Allan Capron Houser or Haozous (June 30, 1914 – August 22, 1994) was a Chiricahua Apache sculptor, painter and book illustrator born in Oklahoma. He was one of the most renowned Native American painters and Modernist sculptors of the 20th century.

Houser's work can be found at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and in numerous major museum collections throughout North America, Europe and Japan. Additionally, Houser's Offering of the Sacred Pipe is on display at United States Mission to the United Nations in New York City.

Childhood and school days
Born in 1914 to Sam and Blossom Haozous on the family farm near Apache, Oklahoma and Fort Sill, Houser was the first member of his family from the Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache tribe born outside of captivity since Geronimo's 1886 surrender and the tribe's imprisonment by the U.S. government. The tribe had been led in battle by the spiritual leader Geronimo, who would later rely on his grandnephew Sam Haozous, Allan's father, to serve as his translator.

In 1934, Houser left Oklahoma at the age of 20 to study at Dorothy Dunn's Art Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dunn's method encouraged working from personal memory, avoiding techniques of perspective or modeling, and stylization of Native iconography.  For the latter, Houser made hundreds of drawings and canvasses in Santa Fe and was one of Dunn's top students, but he found the program too constricting.

Early career

In 1939, Houser began his professional career by showing work at the 1939 New York World's Fair and the Golden Gate International Exposition. He received his first major public commission to paint murals at the Main Interior Building in Washington, DC. He also married Anna Maria Gallegos of Santa Fe, his wife for 55 years.

In 1940, he received another commission from the US Department of Interior to paint life-sized indoor murals. He then returned to Fort Sill to study with Swedish muralist Olle Nordmark, who encouraged Houser to explore sculpture. He made his first wood carvings that year.

When World War II interrupted Houser's life and career path, he moved his growing family to Los Angeles where he found work in the L.A. shipyards. Houser worked by day and continued to paint and sculpt by night, making friends among students and faculty at the Pasadena Art Center. Here, he was first exposed to the streamlined modernist sculptural statements of artists like Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuși, and the English sculptor Henry Moore. These three men – along with the English sculptor Barbara Hepworth, who was among the first sculptors to place sculptural voids within the solid planes of her works – would come to have a huge influence on Houser.

After World War II, Houser applied for a commission at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. Haskell, a Native American boarding school, lost many graduates to the war and wanted a sculptural memorial to honor them. Though Houser had been carving in wood since 1940, he had never before sculpted in stone. He convinced the jury with his drawings and his conviction, and completed the monumental work Comrades in Mourning from white Carrara marble in 1948. It has become an iconic work, both for the artist and for Native American art in general.

Teaching

In 1949, Houser received a Guggenheim Fellowship in sculpture and painting, which granted him two years to work on art and still provide for his growing family.

From 1952 to 1962, Houser worked as an art teacher at the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah, which was primarily a Navajo boarding school. The Intermountain years gave Houser time to teach, raise a family, and focus on his painting. He completed hundreds of paintings there, experimenting with watercolors, oils and other media. While at Intermountain, he also worked as a children's book illustrator, providing drawings and paintings for seven titles – including an illustrated biography on the life of his granduncle Geronimo. One of his notable students at the Intermountain Indian School was artist Robert Chee.

In 1962, Houser was asked to join the faculty of a new Native American art school, the Institute of American Indian Arts. He returned to Santa Fe with his family to head up the Institute's sculpture department. Casting his first bronzes in 1967, Houser was a student and teacher as well, bringing forth his own history and ideas for a student body culled from every corner of Native America. He began working with the iconographies of other tribes, using modernist sculptural influences to forge the tribal and the abstract into a visual lexicon all his own.

During the early 1970s, Houser continued to teach at the Institute and began the rigorous production and exhibition cycle for which he became well known. As head of the sculpture department, he felt compelled to work in as many sculptural media as possible, evidenced by his solo exhibition of stone, bronze and welded steel sculptures at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona in 1970. The following year, Houser exhibited paintings and sculpture at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, and in 1973 was awarded the Gold Medal in Sculpture at the Heard Museum Exhibition.

Exhibitions, awards, and accolades continued. In 1975, he was asked to paint the official portrait of former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. That same year, he had a solo exhibition at the Governor's Gallery at the State Capitol in Santa Fe. After thirteen years at IAIA, Houser retired from full-time teaching to devote himself to sculpture.

Later work

Houser's retirement in 1975 marked the beginning of the most prolific stage of his career. With time, materials, and the family compound in southern Santa Fe county, Houser honed the visual language that was to become his artistic legacy. Fusing Native subject matter with the abstract forms and sculptural voids of his Modernist peers, Houser carried the mantle of both Native American and Modernism to new levels, bringing forth such memorable images as the Lead Singer, Abstract Crown Dancer, and The Mystic.

Houser also continued to produce remarkable figurative pieces as well, including the life-sized bronze work Chiricahua Apache Family, dedicated in 1983 at the Fort Sill Apache Tribal Center in Apache, OK. The piece honored both the memory of his parents, Sam and Blossom, and commemorates the 70th anniversary of the release of his tribe's prisoners-of-war from Fort Sill.

Houser's work was explored in a series on American Indian artists for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Other artists in the series included R. C. Gorman, Helen Hardin, Charles Loloma, Joseph Lonewolf, and Fritz Scholder.

In 1985, Houser's monumental bronze, Offering of the Sacred Pipe, was dedicated at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City.  A year later, he made a bronze bust of Geronimo to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the surrender of the Chiricahua Apaches. A cast of the bust was later presented to the National Portrait Gallery, where it remains in the permanent collection.

In his last five years, Houser produced a remarkable number of pieces, and received many awards for his life's work. In 1989 he dedicated As Long as the Waters Flow, a monumental bronze commissioned for the Oklahoma State Capitol building in Oklahoma City. In 1991, he presented a casting of a bronze Sacred Rain Arrow to the Smithsonian Institution. In the dedication
before the US Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, he dedicated the work to the American Indian. And in 1992, he became the first Native American to receive the National Medal of Arts, awarded at a ceremony at the White House by President George H. W. Bush.

In 1993, Houser was honored by the dedication of the Allan Houser Art Park at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and in 1994, he returned to Washington, DC for the last time to present the United States government the sculpture, May We Have Peace, a gift, he said, "To the people of the United States from the First Peoples." The gift was accepted by First Lady Hillary Clinton for installation at the Vice President's residence.

Drawings
Houser's primary skill as a draftsman is evident in the astounding volume of drawn work that was left behind in the Allan Houser Archive, located at the Houser family compound and sculpture garden in southern Santa Fe County, New Mexico.  With over 6,000 images left behind, one can trace the remarkable output and varied subjects of an artist who began all of his creations, including paintings and sculptures, with the act of hand to paper.

Sculptures
While Houser's early career was marked by his drawings and paintings, it was for sculpture that he eventually became a world-renowned artist.  Beginning in 1940 with simple wood carvings, Houser created his first monumental work in stone in 1949, the iconic piece Comrades in Mourning at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas.  But it would be quite some time before he had the time and resources to produce the remarkable bronzes shown here.

Collections
Allan Houser's work can be found in collections all over the world.  Below is a select list.

 Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
 Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico
 Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
 Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming
 British Royal Collection, London, England
 Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
 Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado
 Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
 Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
 Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana
 Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kansas
 Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
 Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
 Japanese Royal Collection, Tokyo, Japan
 National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.
 National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC.
 National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
 National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.
 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 New Mexico State Capitol, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
 Oklahoma State Capitol, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
 Palm Springs Desert Museum, California
 Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma
 Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, Florida
 Sundance Institute, Sundance, Utah
 U.S Mission at the United Nations, New York, New York
 University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
 Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Legacy

Allan Houser died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the age of eighty in August 1994.

He was fortunate to have been the kind of artist who did not need to be "discovered" after his death, for he enjoyed a career in which he was able to create not just for his own satisfaction, but for an appreciative public as well.

Upon his death, the honors kept coming. Among these was the installation of 19 monumental works of art in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Olympics, and a retrospective of 69 works at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. in 2004—2005. The exhibition marked the first major show for the new museum, and over three million people viewed it while it was on display.

As a teacher for most of his working life, Allan Houser also enjoys the legacy of having passed on his direction, patience and skills to generations of Native American artists, including many from the IAIA years who are, in turn, passing on their skills to other generations.

After Houser's death in 1994, his legacy has been carried on by family members, including his two sons who have achieved success as sculptors, Philip Haozous and Bob Haozous, and his grandson, Sam Atakra Haozous, an experimental photographer. The non-profit Allan Houser Foundation is devoted to the proliferation of the Houser name. The family also maintains a commercial gallery of Allan Houser's work in downtown Santa Fe and the Allan Houser Compound, a foundry and sculpture garden located south of Santa Fe.

In 2018, Houser became one of the inductees in the first induction ceremony held by the National Native American Hall of Fame.

A figural group created by Houser in 1990 was moved to the Oval Office when Joe Biden began his presidency in 2021. The sculpture depicting a running horse and a Native male rider is currently placed on one of the shelves in the president's office and was previously exhibited at the National Museum of the American Indian.

Exhibitions
Allan Houser's work continues to receive academic and institutional exposure. His estate works with museums, art galleries, and public spaces around the world on ongoing exhibits.  Houser's abstract and modernist works were exhibited at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey (2008), and his major works were shown at the Heard Museum and the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona in November 2009. In 2008 the Oklahoma History Center held a major exhibition, "Unconquered: Allan Houser and the Legacy of one Apache Family," that looks at three generations of the Haozous/Houser family.

Houser's work was part of Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting (2019–21), a survey at the National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center.

Major collections of Allan Houser's work can also be found in museums around the United States and the world.

References

External links

 Allan Houser's Official Website
 The Oklahoma Arts Council is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of Allan Houser's sculpture Dialogue. Currently on exhibit in the Betty Price Gallery.
 "As Long as the Waters Flow": Allan Houser's Towering Tribute to the Spirit of Native Americans outside of the Oklahoma State Capital
 "Allan Houser: Join the centennial celebration of the birth of the world-famous Chiricahua Apache artist."
 Allan Houser: The Dean of Stone, video from Colores, New Mexico PBS, KNME.org

1914 births
1994 deaths
20th-century American painters
American male painters
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
Artists from Santa Fe, New Mexico
Chiricahua people
Institute of American Indian Arts faculty
Native American sculptors
Painters from Oklahoma
People from Caddo County, Oklahoma
Federal Art Project artists
Sculptors from New Mexico
Sculptors from Oklahoma
Native American male artists
Fort Sill Apache Tribe

Allan Houser


The British Household Cavalry, is an army corps (pronounced "core") of two regiments of soldiers. Cavalry regiments, until the end of World War I, were always "mounted" on horses. Nowadays cavalry regiments are mounted on tanks. The British Household Cavalry is unusual because half of them are also still mounted on horses. The two Regiments of Household Cavalry, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, which parades with horses and the Household Cavalry Regiment, which has light armoured vehicles, are manned by equal numbers of soldiers from The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals both of which are part of the "Household Division". In Britain the "Household Division" has the special privilege of guarding the Sovereign and the Royal Household. The term "Household Division" is used in all Commonwealth countries.

In many other countries there are similar highly trained army corps which guard the head of state and have ceremonial duties as well as operational military roles. Regiments of this sort can be found in Australia, Brunei, Belgium, Canada, Denmark and many other countries. But when speaking in English of the "Household Cavalry", the term generally refers to the "British Household Cavalry".

The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals

In Britain there are seven regiments in the Household Division. They are generally referred to as "The Guards". Five of the Guards regiments are "infantry", which means that they are "foot soldiers" and are Foot Guards, and the senior two regiments are "cavalry" meaning they are first and foremost armoured soldiers who also have a ceremonial role "mounted" on horses for ceremonial duty.

The British Household Cavalry is made of two regiments: The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals. They are the senior regular regiments in the British Army, with traditions dating from 1660. The Horse Guards, (as they are known, for short), have their barracks in Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge in London and perform their principal duty of forming daily The Queen's Life Guard at a building in London which was formerly the headquarters of the British Army. There are always mounted guards on duty ouside the "Horse Guards" building in front of which lies the famous Horse Guards Parade where The Queen's Birthday Parade takes place. There, the daily ceremony of the Changing of The Queen's Life Guard takes place. (This is a different Changing of the Guard to the one at Buckingham Palace.)
The Colonel-in-Chief of both Regiments of Household Cavalry is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Colonel of The Life Guards is General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank GCB, LVO, OBE. The Colonel of The Blues and Royals is Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal KG, KT, GCVO, QSO. (See below)

The motto of both regiments is Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense (Shame on him who thinks evil of it).

As military regiments, The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals have served in these places:
1660 - 1914: Dettingen, the Peninsula, Waterloo, Balaclava, Sevastopol, Tel el Kebir, Eqypt and South Africa
1914-1918: France and Flanders
1939-1945: Iraq, Syria, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark
since 1945: Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Falkland Islands, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Uniform
The ceremonial uniform of the Household Cavalry has two features that are not often seen on other soldiers. They wear a shiny Silver helmet With Brass and Silver fittings, with a long "plume" of horse hair hanging from the top. When on mounted guard duty they also wear a "cuirasse" (metal chest armour). The two regiments can be told apart by the colour of their jacket (which is called a "tunic") and by the "plumes" on their helmets. The Life Guards wear red tunics with white plumes while The Blues and Royals wear blue tunics and have red plumes to their helmets. While on guard, the soldiers carry swords. When mounted on horses, the soldiers wear white riding-breeches, known as buckskins, and tall black winged leather boots, which are called jack boots, having been "jacked" or reinforced against sword blows (Fr. Jaque: chainmail).

The "farrier" assists the Regimental Veterinary Officer in of taking care of the horses. When the farrier is mounted on parade, he carries the traditional symbol of an axe. In battle, one of the farrier's jobs was to kill horses that were badly injured. They also had to cut off one of the hooves so that there was proof of the horse's death so that a new one could be purchased. The horses are all black three quareter bred Irish draught horses except for the trumpeters' horses, which are grey, and the drumhorses which are large draught horses. They are almost invariably coloured horses, Shires or Clydesdales and are "piebald" (black and white), "skewbald" (brown and white) or roan. The drumhorses each carry two solid silver kettle drums on parade.

The trumpeter, whose job is to relay messages by trumpet, can be told apart because he does not wear a cuirrass, and has a grey (white) horse. On "State occasions" when The Queen or another member of the Royal Family is present, the bands of The Household Cavalry wear gold coats designed at the time of King Charles II made of gold braid and dark blue velvet jockey hats. Each regiment has its own Quick March and Slow March. They both use a Scottish tune the Keel Row for a ceremonial "trot past".

The Household Cavalry's Operational Role
The Household Cavalry Regiment is an armoured reconnaissance regiment based in Windsor. Most Household Cavalry soldiers begin their careers on mounted duty before being posted, normally after about two years at ceremonial duty, to the reconnaissance regiment, which has Scimitar light tanks, where they are trained in driving, gunnery ands signals. This regiment has deployed more than almost any other in the British Army to operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Gallantry medals awarded to soldiers of the Household Cavalry since 2003 include: a George Cross (GC) to Trooper Christopher Finney of The Blues and Royals, a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC) and a Military Cross (MC) to Staff Corporal Michael Flynn of The Blues and Royals (making him the most decorated serviceman in the British Army), a CGC to Lance Corporal of Horse Andrew Radford, a Distinguished Service Order to Major Richard Taylor of The Life Guards, and MCs to Captain Paddy Williams of The Blues and Royals and to Staff Corporal Shaun Fry of The Life Guards. All these were awarded on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Famous members
 Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, The Princess Royal, is the Colonel of The Blues and Royals. She can be seen in uniform to the right of the picture.
 Prince William of Wales and his brother Prince Harry of Wales have both served as "cornets" in The Blues and Royals. Prince William can be seen in uniform in the photo to the left. (His grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, wears the uniform of the Grenadier Guards.)
 Michael Flynn (Blues and Royals) currently the most highly decorated soldier in the British Army.
 Michael Flynn  "Supersquaddie"

Gallery

The British Household Cavalry

"Horse Guards" from other countries

Related pages
 Queen Elizabeth II
 Military
 Army
 Horse

British Army

Household Cavalry


A Wavelet is a mathematical function used to write down a function or signal in terms of other functions that are simpler to study. Many signal processing tasks can be seen in terms of a wavelet transform. Informally speaking, the signal can be seen under the lens with a magnification given by the scale of the wavelet. In doing so, we can see only the information that is determined by the shape of the wavelet used.

The English term "wavelet" was introduced in the early 1980s by French physicists Jean Morlet and Alex Grossman.
They used the French word "ondelette" (which means "small wave").
Later, this word was brought into English by translating "onde" into "wave" giving "wavelet".

Wavelet is (complex) function from the Hilbert space . For practical applications it should satisfy following conditions.

It must have finite energy.

It must satisfy an admissibility condition.
, where  is a Fourier transform of

Zero mean condition implies from admissibility condition.

The function  is called mother wavelet. Its translated (shifted) and dilated (scaled) normalized versions are defined as following.

Original mother wavelet has parameters  and . Translation is described by  parameter and dilatation by  parameter.

Harmonic analysis
Digital signal processing

Wavelet


Teddy Killerz are a Russian and Ukrainian electronic music group composed of Grigory Cherekaev, Anton Mashevsky and Oleg Cholovskyi. They also perform under their individual stage names as Garud, Place 2b, and Paimon (in respective order).

Teddy Killerz are known for producing various different styles of dance music ranging from drum'n'bass, dubstep, trap and breakbeat. The group have released on Owsla and subsequently signed to RAM Records in November 2014, (only after an initial release on RAM Records' sister label "Program'). Teddy Killerz's entry in a remix contest on OWSLA for Skrillex's song "Make It Bun Dem' caught the attention of the label owner, who subsequently signed the band. Their first release on OWSLA was the 'Toys Riot' EP, consisting of three original songs. Teddy Killerz have also had a spate of releases on Bad Taste Recordings, Hardcore Beats and Dutty Audio.
Teddy Killerz have remixed a number of other artists' work, although most notably Ragga Bomb by Skrillex featuring the Ragga Twins, which was released in 2014 on OWSLA, and 'Make Those Move' by the group I Am Legion (consisting of hip hop artists 'Foreign Beggars' and drum and bass artists 'Noisia') (released on OWSLA, Par Excellence and Division Recordings), which remained at number 1 on the beatport chart for 6 weeks.

In 2014, Teddy Killerz were selected by RAM Records for the '60 minutes of RAM' mix for Mistajam on BBC 1 Xtra. They have also produced for and alongside dance/rock act Modestep which has sparked the song Make You Mine on their album London Road.

In 2015, Teddy Killerz's first release was Teddynator on 21 March on RAM Records and on 31 July 2015, also on RAM Records, their EP, Hyperspeed came out.

They released their first album on 5 June 2017, titled Nightmare Street.

More recently in 2020, they released an EP on Insomniac's bass music record label Bassrush titled Nerd Starter Pack

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links
Official page on RAM Records website
Official Soundcloud page

Russian electronic music groups
Drum and bass music groups
Owsla artists
Monstercat artists

Teddy Killerz


Gas discharge lamps are a family of artificial light sources (or lamps). These lamps produce light by sending electricity through an ionized gas. Most of these lamps use a noble gas (usually argon or neon gas), or a combination of noble gases, but they often contain other materials, such as mercury, sodium or metal halides. The gases in these lamps are ionized in operation. This means that there are free electrons. When an electric current is sent through the gas, electrons collide with atoms of the gas and the metals. This will mean that some reach a higher energy state. When they fall back into the lower energy state, they will emit the energy in the form of light.

The fluorescent lamp is probably the best known gas discharge lamp. Sodium vapor lamps are commonplace as streetlights.

Gas-discharge lamps have a long life and a high efficiency, but they are more complicated to manufacture, which makes them more expensive to buy than incandescent lamps. Due to their greater efficiency, gas-discharge lamps replacing incandescent light bulbs for many purposes in the late 20th century. Early in the 21st century, light-emitting diodes improved, with even higher efficiency. They began to replace some gas discharge lamps.

Lamps

Gas discharge lamp


Protactinium is a very radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pa and atomic number 91. The density of this element is 231.04

Notable characteristics
Protactinium is a silver metallic element that is in the actinide group, with a bright metallic shine that it keeps for some time in the air. It is superconductive at temperatures below 1.4 K.

Applications
Due to its scarcity, high radioactivity and toxicity, there are currently no uses for protactinium outside of basic research.

Protactinium-231 (which is made by the alpha decay of Uranium-235 followed by beta decay of Thorium-231) could possibly sustain a nuclear chain reaction and might be used to build a nuclear weapon. The critical mass, according to Walter Seifritz, is 750±180 kg. Other authors conclude that no chain reactions are possible in Protactinium-231.

History
Protactinium was first discovered in 1913, when Kasimir Fajans and O. H. Göhring encountered short-lived isotope 234m-Pa, with a half-life of about 1.17 minutes, while they were studying the decay chain of 238-U. They gave the new element the name Brevium (Latin brevis, brief, short); the name was changed to Protoactinium in 1918 when two groups of scientists (Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner of Germany and Frederick Soddy and John Cranston of the UK) independently discovered 231-Pa. The name was shortened to Protactinium in 1949.

In 1961, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was able to produce 125 g of 99.9% pure protactinium, processing 60 tons of waste material in a 12-stage process and spending 500,000 USD. For many years to come, this was the world's only way to get the element. It is said that the metal was sold to laboratories for a cost of 2,800 USD / g in the following years.

Precautions
Protactinium is both toxic and highly radioactive. It requires precautions similar to those used when handling plutonium.

References

Other websites

 ANL factsheet
 WebElements.com – Protactinium
 It's Elemental – Protactinium
 InfoHaunter

Actinides

Protactinium


Erode district(formerly Periyar district) is a district in the Kongu Nadu region (western part) of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was the largest district by area in the state before the formation of Tiruppur district  and the headquarters of the district is Erode. Periyar district was a part of Coimbatore District before its division into two on September 17, 1979 and was renamed as Erode District in 1996. As of 2011, the district had a population of 2,251,744 with a sex-ratio of 993 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929.

Bhavani River
Bhavani River rises in the Western Ghats of [Silent Valley National Park in Palakkad district of Kerala. It receives the Siruvani River which has the second tastiest water in the world, a perennial stream of Coimbatore District, and gets reinforced by the Kundah river before entering Erode District in Sathyamangalam.

Economy
Agriculture is the most important income source of the district. Paddy, plantain, silk, cotton, turmeric, coconut and sugarcane are some of the major products from agriculture and allied industries. With 43% share, the district is the top turmeric producer in Tamil Nadu. Erode is also known as Turmeric city as it is an important market center for turmeric. Erode district is also the leading producer of plantain, coconuts and white silk in Tamil Nadu.
The country's first automated silk reeling unit is located near Gobichettipalayam.In 2005, Bhavani Jamakkalam (Bhavani Bedsheets) was registered as a Geographical Indication by the Government of India.

Reference

Erode district


American Cowslip is a 2009 independent American comedy feature film directed by Mark David. It revolves around heroin addict, Ethan Inglebrink, whose life is centered on his garden and his group of eccentric friends. American Cowslip is David's third film, following his debut, Sweet Thing (1999), and his second, acclaimed feature, Intoxicating (2003). This was Peter Falk's final film appearance two years before his death June 23, 2011.

Plot
Ethan Inglebrink (Ronnie Gene Blevens) is an agoraphobic heroin addict who lives in a homogeneous California town where nothing ever happens. A misfit, clad in a powder blue tux, he has convinced his poker buddies, and surrogate moms, Roe (Diane Ladd), Sandy (Cloris Leachman), and Lou Anne (Lin Shaye), that he is diabetic and his needles are for insulin, not heroin. His next-door neighbor is his landlord and former high school football coach Trevor O'Hart (Rip Torn), who wants nothing more than to kick Ethan out on the street. Complicating matters even further is that Ethan's older brother Todd (Val Kilmer), the local sheriff, is convinced that his brother can only be saved by an act of God, and recruits the family priest (Peter Falk) to get the job done. Meanwhile, as the Garden of the Year competition draws near, Ethan becomes convinced that he can take the $10,000 top prize and pay off his delinquent rent if he can just grow the perfect American Cowslip. Little does Ethan realize that salvation may lie not in the money he could win for growing a rare flower, but with the companionship and understanding offered by his 17-year-old neighbor Georgia (Hanna R. Hall), who longs to escape her abusive father (Bruce Dern).

Cast
 Ronnie Gene Blevins as Ethan Inglebrink
 Val Kilmer as Todd Inglebrink
 Diane Ladd as Roe
 Rip Torn as Trevor O'Hart
 Cloris Leachman as Sandy
 Lin Shaye as Lou Anne
 Josh Perry as Billy
 Peter Falk as Father Randolph
 Bruce Dern as Cliff
 Tom Huddlestone as Rabbi Dave
 Priscilla Barnes as Samantha
 Hanna R. Hall as Georgia
 Blake Clark as Grimes
 Trevor Lissauer as Jim Bob
 Erik Fellows as Rourke

References

External links

2009 films
2009 comedy films
American comedy films
2009 independent films
Films set in California
Films about drugs
2000s English-language films
American independent films
2000s American films

American Cowslip


Coburg is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is about 8km north of the Melbourne central business district. In 2006 there were 22,772 people living in the suburb. It is a part of the City of Moreland local government area.

Before European settlement the Coburg area was home to the Indigenous Australian Wurundjeri people. The area was first surveyed in 1837-8 by Robert Hoddle. The area was first called Pentridge, after the town of Pentridge, Dorset, England.

Suburbs of Melbourne

Coburg, Victoria


Macroscopic means physical objects that are measurable and can be seen by the naked eye.

When one uses macroscopic for abstract objects, one thinks of the world as we see it without any help. Lengths scales are called macroscopic if they fall in the range of more or less than 1 mm or up to 1 km.

One may use the term macroscopic also for a "larger view", namely a view only available from a large perspective. A macroscopic position could be considered the "big picture".

Examples

 A macroscopic view of a ball is just that: a ball. A microscopic view could reveal a thick round skin seemingly composed entirely of cracks and fissures (as viewed through a microscope) or, further down in scale, a collection of molecules in the rough shape of a sphere.

Macroscopy in physics

In physics macroscopy is a relative term. If one looks at a galaxy, a star is microscopic in comparison with the whole galaxy, even if it is many, many orders of magnitude larger than us. macroscopy can also be described as a relation between any two objects in terms of its magnification on a scale of some sort. A macroscopic object is something that we are able to see in plain sight through our own field of vision no matter where we are located. In spacetime light must also come into contact with our eyes and the object we are observing in order for it to be visible.

Related pages
 Length

Basic physics ideas

Macroscopic


Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a test used by physicians and other medical professionals to see if the kidneys are working correctly. In basic terms, it is a measurement of how much liquid and waste is passing from the blood through the tiny filters in the kidney, called the glomeruli, and out into the urine during each minute. The test measures how much creatinine is in the blood. This shows how well the kidneys are performing. In a normal healthy person the GFR stays close to the same value all of the time. The test is done by taking blood from a person and sending it to a laboratory. Normal values are between 90ml/min and 110ml/min. A value below 60ml/minute means the person has chronic renal disease and a value below 15ml/minute means the person's kidneys have stopped working.

Reasons for doing the test
Measurement of the GFR can be very helpful to medical professionals. It helps them decide if a person has a disease of the kidneys or not. A normal value for GFR is between 90-110ml/min. This will normally go down in older people. It will also go down in people with kidney disease. As well as helping a medical professional diagnose a kidney disease, the GFR is also used to monitor the progress of a disease.

Method of testing
The test begins by taking blood from a person's veins. The most common places are the vein in the elbow and the veins on the back of the hands. People usually feel a sharp stinging pain when the needle enters their skin. After the blood is drawn out, it is sent to a medical laboratory where a laboratory technician calculates the GFR. It is possible to calculate an exact value for the GFR but this is rarely done any more. Most of the time, the value is estimated (this is called an eGFR). The basis for this estimate is a chemical in the blood called creatinine. The calculation may also include things such as gender, age, height, weight, and race. Getting an exact measurement needs more tests and special equipment. Doctors now normally use the estimated GFR with signs, symptoms and the medical history given by the patient to come to a diagnosis. A final diagnosis of kidney disease may sometimes be made by a pathologist using tests such as a kidney biopsy.

There are some slight risks when this test is done. These include, too much bleeding from the needle entering the skin and vein, blood collecting under the skin, feeling faint, and infection from the skin being pierced by the needle.

Functions that make up the GFR
There are many functions that make up the GFR. These include: nitrogen based waste, sodium (salt), water, potassium, phosphate, and some medicines dissolved in the plasma such as digoxin and gentamicin. Blood pressure, the balance of acids to bases, the release of erythropoietin (a chemical that tells the body to make more red blood cells). The activation of vitamin D1, the formation of glucose in the fasting state, and the creation of peptide hormones (including insulin) all affect the GFR.

Results
A GFR of less than 60ml/minute for three or more months indicates chronic kidney disease. A GFR of less than 15ml/minute indicates full failure of the kidneys. GFR estimates between 60 and 89 mL/minute do not mean a person has chronic kidney disease unless there are other signs of disease. People with either higher than normal amounts of muscle mass, such as bodybuilders or people with lower than normal amounts of muscle mass, such as amputees or people with muscle wasting disorders (when the muscles become less dense than normal) can have GFR test results that do not appear normal, but may still be normal. A medical professional will explain the meaning of any GFR test done on a patient.

Related pages
Renal function
Renal disease
Dialysis

Other websites
The Kidneys and How They Work
Glomerular filtration rate - GPNotebook

Medical tests

Glomerular filtration rate


For the Spanish painter, see Diego Velázquez.

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (1465 - 1524) was a Spanish soldier and colonial administrator (a Conquistador).He conquered and governed Cuba for Spain. He is often called Diego de Velázquez by Dominican historians (that is the name used in the Appleton's Cyclopedia).

He was born in Cuéllar, near Segovia, Spain. He came to America in the second voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1493. He spent 17 years in the Hispaniola, living most of the time in the southwestern region of the island.

He worked together with the Spanish governor Nicolás de Ovando in the fight against the Taíno Indians of the region. He founded and governed several towns: Azua de Compostela (1504), San Juan de la Maguana (1503), Bánica (1504), Salvatierra de la Sabana (1504, now Les Cayes, Haiti), Santa María de la Verapaz (near the present Port-au-Prince, Haiti), Villanueva de Yáquimo (now Jacmel, Haiti).

In 1511, he left from Salvatierra de la Sabana with 300 men and three or four ships to the island of Cuba to conquer that island. He was the first governor of the island and he founded several cities, Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa (the first European city in Cuba and its first capital) in 1511, San Salvador del Bayamo (1513), Santiago de Cuba in 1514 and Havana in 1515.

In 1517 he sent Juan de Grijalva to explore the coast of Mexico and in 1518 he sent Francisco Hernández de Córdoba to explore the coast of Yucatán. Then in 1519 he sent his secretary, Hernán Cortés, to conquer Mexico with about 450 soldiers but when Cortés got to México (in Veracruz), he broke all relations with Velázquez.

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar died in Santiago de Cuba in 1524.

References

Other websites
 Enciclopedia Libre Universal
 Biography , with a bibliography
Short biography
 Encarta

1465 births
1524 deaths
History of Cuba
15th century in Spain
Spanish military people

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar


The thermal efficiency () is a dimensionless performance measure of a thermal device such as an internal combustion engine, a boiler, or a furnace, for example.

The input, , to the device is heat, or the heat-content of a fuel that is consumed. The desired output is mechanical work, , or heat, , or possibly both. Because the input heat normally has a real financial cost, a memorable, generic definition of thermal efficiency is

From the first and second law of thermodynamics, the output can not exceed what is input, so

When expressed as a percentage, the thermal efficiency must be between 0% and 100%. Due to inefficiencies such as friction, heat loss, and other factors, thermal efficiencies are typically much less than 100%. For example, a typical gasoline automobile engine operates at around 25% thermal efficiency, and a large coal-fueled electrical generating plant peaks at about 36%. In a combined cycle plant thermal efficiencies are approaching 60%.

Heat engines
When transforming thermal energy into mechanical energy, the thermal efficiency of a heat engine is the percentage of energy that is transformed into work. Thermal efficiency is defined as

,

or via the first law of thermodynamics to substitute waste heat rejection for the work produced,

.

For example, when 1000 joules of thermal energy is transformed into 300 joules of mechanical energy (with the remaining 700 joules dissipated as waste heat), the thermal efficiency is 30%.

Energy conversion
For an energy conversion device like a boiler or furnace, the thermal efficiency is

.

So, for a boiler that produces 210 kW (or 700,000 BTU/h) output for each 300 kW (or 1,000,000 BTU/h) heat-equivalent input, its thermal efficiency is 210/300 = 0.70, or 70%. This means that the 30% of the energy is lost to the environment.

An electric resistance heater has a thermal efficiency of at or very near 100%, so, for example, 1500W of heat are produced for 1500W of electrical input.  When comparing heating units, such as a 100% efficient electric resistance heater to an 80% efficient natural gas-fueled furnace, energy prices must be compared to find the lower cost.

Heat pumps and Refrigerators
Heat pumps, refrigerators, and air conditioners, for example, move heat, rather than convert it, so other measures are needed to describe their thermal performance. The common measures are the coefficient-of-performance (COP), energy-efficiency ratio (EER), and seasonal-energy-efficiency ratio (SEER).

The Efficiency of a Heat pump (HP) and Refrigerators (R)*:

If temperatures at both ends of the Heat Pump or Refrigerator are constant and their processes reversible:

 *H=high (temperature/heat source), L=low (temperature/heat source)

Energy efficiency
The 'thermal efficiency' is sometimes called the energy efficiency. In the United States, in everyday usage the SEER is the more common measure of energy efficiency for cooling devices, as well as for heat pumps when in their heating mode. For energy-conversion heating devices their peak steady-state thermal efficiency is often stated, e.g., 'this furnace is 90% efficient', but a more detailed measure of seasonal energy effectiveness is the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE).

Related pages
 Thermodynamics

References

Thermodynamics
Engineering

Thermal efficiency


Kuenstler Script is a formal script typeface. The primary  weight was designed in 1902 by the in-house studio at the D Stempel AG foundry. It was originally titled Künstlerschreibschrift, which translates from German to English as "handwriting of artists". The face is based on late nineteenth-century English copperplate scripts. Those faces in turn took inspiration from earlier eighteenth century writing masters George Bickham and George Shelley, both of whom worked in a writing style called round hand. In 1957, Hans Bohn added to the typeface family with Kuenstler Script Black, a heavy weight of the face.

References
Blackwell, Lewis. 20th Century Type. Yale University Press: 2004. .
Fiedl, Frederich, Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein. Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History. Black Dog & Leventhal: 1998. .
Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983. .
Macmillan, Neil. An A–Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press: 2006. .

Stempel typefaces
Formal script typefaces
Letterpress typefaces
Photocomposition typefaces
Digital typefaces
Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1902

Kuenstler Script


Empoldering is a method of reclaiming land from the sea or from inland lakes, and a way to control floods.  Empoldering involves the use of a polder, a piece of land in a low-lying area that has been reclaimed from a body of water by building dikes and drainage canals.

Although empoldering is usually carried out in low-lying coastal areas, it can also be dome in inland areas such as lakes and rivers.  It is common in countries like the Netherlands, where much of the country is below sea level and subject to flooding.  About one-fifth of the land in the Netherlands has been reclaimed from the sea.  Their largest and most successful project is the Zuiderzee Works.

Polders have two distinct features.  Firstly, they are enclosed by dikes to keep the water out.  The dikes also serve to protect the polder from erosion.  Secondly, polders are continually maintained by systems of drainage canals and pumps which prevent them from becoming waterlogged and hence, suitable for cultivation.

Process

Stage 1: Dike constructed around the area to be reclaimed to keep water from coming in.

Stage 2: The area is drained using pumps and drainage canals.

Stage 3: "Reeds" (a type of salt tolerant plant) are sown by aircraft to help the soil form.

Stage 4: After 3 years, reeds are burnt and the ash is used as fertilizers for the soil.

Stage 5: After a period of up to 15 years, the polder is ready for growing crops, building houses and constructing roads.

Limits of land reclamation

1. Cost of reclaiming from deeper waters

2. Availability of sand

3. Dispute over territorial boundaries

Physical geography

Polder


The Diomede Islands are two islands in the Bering Strait, about halfway between mainland Alaska and Siberia. They are also called Gvozdev Islands in Russian. There are two islands, called Big Diomede and Little Diomede respectively.

Little Diomede is also known as Krusenstern Island, but there are also other places with this name. The Eskimos who live there call it Ignaluk.

The other island, Big Diomede, is also known as Imaqliq, Inaliq, Nunarbuk or Ratmanov Island.

Big Diomede belongs to Siberia, Little Diomede is part of Alaska.

The Chukchi Sea is to the north and the Bering Sea to the south of the islands.  to the southeast is Fairway Rock, an islet which is usually not considered part of the Diomede Islands.

The islands are separated by an international border and the International Date Line which is approximately  from each island. At the closest distance between Little Diomede and Big Diomede, the two islands are only about  apart.

People who live on Little Diomede Island do so in a small village called Diomede, on the west side of the island.

There are plans to build a connection between Siberia and Alaska, either as a bridge or a tunnel (Bering Strait bridge spanning the Bering Strait). In that case, the Diomede Islands would be a halfway point, as they are about the middle of the Bering Strait.

They are sometimes called Tomorrow Island (Big Diomede) and Yesterday Isle (Little Diomede) because the big island is 21 hours ahead of the small one (except when changing daylight saving time, done on different dates).

The people who lived on Big Diomede Island were moved to mainland Russia by the Soviet government. A small Russian military base is currently on the island. Little Diomede has an Inupiat population of 170, mostly in the City of Diomede. This village there has a school, and a local store. Some Eskimos there are famous for their ivory carving. Mail is delivered by helicopter, weather permitting.

References

Pacific islands
Islands of Alaska
Islands of Russia
Siberia

Diomede Islands


Sir Sandford Fleming Park is a  Canadian urban park located in the community of Jollimore in Halifax Regional Municipality. It is also known as Dingle Park, named after the town of Dingle in southwestern Ireland. The park was donated to the people of Halifax by Sir Sandford Fleming. The centrepiece of the park is an impressive tower that commemorates Nova Scotia's achievement of representative government in 1758. Constructed between 1908 and 1912, the Memorial Tower was erected during the same period of building other commemorative towers in the British Commonwealth, notably Cabot Tower in Bristol, England (1898) and Cabot Tower in St. John's (1900).

History

During the 1880s Sir Sandford Fleming, famous for introducing standard time to North America, established a summer retreat on property fronting Halifax's Northwest Arm, after he finished constructing the Intercolonial Railway. He called his retreat The Dingle, the name that is still used today.

The park contains two walking trails passing through forests, heath barrens, saltwater marsh, and a large pond (Frog Pond). As well, the park also hosts a small sandy beach. The water quality of the beach had been a long, contentious issue due to decades of raw sewage being dumped into the Northwest Arm. Following the completion of new sewage treatment facilities in 2008, many of these concerns were allayed. Swimmers should check the municipality's website, and note that users should not swim at the Dingle beach for three days after heavy rainfall.

Dingle Tower

In 1908, Fleming donated the property to the citizens of Halifax for use as a park and proposed the construction of a tower within it to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of representative government in Nova Scotia, the province having held on 2 October 1758 the first elected assembly in what is now Canada.

An ardent imperialist, Fleming also intended the proposed tower to serve as a memorial to the development of parliamentary institutions in the British Empire, now the Commonwealth. Designed by the architects Sidney Dumaresq and Andrew Cobb, the tower stands out as a rare form of architectural expression in the pre-World War I period of rising Canadian nationalism and fervent loyalty to the British Empire. The Memorial Tower is architecturally important because it combines Italianate influences with local construction methods and materials.
The ten-storey stone "Dingle Memorial Tower" plan was accepted by the City of Halifax and the local Canadian Club undertook a fundraising drive to pay for construction. Donations were received from throughout the British Empire and plaques commemorating the contributions, as well as stones from all of the countries of the Empire were placed on the interior walls.

It was formally dedicated in an impressive ceremony in August 1912 by Canada's Governor General the Duke of Connaught who was also Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur. The presence of members of the Royal Family and dignitaries from other parts of the Empire emphasized the importance of the occasion.

In 1913, two large bronze lions at the foot of the tower were donated by the Royal Colonial Institute of London. Designed by British sculptor Albert Bruce-Joy, they are similar to Sir Edwin Landseer's lions at Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.

Restoration

The Memorial Tower was restored between 2010 and 2013. It was partially reopened at the beginning of August 2012 when the 100th Anniversary was celebrated at the opening ceremony. The bulk of the restoration was done by Coastal Restoration and Masonry with the involvement of a number of other specialist firms. The restoration included repointing the entire tower interior and exterior, rebuilding the copper roof, installing new stainless steel grilles on the Observation Deck to keep birds out and people in, reinforcing and refinishing the internal stairs, installing new interior and exterior lighting, refurbishing the window openings and installing new windows, and refurbishing the 35 plaques on the interior walls and the two bronze lions guarding the entrance. The total cost was approximately $2.3 million.
The Dingle Memorial Tower is open to the public in the summer months and has views of the city and Northwest Arm.

Dingle Tower Gallery

References

External links
 Historical Register
 One hundred and fifty years of representative government : proceedings of celebration at Halifax, Nova Scotia on Oct. 2, 1908 (1908)
Chisholm. The Halifax Memorial Tower
HalifaxTrails.ca - Fleming Park Guide

Parks in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Sir Sandford Fleming Park


Oswaldo Moncayo  (September 10, 1923 – April 4, 1984) was an Ecuadorian painter.

Moncayo (O. Moncayo) was born in Riobamba, Ecuador. As a child he moved to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, where he learned the art of oil painting. He started to paint as a child, and became a master when he was an adolescent.

Moncayo's artwork is realistic and it is distinguished by the harmony of elements and colors, and by the perfection of its minuscule details. Ecuadorian landscapes and seascapes were the paintings' main themes. In minor scale, the artist also painted other themes such as horses, still lifes, and colonial scenes. His paintings capture customs, flora, fauna, and scenery that have been changing through time and modernity. In addition to their beauty and artistic value, O. Moncayo's paintings constitute a legacy to the Ecuadorian's culture and history. Moncayo's artwork has been acclaimed and demanded internationally. His paintings mainly belong to museums, galleries, and private collections in Ecuador, Venezuela, and the United States.

Oswaldo Moncayo died in Quito, Ecuador at the age of 60.

Sources
Moncayo's Web Page
Moncayo Art Gallery

1923 births
1984 deaths
People from Riobamba
Ecuadorian artists
Landscape painters
20th-century Ecuadorian painters

Oswaldo Moncayo


The Anglo-Frisian languages are West Germanic languages, which include Anglic (or English) and Frisian. They are different from other West Germanic languages because of a number of sound changes. This is an old classification, which classified the Germanic languages into the Anglo-Frisian languages, and Germanic languages (such as German).

Since about the 1960s, the model is that there was a language called North Sea Germanic, which included all of these.

West Germanic languages

Anglo-Frisian languages


Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor, movie director, producer, an screenwriter. His accolades include twa Academy Awairds, three Gowden Globe Awairds, twa BAFTA Awairds, an twa Screen Actors Guild Awairds. He begoud his career as a bairn an starned in the PBS eddicational series The Voyage of the Mimi in 1984, afore a seicont rin in 1988. He later appeared in the independent comin-o-age comedy Dazed and Confused (1993) an various Kevin Smith films, includin Chasing Amy (1997) an Dogma (1999). Affleck gained wider recogneetion whan he an bairnheid friend Matt Damon wan the Gowden Globe an Academy Awaird for Best Oreeginal Screenplay for writin Good Will Hunting (1997), that thay an aw starned in. He then established himsel as a leadin man in studio films, includin the disaster drama Armageddon (1998), the romantic comedy Forces of Nature (1999), the war drama Pearl Harbor (2001), an the spy thriller The Sum of All Fears (2002).

Efter a career dounturn, in that he appeared in Daredevil an Gigli (baith 2003), Affleck received a Gowden Globe nomination for his performance in the noir biopic Hollywoodland (2006). His directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone (2007), that he an aw co-wrote, wis weel received. He then directit, co-wrote, an starned in the crime drama The Town (2010). For the poleetical thriller Argo (2012), that he directit, co-produced, an starned in, Affleck wan the Gowden Globe an BAFTA Awaird for Best Director, an the Gowden Globe, BAFTA, an Academy Awaird for Best Pictur. He starned in the psychological thriller Gone Girl in 2014. In 2016, Affleck begoud playin Batman in the DC Extended Universe, starned in the action thriller The Accountant, an directit, wrote an actit in the gangster drama Live by Night.

Affleck is the co-foonder o the Eastern Congo Initiative, a grantmakkin an advocacy-based nonprofit organisation. He is an aw a stalwart member o the Democratic Pairty. Affleck and Damon are co-awners o the production company Pearl Street Films. His younger brither is actor Casey Affleck, wi that he has wirkit on several films, includin Good Will Hunting an Gone Baby Gone. Affleck mairied actress Jennifer Garner in 2005; thay separatit in 2015 an divorced in 2018. Thay hae three childer thegither.

References

1972 births
20t-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Activists frae Californie
American film producers
American humanitarians
American male bairn actors
American male film actors
American male screenwriters
American male televeesion actors
American fowk o Inglis strynd
American fowk o German strynd
American fowk o Erse strynd
American fowk o Scots strynd
American fowk o Swadish strynd
Poker players
American activists
Televeesion producers frae Californie
Unitit Methodists
Best Director BAFTA Awaird winners
Best Director Gowden Globe winners
Best Oreeginal Screenplay Academy Awaird winners
Best Screenplay Gowden Globe winners
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School alumni
Directors Guild of America Awaird winners
Inglis-leid film directors
Film directors frae Californie
Film producers frae Californie
Gowden Globe Awaird-winnin producers
LGBT richts activists frae the Unitit States
Livin fowk
Fowk frae Berkeley, Californie
Fowk frae Boston
Fowk frae Cambridge, Massachusetts
Actors o German strynd
Occidental College alumni
Ootstaundin Performance bi a Cast in a Motion Pictur Screen Actors Guild Awaird winners
Producers that wan the Best Pictur Academy Awaird
Varsity o Vermont alumni
Volpi Cup winners
Writers frae Massachusetts
Writers frae Californie

Ben Affleck


Crelle's Journal, or just Crelle, is a journal that was published monthly for mathematical articles.  It was founded by August Leopold Crelle in 1826 in Berlin.  The full German title is  Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik (in English: Journal for Pure and Applied Mathematics).

Crelle edited the journal until his death in 1855.  Lots of very important mathematical articles were published in it.  Some of these were articles which had a very big influence on the development of mathematics.  It published famous articles by mathematicians such as Niels Henrik Abel, Georg Cantor, and Gotthold Eisenstein. It was edited by Carl Wilhelm Borchardt from 1856–80, during which time it was known as Borchardt's Journal. The editor today is Rainer Weissauer (Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg).

Other websites

journals
Mathematics journals

Crelle's Journal


In finance, mezzanine capital can be either a debt or equity instrument with a repayment priority between senior debt and common stock equity. Mezzanine debt is subordinated debt that represents a claim on a company's assets which is senior only to that of the common shares and usually unsecured. Redeemable preferred stock equity, with warrants or conversion rights, is also a type of mezzanine financing.

Mezzanine capital is often a more expensive financing source for a company than secured debt or senior debt. The higher cost of capital associated with mezzanine financings is the result of it being an unsecured, subordinated (or junior) obligation in a company's capital structure (i.e., in the event of default, the mezzanine financing is only repaid after all senior obligations have been satisfied). Additionally, mezzanine financings, which are usually private placements, are often used by smaller companies and may involve greater overall levels of leverage than issues in the high-yield market; they thus involve additional risk. In compensation for the increased risk, mezzanine debt holders require a higher return for their investment than secured or more senior lenders.

Structure
Mezzanine financings can be completed through a variety of different structures based on the specific objectives of the transaction and the existing capital structure in place at the company.  The basic forms used in most mezzanine financings are subordinated notes and preferred stock.  Mezzanine lenders, typically specialist mezzanine investment funds, look for a certain rate of return which can come from securities made up of any of the following or a combination thereof:

 Cash interest: A periodic payment of cash based on a percentage of the outstanding balance of the mezzanine financing.  The interest rate can be either fixed throughout the term of the loan or can fluctuate (i.e., float) along with LIBOR or other base rates.
 PIK interest: Payable in kind interest is a periodic form of payment in which the interest payment is not paid in cash but rather by increasing the principal amount by the amount of the interest (e.g., a $100 million bond with an 8% PIK interest rate will have a balance of $108 million at the end of the period, but will not pay any cash interest).
 Ownership: Along with the typical interest payment associated with debt, mezzanine capital will often include an equity stake in the form of attached warrants or a conversion feature similar to that of a convertible bond.  The ownership component in mezzanine securities is almost always accompanied by either cash interest or PIK interest, and, in many cases, by both.

Mezzanine lenders will also often charge an arrangement fee, payable upfront at the closing of the transaction.  Arrangement fees contribute the least return, and their purposes are primarily to cover administrative costs or as an incentive to complete the transaction.

The following are illustrative examples of mezzanine financings:

 $100 million of senior subordinated notes with warrants (10% cash interest, 3% PIK interest and warrants representing 4% of the fully diluted ownership of the company)
 $50 million of redeemable preferred stock with warrants (0% cash interest, 14% PIK interest and warrants representing 6% of the fully diluted ownership of the company)

In structuring a mezzanine security, the company and lender work together to avoid burdening the borrower with the full interest cost of such a loan.  Because mezzanine lenders will seek a return of 14% to 20%, this return must be achieved through means other than simple cash interest payments.  As a result, by using equity ownership and PIK interest, the mezzanine lender effectively defers its compensation until the due date of the security or a change of control of the company.

Mezzanine financings can be made at either the operating company level or at the level of a holding company (also known as structural subordination).  In a holding company structure, as there are no operations and hence no cash flows, the structural subordination of the security and the reliance on cash dividends from the operating company introduces additional risk and typically higher cost.

Uses

Leveraged buyouts
In leveraged buyouts, mezzanine capital is used in conjunction with other securities to fund the purchase price of the company being acquired.  Typically, mezzanine capital will be used to fill a financing gap between less expensive forms of financing (e.g., senior loans, second lien loan, high yield financings) and equity.  Often, a financial sponsor will exhaust other sources of capital before turning to mezzanine capital.

Financial sponsors will seek to use mezzanine capital in a leveraged buyout in order to reduce the  amount of the capital invested by the private equity firm; because mezzanine lenders typically have a lower target cost of capital than the private equity investor, using mezzanine capital can potentially enhance the private equity firm's investment returns.  Additionally, middle market companies may be unable to access the high yield market due to high minimum size requirements, creating a need for flexible, private mezzanine capital.

Real estate finance
In real estate finance, mezzanine loans are often used by developers to secure supplementary financing for development projects (typically in cases where the primary mortgage or construction loan equity requirements are larger than 10%).  These sorts of mezzanine loans are often secured by a second ranking real property mortgage (that is, ranking subordinate to the first mortgage lenders).  Standard mortgage foreclosure proceedings can take more than a year, depending upon the relationship between the first mortgage lenders and the mezzanine debt lender, governed by an Intercreditor Deed.

See also
 Growth capital
 History of private equity and venture capital
 Hybrid security
 Private equity
 Private equity secondary market

References

External links
 Mezzanine Finance - White Paper

Bonds (finance)
Corporate finance
Debt
Private equity
Management cybernetics

Mezzanine capital


Jackson & Perkins Company, commonly known as Jackson & Perkins, is an American company that cultivates roses. Since its founding in 1872, Jackson & Perkins has grown to sell other products including live plants, garden accessories, holiday gifts, and home decor.

History

Early history
The company's name came from the two partners who started the business, Charles H. Perkins (1840–1924) and his father-in-law, Albert E. Jackson (1807–1895). The company began in 1872, in Newark, New York, as a truck farm selling strawberries, raspberries, and grapes. Perkins became interested in the wholesale nursery business and he began selling vines and shrubs to nearby retail nurseries.

In 1882, Charles became fascinated with rose propagation. In 1884, he hired Alvin Miller as foreman of his newly evolving rose business. Miller, a hybridizer, was directed to develop a special rose new to the rose market. His first success, introduced in 1901, was the Dorothy Perkins rose, named for Charles Perkins' granddaughter Dorothy. In 1908, this rose won top honors at the Royal National Rose Society. It also started a long tradition of naming roses for people. This rose has been mentioned by several authors in their works including F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jackson & Perkins stopped marketing the original Dorothy Perkins rose because the plant was prone to mildew and disease. It is still available from specialty nurseries. To this day the Dorothy Perkins climbing rose adorns the walls of Windsor Castle.

Jackson & Perkins remained a family affair when, in 1928, Charles "Charlie" Perkins, nephew of the founder, succeeded his cousin George C. Perkins as President. He furthered the company's involvement in rose hybridization by hiring Jean Henri Nicolas, an internationally known French hybridizer, to head the new, expanded rose hybridization department.  The family home at Newark, known as the Jackson–Perkins House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

After Nicolas's death in 1937, Eugene Boerner, his understudy, became J&P's head hybridizer. Boerner made great strides in the floribunda class of rose, a classification name coined by C.H. Perkins, a cousin of Charles. In 1939, Boerner increased J&P's stock of roses by collecting 10,000 cuttings from growers in Europe. These cuttings were instrumental in the successful propagation of new varieties.

J&P, along with other innovative growers, wanted protection for the plants they launched. The United States Congress, in 1931, extended plant patent protection to nurseries that developed and introduced new plants to the nursery trade. This law gives patent-holders seven years of competition-free production.

World's Fair rose
The 1939 New York World's Fair proved to be the perfect venue for introducing Jackson & Perkins roses to the nation. Charlie Perkins participated in the fair with a  garden display holding 8,000 roses. World's Fair, a red floribunda rose, was the star attraction.

Approximately 40,000 people signed up to have information or the World's Fair rose shipped. This gave the company a ready-made customer list. Catalogs were developed, and the Jackson & Perkins mail order business, the first mail order rose nursery in the nation, was launched.

World's Fair was the winner of the first All-America Rose Selection competition, followed by a string of winners. Katherine T. Marshall won in 1944. Fashion, a coral-peach rose, won the AARS competition in 1950. The following years brought a string of champions: Vogue, Ma Perkins, Jiminy Cricket, White Bouquet, Gold Cup, and Ivory Fashion. Eugene Boerner won fourteen All-America rose honors, including three more awarded after his death.

Jackson & Perkins roses became the stars of the rose world, not just because of the development of hybrids, but also because of the attention given to naming the new introductions. Blaze and Fashion have lasting appeal. Star-struck names, such as Cary Grant, Dolly Parton, Kate Smith, and Arlene Francis could help propel a rose to popularity. Many of these roses are still in production.

Post Perkins-family

Charlie Perkins died in 1963, followed by Gene Boerner four years later. In 1966, Jackson & Perkins Company was purchased by Harry and David, the world's largest mail order fruit business. Bear Creek Corporation, an umbrella organization, was formed over Harry and David and Jackson & Perkins companies in 1972. Jackson & Perkins focused their business on mail order sales while Bear Creek Gardens oversaw garden center, mass market, and greenhouse sales.

Harry and David moved the rose hybridizing facility to Tustin, California, and hired William Warriner to continue the hybridizing work of Boerner. He introduced three hybrids, developed by Gene Boerner, which won AARS awards: "Gay Princess" in 1967, "Gene Boerner" in 1969, and "First Prize" in 1970. He went on to win nineteen All-America awards for his rose introductions while working on J&P hybrids.

In 1984, the corporation was sold to R.J. Reynolds Development Corporation. Dr. Keith Zary succeeded Bill Warriner as Director of Research for J&P roses in 1985. He and his team continued the AARS award winning tradition with nine more AARS awards including Mardi Gras, the 2008 AARS award winner.

Bear Creek Corporation purchased Armstrong Nurseries in 1987. This old J&P rival in the rose industry had been a family-owned company. They were a charter member of AARS and held many awards for their roses. Patented varieties included Double Delight, Olympiad, Fire 'N' Ice, and Crystalline.

In 1986, Bear Creek Corporation, which included Jackson & Perkins, was purchased by Shaklee Corporation, which in turn was purchased by Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd of Japan in 1989.

In 1997, Jackson & Perkins began internet sales of roses. What once was Bear Creek Gardens became Jackson & Perkins Wholesale. Over 300,000 seedlings are grown and evaluated every year at the research facility outside Somis, California. Jackson & Perkins wholesale (JPW) was created to sell to local garden centers as well as mass retailers.

On April 10, 2007, Harry and David Holdings sold most of the assets of Jackson & Perkins to an investment group headed by Donald and Glenda Hachenberger. Today, Jackson & Perkins is a division of Jackson & Perkins Park Acquisitions, which is a subsidiary of publicly traded Western Capital Resources. Jackson & Perkins Park Acquisitions encompasses three garden brands: Park Seed, Jackson & Perkins, and Wayside Gardens.

Gallery

References

Jackson & Perkins Company Commemorates Fiftieth Anniversary The Newark Union-Gazette, Jan. 18, 1924
Interesting Arcadian: Dr. J.H. Nicolas Bob Hoeltzel, Arcadia Town Historian
About Us, J&P History
J&P Wholesale, Our History
Bear Creek Magazine, Winter 2005
Harry & David sells Jackson & Perkins Portland Business Journal, April 2, 2007
Harry & David Sells off Jackson & Perkins Multichannel Merchant/Penton Media, Inc. May 1, 2007
A Market in Bloom, Jackson & Perkins Multichannel Merchant 2000
 Orange County Register April 2010

External links

Agriculture companies of the United States
Companies established in 1872
Companies based in South Carolina
Rose breeders
Plant nurseries

Jackson & Perkins


The Chevrolet Camaro is a car manufactured by Chevrolet. The Camaro was first sold in 1967. It was designed to compete with Ford Mustang, which was a very successful car. The Camaro was discontinued in 2002, but returned again in 2010 as a completely new car. The current generation Camaro's body shell comes from GM Korea formerly known as GM Daewoo.

History
The Chevrolet Camaro was made to compete with the Ford Mustang. It would eventually become one of the most popular pony cars.

The first-generation Camaro was made from 1967 to 1969. It was designed as a sporty pony car. The first-generation Camaro came with many different engines. There were some inline-6s and some V8s. It was available as a coupé or a convertible. The design inspired the fifth-generation Camaro's design.

The second-generation Camaro was made from 1970 to 1981.

The third-generation Camaro was made from 1982 to 1992.

The fourth-generation Camaro was made from 1993 to 2002.

The fifth-generation Camaro was made from 2010 to 2015.

The sixth and last generation Camaro was made from 2016 to 2024.

The Camaro was discontinued in January 2024.

References

1960s automobiles
1970s automobiles
1980s automobiles
1990s automobiles
2000s automobiles
2010s automobiles
Camaro

Chevrolet Camaro


Whenuapai is a suburb and aerodrome located in northwestern Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the shore of the Upper Waitematā Harbour, 15 kilometres to the northwest of Auckland's city centre. It is one of the landing points for the Southern Cross telecommunications Cables. The name is Māori for good land.

Demographics
Whenuapai statistical area, which includes Herald Island, covers  and had an estimated population of  as of  with a population density of  people per km2.

Whenuapai had a population of 3,888 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 159 people (4.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 249 people (6.8%) since the 2006 census. There were 1,263 households, comprising 2,016 males and 1,872 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.08 males per female. The median age was 34.8 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 678 people (17.4%) aged under 15 years, 981 (25.2%) aged 15 to 29, 1,815 (46.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 411 (10.6%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 80.6% European/Pākehā, 12.3% Māori, 5.8% Pacific peoples, 11.7% Asian, and 3.3% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

The percentage of people born overseas was 24.2, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 60.3% had no religion, 29.8% were Christian, 0.2% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.8% were Hindu, 0.7% were Muslim, 1.2% were Buddhist and 1.8% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 789 (24.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 345 (10.7%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $43,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. 765 people (23.8%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 1,902 (59.3%) people were employed full-time, 486 (15.1%) were part-time, and 96 (3.0%) were unemployed.

History

In the 19th century, northern Whenuapai was the location of Ockleston's pottery, a brickworks located on the Kotukutuku Inlet of the Waitematā Harbour.

RNZAF facilities

Construction of Whenuapai as a base for Wellington bomber aircraft began in 1937.

Post World War II Auckland became a centre for RNZAF transport and maritime squadrons. From 1945 to 1965 Whenuapai was also Auckland's civil international airport. Whenuapai and Hobsonville bases were integrated in 1965 to form RNZAF Base Auckland. Hobsonville is now closed, with the RNZAF continuing to lease a few remaining facilities.

Today, with a personnel strength of around 1100, Base Auckland is the home for:

 No. 5 Squadron (P-3K2 Orion)
 No. 6 Squadron (SH-2G(I) Seasprite)
 No. 40 Squadron (C-130 Hercules and Boeing 757)
 RNZAF Parachute Training and Support Unit,
 RNZAF Security Forces Military Working Dog Training School
 RNZAF Aviation Medicine Unit.
 RNZAF Operations Squadron
 RNZAF Police

Whenuapai Airport 1945–65
In 1945 the government made the RNZAF Station at Whenuapai available for civil airline operations on a temporary basis and with RNZAF activities to take precedence. That "temporary basis" lasted twenty years and the RNZAF had to give up their two smaller hangars and move to the north apron of their own airfield. In the 1940s Whenuapai was one of three aerodromes in the country with sealed runways, the others being Paraparaumu and Ohakea. Whenuapai was adopted as the international airport for Auckland, despite the benefits of the location of the Mangere Aerodrome, due to its ongoing use by the RNZAF meaning there were no additional costs for the Auckland City Council.

For a short time, Auckland had three aerodromes—the seaplane aerodrome at Mechanics Bay where Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) operated from 1940–54; the city's domestic airport—at the then small grass airstrip at Māngere, on the site of the present Auckland Airport; and weekly Pan American and British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (the latter's services originally operated by Australian National Airways) services with DC-4s from Whenuapai.  Also immediately post-war; the RNZAF operated many of the civil services while National Airways Corporation (NAC) was being organised, and to add to the confusion; some of Auckland's domestic services departed from Whenuapai as well. Hills adjacent to the Whenuapai site limited the ability of new generation aircraft to use the site.

In 1947 the government closed Māngere to all but light aircraft citing safety concerns, and NAC moved to Whenuapai. (At the same time, the government closed Wellington's Rongotai Airport, for the same reasons, and NAC had to move to Paraparaumu, 35 miles from the city.)

In addition to domestic services, NAC flew a DC-3 weekly to Norfolk Island from Whenuapai, and fortnightly on a route that took a week each way; Whenuapai—Norfolk Island—Nadi—Apia—Tongatapu—Aitutaki—Rarotonga.  The Norfolk Island service continued until 1955 when Qantas, chartered to TEAL, took over the route with a DC-4; and the Pacific Service was handed over to TEAL in 1952.

The next major development at Whenuapai was in May 1954, when British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines was wound up, its DC-6s given to TEAL, and that airline sold all except two of its flying boats and moved to Whenuapai. It kept one Solent in reserve and sent the other to Suva to fly the leg to Tahiti, which didn't get a landplane airport until 1960.  The first part of the Coral Route was then operated by DC-6 from Whenuapai to Nadi.

Airport diagram for 1956

Despite problems with its runway Whenuapai continued as Auckland's international airport through the 1950s. In 1960 the longest runway was 6590 feet (6664 ft a few years later) which allowed BOAC Comet flights, but larger jet airliners such as the DC-8 and the B707 demanded a new international airport and work on Auckland Airport began. The first international flight from Auckland Airport was on 24 November 1965 and it officially opened on Anniversary Weekend (29–31 January), 1966 after which Whenuapai Airport reverted to purely military use as an Aerodrome.

Reverting to Military Aerodrome and recent developments
The operational tempo at Whenuapai continues at the level it has been at for the last forty years, although the closure of the adjacent Hobsonville base has seen the departure of rotary operations (primarily the UH1H Iroquois) to RNZAF Base Ohakea.  With the budget for moving the base to Ohakea exceeding one billion dollars, the previously scheduled closure by the New Zealand Labour government (originally by 2007, then 2010 or, at latest, 2014) was cancelled by the incoming National government of 2008. There were suggestions that it be used as Auckland's second international Airport. Reasons put forward in favour were that more people in the Auckland region already lived closer to the aerodrome than to Māngere Airport and that it was projected that within 15 years Whenuapai would be closer for more than a million Aucklanders.

The three local authorities that comprised the north west sector of the Auckland Region, Rodney District Council, North Shore City Council and Waitakere City Council all favoured the second airport concept at one time or another and at least one poll, by the Waitakere City Council in late 2006, indicated 77% support and 22% opposition by the public.

However, in the local body elections of October 2007, the pro-airport North Shore City mayor was defeated by an anti-airport mayoral candidate with indications that the airport issue was the most important of factors considered by voters.

Subsequently, North Shore City Council reversed support for a Whenuapai International Airport while the Waitakere City Council remained in favour. In 2010, all councils were amalgamated into the new Auckland Council and therefore support for a commercial airport was dropped. The proposal had also been opposed by the government.

Airlines of Whenuapai (Chronological Order)

† This was as scheduled operations on its own account.  As QANTAS owned half of TEAL until 1961; before then its aircraft only appeared at Whenuapai if chartered by TEAL, or if its aircraft were chartered for a trip across to New Zealand, although it did occasionally appear at Whenuapai between 1956–61 with its Super Constellations at peak traffic times.

References
General
The Auckland Scrapbook, Auckland City Library (microfiche)
The New Zealand Scrapbook, Auckland City Library (microfiche)
Auckland Municipal Airport Files, Auckland City Council Archives
Specific

External links
RNZAF Parachute Training and Support Unit
RNZAF Aviation Medicine Unit
Whenuapai Aviation Sports Club

Suburbs of Auckland
Upper Harbour Local Board Area
Airports in New Zealand
Populated places around the Waitematā Harbour
West Auckland, New Zealand

Whenuapai


The Welsh Marches is the area round the boundary between England and Wales. It is not very well defined. The border between the two countries has constantly altered, and many of the small towns have been, at various times, on one side or the other.

On the English side. the area was the Kingdom of Mercia. The fortifications known as Wat's Dyke and Offa's Dyke were built by Mercian kings. The market towns on the English side (such as Shrewsbury and Hereford) were garrisoned.

The term "March of Wales" was used in the Domesday Book of 1086. Over the next four centuries the Norman rulers established Earldoms for the "Marcher Lords", whose job it was to patrol the Marches. Dozens of small castles were built in the border area in the 12th and 13th centuries. From the castles the Norman lords could patrol and defend the area against against Welsh raiders and rebels.

Under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 under Henry VIII, rule by the marcher lords was abolished in 1536. This had the effect of creating a single state and legal jurisdiction, "England and Wales". The powers of the marcher lordships were abolished, and their areas were organised into the new Welsh counties of Denbighshire, Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, Monmouthshire, and Carmarthenshire.

In present-day Britain, the boundary between England and Wales is more or less ignored. In fact, one can cross the border without knowing it, except that painted on the roads on the Welsh side are strange words such as "Arif". Throughout Wales, all official messages are printed in both English and Welsh.

References

Geography of Wales
Geography of England

Welsh Marches


Stress management is the name for a number of techniques to control the level of psychical stress situations. It is usually done to impove  everyday functioning. Stress produces many physical and mental symptoms which are different in every individual situation. Stress can make physical health worse, and it can lead to clinical depression.   The process of stress management is named as one of the keys to a happy and successful life in modern society Although life provides numerous demands that can prove difficult to handle, stress management provides a number of ways to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being.

Psychology

Stress management


Coden is a small fishing village near Bayou la Batre, Alabama, USA. It is about 20 miles southwest of Mobile, near the Alabama/Mississippi border. The name of the town comes from Coq d'Inde, which is French for "Turkey".

Around 1900, the area was known as a resort, which is a place people go to on their vacations.  The Rolston Hotel brought visitors from all over the region. When it was destroyed by a hurricane, the community fell on hard times. The Rolston Hotel property now belongs to the City Of Bayou La Batre and is a park that  is  attracting people from other areas who want cool ocean breezes and peace that originally brought visitors. It is nice because it has the gentle sound of the water of Portersville Bay, fishing, and relaxation. Fresh seafood can be found on Shell Belt Road from fishing boats returning to Bayou Coden. Coden is on the southern shore of the mainland, across the Mississippi Sound from Dauphin Island and is one stop along Alabama's Coastal Birding Trail.

Villages in the United States
Unincorporated communities in Alabama

Coden, Alabama


Stevland Hardaway Judkins (born May 13, 1950)  known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist.

A child prodigy,Wonder became one of the most successful and well-known artists on the Motown label. He has recorded 23 albums and more than 30 U.S. top ten hits,such as Superstition, Sir Duke and I Just Called To Say Love You (which topped all the charts the board it faced). He has written and produced songs for many of his labelmates and other artists as well. His music, which concerns love, peace, care and knowledge about the outside world has won him 25 Grammy Awards(the most awarded to a male solo artist). Wonder plays the drums, guitar, synthesizers, congas, and most famously the piano, harmonica, and the keyboard. In 2009, United Nations dubbed him "Messenger of Peace".

Early life
He was born on May 13, 1950 at St. Mary's of Michigan Medical Center in Saginaw, Michigan. His real name is Stevland Hardaway Judkins but he later dropped the name Morris and it has been his name for his life.

He has been blind since shortly after his birth. While in the hospital his incubator was left too warm, which caused his retina to detach and resulted in severe optical nerve damage.

Career
In 1961, Wonder sang his own composition , "Lonely Boy" for Smokey Robinson of The Miracles. This earned wonder his contract with Motown and he was mentored by Clarence Paul.Wonder's first album, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, was released by Motown Records in 1962 when Wonder was 12 years old. This album was to showcase Stevie's instrumental talents and contained to compositions that Wonder and Paul co-wrote - Session Number 112 and Wondering. He released his second album Tribute to Uncle Ray later that year, mostly covers of Ray Charles's songs including a fresh song, Sunset. These two albums were released in reverse order of recording and failed to gain recognition.Clarence, feeling a song was coming on set Mother Thank You for release as a single, which was pulled and replaced with I Call It Pretty Music But The Old People Call It The Blues. The song almost broke into the Billboard Hot 100, appearing at 101 before dropping out of sight. The followups Little Water Boy and Contract on Love had no success, despite the latter appearing on the Uptight album. His first live album Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius reached number one in the Billboard 200 and contained the  live two part single Fingertips, This made him the youngest musician ever to have a number one album in the United States and the youngest artist ever to top the chart.

His next few singles were not successful; his voice was changing as he got older and Motown was considering cancelling his contract. To save him, a fresh single "Up-Tight", co-written with Wonder was recorded in 1965 with reports saying it was based on a rhythm he had been humming and during recording the lyrics were sung back to Wonder as they were unavailable in Braille and that he "never missed a beat". The single charted at No.1 and an album was rushed into production the following year to back it success. This established Wonder as a genuine Motown hitmaker. Since then, he has used a Hohner clavinet.

In 1971, Wonder released the album Where I'm Coming From, an album he expected to see what was going wrong with the world (featured the single "If You Really Love Me". Around the same time his label mate, Marvin Gaye released a similar album, What's Going On,  which spawned three singles. The albums have been compared with Marvin's seen as successful, whereas Wonder's seen as "self-indulged, undistinguished, pretentious" and overall lacking in unity and flow. Wanting to become a more independent artist, Wonder allowed his old Motown contract to expire.

Wonder moved to a new studio and was taught synthesiser engineering. He then met Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff who introduced him to an electric orchestra  known as TONTO (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) Around the time of its release the previous year, it garnered a lot of attention. On March 3, 1972 Wonder released a new album by the name of Music of My Mind, with all songs flowing together thematically. The album spawned the singles Superwoman and Keep On Running. The album was a success with critics finding it representative of his artistic growth. Although he was separate from Motown, he would still submit his albums to his old record label, Tamla. Cecil and Margouleff helped him engineer the TONTO synthesiser and so were listed as associate producers. This began Wonder's classical period and marked a long collaboration with TONTO's Expanding Head Band.

The albums that followed were Talking Book  and Innervisions, the latter winning album of the year in 1973. Wonder won his first four Grammy Awards in 1973. Two of the awards were for his single "Superstition" from Talking Book.  In 1974, Wonder's seventeenth album Fulfillingess' First Finale was released, also winning album of the year. It featured two number one singles, "Boogie on Reggae Woman", and "You Haven't Done Nothin", a hit which launched criticism against The Nixon Federation - funny enough, 2 days later, Richard Nixon resigned.   Wonder won another four Grammys for the album that year. It was Wonder's second number one album. Wonder's next album Songs in the Key of Life also reached number one. This was Wonder's most critically acclaimed album and the Library of Congress called it culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. It spawned five singles , Sir Duke, a song explaining the pleasures of music, I Wish   wishing for childhood days to come back As a ballad of love which will last till The Impossible happens, Another Star a fast-paced Cuban style heartbreak ballad which featured on BBC's promotional video for the  2014 World Cup and Isn't She Lovely a song inspired by the birth Wonder's daughter, Aisha Morris.(Wonder would not release it as a single although instructed by a Motown executive to do so.) The former two songs reached No.1 on the Billboard charts.

In 1979, he released a soundtrack album, Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants for a documentary The Secret Life Of Plants. The album used a computer melodian virtually throughout. The album contain the No.1 ballad Send One Your Love. The album had been called odd goofy nerdy and foolish. Wonder blamed Motown for not promoting the album  properly. In 1980, Wonder released Hotter Than July which included I Ain't Gonna stand For It, a country-style song about a man whose property has been repeatedly trespassed, Master Blaster (Jammin'), a reggae tune dedicated to Bob Marley, "Lately", a ballad and "Happy Birthday", a song in memory of Martin Luther King Jr used for Wonder's campaign to make Luther's birthday a national holiday. His next was a greatest hits album titled Original Musiquarium I featuring 4 new singles That Girl, Do I Do, Front Line and Ribbon in The Sky. In 1983, Wonder contributed Stay Gold to the drama The Outsiders. He then scheduled an album to be titled People Work, Human Play. The album never surfaced and instead 1984 saw the release of his next soundtrack album The Woman in Red.It spawned the hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" which reached number one in all the countries with charts at the time, therefore becoming his bestselling record. It was Wonder's only number one in the UK. It was number one there for six weeks. In 1985 Wonder released  the digital album In Square Circle and featured on Dionne Warwick's single "That's What Friends Are For" with Elton John and Gladys Knight. It reached number one in the US. Wonder shared the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocal. In 1987 Wonder released the album Characters which featured hit singles "Skeletons" and "You Will Know", but was subject to mixed reception. Michael Jackson's album Bad was released. Wonder featured on the album's fifth song "Just Good Friends". In December 1987 Wonder released a single called "Get It", a duet with MJ in turn for Just Good Friends.

In 1991, Wonder's 3rd soundtrack album, Jungle Fever was released a month before the drama film of the same name. The album helped Wonder climb back into the Top Ten in album charting.

In 1995 Wonder released Conversation Peace. It was his first album that was not a soundtrack since 1987. One single, "For Your Love", was released from the album. It won 2 Grammy awards for Best R&B Male Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.

In 2005 Wonder released his first album in ten years, A Time to Love. Reviewers were upset with the fact it took ten years for him to release a new album with fresh material.  On June 25, 2011, Wonder performed at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

Wonder said in 2013 that he will release 2 new albums in 2014, and is making a third. The current working titles are Ten Billion Hearts, When The World Began and Gospel Inspired By Lula.

References

Other websites

Official website
Stevie Wonder at The Songwriters Hall of Fame website

1950 births
Living people
People from Saginaw, Michigan
American activists
American pianists
American R&B singers
American singer-songwriters
American soul musicians
Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songwriters
Blind people
Grammy Award winners
Multi-instrumentalists
Singers from Michigan
20th-century American singers

Stevie Wonder


Baphomet is a name of unestablished origin. It first appeared in trial transcripts during the inquisition of the Knights Templar in the early 1300s. Some modern scholars believe the name to have been an Old French corruption and misspelling of the name Mahomet (Muhammad). Nowadays it is generally viewed as a symbol of the Devil.

In the Middle Ages, the Templar were accused of heresy, such as denying Jesus Christ and spitting on the cross. They also supposedly worshiped an icon called "Bafomet". Beyond this, little is known about the origins of the Baphomet.

In the 1800s, magician Eliphas Levi interpreted Baphomet as an occult symbol representing perfection, or the union of opposites to create divine harmony. To illustrate his point, he depicted the entity as a goat-headed androgyne with wings, female breasts, a rod between its legs, and a flaming torch between its horns.

This imagery was soon used by people who thought it was Satanic- notably in anti-Freemasonry tracts, where some writers accused Masons of worshipping  the devil. Many evangelical Christians still believe masonry to be of the devil.

In modern times, Baphomet has been adapted as a symbol by occultists and Satanists. A related symbol (also drawn by Levi) is the Sigil of Baphomet, which is a goat's head drawn inside a five-pointed star. It has become a common icon among heavy metal bands like Slayer and Venom. The Sigil of Baphomet is also the official logo of the Church of Satan.

Notes

References

Other websites

Myth of the Baphomet

Demons

Baphomet