women Oral History Project. Ruth Edmonds Hill and a team of black oral history interviewers recorded 71 subjects from 1976 to 1981, with work continuing after these first case studies.

Subjects of the Black Women Oral History Project
Some oral histories published or exhibited by Ruth Edmonds Hill as part of the Black Women Oral History Project at the Schlesinger Library, which houses the archives of their recorded and vita materials, include those of:

 Frances Mary Albrier (September 21, 1898 – August 21, 1987), civil rights activist, union organizer
 Florence Edmonds (March 27, 1889 – December 1, 1983), health care specialist, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US
 Fidelia O. Johnson, Master's in Home Economics, University of Iowa (1945)
 Maida Springer Kemp (born 1910), labor leader and consultant, women's and civil rights activist
 Era Bell Thompson, journalist and editor born in Iowa, BA Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa
 Margaret Walker, MA English (1940), Ph.D English (1965), her dissertations representing the first versions of her book of poetry, For My People, and her novel, Jubilee

Subsequently, the lives and statements of these subjects are individually treated in literature secondary to the Black Women Oral History Project's reports.

Publications and exhibitions
 Black Women Oral History Project: From the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, [at that time part of] Radcliffe College by Ruth Edmonds Hill (1992), hardcover, Univ Pubns of Amer,  (0-88736-611-2)
Women of Courage exhibition (University of Iowa, September – October 1991) curated by Marianne Ryan, Christine Tade, and William Welburn, with assistance from Pamela Spitzmueller. Reprised and extended, regarding individuals in Iowa history, Women of Courage: An Exhibition of Photographs curated by Judith Sedwick, Ruth Edmonds Hill (1984)
 Black Women Oral History Project: From the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of American Women, [at that time part of] Radcliffe College by Ruth Edmonds Hill (1991), hardcover, Walter De Gruyter Inc,  (0-88736-615-5)and several other similar editions.
 Guide to the Transcripts of the Black Women Oral History Project by Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Ruth Edmonds Hill, Patricia Miller King (K G Saur Verlag edition 31 Aug 1990), Hardcover, Univ. of Pennsylvania Pr,  (0-88736-681-3)
 Dialog between Ruth Edmonds Hill and Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill (Brother Blue) mediated by Louise Stewart
Women of Courage: An Exhibition of Photographs book by Judith Sedwick, Ruth Edmonds Hill, introductory essay by Linda M. Perkins (Radcliffe College: Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America: Black Women Oral History Project, illustrated, 1984)
Women of Courage: An Exhibition of Photographs exhibition curated by Judith Sedwick, Ruth Edmonds Hill, Black Women Oral History Project, at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America (photographs from 1981, Schlesinger library than US touring exhibit, 1984)

Honors
The Oral History Review, an Oxford University journal, Editorial Board Member, (2000s–2011 and current)
Brother Blue was a 2009 recipient of the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal from the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, named for William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, the first African American to earn a Harvard PhD in 1895. Brother Blue's award was accepted posthumously on his behalf by his spouse, Ruth Edmonds Hill on December 4, 2009, a bare month after his death, for what Henry Louis Gates Jr. cited as "his desire to build a better world, one story at a time.
League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES) Brother Blue (Hugh Morgan Hill) and Ruth Hill Award is an annual award named for Brother Blue and Ruth Hill and honoring extraordinary commitment to and support of storytelling and storytellers.
 Samuel Harrison Society, Board of Trustees (2000s–2011 and current)

References

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
20th-century African-American academics
20th-century American academics
21st-century African-American academics
21st-century American academics
American storytellers
Women storytellers
American voice actresses
Harvard University faculty
University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni
Simmons University alumni
Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts
American women academics
21st-century African-American women

Ruth Edmonds Hill


A reed switch is an electrical switch that changes its position via magnetism. It is turned on by bringing a magnet near to the switch. Once the magnet is pulled away from the switch, the reed switch will go back to its original position. If the magnet is an electromagnet, it is a reed relay. The reed switch was invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1936 by W. B. Ellwood.

Electronic switches
Magnetism

Reed switch


The Hofvijver (; ) is a lake in the centre of The Hague, Netherlands. It is adjoined in the east by the Korte Vijverberg (road), in the south by the Binnenhof and the Mauritshuis, in the west by the Buitenhof and in the north by the Lange Vijverberg (road). In the middle there is a small island with plants and trees which has no name, it is usually referred to as "the island in the Vijverberg".

History
The term pond is actually a misnomer, as the Hofvijver has its origin in a natural dune lake fed by the Haagse Beek (Hague Creek, originally Dunecreek) and the, nowadays muted, Bosbeek (Forestcreek) from the Haagse Bos (Hague Forest). The Haagse Beek still feeds the Hofvijver and so the pond is directly connected to the dunes in Kijkduin.

In this dune lake there was an island (not the current island in the Hofvijver) on which Willem II built his palace in 1248. Other sources say he built his palace alongside the pond and created a moat around it. The city of The Hague celebrated its 700 years of existence in 1948, suggesting that the city itself bases its origin on the building of the palace by Willem II in 1248.

Count Albert decided on the rectangular shape in the 14th century. In the 17th century quays were constructed, and in the 19th century the pond was elongated. Up to around 1800 the Binnenhof was still encircled by a moat and was only accessible by bridges.

The island in the Vijverberg, as known in its present form, was only created around 300 years ago. How or why it was created is unknown. In the centre of the island stands a flagpole and the island itself counts a number of trees and small plants. It is not open to the public. Alongside the island there is a fountain set in the water. On a number of demonstrations the island has been occupied, and there have been banners displayed on the island.

Present
Nowadays the Hofvijver is adjoined in the west by the Buitenhof, but until the 19th century that side was adjoined by houses. The pond is encircled by fairly high quays, but is very shallow on some points. In 2004 an underwater gate was built to make sure that nobody could swim to the prime minister's office without being detected. His office, the Torentje ("Little Tower"), adjoins the Hofvijver as it is located on the Binnenhof.

On the bank across from the Binnenhof (Lange Vijverberg) there is a statue of Jantje (Little John) pointing to the Binnenhof. 'Jantje' probably refers to John I, Count of Holland who died at the age of 15 years, and features in a well known Dutch children's song about The Hague.

Located next to the Vijverberg are several museums, like the Mauritshuis, the Gevangenpoort (Prison Gate), the Hague Historical Museum and the Gallery Prince William V.

References

Further reading
 Leo van Heijningen, Duizend jaren Hofvijver: de Hofvijvergeest spreekt, Hapax (2005)

External links

Geography of The Hague
Lakes of the Netherlands

Hofvijver


The Epping Ongar Railway is a preserved railway. It runs along the last section of the old Great Eastern Railway and London Underground Central line branch line. The line runs between Epping and Ongar. There is also an intermediate stop at North Weald. The line was reopened in late 2004 after 10 years of being closed. It runs a Sunday and Bank Holiday service using a Class 117 diesel multiple unit. The service runs between Ongar and Coopersale. The service is provided by volunteers who take care for the line as well as run the trains. The land and infrastructure are owned by Epping Ongar Railway Ltd.

Early workings

The branch line to Ongar was built in 1865 by the Eastern Counties/Great Eastern Railway. The eastern section of the line, between Epping and Ongar, was  single track. There was one passing loop at North Weald station. Around 14 trains went as far as Ongar station each day. The rest finished at Epping or Loughton.

The trains continued to finish at Epping or Loughton until 1949. At this time the London Passenger Transport Board's New Works project extended the Central line to Epping using electric trains. The Central Line would take over the railway from British Rail. As part of this change, the Epping-Ongar branch line had its through trains to London removed. Instead, a shuttle service between Epping (to connect with trains to London) and Ongar was used. At one stage, it was possible to see the unusual sight of steam trains and London Underground electric multiple units side-by-side at Epping. The steam shuttle was hired by the London Transport Executive from British Rail. This was because it was felt that the cost of electrifying the line to Ongar could not be justified because of the low passenger numbers on this part of the branch.

In the 1950s, there were attempts to improve the service on the branch line. Over time, permission was given to electrify the line in 1957. However, because the electrification did not cost much, the branch was only able to have special two- or three-car trains running on it. This was because the power supply was not strong enough to support trains that had more cars. Another problem was that the stations on the line had short platforms. This would mean that the normal 8-car trains would not be able to stop at them. Because of this, the Epping-Ongar branch line was normally operated separately from the rest of the Central Line. However, for two days each year, trains did run through from London. These trains would terminate at North Weald for the airshow on the Saturday and Sunday of its opening. The normal Epping-Ongar service would get around this extra service by passing the train on the other line at North Weald station whilst it headed towards Epping. The train from London was run as an extra train on the normal Central Line timetable. However, this extra train was only four carriages long instead of the normal eight.

Cutbacks and closure

During the late 1960s it became clear that the number of people using the line had not become as high as people thought that it would. Not a lot of new development was allowed because the land was now Green Belt land. The number of people using the line peaked in 1971, and it was still only 650 people every day. This meant that the line did not make very much money. London Underground tried to close the whole line in 1980,  but they were not able to. Instead, fewer trains were run on the line and they also closed Blake Hall tube station on Sundays.

Blake Hall was permanently closed in 1981. Before the station closed it only had six passengers a day. The station building still survives as a private residence. However, the platform was removed, but recently (2015) partially reinstated to a very high standard.

North Weald station's platform one was closed in 1976. The passing loop and westbound tracks were lifted in 1978.  Until this time, access to the two platforms was controlled from the original Eastern Counties Railway signal box. This signal box is still on the southbound platform.  North Weald was the last section of the London Underground network to be signalled using semaphore signals.

The line was making a loss of seven pounds for each passenger journey. It was also in need of some expensive maintenance work. On 30 September 1994, the line was closed to the public, with one months notice. From this time on, the Central Line terminated at Epping station. When the line closed it was carrying just 80 passengers a day. Local lore said that the line was being kept open in case the Cabinet needed to be evacuated to the nuclear bunker at Kelvedon Hatch.

Cravens Heritage Trains have preserved a three-car unit of 1960 stock. This was the train that ran the final London Underground service on the line.

Purchase and reopening
The line was bought by Pilot Developments in 1998. Pilot Developments is now known as Epping Ongar Railway Ltd. The Ongar Railway Preservation Society also entered an offer to buy the line. Their offer was for £339,500. However, Pilot Developments matched the offer and got London Underground to accept it. Martin Bell, an independent politician, said that this was "the most controversial land deal in the constituency for years". He said that there was a conflict of interest with local politicians.

The line reopened on Sunday 10 October 2004. It is being run by the Epping Ongar Railway Volunteer Society. An hourly service between Ongar and North Weald was operated. Shortly after opening the line was extended to Coopersale. However, it is currently not possible to get off the train there.

Between 22 January and 9 April 2006 the line was closed for engineering works. The works included general station maintenance, rolling stock maintenance and track maintenance. Ongar station remained closed for engineering works and general maintenance and reopened on Sunday 28 May 2006 to passengers. At first though it was not possible to use the station buildings.

At the end of 2007, the railway was sold to a new private owner. This was because planning permission for the Ongar residential development had been given. The new owner wants to bring steam locomotives back to the line.

In early 2008, the line was closed to passenger trains. This was to allow the railway to be able to have major engineering works. The work will mean that steam locomotives will be able to run on the line again. To make this happen run-round loops and signalling, amongst other things, must be built.

Heritage railway operations
Passenger services on the heritage line were operated throughout 2006 and 2007 by a Class 117 diesel multiple unit. This unit is currently being restored along with a class 205 DEMU. Class 37029 is in operation along with 03170. There are a selection of British rail Mk1 and Mk2 coaches on the line. The line also has some small diesel shunters; a Drewry shunter (works number 2566, current number D1995), named "Heather" by the railway, and two Ruston 88 shunters (RH 512572 is in service, RH 398616 is being used for spares and as a static display). The line employs a Harsco tug unit ("Badger") for engineering work. The EOR's fleet also includes a small works trolley, a Shark brake van, a Dogfish ballast hopper, and a box van for permanent way duties.

At one point the line owned two trains of 1962 tube stock. Units 1616 and 1491 (formed as an eight-car train) were purchased in 1996, and unit 1744 was purchased in 1998. These units were taken away to be cut up for scrap in 1998 and 2003, respectively, after they were destroyed by vandals.

References

Other websites

 – More information can be found at the official site

Transport in Epping Forest
Epping Ongar Railway

Epping Ongar Railway


A Magneto-optical drive is a disk drive for computers. It can read and write data to magneto-optical disks. The technology was made at the end of the 1980s. Both 5.25" and 3.5" media exist. The disks look like CD-ROMs, but they are protected with a plastic cover. The MiniDisc is a Magneto-optical disk. The other disks look similar but have a bigger physical size.

How it works
The operating system sees (and uses) the disk like a normal hard-drive. 3.5" disks can hold between 128 megabytes (MB) and 2.3 gigabytes (GB) of data. 5.25" disks hold between 650 MB and 16.7 GB.

Resistance
All disks have a physical write protection switch (like 3.5" floppy disks). They are pretty resistant to data change, can support temperatures up to about 100 °C, and do not care much about light.

DVD-RAM disks are very similar in appearance, they are optical though.

Storage devices

Magneto-optical drive


George Antheil (born July 8, 1900 in Trenton, New Jersey; died February 12, 1959 in New York City) was an American composer, pianist, author and inventor. He became known in America and Europe as a composer of very modern sounding music, including his Ballet Mécanique.  His music was very noisy and full of mechanical sounds.  His audiences were often shocked at the music.  He spent some years in Europe, then, in 1930s, he returned to America where he spent a lot of time writing film music for Hollywood and ballets.  His music became less aggressive and more traditional.

He had many interests, and spent some time researching female endocrinology, as well as writing a mystery novel and newspaper advice and music columns.  Together with the actress Hedy Lamarr he invented and patented a frequency-hopping torpedo guidance system.

1900 births
1959 deaths
20th-century American composers
American pianists
American inventors
Writers from New Jersey

George Antheil


Skiddaw slate is an early Ordovician metamorphosed sedimentary rock, as first identified on the slopes of Skiddaw in the English Lake District.

The base of this series is unknown. The thickness could, therefore, amount to several thousand feet of sediment. These sediments were formed about 500 mya by deposition in a shallow sea, low-energy environment. The series contains differing grain sizes and comprises grits, flags, shales and mudstones.

In some places, there is evidence of intrusion of Skiddaw Granite into the Skiddaw Slates, close to the anticlinal axis of the Lake District.

Skiddaw slate has a grey hue (as opposed to Honister slate which has a green hue) and is used for building, in the Lake District. The traditional buildings of Keswick and other settlements are almost entirely of Skiddaw slate. The slate is also used for making souvenirs, monuments, ornaments etc. Smaller fragments are used for gravels or for ornamental pathways.

References

Geologic formations of England
Ordovician System of Europe
Ordovician England
Lower Ordovician Series
Shale formations
Slate industry in the United Kingdom
Mining in Cumbria
Geology of Cumbria

Skiddaw Slate


A moped is a vehicle with two wheels and a motor, like a motorcycle but smaller. It usually has pedals, like a bicycle.

The size of the motor is usually 49cc, much smaller than most motorcycle motors. Because of the small motor, mopeds usually can not go faster than 50 kph (30 mph). Mopeds use less fuel than motorcycles, but some people complain that mopeds create more air pollution than motorcycles. Most of the time, you need a special license to ride a motorcycle but you only need an ordinary driver's license to ride a moped. It is usually illegal to ride a moped without a helmet.

Land vehicles

Moped