Aldwych () is a place an road in the Ceety o Wastmeenster in Lunnon, Ingland.

Description

Aldwych, the road, is a crescent, connectit tae the Strand at baith ends. At its centre, it meets the Kingsway. Biggins alang its lenth are:

 Waldorf Hilton hotel
 India House (Indian High Commission in London)
 Australia House (High Commission of Australia in London)
 Aldwych Theatre
 Novello Theatre
 Bush House, heidquarters o BBC World Service
 Centrium, umwhile Television House
 Connaught House, Columbia House, Aldwych House, an Clement House, biggins o the London School of Economics.
 The umwhile steid o the Gaiety Theatre, London, unner reconstruction

Nearbi, in the Strand, is the nou-disuised Aldwych tube station.

Its offeecial name is "Aldwych" but the road is whiles colloquially referred tae as "The Aldwych", rather in the same manner that "Strand" is aften referred tae as "The Strand".

History
The name, "Aldwych", derives frae the Auld Inglis eald an wic meanin 'auld tradin toun' or 'auld mercatplace'; the name wis later appleed tae the street an destrict. It wis recordit as Aldewich in 1211. In the seivent century, an Anglo-Saxon veelage an tradin centre namit Lundenwic ("Lunnon tradin toun") wis established approximately ane mile tae the wast o Londinium (namit Lundenburh or "Lunnon Fort" bi the Saxons) in what is nou Aldwych.  Lundenwic probably uised the mooth o the River Fleet as a harbour or anchorage for tradin ships an fishin boats.

Lundenwic wis 'rediscovered' in the 1980s efter the results o extensive excavations wur reinterpretit as bein urban in character.  Thir conclusions wur reached independently bi the airchaeologists, Alan Vince an Martin Biddle. Recent excavations in the Covent Garden aurie hae uncovered an extensive Anglo-Saxon dounset, coverin aboot , stretchin frae the present-day National Gallery steid in the wast tae Aldwych in the east. As the presumit locus o the ceety, Lundenburh, wis muivit back athin the auld Roman waws, the aulder dounset o Lundenwic gained the name o ealdwic: "auld settlement", a name which evolvit intae Aldwych.

The modren street wis creatit in a redevelopment in the early twintiet century, that saw the demolition o the auld Wych Street an the construction o Australia House (biggit 1913-18) an Bush House (completit in 1925).

A statue o the nineteent-century prime meenister, William Ewart Gladstone, wis instawed in 1905 near St. Clement Danes kirk.

On 18 Februar 1996, a bomb detonatit prematurely on a Number 171 bus travellin alang Aldwych, killin Edward O'Brien, the IRA operative transportin the device; it an aw injured fower ithers.

References

See an aw

 The umwhile Aldwych tube station (closed 1994)
 Aldwych tramway station
 Aldwych Theatre
 Wych Street

Streets in the Ceety o Wastmeenster

Aldwych


Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid DBE RA ( Zahā Ḥadīd; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect. She was born in Baghdad.

Hadid was elected a Royal Academician in 2005. She became the first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize (2004). She received the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and in 2015 she became the first woman to be awarded the RIBA Gold Medal.

Hadid's buildings are neo-futuristic, characterized by curving forms with "multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the chaos of modern life".

On 31 March 2016, Hadid died of a heart attack in a Miami hospital, where she was being treated for bronchitis, aged 65.

References

1950 births
2016 deaths
British architects
Deaths from myocardial infarction
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
People from Baghdad
Pritzker Architecture Prize winners

Zaha Hadid


The Basque Country (Basque: Euskal Herria) is a region in Southwestern Europe that is within the borders of France and Spain.

Description
It is the home of the Basque people. It is at the western end of the Pyrenees on the Bay of Biscay. Its boundaries are complicated, as it consists of seven districts: four within Spain and three within France.

History

Origins
No one knows when the Basques came to Europe. Many say that they have been in Europe since the Neolithic period at the end of the Stone Age, but others say that they were here even earlier.

The first written information about the Basque Country is from the Roman times, when the Basque people already spoke their own language. During the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Basque Country was isolated from the invading Goths.

Middle Ages
During the Muslim invasion of Southern Europe, the Basque Country split in two: the Castilian and the Navarrese lands. A war with France later split the Navarrese zone in two.

After the Reconquista, the Castilian Basque lands and Navarre became part of the new country: Spain. Since then, Basque people from the Spanish area of the Basque Country have had their own government and have fought to gain the northern part of the Basque Country from France.

Now
Today, three of the Basque districts in Spain (Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa) form the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. The political unit is one of 17 autonomous communities in Spain.

The fourth Basque district in Spain (Navarra) is its own separate autonomous community of Spain.

The three districts in the North (French) Basque Country are Lapurdi (Labourd), Nafarroa Beherea (Basse-Navarre) and Zuberoa/Xiberoa (Soule).

Population

The entire region has a surface area of 20,664 km2 (7978 sq mi). The Autonomous Community of the Basque Country has 7,234 km2 (2793 sq mi), and its population is about 2,000,000 - about 5% of the total population of Spain. Basque and Spanish are spoken, and its largest city is Bilbao although the capital is Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Famous people

 Miguel de Unamuno
 Maurice Ravel (through his mother)
 Che Guevara (through his mother)
 St. Ignatius Loyola
 Louis Daguerre
 Pío Baroja

Largest cities

 Bilbao
 Donostia
 Gazteiz
 Iruña
 Biarritz
 Baiona
 Maule
 Donibane Garazi

Other websites
 The official website of the Basque Autonomous Community

Geography of France
Geography of Spain

Basque Country (greater region)


Freon is a word for certain chemical compounds, often used as refrigerants. Thomas Midgley, Jr. invented using Freon as a refrigerant.  "Freon" is a registered trademark of DuPont. Freon was first used to describe chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants, but it is now used to describe many other kinds of chemicals used as refrigerant. Refrigerants may contain carbon, chlorine, fluorine and sometimes bromine. For example, Freon 10 is carbon tetrachloride. Many kinds of freon are not toxic to animals. They also are cheap and work well. However, most refrigerants can reduce the amount of ozone from the upper atmosphere. Reducing ozone lets more ultraviolet light to come through. Too much ultraviolet light can cause skin cancer and cataracts, and can kill off plankton in the oceans.

The chlorine part of CFC refrigerants can reduce ozone. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) can also damage ozone. Newer Hydrofulorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants do not have chlorine in them and do not reduce ozone in the atmosphere. Most refrigerants also increase global warming because they are powerful greenhouse gasses. These refrigerants increase global warming thousands of times more than carbon dioxide (CO2).

Related pages
Methyl
Methane
Organic chemistry

Chemicals
HVAC

Freon


Santa Fe de Antioquia is a municipality in the Antioquia Department of Colombia. The city is located about 50 miles north of Medellin, the department capital. It has a population of about 23,000 residents.

History
It was founded by the name Villa de Santafé in 1541 by Jorge Robledo on the western bank of the Cauca River. It received the coat of arms and the title of City of Antioquia from King Philip II of Spain in 1545. It was promoted to the status of parish in 1547 by the bishop of Popayán. It changed its name in 1584 when it became the capital of Antioquia. It was a mining town from its beginnings and the gold mining operation has been the base of its economy.

Its cathedral was constructed in 1799 and elevated to Diocese of Antioquia in 1804 by Pope Pius VII. In 1813 Antioquia was declared a sovereign and independent state with Santa Fe as its capital, a status it maintained until 1826, when Medellín was chosen as the new departmental seat. Due to the state of conservation of its colonial architecture, it was declared a national monument in 1960.

Geography
The municipal area has a mountainous territory within the Central Cordillera of the Andes and watered by the rivers Cauca and Tonusco. Its area is 493 km².

Economy
The economy of Santa Fe de Antioquia is based on agriculture. The main products made are coffee, maize and beans.

Tourism
Tourism was, and continues to be one of the more important economic enterprises for the municipality. The opening of the Tunnel of the West (which shortens the time and the distance between the locality and Medellín) in 2006 has allowed hundreds of tourists to come each weekend, stimulating the vocation of the vicinity as a summer vacation site.

Sites of Interest
All of the town is a historical site; the architecture that has survived through the years gives Santa Fe de Antioquia the aspect of a city "suspended" in the colonial era, which is the reason the city was declared a National monument.

Bridge of the West (National Monument)
Metropolitan Cathedral
Archiepiscopal Palace
Plaza Mayor Juan de Corral
Museum of Religious Art
The House of the Two Palms
La Playita (Famous Ranch To The South of the Plaza)
Tonusco Campestre

Other websites
http://www.medellintraveler.com/Cinema.html
City of Santa Fe de Antioquia official government website
Gallería de Imágenes

Cities in Colombia
1541 establishments
Antioquia Department

Santa Fe de Antioquia


Roentgenium (, ) is a chemical element. It is a transition metal. Its symbol is Rg, and its atomic number is 111.

The element is named in honor of a German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen.

So far, it has not been found in nature. There seem to be 7 isotopes. All of them are radioactive. They have a half life of between 1.6 milliseconds and 26 seconds. Because of the Inert pair effect, it could have a color similar to that of gold.

Transition metals
Synthetic elements

Roentgenium


Bronisława Wajs (17 August 1908, Lublin – 8 February 1987, Inowrocław), commonly known by her Romani name Papusza (meaning Doll), was a Polish-Romani classic poet and singer.

Life
Bronisława Wajs grew up nomadically with her family in Poland as part of a kumpania, or band of families. She was literate, unusual for Polska Roma of that time. She learned to read by trading chickens in exchange for lessons with local villagers. This was frowned upon and whenever she was found reading she was beaten and the book destroyed. She was married in a traditional ceremony at 15 to a revered harpist named Dionizy Wajs, who was 24 years her senior. She was very unhappy with the marriage and took to singing as an outlet for her frustrations, with her husband often accompanying her on harp. Soon after learning to sing she began to compose her own ballads and songs based on traditional Romani story-telling and songwriting.

In 1949 Papusza's kumpania settled in Żagań in eastern Poland. That same year, she was heard by the Polish poet Jerzy Ficowski, who instantly recognized her talent. Many of her poems dealt with "Nostos" (Greek for "a return home"), a theme common in Romani poetry. Although Roma used this to describe the yearning to return to the open road, Ficowski saw this as Papusza yearning to be settled down, to no longer be nomadic. He translated and published several of her poems in a magazine called Problemy along with an interview with Polish poet Julian Tuwim. Although the poem made Papusza known for the first time among the Polish audience, the interview and, above all, the Romani-Polish minidictionary attached to it, caused a negative turn in the poet's life, as she was accused of revealing the secrets of her native culture to the gadjos. Her activities were associated by some Roma with the simultaneous moves of the Polish communist government that found its culmination in September 1952 (known variously as 'Action C', or "The Great Halt", which aimed at creating the first census of the Polish Sinti and Roma, their registration and obligatory assignment of ID cards). Accusations of Papusza and Ficowski as supporters, even unintentional of the forced settlement of Roma are even now not uncommon, although the law imposing a ban on wandering was not introduced until 1964. Similar legislation began to spring up in neighboring countries such as Czechoslovakia (1958), Bulgaria (1958), and Romania (1962). Papusza herself settled in the western Polish city of Gorzów Wielkopolski, spending most of the rest of her life in a house on Kosynierów Gdyńskich street which today bears a plaque dedicated to her. In 1962, Pupusza joined the Polish Writers' Union.

The Roma community soon began to regard Papusza as a traitor, threatening her and calling her names, either for revealing the details of the Romani language, culture, customs and common law, for her contacts with gadjos, or for her alleged role in the anti-nomadic moves of the government. Papusza maintained that Ficowski had exploited her work and had taken it out of context. Her appeals fell on deaf ears and the Baro Shero (Big head, an elder in the Roma community) declared her "unclean". She was banished from the Roma world, and her contacts with Ficowski died out. Afterward, she spent 8 months in a mental hospital and then the next 34 years of her life alone and isolated. In 1981 she moved in with her sister's family in Kujawy. She died in 1987 and was buried in St. Joseph's cemetery. Ficowski remained her major admirer and eulogist, popularising her legacy and unique place in Polish and Romani culture throughout his later life.

Works
Most of Papusza's work involved traditional Roma formats along with some unusual aspects such as writing in singular form. Most of her work dealt with nostalgia, longing, and (especially) feeling lost.

"...the water does not look behindIt flees, runs farther awayWhere eyes will not see her,  the water wanders..."

She published poems frequently from the late 1940s to the mid-'50s, when she was removed from Roma life, first in Polish literary magazines and then in books of her own. She published again for a short time in the late '60s.

Legacy
 In 1974, a documentary film entitled Papusza was directed by Maja Wójcik and Ryszard Wójcik. It presents the customs and life of the Roma community. The main protagonists of the film were Bronisława Wajs and Jerzy Ficowski.
 In 1991, a film Historia Cyganki (A Gypsy Girl's Story) was directed by Greg Kowalski featuring music by Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz.
 Romani theater "Romance" in Ukraine made a performance about Papusza.
 There is a monument to Papusza in Gorzów Wielkopolski.
 Zoli, the fourth novel of the Irish-born American writer Colum McCann follows the life of Marienka Novotna, nicknamed "Zoli", a fictional Slovak Romani woman. Her life is loosely based on that of Bronisława Wajs: Zoli explores the persecution of the Roma faced during World War II, as well as the impact of socialism on Romani culture and lifestyles.
 A Polish film about her life, titled Papusza, was released in 2013. It was directed by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze and stars Jowita Budnik in the title role.
 In 2013, Andżelika Kuźniak published a book, Papusza, about the life and literary legacy of Bronisława Wajs.

External links

 Biography with quotes from Ficowski
 Review of her work and its meaning
 FemBiography (German) with links, quotes and literature
Papusza at Culture.pl

See also
 Zoli, a novel loosely based on the life of Wajs

References

1908 births
1987 deaths
Writers from Lublin
People from Lublin Governorate
Polish Romani people
Polish women poets
Romani-language poets
Romani poets
Romani singers
Romani genocide survivors
20th-century Polish poets
20th-century Polish women singers
20th-century Polish women writers
Musicians from Lublin

Bronisława Wajs


The Amiable Child Monument is a monument located in New York City's Riverside Park.  It stands west of the southbound lanes of Riverside Drive north of 122nd Street in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.

It is a monument to a small boy who died in what was then an area of country homes near New York City.  One side of the monument reads: "Erected to the Memory of an Amiable Child, St. Claire Pollock, Died 15 July 1797 in the Fifth Year of His Age."  The monument is composed of a granite urn on a granite pedestal inside a wrought iron fence.  It is across the street from Grant's Tomb. The monument, originally erected by George Pollock, who was either the boy's father or his uncle, has been replaced twice due to deterioration.  The present marker was placed on the site in 1967 to replace a marble marker installed by the city in 1897.

During Morningside Heights's Golden Age, when the nearby Claremont Inn served luminaries that included George M. Cohan, Cole Porter, Lillian Russell and Mayor Jimmy Walker, the site inspired pilgrimages and poetry.  Of the many verses written about the memorial is Herman George Scheffauer's "An Amiable Child," which describes the grave as being "like a song of peace in iron frays."  An identically named poem by Anna Markham, wife of proletarian author and critic Edwin Markham, opens with the lines that defined the monument for her contemporaries:  "At Riverside, on the slow hill-slant / Two memoried graves are seen / A granite dome is over Grant / and over a child the green."  The monument is also the inspiration for Irene Marcuse's novel Death of an Amiable Child.

By one late nineteenth-century account, as related by Donald Reynolds, an attempt to relocate the grave in order to clear space for General Grant's tomb, which was quickly abandoned by the city after a groundswell of public opposition, transformed the "tribute to the gentleness that underlies the apparent brutality of the great city" into "almost a national institution".

The monument is thought to be the only single-person private grave on city-owned land in New York City.

Notes

External links
Daytonian in Manhattan blog

1967 sculptures
Granite sculptures in New York City
Monuments and memorials in Manhattan
Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Outdoor sculptures in Manhattan
Riverside Park (Manhattan)
Washington Heights, Manhattan

Amiable Child Monument


A check engine light or malfunction indicator lamp (MIL), is a tell-tale that a computerized engine-management system used to indicate a malfunction or problem with the vehicle ranging from minor (such as a loose gas cap) to serious (worn spark plugs, engine problems or a faulty oil valve, etc.). Found on the instrument panel of most automobiles, it usually bears the legend , , , , , or a pictogram of an engine—and when illuminated, it is typically an amber or red color.

The light generally has two stages: steady (indicating a minor repairable fault, but service on the vehicle is strongly recommended as soon as possible to prevent future damage) and flashing (indicating a severe fault and an emergency that makes the vehicle unsafe to drive and it is strongly recommended that the vehicle gets mechanical attention straight away). When the MIL is lit, the engine control unit stores a fault code related to the malfunction, which can be retrieved—although in many models this requires the use of a scan tool. This warning light can indicate almost anything from a loose gas cap to a serious knock or fault in the engine.

In the United States, specific functions are required of the MIL by EPA regulations.

History
Some older vehicles had a single indicator labeled "trouble" or "engine"; this was not an MIL, but an "idiot light" meant to indicate serious trouble with the engine (low oil pressure, overheating, or charging system problems) and an imminent breakdown. This usage of the "engine" light was discontinued in the mid-1980s, to prevent confusion with the MIL.

The MIL appeared in the early 80s along with computerized engine controls. Even the earliest systems, such as General Motors' CCC (computer command control) system had self diagnosis functionality. When the computer detected a fault, it illuminated the MIL. Up until OBDII, on most cars the MIL could output codes. When two pins on the ALDL are jumped, the light would flash the codes, for instance (blink) (pause) (blink) (blink) for code 12. Some manufacturers, such as Honda, retained this feature even after OBDII.

The MIL is commonly referred to today as the "check engine light" or the "service engine soon light".

Odometer triggering
Some vehicles manufactured from the late 1990s to mid 2000s have a MIL that illuminates based on the odometer reading, regardless of engine operation. For example, in several Mazda models, the light will come on at  and remain lit without generating a computer trouble code. Volvo had a light labeled "lambda", lambda sond being another name for oxygen sensor. This was done in order to remind the driver to change the oxygen sensor. Some American-built 1973–1976 Chrysler Corporation vehicles had a similar odometer-triggered reminder: "Check EGR", which was reset after service at a Chrysler dealership.

Other triggering
The MIL is also illuminated prior to starting the engine, along with other tell-tales on the dashboard, to demonstrate that the lamp is working and not burned out. The lamp will turn off once the car is started if no monitored faults exist. The MIL will also illuminate if the engine has been cranked but failed to start after returning the ignition to "on". In most modern vehicles this is usually due to not giving the engine enough cranking time to start. In pre-fuel injection years many cranking attempts were sometimes required to start the car. If the engine fails to start on the second or third attempt then an actual visual check of the engine could be required. If the engine suddenly stalls or is triggered by an overload, such as on a manual transmission car, the MIL will also illuminate until the engine is started again.

False triggering
Higher amounts of methanol/ethanol (or other additives) than the engine is equipped to handle may trigger the MIL (see E85). These burn differently from gasoline, and the EFI system may mistakenly interpret the oxygen sensor's readings as being incorrect. Oxygenated gasoline can cause this false triggering in early EFI systems.

See also
 OBD-II PIDs ("Parameter IDs")

References

Vehicle parts

Check engine light


Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 1905 – 21 August 1951) was a British composer and conductor.

Early years
Lambert's father was the painter George Washington Lambert who had come to England from  Australia. Lambert was often ill when he was a child.   He went to school at Christ's Hospital and won a scholarship to the  Royal College of Music. He soon became interested in French and Russian music. He became friends with other famous people including the Sitwell family, William Walton, Philip Heseltine and Bernard van Dieren.  He and Edith Sitwell were the reciters at a performance of Walton's Façade.

Lambert was a prodigy: he was composing music for orchestra when he was only 13, and when he was 20 he was asked to write a ballet for Serge Diaghilev's world-famous Ballets Russes (Romeo and Juliet).

He soon became very famous.  His best known work is The Rio Grande for piano solo, chorus and orchestra.  It has a mixture of musical styles: jazz, habaneras and the influence of  Delius and Duke Ellington.

Works
During the 1930s he performed a lot as a conductor with the Vic-Wells Ballet (later the Royal Ballet), but he stopped composing music. Lambert thought he had failed as a composer, and only finished two more big works in the last  sixteen years of his life. He continued conducting, and appeared at Covent Garden and in BBC broadcasts, and travelled to Europe and America conducting ballets.  He was an excellent ballet conductor and helped the dancers to give their best performance.

During the war he became ill.  He refused to see a doctor.  He was working very hard and also drinking a lot.

Lambert liked jazz and thought it was an important influence on popular culture of the time.  He wrote a book about this, called Music Ho! (1934).  The book is widely read today, although it shows a very personal approach to music.

Lambert was married twice.  His first marriage was to Florence Kaye.  He later married Isabel Nichols, an artist, in 1947.  After Constant Lambert's death, Isabel married the composer Alan Rawsthorne.

Lambert died on 21 August 1951.  He had pneumonia and it was also found that he had diabetes made worse by alcoholism.

20th-century English composers
British conductors
1905 births
1951 deaths
Deaths from diabetes
Deaths from pneumonia
English writers
Movie score composers
Music critics
People from London

Constant Lambert


Sun Quan (; 182-252) was an ancient Chinese warlord and founder of Eastern Wu in 222.

As a warlord
His brother Sun Ce conquered Southeastern China from 197 until his death in 200. Sun Quan was in charge at the age of 18. He continued to expand his empire and drew back the forces of Cao Cao in the Battle at Red Cliffs (along with Liu Bei). To have better opportunities against the north, he gave his Jing Province to Liu Bei so that he could create an empire on his own. Liu Bei conquered the other western territories from 211 to 214 and set his brother Guan Yu in charge of defending Jing.

Now that Liu Bei had his own empire, Sun quan demanded his western province back from him, but Liu Bei declined. In alliance with Cao Cao, Sun Quan's general Lü Meng captured Guan Yu in 219 and slayed him along with his son, Guan Ping.

After Cao Cao's son Cao Pi started the Wei Dynasty in 220, Liu Bei also wanted to be an emperor and declared himself Emperor of Shu Han in 221. He considered himself the righteous heir of the abdicated Han emperor Xian. Sun Quan declared himself King of Wu in 222. Liu Bei found that offensive, and launched a great attack against Sun Quan but failed—due to Lu Xun's great tactics. He died a year later.

Under the regency of the Shu prime minister Zhuge Liang, the alliance between Shu and Wu was renewed. Both empires did not have to worry about their defense in the west/east after that.

As Emperor
In 229, Sun Quan declared himself Emperor of Wu. His attacks on Wei were all in vain but he managed to develop his country very well. After his son Crown Prince Sun Deng died in 241, he made his now-oldest son Sun He Crown Prince. All along the next nine years, He would have trouble with his brother Sun Ba who wanted to be Crown Prince instead. Their fight even caused the honorable general Lu Xun to die of anger in 245.

In 250, Sun Quan was sick of his sons' struggles and deposed them both as princes. Instead he made his youngest son Sun Liang Crown Prince. Two years later, Sun Quan died at the age of 70. For his follower was too young to rule on his own, the official Zhuge Ke became regent.

182 births
252 deaths
Emperors of Three Kingdoms era

Sun Quan


San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park located in  of water, approximately  south of Indian Key. It became the second Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve when it opened to the public in 1989. The heart of the park is the San Pedro, a submerged shipwreck from a 1733 Spanish flotilla, around which visitors can dive and snorkel. The San Pedro, a 287-ton Dutch-built vessel, and 21 other Spanish ships under the command of Rodrigo de Torres left Havana, Cuba, on Friday, July 13, 1733, bound for Spain. The San Pedro carried a cargo of 16,000 silver Mexican pesos and crates of Chinese porcelain. A hurricane struck the fleet, while entering the Straits of Florida, and sank or swamped most of the fleet. The wrecksite includes an "eighteenth century anchor, replica cannons, ballast stones encrusted with coral, a dedication plaque, and a mooring buoy system." The wreck was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on May 31, 2001.

About The 1733 Spanish Fleet (flotilla)
The 1733 Fleet was an entire Spanish convoy (except for one ship) lost in a hurricane off Florida. The lesser severity of the 1733 hurricane (which struck the fleet on July 15) and the shallowness of the wrecksites in the Keys, however, made for many survivors and even left four ships in good enough condition to be re-floated and sent back to Havana. A very successful salvage effort by the Spanish soon commenced, bringing up even more than the 12 million pesos of precious cargo on the Fleet's manifest (thanks to the usual contraband).

The wrecks themselves are spread across 80 miles, from north of Key Largo down to south of Duck Key, and include the following galleons (but note there is not universal agreement as to which wrecksite pertains to each galleon, and also note that each name is a contemporaneous abbreviation or nickname):  El Pópulo, El Infante, San José, El Rubí (the capitana, or lead vessel of the fleet), Chávez, Herrera, Tres Puentes, San Pedro, El Terri (also spelled Lerri or Herri), San Francisco, El Gallo Indiano (the almiranta, or rear guard of the fleet), Las Angustias, El Sueco de Arizón, San Fernando, and San Ignacio. This last ship, San Ignacio, is believed to be the source of many silver coins (and even some gold coins) found in a reef area off Deer Key known as "Coffins Patch," the southwesternmost of all the 1733-Fleet wrecksites. In addition, many other related sites are known, mostly the wrecks of tag-along ships that accompanied the fleet proper.

The first and arguably most famous of the wrecks of the 1733 Fleet to be located in modern times was the Capitana El Rubí, which was discovered in 1948 and salvaged principally in the 1950s by Art McKee, whose Sunken Treasure Museum on Plantation Key housed his finds for all to see. Throughout the next several decades, however, the wrecksites in the Keys became a virtual free-for-all, with many disputes and confrontations, until the government created the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in 1990. The removal of artifacts from any of the sites is prohibited today.

In contrast to the 1715 Fleet, and because of the extensive Spanish salvage in the 1730s, the finds by modern divers have been modest, especially in gold coins, of which there are far more fakes on the market than genuine specimens. Nevertheless, the 1733 Fleet has been a significant source for some of the rare Mexican milled "pillar dollars" of 1732-1733 as well as the transitional "klippe"-type coins of 1733.

Recreational Activities
Activities include boating, canoeing, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing and swimming.

Hours
Florida state parks are open between 8 a.m. and sundown every day of the year (including holidays).

Notes

References and external links
History of the 1733 Treasure Fleet. The Practical Book of Cobs 4th Ed. Sedwick
 San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve State Park at Florida State Parks
 San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve State Park at Absolutely Florida
 The San Pedro Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
 Monroe County listings at National Register of Historic Places
 Monroe County listings at Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
 San Pedro at  Florida's Underwater Archaeological Preserves
 San Pedro at Florida's Shipwrecks - 300 Years of Maritime History
 San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve at Indiana University
"The Spanish Treasure Fleets of 1715 and 1733: Disasters Strike at Sea", a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
 Museums in the Sea San Pedro

Parks in the Florida Keys
Archaeological sites in Monroe County, Florida
State parks of Florida
Parks in Monroe County, Florida
National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Florida
Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida
New Spain
Underwater archaeological sites
Protected areas established in 1989
Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserves
Archaeological parks
Maritime incidents in 1733
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida
Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places
1989 establishments in Florida


A Spatula, also called a turner, or a fish slice, is a kitchen tool with a long handle and a flat top, used for lifting food.

Design
Spatulas have a handle that is long enough to keep the user's hand away from what they want to lift, flip, or scrap.
The blade is usually somewhat flexible, and shiny. Spatula blades are often longer on the right side than the left. Most have long slots on the blades to allow liquids to go through, though some have simple holes or no holes at all.

Spatulas are usually made of plastic or metal, with a wooden or plastic handle to keep it away from heat. Spatulas made for outdoor grilling have very long handles.

Spatulas can be colorful or have designs on them. They can be used as art in the home.

Food utensils

Spatula


Full Moon may refer to:

Full moon, the phase of the moon
Full Moon (band), a late '70s/early '80s hard rock band
Full Moon (album), a 2002 album by Brandy Norwood which also includes a song of the same name:
Full Moon (song)
FullMoon, the 4th Sonata Arctica demo under the name Tricky Means.
Full Moon (manga), (also known as Full Moon o Sagashite), a manga and anime series by Arina Tanemura
A Full Moon Consort, a band from St. Louis
Full Moon, Dirty Hearts, an album by INXS
Full Moon and Empty Arms, a popular song from 1945
Full Moon Features, a movie company best known for the Puppet Master series
Full Moon Fever
Full Moon High, a 1981 horror comedy film
Full Moon (Kris Kristofferson album)
Full Moon (Charlie Daniels album)
Fullmoon Maple
Full Moon (novel), a 1947 novel about Blandings Castle by P. G. Wodehouse
Full Moon Party, a party in Thailand
Full Moon (play), a play by Reynolds Price
Full Moon Productions, a black/death metal record label
Full Moon Records, an American record label
 "Full Moon (short story)", a 1948 story by Georgette Heyer
Mekhong Full Moon Party, a 2002 movie from Thailand
Paschal Full Moon
Until the Full Moon, a manga featuring a half-werewolf/half-vampire

Full Moon


The New York and New Jersey campaign was a series of battles between the British forces and the Continental Army that decided who would take control of New York City and the U.S. state of New Jersey in the American Revolutionary War and were mostly British victories. One British purpose was to finish smashing the Rebel army after the Battle of Long Island. The battles happened near the end of 1776. The Continentals won the two small battles of Trenton and Princeton at the end of the campaign, and spent the winter in Morristown, New Jersey. The British controlled the area for most of the rest of the war.

1776 in New York City
1777 in New York (state)
American Revolutionary War
18th century in New Jersey

New York and New Jersey campaign


Anna Pavlova (St Petersburg, 12 February 1881 – The Hague, Netherlands, 23 January 1931)  was a Russian, and later English, ballerina of the early 20th century.

She is widely regarded as one of the finest classical ballet dancers in history. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev.

Pavlova is most recognised for dancing the rôle of The Dying Swan. She danced this short ballet (only four minutes) about 4000 times. The choreography was by Mikhail Fokine. Her interpretation influenced the way others danced Odette in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

In the early 20th century, with her own company, Pavlova became the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world.

Training  and style
The young Pavlova's years of training were difficult, as classical ballet did not come easily to her. Her severely arched feet, thin ankles, and long limbs clashed with the small, compact body favoured for ballerinas at the time. Her fellow students taunted her with such nicknames as The broom and La petite sauvage (The little savage). Undeterred, Pavlova trained to improve her technique. She took extra lessons from the noted teachers of the day. She was never a perfect technician, but had delicacy, lightness and grace. Anna did not know that she would become a great dancer one day

Career
She became prima ballerina of the Imperial Ballet in 1906. She worked briefly for Diaghilev, but would not dance in the new avant-garde ballets which were being created, such as The Firebird. The role was given to the equally good Tamara Karsavina, who became their regular prima ballerina.

England
Pavlova lived in London for many years, from 1912 until her death in 1931. After leaving Russia, Pavlova settled in Ivy House on North End Road, near Hampstead, where she lived for the rest of her life. While in London Pavlova taught ballet at her home. She was influential in the development of British ballet, and inspired the career of Alicia Markova.

The house had an ornamental lake where she would feed her pet swans, and where there is a statue of the ballerina by the Scots sculptor George Henry Paulin. It is now the London Jewish Cultural Centre but a Blue Plaque marks it as Pavlova's previous home and a site of significant historical interest.

In 1956 a film The Immortal Swan included footage of her dancing in the 1920s.

She toured Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. This was probably how the sticky Australian cake became known as the 'Pavlova'.

References

1881 births
1931 deaths
Russian ballerinas
Ballets Russes

Anna Pavlova


The current coat o airms o Venezuela wis primarily approved bi the Congress on Aprile 18, 1836, unnergoing sma modifications throu history, reachin the present version.

The coat o airms wis established in the Law o the Naitional Banner, Shield an Anthem (Ley de Bandera, Escudo e Himno Nacionales), passed on Februar 17, 1954 bi the military govrenor o Venezuela, Marcos Pérez Jiménez.  The shield is dividit in the colors o the Naitional Banner.  In the dexter chief, on a reid field, wheat represents the union o the 24 States o the Republic existin at the time an the weel o the Naition.  In sinister chief, on a yellae field, weapons (a swuird, a sabre an three lances) an twa Naitional Banners are tied bi a branch o laurel, as a seembol o triumph in war.  In base, on a deep blue field, a wild white horse (aiblins representin Simón Bolívar's white horse Palomo) runs free, an emblem o unthirldom an freedom.

Abuin the shield are twa crossed cornucopias (horns o plenty), pourin oot wealth.  The shield is flanked bi an olive branch an anither o palm, baith tied at the bottom o the coat wi a lairge baund that represents the naitional tricolour (yellow for the naition's wealth, blue for the ocean separatin Venezuela frae Spain, an reid for the bluid an courage o the fowk).  The follaein captions appear in gowden letters on the blue stripe:

2006 chynges
In Mairch 2006 the Naitional Assembly approved chynges tae the coat o airms an the banner, which wur made offeecial on Mairch 12, 2006, coincidin wi Banner Day.  Prior tae 2006, the horse wis runnin tae the sinister side o the shield wi its heid turned tae the dexter (tae the viewer, this appears as the horse gallopin towards his richt an leukin back tae the left). In heraldic practice, ainimals an beasts are tae appear facin tae the dexter, which is considered the naitural an honourable poseetion. The Economist observed that Hugo Chávez ordered the seal chynged efter his dochter, Rosinés Chávez Rodríguez, haed describit the previous horse as "leukin backwards". Govrenment supporters state, housomeivver, that even if the preses' dochter wis the ane who sparked the discussion, baith the legislative an executive branch agreed tae add a machete as a seembol representin the peasant fechters durin the revolutionary wars in Venezuela syne the War o Unthirldom, a bow an an arrae as a retribution tae the brave indigenous population who resistit the Spainyie conquistadors.

Mony critics hae suggestit that the horse, nou runnin tae the dexter (tae the viewer's left) is a poleetical statement o the current left-wing govrenment o Preses Hugo Chávez. Previously in the Venezuelan airms adoptit in 1863, the horse wis movin as it is seen the day, tae the dexter (the viewer's left). An aa tae note is that in heraldry, poseetions are no describit frae the viewer's pynt o view, but rather the shield's, sae while the horse appears tae be gallopin left tae ane observin the airms, the horse is actually gallopin tae the dexter, or richt, side o the shield.

Poleetical opponents hae an aa claimed that in addition tae bein poleetically motivatit, the chynges wur economically wasteful. At the time o the offeecial unveilin, the opposition pairty statit that thay will no uise the new banner or coat o airms, but retain the auld an employ them in demonstrations against the govrenment. Housomeivver, bi 2008, an wi a slichtly improved poleetical climate, the new coat o airms an banner hae been generally acceptit amang the population an opposition.

References

Freemit airtins
  Ley de Bandera, Escudo e Himno Nacionales - Law o the Naitional Banner, Coat of Arms an Anthem.
  La octava estrella de Bolívar - The aicht starn of Bolivar.

Notes
In heraldic descriptions dexter means richt frae the viewpoint o a person staundin ahint the shield, i.e. the viewer's left; sinister means left, i.e. the viewer's richt.

Naitional seembols o Venezuela
Venezuela

Coat o airms o Venezuela


A club (also known as cudgel, baton, truncheon, night stick, and bludgeon) is a weapon mainly used to hit someone or something.  A club is a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and used as a weapon.

A club can be used in one or two hands, but it is usually used in one hand.  A quarterstaff is a clubs that needs both hands to be used.  Many kinds of clubs are used in martial arts and other fields, including the law enforcement baton.

The wounds caused by a club are known as bludgeoning or blunt-force trauma injuries. In the United States, clubs are not as popular as the taser.

Weapons

Club (weapon)


Brian Morton (born 1954) is a Scottish writer, journalist and former broadcaster, specialising in jazz and modern literature.

Early life and education
Born in Paisley, near Glasgow and raised in Dunoon, Morton was educated at the University of Edinburgh and taught in the late 1970s at the University of East Anglia (under Malcolm Bradbury) and the University of Tromsø in Norway.

Writing and broadcasting
From 1992 to 1997, Morton was the main presenter of Impressions for Radio 3, a fortnightly jazz and improvised music programme. For more than a decade Morton was a familiar voice on music programmes and features on other arts related subjects on the London-based BBC networks. For some years he was one of the presenters and a producer of The Usual Suspects, Later he hosted The Brian Morton Show on BBC Radio Scotland, until 2003 after criticising the BBC's arts coverage.

He is co-author, with Richard Cook, of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (formerly ...on CD), whose ninth edition (undertaken single-handed following Cook's premature death in 2007) was published at the end of October 2008. He is also the author of The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Contemporary Music (1996), which covers modern classical music. Morton was a frequent contributor to Jazz Review magazine, and was briefly editor in 2008; the magazine was absorbed by Jazz Journal in 2009, for which Morton has written. A biography, Miles Davis, was issued by Haus Publishing in 2005. He is a long-standing contributor to The Wire and to the Catholic weekly The Tablet. Morton converted to Catholicism in 1984.

Morton's non-jazz books include translations from the Norwegian of Jonas Lie, Prince: Thief in the Temple (Canongate Books) and Shostakovich (Haus). A short biography of the writer Edgar Allan Poe appeared in November 2009.

Morton has been a 'Comment' columnist in the Scottish edition of The Observer newspaper and, like his American namesake, is an occasional contributor to The Nation magazine.

Private life and honours
In 2011, Morton relocated to Kintyre, moving with his family into a small former monastery. He now writes and farms with his wife, landscape photographer Sarah Morton. They have one son. Morton also has two older daughters from a previous relationship. He is writing a biographical study of St Columba.

He holds an honorary D.Litt. from the University of St Andrews, awarded on St Andrews Day, 2000, for services to Scottish broadcasting and cultural life.

References

1954 births
Living people
Academics of the University of East Anglia
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
BBC Radio 3 presenters
British literary editors
Jazz writers
Scottish journalists
Academic staff of the University of Tromsø
The Wire (magazine) writers

Brian Morton (Scottish writer)


Electronic bill payment is a feature of online, mobile and telephone banking, similar in its effect to a giro, allowing a customer of a financial institution to transfer money from their transaction or credit card account to a creditor or vendor such as a public utility, department store or an individual to be credited against a specific account. These payments are typically executed electronically as a direct deposit through a national payment system, operated by the banks or in conjunction with the government.  Payment is typically initiated by the payer but can also be set up as a direct debit.

In addition to the bill payment facility, most banks will also offer various features with their electronic bill payment systems. These include the ability to schedule payments in advance to be made on a specified date (convenient for installments such as mortgage and support payments), to save the biller information for reuse at a future time and various options for searching the recent payment history. In many cases the payment data can also be downloaded and posted directly into the customer's accounting or personal finance software.

History

Although this technology was available from the mid 1990s, uptake was initially slow until internet access by households increased. By 2000, adoption of electronic bill payment systems started to dramatically increase.

Impact
From the consumer's point of view, electronic payment of bills is cheaper, faster, and more convenient than writing, posting and reconciling cheques. In addition, though limitations exist, a wider range of bank accounts or credit cards can be used for the electronic payment of bills. Paying bills online allows you to use a variety of payment methods rather than the traditional cheque.

Using electronic bill presentment and payment enables businesses to fast-track customer payments and get access to funds faster, which in turn results in cash flow improvement.

For banks the advantages of electronic bill payments are a reduction in processing costs minimizing paperwork and an increase in customer loyalty. In a 2003 study, the banks said that "customers who pay online show more loyalty and are more receptive to other offers".

See also
 Direct credit
 E-commerce payment system
 Electronic billing
 Digital Wallet
 Mobile banking
 Unified Payments Interface

References

Payment systems
Banking technology

Electronic bill payment


Reagan coalition is a phrase that describes a kind of politician in the United States. Reagan coalitionists are Republicans who believe in the same ideas that President of the United States Ronald Reagan had. They are often from very conservative states. The term began during the Reagan Era when Reagan won his major landslide election in 1980 and in 1984.

Republican Party (United States)
Ronald Reagan

Reagan coalition


Conchita Supervía (8–9 December 1895 – 30 March 1936) was a highly popular Spanish coloratura mezzo-soprano singer who appeared in opera in Europe and America and also gave recitals.

Early life
Supervía was born in Barcelona to an old Andalusian family and given the baptismal name of María de la Concepción Supervía Pascual. She was educated at the local convent but at the age of twelve entered the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona to study singing.

Professional career
She made her stage debut in 1910 at the young age of 15 at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Argentina in Stiattesi's Blanca de Beaulieu. Then she sang in Tomás Bretón's  Los Amantes de Teruel and as Lola in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana.

In 1911 she sang  the role of Octavian in the first Italian-language production of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. In 1912, she appeared as Carmen at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in her native city, a role with which she would be associated for the rest of her career.

She made her American debut in 1915 as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther at the Chicago Opera, where she also sang in Mignon and Carmen. Back in Europe by the end of the First World War she was invited to Rome, where she started the  Rossini revival that made her world-famous – as Angelina in La Cenerentola, Isabella in L'italiana in Algeri and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, in the original keys.

All in all, she made more than 200 recordings mostly for the Fonotipia and Odeon labels, featuring not only her famous roles in opera but also a vast song repertory in Catalan, Spanish, French, Italian and English, as well as pieces from zarzuela and even operetta (she had appeared in a legendary production of Franz Lehár's Frasquita at the Opéra Comique).

In 1930, she made her London debut at the Queen's Hall. The following year she married Ben Rubenstein, a Jewish businessman from London, and settled there. (She already had a teenage son, Giorgio, fruit of a previous and brief "marriage", in 1917, with Francesco Santamaria, ex-mayor of Naples.)

Her Covent Garden debut was in 1934 in La Cenerentola and in 1935 she repeated that part, plus L'Italiana in Algeri and Carmen. In 1934, Supervía appeared in the Victor Saville British motion picture Evensong as a singer named Baba L'Etoile, opposite actor Fritz Kortner.

Vocal qualities
She had a powerful chest register linked to a flexible upper voice that could cope easily with florid passages, allied to a musicianship of great individuality and infectious flair. Her voice is not without its critics; a pronounced vibrato that in the lower part of the voice became almost a machine-gun rattle, 'as strong as the rattle of ice in a glass, or dice in a box', in a comment attributed to the British critic, Philip Hope-Wallace.

Many who heard her in the flesh have said that this vibrato was more evident on records than on the stage – an example of the microphone exaggerating a singer's faults. In the 1920s Supervía sang at La Scala as Hänsel in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel but, strangely, she never sang the Rossini roles or Carmen at La Scala though she sang there in every season until 1929.

Death
Later, during her career, pregnancy forced her to cancel her planned appearances in the autumn of 1935. On 29 March 1936 she entered a London clinic to await the birth of her baby, which was stillborn on 30 March; a few hours later she herself died. She was buried with her baby daughter, in a grave designed by Edwin Lutyens, in the Liberal Jewish Cemetery in Willesden, northwest London. The grave, which had fallen into disrepair, was refurbished by a group of admirers and re-consecrated in October 2006.

References
Notes

Sources
 Appolonia, Georgio (1992), Le voci di Rossini, Torino: EDA. pp. 414–419.
 Steane, J. B. (1983), The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record. Amadeus Press. .
 Steane, J.B., (2003), "Singers of the Century" Vol II".

External links

Conchita Supervía at Basso Cantante
Conchita Supervía - includes a digitally restored vinyl copy of her recording of "Il Était un Roi de Thulé" (1932)
Conchita Supervia's discography can be searched at the Library of Catalonia

1895 births
1936 deaths
Operatic mezzo-sopranos
Opera singers from Catalonia
Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu alumni
Singers from Barcelona
Fonotipia Records artists
Burials at Liberal Jewish Cemetery, Willesden
20th-century Spanish women opera singers
Deaths in childbirth

Conchita Supervía


Red mercury is a term used for a number of substances that are supposed to exist (or that could possibly exist). So far, no such substance has been found. The chemical element mercury most often occurs in a mixture with Sulphur, as HgS. That mixture is known as Cinnabar, and reddish in color. In pure form, mercury  is silver in color.

The following assumptions about red mercury have been proved as false:
It could be part of a fraud, The title Red would refer to the former Communist Europe. The name was made during Cold War.
It could be a codename for very pure Uranium or Plutonium.
It could be a very potent conventional explosive. This would make it possible to build small hydrogen bombs.

Chemistry

Red mercury


Morgan Kaufmann Publishers is a Burlington, Massachusetts (San Francisco, California until 2008) based publisher specializing in computer science and engineering content.

Since 1984, Morgan Kaufmann has published content on information technology, computer architecture, data management, computer networking, computer systems, human computer interaction, computer graphics, multimedia information and systems, artificial intelligence, computer security, and software engineering. Morgan Kaufmann's audience includes the research and development communities, information technology (IS/IT) managers, and students in professional degree programs.

The company was founded in 1984 by publishers Michael B. Morgan and William Kaufmann and computer scientist Nils Nilsson. It was held privately until 1998, when it was acquired by Harcourt General and became an imprint of the Academic Press, a subsidiary of Harcourt. Harcourt was acquired by Reed Elsevier in 2001; Morgan Kaufmann is now an imprint of the Science and Technology division of Elsevier.

Notable authors
Adrian Farrel
Michael L. Scott

References

External links

Elsevier imprints
Computer book publishing companies
Publishing companies established in 1984

Morgan Kaufmann Publishers


Las Meninas is an oil painting by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. The painting hangs in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It was painted in 1656.

The word "Menina" means "lady-in-waiting" or "Maid of Honour", i.e. a girl who serves in a royal court. There is a lot of detail in the painting, and more has been written about it than about almost any other Western painting because it is quite complicated. For example: people do not always agree about who is looking at whom and why they are standing there.

Description of the painting

Las Meninas shows a large room in the Madrid palace of King Phillip IV of Spain . Several people are in the painting, and we know who they are. Some are looking at one another and others are looking out from the painting at the viewer (the person who is looking at the painting).

The person who stands in the middle is the Infanta Margarita Teresa of Austria (the princess, daughter of the king and queen). She has two maids of honour, one on each side of her, a chaperone, a bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog. Velázquez has also painted himself, standing just behind the princess and her companions. He is standing at the artist's easel. He has stopped painting for a moment and looks straight out at the viewer. At the back of the room is a mirror in which we can see the top halves of the bodies of the king and queen. This means that the king and queen are the viewers who are looking at the painting. The king and queen are probably being painted by Velázquez, but not everybody agrees with this.

Velázquez was very famous in his lifetime. He painted portraits of several royal people at the Spanish court. Philip himself did not like being painted when he was old, but he allowed Velázquez to include him in Las Meninas. He had given Velázquez a special room where he could paint, and he often sat and watched the painter at work in his studio.

The painting was damaged a bit by a fire in 1734 and some of it was repainted, including the left cheek of the Infanta. In recent years it lost some of its colour, partly due to the pollution caused by so many visitors to the gallery. It was cleaned in 1984. Some people thought it made the picture look different.

The people in Las Meninas are in Velázquez's studio in the royal palace. The Infanta Margarita Teresa of Austria (number 1 in the key picture) in the middle of the picture is five years old. She later married the Roman Emperor Leopold. She has two ladies-in-waiting (meninas): doña Isabel de Velasco (2), who is about to curtsy to the princess, and doña María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor (3), who kneels in front of Margarita, offering her a drink from a red cup, or bucaro, that she holds on a golden tray. To the right of the Infanta are two dwarfs: Maribarbola (4) who was German, and Nicolas Pertusato (5) who was Italian. He is trying to wake up a dog by his feet. Behind them stands doña Marcela de Ulloa (6), the princess's chaperone, dressed in mourning and talking to a bodyguard (or guardadamas) (7). We do not know the name of the bodyguard.

At the back on the right stands Don José Nieto Velázquez (8)—the queen's chamberlain during the 1650s, and the head of the royal tapestry works—who may have been a relative of the artist. Nieto is shown pausing, with his right knee bent and his feet on different steps. We are not sure what he is doing. None of the people in the picture can see him. Only the viewer (the king and queen?) can.

Velázquez himself (9) stands to the left of the scene, looking outward past a large canvas supported by an easel. On his chest is the red cross of the Order of Santiago, which he did not receive until 1659, three years after the painting was completed. He later added the cross to the painting.

The mirror on the back wall reflects the upper bodies and heads of the King Philip IV (10) and his queen, Mariana (11). Most people think that they are being painted by Velázquez, and that their daughter, the Infanta, is watching them.

Other websites

 Museo Picasso "Las Meninas"
 Velázquez - La Kabala y Las Meninas

Paintings by Diego Velazquez
1650s paintings

Las Meninas


The Russian Space Forces was one of the 6 branches of the Russian Military that is responsible for space operations. The branch controls many space stations throughout Russia. The branch is also part of the Ministry of Defence. The main tasks are to inform officials about incoming missile attacks, anti-missile defense, and to create orbit space vehicles. The Russian Space Forces was replaced by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces on 1 December 2011.

History

In 1967, the Troops of Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence by the Soviet Union. The branch was then named Ministry of Defence Space Units in 1982. Then in 1991, the Soviet Union broke up. So the new Russian Military created the Russian Space Forces. The branch was abandoned in 1992, but brought back in 2001. General Vladimir Popovkin took the lead of the branch in 2004, after the previous leader, Colonel General Anatoly Perminov.
Spaceflight
Russian military organizations

Russian Space Forces


The Farm is an intentional community in Lewis County, Tennessee, near the town of Summertown, Tennessee, based on principles of nonviolence and respect for the Earth. It was founded in 1971 by Stephen Gaskin and 300 spiritual seekers from Haight-Ashbury and San Francisco. The Farm was the setting for "the rebirth of midwifery in the United States" and the creation of "the modern home-birth
movement." Its members have founded a number of nonprofit organizations, including Plenty International, a relief and development organization, and Swan Conservation Trust, who established the  Big Swan Headwaters Preserve. The Farm has approximately 200 members and residents.

Origins
The Farm was established after Stephen Gaskin and friends led a caravan of 60 buses, vans, and trucks from San Francisco on a four-month speaking tour across the US. Along the way, they became a community, lacking only in land to put down roots. After returning to California, the decision was made to buy land together. Combining all their resources would finance purchase of only about fifty acres in California. Another month on the road brought the group back to Tennessee, where they checked out various places that might be suitable to settle. They decided on property in Lewis County, about seventy miles south of Nashville.  After buying 1,064 acres (4.1 km2) for $70 per acre, the group began building its community in the woods alongside the network of crude logging roads that followed its ridgelines.  Shortly thereafter, an adjoining 750 acres (3.0 km2) were purchased for $100 per acre.

From its founding in the 1970s, Farm members took vows of poverty and owned no personal possessions other than clothing and tools, though this restriction loosened as time passed. During that time, Farm members did not use artificial birth control, alcohol, tobacco, or animal products. Many of the early buildings on the Farm were unconventional, ranging from converted school buses to modified 16 x 32 army tents. Over time, larger homes were constructed, each providing shelter for multiple families and single people, often with up to 40 people under one roof. Visitors were also housed in a two-story tent made by sewing two army tents together.

In the early days, Gaskin was considered to be the "abbot of the monastery" and made many of the governmental decisions for the group. His role was eventually taken over by a "council of elders" and then a "board of directors" consisting of some of the most respected and influential members of the Farm community. The Farm formed a non-profit corporation called The Foundation to provide a common financial structure for the community and members contributed their incomes to it. A security crew constantly maintained a welcome center at the entrance gate where all traffic passed through and was logged in.

In the original manifestation of The Farm, all members were believers in the holiness of life, and believed in the reality of a spiritual dimension and in living out universal brotherhood.

The Farm community ate what might today be called a vegan diet. In the introduction of 1978 edition of The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook it states, "We are completely vegetarian. We eat no meat, fish, poultry, eggs, or any kind of animal dairy products. Our diet is based on the soybean, which we eat in many different forms, along with other legumes, grains, fruits and vegetables. We grow our own food and recommend it whenever possible." The book is described as the "family cookbook" of the 1,100 residents living on 1,750 acres in southern Middle Tennessee. The rationale for the diet is stated thus: "We are vegetarians because one-third of the world is starving and at least half goes to bed hungry every night. If everyone was vegetarian, there would be enough food to go around, and no one would be hungry."

Gaskin, who had served in the United States Marine Corps, got his start as a religious leader in San Francisco in the 1960s, coming to teach a blend of Eastern religions and Christianity.  Due to his devotion to marijuana, he and three followers spent time in 1974 in the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville following convictions for growing marijuana on Farm land.

Community evolution

Early growth pains
The Farm's outreach, combined with notoriety through popular media articles, led to a population boom that eventually peaked at around 1600 members living on the main property. Additionally, some satellite farm affinity communities which were located in the U.S. and other countries consolidated by moving to the Tennessee community. Signs started to appear between 1975 and 1979 that the Tennessee community's weak infrastructure and low income was insufficiently developed to support such a continuously large influx of new members, most of whom did not contribute substantially. The Foundation went increasingly into debt. Members chose to turn over all money to the collective. Some donated inherited wealth or investment income, but most of it went for the group's Third World projects, or for immediate needs such as food and clothing, rather than planned improvements to the property. Occasionally Gaskin would request a large sum to fund his traveling expenses, which included touring around the world. Cottage industries including sorghum molasses, a publishing company and natural food did not generate sufficient income.

Furthering the Farm's growing pains was a baby boom resulting from the large number of young adults of childbearing age combined with an enthusiastic family philosophy being put into practice. Ina May Gaskin and other resident midwives advertised their services in the national underground press, which led to numerous couples and their infants moving in without contributing. A small number of infants were adopted by Farm members after the midwives offered to accept, deliver, and keep a woman's baby as an alternative to abortion. Most mothers kept their baby after the child was born or came back for them not long after.

Gaskin insisted that anyone who wished to partake of Farm life should be allowed to try, even those who were seriously mentally ill, believing the experience would be therapeutic. These proved to be a huge drain on the patience and energy of the residents. Lack of electricity and insufficient capacity of sewage infrastructure resources led to some giardia outbreaks and malcontent. Gaskin discouraged expressions of discontent and doubt, so that it was impossible to question the established order or propose improvements. As the Farm's population peaked, a disproportionately higher number of children or less-skilled residents could not significantly contribute to the community's economic needs. Gaskin, who was often traveling, may not have been aware of the seriousness of these deprivations, or believed they would improve if members persevered.

The Changeover
In 1983, due to financial difficulties and also a challenge to Stephen Gaskin's leadership and direction, The Farm changed its residential community agreement and began requiring members to support themselves with their own income rather than to donate all income to The Foundation central corporation. This decollectivization was called the Changeover. Many people left disillusioned. The surrounding local rural area provided few possibilities for outside employment. The nearest large city, Nashville, was a 1.5-hour drive  away. Those who could not adapt to the new dynamics of The Changeover found it difficult to remain. Those who had forged independent business opportunities or had reduced overhead could afford to stay.

Recovery
Eventually the population settled back down to fewer than 200 adults and children. Those who continued living in the community were buoyed by its freedom and peaceful atmosphere, and the safety and security it provided for their children. The $400,000 plus debt was paid off after several years and the community became debt-free. An entrepreneurial spirit took hold, and numerous small businesses were established to provide support for the residents. Many members went back to school to get degrees in the medical field, and many now work at clinics and hospitals throughout Middle Tennessee.

In the 1990s, with the community back on solid ground, The Farm returned to its original purpose of initiating social change through outreach and example. The Ecovillage Training Center was established as an educational facility in new technologies such as solar energy, bio fuels, and construction techniques based on locally available, eco-friendly materials.

Recent status
The Farm's population is approximately 200; residents are mostly baby boomers (about 70%), many of whom have lived on The Farm for most of its existence. Those interested in becoming residents are encouraged to visit during the bi-annual Farm Experience Weekend, which provides a glimpse into how the community operates and functions.

In 2004, the Wholeo Dome (a geodesic dome fourteen feet in diameter and seven feet tall, covered with curved stained glass panels) was installed at The Farm. It was created in 1974 by artist Caroling Geary. In May 2010 repairs were completed on the Wholeo Dome, but is currently in storage due to issues with the lead in stained glass artwork.

The Farm maintains contact with some of its 4000-plus former members through email lists, social media forums, an annual reunion each summer, and through the work of its nonprofit organizations. Former members have gone on to become leaders in many different fields and endeavors, maintaining a sense of right livelihood and a commitment to the betterment of the world.

Social and family issues
Stephen Gaskin believed that marriage was a sacred act and that,  "For a community to exist in harmony and balance, both kinds of energy had to be nurtured, and most importantly shared." Seriousness and commitment were required in marriage. With the exception of the Rhythm Method, in the early years birth control was frowned upon, and abortions were prohibited in the community. As an alternative to abortion, the Farm publicly offered to deliver any baby for free and then to find a loving family to raise the child. If the birth mother ever wanted the child she could have it back, and ultimately most kept their baby. Childbearing was natural, and births were attended by midwives. Premarital sex was greatly discouraged, and most couples on the Farm were married.

Projects
The Farm has its own electrical crew, composting crew, farming crew, communications, construction & demolition crew, clinic, firewood crew, alternative energy crew, motor pool, laundromat, tofu plant, bakery, school and ambulance service. It established The Book Publishing Company, which has published the works of the Gaskins and other Farm members. The Farm's midwifery school and Ina May Gaskin's germinal book Spiritual Midwifery are well known throughout the world for their emphasis on maternal and newborn compassion, safety and high success rates for natural home birth.

They also run a "soy dairy", which developed and later marketed a soymilk ice "cream" called "Ice-Bean", and a vegetable store in the town of Summertown.

Tennessee Farm Band
They maintained The Farm Band, a rock group in the early 'jam band' style, which toured the country performing for free at parks, schools, churches, and other accessible venues.
Albums from the 1970s include The Farm Band on Mantra Records, and Up in Your Thing, High On the Rim of the Nashville Basin and Communion on Farm Tapes & Records. There were also a number of 45 releases. All Farm Band recordings were self-produced and distributed. During the 2000s (decade), Akarma Records in Italy distributed bootleg copies of these albums. In addition to the rock music recordings, Stephen Gaskin released a spoken word album titled the Great Western Tour in 1974, which was produced and distributed in the same way as their other LPs.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Another music project of The Farm was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (also known as "NRC"), a New wave music band. They released a 7-inch EP, We Are the NRC, and an album, Reactor, in 1980, and a second 7-inch EP, Sally's All Alone (After the End), in 1982.

Plenty

In 1974, after helping local neighbors after a tornado, the Farm formed Plenty (later, Plenty International), its charitable works arm. It began by gathering and supplying food for local disaster victims and holding weekly "quilting bees" to make blankets for them.

Plenty's most notable early project was its four-year presence in the Guatemalan highlands after the earthquake of 1976, helping to rebuild 1,200 houses and lay 27 kilometers of waterpipe. There, it established a micro-commune of volunteers and their families, living simply among Mayan populations and working under the approval of the military government.

In 1980, Plenty was the recipient of the first Right Livelihood Award, an alternative to the Nobel prize, also based in Sweden.

Plenty donated an ambulance in the early 1980s to the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation in upstate New York. Two Farmies – one a paramedic and one an EMT – taught a licensed Emergency Medical Technician course to 22 reservation residents, helping them set up their first Mohawk-run EMT service, the "Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Ambulance Unit". Plenty has set up medical clinics in Lesotho and Mexico and created the Jefferson Award-winning South Bronx Ambulance Project in New York City.

Plenty maintains an office in Belize, Central America, which initiated a school lunch program based on organic gardens planted next to each school to help provide more fresh vegetables for the children's diets. A midwifery program helped train over 60 Mayan women from villages throughout the region in prenatal care and safe delivery techniques.

Plenty was one of the first relief organizations to enter New Orleans, getting past federal roadblocks to bring supplies to survivors just three days after Hurricane Katrina. Plenty helped establish a base camp for volunteers and channeled funding to Common Ground Collective, a local group assisting in cleanup, legal defense services, and the operation of free clinics. Plenty volunteers purchased and restored a home in the area to serve as a headquarters for housing relief volunteers and construction crews helping to rebuild homes.

Melvyn Stiriss, a Plenty volunteer carpenter describes a year of earthquake reconstruction, working with Mayans, in Hippie Peace Corps Goes to Guatemala, part 4 of Voluntary Peasants published by New Beat Books, Warwick, NY 2015

Book Publishing Company
Some of the early titles produced by the Book Publishing Company illustrated the early interests of the Farm community; volumes included The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook (ed. Louise Hagler, 1975), Volume One: Sunday Morning Services on the Farm by Stephen Gaskin, ...this season's people by Stephen Gaskin, Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin, A Cooperative Method of Natural Birth by Margaret Nofziger, The Big Dummy's Guide to C.B. Radio by Albert Houston and the Radio Crew, and Shutdown: Nuclear Power on Trial, by John Gofman and Ernest Sternglass. Book Publishing Company publishes under the imprints Healthy Living, GroundSwell Books, Native Voices, 7th Generation, and Books Alive.

Technology

Infrastructure
There was no infrastructure grid on The Farm's land when it was first settled by the nascent community. Originally relying on antique kerosene lanterns and manual message runners, The Farm grew rapidly to adopt appropriate technology for electricity, communications, medical, mass media, education, and entertainment. Some of the early residents of The Farm brought their skills as engineers and technicians with them; they took on a multi-year development to build The Farm's novel network of communications and electrical supply.

Initially, a single landline or party line shared with several of their Tennessee neighbors was available for outside telephone calls, with a waiting list for any calls. Spurred mainly by the need for prompt childbirth assistance and emergency medical response, a field-phone style party line system was installed by The Farm's telephone crew in 1971. Telephone lines were expanded to widely cover even the most remote areas over the following year. Instead of common telephone bell ringers, the first telephones used Morse Code beeps to signal a call. The party line, affectionately known as Beatnik Bell, was eventually enabled in 1974 to route calls via a manual operator interconnect link patch to the outside line. Later, a 500 line Kellogg-ITT Relaymatic rotary dial phone system was installed in PBX configuration, with multiple outside trunk lines gated through a plug-style manual switchboard operator. Basic community CATV cables were later run to some areas along the telephone line paths.

The Farm installed its own water system and water towers. Some individuals initially resisted running electricity and power lines beyond the administration office and publishing center, with the hope of establishing off-grid decentralized utilities instead. The electrical supply 120/240 VAC mains system evolved from supplying only a few industrial buildings near the main Farm Road in 1971 to the point by the 1980s where most areas were covered by 12 Volt automotive battery trickle charge systems. Most homes phased out the use of kerosene lamps by 1975, as they converted to 12 Volt lighting and RV appliances or re-purposed automotive lighting fixtures. Off-grid low voltage 12 Volt DC systems were also sometimes powered by swapping vehicle batteries. After the economic change in 1983, all homes were connected to the standard electrical grid.

Wireless communications
The first use of wireless communications on The Farm was in 1971, when a ham radio HF SSB system was set up. Ham radio was used for health and welfare regional communications between mobile ham operators who were on the road with The Farm Band. The Farm Net, as the ham radio network was known, evolved into a worldwide daily operations schedule on 21332 kHz and 21442 kHz Upper Sideband and CW Morse Code in the 15-meter band, and a regional daily morning schedule on 7245 kHz Lower Sideband in the 40-meter ham band. At the network's peak in 1978, The Farm Net included over 40 ham radio operators on associated and affinity communities, as well as many HF SSB mobile and battery-operated portable HF radio stations. From its main base station, The Farm Net expanded to cover HF SSB communication links to stations in North America, Africa, and Europe using a field of tall radio towers on The Farm's ridgetop. Ham radio operators from The Farm volunteered with the Plenty International disaster relief operations for the 1976 Guatemala earthquake, with the Greenpeace anti-whaling campaigns, and many humanitarian response efforts worldwide. Ham radio was invaluable for voice communications consultations between doctors and field medical teams, and it included the use of HF slow scan TV for the relatively new concept of telemedicine. The ham radio was also used for technical discussions about alternative sources of energy, a popular topic among the back-to-the-land-movement, especially during the time of the 1970s energy crisis. The Farm's ham radio operators also used CB radios, as the cost of CB transceivers had dropped impressively during the mid-1970s. CB radios were widely adopted by The Farm for mobile general purpose local communications during this time, while CB radio was starting to become a nationwide craze. This eventually led to the writing of the book The Big Dummy's Guide to CB Radio, which became a non-fiction bestseller. The popularity and sales of The Big Dummy's Guide To CB Radio fueled the launch of the Book Publishing Company's new printing presses, and provided much-needed income for The Farm at a crucial time in its growth. Later, The Farm's medical and security communications utilized VHF FM handheld two-way radios.

Organizations

The Farm is home to many organizations, including:

 The Midwifery Center, led by Ina May Gaskin, who is often referred to as "the mother of authentic midwifery."
 The Ecovillage Training Center, which offers conferences and seminars on organic gardening, permaculture, strawbale construction, and sustainable technologies.
 Plenty International, an international aid and development NGO that helps indigenous populations, at-risk children, and the environment.
 More Than Warmth, a project in which children create quilts to be sent abroad in countries dealing with conflict.

The Farm School

The Farm School Solar and Satellite Campuses are K-12 programs that offer alternative education options for home-based learners (over 1200 students) and at a schoolhouse (approximately 25 students) on The Farm.

In the media
The Farm was featured in Peter Jenkins' travel book A Walk Across America.

The Farm is the subject of the documentary American Commune directed by Rena Mundo Croshere and her sister Nadine Mundo, both of whom were children at The Farm from the mid-1970s until The Changeover in the early 1980s.

Notes

Sources and further reading
Voluntary Peasants: memoirs of the community's origin and life on The Farm  by UPI's Melvyn Stiriss, "who followed the 60s over the edge".
Coate, John (1987). "Life on the Bus and Farm: an Informal Recollection."
Fike, Rupert (ed), Voices from The Farm: Adventures in Community Living (1998)
 Jenkins, Peter. A Walk Across America. Jenkins discusses his stay at The Farm in Chapters 20 through 22. William Morrow & Co., 1979.

Kern, Louis (1993). The Farm Midwives. Retrieved February 1, 2008, from The Farm Web site
"Why We Left The Farm", Whole Earth Review #49, Winter 1985, pp 56–66 (stories from eight former members)
"Farm Stories", Whole Earth Review #60, Fall 1988, pp 88–101 (reprinted from the WELL, by two former members)

External links

1971 establishments in Tennessee
Buildings and structures in Lewis County, Tennessee
Ecovillages
Geography of Lewis County, Tennessee
Hippie movement
Intentional communities in the United States
Populated places established in 1971
Utopian communities in the United States
Vegetarian communities

The Farm (Tennessee)


Lady Katherine Grey (25 August 1540 – 26 January 1568) was an English noblewoman. She was the sister to Lady Jane Grey and Lady Mary Grey. Her parents were Lady Frances Brandon and Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who were Marquess and Marchioness of Dorset and later Duke and Duchess of Suffolk.

Life
Katherine (also spelled Catherine) was born in 1540 to Lady Frances Brandon and Henry Grey. Her parents were disappointed that she was a girl. However, Frances treated Katherine better than she treated her sister, Lady Jane Grey. Little is known about Katherine's early life before 1550.
Katherine was married at the age of twelve to Henry Herbert in May 1553. It was the same day her elder sister, Jane, was married to Guildford Dudley. Katherine's sister Jane was queen of England for nine days before Mary became Queen. Because of this, Katherine's marriage to Herbert was annulled.

Appearance and personality
Katherine was considered even more beautiful than her sister Jane. She was a little short, but she had a delicate appearance. She had shining red-gold hair and her grandmother Mary Tudor's blue eyes. She also had white skin and no freckles, unlike her sister Jane.
Unlike her sister Jane, Katherine was not as smart and did not like her studies as much. She preferred playing with her pet dogs and birds.

Later life
Katherine said that her life at Queen Mary's court was the best time of her life. She met her future husband during these years and received money from Mary every year. Mary's sister, Elizabeth, did not like Katherine much. She distrusted her and did not wish to see her married. Katherine had other plans.

In December 1560, she married Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford without Elizabeth I's permission. They planned to keep it a secret for a long time. However, Katherine became pregnant quickly and by July of the next year, she could not hold her secret any longer. She first tried to get help from Bess of Hardwick, but Bess screamed at Katherine and made her go away. Then she went to see Elizabeth's great favorite, Robert Dudley. He listened to Katherine but promised nothing. The next day he told Elizabeth everything. Elizabeth was angry with this and put both Edward and Katherine in prison. Katherine gave birth to a son in the Tower of London. The child's name was Edward.

Later, she gave birth to another son, also in the Tower of London. This made Elizabeth even more angry since Katherine was not supposed to see Edward. The couple would not see each other again after the birth. Katherine soon got tuberculosis. She died in January 1568. She is buried in Cockfield Chapel.

1539 births
1568 deaths
English nobility

Lady Katherine Grey


Kaldor–Hicks efficiency, named for Nicholas Kaldor and John Hicks, also known as Kaldor–Hicks criterion, is a measure of economic efficiency. It captures some of the intuitive appeal of Pareto efficiency, but has less stringent criteria. For this reason, it is applicable more often. Under Kaldor–Hicks efficiency, an outcome is considered more efficient if a Pareto optimal outcome can be reached by arranging sufficient compensation from those that are made better off to those that are made worse off so that all would end up no worse off than before.

Welfare economics
Economic indicators

Kaldor-Hicks efficiency


Jessie Sumner (July 17, 1898 – August 10, 1994) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.

Born in Milford, Illinois, Sumner attended the public schools. She graduated from Girton School, Winnetka, Illinois, in 1916 and Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1920. She studied law at the University of Chicago Law School, Columbia University, New York City, and Oxford University, England. She also studied briefly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the New York University School of Commerce in New York City.

Sumner was admitted to the bar in 1923 and practiced in Chicago, Illinois.
She was employed at the Chase National Bank in New York City in 1928. She returned to Milford, Illinois, in 1932 and resumed the practice of law. She served as county judge of Iroquois County, Illinois, in 1937. She served as director of Sumner National Bank, Sheldon, Illinois.

Sumner was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-sixth and to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1947). She was not a candidate for renomination in 1946.

She resumed position as vice president from 1938 to 1966, and president from 1966 to 1994, of Sumner National Bank. She was a resident of Milford, Illinois, until her death in Watseka, Illinois, on August 10, 1994.

See also
 Women in the United States House of Representatives

References

Sources

 Current Biography, January 1945, p. 45-48.

External links

1898 births
1994 deaths
Businesspeople from Illinois
Lawyers from Chicago
Illinois state court judges
Smith College alumni
University of Chicago alumni
Columbia University alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
New York University Stern School of Business alumni
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
Women in Illinois politics
People from Milford, Illinois
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
20th-century American politicians
20th-century American women politicians
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American judges
20th-century American lawyers

Jessie Sumner


Armour (or armor U.S.) is a protective covering or clothing to prevent injury from attack. Armour can be worn by a person, or it can be used to protect machines, animals, even buildings. Armour has always been made from the strongest materials available at the time, but weight has always been a problem. Early body armour was made from leather. Later, metals were used (e.g. mail or plate armour). Some modern armour, like bullet-proof vests, are made from plastics that do not stretch or break, such as Kevlar. These plastics may be woven into a cloth and used in layers, which makes them even stronger.

Plastic lamination (layers) is often used to protect windows against bullets.  Many jewellery stores, embassies, and vehicles have bullet-proof glass with this feature.

For vehicles
Armour put on vehicles is usually made of metal and can include one layer over another with open spaces in between (spaced armour) or multiple layers of metal; ceramics (baked clay), and other materials. Another type of armour uses blocks of explosive that explode when another explosion goes off near it. This explosive armour protects by pushing against the other explosion. Vehicle armor is often angled to increase the amount of armour that must be shot through to get inside and to make the shot bounce off rather than piercing the armour.

Tanks have the heaviest armour of all land vehicles. Other military vehicles have armour, but not as much as a tank.

Sometimes armour is put in non-military vehicles, such as limousines used by leaders of a country or by anyone who thinks they might be attacked, e.g. film stars or presidents of major companies.

For animals
In the past, armour has also been used in wars to protect animals such as dogs, elephants, and horses. Today, police dogs and horses sometimes wear woven plastic bullet-proof vests.

For sports
Many sports involve violent physical contact and may be highly dangerous if the players are unprotected. Such sports include ice hockey, American football and kendo. Sports armour is usually made from hard plastic.

Armour


The urinary system (the urinary tract) is a  system of  organs that makes urine/pee and takes it out of the body.

Urine is watery waste of the body. Our body needs to collect this waste and get rid of it. Our body makes urine in two organs - the kidneys. To make urine, kidneys filter blood from blood vessels.

Organs of the urinary system

The urinary includes several organs: the kidneys, ureters, the urinary bladder, and urethra.

How the urinary system works

The kidneys remove waste chemicals like urea from the blood. The blood containing chemical wastes enters the kidneys through the renal arteries. The blood is processed through the nephron to make urine. Urine is yellow liquid with waste chemicals in it.

Then the urine goes down from the kidneys to the urinary bladder. It goes to it through two tubes - one tube from each kidney. The tubes are called ureters.

The urinary bladder is a soft container. It has muscles. Its muscles can make it bigger or smaller. It becomes bigger when it is full of urine. At such times we feel it, and we have to pee.

There is one tube that goes out of the urinary bladder. This tube lets the urine out of the body. This tube is the urethra. It is the only urinary organ different in men and women.

Women's urethra

In women the urethra is shorter and wider inside. Its outer end is between a woman's legs. It opens on her outer sex organs (vulva). A woman's urethra serves only to pass urine.

Men's urethra

In men the urethra is longer. It serves two functions. As a part of urinary system, it pased urine out of the body. As a part of reproductive system it passes seminal liquid. This liquid has in it male sex cells. These cells are called sperm cells. Sperm cells are made in the male sex glands - testes. The liquid with cells forms in another gland. This gland is below the bladder. This gland is called the prostate. The male urethra passes through the prostate and goes on through another organ. This male organ is a tube with the urethra. This tube is on the front of a man's body below the abdomen. This tube is called the penis.

Women do not have it. To have sex and make babies, the penis goes into a women's wider tube, which is called the vagina. It does not pass urine: women's urethra goes in front of the vagina. Men get orgasms from their penis. Women have orgasms from their vagina and clitoris. Clitoris is an organ in women for orgasm only. It is much smaller than a penis. The women's urethra is not in the clitoris, but behind it.

The urinary system is linked to the sex organs of men and women. Sex organs are called genitals.  Genitals and the urinary system make the genitourinary or urogenital system. Its organs are male or female; internal (inside) or external (outside the body).

Passing urine outside is called urination.

Medical aspects
TA medical science on the urinary system is urology. Medical doctors in urology are urologists. Women with urinary problems can also go to a gynecologist. Men's sex organs are checked by urologists andrologists.

Urinary system


The County of West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a population of around 2,600,000 people. The county contains three major cities, these being Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton. Other large settlements in the county include Sutton Coldfield, Solihull, and the Black Country towns of Dudley, Walsall and West Bromwich.

The name "West Midlands" is also used for the much larger West Midlands region, which sometimes causes confusion.

Geography
The West Midlands borders the counties of Warwickshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south, and Staffordshire to the north.

The West Midlands is one of the most heavily urbanised counties in the UK. Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Solihull together form the largest conurbation in the UK outside London, with a combined population of around 2.27 million.

The West Midlands is not entirely urban; Coventry is separated from the Birmingham urban area, by stretch of green belt land roughly 15 miles across known as the "Meriden Gap", which retains a strongly rural character.

A smaller piece of green belt between Birmingham, Walsall and West Bromwich includes Barr Beacon and the Sandwell Valley.

Towns and villages
 Aldridge
 Balsall Common, Bloxwich, Bilston, Birmingham. Blackheath, Brierley Hill
 Coventry
 Dorridge, Dudley
 Halesowen, Hampton-in-Arden
 Little Aston
 Marston Green, Meriden
 Oldbury
 Rowley Regis
 Sedgley, Smethwick, Solihull, Stourbridge, Sutton Coldfield, Streetly
 Tipton
 Walsall, Wednesfield, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton

Places of interest
 Aston Hall, Birmingham
 Bescot Stadium (Walsall FC)
 Birmingham Bullring
 Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
 Birmingham Hippodrome
 Birmingham Railway Museum
 Birmingham Wheel
 Black Country Living Museum
 Blakesley Hall
 Cadbury World, Bournville, Birmingham
 Coventry Cathedral
 Coventry SkyDome Arena
 Coventry Transport Museum
 Dudley Castle
 Dudley Zoo
 Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham
 Internation Convention Centre (including Symphony Hall), Birmingham
 Molineux stadium (Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.)
 National Exhibition Centre
 National Indoor Arena (NIA), Birmingham
 Netherton tunnel
 Perrott's Folly
 Ricoh Arena (Coventry City Football Club)
 Sarehole Mill
 Sea Life Centre, Birmingham
 St Andrews (Birmingham City Football Club)
 The Hawthorns, (West Bromwich Albion Football Club)
 Thinktank, Millennium Point, Birmingham
 Villa Park (Aston Villa Football Club)
 Walsall Art Gallery
 Wightwick Manor

Education
The West Midlands contains 6 universities;
 University of Birmingham
 Aston University
 University of Central England
 University of Warwick
 Coventry University
 Wolverhampton University

Though Warwick and Birmingham are considered the most prestigious of the universities in the area, all have a large intake of students from around the country.

Other websites
 Photographs of Birmingham and the West Midlands
 Identity in the West Midlands
 West Midlands Joint Committee
 West Midlands NO! Campaign
 West Midlands Groups Communities

Ceremonial counties of England

West Midlands (county)


く, in hiragana or ク in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora.  Both represent  and their shapes come from the kanji 久.

This kana may have a dakuten added, transforming it into ぐ in hiragana, グ in katakana and gu in Hepburn romanization. The dakuten's addition also changes the sound of the syllable represented, to  in initial positions and varying between  and  in the middle of words.

A handakuten (゜) does not occur with ku in normal Japanese text, but it may be used by linguists to indicate a nasal pronunciation .

In the Ainu language, the katakana ク can be written as small ㇰ, representing a final k sound as in アイヌイタㇰ Ainu itak (Ainu language). This was developed along with other extended katakana to represent sounds in Ainu that are not found in standard Japanese katakana.

Stroke order

Other communicative representations

 Full Braille representation

 Computer encodings

References

Specific kana

Ku (kana)