Fluid Dynamics talks about how fluids (liquids and gases) work. It is one of the oldest parts of the study of Physics, and is studied by physicists, mathematicians, and engineers. Mathematics can describe how fluids move using mathematical formulas called equations. The fluid dynamics of gases are called aerodynamics.

Understanding how fluids behave helps us understand things like flight or ocean currents. For example, fluid dynamics can be used to understand weather, because clouds and air are both fluids. Fluid dynamics can also be used to understand how aeroplanes fly through the air or how ships and submarines move through water.

Computer programs can use the mathematical equations of fluid dynamics to model and predict the actions of moving fluids. Computers have helped us understand fluid dynamics very much, and some people study how to model or simulate fluids only with a computer. Studying how fluid dynamics can be done with computers is called computational fluid dynamics (or CFD for short).

Important equations in fluid dynamics
The mathematical equations that govern fluid flow are simple to think about but very hard to solve. In most real life cases there is no way to get a solution that can be written down and a computer must be used to calculate the answer instead. There are three fundamental equations based on three rules.

Conservation of mass: mass is neither created nor destroyed, it simply moves from one place to another. This gives the mass conservation equation. Sometimes this may not apply such as a flow involving a chemical reaction.

Conservation of energy: this is the first law of thermodynamics, energy is never created or destroyed, it just changes form (i.e. kinetic energy into potential energy) or moves around.

Conservation of momentum: this is Newton's Second Law and it states that Force = rate of change of momentum. Momentum is mass times velocity. The momentum equations are the equations that make it hard to solve problems in fluid dynamics. There are a number of different versions that include a number of different effects. The Navier-Stokes equations are momentum equations, and the Euler equations are the Navier-Stokes equations but with viscosity not included. There is one momentum equation in a 1D problem and three, one in each space direction, in 3D.

To solve the equations more information is often needed in the form of an equation of state. This relates thermodynamic properties (usually pressure and temperature) to each other for a specific type of fluid. An example is the "Ideal Gas" equation of state that relates pressure, temperature and density and works well for gases under normal pressures (like air at atmospheric pressure).

 Poiseuille's Equation
 Bernoulli's Theorem
 Navier-Stokes Equations

Related pages
Fluid mechanics
Superfluidity

Fluid mechanics

Fluid dynamics


Salvatore "The Boss" Maroni is a fictional Batman character who is head leader of the Gotham Mafia after Carmine Falcone was killed or taken to Arkham Asylum. In some cases, he was the man who made Havey Dent turn into Two-Face.

He was played by Eric Roberts in The Dark Knight.

Batman characters
DC Comics characters

Sal Maroni


"Ignition (Remix)" is a song by R&B singer R. Kelly. It was released as a single in 2003. It peaked at number two in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number one in the UK Singles Chart. It also peaked at number one in some other countries. The song has been received quite well and was a commercial success. It is ranked as one of the best songs ever by Rolling Stone.

2003 songs
R. Kelly songs
R&B music

Ignition (Remix)


A crotchet or quarter note is a note played for one fourth of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are written as a filled-in oval (or round) note head and a straight, flagless stem (the line). The stem usually points up (like a d) if it is below the middle line of the stave or down (like a p) if it is on or above the middle line.

When beginners start to learn to play an instrument they are often taught that one crotchet lasts for one beat (one count). That is because they are learning pieces with simple time signatures. It is, however, important to remember that other note lengths (minims, dotted crotchets etc.) can also be treated as one beat, depending on the time signature.

Note values

Crotchet


An atoll is a kind of island. It is made when a coral reef forms around an island that sinks over many years. In the end, the land is gone, and only the coral reef continues to grow until it becomes an atoll, a group of islands shaped like a doughnut.

Charles Darwin, who is most famous for his theory of evolution, was the first person to find out how atolls form. He said that volcanoes in the ocean sometimes wear away or sink deeper. Coral growing on a volcano needs to be near the surface, and it keeps growing to stay there.

Most atolls are in the warm parts of the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean.

Some island nations like Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Federated States of Micronesia have atolls as all or part of their country.

References

 Darwin, C. 1842. The structure and distribution of coral reefs, being the first part of the voyage of the Beagle under the command of Capt. Vitzroy R.N. during the years 1832 to 1834. Smith, Elder and Co.: London. 214 pp.

Atoll


The Uruguay national basketball team (Spanish: Selección de baloncesto de Uruguay) represents Uruguay in men's international basketball competitions and it is governed by Federación Uruguaya de basketball, The team has made seven appearances in the FIBA World Cup and the team represents FIBA and FIBA Americas.

Uruguay is one of three South American countries to win medals at the Basketball Tournament of the Summer Olympics. It won the bronze medal in both the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics. Uruguay is currently ranked 40th in the FIBA World Rankings.

Competitive record

Olympic Games
 1936: 6th
 1948: 5th
 1952: 3rd
 1956: 3rd
 1960: 8th
 1964: 8th
 1984: 6th

FIBA World Cup
 1954 FIBA World Championship: 6th
 1959 FIBA World Championship: 9th
 1963 FIBA World Championship: 10th
 1967 FIBA World Championship: 7th
 1970 FIBA World Championship: 7th
 1982 FIBA World Championship: 11th
 1986 FIBA World Championship: 18th
 1990 FIBA World Championship to 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup: Did not qualify

FIBA AmeriCup
 1980 Tournament of the Americas: 7th
 1984 Tournament of the Americas: 2nd
 1988 Tournament of the Americas: 4th
 1992 Tournament of the Americas: 10th
 1993 Tournament of the Americas: 10th
 1995 Tournament of the Americas: 6th
 1997 Tournament of the Americas: 8th
 1999 Tournament of the Americas: 8th
 2001 Tournament of the Americas: 8th
 2003 Tournament of the Americas: 9th
 2005 FIBA Americas Championship: 8th
 2007 FIBA Americas Championship: 6th
 2009 FIBA Americas Championship: 6th
 2011 FIBA Americas Championship: 7th
 2013 FIBA Americas Championship: 7th
 2015 FIBA Americas Championship: 8th
 2017 FIBA AmeriCup: 6th
 2022 FIBA AmeriCup: 10th

Pan American Games
 1963: 4th
 1987: 7th
 1991: 8th
 1995: 4th
 1999: 8th
 2003: 8th
 2007: 3rd
 2011: 8th
 2019: 6th

FIBA South American Championship
Uruguay was the host and champion of the first major continental basketball championship, the South American Basketball Championship 1930.  The event was held in Montevideo and featured four South American national basketball teams.  Teams played each of the other three teams twice each; Uruguay won all six of its games.  In 1932, Uruguay lost its first game of the South American Basketball Championship series when it was defeated by Chile in one of the two matches it played against the Chileans in the preliminary round.  When each team finished at 3–1 (each having defeated Argentina twice), the two countries played a third match to determine the champion, which Uruguay won.

The 1934 and 1935 competitions did not end so happily for the Uruguay team, as they finished in last place each year.  With the larger fields of 5 teams each year in 1937, 1938, and 1939, Uruguay fared somewhat better.  They took second place in 1937 and 1939, and third in 1938.

Uruguay won their third championship in 1940, which saw the return of the series to Montevideo.  There were a record six teams in competition that year; Uruguay beat each of the other five in turn to finish undefeated. 1941 resulted in a bronze medal for Uruguay.  The team played in their second tie-breaker final in 1942, this time losing to Argentina to take second place in the tournament.  Uruguay advanced to the final round in the first two-round tournament, in 1943, finishing in second place overall.

Uruguay has won the South American Championship 11 times, the last two in 1995 and 1997. The team ranked in the top four in all editions as of 2016.

Team

Current roster
The roster for the 2022 FIBA AmeriCup.

Depth chart

Head coach position

Past rosters
Scroll down to see more.
1936 Olympic Games: finished 6th among 21 teams
Héctor González, Alberto Martí, Amílcar Mesa, Rodolfo Braselli, Carlos Gabin, Leandro Gómez, Gregorio Agos, Tabaré Quintans, Humberto Bernasconi, Prudencio de Pena, Alejo González Roig, Víctor Latou (Coach: Juan Collazo)

1948 Olympic Games: finished 5th among 23 teams
Martín Acosta y Lara, Nelson Demarco, Héctor García Otero, Adesio Lombardo, Héctor Ruiz, Roberto Lovera, Carlos Rosello, Miguel Diab, Eduardo Folle, Abraham Eidlin Grossman, Gustavo Magarinos, Victorio Cieslinskas, Néstor Anton, Eduardo Gordon (Coach: Raúl Canale)

1952 Olympic Games: finished 3rd among 23 teams
Martín Acosta y Lara, Héctor García Otero, Adesio Lombardo, Roberto Lovera, Sergio Matto, Wilfredo Peláez, Carlos Rossello, Victorio Cieslinskas, Héctor Costa, Nelson Demarco, Enrique Balino, Tabaré Larre Borges

1954 World Championship: finished 6th among 12 teams
Oscar Moglia, Martín Acosta y Lara, Héctor García Otero, Roberto Lovera, Nelson Demarco, Adesio Lombardo, Carlos Rosello, Omar Zubillaga, Héctor Costa, Raúl Mera, Manuel Usher Ferrer, Julio César Gully, Sergio Matto, Enrique Balino (Coach: Prudencio de Pena)

1956 Olympic Games: finished 3rd among 15 teams
Oscar Moglia, Héctor García Otero, Carlos Blixen, Nelson Demarco, Raúl Mera, Héctor Costa, Ariel Olascoaga, Milton Scaron, Sergio Matto, Nelson Chelle, Carlos Gonzáles, Ramiro Cortés (Coach: Héctor López Reboledo)

1959 World Championship: finished 9th among 13 teams
Héctor García Otero, Carlos Blixen, Milton Scaron, Washington Poyet, Ramiro Cortés, Sergio Matto, Nelson Chelle, Raúl Mera, Manuel Usher Ferrer, Álvaro Roca, Octavio Pedragosa, Adolfo Lubnicki (Coach: Olguiz Rodríguez)

1960 Olympic Games: finished 8th among 16 teams
Carlos Blixen, Washington Poyet, Milton Scaron, Héctor Costa, Raúl Mera, Nelson Chelle, Sergio Matto, Adolfo Lubnicki, Manuel Gadea, Edison Ciavattone, Waldemar Rial, Danilo Coito (Coach: Héctor López Reboledo)

1963 World Championship: finished 10th among 13 teams
Carlos Blixen, Ramiro de León, Julio Gómez, Sergio Pisano, Manuel Gadea, Álvaro Roca, Waldemar Rial, Atilio Caneiro, Edison Ciavattone, Oscar Ledesma, Francisco di Matteo, Walter Márquez (Coach: Dante Méndez)

1964 Olympic Games: finished 8th among 16 teams
Washington Poyet, Julio Gómez, Edison Ciavattone, Álvaro Roca, Manuel Gadea, Ramiro de León, Sergio Pisano, Luis García, Waldemar Rial, Jorge Maya, Walter Márquez, Luis Koster (Coach: Raúl Ballefin)

1967 World Championship: finished 7th among 13 teams
Oscar Moglia, Washington Poyet, Julio Gómez, Víctor Hernández, Omar Arrestia, Sergio Pisano, Ramiro de León, Luis García, Walter Márquez, Manuel Gadea, Daniel Borroni, Juan Ceriani (Coach: Raúl Ballefin)

1970 World Championship: finished 7th among 13 teams
Omar Arrestia, Sergio Pisano, Manuel Gadea, Víctor Hernández, Ramiro de León, Luis García, Daniel Borroni, Valentín Rodríguez, José Barizo, Daniel Vannet, Walter Lage, Roberto Bomio (Coach: Héctor Bassaiztegui)

1982 World Championship: finished 11th among 13 teams
Wilfredo Ruiz, Álvaro Tito, Walter Pagani, Víctor Frattini, Horacio Perdomo, Carlos Peinado, Gerardo Jauri, Germán Haller, Mario Viola, Luis Larrosa, Luis Pierri, Hebert Núñez (Coach: Ramón Etchamendi)

1984 Olympic Games: finished 6th among 12 teams
Wilfredo Ruiz, Horacio López, Álvaro Tito, Víctor Frattini, Walter Pagani, Juan Mignone, Horacio Perdomo, Carlos Peinado, Luis Pierri, Hebert Núñez, Luis Larrosa, Julio Pereyra (Coach: Ramón Etchamendi)

1986 World Championship: finished 18th among 24 teams
Horacio López, Ramiro Cortés, Álvaro Tito, Joe McCall, Juan Mignone, Horacio Perdomo, Gabriel Waiter, Luis Larrosa, Luis Pierri, Carlos Peinado, Hebert Núñez, Gustavo Sczygielski. (Coach: Ramón Etchamendi)

1991 Pan American Games: finished 7th among 10 teams
Alejandro Costa, Juan Blanc, Marcelo Capalbo, Jeffrey Granger, Gustavo Sczygielski, Javier Guerra, Luis Larrosa, Hebert Núñez, Horacio Perdomo, Álvaro Tito, Daniel Koster, and Enrique Tucuna. Head Coach: Javier Espíndola

1995 Pan American Games: finished 4th among 6 teams
Marcel Bouzout, Gonzalo Caneiro, Marcelo Capalbo, Federico Garcín, Jeffrey Granger, Adrián Laborda, Diego Losada, Alain Mayor, Oscar Moglia Jr., Gustavo Sczygielski, Luis Silveira, and Luis Pierri

1999 Pan American Games: finished 8th among 8 teams
Adrián Bertolini, Marcel Bouzout, Bruno Abratansky, Jorge Cabrera, Diego Castrillón, Diego Losada, Nicolás Mazzarino, Oscar Moglia Jr., Pablo Morales, Luis Silveira, Martín Suárez, and Hugo Vázquez

2003 Pan American Games: finished 8th among 8 teams
Mauricio Aguiar, Esteban Batista, Leandro García Morales, Sebastián Leguizamón, Nicolás Mazzarino, Alejandro Muro, Trelonnie Owens, Gastón Paez, Alejandro Pérez, Luis Silveira, Gustavo Szczgielsky, and Emiliano Taboada

2007 Pan American Games: finished 3rd among 8 teams
Emilio Taboada, Mauricio Aguiar, Leandro García Morales, Esteban Batista, Gastón Paez, Nicolás Mazzarino, Fernando Martínez, Panchi Barrera, Claudio Charquero, Martín Osimani, Juan Pablo Silveira, and Sebastián Izaguirre

FIBA Americas Championship 2009: finished 6th among 10 teams
Sebastián Izaguirre, Panchi Barrera, Mauricio Aguiar, Emilio Taboada, Diego González, Reque Newsome, Leandro García Morales, Martín Osimani, Gastón Páez, Juan Pablo Silveira, Nicolás Borsellino, and Esteban Batista

South American Basketball Championship 2010: finished 3rd among 8 teams
Bruno Fitipaldo, Fernando Martínez, Martín Osimani, Joaquín Izuibejeres, Joaquín Osimani, Iván Loriente, Mauricio Aguiar, Mathías Calfani, Reque Newsome, Esteban Batista, Gastón Páez, and Sebastián Izaguirre

FIBA Americas Championship 2013: finished 7th among 10 teams
Esteban Batista, Frederico Bavosi, Marcos Cabot, Mathias Calfani, Bruno Fitipaldo, Leandro Garcia Morales, Sebastian Izaguirre, Nicolás Mazzarino, Reque Newsome, Emilito Taboada, Sebastián Vázquez, and Kiril Wachsmann

Roster for the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship.

At the 2016 South American Basketball Championship:

See also
Uruguay women's national basketball team
Uruguay national under-19 basketball team
Uruguay national under-17 basketball team
Uruguay national 3x3 team

References

External links

Official website
FIBA Profile

Videos
Argentina v Uruguay - Game Highlights - Second Round - 2015 FIBA Americas Championship - Youtube.com video

1936 establishments in Uruguay

Uruguay men's national basketball team


A robe is a type of clothing. It is loose-fitting and sometimes ties in the front.

Types of robes
There are different types of robes. These include the following:

 Bathrobe - usually worn at home after taking a bath. They are also sometimes worn at night, or in the morning.
 Graduation robe - A gown traditionally worn at a high school graduation, or college graduation.
 Judge's robe - Part of a judge's clothing. Other jobs may call for robes, such as a barrister.
 Wizard's robe - in fantasy, wizards are usually shown wearing robes.

Clothing

Robe


A cultigen is a plant that is the result of artificial selection by humans. Liberty Hyde Bailey, an American botanist was the first to use the term, in 1918. Bailey noticed that the classification Linné introduced for plants was not useful for classifying plants which came from human cultivation and selection. He called the plants which grow in the wild without human selection indigens. A cultigen was: " ... a domesticated group of which the origin may be unknown...  [It has] such characters as to separate it from known indigens, and is probably not represented by any type specimen or exact description".  The point is that a cultigen cannot always be placed in the traditional Linnean system of botanical classification.

Bailey later changed his definition to "Plant or group known only in cultivation; presumably originating under domestication; contrast with indigen", which is the definition used above. Examples of cultigens are maize and cabbage.

Cultigens and cultivars
Cultigen and cultivar may be confused with one-another. Cultigen is a general-purpose term encompassing not only plants with cultivar names but others as well (see introductory text above). Cultivar is a formal classification category in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP).

Although in his 1923 paper Bailey used only the rank of species for the cultigen, it was clear to him that many domesticated plants were more like botanical varieties than species and so he established a new classification category for these, the cultivar, generally assumed to be a contraction of the words "cultivated" and "variety". He defined cultivar in his 1923 paper as:  ... "a race subordinate to species, that has originated and persisted under cultivation; it is not necessarily, however, referable to a recognised botanical species. It is essentially the equivalent of the botanical variety except in respect to its origin".

This definition and understanding of cultivar has changed over time.

Definition of cultigen
The definition has been discussed:
The selection process is called artificial if humans cause it. This does not mean humans are not part of nature, it is simply a way to distinguish natural selection from human-influenced (artificial selection)
What is the meaning of altered? The whole flora is changing because of climate change, which humans inflenced, yet no one would say that all the plants changing because of climate change are cultigens.
Some plants are used in gardens or parks. They are the same that those that occur in nature.
There may be gene flow from a cultigen that escaped into the wild and an indigen. There may be a practical problem of how to name such plants.
Some plants have an unknown origin; it is therefore impossible to say if they are cultigens.
Some crossings that are used in cultivation, may also occur in the wild. This makes the classification problematic.

References

Botany

Cultigen


By-elections to the 36th Canadian Parliament were held to fill vacancies in the House of Commons of Canada between the 1997 federal election and the 2000 federal election. The Liberal Party of Canada led a majority government for the entirety of the 36th Canadian Parliament, with increases from by-elections.

Ten seats became vacant during the life of the Parliament. All of these vacancies were filled through by-elections.

References
 Parliament of Canada–Elected in By-Elections

2000 elections
1999 elections


International Women's Day is celebrated every year on March 8.  International Women's Day has been observed since 1909 in the United States.  After a while the people of United States stopped celebrating this holiday. In the 1920s Soviet Union, and then some other Communist countries like China and Cuba, started celebrating this day as a holiday for women and world peace. Since then the holiday has become more and more popular around the world.

In many places, the day does not have a political aspect, and is simply a time for men to express their love for women. It is similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. Men present their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. with flowers and small gifts. In some countries International Women's Day is observed like Mother's Day, where children give small gifts to their mothers and grandmothers. In some countries, women get a half day off work. Often, schools will have a celebration where students will honor their teachers.

In 1975, the United Nations also started to recognize this holiday for women's rights and gender equality. The UN chooses a political or social theme for the holiday each year.  For example, the 2011 theme was ""Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women." and the 2012 theme is "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world". In this way, the holiday is a time to look at the social and economic problems women have around the world.

International Women's Day is now an official holiday in Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Georgia, Italy, Israel, Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Other websites

Other page
Women's History Month

Observances
Human rights

International Women's Day


Greenwich Village is an area on the western part of southern/downtown Manhattan. It is sometimes called The Village. The Village is mainly residential.

Greenwich Village is bordered by Broadway to the east, Hudson River to the west, Houston Street to the south and 14th Street to the north.

Originally, Greenwich Village was a hamlet separate to New York City.  The grid plan for its streets is less orderly than in parts of Manhattan that were built later.

History

The village is located on what used to be marshland. In the 16th century, Native Americans called it Sapokanikan which means tobacco field. In the 1630s, it was turned into pasture by the Dutch, who called it Noortwyck. In 1664, when the English captured the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, and Greenwich Village developed as a hamlet.

In 1712, it officially became a village, and was named Grin'wich in the 1713 Common Council records. Following a yellow fever epidemic in 1822, many New York residents moved to the healthier air of Greenwich; where many stayed. In the 19th century, it was known as Washington Square.

Other websites
 New York Architecture Images- Greenwich Village
 Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
 Village Voice
 Greenwich Village, by Anna Alice Chapin, 1919, from Project Gutenberg

Manhattan
Neighborhoods of New York City

Greenwich Village


Freebase was a large collaborative knowledge base consisting of data composed mainly by its community members. It was an online collection of structured data harvested from many sources, including individual, user-submitted wiki contributions. Freebase aimed to create a global resource that allowed people (and machines) to access common information more effectively. It was developed by the American software company Metaweb and run publicly beginning in March 2007. Metaweb was acquired by Google in a private sale announced on 16 July 2010. Google's Knowledge Graph is powered in part by Freebase.

During its existence, Freebase data was available for commercial and non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution License, and an open API, RDF endpoint, and a database dump is provided for programmers.

On 16 December 2014, Google announced that it would shut down Freebase over the succeeding six months and help with the move of the data from Freebase to Wikidata.

On 16 December 2015, Google officially announced the Knowledge Graph API, which is meant to be a replacement to the Freebase API. Freebase.com was officially shut down on 2 May 2016.

Both Graphd and MQL, the graph database and JSON-based query language developed by Metaweb for Freebase, are open-sourced by Google under the Apache 2.0 license, and are available on GitHub. Graphd is open-sourced on September 8, 2018. MQL is open-sourced on August 4, 2020.

Overview

On 3 March 2007 Metaweb announced Freebase, describing it as "an open shared database of the world's knowledge", and "a massive, collaboratively edited database of cross-linked data". Often understood as a database model using Wikipedia-turned-database or entity-relationship model, Freebase provided an interface that allowed non-programmers to fill in structured data, or metadata, of general information and to categorize or connect data items in meaningful, semantic ways.

Described by Tim O'Reilly upon the launch, "Freebase is the bridge between the bottom up vision of Web 2.0 collective intelligence and the more structured world of the semantic web".

Freebase contained data harvested from sources such as Wikipedia, NNDB, Fashion Model Directory and MusicBrainz, as well as data contributed by its users. The structured data was licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,

and a JSON-based HTTP API is provided to programmers for developing applications on any platform to utilize the Freebase data.  The source code for the Metaweb application itself is proprietary.

Freebase ran on a database infrastructure created in-house by Metaweb that use a graph model: Instead of using tables and keys to define data structures, Freebase defined its data structure as a set of nodes and a set of links that established relationships between the nodes. Because its data structure was non-hierarchical, Freebase could model much more complex relationships between individual elements than a conventional database, and was open for users to enter new objects and relationships into the underlying graph. Queries to the database are made in Metaweb Query Language (MQL) and served by a triplestore called graphd.

Development

Danny Hillis first described his idea for creating a knowledge web he called Aristotle in a paper in 2000, but he said he did not try to build the system until he had recruited technical experts. Veda Hlubinka-Cook, an expert in parallel computing, became Metaweb's Executive Vice President for Product. Kurt Bollacker brought deep expertise in distributed systems, database design, and information retrieval to his role as Chief Scientist at Metaweb. John Giannandrea, formerly Chief Technologist at Tellme Networks and Chief Technologist of the Web browser group at Netscape/AOL, was Chief Technology Officer.

Originally accessible by invitation only, Freebase opened full anonymous read access to the public in its alpha stage of development and later required registration only for data contributions.

On 29 October 2008, at the International Semantic Web Conference 2008, Freebase released its RDF service for generating RDF representations of Freebase topics, allowing Freebase to be used as linked data.

Organization and policy

Freebase's subjects are called "topics", and the data stored about them depended on their "type", as to how they were classified. For example, an entry for Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, would be entered as a topic that would include a variety of types describing him as an actor, bodybuilder, and politician. , Freebase had approximately 44 million topics and 2.4 billion facts.

Freebase's types are themselves user-editable. Each type had a number of defined predicates, called "properties".

[U]nlike the W3C approach to the semantic web, which starts with controlled ontologies, Metaweb adopts a folksonomy approach, in which people can add new categories (much like tags), in a messy sprawl of potentially overlapping assertions.

However, Freebase differed from the wiki model in many ways. User-created types were not adopted in the "public commons" until promoted by a Metaweb employee. Also, users could not modify each other's types. The reason Freebase could not open up permissions of schemas is that external applications relied on them; thus, changing a type's schema – for instance by deleting a property or changing a simple property – might have broken queries for API users and even within Freebase itself, for example in saved views.

Discontinuation
On 16 December 2014, the Freebase team officially announced that the website and the API would be shut down by 30 June 2015.  Google provided an update on 16 December 2015 that they would discontinue the Freebase API and widget three months after a Suggest widget replacement was launched in early 2016.

See also

 BabelNet
 Cyc
 DBpedia
 Entity–relationship model
 True Knowledge
 YAGO
 Knowledge Vault
 Wikidata

References

External links

Semantic wikis
Knowledge bases
Creative Commons-licensed databases
Google Search

Internet properties established in 2007

Freebase (database)


The Piazza della Loggia bombing () was a bombing that took place on the morning of 28 May 1974, in Brescia, Italy during an anti-fascist protest. The terrorist attack killed eight people and wounded 102. The bomb was placed inside a rubbish bin at the east end of the square. In 2015, a Court of appeal in Milan issued a final life sentence to Ordine Nuovo members Carlo Maria Maggi and Maurizio Tramonte for ordering the bombing, closing one of the longest-running cases on terrorism during Italy's years of lead.

Overview
The first judicial investigation led to the condemnation in 1979 of a member of the Brescian far-right movement, Ermanno Buzzi. However, this first sentence was cancelled in 1982, but in 1983 the Court of Cassation declared the appeal process must be redone at the Court of Appeal in Venice. The suspects were acquitted in 1985 by the Court of Venice, and in 1987 by the Supreme Court of Cassation. Buzzi, killed in Novara's prison by neo-fascists Pierluigi Concutelli and Mario Tuti in 1981, was judged "a corpse to be carried out".

A second investigation led to the accusation of other far-right activists: Cesare Ferri, Sergio Latini and Alessandro Stepanoff. They were acquitted for lack of evidence in 1987; in 1989 Ferri and Latini were acquitted of having committed the crime, Stepanoff for lack of evidence.

A third investigation led to a trial for Francesco Delfino (a Carabiniere), Carlo Maria Maggi, Pino Rauti, Maurizio Tramonte and Delfo Zorzi (members of the Ordine Nuovo neo-fascist group). The presence of Tramonte in the place at the time of the blast was confirmed in 2008 by the results of an anthropological forensic test on a picture taken that day.

On 16 November 2010, the Court of Brescia acquitted the defendants (the prosecutor had requested life imprisonment for Delfino, Maggi, Tramonte and Zorzi, and the acquittal for lack of evidence for Pino Rauti). The four defendants were acquitted also in 2012, but in 2014 the supreme Court of Cassation declared the appeal process must be redone at the Court of appeal in Milan for Maggi and Tramonte. Delfino and Zorzi are finally acquitted. On 22 July 2015, the Court of appeal sentenced Maggi and Tramonte to life imprisonment for ordering and coordinating the massacre.

On 21 of June 2017, Tramonte was arrested in Portugal by the Portuguese Police in the Sanctuary of Fátima, while allegedly praying for forgiveness.

Victims

 Giulietta Banzi Bazoli (34, teacher)
 Livia Bottardi Milani (32, teacher)
 Euplo Natali (69, retired, former partisan)
 Luigi Pinto (25, teacher)
 Bartolomeo Talenti (56, labourer)
 Alberto Trebeschi (37, teacher)
 Clementina Calzari Trebeschi (31, teacher)
 Vittorio Zambarda (60, labourer)

2000 report alleging US intelligence involvement
A 2000 parliamentary report by the Olive Tree coalition claimed "that US intelligence agents were informed in advance about several right-wing terrorist bombings, including the December 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan and the Piazza della Loggia bombing in Brescia five years later, but did nothing to alert the Italian authorities or to prevent the attacks from taking place. It also [alleged] that Pino Rauti [current leader of the Social Idea Movement ], a journalist and founder of the far-right Ordine Nuovo subversive organisation, received regular funding from a press officer at the US embassy in Rome. 'So even before the 'stabilising' plans that Atlantic circles had prepared for Italy became operational through the bombings, one of the leading members of the subversive right was literally in the pay of the American embassy in Rome,' the report says.

See also
 Terrorism in the European Union
 La notte della Repubblica (TV programme)
 Anni di piombo
 History of Italy (1970s-1980s)

Notes

Years of Lead (Italy)
Mass murder in 1974
1974 crimes in Italy
Improvised explosive device bombings in Italy
Neo-fascist attacks in Italy
Brescia
1974 disasters in Italy
Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1974
Terrorist incidents in Italy in the 1970s

Piazza della Loggia bombing


Pictures at an Exhibition is a piece of music for solo piano composed by Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.  It is Mussorgsky's most famous solo piano work and often played by virtuosos to show how good they are.  Many years after Mussorgsky's death, Maurice Ravel made an arrangement of the piece for orchestra.  This version, by a Russian composer and a French arranger, is how people usually hear the music today.

Composition history

Pictures at an Exhibition is a musical description of an exhibition of pictures by the painter Viktor Hartmann.  Hartmann was only 39 when he died in 1873.  He and Mussorgsky had been good friends.  They both tried to give their works a very Russian character: Hartmann through his pictures and Mussorgsky through his music.  In 1874 an exhibition of Hartmann's pictures was organised in the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg.  Mussorgsky went to the exhibition and was inspired to compose his piano piece.

Pictures at an Exhibition describes someone walking round the exhibition and looking at the pictures.  The ten pictures he describes in music were drawings and watercolours.  Mussorgsky starts his piece with a tune which describes the person walking round the exhibition.  It is usually known as the "promenade" theme (a promenade is a walk).   At first Mussorgsky puts the promenade theme between each picture, but he does not do that all the way through the piece.  Some of the later pictures have bits of the promenade theme in the music.

Publication history

Mussorgsky composed the piece very quickly. It was not published until 1886, five years after the composer's death.  The composer's great friend Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov published it, but he made some changes to what Mussorgsky had written.  It was not until 1931 that an edition was published which tried to show exactly what Mussorgsky had written.

Gallery of Hartmann's pictures

Four of the pictures that Mussorgsky described in his music:

Description of the music
The  Promenade  theme describes a person walking round the exhibition.  It has lots of important-sounding chords.  Mussorgsky wrote it with a time signature of 11/4, although it is usually written nowadays in 5/4 and 6/4 time.

These are the ten pictures which are then described in Mussorgsky's music:

 No. 1 "Gnomus" : This describes a little gnome with crooked legs trying to run around. Hartmann's sketch may be a drawing of a toy nutcracker.

 No. 2 "The Old Castle" describes an old medieval castle.  A troubadour is singing a song in front of the castle.  It is a gentle, rather sad song.  In Ravel's version for orchestra the tune is played on the alto saxophone.

 No. 3 "Tuileries"  describes children playing in a park called Tuileries which is in the centre of Paris. It has a little tune which sounds like children singing a teasing song.

 No. 4 "Bydło" describes a  cart which is being pulled by oxen.  In Ravel's orchestral version the tune is played by the tuba.  It sounds very low and heavy.

 No. 5 The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks"  describes little canary chicks which are still in their eggs.  The picture was based on a ballet which had been produced in 1870.

 No. 6 "Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle" describes two Jews.  One is rich and the other one is poor.

 No. 7 "The Market at Limoges" describes French women quarreling in the market. Limoges is a city in central France.

 No. 8 "The Catacombs"  describes the dark Paris catacombs with loud and soft chords. The promenade theme is heard in a ghostly form.

 No. 9 "The Hut on Fowl's Legs"  is about a picture in which Hartmann draws a clock in the form of Baba-Yaga's hut on hen's legs

 No. 10 "The Great Gate of Kiev" ("The Bogatyr Gates")  was inspired by   Hartmann's drawing for a huge gate which was to be built to remember how the Tsar had escaped assassination on 4 April 1866.  The design won a prize, but the gate was never built.

Notes

References
Calvocoressi, M.D., Modest Mussorgsky: His Life and Works, London: Rockliff, 1956

Solo piano pieces
Compositions by Modest Mussorgsky

Pictures at an Exhibition


A volcanic belt is a large volcanically active place.Other terms are used for smaller areas of activity such as volcanic fields. Volcanic belts are found above zones of very high temperature (700-1400°C) where magma is made by melting of rock in the Earth's crust and upper mantle. These areas usually appear along tectonic plate boundaries at depths of 10-50 km.
The biggest volcanic belt is Pacific Ring of Fire

Volcanoes

Volcanic belt


The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement is a 2004 Disney movie based on the Princess Diaries book series by Meg Cabot. It is a sequel to the 2001 movie The Princess Diaries. The movie is a romantic comedy movie about 21-year-old Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, Princess of Genovia, (Mia Thermopolis for short) and 23 year old Peter James Thermopolis Renaldi, Prince of Genovia, (Peter Thermopolis for short) who Mia has to have an arranged marriage to become Queen. The movie stars Anne Hathaway, Tobey Maguire, Julie Andrews, Heather Matarazzo, James Franco, Hector Elizondo and Raven. It was directed by Garry Marshall.

Plot
Five years after the first film, Mia and Peter Thermopolis has just graduated from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School and are returning to Genovia with their bodyguard, Joe. There, they will await their reign once their grandmother, Queen Clarisse, abdicates. During Mia's twenty first birthday party, she dances with all the eligible bachelors in hope of finding a husband. She becomes attracted to a handsome gentleman named Nicholas. During the course of the night, Mia's tiara falls off and is caught by a Member of Parliament, Viscount Mabrey, who secretly plans to steal Mia's crown. While the Parliament is in-session the next morning, Mia and Peter stumble upon a hidden room that allows them to secretly listen in. Viscount Mabrey reveals his nephew, Lord Devereaux, is another heir to the Genovian throne. Despite Queen Clarisse's objection, the only way Mia can assume her duties as Queen is if she marries within the month. Clarisse invites Lord Devereaux to stay at the palace, while Mia is shocked to discover Lord Devereaux is actually Nicholas. Mia and Peter's best friends, Lilly Moscovitz and Harry, surprise them by visiting. Together, they pick through potential husbands. Mia eventually chooses Andrew Jacoby, Duke of Kenilworth, and days later, they are engaged. Mabrey plans to have Nicholas woo Mia and dissolve the engagement.

For a ceremony, Mia is to ride sidesaddle, but is inexperienced. Queen Clarisse provides an ancestral wooden leg decoy to make it look like she's riding sidesaddle. Mabrey spooks Mia's horse with a rubber snake, and Joe rushes to aid Mia, but accidentally tears off the wooden leg. Humiliated, Mia flees to the stables, where Nicholas fails to comfort her. At a garden party, Mia and Nicholas quarrel about Mia's relationship with Andrew; Nicholas tricks Mia into admitting she doesn't love Andrew. Frustrated, she argues, but instead gets bombarded by a kiss. At first, she kisses him back but then backs away. Nicholas pursues her even more, which causes both of them to fall into a fountain. Queen Clarisse finally tells Mia that her behavior with Nicholas needs to stop.

During the Genovian Independence Day parade, Mia and Peter see some boys harassing a little girl and a little boy, and abruptly halt the parade to comfort the girl and boy. Learning that the girl, Carolina, the boy Henry, and the other children are orphans, Mia and Peter have a vendor give them all tiaras and crowns and let them walk with them in the parade. Everyone is impressed by their acts of generosity, while Mabrey sees it as a political maneuver. Mia and Peter later decide to convert one of the royal palaces into a temporary children's center. That night, Mia and Peter have their bachelor and bachelorette party, inviting princes and princesses from around the world, Peter invites some special guests to the party and Mia's wedding, they were Greg, Murray, Jeff and Anthony also known as The Wiggles, where Queen Clarisse surfs on a mattress and sings a duet with Princess Asana, one of Mia and Peter's good friends. In the meantime, Mabrey realises Nicholas has fallen for Mia, but Nicholas says that Mia will never love him. Nicholas comes upon Mia as she is practicing her archery as part of her coronation rites. He helps her succeed in getting the arrow to hit the bullseye, something she had been struggling with. Nicholas then informs Mia that he is leaving, but asks to see her just one more time before he goes. She declines, saying she is under close guard.

That night, Nicholas appears outside Mia's window and asks her to come out. Lilly, Peter and Harry encourage her to go, and Mia sneaks out. Lilly and Peter have sex while Mia and Nicholas ride out to a lake where they share secrets, dance, and eventually fall asleep. They awaken to find a man in a boat videotaping them. Mia thinks Nicholas set her up, while he insists he had no idea. By the time Mia returns to the palace, the scandalous footage is already being broadcast. Andrew is disappointed and kisses Mia to see if there is a romantic spark between them. They realise that they do not love each other, but do not call off the wedding for the good of Genovia. The wedding is to take place the following day, and Mia and Peter's mother, Helen comes with her new husband, Patrick and their newborn son, Trevor. Nicholas decides against attending, but his surly housekeeper, Gretchen, informs him that Mabrey engineered their televised scandal.

Before the wedding, Joe informs Mia and Peter that Nicholas is innocent. While walking up the aisle Mia suddenly stops and charges out of the church. Queen Clarisse and Peter follow and Mia says she doesn't want to marry because of the law. Clarisse encourages Mia and Peter to follow their hearts, something they have never done and has now cost her Joe, the only man she truly loved. Mia and Peter re-enter the church, and after pointing out how their grandmother has ruled Genovia while unmarried for a number of years, she tells the members of parliament in the audience to consider the significant women in their lives and questions if they would have them do what they're trying to force her to do (marry someone she does not love). Mabrey cites the law again and once again suggests that his nephew be named King, but just then, Nicholas not only refuses the crown, but also disowns Mabrey as his uncle. Mia and Peter propose the law on royal marriages be abolished, and the Parliament unanimously gives its assent. Encouraged by Mia and Peter to have their own happy ending, Clarisse proposes to Joe and they are promptly married.

About a week later, Mia and Peter are preparing for their coronation when Nicholas arrives with Peter's girlfriend Mary Jane (M.J. for short) at the palace. He professes his love for Mia on bended knee, and they share a private loving kiss, while Peter and Mary Jane kiss. The next day, Queen Clarisse finally steps down, and Mia and Peter are crowned "Their Majesties Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi and Peter James Themopolis Renaldi, King and Queen of Genovia", with all in attendance in the royal palace.

An epilogue shows that Genovian Parliament now allows female members, one of whom is Charlotte (Clarisse's lady-in-waiting). In a final scene, Queen Mia and King Peter (along with The Wiggles) officially open a new children's home with the help of Carolina and Henry.

Cast
 Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis
 Julie Andrews as Queen Clarisse Renaldi
 Héctor Elizondo as Joe
 John Rhys-Davies as Viscount Mabrey
 Heather Matarazzo as Lilly Moscovitz
 Chris Pine as Nicholas Deveraux
 Callum Blue as Andrew Jacoby
 Caroline Goodall as Helen Thermopolis
 Kathleen Marshall as Charlotte Kutaway
 Tom Poston as Lord Palimore
 Raven as Princess Asana
 Murray Cook as Murray Wiggle
 Jeff Fatt as Jeff Wiggle
 Anthony Field as Anthony Wiggle
 Greg Page as Greg Wiggle
 Paul Paddick as Captain Feathersword
 Sam Moran as Professor Singalottasonga
 Larry Miller as Paolo
 Shea Curry as Brigitte
 Anna A. White as Brigitta
 Cassie Rowell as Olivia
 Erik Bragg as Lionel
 Sean O'Bryan as Patrick O'Connell
 Scott Marshall as Shades
 Abigail Breslin as Carolina
 Spencer Breslin as Prince Jacques

Other websites

Disney movies
2004 romantic comedy movies
Movies based on books
Movies about royalty
Movies set in San Francisco
Movies set in Europe
Movies set in a fictional country
Movies set in palaces
Movies directed by Garry Marshall


Toho Scope (東宝スコープ) is an anamorphic lens system developed in the late 1950s by Toho Studios in response to the popularity of CinemaScope. Its technical specifications are identical to those of CinemaScope. This widescreen format was first used for the black-and-white films The Men of Tohoku, and On Wings of Love, made use of color in The Last Pursuit, and debuted in full-color (and tokusatsu) with The Mysterians (all 1957). The label fell out of use in 1965 to be replaced by Panavision lenses of similar specifications.

In contemporary popular culture, the recognizable Toho Scope logo prefaced Godzilla: Final Wars, one of many homages to older science fiction productions made throughout the film.

References

 Galbraith, Stuart IV. Audio commentary, Invasion of Astro-Monster. Classic Media, 2007.

Motion picture film formats

TohoScope


Edmond "Ted" Lapidus (23 June 1929 – 29 December 2008) was a French fashion designer. He was born in Paris, the son of a Russian-Jewish émigré tailor.

Lapidus was considered the creator and pioneer of the unisex fashion look and is credited with introducing a military and safari look into haute couture. He is credited as the first designer to put Military style shoulder straps on both male and female clothing, and with making blue jeans part of the mainstream of fashion design. After an apprenticeship with Dior, Lapidus started his own fashion label in 1951, and gained prominence in the 1960s when French celebrities such as Brigitte Bardot, Françoise Hardy and Alain Delon started wearing his creations.
Lapidus proved influential outside France, too, and was the first designer to persuade Twiggy to wear a suit and tie rather than a mini-skirt. John Lennon was another admirer and in 1969 he asked Lapidus to design a white leather bag to house a set of fourteen erotic lithographs he had made. Known as "Bag One", the limited edition of 300 bags incorporated zips, handles and a lock, as well as Lennon's signature in black, and was hand-stitched in Italy and later autographed by The Beatles. Lapidus also designed the white suit that Lennon wore on the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road album.
He was admitted to the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture parisienne in 1963. He designed the safari suit, a style of men's suit that was popular in Australia in the 1970s.
In the late 1970s the Lapidus label started to produce fashion accessories as the haute couture market declined. In 1989 Ted Lapidus's son Oliver Lapidus took over the Lapidus label. Lapidus sponsored the French Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives Formula One auto racing team in 1990 via the Ted Lapidus product name. In 1996 Lapidus designed both the home and away uniforms for the Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, which were used that year in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Conmebol. In 2000 the Lapidus label ceased producing haute couture and is now primarily known for its fashion accessories of watches and fragrances.

Lapidus died in Cannes, aged 79, from pulmonary complications brought on by leukaemia. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute and said Lapidus had "democratised French elegance and classicism" and "made fashion accessible to men and women in the street." Sarkozy's statement called him "the poet of French couture".

Lapidus was married twice. He is survived by two sons, Olivier and Thomas, and a daughter, Eloise.

References

External links
Ted Lapidus: A life in fashion. (The Guardian, pictorial profile)

(Women's Wear Daily)
(New York Times)
(The Independent)
(Interview)
(The Huffington Post)
(Fashion Wire Daily)
(The Sunday Times)

1929 births
2008 deaths
Deaths from cancer in France
Deaths from leukemia
French fashion designers
French people of Russian-Jewish descent
Artists from Paris
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Ted Lapidus


Xombi is a superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Xombi #0 (January 1994) and was created by John Rozum and Denys Cowan.

Fictional character biography
Xombi was a Korean-American scientist named David Kim from West Orange, New Jersey. He developed a nanotechnological virus capable of extensive tissue regeneration. Before David Kim could test his invention, a villain named Dr. Sugarman broke into his lab and tried to steal the virus. In the fight, Kim was critically injured, and his assistant Kelly injected him with the virus in an attempt to save his life. However, since the nanites used available matter to restore Kim, Kelly—who had laid his body on her lap—was partially "devoured" by the nanites. Kim became a "xombi" - a potentially immortal, technologically enhanced human being. This embroiled him in the affairs of various races of supernatural beings that secretly lived among humanity for millennia, known collectively as the shadow worlds.

Post-Infinite Crisis

Due to the combined effect of the destruction and recreation of the multiverse and the timeline-altering powers of Anansi, a new divergent timeline was created in which David Kim, the most worthy man alive, became Green Lantern instead of Hal Jordan. Kim was one of a group of alternate Justice League members who helped restore the original timeline.

Xombi (along with fiancée Dalia Rose and friend Julian Parker) debuted in the DC Universe in issue #26 of The Brave and the Bold, teaming up with The Spectre to fight a ghost which was killing and sucking the lifeforce of other ghosts, vampires, and undead.

Xombi Vol. 2
A second Xombi series debuted in DC Comics in May 2011, and ran for six issues, which were collected in a trade paperback. It was written by John Rozum, with art by Frazer Irving.

Powers and abilities
Virtually immortal and indestructible, the nanomachines in his body prevent aging or disease, and instantaneously heal any injuries he might receive. His body leaves no waste products as his nanomachines recycle every bit of it. Within certain parameters he is able to directly control them and so he is able to disassemble virtually any common material on the molecular level and reassemble it in the form of entirely different materials or other forms.

Supporting characters
Becan - appeared in issue #17, an oracle who David Kim/Xombi and Rabbi Sinnowitz meet in a strange and disgusting bar.
Bludgeon - of the Beli Mah (School of Anguish).
Catholic Girl - a teenage Catholic School girl who is able to fly, can project a force field around herself when she recites the "Hail Mary", able to fire bolts of energy from her rosary. The origin of her powers is unknown, but she views them as being a heavenly gift.
Cheryl Saltz - guest-starring from Hardware she works for Alva Technologies, to deduce whether David Kim/Xombi is immortal.
Chet - a friend of David Kim's.
Cole - a salesman who arranged for Manual Dexterity to murder Lenore Duncan.
Crowne - the leader of the Beli Mah (school of Anguish).
Dalila Rose - David Kim's fiancée.
Dumaka - another Xombi introduced to David Kim/Xombi and Rabbi Sinnowitz in issue #17, by the oracle Becan; Dumaka became a Xombi by African folk magic, he continued to live by means of a regenerating tail. He and David talked of living forever (being immortal) and the truly bad things that come with it; after the talk and David Kim/Xombi and Rabbi Sinnowitz leave, Dumaka gives up the will to live and he dies in issue #18.
ENIAC - the computer, ENIAC, an invention of an old inventor became animated and contacted Cheryl Saltz of Alva Technologies wanting to be connected to the information superhighway, it holds Cheryl Saltz and David Kim/Xombi hostage. David tried an exorcism on the ENIAC, which did not work, but Cheryl managed to stop ENIAC with a little science.
Homunculi - the Rustling Husks who serve Dr. Sugarman. They were created from remnants of insects that died while trapped between windows, which accounts for their sadistic cruelty when carrying out orders.
Julian Parker - an ally of David Kim/Xombi and Rabbi Sinnowitz; Julian Parker is the son of some demons.
Kameko - an ancient xombi who appears in issue #17, she had dreams about David Kim/Xombi, she lives in the huge palace with various people; when Kameko and David meet in issue #19, when Rabbi Sinnowitz takes David to meet her, she reveals that she was expecting him because she loves him dearly, they have a long talk concerning the future as Kameko has seen it; the story Kameko tells is one were David destroys the world with his technology. She tells him of the time when they will meet in 80 years. David refuses to accept the future that Kameko describes and leaves maybe to never see her again.
Kelly Sanborne - David Kim's lab assistant.
Lord of Fumes - escaped from the Garden of Spires at the end of issue #2/beginning of issue #3.
Manuel Dexterity - the brother of Manuella Dexterity; Manuel Dexterity was sent by Cole to murder Lenore Duncan.
Manuella Dexterity - the sister of Manuel Dexterity, she was  bitter over the death of her brother and decides to kill the Janus (David Kim/Xombi).
Nun of the Above - a clairvoyant nun who, along with her associate, Catholic Girl, accompanied Xombi on a number of his adventures.
Nun the Less - a sister in the same religious order as Nun of the Above, Nun the Less developed the supernatural ability to shrink to small size after eating a bad shrimp.
Rabbi Sinnowitz - an ally of David Kim/Xombi. He is an occult practitioner with penchant for Golem manufacture and control. Rabbi Sinnowitz became involved in the shadow worlds when he and his young wife battled with the Kinderessen, child eaters. The unborn child of Rabbi Sinnowitz and his wife was killed and Rabbi Sinnowitz took up an interest in the occult.
Rats of Undertown/the Rat Congress - guest-starring from Blood Syndicate associates of the Boogieman (a member of the Blood Syndicate). A riot starts as the rats organize to fight the Kinderessen, the fight took place in the middle of the Utopia Park Riot.
Sheer Shears - malevolent abstracts shaped like hooded figures with beak-like sheers in place of heads. They are immune to anything that is derived from written knowledge, but they can be destroyed from creative application of oral tradition and folklore.

References

External links
 International Heroes: Xombi
 International Heroes: Nun of the Above
 International Heroes: Catholic Girl
 International Heroes: Doctor Sugarman
 Xombi's first footsteps in the DC Universe
 Reviews of the entire run of the first series at Comics Fondle

Asian-American superheroes
Korean superheroes
Comics characters introduced in 1994
Fictional characters with immortality
Cyborg superheroes
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
Milestone Comics titles
DC Comics male superheroes
DC Comics titles
DC Comics American superheroes

Xombi


The Ford Squire is a caur frae Ford for the Unitit Kinrick mercat biggit atween 1955 an 1959.

It wis a twa door, fower seat estate design, the brither tae the Ford Prefect 100E fower door saloon, sharin the same 1172 cc Ford sidevalve 36 bhp (27 kW) ingine an ither pairts an the same interior trim. It wis substantially shorter than baith the Prefect an the closely relatit Ford Anglia 100E twa door saloon. It uised the short front doors o the fower-door model acause the bodyshell wis optimized for uise as a panel van (which wis marketed as the Thames 300E). The rear door wis in twa pieces split horizontally. The rear seat coud be foldit flat tae convert frae a fower seater tae a load carrier. Till 1957 thare wur wid trim pieces screwed tae the sides o the vehicle.

The Squire competit in the same mercat segment as the Hillman Husky an the Austin A30 / A35 based estate: thir wur significantly mair popular in the UK than langer estates at the time. Tot production wis 17,812 caurs.

The Ford Escort wis a mechanically identical estate caur but based on the Ford Anglia which haed a lawer trim level. This proved mair popular an a tot o 33,131 Escorts wur produced atween 1955 an 1961. Production o the Escort continued till 1961, twa years langer than the Squire.

The Breetish Motor magazine testit a Squire in 1955 recordin a tap speed o 69.9 mph (112.5 km/h) an acceleration frae 0-50 mph (80 km/h) in 20.2 seconds an a fuel consumption o (7.91 L/100 km; 29.7 mpg-US). The test caur which haed the optional heater cost £668 includin taxes.

References

Squire
Vehicles introduced in 1955

Ford Squire


Wind speed is the speed of the weather related air movement from one place to the next.

Wind speeds usually mean the movement of air in an outside environment, but the speed of movement of air inside is also important in many cases, including weather forecasting, aircraft and maritime operations, construction and civil engineering. High wind speeds can cause unpleasant side effects, and strong winds often have special names, including gales, hurricanes, and typhoons. The highest wind speed ever measured on earth, 253 miles per hour, was recorded on Barrow Island, Australia.

Measurement
The most simple method of measuring wind speed is to estimate the speed from the observed event against the Beaufort Scale. Obviously, this method is not the most accurate available, so each value on the scale represents a range of values, three on the scale, for example, covers the wind speeds between seven and ten knots.

Notes

Winds

es:Viento#Características físicas de los vientos

Wind speed


Alexandru "Alex" Papană (18 October 1906 – 17 April 1946) was a Romanian-American aviator and bobsledder who competed from the early 1930s to the late 1940s.

Bobsleigh career
Competing for Romania in bobsleigh, he won two medals in the two-man event at the FIBT World Championships with a gold in 1933 and a bronze in 1934. Papană also competed in two Winter Olympics, earning his best finish of fourth in the two-man event at Lake Placid, New York in 1932. He retired from bobsledding after the 1936 Winter Olympics.

Aviation career
Papană obtained his pilot's license in 1928 while in Romania, and was already setting altitude records in 1931. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, he competed in gliding (which was a demonstration sport), finishing a respectable 12th as the only representative from Romania. This earned him an invitation to an aerobatics competition in Los Angeles.

Papană accepted the offer, and he and his plane, a Bücker Bü 133B Jungermeister (one of only two versions of that variant ever produced) with the registration YR-PAX, were flown from Frankfurt, Germany to New York, New York aboard the Hindenburg airship in August 1936. He then flew across the United States from New York to Los Angeles, winning the race between the cities. In Los Angeles, he won the national air races that were held there. In December of that year, Papană finished second with the Jungermeister in a race from Miami, Florida to Havana, Cuba.

At an airshow in Cleveland, Ohio the following year, Papană was in a battle with fellow aviator Count Hagenburg that ended up crashing the count's aircraft. Papană offered Hagenburg his aircraft, but the count refused.

Papană's aircraft was damaged on the runway at an airport in Chicago, Illinois in 1940. The plane was sold twice before being donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1973. The aircraft is now located at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

Papană later tested gliders for Northrop as a test pilot, many of his flights being documented in Flying magazine. He was involved in the trials for the P-61 Black Widow aircraft that would be involved during World War II for the United States Army Air Forces.

Other activities
Papană was also active in his youth as a goalkeeper, competing for Colţea București.

Personal life
Papană was born in Bucharest. He was married twice. His first wife Dina in 1938 died while in childbirth on 5 September of that year. He remarried to Jean Hacker on 30 April 1945, but their marriage in Beverly Hills, California did not go well.

He died on 17 April 1946 after abandoning his car 17 miles (27 km) south of Las Vegas, Nevada. Authorities discovered Papană's body six days later with a suicide note. Papană died by poisoning.

References
Aeroclubul Romania profile
Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931
Bucker museum featuring Papană's plane
Coltea Bucuresti football (soccer) club featuring Papană.
List of Romanian-Americans featuring Papană
Wallechinsky, David (1984). "Bobsled". In The Complete Book of the Olympics: 1896-1980. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 558, 560.

External links

1906 births
1946 suicides
1946 deaths
American aviators
Bobsledders at the 1932 Winter Olympics
Bobsledders at the 1936 Winter Olympics
Glider pilots at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Olympic bobsledders for Romania
Romanian emigrants to the United States
Romanian aviators
Romanian male bobsledders
Romanian men's footballers
Suicides by poison
Suicides in Nevada
Glider pilots
Sportspeople from Bucharest
American aviation record holders
Men's association football goalkeepers

Alexandru Papană


North Park is one of 77 community areas of the City of Chicago. It is bordered by the North Shore Channel on the east, the Chicago River's North Branch and Foster Avenue on the south, Cicero Avenue on the west (except for the section in the northwest corner, north of Bryn Mawr Avenue, which is part of the Sauganash neighborhood) and Devon Avenue on the north.

References

Community areas of Chicago

North Park, Chicago


Jacques-Nicolas (Jaak-Nicolaas) Lemmens (3 January 1823 – 30 January 1881), was an organist, music teacher, and composer for his instrument.

Biography
Born at Zoerle-Parwijs, near Westerlo, Belgium, Lemmens took lessons from François-Joseph Fétis, who wanted to make him into a musician capable of renewing the organ-player's art in Belgium. Fétis sent him to Adolf Friedrich Hesse in Germany to learn Johann Sebastian Bach's tradition.

In 1847, Lemmens won the Paris Conservatoire's prestigious Prix de Rome with his Le roi Lear ("King Lear"). One year later he published his first work for organ: Dix improvisations dans le style sévère et chantant ("Ten improvisations in a strict and singing style"). In March 1849 he was appointed organ teacher at the Royal Brussels Conservatoire, aged only 26; and he trained numerous young musicians, including two eminent Frenchmen, Alexandre Guilmant and Charles-Marie Widor.

During 1852 he gave organ recitals in Saint Vincent de Paul, La Madeleine and Saint Eustache churches in Paris, where he stunned audiences with his technique. Particularly notable was his brilliant pedal-playing, which owed a good deal to his studies of Bach's music (at the time Bach's organ works were not at all well known in France). In 1857 he married the English soprano Helen Sherrington (1834–1906), who in the following decade emerged as a leading English concert and operatic singer.  He died at Zemst, near Mechelen, Belgium.

Compositions for organ
 Dix Improvisations dans le style sévère et chantant (1848)
 École d'Orgue, basée sur le plain-chant romain (Orgelschule, 1862), incl.:
 Prélude à 5  (Grave) in E-flat major
 Prière (Moderato cantabile) in E major
 Fanfare (Allegro non troppo) in D major
 Cantabile (Allegretto) in B minor
 Final (Allegro) in D major
 Four organ pieces in free style : Allegretto in B flat, Christmas-Offertorium, Fantasia in A minor, Grand Fantasia (The Storm) in E minor (1866)
 Trois Sonatas (1874):
 Sonate Nr. 1 "Pontificale" in D minor
1. Allegro moderato
2. Adagio
3. Marche Pontificale (Maestoso)
4. Fuga (Fanfare)
 Sonate Nr. 2 "O Filii" in E minor
1. Prélude (Allegro non troppo)
2. Cantabile (Andante)
3. Fuga (Allegro con fuoco)
 Sonate Nr. 3 "Pascale" in A minor
1. Allegro
2. Adoration (Andante sostenuto)
3. Finale "Alleluia" (Maestoso recitando - Allegro)

Lemmensinstituut
At the request of the Belgian clerical authorities, Lemmens returned to Belgium  to found a school for Church music in Mechelen in 1879. This was to become the future Lemmensinstituut after its move to Leuven in 1968. Lemmens could only work at the development of this school for two years, as he died on 30 January 1881. He was succeeded by Edgar Tinel.

References
 Lowell Lacey, '"Jaak-Nicolaas Lemmens" (1823-1881) in Adem. 1979.
 François Sabatier, Lemmens, Jacques-Nicolas at Grove Music Online.
 Annelies Focquaert, Lemmens, Jacques-Nicolas at SVM.

External links

1823 births
1881 deaths
Belgian classical organists
Male classical organists
Belgian classical composers
Belgian male classical composers
Romantic composers
Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Prix de Rome (Belgium) winners
19th-century classical composers
People from Westerlo
19th-century Belgian male musicians
19th-century organists

Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens


The British Civil Air Ensign is the flag that may be flown at civil aviation establishments in the United Kingdom and be displayed on UK-registered civil aircraft.  It should be flown at civilian air facilities as the national flag in place of the Union Flag.

The ensign's field is light blue and has a dark blue Saint George's cross which is fimbriated white placed overall. The Union Flag is in the canton.

The Civil Air Ensign was instituted by an Order in Council on 11 August 1931. The order stated that "An ensign called the Civil Air Ensign is the proper national colour to be flown by aircraft and air transport undertakings and at aerodromes."  The first Civil Air Ensign to be flown in London was hoisted by Mrs Victor Bruce, the noted British woman aviator.

The 1931 Order was revoked by the Civil Air Ensign Order made on 18 March 1937 additionally permitting the use of the flag on buildings used by the Ministry of Civil Aviation or air transport undertakings, on vehicles used personally by the Minister and by any person given special permission by the Minister.

The prototype flag had been made up in silk and was kept throughout World War II by the Civil Aviation Department in a series of locations in London. In October 1948 it was handed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation Library for retention and display.  The visible stains on the light blue silk were said to have been caused by water from the fire brigade's hoses used in quelling a fire in the roof at Parliament Square House, caused by a German incendiary bomb, whilst the CAD was accommodated there.

In 1957, a ministry working party reviewing the Air Navigation Order concluded that it was anomalous to regulate the use of the Civil Air Ensign when no special regulations were required to control the use of its maritime equivalent, the Red Ensign.  All mention of the Civil Air Ensign was therefore omitted from the Air Navigation Order 1960.

It was part of the livery, as the tail logo, of the Civil Aviation Flying Unit (CAFU) and its predecessors from 1944 to 1982.  In 1982 the last two HS 748s were repainted in a CAA corporate blue and white scheme and the Civil Air Ensign was replaced by the Union Flag. The ensign next appeared on the fin of HS 125-700 registration G-UKCA operated by the Civil Aviation Authority from 1987 to 1992 and subsequently by HS 125-700 G-OCAA until 2002.

The British civil air ensign is also the basis for several versions used by other countries.

References

External links
Flags of the World - United Kingdom: Civil Air Ensign

Civil air ensigns
Flags of the United Kingdom
Flags with crosses
Civil aviation in the United Kingdom
Light blue ensigns

British Civil Air Ensign


Wei Xiaokuan (韋孝寬) (509 – 17 December 580), formal personal name Wei Shuyu (韋叔裕) (but went by the courtesy name of Xiaokuan), known by the Xianbei name Yuwen Xiaokuan (宇文孝寬) during late Western Wei and Northern Zhou, formally Duke Xiang of Xun (勛襄公), was a general of the Xianbei-led Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties of China. He first became a prominent general during Western Wei as he defended the fortress of Yubi (玉壁, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi) against a vastly larger army commanded by rival Eastern Wei's paramount general Gao Huan, and he eventually contributed greatly to the destruction of Eastern Wei's successor state Northern Qi by Northern Zhou.  His final campaign, in 580, saw him siding with the regent Yang Jian against the general Yuchi Jiong in Northern Zhou's civil war, allowing Yang to defeat Yuchi and (after Wei's death) take over the throne as Sui Dynasty's Emperor Wen.

More so than other prominent generals at the time, Wei was known for using atypical strategies in both offense and defense, including extensive use of espionage and forgeries to undermine the morale of opposing forces.

During Northern Wei
Wei Xiaokuan was born in 509, during Western Wei's predecessor Northern Wei (which Western Wei and its rival Eastern Wei were divided from) -- specifically, during the reign of Emperor Xuanwu.  His clan was a prominent one in the Sanfu (三輔, greater Chang'an) region, and both his grandfather Wei Zhenxi (韋真憙) and father Wei Xu (韋旭) were commandery governors during Northern Wei.

In Wei Xiaokuan's youth, he was described to be studious and calm.  When the general Xiao Baoyin rebelled in 527 and seized the Chang'an region, he was at the capital Luoyang, and he volunteered to serve in the army against Xiao.  He served as an officer under Zhangxun Chengye (長孫承業) the Duke of Fengyi and contributed to the army's success, and he was given a post as a teacher at the national university in Luoyang, and then an acting commandery governor.  He later served under the prominent official Yang Kan (楊侃), guarding the Tong Pass, when Yang, impressed by him, gave a daughter to him in marriage.  Wei became a general during the reign of Emperor Xiaozhuang (528-530) and was created the Baron of Shanbei.  During the subsequent reign of Emperor Jiemin (531-532), he served under the official Yuan Zigong (源子恭), the governor of Jing Province (荊州, modern southern Henan) as a commandery governor.  It was at this time he became friends with fellow general Dugu Xin, who was also a commandery governor in Jing Province.

In the subsequent reign of Emperor Xiaowu (532-535), Wei was given the task of defending Jing Province, although he was not then governor.  Subsequently, when Emperor Xiaowu, seeking to evade the influence of the paramount general Gao Huan, fled west to Chang'an, then controlled by Yuwen Tai, in 534, the empire became divided into Western Wei (with Emperor Xiaowu as emperor) and Eastern Wei (with Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei, whom Gao declared emperor, as emperor).  It is unclear when or how, but Wei eventually joined the Western Wei regime in Chang'an, but it is not clear whether that happened before or after Emperor Xiaowu's death (probably by Yuwen's orders) in 535 and replacement by his cousin Emperor Wen of Western Wei.

During Western Wei
In 538, during a major campaign between Western Wei and Eastern Wei, Wei Xiaokuan accompanied Emperor Wen, and he was made the governor of Hongnong Commandery (弘農, roughly modern Sanmenxia, Henan).  He subsequently entered Luoyang (which Western Wei temporarily captured) with Dugu Xin, and for some time tried to defend the city, but eventually they were forced to withdraw from the vicinity of Luoyang.  As Wei was then stationed on the borders with Eastern Wei, he became concerned that the Eastern Wei general Niu Daoheng (牛道恆) was capable at drawing the common people of the border region to join Eastern Wei's cause.  Wei employed a tactic that he would reuse later—first sending spies to steal samples of Niu's handwriting, and then employing forgers to forge letters purportedly from Niu to Wei offering to defect to Western Wei.  He then intentionally allowed spies sent by Niu's superior Duan Chen (段琛) to steal the forgeries, causing Duan to suspect Niu's loyalty and begin to refuse to follow Niu's suggestions.  Once Wei was sure of the dissension within the Eastern Wei forces, he made a surprise attack and captured both Duan and Niu, taking the locale for Western Wei.

In 539, Emperor Wen promoted Wei's title from baron to marquess.

In 542, Wei was made the governor of Jin Province (晉州, roughly modern Linfen, Shanxi), and by the recommendation of the prominent general Wang Sizheng (王思政), was given by Yuwen Tai the responsibility of defending the important fort of Yubi (玉壁, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), which Wang himself had defended earlier.  He managed to pacify the province against raids by the ethnic Xiongnu tribesmen in the area.

In 546, Gao Huan launched a major attack on Western Wei, and as Yubi was an important fort on his path, he put it under siege.  He built earthworks to surround the city, hoping to be able to breach Yubi's defenses on top of the walls, but Wei managed to build on top of the towers on top of the walls, always maintaining a higher vantage point than the earthworks and therefore stopping the Eastern Wei attack.  Gao then tried digging tunnels below the walls, but Wei was able to anticipate this and dig tunnels himself to connect with Eastern Wei's tunnels, and then setting fires within the tunnels, burning the Eastern Wei soldiers to death.  He further set fires to the Eastern Wei army's battering rams, and for every offensive strategy Gao was able to think of, Wei was able to counter it.  Gao had his secretary Zu Ting write a letter to Wei, urging him to surrender, but Wei refused.  Gao was unable to capture the fort after 60 days of siege, and he grew angry and ill and was forced to withdraw.  For Wei's contributions, he was created the Duke of Jianzhong.

In 553, during the reign of Emperor Wen's son Emperor Fei, Wei was made the governor of the capital region, Yong Province (雍州, roughly modern Xi'an, Shaanxi).  In 554, Wei participated in the campaign commanded by Yu Jin (于謹) against Liang Dynasty, which eventually captured its capital Jiangling and its emperor Emperor Yuan.  (Western Wei eventually put the Liang emperor to death around the new year 555.)  After this campaign, Wei's title was changed to Duke of Rang, and as at the time, Yuwen Tai was choosing prominent Han generals to have their names changed to Xianbei names, Wei's name was changed to Yuwen, probably as a sign of respect and endearment on Yuwen Tai's part.  In 556, when Yuwen Tai was carrying out a tour of the northern provinces, he returned Wei to the responsibility of defending Yubi.

During Emperors Xiaomin and Ming's reigns
Yuwen Tai died later in 556, leaving his son and heir Yuwen Jue under the guardianship of his nephew Yuwen Hu.  Around the new year 557, Yuwen Hu forced Emperor Gong of Western Wei to yield the throne to Yuwen Jue, ending Western Wei and founding Northern Zhou, with Yuwen Jue taking the throne as Emperor Xiaomin, but with the alternative title of "Heavenly Prince" (Tian Wang).  Wei was made the deputy minister of the interior.  After Yuwen Hu removed and killed Emperor Xiaomin later in 557 and replaced him with another son of Yuwen Tai, Yuwen Yu the Duke of Ningdu (as Emperor Ming), Wei took on the additional responsibility as an imperial researcher.  (It might have been the case that this was Yuwen Hu's way of removing Wei from a military command without dishonoring him, for Wei's great friend Dugu Xin opposed Yuwen Hu and, in 557, was forced to commit suicide on account of that opposition.)  In 560, Yuwen Hu poisoned Emperor Ming to death, and Emperor Ming's brother Yuwen Yong the Duke of Lu became emperor (as Emperor Wu).

During Emperor Wu's reign
In 561, in recognition of Wei's great victory at Yubi previously, Yubi and the surrounding area was made into Xun Province (勳州 -- "Xun" meaning "achievement"), and Wei was made its governor.  During this tenure, Wei was said to be gracious to the people of the province while continuing to effectively employ a network of spies.  For example, when his officer Xu Pen (許盆) defected to Northern Qi, Wei sent spies after him, and was quickly able to have him killed.

Around this time, Xun Province continued to be plagued by raids by the ethnic Xiongnu who, while not submitting to either Northern Zhou or Northern Qi, were based within Northern Qi territory and cut off river traffic on the Fen River (汾水, flowing through modern Linfen).  In order to cut off the route of their raids, Wei sent his officer Yao Yue (姚岳) to build a fort near the Fen River.  Yao initially was fearful that as his troops were building the fort that Northern Qi would launch an attack against him, but Wei warded off Northern Qi attacks by setting up bonfires in the surrounding hills, making Northern Qi forces believe that Yao was being reinforced by a large army, and therefore did not attack Yao, allowing Yao to complete the fort.

In 564, Wei helped negotiate an agreement where Northern Qi returned Yuwen Tai's sister and sister-in-law (Yuwen Hu's mother) to Northern Zhou in exchange for peace.  When, late in 564, Yuwen Hu nevertheless was preparing to launch an attack on Northern Qi (in order to placate the northern ally Tujue), Wei sent his secretary Xin Daoxian (辛道憲) to try to dissuade Yuwen Hu, but Yuwen Hu nevertheless launched the attack, which was unsuccessful.  In 570, the two states were stalemated while fighting for the control of the city of Yiyang (宜陽, in modern Luoyang).  Wei, believing that Yiyang was not worth the effort and instead was apprehensive that Northern Qi would encroach on territory north of the Fen River, sent a proposal to Yuwen Hu to build forts north of the Fen River to guard the territory.  Yuwen Hu, however, responded, "While Duke Wei has many descendants, they do not yet number a hundred.  Who will be able to guard those forts?"  Thereafter, the forts were not built.

Later in 570, Wei's title was promoted to Duke of Xun.  That winter, as forewarned by Wei, the Northern Qi general Hulü Guang encroached on Northern Zhou territory north of the Fen River and built forts there, seizing substantial territory.  Wei personally met Hulü on the border to try to dissuade him from the campaign, but Hulü did not relent.  The armies stalemated after Yuwen Hu sent reinforcements commanded by Emperor Wu's brother Yuwen Xian the Duke of Qi, but territory was already lost.

By 572, however, Hulü was in conflict with the powerful officials Zu Ting and Mu Tipo, both of whom were trusted by the Northern Qi emperor Gao Wei.  Wei, hearing this, wanted to create further suspicions in Gao Wei's mind against Hulü, and he decided to try to create a sense that Hulü would rebel.  He wrote two songs in couplets, one of which read:

A hundred sheng [(升, a measurement unit -- and 100 sheng made up one hu (斛))] will fly up to the heavens,
A bright moon [(明月, mingyue, Hulü's courtesy name)] will shine over Chang'an.

The other read:

The high [(高, gao)] mountain will collapse on its own,
The daimyo oak [(槲, hu)] will stand straight on its own.

He sent spies to spread the songs near Northern Qi's capital Yecheng, and the songs soon became popular.  Zu, exploiting the situation himself, added two more lines:

The blind man will bear a great axe,
The talkative woman will be unable to speak.

Both Zu, who was blind, and Mu's mother Lu Lingxuan (Gao Wei's wet nurse and presumably the "talkative woman") both discussed the songs with Gao Wei, and Gao Wei, his suspicions having been aroused, eventually agreed to have Hulü put to death, greatly weakening the Northern Qi military efforts.

After Hulü's death, Emperor Wu (who had ambushed and killed Yuwen Hu earlier that year and assumed power himself) became particularly ambitious at conquering Northern Qi, and seeing this, Wei submitted three strategies for conquering Northern Qi to Emperor Wu.  Also around this time, on account of his old age, Wei repeatedly made offers to resign and retire, but Emperor Wu repeatedly responded with edicts of kind words requesting him to stay.

In 576, when Emperor Wu launched a major attack on Northern Qi, he visited Yubi and praised Wei for his defense of the fort.  Wei offered to be the forward commander for the attack, but Emperor Wu declined on reason that he needed Wei to defend Yubi still.  However, he sent Wei to assist his brother Yuwen Zhao (宇文招) the Prince of Zhao in a secondary campaign near Yubi.  After Emperor Wu conquered Northern Qi in 577, he returned to Yubi and took Wei back to the capital Chang'an with him, promoting Wei to the post of minister of agriculture.  Subsequently, however, Emperor Wu made Wei the governor of Yan Province (延州, roughly modern Yan'an, Shaanxi), in charge of the surrounding provinces.

During Emperors Xuan and Jing's reigns
Emperor Wu died in 578, and his son Yuwen Yun the Crown Prince succeeded him (as Emperor Xuan).  In 579, Emperor Xuan passed the throne to his young son Yuwen Chan the Crown Prince (as Emperor Jing), although he held onto power as retired emperor (with the atypical title of "Emperor Tianyuan" (天元皇帝, Tianyuan Huangdi).  Later that year, Emperor Xuan made Wei Xiaokuan in charge of Xu Province (徐州, roughly modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) and the surrounding provinces, and Wei subsequently participated in the campaign against rival Chen Dynasty that allowed Northern Zhou to seize the region between the Yangtze River and Huai River from Chen.  Wei's contribution was in capturing the important city of Shouyang, and when Emperor Xuan's cousin Yuwen Liang (宇文亮) the Duke of Qi, angry and fearful that Emperor Xuan had recently raped his daughter-in-law Yuchi Chifan, tried to ambush Wei to seize his troops to further act against Emperor Xuan, Wei defeated Yuwen Liang.  For these achievements, one of Wei's sons was created the Duke of Hua.

In 580, Emperor Xuan died, and Emperor Xuan's father-in-law Yang Jian the Duke of Sui—the son-in-law of Wei's great friend Dugu Xin—became regent.  Yang, suspicious that the general Yuchi Jiong (Yuchi Chifan's grandfather), in charge of Xiang Province (相州, roughly modern Handan, Hebei) and the surrounding regions, tried to replace Yuchi with Wei.  Yuchi, however, was suspicious that Yang was intending to usurp the throne, decided to rise against Yang.  When Wei approached Xiang Province, he realized this, and he pretended to be ill, and instead tried to flee to Luoyang—on the way, leaving instruction to each post to give feasts to Yuchi's soldiers if they gave chase.  Yuchi indeed sent soldiers after Wei, but the soldiers were slowed by the feasts given to them, and were not able to track Wei down.  Once Wei reached Luoyang, he carefully guarded the city, and although the ethnically Xianbei soldiers in the city considered rising in support of Yuchi, they ultimately did not do so.

Yang then put Wei in charge of the army against Yuchi.  He first defeated Yuchi's general Xue Gongli (薛公禮), who was attacking Huai Province (懷州, roughly modern Zhengzhou, Henan), and then crossed the Yellow River north.  He defeated Yuchi's son Yuchi Dun (尉遲惇) near Yuchi's headquarters at Yecheng and then put Yecheng under siege.  The city soon fell, and Yuchi Jiong committed suicide.  Wei slaughtered the core troops that remained loyal to Yuchi to the end.  Wei returned to Chang'an victoriously, and died in December that year.

References

 Book of Zhou, vol. 31.
 History of Northern Dynasties, vol. 64.
 Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 157, 158, 159, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174.

Northern Wei generals
Northern Zhou generals
509 births
580 deaths
Wei clan of Jingzhao

Wei Xiaokuan


Samael () (also Sammael and Şamil) is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic beliefs and stories, as well as Christian tradition and demonology. There are also other religions that believe in stories of Samael. It is said that he was the guardian angel of Esau and a patron of the sinful empire of Rome.

Samael is often accorded with Satan because he often has grim and destructive duties. He is often considered a fallen angel, like Satan and the chief of the evil spirits. One of Samael's roles in Jewish beliefs is that of the Angel of Death. In this belief, he is a fallen angel but remains one of the Lord's servants. As a good angel, Samael supposedly lives in the seventh heaven, although he is said to be the chief angel of the fifth heaven.

Powers

The website Catholic.org says Samael is a "Power", which means he is the chief of many warrior angels.

Powers are warrior angels against evil, who defend the world and people. They fight against evil spirits who attempt to bring chaos through human beings. The chief is said to be either Samael or Camael, both angels of darkness.

In Judaism and Christianity

In Jewish beliefs, Sammael is said to be the Angel of Death, the ruler of the Fifth Heaven, and one of the seven regents of the world served by two million angels; he resides in the Seventh Heaven. Yalkut I, 110 of the Talmud says Samael is Esau's guardian angel.  In Sotah 10b, Samael is Esau's guardian angel.

In the Sayings of Rabbi Eliezer, he is said to be the one who tempted Eve, then seduced and impregnated her with Cain. Some sources identify Gadreel as the angel that seduced Eve; although, other Hebrew scholars say that it was Samael who tempted Eve as the Serpent.

Samael is also sometimes said to be the angel who wrestled with Jacob, and also the angel who held back the arm of Abraham as he was about to sacrifice his son.

According to "The Ascension of Moses" (Chapter IV - Aggadah - The Legend of The Jews - By Louis Ginzberg) Samael is also mentioned as being in 7th Heaven:
"In the last heaven Moses saw two angels, each five hundred parasangs in height, forged out of chains of black fire and red fire, the angels Af, "Anger," and Hemah, "Wrath," whom God created at the beginning of the world, to execute His will. Moses was disquieted when he looked upon them, but Metatron embraced him, and said, "Moses, Moses, thou favorite of God, fear not, and be not terrified," and Moses became calm. There was another angel in the seventh heaven, different in appearance from all the others, and of frightful mien. His height was so great, it would have taken five hundred years to cover a distance equal to it, and from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet he was studded with glaring eyes, at the sight of which the beholder fell prostrate in awe. "This one," said Metatron, addressing Moses, "is Samael, who takes the soul away from man." "Whither goes he now?" asked Moses, and Metatron replied, "To fetch the soul of Job the pious." Thereupon Moses prayed to God in these words, "O may it be Thy will, my God and the God of my fathers, not to let me fall into the hands of this angel."
In The Holy Kabbalah (Arthur Edward Waite, 255), Samael is described as the "severity of God", and is listed as fifth of the archangels of the world of Briah. Samael is said to have married Lilith after she left Adam. According to Zoharistic cabala, Samael was also mated with Eisheth Zenunim, Na'amah, and Agrat Bat Mahlat - all angels of prostitution.

Samael is sometimes confused in some books with Camael, an archangel of God, whose name means "He who sees God".

Literary references

 John Le Carré, "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold": The main character of this short novel is Alec Leamas, ("Leamas" is "Samael" spelled backwards). The character of Leamas has dual good and evil qualities like those of Samael.

Popular culture

Samael is shown as a character in the Megami Tensei video game series. The archangel is shown in the games as a blood-red serpent. He is a member of the Vile Clan and is a persona of the Death Arcana.

In the Silent Hill video games, Samael is the name of one of the town's gods. He is shown as an anthropomorphic goat.

In the film Hellboy, one of the main characters is a giant hell-hound called Sammael, who Hellboy nicknames "Sammy".

In Lucifer, the TV and comic series, Samael is Lucifer Morningstar's original name before he left Heaven.

Samael plays an important role in the central plot of the first Darksiders title.

In the web cartoon Purgatony, Samael judges the souls of the dead while working in an office in Purgatory.

In the manga and anime Blue Exorcist, Samael is the true name of the demon Mephistopheles, and he is a son of Satan as well as a brother of Lucifer. As in biblical legend, he displays both good and evil aspects, but is the demon of Time rather than of Death.

References

Angels
Demons
Judaism

Samael


is a Japanese film, directed by Sang-il Lee and co-written by Lee and Daisuke Habara, and first released across Japanese theaters on September 23, 2006. Starring Yū Aoi, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Shizuyo Yamazaki, Ittoku Kishibe, Eri Tokunaga, Yoko Ikezu and Sumiko Fuji, it is based on the real-life event of how a group of enthusiastic girls take on hula dancing to save their small mining village, Iwaki, helping the formation of Joban Hawaiian Center (now known as Spa Resort Hawaiians), which was later to become one of Japan's most popular theme parks. It received its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Hula Girls was critically acclaimed upon release in Japan and nominated for a total of 12 awards at the 2007 Japan Academy Awards, going on to win five major awards, including that of best film, best director, best screenplay, best supporting actress (for Yū Aoi), and most popular film. It also won two major awards at the 80th Kinema Junpo awards, including that of best film and best supporting actress (for Yū Aoi). Since its release in Japan, the film has been shown across theaters and film festivals worldwide.

Story
In 1965, the cold, northern  coal mining town of Iwaki, was facing unemployment due to oil becoming the predominant energy resource in Japan.

The mining company develops a plan to use hot springs, which seeped into the mines, to provide heat for a Hawaiian Center spa resort.  The plan is greeted with hostility by the miners, but the company recruits Madoka Hirayama (Matsuyuki) a down-on-her-luck dance instructor from Tokyo to train local girls in the hula.

At first, only a small core group take the challenge.  Sanae (Tokunaga) is worried that her widowed father will lose his job, and the ability to support the four kids.  She convinces her lifelong best friend Kimiko (Aoi) to join her at the disastrous first meeting.  After the rumor runs through attendees that they will be dancing topless, Sanae and Kimiko seem to be the only two listening to the assurances that the rumor is false, as dozens of their companions flee.  The two girls are joined by Hatsuko (Ikezu), the organizer's secretary, and Sayuri (Yamazaki), a large clumsy girl.

Things go poorly as training begins, and a frustrated Hirayama nearly gives up, until the girls' enthusiasm persuades her to give the plan another try.

Kimiko and her mother, Chiyo (Fuji), have an argument, which prompts the girl to leave home to stay at the school, but as training continues and local unemployment looms, some of the other girls come back and join the school.

On the day that Sanae's father is fired, he comes home to find her in Hawaiian costume, and beats her. This outrages Hirayama, who attacks him. When he leaves, Sanae goes with him to take care of her siblings, after getting Kimiko, who has become the leader of the girls, to promise that she will keep going.

Crushed by the departure of her friend, Kimiko finds it impossible to maintain the focus needed in dancing, but is told the show must go on. She does not accept this until her brother (Toyokawa) tells her to see it through. She pulls herself together in time to join the publicity tour.

After a disastrous first performance in the tour, the girls come together as a team and the tour is a great success, until a mine accident in which Sayuri's father is caught.  Told of the accident just before the last planned performance, the troupe prepares to leave for home.  Knowing that her father wants her to succeed, Sayuri begs for the chance to finish the tour.  The bus pulls into town hours after Sayuri's father dies, and as distraught family and friends berate her, Hirayama claims responsibility for not returning immediately, accepting another failure in her career. Her students, however, refuse to let her leave.

However, the imported palm trees are threatened by cold weather.  A package from Sanae arrives for Kimiko. Her mother, Chiyo, brings it to the dance studio, where she sees the skills her daughter has gained. Chiyo collects stoves to give her daughter the chance to live her dream. She even attends the opening night of the show, at which Kimiko wears the flower sent by Sanae.

The opening show is a great success, establishing the Joban Hawaiian Center as a tourist destination.

Locations featured in film
Fukushima Prefecture
Iwaki
Furudono, Ishikawa District
Spa Resort Hawaiians (actual spa resort located in Iwaki)
Ibaraki Prefecture
Kitaibaraki
Takahagi
Nakaminato Station (located in Hitachinaka)

Awards
Hula Girls won several awards upon release, including five major awards at the 2007 Japan Academy Awards, including that of best film, best director, best screenplay, best supporting actress (for Yū Aoi), and most popular film. It also won best film and supporting actress award (for Yū Aoi) at the 80th Kinema Junpō awards, held on January 9, 2007. At the 31st Hōchi Film Awards, held on November 28, 2006, it won the awards for best film and supporting actress, while at the 19th Nikkan Sports Awards, held on December 5, 2006, it won the awards for best film, best actress (for Yasuko Matsuyuki), best supporting actress (for Sumiko Fuji) and best new talent (for Yū Aoi). At the 61st Mainichi Film Awards, held on January 19, 2007, it won the awards for best supporting actress (for Yū Aoi) and best film. At the 49th Blue Ribbon Awards, it won the awards for best film, best actress (for Yū Aoi) and best supporting actress (for Sumiko Fuji). It was also chosen for Japan's entry for the 79th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Production notes
The dancers spent three months learning and becoming skilled in hula.

The character Madoka Hirayama is loosely based on Kaleinani Hayakawa, the original kumu hula at Joban, who stayed for 32 years, while also becoming the founder of the first hula school in Japan.  Her work helped inspire the hula craze in Japan.

References

External links
Hula Girls at the Internet Movie Database.

2000s Japanese-language films
Films directed by Sang-il Lee
2006 films
Comedy films based on actual events
Films set in the 1960s
Japanese comedy films
Picture of the Year Japan Academy Prize winners
2006 comedy films
Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners
New People films
Hula
2000s Japanese films
Films set in Fukushima Prefecture
Films set in Ibaraki Prefecture

Hula Girls