The Erinyes (or Eumenides) were the goddesses of revenge in Greek mythology. They are also known as the Furies. These three female divinities were named Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera.

Description
The Erinyes were born from Mother Earth and the blood of Uranos. They avenged family crimes such as matricide and patricide. They also tormented evil men in the "Hell" of the underworld, Tartarus.

The Erinyes forever followed a person who did a crime. They even could make the person go mad. They are often shown with snakes on their heads, blood coming out of their eyes, and looking horrific.

In stories
A well known story about the Erinyes is that of Orestes. Orestes' mother Klytaimnestra, and her lover Aegisthos, killed Orestes' father Agamemnon. The god Apollo told Orestes to kill the murderers of his father, which he did. Orestes was then pursued by the Erinyes for his crime. With the help of Athena and Apollo Orestes went to a court in Athens. It was decided that Orestes acted correctly and nobody should hurt him. Even the Erinyes accepted the decision, and from then on they were also called Eumenides, which means "the kind ones", because they could also let people go in peace if their crime was done for a good reason.

Other websites

The Theoi Project, "The Erinyes"

Greek gods and goddesses

Erinyes


Acourtia microcephala is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name sacapellote. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in woodland and chaparral, especially in the coastal mountain ranges.

Acourtia microcephala is a bushy perennial herb producing several erect stems from a woody caudex up to about 1.5 meters in maximum height. The stems branch toward the ends and are densely foliated in toothed, wavy-edged, glandular leaves 2 to 15 centimeters long. The stems and leaves are sticky with exudate. The inflorescences contain clusters of many flower heads, each cylindrical head wrapped in long, flat glandular phyllaries. The flower heads are discoid, containing only disc florets and no ray florets. Each disc floret has two lips, the outer of which is long, flat, and usually bright pink, and easily mistaken for a ligule. The fruit is a glandular achene a few millimeters long which has a pappus of bristles up to a centimeter in length.

This plant had a traditional medicinal use as a laxative.

References

External links
Jepson Manual Treatment
United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile
Calphotos Photo gallery, University of California

Nassauvieae
Flora of Baja California
Plants described in 1838
Medicinal plants of North America
Flora of California
Flora without expected TNC conservation status

Acourtia microcephala


Billie Joe Armstrong (born 17 February 1972 in Oakland, California) is an American musician and the lead singer and guitarist for the punk band Green Day. He also has numerous side projects as a vocalist, lyricist and guitarist in Foxboro Hot Tubs, Pinhead Gunpowder and The Network.

Early life
He was born in Oakland, California. He is of Cherokee, English, German, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Native American, Scottish, Spanish and Welsh descent.

Music career
Armstrong was given his first guitar "Blue", a Fernandes Stratocaster, at the age of 11 by his father, Andy, who died soon after. He and childhood friend Mike Dirnt started Sweet Children, their first band which eventually developed into Green Day in 1987. They added drummer John Kiffenmeyer (Al Sobrante). Sobrante left the band to go to college as they were making waves and gaining popularity. Frank Edwin Wright III (famously known as Tre Cool) replaced him as the permanent drummer making the official line up of Green Day in 1989.

The band gained a following in the punk scene in California, particularly in the Gilman Street Scene. They released three EPs (1000 hours, 39/Smooth and Slappy) before releasing two LPs, one being a compilation of the EPs (1039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hour) in 1991 and Kerplunk later in the same year.

With the release of their first major label album Dookie the band gained worldwide attention. Their intentions were not to sell out but just to make music. Unfortunately the popularity did not do well with the Gilman scene and they were exiled. However, despite those rough years the band became increasingly popular.

Personal life
Armstrong is openly bisexual. He is married and lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Adrienne Armstrong and two sons Jakob and Joseph.

Armstrong is a supporter of left-wing causes, and endorsed Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden. He described Donald Trump as a fascist and in an inflammatory statement compared him to Adolf Hitler, prior to describing him as a puppet of the Illuminati.

Related pages
List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people

References

LGBT people from California

American punk musicians
American rock musicians
American rock singers
Singers from Berkeley, California
Musicians from Berkeley, California
Writers from Berkeley, California
Singer-songwriters from California
Bisexual people
LGBT musicians
Green Day members
Writers from Oakland, California
Singers from Oakland, California
Musicians from Oakland, California
1972 births
Living people
Conspiracy theorists

Billie Joe Armstrong


Philémon is a series in the Franco-Belgian comics style created by French artist Fred and published by Dargaud. The series began serial publication in the French magazine Pilote on July 22, 1965, before it eventually became an album series. (Pilote was a direct response to the Franco-Belgian weeklies Spirou and Journal de Tintin, and sought to test more recent and dynamic strips on young and adolescent readers.) The general tone of the series is of fantastic realism, depicting the adventures of the young farmboy Philémon in surreal adventures featuring odd creatures in odd places, and it is considered one of the most poetic and original bande dessinée series of all time.

Synopsis
Philémon is a rural French teenager. His best friend is a donkey named Anatole. Philémon's father easily gets angry and he despairs at the "tall stories" his son tells him.

Philémon's early adventures begin when, by accident, Philémon fell down a well and ended up on a beach. This well was a "portal" and Philémon ended up in an odd world, reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland in its alterations of commonly accepted reality, with strange characters which varied from people with butterfly wings to centaurs. Philémon also met Barthélémy, a well digger who had gone through the same portal and ended up trapped on an island for forty years. The island was one of many which formed the letters of the Atlantic Ocean on maps and globes. In the course of their adventures Philémon and Mr. Barthélémy would travel from between their native countryside to the various islands, using Uncle Félicien's magic.

Main characters
Philémon: a teenage farm boy who finds himself traveling to the various and fantastic islands that make up the letters "Atlantic Ocean" on maps and globes.

Barthélémy: a well-digger who, while at work, found himself traveling through a portal and ending up on the first A island. Although he got to live in a beautiful palace he soon became homesick and sent messages in bottles in an attempt to get rescued from the island. This lasted 40 years before Philémon came across one such message and helped Barthélémy return home. Before long, however, Barthélémy became homesick for the island, and his desperate desire to return was the cause of many of their subsequent adventures.

Anatole: Philémon's pet donkey and best friend.

Félicien: Philémon's uncle whose studies of magic enable him to send Barthélémy and Philémon to and from the magical lands. No method of travel can be used twice, so Félicien's methods vary from a zipper hidden in the ground to a magical barrel of water. This constant travel does cause disturbances in the fabric of reality, causing Félicien problems with the islands' authorities.

Hector: Philémon's father, who refuses to believe his son's stories and maintains his disbelief in the fantasy islands, even when he happens to go there himself (see "Le Voyage de l'incrédule" (French for "The Sceptic's Journey")).

Film Adaptation
In a 2013 article for Variety, Max Films announced plans to adapt Philémon into an English-language, live-action film, directed by Julien Demers-Arsenault and Sebastien Denault.

Footnotes

Bibliography

1*. Philémon avant la lettre (1978, Dargaud, )
2. Philémon et le Naufragé du "A" (1972, Dargaud, )
3. Philémon et le piano sauvage (1973, Dargaud, )
4. Philémon et le château suspendu (1973, Dargaud, )
5. Le voyage de l'incrédule (1974, Dargaud, )
6. Simbabbad de Batbad (1974, Dargaud, )
7. L'île des brigadiers (1975, Dargaud, )
8. Philémon à l'heure du second T (1975, Dargaud, )
9. L'arche du "A" (1976, Dargaud, )
10 L'âne en atoll (1977, Dargaud, )
11. La mémémoire (1977, Dargaud, )
12. Le chat à neuf queues (1978, Dargaud, )
13. Le secret de Félicien (1981, Dargaud, )
14. L'enfer des épouvantails (1983, Dargaud, )
15. Le diable du peintre (1987, Dargaud, )

In 2013, a sixteenth book, "Le Train où vont les Choses" was published shortly before Fred's death, bringing a coda to the series.

* A later release featuring stories (pilot episodes) published before the main series, occasionally listed as No. 0

The first English-translated version of the book was published in 2014, a year after Fred's death.

(Cast Away on the Letter "A", TOON Books )

Sources

 Philémon publications in Pilote BDoubliées
 Philémon albums Bedetheque

External links
 Batbad Philémon homage site

French comic strips
1965 comics debuts
Comics characters introduced in 1965
2013 comics endings
Dargaud titles
Pilote titles
Fantasy comics
Humor comics
Nautical comics
Surreal comedy comics
French comics characters
Teenage characters in comics
Male characters in comics
Comics about magic
Comics about animals

Philémon (comics)


USS Gudgeon (SS/AGSS/SSAG-567), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the gudgeon, a species of small fresh-water minnow.

Construction and commissioning

The submarine's keel was laid by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.  It was launched on 11 June 1952 sponsored by Mrs. Robert A. Bonin, widow of the first Gudgeon's last commanding officer, and commissioned on 21 November 1952 with Commander Robert M. Carroll in command. Gudgeon was the first American submarine to circumnavigate the globe; the navigator aboard this history making voyage was Lt. Leon Leroy Stine Jr., who died on January 30, 2018.

Service record

After builders' trials, Gudgeon sailed for Pearl Harbor, where it joined Submarine Squadron 1 (SubRon 1), Submarine Division 1 (SubDiv 1), 18 July 1953. Local operations and training exercises continued until 11 April 1954, when Gudgeon sailed to the mainland for antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises along the Washington coast. A Mare Island Naval Shipyard overhaul occupied the remainder of the year, and Gudgeon returned to Pearl Harbor 9 March 1955. She sailed 21 Jul 1955, for the first of five WestPac tours, visiting Yokosuka, Formosa, Hong Kong, Manila, and Guam before returning to Pearl Harbor on 30 January 1956. Local operations out of the Hawaiian port, overhaul, special secret operations, and a second voyage to the West Coast took Gudgeon through the next 18 months.

Sailing from Pearl Harbor on 8 July 1957, Gudgeon began a history-making cruise around the world, making the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force's flagship the first American submarine to circumnavigate the globe. The navigator was Lt. Leon L. Stine Jr. After exercises at Yokosuka, Gudgeon sailed west 26 August 1957. As it made her way around the world for the next six months, the submarine docked at Asian, African and European ports before a triumphal entry into Pearl Harbor 21 February 1958, eight months and 25,000 miles (40,000 km) since taking departure.

During August 1957, after being detected by the Soviet Navy outside the port of Vladivostok, outside the 3-mile territorial waters limit recognized by the US but well inside the 12-mile limit claimed by the Soviets, the Gudgeon was the first US submarine forced to the surface during the Cold War; The navigator was Lt. Leon L. Stine Jr.

First conversion
After extensive overhaul, Gudgeon again settled into the peacetime local and special operations, training exercises, and ASW activities. Three WestPac cruises, in 1959, 1961, and 1963, took it to Japan for exercises with the Seventh Fleet as well as to the US naval base at Subic Bay in the
Philippine Islands and Hong Kong for liberty. During the alternate years, 1960 and 1962, Gudgeon was reassigned to mainland waters, training and exercising along the Washington and California coasts.

Second conversion
Gudgeon returned from the Far East to Pearl Harbor 1 August 1963, and for the next two years operated in Hawaiian waters. It departed Pearl Harbor 29 November and arrived San Francisco, California, on 9 December for overhaul at Mare Island. The ship was cut in half and an 18-foot (5 meter) section was added during a conversion which gave the submarine new and larger engines as well as the Passive Underwater Fire Control Feasibility System (PUFFS) passive sonar installation. Modernization was completed during April 1967 and Gudgeon returned to duty in the Pacific Fleet.

[1967-1983]

Gudgeon was reclassified a miscellaneous auxiliary submarine, AGSS-567 and later SSAG-567 during November 1979.

Gudgeon served in the Pacific until it was decommissioned on 30 September 1983 and eliminated from the Naval Vessel Register on 6 August 1987.

Awards

 China Service Medal
 National Defense Service Medal with star (2 awards)
 Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
 Vietnam Service Medal with two campaign stars for Vietnam War service

TCG Hızırreis (S 342)

During 1983, Gudgeon was transferred by lease to Turkey and renamed TCG Hızırreis (S 342), named for Ottoman Admiral Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis. It was purchased in 1987, served until 2004, and is presently berthed as a museum ship at the Kocaeli Museum Ships Command  in Izmit and is open to the public.

References

External links
navsource.org: USS Gudgeon
 hazegray.org: USS Gudgeon
"Life on the Gudgeon, a Navy Fast Attack Submarine", additional photographs of the USS Gudgeon

United States Tang-class submarines
Ships built in Kittery, Maine
1952 ships
Cold War submarines of the United States
Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Turkish Navy
United States Tang-class submarines of the Turkish Navy
Museum ships in Turkey
Buildings and structures in İzmit
Museums in Kocaeli Province

USS Gudgeon (SS-567)


White tea is made frae Camellia sinensis.

Currently thare isnae a general acceptit definition o white tea an vera little internaitional agreement. Ane soorce says that white tea is minimal processed tea (jist dryin, nae fermentation or ither procedures) Anither says that "white tea is made frae buds an young leafs, that is steamed or fired tae inactivate polyphenol oxidase, an then dried."

References

Cheenese tea

White tea


A greatest hits album (sometimes referred to as a best of album) is a compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular music artist or band. To increase the appeal of the album – especially to people who already own the previously released material – it is common to include remixes or alternate takes of popular songs or new material, with new songs often being released as singles (and themselves sometimes becoming successful).

Greatest hits album


Sir George Henry Martin, (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was a British record producer, composer and musical arranger. His most famous work was his recordings with The Beatles. These were made at Abbey Road Studios during the 1960s.

He died in his sleep at his home in Wiltshire on the night of 8 March 2016 at the age of 90. His cause of death is not known.

Early life and career

Martin grew up playing piano with only a few music lessons. He began to compose music in his teens. Martin played with his own band called the Four Tune-Tellers. He dreamed of one day making soundtrack music for movies.

After serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Martin went to music school. After he graduated, he worked for the BBC in London. He began working for EMI in 1950. Martin became an assistant at Parlophone Records, a small record label. Parlophone mostly recorded classical music and original cast recordings of popular stage shows and plays.

Martin later became the chief of Parlophone Records. He was also its staff producer. Martin was in charge of recording sessions and chose songs for Parlophone artists to record. He made comedy records (often working with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan) along with his usual jobs, to help promote the label. When rock and roll became popular in the mid-1950s, Martin began looking for rock groups or artists to join Parlophone. He recorded several such artists, but none of their records became big hits.

The Beatles
In 1962, Beatles manager Brian Epstein brought Martin a demo (demonstration record) of his band. Epstein had been trying for months to get the band a recording contract. Martin liked what he heard. He saw that the young band were willing to try different things, and gave them an audition (a studio tryout). All the Beatles passed their audition, except for their drummer, Pete Best. Martin was not happy with the skills Best showed. He wanted to replace Best on their recordings. When the band found out, they fired Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr. Starr had played with them before when Best could not be with them to play. Martin used a studio drummer on their first single, "Love Me Do". He did this because there was no time to audition Starr before the record had to be made, but he never did so again.

With Starr as their drummer, and Martin as their producer (who sometimes joined them in playing, to give the records a bigger sound), the Beatles became the most popular act in the history of show business. While Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote most of the band's songs, they were musically untrained, as Martin had been earlier. Martin helped develop their musical ideas. He helped the band learn to talk to other musicians about the sounds they wanted to make, and added a classical touch to many of their songs. His work with them made Martin famous. He was able to leave EMI to become a "producer for hire". He started his own company, called Associated Independent Recording (AIR), with some other producers.

When the Beatles began to break up in 1969, Martin felt the tension between the band's members. He was sometimes criticized for not being able to "fix things", or solve their problems. He began turning down sessions with the band. He let the recording engineer or the members themselves do his job. Martin returned to help make their last album (titled Abbey Road after the location of the studio), after all the Beatles promised to work with him "like the old days", and let Martin take charge of the sessions once more.

After The Beatles
Paul McCartney, the most "conventional" (normal) Beatle, worked with Martin several times after the Beatles ended in 1970. John Lennon counted on Martin to turn his sometimes "way-out" ideas into finished records, but he did not always like the way Martin worked, and mostly produced his own solo recordings. George Harrison, the youngest Beatle, found many of his songs and ideas rejected by Martin. Martin later said "I was always rather beastly to George," in trying to make more hit records. Harrison also produced (or co-produced) most of his own solo work. He even built his own recording studio after years of making records at Abbey Road. Martin praised Ringo Starr's "super-steady beat", and the sound his drums gave the Beatles records, but each later worked with other people.

Even years after they broke up, Martin still worked with and for the Beatles and the music they had made together. He remixed many of their recordings for re-issues and compilation records. He made several records of his own with classical and orchestral versions of Beatles tunes, and was the music producer for Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a fantasy movie based on their songs, which starred the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton.

Besides the Beatles, Martin worked with other recording artists, including Shirley Bassey, Bernard Cribbins, America, Kenny Rogers, the trio EL&P, Dudley Moore, and Little River Band. He wrote a book, All You Need is Ears, that told his life story and explained how many of his most famous recordings were made. During the 1990s, Martin was made a knight by the British government, for his work and his role in popular music.

Martin retired in 1999, and released an album titled In My Life, which featured many different artists performing Beatles songs. The album included non-musicians like comedian Jim Carrey.

Death
Martin died in his sleep on the night of 8 March 2016 at his house. He was aged 90. His death was announced by Ringo Starr on his Twitter account.The cause of Martin's death has not been released.

References

Other websites

 George Martin – Management biography

 College of Arms. The Arms of Sir George Martin, Kt., C.B.E.
 "Produced by George Martin" DVD review
 Interview at Hit Channel
 George Martin interview on BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs, August 6, 1982

1926 births
2016 deaths
BBC people
Brit Award winners
British conductors
British military personnel of World War II
British record producers
English rock composers
Musicians from London
The Beatles

George Martin


Resuscitation is a thing to do in a medical emergency. It is first aid which is given to a person who is unconscious, and where breathing or pulse can not be detected. It is done to make oxygen continues to reach the heart and the brain. That way, a doctor may be able to restart the heart, possibly without damaging the brain.

The most common cause for a stopping heart is a heart attack.

What to do
The person helping must:
Make sure there is no danger
Get to the patient. Talk to them, ask direct questions (Where are you hurt?), give direct commands (Open your eyes!). The person helping tells them what he or she is about to do (I am going to touch your shoulder).
Resuscitation is not needed if the patient responds.
Call for help

Emergency medicine

Resuscitation


A parabolic trough is similar to a solar panel tower, because it has parabolic mirrors that collect large amounts of heat which is reflected on  water-filled pipes .
The water is heated until it turns into steam, rotating a turbine using a large steam piston.

The rotating turbine produces electricity, which is then transferred by transformer, before being converted DC to AC and transferred by current lines.

Related pages
 Solar panel

Energy

Parabolic trough


The human action cycle is a psychological model which describes the steps humans take when they interact with computer systems. The model was proposed by Donald A. Norman, a scholar in the discipline of human–computer interaction. The model can be used to help evaluate the efficiency of a user interface (UI). Understanding the cycle requires an understanding of the user interface design principles of affordance, feedback, visibility and tolerance.

The human action cycle describes how humans may form goals and then develop a series of steps required to achieve that goal, using the computer system. The user then executes the steps, thus the model includes both cognitive activities and physical activities.

The three stages of the human action cycle

The model is divided into three stages of seven steps in total, and is (approximately) as follows:

Goal formation stage
 1. Goal formation.

Execution stage
 2. Translation of goals into a set of unordered tasks required to achieve goals.
 3. Sequencing the tasks to create the action sequence.
 4. Executing the action sequence.

Evaluation stage
 5. Perceiving the results after having executed the action sequence.
 6. Interpreting the actual outcomes based on the expected outcomes.
 7. Comparing what happened with what the user wished to happen.

Use in evaluation of user interfaces

Typically, an evaluator of the user interface will pose a series of questions for each of the cycle's steps, an evaluation of the answer provides useful information about where the user interface may be inadequate or unsuitable. These questions might be:

 Step 1, Forming a goal:
 Do the users have sufficient domain and task knowledge and sufficient understanding of their work to form goals?
 Does the UI help the users form these goals?
 Step 2, Translating the goal into a task or a set of tasks:
 Do the users have sufficient domain and task knowledge and sufficient understanding of their work to formulate the tasks?
 Does the UI help the users formulate these tasks?
 Step 3, Planning an action sequence:
 Do the users have sufficient domain and task knowledge and sufficient understanding of their work to formulate the action sequence?
 Does the UI help the users formulate the action sequence?
 Step 4, Executing the action sequence:
 Can typical users easily learn and use the UI?
 Do the actions provided by the system match those required by the users?
 Are the affordance and visibility of the actions good?
 Do the users have an accurate mental model of the system?
 Does the system support the development of an accurate mental model?
 Step 5, Perceiving what happened:
 Can the users perceive the system's state?
 Does the UI provide the users with sufficient feedback about the effects of their actions?
 Step 6, Interpreting the outcome according to the users' expectations:
 Are the users able to make sense of the feedback?
 Does the UI provide enough feedback for this interpretation?
 Step 7, Evaluating what happened against what was intended:
 Can the users compare what happened with what they were hoping to achieve?

Further reading

 Norman, D. A. (1988). The Design of Everyday Things. New York, Doubleday/Currency Ed.

Related terms

 Gulf of evaluation exists when the user has trouble performing the evaluation stage of the human action cycle (steps 5 to 7).
 Gulf of execution exists when the user has trouble performing the execution stage of the human action cycle (steps 2 to 4).
 OODA Loop is an equivalent in military strategy.

Human–computer interaction
Motor control
Psychological models

Human action cycle


The white-fronted amazon (Amazona albifrons) also known as the white-fronted parrot, or spectacled amazon parrot, is a Central American species of parrot. They can imitate a range from 30 to 40 different sounds. Like other large parrots, the white-fronted parrot has a long potential life span, usually around 40 years.

Description

The white-fronted amazon, at about  long, is the smallest of the amazon parrots. This species is named for the bright white patch of feathers on its forehead, although the amount of white varies from individual to individual. They have mostly green plumage with some blue colouring on their outspread wings. They have bright red colouring around their eyes (in some individuals almost like spectacles) and blue colouring behind the patch of white on their foreheads. Together with the red-spectacled amazon and the yellow-lored amazon, it is the only amazon species in which adult males and females easily can be distinguished by external appearance (sexual dimorphism): Males have bright red feathers on their "shoulders" (alula), while females have green "shoulders". Juveniles have pale grey irises and less red on their face and the white area is replaced with a smaller yellowish area.

Taxonomy
The species is divided into three subspecies with slight differences in colour and size:
 White-fronted amazon (A. a. albifrons) — (Sparrman, 1788) — nominate, found from western Mexico to southwestern Guatemala
 Lesser white-fronted amazon (A. a. nana) — Miller, W, 1905 — found from southeastern Mexico to northwestern Costa Rica
 Sonora white-fronted amazon (A. a. saltuensis) — Nelson, 1899 — found in northwestern Mexico

Distribution and habitat
The white-fronted amazon is native to Central America and Mexico; and is most often seen in small flocks of up to 20 birds. They are seen in a variety of different habitats from wet regions such as rainforests, to drier areas such as cactus savannahs. In the wild, they are not shy and people are often able to approach them. Flocks may congregate and people have seen groups that number into the hundreds. These groups may also contain flocks from other species such as the red-lored amazon. A population has been seen in southern Texas, probably escapees, and a small feral population has been observed living in southern California. Introduced breeding populations have also been reported in Puerto Rico.

Breeding
The white-fronted amazon nests in tree cavities. Their breeding season is usually in the spring, starting in February and ending in the summer (in June and July in most areas). After breeding, the female will lay an average of three to four white eggs. Eggs are incubated for about 26 days and chicks leave the nest at the age of about 60 days from hatching.

Aviculture

The white-fronted amazon is sometimes kept by humans as a companion parrot or aviary bird. When tame, it is typically a sociable, affectionate, playful and intelligent bird that can learn to talk and often forms a close bond with its owner. Like many parrots, it is a long-lived species - potentially living for over 50 years in captivity. However it is also a loud, noisy bird that is unsuitable for apartment dwelling and requires regular exercise, play opportunities and social interaction in order to thrive. The World Parrot Trust recommends that the white-fronted amazon be kept in an enclosure with a minimum length of 3 metres.

Gallery

References

External links

white-fronted amazon
Birds of Mexico
Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula
Birds of Belize
Birds of Guatemala
Birds of El Salvador
Birds of Honduras
Birds of Nicaragua
Birds of Costa Rica
Feral parrots
white-fronted amazon
Taxa named by Anders Sparrman

White-fronted amazon


William J. "Bill" Birnes (born November 7, 1944) is an American author, the incoming auditor for Solebury Township, Pennsylvania, the chairman of the board at Sunrise Community Counseling Center, and ufologist.

Education
Birnes earned a degree from New York University. In 1974, Birnes earned a Ph.D. in medieval literature from New York University with a dissertation on Piers Plowman. Birnes earned a J.D. degree from Concord Law School, a private online law school.

Career
Birnes served as a Lily Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and taught literature and linguistics at Trenton State College.

UFOlogy
Birnes believes that Earth has been visited by many different types of extraterrestrials, and that pictures taken by NASA have been airbrushed to remove any evidence of alien activity. Birnes speculates that NASA may have taken missions to the Moon after Apollo 17, but these missions were kept secret from the public due to alien interference and new-found extraterrestrial artifacts. Birnes claims that NASA made three additional trips to the Moon; Apollo 18, Apollo 19, and Apollo 20. Additionally, he claims that the Apollo 13 incident was actually an extraterrestrial attack meant to scare humans away from landing on the Moon.

Birnes's credibility was questioned when a UFO sighting over Morris County, New Jersey, on January 5, 2009, was later revealed to be the result of a hoax. The sighting was featured on an episode of UFO Hunters, and Birnes dismissed reports that witnesses saw flares attached to balloons, claiming instead that the movement of lights ruled out the possibility of flares, "a theory "UFO Hunters" has already tested and proven implausible". But on April Fool's Day 2009, two college students, Joe Rudy and Chris Russo, admitted that they had deliberately launched balloons tied to flares near the local airport on January 5 as a "social experiment on how to create your own media event surrounding UFO sightings...to show everyone how unreliable eyewitness accounts are, along with investigators of UFOs."

Media
As a writer of popular nonfiction, he co-authored The Riverman with detective/academic Robert D. Keppel (1995), an account of serial killer Ted Bundy's involvement in the apprehension of Green River Killer Gary Ridgway. The book was adapted into a made-for-TV film (2004) on A&E. As a UFOlogist, Birnes collaborated with Philip J. Corso, on The Day After Roswell (1998), appeared on the History Channel's television documentary series: UFO Files (2004–2007), Ancient Aliens (2009–2013), NASA's Unexplained Files and I Know What I Saw. He starred in UFO Hunters (2008–2009) as leader of an investigative team of fellow ufologists, and later wrote a book by the same name documenting his experiences on the show. Birnes has repeatedly appeared as a guest on the late night radio talk-show Coast to Coast AM to discuss UFOs. Birnes most recent nonfiction works are Dr. Feelgood with Richard Lertzman, Wounded Minds and Hearts of Darkness with Dr. John Liebert, The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney with Richard Lertzman, Beyond Columbo, The Life and Times of Peter Falk with Richard Lertzman, Edison v. Tesla, The Battle Over Their Last Invention with Joel Martin, Psychiatric Criminology with Dr. John Liebert, and UFO Hunters Book 2. Birnes will be appearing again in the third season of NASA's Unexplained Files and in early 2016 on Reelz TV's Dr. Feelgood.

Bibliography
 The Day After Roswell (1998) with Philip J. Corso
 Star Trek Cookbook (1999) with Ethan Phillips
 Unsolved UFO Mysteries (2000) with Harold Burt
 The UFO Magazine UFO Encyclopedia (2004)
 Space Wars: The First Six Hours of World War III (2007) with William B. Scott, Michael J. Coumatos
 Worker in the Light: Unlock Your Five Senses And Liberate Your Limitless Potential (2008) with George Noory
 Serial Violence: Analysis of Modus Operandi and Signature Characteristics of Killers (2008) with Robert D. Keppel
 The Haunting of America: From the Salem Witch Trials to Harry Houdini (2009) with Joel Martin & George Noory
 Journey to the Light: Find Your Spiritual Self and Enter Into a World of Infinite Opportunity (2009) with George Noory
 Counterspace: The Next Hours of World War III (2009) with William B. Scott & Michael J. Coumatos
 UFO Hunters (2009)
 George Noory's Late-Night Snacks: Winning Recipes for Late-Night Radio Listening (2013) with George Noory
 The Haunting of Twenty-First-Century America (2013) with Joel Martin

References

External links

American UFO writers
New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science alumni
1944 births
Living people
Ufologists
American male novelists
Concord University alumni
University of Pennsylvania fellows
The College of New Jersey faculty
21st-century American novelists
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
Novelists from New Jersey
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers

William J. Birnes


Azala may refer to:

 Azala, an Ancient Babylonian cartographer. See: History of cartography#Ancient Near East
 Azala, a character from the video game Chrono Trigger. See: Characters of Chrono Trigger#Ayla
 Azala, the goddess of air in the Cirque du Soleil production Dralion
 Azala, main page in the Basque Wikipedia
 Princess Azala, a character from the 1944 Colombian film serial The Desert Hawk

See also
 Azalea (disambiguation)
 Azalia (disambiguation)
 Azela Robinson (born 1965), British-born Mexican actress
 Azula, antagonist in Avatar: The Last Airbender

Azala


A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944–1950 is a 1994 non-fiction book written by Cuban-born American lawyer Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, former research fellow at MPG in Heidelberg, Germany. The work is based on a collection of testimonials from German civilians and Wehrmacht military personnel; and devoted to the expulsion of Germans after World War II from states previously occupied by Nazi Germany. It includes as well selected interviews with British and American politicians who participated at the Potsdam Conference, including Robert Murphy, Geoffrey Harrison (drafter of article XIII of the Potsdam Protocol), and Denis Allen (drafter of article IX on the provisional post-war borders). The book attempts to describe the crimes committed against the German nation by the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia at the end of World War II – as perceived by the expellees themselves and settlers brought in Heim ins Reich (Home into the Empire) from the east.

The author begins with the history of German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe since the 12th century, the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on German minorities in Poland and Czechoslovakia, the failure of the League of Nations system of minority protection, the outbreak of World War II and selected crimes committed by the Nazis, followed by the story of refugees from the former Eastern parts of Germany (Silesia, East Prussia, Pomerania, East Brandenburg), as well as the fate of German minorities in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

In the book, de Zayas claims that approximately two million Germans died during the post period of 1944–1949, although his claim does not withstand scrutiny. Most recent research on the subject has put the number at around half a million.

Printing history
The book originated as a script for a television documentary by the Bavarian Broadcasting. It was a popular rendition of the author's monography on the expulsions called the Nemesis at Potsdam (). This shorter introduction to the subject was published in German as Anmerkungen zur Vertreibung der Deutschen aus dem Osten (4 editions during 1986–1996, Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, ), first printed in English under the title of The German Expellees: Victims in War and Peace (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1993, Macmillan, London). The new, 1994 English title, included the then neologism "ethnic cleansing", used at that time in relation to the crimes committed by Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina of the 1990s.  The 5th expanded German 2006 edition was titled Die deutschen Vertriebenen (Leopold Stocker Verlag, ).  The book ends with 12 historical theses, 14 legal theses and 10 conclusions.  It was positively reviewed in Germany by Andreas Hillgruber in the Historische Zeitschrift and Gotthold Rhode in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The 2006 English edition was expanded by about 20%. It contains additional information from interviews with the children of the displaced, German expellees who migrated to the United States and Canada, new photos and new statistical tables.

Reviews
"This popularly written but still scholarly study follows the author's other successful books in the fields of history and international law [which] were hailed by historians as well as lawyers as masterpieces of academic craftsmanship. His book.presents in a nutshell the history of the ethnic German population which had settled in the early 13th century in large parts of what is nowadays Eastern Europe." Netherlands International Law Review 1986, pp. 430–431.

"This is the story of the ethnic Germans who found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some two million died and fifteen million were displaced – driven from their lands by those opposed to anyone and everything German... De Zayas's moving plea is that one's home should be a human right. As frontiers once more shift in Eastern Europe and families flee in Bosnia, he could hardly have chosen a better moment to deliver it." The Times, (London) 18 November 1993.

Criticism
One reviewer, Rainer Ohliger of Humboldt University, argues that de Zayas over-emphasizes the role of the Bund der Vertriebenen (non-governmental association representing the expellees) and its property and territorial claims. It has been noted that no West–East migration occurred when this possibility arose after the unification of the German states, and that practically no Germans have returned to the East after the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania entered the European Union.

The book has also been criticized for its victim perspective, normally unsuitable for scholarly works, unfavourably comparing it with a more recent book of Detlef Brandes. The 2006 revised and enlarged edition of "Terrible Revenge" with Palgrave/Macmillan takes some of these considerations into account. In the introduction the author notes that a "Terrible Revenge" is a popularized version of his longer monograph "Nemesis at Potsdam" (1–3 editions Routledge, 6th edition Picton Press, Rockland, Maine 2003). See also review of the Future of Freedom Foundation.

Other reviews have criticized both de Zayas and Brandes reversely. According to Eagle Glassheim on the H-Net website, Brandes does not provide any moral conclusion deriving from violence against civilians due to their ethnic heritage.

Genocide historians Donald Bloxham and Tony Kushner describe the book as "tendentious".

See also
Against Their Will, a historical research book by Pavel Polyan
Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union
Journey Back to Youth, a 2001 documentary film
Nemmersdorf massacre of 21 October 1944, in Kaliningrad Oblast
Soviet war crimes from 1919 onward

References

1994 non-fiction books
Books by Alfred-Maurice de Zayas
St. Martin's Press books
History books about World War II
History books about Czechoslovakia
History books about Germany
History books about Hungary
History books about Poland
History books about Romania
History books about the Soviet Union
History books about Yugoslavia
Ethnic cleansing of Germans
Works about post–World War II forced migrations
History books about ethnic cleansing

A Terrible Revenge


Set (; Egyptological: Sutekh - swtẖ ~ stẖ or Greek: Seth ) is a god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion. In Ancient Greek, the god's name is given as Sēth (Σήθ). Set had a positive role where he accompanies Ra on his barque to repel Apep, the serpent of Chaos. Set had a vital role as a reconciled combatant. He was lord of the Red Land (desert), where he was the balance to Horus' role as lord of the Black Land (fertile land).

In the Osiris myth, the most important Egyptian myth, Set is portrayed as the usurper who murdered and mutilated his own brother, Osiris. Osiris's sister-wife, Isis, reassembled his corpse and resurrected her dead brother-husband with the help of the goddess Nephthys. The resurrection lasted long enough to conceive his son and heir, Horus. Horus sought revenge upon Set and many of the ancient Egyptian myths describe their conflicts.

In ancient Egyptian astronomy, Set was commonly associated with the planet Mercury.

Since he is related to the west of Nile which is the Sahara, he is sometimes associated with a lesser deity, Ha, god of the desert, which is a deity depicted as a man with a desert determinative on his head.

Family

Set is the son of Geb, the Earth, and Nut, the Sky; his siblings are Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys. He married Nephthys and fathered Anubis and Wepwawet. In some accounts, he had relationships with the foreign goddesses Anat and Astarte. From these relationships is said to be born a crocodile deity called Maga.

Name origin
The meaning of the name Set is unknown but it is thought to have been originally pronounced *sūtiẖ [ˈsuw.tixʲ] based on spellings of his name in Egyptian hieroglyphs as stẖ and swtẖ. The Late Egyptian spelling stš reflects the palatalization of ẖ while the eventual loss of the final consonant is recorded in spellings like swtj. The Coptic form of the name,  Sēt, is the basis for the English vocalization.

Set animal

In art, Set is usually depicted as an enigmatic creature referred to by Egyptologists as the Set animal, a beast not identified with any known animal, although it could be seen as a resembling an aardvark, an African wild dog, a donkey, a hyena, a jackal, a pig, an antelope, a giraffe, an okapi, a saluki, or a fennec fox. The animal has a downward curving snout; long ears with squared-off ends; a thin, forked tail with sprouted fur tufts in an inverted arrow shape; and a slender canine body. Sometimes, Set is depicted as a human with the distinctive head. Some early Egyptologists proposed that it was a stylised representation of the giraffe, owing to the large flat-topped "horns" which correspond to a giraffe's ossicones. The Egyptians themselves, however, used distinct depictions for the giraffe and the Set animal. During the Late Period, Set is usually depicted as a donkey or as a man with the head of a donkey, and in the Book of the Faiyum, Set is depicted with a flamingo head.

The earliest representations of what might be the Set animal comes from a tomb dating to the Amratian culture ("Naqada I") of prehistoric Egypt (3790–3500 BCE), although this identification is uncertain. If these are ruled out, then the earliest Set animal appears on a ceremonial macehead of Scorpion II, a ruler of the Naqada III phase. The head and the forked tail of the Set animal are clearly present on the mace.

Conflict of Horus and Set

An important element of Set's mythology was his conflict with his brother or nephew, Horus, for the throne of Egypt. The contest between them is often violent but is also described as a legal judgment before the Ennead, an assembled group of Egyptian deities, to decide who should inherit the kingship. The judge in this trial may be Geb, who, as the father of Osiris and Set, held the throne before they did, or it may be the creator gods Ra or Atum, the originators of kingship. Other deities also take important roles: Thoth frequently acts as a conciliator in the dispute or as an assistant to the divine judge, and in "Contendings", Isis uses her cunning and magical power to aid her son.

The rivalry of Horus and Set is portrayed in two contrasting ways. Both perspectives appear as early as the Pyramid Texts, the earliest source of the myth. In some spells from these texts, Horus is the son of Osiris and nephew of Set, and the murder of Osiris is the major impetus for the conflict. The other tradition depicts Horus and Set as brothers. This incongruity persists in many of the subsequent sources, where the two gods may be called brothers or uncle and nephew at different points in the same text.

The divine struggle involves many episodes. "Contendings" describes the two gods appealing to various other deities to arbitrate the dispute and competing in different types of contests, such as racing in boats or fighting each other in the form of hippopotami, to determine a victor. In this account, Horus repeatedly defeats Set and is supported by most of the other deities. Yet the dispute drags on for eighty years, largely because the judge, the creator god, favors Set. In late ritual texts, the conflict is characterized as a great battle involving the two deities' assembled followers. The strife in the divine realm extends beyond the two combatants. At one point Isis attempts to harpoon Set as he is locked in combat with her son, but she strikes Horus instead, who then cuts off her head in a fit of rage. Thoth replaces Isis's head with that of a cow; the story gives a mythical origin for the cow-horn headdress that Isis commonly wears.

In a key episode in the conflict, Set sexually abuses Horus. Set's violation is partly meant to degrade his rival, but it also involves homosexual desire, in keeping with one of Set's major characteristics, his forceful, potent, and indiscriminate sexuality. In the earliest account of this episode, in a fragmentary Middle Kingdom papyrus, the sexual encounter begins when Set asks to have sex with Horus, who agrees on the condition that Set will give Horus some of his strength. The encounter puts Horus in danger, because in Egyptian tradition semen is a potent and dangerous substance, akin to poison. According to some texts, Set's semen enters Horus's body and makes him ill, but in "Contendings", Horus thwarts Set by catching Set's semen in his hands. Isis retaliates by putting Horus's semen on lettuce-leaves that Set eats. Set's defeat becomes apparent when this semen appears on his forehead as a golden disk. He has been impregnated with his rival's seed and as a result "gives birth" to the disk. In "Contendings", Thoth takes the disk and places it on his own head; in earlier accounts, it is Thoth who is produced by this anomalous birth.

Another important episode concerns mutilations that the combatants inflict upon each other: Horus injures or steals Set's testicles and Set damages or tears out one, or occasionally both, of Horus's eyes. Sometimes the eye is torn into pieces. Set's mutilation signifies a loss of virility and strength. The removal of Horus's eye is even more important, for this stolen eye of Horus represents a wide variety of concepts in Egyptian religion. One of Horus's major roles is as a sky deity, and for this reason his right eye was said to be the sun and his left eye the moon. The theft or destruction of the eye of Horus is therefore equated with the darkening of the moon in the course of its cycle of phases, or during eclipses. Horus may take back his lost Eye, or other deities, including Isis, Thoth, and Hathor, may retrieve or heal it for him. Egyptologist Herman te Velde argues that the tradition about the lost testicles is a late variation on Set's loss of semen to Horus, and that the moon-like disk that emerges from Set's head after his impregnation is the Eye of Horus. If so, the episodes of mutilation and sexual abuse would form a single story, in which Set assaults Horus and loses semen to him, Horus retaliates and impregnates Set, and Set comes into possession of Horus's eye, when it appears on Set's head. Because Thoth is a moon deity in addition to his other functions, it would make sense, according to te Velde, for Thoth to emerge in the form of the Eye and step in to mediate between the feuding deities.

In any case, the restoration of the eye of Horus to wholeness represents the return of the moon to full brightness, the return of the kingship to Horus, and many other aspects of ma'at. Sometimes the restoration of Horus's eye is accompanied by the restoration of Set's testicles, so that both gods are made whole near the conclusion of their feud.

Protector of Ra

Set was depicted standing on the prow of Ra's barge defeating the dark serpent Apep. In some Late Period representations, such as in the Persian Period Temple of Hibis at Khargah, Set was represented in this role with a falcon's head, taking on the guise of Horus. In the Amduat, Set is described as having a key role in overcoming Apep.

Set in the Second Intermediate, Ramesside and later periods

During the Second Intermediate Period (1650–1550 BCE), a group of Near Eastern peoples, known as the Hyksos (literally, "rulers of foreign lands") gained control of Lower Egypt, and ruled the Nile Delta, from Avaris. They chose Set, originally Upper Egypt's chief god, the god of foreigners and the god they found most similar to their own chief god, Hadad, as their patron. Set then became worshiped as the chief god once again. The Hyksos King Apophis is recorded as worshiping Set exclusively, as described in the following passage:

Jan Assmann argues that because the ancient Egyptians could never conceive of a "lonely" god lacking personality, Seth the desert god, who was worshiped on his own, represented a manifestation of evil.

When Ahmose I overthrew the Hyksos and expelled them, in , Egyptians' attitudes towards Asiatic foreigners became xenophobic, and royal propaganda discredited the period of Hyksos rule. The Set cult at Avaris flourished, nevertheless, and the Egyptian garrison of Ahmose stationed there became part of the priesthood of Set.

The founder of the Nineteenth Dynasty, Ramesses I came from a military family from Avaris with strong ties to the priesthood of Set. Several of the Ramesside kings were named after the god, most notably Seti I (literally, "man of Set") and Setnakht (literally, "Set is strong"). In addition, one of the garrisons of Ramesses II held Set as its patron deity, and Ramesses II erected the so-called "Year 400 Stela" at Pi-Ramesses, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Set cult in the Nile delta.

Set also became associated with foreign gods during the New Kingdom, particularly in the delta. Set was identified by the Egyptians with the Hittite deity Teshub, who, like Set, was a storm god, and the Canaanite deity Baal, being worshipped together as "Seth-Baal".

Additionally, Set is depicted in part of the Greek Magical Papyri, a body of texts forming a grimoire used in Greco-Roman magic during the fourth century CE.

The demonization of Set

According to Herman te Velde, the demonization of Set took place after Egypt's conquest by several foreign nations in the Third Intermediate and Late Periods. Set, who had traditionally been the god of foreigners, thus also became associated with foreign oppressors, including the Kushite and Persian empires. It was during this time that Set was particularly vilified, and his defeat by Horus widely celebrated.

Set's negative aspects were emphasized during this period. Set was the killer of Osiris, having hacked Osiris' body into pieces and dispersed it so that he could not be resurrected. The Greeks would later associate Set with Typhon and Yahweh, a monstrous and evil force of raging nature (being the three of them depicted as donkey-like creatures, classifying their worshippers as onolatrists).

Set and Typhon also had in common that both were sons of deities representing the Earth (Gaia and Geb) who attacked the principal deities (Osiris for Set, Zeus for Typhon).

Nevertheless, throughout this period, in some outlying regions of Egypt, Set was still regarded as the heroic chief deity.

Set temples

Set was worshipped at the temples of Ombos (Nubt near Naqada) and Ombos (Nubt near Kom Ombo), at Oxyrhynchus in Upper Egypt, and also in part of the Fayyum area.

More specifically, Set was worshipped in the relatively large metropolitan (yet provincial) locale of Sepermeru, especially during the Ramesside Period. There, Seth was honored with an important temple called the "House of Seth, Lord of Sepermeru". One of the epithets of this town was "gateway to the desert", which fits well with Set's role as a deity of the frontier regions of ancient Egypt. At Sepermeru, Set's temple enclosure included a small secondary shrine called "The House of Seth, Powerful-Is-His-Mighty-Arm", and Ramesses II himself built (or modified) a second land-owning temple for Nephthys, called "The House of Nephthys of Ramesses-Meriamun".

The two temples of Seth and Nephthys in Sepermeru were under separate administration, each with its own holdings and prophets. Moreover, another moderately sized temple of Seth is noted for the nearby town of Pi-Wayna. The close association of Seth temples with temples of Nephthys in key outskirt-towns of this milieu is also reflected in the likelihood that there existed another "House of Seth" and another "House of Nephthys" in the town of Su, at the entrance to the Fayyum.

Papyrus Bologna preserves a most irritable complaint lodged by one Pra'em-hab, Prophet of the "House of Seth" in the now-lost town of Punodjem ("The Sweet Place"). In the text of Papyrus Bologna, the harried Pra'em-hab laments undue taxation for his own temple (The House of Seth) and goes on to lament that he is also saddled with responsibility for: "The ship, and I am likewise also responsible for the House of Nephthys, along with the remaining heap of district temples".

Nothing is known about the particular theologies of the closely connected Set and Nephthys temples in these districts — for example, the religious tone of temples of Nephthys located in such proximity to those of Seth, especially given the seemingly contrary Osirian loyalties of Seth's consort-goddess. When, by the Twentieth Dynasty, the "demonization" of Seth was ostensibly inaugurated, Seth was either eradicated or increasingly pushed to the outskirts, Nephthys flourished as part of the usual Osirian pantheon throughout Egypt, even obtaining a Late Period status as tutelary goddess of her own Nome (UU Nome VII, "Hwt-Sekhem"/Diospolis Parva) and as the chief goddess of the Mansion of the Sistrum in that district.

Seth's cult persisted even into the latter days of ancient Egyptian religion, in outlying but important places like Kharga, Dakhlah, Deir el-Hagar, Mut, and Kellis. In these places, Seth was considered "Lord of the Oasis / Town" and Nephthys was likewise venerated as "Mistress of the Oasis" at Seth's side, in his temples (esp. the dedication of a Nephthys-cult statue). Meanwhile, Nephthys was also venerated as "Mistress" in the Osirian temples of these districts as part of the specifically Osirian college. It would appear that the ancient Egyptians in these locales had little problem with the paradoxical dualities inherent in venerating Seth and Nephthys, as juxtaposed against Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys.

In modern religion

In popular culture
In the manga and anime series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, a minor enemy named Alessi has a Stand based on Set, with the ability to reflect Alessi's shadow, including items he holds, and can rapidly de-age whoever steps into his shadow.

In the 13th season Doctor Who serial Pyramids of Mars, Set (using the name Sutekh) is portrayed as an alien entity.  Imprisoned under an Egyptian pyramid millennia ago by Horus, he is bent on destroying all life if he is ever freed.

In the Shin Megami Tensei series, Set (using the name Seth) is portrayed as a black dragon throughout multiple of the installments.

In the 1992 Nintendo Entertainment System video game titled "Nightshade", the villain's public personal is that of "Sutekh", a criminal underboss who unifies the gangs of the fictitious Metro City. In line with the idea of Sutekh, of Egyptian mythology, the Sutekh in the video game reigns supreme over all of the violence in the city. Of particular note, in Egyptian mythology, Sutekh is also the god of foreigners. In the Nightshade video game, its villain is not of Egyptian descent, but instead a man by the name of Waldo P. Schmeer who is a historian obsessed with Egyptian lore.

In SMITE, Set is a playable assassin, released alongside his rival nephew Horus.

In the BL manhwa ENNEAD, written and illustrated by Mojito, Set (using the name Seth) is the main character. It draws heavily upon classic Egyptian mythology and centers on the conflict between Horus and Seth.

Ahead of the release of their 25th studio album, The Silver Cord (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard album), Australian band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard released the album's first three songs. The third of these, titled "Set", describes Set killing Osiris and his subsequent conflict with Horus.

See also
Horea (mythology)
Set animal

Notes

References

Sources

External links

  – representations of Sutekh as Horus

Earth gods
Egyptian demons
Egyptian gods
Liminal gods
Mercurian deities
Planetary gods
Sky and weather gods
War gods
Chaos gods
Evil gods
Amratian culture
Donkey deities
Fratricides

Set (deity)


All That Heaven Allows is a 1955 romantic drama movie. It stars Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. Douglas Sirk directed. It is based on a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee. The movie was produced by Ross Hunter, and released by Universal Pictures. It was chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Story
Cary Scott is a rich widow. Her social life is dull. It centers on her two adult children, her country club friends, and a couple of men with romantic hopes. She falls in love with young landscape designer Ron Kirby. He is her social inferior. He proposes and she says yes. Her children and friends disapprove. Because of this, Cary ends the relationship with Ron. Cary returns to her lonely life. She sees other women getting engaged and living lives of happiness. She finds the courage to defy social norms and commits to loving Ron.

Criticism
Bosley Crowther did not like the movie. He wrote, "The script was obviously written to bring [Wyman] and Mr. Hudson, who made a popular twosome in the Magnificent Obsession, together again. Solid and sensible drama plainly had to give way to outright emotional bulldozing and a paving of easy clichés."

References

American romantic drama movies
1950s English-language movies
1955 romantic drama movies
Universal Pictures movies
United States National Film Registry movies
Movies directed by Douglas Sirk
Women's movies

All That Heaven Allows


A meerkat (Suricata suricatta) is a small mammal that lives in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa.  Despite its common name, it is more closely related to the mongoose family than to cats.  A group of meerkats is called a "mob" or "gang", and usually all of the meerkats are relatives.

How meerkats act
Meerkats live in burrows in the ground.  They are active during the day, except when hot during the afternoon sun. They also live in large family groups.  The group is led by a female and a male. The meerkats are often all family. They get rid of fleas in each other's fur to become friends, which is called "grooming". Sometimes if a minor member is in trouble with the leader it will groom the leader to try and calm them down.

The meerkats help each other. When the family is eating or playing together, one meerkat acts as a sentry, and looks out for predators. If he or she sees one, then he gives a chirp and the group runs to a burrow to be safe. Also, when pups are looking for food, adults bring them food and teach them how to eat it.

Before pups start looking for food with the group, they are babysat by older members at the burrow to protect them from danger. Sometimes a female who never gave birth will produce milk for the pups.

Meerkats can share their burrows with many different animals, such as other mongooses and sometimes squirrels who live on the ground. Sometimes even a snake will share the burrow with a meerkat.

Despite the family bond of meerkats, sometimes a female might kill another female's pups. The leader might also kick out some females from the group. Males sometimes leave the group for a short time to look for females in other groups to mate with.

Meerkats have many different chirps that they use for different reasons. They have a different chirp for being friends, anger, and for warning of an animal that will eat them.

Eating behavior
Meerkats eat mostly insects, but they also eat lizards, snakes, spiders, birds, plants, eggs and other small mammals.) Like all members of the mongoose family, meerkats cannot be hurt by some venoms, and they eat scorpions (including the stinger) and some snakes, without fear of illness, poison or death. They have no extra body fat, so they must look for food every day and eat food every day.

When the meerkat group is eating, a guard will stand up and look for any animals that might eat its family. If the guard sees an animal, it gives a loud chirp and the family will run to a hole to be safe. Many animals eat meerkats. Most eagles, hawks, and falcons will eat them. Baby meerkats, called "pups" are sometimes also eaten by snakes. Jackals and other big animals that eat meat will sometimes eat meerkats.

When pups are looking for food, they will cry loudly and an adult will come and feed them. At first the adult gives the pup a dead animal, then when the pup is older, the adult will bring a live animal but will hurt it so the pup can kill it easier. Then the adults start bringing live animals that are healthy, and when the pup gets the hang of eating these, the adults stop bringing food.

The meerkat body
The meerkat weighs about one and a half pounds and the meerkat is ten to fourteen inches long. The meerkat uses its tail to balance because it stands up on its back legs to look for predators. Round the eyes are black patches which lessen the bright light that comes into its eyes. Meerkats have long claws that help them dig and fight. The back of the meerkat is furry and it has stripes to help it not be seen by predators. The front side is black and has no fur because it needs to get warm in the morning to be ready for the day.
Meerkats also have ears that can open and close. They close in order to keep sand out when they are burrowing.

Having children

The meerkat is old enough to have children at one year. Meerkats can have one to seven babies at one time. Four is the most common. Meerkats can give birth at any time of the year but like to give birth in spring and summer because there is more food. Female meerkats can have up to three litters in one year. When the babies are born they are pink and have no hair. Their eyes and ears are closed. When they are three weeks old, the mother allows them to get out of the burrow. By this time their eyes and ears have opened and they have light brown fur. The babies cannot be left alone so one of the other meerkats besides the mother stays behind to watch them.

After the mother mates with the father, the babies develop for eleven weeks. Then she gives birth in a burrow. She feeds the babies milk until they start looking for food with the rest of the group, which is when they turn one month old.

The leader of the group is a girl and her mate is the male leader. This pair do not allow other minor members of their family to have babies. If a female does, then the leader kicks her out and sometimes the leader kills her grandchildren. Most of the meerkats in a group are either the leader's brothers and sisters or children.

New meerkat groups form when a female is kicked out and she teams up with a male and starts a new family.

References

Further reading
 David Macdonald (Photography by Nigel Dennis):  Meerkats.  London:  New Holland Publishers, 1999.

Other websites

Animal Diversity – Meerkat
Learn About Meerkats

Feliformia
Mammals of Africa

Meerkat


CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. It is also called the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) decided to make the treaty in 1963. Countries started signing it on 3 March 1973. CITES started to have effect on 1 July 1975.

Related pages
Wildlife

1970s treaties
Endangered species

CITES


Wire is a long, thin and flexible piece of metal. Wires are made in many different metals and sizes, and are used for many purposes. Wire rope has been used for centuries.

Electrical wire is wire used to carry electricity. When people touch wire that is carrying electricity, they get shocked, which is bad, so the outside coating of electrical wires is colored. Most electric wires are black, but some wires have a differently colored coating. Different colors indicate different purposes, for example, in the United States, green or bare is a ground (earth) wire, white is a neutral wire, and black, blue, red, brown, yellow, and orange are hot (live) wires.

A wiretap is when law enforcement puts a device into a phone or other electronic device to hear what suspected criminals are going to do.

Copper wire is the best known type of wire, but wire can also be made out of aluminum or other metals. If we did not have wiring almost all of our electronics would not be working or available.

Basic English 850 words
Hardware (mechanical)
Electrical wiring

Wire


Pontiac (c. 1720 – April 20, 1769) was a war chief. He became known for his role in Pontiac's War (1763–1766), an American Indian war against British military near the Great Lakes region and named for him.  Historians today generally view him as an important local leader who influenced a wider movement that he did not command.

The war began in May 1763 when Pontiac and 300 followers attempted to take Fort Detroit by surprise but their plan was foiled.

He gained confidence as he continued to go against the British. British officials made Pontiac the focus of their diplomatic efforts seeking to end the war.

Pontiac was killed on April 20, 1769.

References

1769 deaths
Native American people
Murdered Native American people

Pontiac (Ottawa leader)


John (Jack) Peisley (1835 – 1862)  Australian bushranger was born in Bathurst New South Wales in 1835. He is believed to be the first bushranger born in Australia. His name is often found spelled as "Piesley".

Early life
John Peisley lived in the Abercrombie District with his well-known settler parents Thomas and Elizabeth.  Their house was reputed a den of  thieves. John Peisley was arrested in his teens for stealing.  About 1840, the extended family of  ticket of leave convicts Thomas Weavers and wife Sarah, previously Smith née Lake crossed the Blue Mountains to Bathurst and took up farming in the Mount Macquarie area where unofficial settlement started in 1821.  The first land grant was to Thomas Icely for Coombing Park in 1829.  Nearby land was taken up on Coombing and Fell Tree Creeks, and at Number One Swamp that developed into the village of Mount Macquarie, the latter renamed Neville in 1888. Thomas Weavers and stepson William Smith took up land together.  On 12 May 1851, two horses missing from Thomas Weavers' Mount Macquarie property were seen in the possession of seventeen-year-old John Peisley driving them and five more to the Abercrombie.  He was arrested on warrant and indicted for stealing. The jury could not agree the identity of horses were sufficiently established and acquitted the accused, but he was remanded in custody, as he faced another charge of horse stealing.

Convict
Not all Australian convicts and ticket of leave holders arrived in Australia on convict transports.  Bathurst-born Colonial lad John Peisley was eventually convicted of stealing cattle and sentenced to serve time on Cockatoo Island near Sydney, now called Biloela.  A prisoner who served time there was labelled a Cockatoo Hand.  There he met Darkie Frank Clark, who as Frank Christie, escapee from Melbourne's Pentridge gaol in 1850 after serving five weeks of a five year sentence.  In New South Wales, Clark turned to horse and cattle stealing in company with William Fogg.  Convicted, he got seven years for attempting to sell stolen horses and forging horse ownership papers at Yass.
Clark, having served less than six years of his sentence, was given his ticket of leave on
31 December 1859, conditional he stayed in the Carcoar District.  At Carcoar, he worked for a butcher.  Two months later, he absconded to new gold diggings at Kiandra and calling himself Frank Gardiner opened a butcher's shop selling carcasses of stolen cattle.  His true identity was soon realized and warrants issued.  He was arrested in May 1861, but skipped bail at Lambing Flat (now Young).  He teamed up with Canadian immigrant John Gilbert and reverted to full-time crime.

Bushranger
In December 1860, convict Peisley gained his Ticket of Leave at Scone, conditional upon him remaining in the Hunter River Valley.  On 23 March 1861, fifty miles north-east of Bathurst, between Louisa Creek and Tambaroora, with fellow Cockatoo Hand named McKenzie, he robbed travelling bank officer Richard Cox Shaw carrying £565 in notes, also some gold and silver coins.  Earlier bushrangers were mostly transported convicts; colony-born Peisley became the first true Wild Colonial Boy.  The robbers split and Peisley absconded to the Abercrombie Ranges he knew well.  In May, at Fish River in Fogg's ironbark slab humpy, six miles from Bigga, Peisley and Frank Clark reunited and teamed with John Gilbert as highway robbers, 'sticking up' travellers in the area between Bathurst, Lambing Flat, Gundagai and Yass.  On 16 July morning, Sergeant John Middleton and Trooper William Hosie stationed at Tuena, descended upon Fogg's humpy occupied by Fogg, his wife and children, Frank Clark armed with a six-shot revolver handgun, and Jim Barney, an old man.  Unknown to the troopers, Peisley and Gilbert were camped one mile away.  Called to surrender, Clark shot Middleton three times, in the hand, mouth and hip, and Trooper William Hosie received a glancing ball to his forehead.  Clark was also wounded.  They wrestled before Clark gave up and was manacled.  Barney took off to warn Peisley and Gilbert.  Middleton left for Bigga to get help and reinforcements.  Circumstances of Hosie leaving for Bigga were disputed.  Fogg claimed Hosie accepted fifty sovereigns to release Clark and to say he escaped.  Hosie averred at Fogg's trial for obstructing police, while he and Fogg escorted the prisoner along the road to Bigga, Clark escaped when bushrangers Peisley and another (Gilbert) waylaid them.  Trooper Hosie reached Bigga alone mid-afternoon.  Weak and delirious from loss of blood, Sergeant Middleton arrived at nightfall.  Both would later recover.  Reports of Crime issued July and August 1861 declared £120 rewards, £20 for Clark's apprehension, and £50 for Peisley's, and further sum of £50 by Government for such information as shall lead to the conviction of those concerned in the outrage of attacking and wounding the Patrol with Firearms in the Bathurst District.  The report disclosed:

"On the 16th July, Sergeant Middleton and Trooper Hosie, of the Western Patrol, were attacked and severely wounded at the Fish River, by Francis Clarke, alias Jones, alias Christie, a Ticket of Leave holder, illegally at large from his district; a native of Goulbourn, New South Wales, 31 years ... wounded in the affray on left temple by a pistol-ball or whip.  He was captured and afterwards released by two armed men: John Peisley, a Ticket of Leave holder, illegally at large from his district; a native of Bathurst, New South Wales, about 26, 5 feet 8 ½  inches high, ruddy complexion, flaxen hair, bluish-grey eyes, long featured, pock-marked nose, several scars, arms and legs hairy, left eye spasmodic winking action… The other man is about 26 years"

The report also included weapons carried and comprehensive physical descriptions, normal clothing and by Clark (Gardiner) and Gilbert (not named).
Displeased with ill-fame attributed him, Peisley wrote the editor of the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal by letter dated "Fish River, 4th  September, 1861."  It stated, in part:

"You will no doubt be surprised to receive a note from the (now by all account) noted Piesley; but, Sir, through your valuable paper I must make it known that, if it be my lot to be taken, whether dead or alive, I will never be tried for the rescue of Gardiner, in the light in which it is presented; nor did I ever fire at Trooper Hosie. … I must be the Invisible Prince to commit one-tenth of what is laid to my charge.  I trust I may never have to allude to this again.  I love my native hills, I love freedom and detest cruelty to man or beast.  Trusting you will publish this, my bold letter no doubt, but you can be assured it comes from the real John Piesley, and not any of his many representatives.  I am, Mr. Editor, your much harassed writer, JOHN PIESLEY"

In the next months Clark, then more often called Gardiner, Peisley and Gilbert bushranged and retreated to the Weddin Mountains near Forbes and Cowra.  Peisley separated from the gang and single-handed held up the Lambing Flat coach after it left Cowra.  He then returned to Abercrombie District.

Murder
On 27 December 1861, Peisley went to Tom McGuinness's inn at Bigga and left the next day with fellow drinker James Wilson, stocked with wine and brandy.  They rode to a nearby farm owned by William and Stephen Benyon and continued drinking and arguing with the two brothers.  He accused, 17 years earlier, when he was a kid, William had swapped a horse with him, which was no good.  A fight erupted and Wilson took Peisley's revolvers, which William's wife Martha hid in the garden.  At her husband's insistence, she returned the revolvers.  Peisley pursued Stephen Benyon to the barn followed by William Benyon.  Both brothers were shot by Peisley; Stephen in the arm and William in the throat; witnessed by Martha Benyon, Wilson, farmhand George Harmer, servant girl Mary Samson and Thomas Weavers.
Doctor Henry Kowland attended William Benyon the following day, and found a bullet had passed through his windpipe and lodged in the spine, paralyzing him from the neck down.  He could not remove the bullet and considered the case hopeless from the start.  He attended him again on 31 December, three days before he died.

Capture and demise
A warrant issued for Peisley's arrest for the murder of Benyon and reward for information as would lead to his apprehension  and conviction.  An announcement in the Government Gazette of January 1862, after the murder of Benyon, based on Report of Crime dated 29 July 1861, described Peisley:

"About 28 years of age, about 5 ft 10 in. high, stout, well made, fresh complexion, very small light whiskers, quite bald on top of head and forehead, several recent marks on face, and a mark from a blow of a spade on top of head; puffed and dissipated-looking from hard drinking, invariable wears fashionable Napoleon boots, dark cloth breeches, dark vest buttoned up the front, large albert gold guard, cabbage-tree hat and duck coat.  Sometimes wears a dark wig and always carries a brace of revolvers."

On 15 January, Constables Morris, Murphy and Simpson were searching the Abercrombie area for bushrangers and spoke with Peisley near Bigga.  Police gave chase but Peisley's superior horse enabled him to escape easily.  He was identified and challenged by Corporal Carroll at Tarcutta on 29 January, and again escaped on his well-bred mount.  One week later, after a struggle, Peisley was captured and secured near Bootes's hotel, Mundarlo by Mr Mackenzie and Mr Beveridge of Wantabadgerie, who delivered him to Gundagai. At his committal before the Carcoar bench, Peisley called Thomas Weavers, but he corroborated the prosecution witnesses.  Committed for trail, Peisley handcuffed and chained, was taken from Carcoar to Bathurst by a large posse of armed police.
He was tried and convicted in the Bathurst Court on 14 March 1862, for the murder of William Benyon and sentenced to death.  He was hanged on 25 April 1862, in the Bathurst Gaol before about fifty people.  Aboriginal Jackey Bullfrog was hanged at the same time for murdering William Clarke.  At the gallows, Peisley pleaded he had a drunken fight, and death was Benyon's fault as much as his.  He averred he had he had nothing to do with Gardiner's rescue, was nowhere near Fogg's when he got away, and nothing to do with any attempt bribe Hosie.  His last words were "Goodbye gentlemen, and God bless you."  Clark using the name Christie was captured at Appis Creek, Queensland in March 1864.  He served ten years of a cumulative 32-year sentence for twice wounding Trooper Hosie, with intent to kill and intent to cause harm and two counts of armed robbery.
Before and after Piesley's hanging, John Gilbert teamed up with Ben Hall.  Bushranging robberies by the end of 1864 were so troublesome that the Parliament of New South Wales rushed through a Bill, An Act to facilitate the taking or apprehending of persons charged with certain felonies and the punishment of those by whom they are harboured.  Within one month of the Act's passing on 8 April 1865, Police shot them dead, Hall near Forbes on 6 May and Gilbert at Binalong one week later.  Mourners gave them hero status.

References
 Boxall, George History of the Australian Bushrangers, 1935, Halstead Printing Co
 White, Charles History of Australian Bushranging Vol. 1, 1981
 Clune, Frank Wild Colonial Boys, 1948, reprint 1984
 Nunn, Harry Bushrangers A Pictorial History, 1979, reprint 1991
 Coupe, Robert Australian Bushrangers, 1998,

1835 births
1862 deaths
Australian criminals
Bushrangers
People from New South Wales

John Peisley


An internal drainage board (IDB) is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management within drainage districts. The area of an IDB is not determined by county or metropolitan council boundaries, but by water catchment areas within a given region. IDBs are geographically concentrated in the Broads, Fens in East Anglia and Lincolnshire, Somerset Levels and Yorkshire.

In comparison with public bodies in other countries, IDBs are most similar to the Waterschappen of the Netherlands, Consorzi di bonifica e irrigazione of Italy, wateringen of Flanders and Northern France, Watershed Districts of Minnesota, United States and Marsh Bodies of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Responsibilities

Much of their work involves the maintenance of rivers, drainage channels (rhynes), ordinary watercourses, pumping stations and other critical infrastructure, facilitating drainage of new developments, the ecological conservation and enhancement of watercourses, monitoring and advising on planning applications and making sure that any development is carried out in line with legislation (NPPF). IDBs are not responsible for watercourses designated as main rivers within their drainage districts; the supervision of these watercourses is undertaken by the Environment Agency.

The precursors to internal drainage boards date back to 1252; however, the majority of today's IDBs were established by the national government following the passing of the Land Drainage Act 1930 and today predominantly operate under the Land Drainage Act 1991 under which, an IDB is required to exercise a general supervision over all matters relating to water level management of land within its district. Some IDBs may also have other duties, powers and responsibilities under specific legislation for the district (for instance the Middle Level Commissioners are also a navigation authority). IDBs are responsible to Defra from whom all legislation/regulations affecting them are issued. The work of an IDB is closely linked with that of the Environment Agency which has a range of functions providing a supervisory role over them.

Regulation

Defra brought IDBs under the jurisdiction of the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) from 1 April 2004, and introduced a model complaints procedure for IDBs to operate. This move was aimed to increase the accountability of IDBs to the general public who have an interest in the way that IDBs are run and operate by providing an independent means of review. At this time Defra also revised and re-issued model statutory rules and procedures under which IDBs operate.

Current internal drainage boards of England

There are 112 internal drainage boards in England in 2018 covering 1.2 million hectares (9.7% of England's total land area) and  Areas around The Wash, the Lincolnshire Coast, the lower reaches of the Trent and the Yorkshire Ouse, the Somerset Levels and the Fens have concentrations of adjacent IDBs covering broad areas of lowland. In other parts of the country IDBs stretch in narrow 'fingers' up river valleys, separated by less low-lying areas, especially in Norfolk and Suffolk, Sussex, Kent, West Yorkshire, Herefordshire/Shropshire and the northern Vale of York. The largest IDB (Lindsey Marsh DB) covers 52,757 hectares and the smallest (Cawdle Fen IDB) 181 hectares. 24 of the county councils in England include one or more IDB in their area as do six metropolitan districts, and 109 unitary authorities or district councils.

The Association of Drainage Authorities holds a definitive record of all IDBs within England and Wales and their boundaries.

The Environment Agency acts as the internal drainage board for one internal drainage district in East Sussex. In Wales internal drainage districts are managed by Natural Resources Wales.

Water level management and flood risk

IDBs have an important role in reducing flood risk through management of water levels and drainage in their districts. The water level management activities of internal drainage boards cover 1.2 million hectares of England which represents 9.7% of the total land area. Reducing the flood risk to ~600,000 people who live or work, and ~879,000 properties located in IDB districts. Whilst many thousands of people outside of these boundaries also derive reduced flood risk from IDB water level management activities. Several forms of critical infrastructure fall within IDB districts including; 56 major power stations (28%) are located within an Internal Drainage District, 68 other major industrial premises and 208 km of motorway. In fact a recent publication by the Association of Drainage Authorities identified that 53% of the installed capacity (potential maximum power output) of major power stations in England and Wales are located within an IDB.

Although of much reduced significance since the 1980s, many IDB districts in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire lie in areas of coal reserves and drainage has been significantly affected by subsidence from mining. IDBs have played an important role in monitoring and mitigating the effects of this activity and have worked in close collaboration with the coal companies and the Coal Authority.

Maintenance of watercourses

The fundamental role of an internal drainage board is to manage the water level within its district. The majority of lowland rivers and watercourses have been heavily modified by man or are totally artificial channels. All are engineered structures designed and constructed for the primary function of conveying surplus run-off to their outfall efficiently and safely, managing water levels to sustain a multitude of land functions. As with any engineered structure it must be maintained in order to function at or near its design capacity. Annual or bi-annual vegetation clearance and periodic de-silting (dredging) of these rivers and watercourses is therefore an essential component of the whole life cycle of these watercourses.

Accommodating sustainability within the design and maintenance process for lowland rivers and watercourses has to address three essential elements:

 year round conveyance of flows,
 storage of flood peaks,
 retention and protection of flora and fauna dependent on or resident in the water corridor.

Many IDBs are redesigning watercourses to create a two-stage or bermed channel. These have been extensively created in the Lindsey Marsh Drainage Board area of East Lincolnshire to accommodate the three elements of lowland watercourse sustainability.

Berms are created at or near to the normal retained water level in the system. It is sometimes replanted with vegetation removed from the watercourse prior to improvement works but is often left to re-colonise naturally. In all cases this additional part of the channel profile allows for enhanced environmental value to develop. The area created above the berm also provides additional flood storage capacity whilst the low level channel can be maintained in such a manner that design conveyance conditions are achieved and flood risk controlled.

By widening the channel and the berm, the berm can be safely used as access for machinery carrying out channel maintenance. While in-channel habitat that develops can be retained for a much longer period during the summer months, flood storage is provided for rare or extreme events and a buffer zone between the channel and any adjacent land use is created.

The timing of vegetation clearance works is essential to striking a sustainable balance in lowland watercourses. The Conveyance Estimating System (CES) is a modelling tool developed through a Defra / Environment Agency research collaboration. IDBs use CES to estimate the seasonal variation of conveyance owing to vegetation growth and other physical parameters which they use to assess the impact of varying the timing of vegetation clearance operations. This is critical during the spring and early summer, the prime nesting season for aquatic birds, the breeding season for many protected mammal species such as water voles and the season when many rare species of plant life flower and seed. Many IDBs have developed vegetation control strategies in co-ordination with Natural England.

Pumping stations

111 IDB districts require pumping to some degree for water level management and 79 are purely gravity boards (where no pumping is required). 53 IDBs have more than 95% of their area dependent on pumping. This means in England some  of land in IDB districts rely on pumping, almost 51% of the total. A new pumping station was commissioned in April 2011 by the Middle Level Commissioners at Wiggenhall St Germans, Norfolk. The station replaced its 73-year-old predecessor and is vital to the flood risk management of  of surrounding Fenland and 20,000 residential properties. When running at full capacity, it is capable of draining five Olympic-size swimming pools every 2 minutes.

Emergency actions

During times of heavy rainfall and high river levels IDBs:

 liaise with the Environment Agency (in England) or Natural Resources Wales (in Wales) over developing flood conditions
 check sensitive locations and remove restrictions
 take actions, where possible, to reduce risk of flooding to property
 advise local authorities on the developing situation in order that Local Authorities can execute their emergency
 plan effectively for the protection of people, property and critical infrastructure
 assist where possible in any post-flood remedial and clearance operations
 assess flooding incidents to determine if new works can be undertaken to reduce the effect of future flooding incidents

An IDB's priorities during flooding are:

 ensuring the board's systems are working efficiently
 protection of people and residential properties
 protection of commercial properties
 protection of agricultural land and ecologically sensitive sites

Some IDBs are able to provide a 24-hour contact number and most extend office hours during severe emergencies.

Planning guidance

Associated with the powers to regulate activities that may impede drainage, IDBs provide comments to local planning authorities on developments in their district and when asked, make recommendations on measures required to manage flood risk and to provide adequate drainage.

Environmental responsibilities

Internal drainage boards in England have responsibilities associated with 398 Sites of Special Scientific Interest plus other designated environmental areas, in coordination with Natural England. Slow flowing drainage channels such as those managed by IDBs can form an important habitat for a diverse community of aquatic and emergent plants, invertebrates and higher organisms. IDB channels form one of the last refuges in the UK of the BAP registered spined loach (Cobitis Taenia), a small nocturnal bottom-feeding fish that have been recorded only in the lower parts of the Trent and Great Ouse catchments, and in some small rivers and drains in Lincolnshire and East Anglia. All IDBs are currently engaging with their own individual biodiversity action plans which will further enhance their environmental role.

Many IDBs are involved with assisting major wetland biodiversity projects with organisations such as the RSPB, National Trust and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Many smaller conservation projects are co-ordinated with Wildlife Trusts and local authorities. Current projects include: The Great Fen Project (Middle Level Commissioners), Newport Wetlands Reserve (Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels IDB) and WWT Welney (MLC). Middle Level Commissioners launched a three-year Otter Recovery Project in December 2007. It will build 33 otter holts and 15 other habitat areas.

Drainage rates

All properties within a drainage district are deemed to derive benefit from the activities of an IDB. Every property is therefore subject to a drainage rate paid annually to the IDB.

For the purposes of rating, properties are divided into:

 Agricultural land and buildings
 Other land (such as domestic houses, factories, shops etc.)

Occupiers of all "other land" pay Council Tax or non-domestic rates to the local authority who then are charged by the board. This charge is called the "Special Levy". The board, therefore, only demands drainage rates direct on agricultural land and buildings. The basis of this is that each property has been allotted an "annual value" which were last revised in the early 1990s. The annual value is an amount equal to the yearly rent, or the rent that might be reasonably expected if let on a tenancy from year to year commencing 1 April 1988. The annual value remains the same from year to year. Each year the board lays a rate "in the £" to meet its estimated expenditure. This is multiplied by the annual value to produce the amount of drainage rate due on each property.

Precepts

Under Section 141 of the Water Resources Act 1991 the Environment Agency may issue a precept to an IDB to recover a contribution that the agency considers fair towards their expenses.

Under Section 57 of the Land Drainage Act 1991, in cases where a drainage district receives water from land at a higher level, the IDB may make an application to the Environment Agency for a contribution towards the expenses of dealing with that water.

District drainage commissioners

District drainage commissioners (DDCs) are internal drainage boards set up under local legislation rather than the Land Drainage Act 1991 and its predecessor legislation. The majority of the provisions of the Land Drainage Acts, do however, apply to such commissioners and they are statutory public bodies. The most important in terms of size and revenue is the Middle Level Commissioners.

Association of Drainage Authorities

The majority of internal drainage boards are members of the Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA) their representative organisation. Through ADA the collective views of drainage authorities and other members involved in water level management are represented to government, regulators, other policy makers and stakeholders. At a European level ADA represents IDBs through EUWMA.

In 2013 it was announced that the Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels Internal Drainage Board  was to be abolished in April 2015, after officials at the Wales Audit Office detailed a list of irregularities, including the board overpaying its most senior member of staff, paying thousands of pounds for trips abroad for its members, and occasionally acting unlawfully.

References

External links
 Association of Drainage Authorities
 Defra Flood and Coastal Risk Management
 European Union of Water Management Associations

Internal drainage board websites
 Bedford Group of Drainage Boards
 Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board
 Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels Internal Drainage Board
 Downham Market Group of Internal Drainage Boards
 Ely Group of Internal Drainage Boards
 Lower Aire & Don Consortia of Drainage Boards
 Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board
 Lower Severn Internal Drainage Board
 Lindsey Marsh Drainage Board
 Market Weighton Internal Drainage Board
 Medway Internal Drainage Boards
 Middle Level Commissioners
 Newark Area Internal Drainage Board
 North East Lindsey Internal Drainage Board
 North Level District Internal Drainage Board
 River Stour (Kent) Internal Drainage Board
 Romney Marshes Area Internal Drainage Board
 Shire Group of Internal Drainage Boards
 Somerset Drainage Boards Consortium
 Vale of Pickering Internal Drainage Boards
 Upper Witham Internal Drainage Board
 Water Management Alliance
 Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board
 West Mendip Internal Drainage Board
 Whittlesey Consortium of Internal Drainage Boards
 Witham First District Internal Drainage Board
 Witham Third District Internal Drainage Board
 Witham 4th District Internal Drainage Board
 York Consortium of Drainage Boards

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government
Water management authorities in the United Kingdom
Hydrology
Hydraulic engineering
Land drainage in the United Kingdom
Internal Drainage Boards

Internal drainage board


See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War Against Terrorism is a 2003 memoir by Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer in the Directorate of Operations. Baer begins with his upbringing in the United States and Europe and continues with a tour of his CIA experiences across the globe. Approximately the first two-thirds of the memoir focus on the various experiences of Baer's two-decade (1976–1997) career at the CIA, while the last third depicts the growing cynicism brought on by the corruption and obliviousness encountered in Washington.

One of the main focal points of the story is Baer's obsession with uncovering the perpetrators of the unsolved 1983 United States Embassy bombing in Beirut, Lebanon.  Baer's memoir describes his own solution of the mystery.

The overall theme around which the memoir is built is his view of the CIA losing its prowess due to increasing diplomatic sensitivity in Washington's foreign policies in the aftermath of political fiascoes from active American involvement in foreign politics in the 1970s and 1980s. Baer describes how he believes the CIA steadily degenerated from a potent human-intelligence resource that often saved or spared lives, to a people-shy, satellite-obsessed, and politically oriented branch of a centralized government.

Other topics Baer discusses in the book include: the extent to which the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been involved in anti-American terrorist activity, most publicly in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing (a death toll of over 300), but allegedly in a far more diverse range of terrorist operations. Baer also writes about how he believes the CIA failed in forecasting the September 11 attacks on America. Baer's story clearly lays out how the CIA came to the point of not even having a useful agent in the Middle East in the period leading up to the attacks.  He goes on to describe the loss of effectiveness of the CIA in the mid-1990s, in the wake of the catastrophic treason of CIA officer Aldrich Ames, and the CIA's failure to identify the mole before lethal damage had been done to many of their operations worldwide.

The final section of the memoir deals with Baer's experience with oil politics in Washington, and the extended reach granted to oil's agenda by the politically fixated and strategically oblivious American government. At one point, Baer is stunned at being asked to approve the sale of a sophisticated American defense weapon to a former Soviet-bloc country as an incentive for participating in an oil deal, while that same country had recently obstructed the investigation of the murder of an American diplomat on their soil. Baer recalls his unwilling association with infamous oil businessman Roger Tamraz and the uneasy realities he extracts from his period of involvement in Washington politics.

The film Syriana (2005) was loosely based on the book.

References

2003 non-fiction books
Non-fiction books about the Central Intelligence Agency
Memoirs adapted into films
Non-fiction books about espionage
Three Rivers Press books
American memoirs

See No Evil (Baer book)