The assassination (murder) of Julius Caesar was the result of a conspiracy by forty Roman senators, the self-styled Liberatores. They were led by Cassius and Brutus.

Attack and death
The senators stabbed Caesar to death in the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March, 15 March 44 BC. Caesar was the dictator of the Roman Republic at the time. He had been declared dictator perpetuo (dictator for life) by the Senate. This declaration resulted in many senators fearing that Caesar wanted to overthrow the Senate in favour of a tyranny.

The assassination led to civil war. The Second Triumvirate led to the ascendancy of Caesar's adopted heir Octavian to the position of emperor, and the end of the Republic leading to the Roman Empire. In the end, by murdering Caesar, the Liberators caused the end of the Republic they supported.

List of conspirators
The known members of the plot were:
Gaius Cassius Longinus
Marcus Junius Brutus
Servius Sulpicius Galba
Quintus Ligarius
Lucius Minucius Basilus
Servilius Casca
Gaius Servilius Casca (Servilius Casca's brother)
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus
Tillius Cimber
Caius Trebonius
Caecilius
Bucolianus (Caecilius' brother)
Rubrius Ruga
Marcus Spurius
Sextius Naso
Minucius Basilus
Pontius Aquila

44 BC
Ancient Rome
Julius Caesar
March events

Assassination of Julius Caesar


A carbene is a molecule with a carbon atom that has two bonds and two other electrons that do not make any bonds. Since the carbon has only 6 electrons around it, it is quite reactive. The general formula can be written as  R-(C:)-R'.

A carbene can be a singlet or a triplet. In the first type, the two electrons that do not make bonds are like a lone pair. They both stay in the same orbital. In a triplet carbene instead, the two electron stay in different orbitals. Here they both have the same spin.

Carbenes can do many reactions. They can be both electrophiles and nucleophiles. They like doing addition reactions on double bonds. They are also found in cheletropic reactions.

Most carbenes are very unstable. However, some can exist for a long time. A famous example is Grubbs' catalyst, which was developed by Robert Grubbs.

References

Functional groups

Carbene


The Bronze Lion () is a high Royal Dutch award, intended for servicemen who have shown extreme bravery and leadership in battle favouring The Netherlands; in some special cases it can be awarded to Dutch or foreign civilians. It was first created in 1944 and has since been issued 1,210 times. Proposals for an award are reviewed by the Dutch Board for Bravery Awards, which is part of the Ministry of Defence. If awarded they are enforced by a Royal Decree. The Bronze Lion has precedence after the Order of the House of Orange but is the second-highest military decoration still being awarded for bravery (only preceded by the Military William Order).

Design
The Bronze Lion is a cross in bronze, covered by a round shield. On the front is a relief of the crowned Dutch Lion. The cross is attached to a 37 mm wide ribbon, divided into nine equal vertical stripes, alternately orange and 'Nassau blue', the strips on either edge are Nassau blue. It is possible for a single person to receive more than one award of the Bronze Lion, in which case a number '2' in gold is added on the ribbon of the Bronze Lion.

Last awarded
On Wednesday 31 May 2006, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands posthumously awarded the late Major General Stanisław Sosabowski, commander of the 1st (Polish) Independent Parachute Brigade, the Bronze Lion for his services in Operation Market Garden in 1944.

On Wednesday 7 October 2009, two Dutch soldiers were awarded the medal: commando Björn Peterse (posthumously awarded) and Captain Gijs Tuinman, for their actions in Afghanistan

References
 Bronze Lion - Official website
 Bronze Lion - Ministry of Defence
 Vereniging DMD  - Website of the organization of veterans with the Bronze Lion (Dutch)

Awards established in 1944

Military awards and decorations of the Netherlands

Bronze Lion


Telek is a science fiction novella about telekinesis by American author Jack Vance. It was first published in the January 1952 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

Plot summary
In the near future, humanity is divided into two groups: normal humans and Teleks.  Teleks have the ability to move objects using only the power of their minds.  The telekinetic ability is said to be partly hereditary and partly learned.  The story takes place sixty years after the Teleks first appeared; most of the four thousand Teleks are second-generation, having acquired the ability shortly after birth. The Teleks live apart from normal humans in Glarietta Pavilion, a floating city. They collect precious metals from the moon and other planets which they use to purchase menial labor and other services from ordinary human beings.

The story opens with an attack on a Telek by an enraged worker, followed by the murder of the Telek. A witness, named Shorn, who is a member of a subversive society, arranges for the body to be disposed of. The murderer is caught and killed, presumably by the Teleks. The remainder of the story follows Shorn as he infiltrates Telek society and persuades a Telek to give him telekinetic powers. In the final scene, Shorn brings 265 normal humans disguised as Teleks to the first annual Telek convention, where he tricks the assembled Teleks into giving the humans telekinetic powers.

Publication history
Since its first publication in the January 1952 issue of Astounding, Telek has been reprinted a number of times, in Eight Fantasms and Magics (1969), Great Short Novels of Science Fiction (1970), When The Five Moons Rise (1992), and The World-Thinker and Other Stories (2005).

References

External links
 Jack Vance home page and archive

Short stories by Jack Vance
1952 short stories
American novellas
Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Telek


Cartel de Santa is a Mexican hip hop group from Santa Catarina, Nuevo León. The group began its activities in 1996 under different names and members before taking its final name and alignment. The group is composed of the main vocalist Eduardo Dávalos De Luna (Babo) el and Román Rodríguez, better known as "Rowan" Rabia", Monoplug or simply Mono, Dharius was part of the group but it was separated from it in mid 2013. Cartel de Santa continues to be one of the most popular Mexican rap groups worldwide, it is also one of the groups of Spanish speaking best sellers of all time, achieving different certifications for their high sales.

History
The group rose to fame in 2003, releasing their first album titled "Cartel de Santa: Vol. I". The album included songs that became hits, such as: "Asesinos de Asesinos", "Cannabis Sativa", "La Pelotona", and "Todas mueren por mí". This album was produced by Jason Roberts, who has also produced for artists such as: Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, House of Pain, Control Machete and Plastilina Mosh That same year, Cartel de Santa, launched a musical video of the song "Perros", which was broadcast to Latin America by MTV. However, the most important album of his career was released a year later, in 2004, titled Cartel de Santa Vol. II, which included songs such as "Blah Blah Blah ", La Llamada", "Crónica Babilonia", "El Arte del Engaño" and "El Dolor del Micro" (featuring Julieta Venegas).

In 2006, Cartel de Santa recorded his third album, called Cartel de Santa, Vol. Prohibido that included the singles "Cheka Wey" (which also featured a music video); "Hey Si me Ven"; "Súbele A La Greibol"; "Mexico, Lindo Y Bandido" and "La Ranfla Del Cartel". A few months later, Babo was arrested for accidentally killing one of his friends, the state deemed him a qualified homicide. Because of this, the group released a compilation album Greatest Hits and some extra themes to raise funds and release the rapper from prison. Babo was released nine months later in January 2008.

In February of 2008, the band released their fourth album, which contains songs like "Babo Regresa", "Cosas de la vida", "De Mexico El Autentico", "Brillo Humillo", "Vato Sencillo", which narrate about the months that MC Babo was in prison, about how he killed his friend, and about the fact that they continued making music. The first single was "Hay Mamita"

Discography

Albums
Cartel de Santa (2002)
Vol.II (2004)
Volumen Prohibido (2006)
Vol.IV (2008)
Sincopa (2010)
Golpe Avisa (2014)
Viejo Marihuano (2016)

Compilations
Cartel de Santa, Casa Babilonia presentan: Los Mixtapes (2006)
Cartel de Santa, Greatest Hits (2007)
Casa Babilonia Records: Compilado (2008)
Casa Rifa: Demos (2009)
Sincopa 5.1 (2011)
Me Atizo Macizo Tour 2012, En vivo desde el D.F
Los Jefes (Soundtrack of the movie) (2015)

Musical groups established in 1996
1990s Mexican music groups
2000s Mexican music groups
Mexican rap music groups
1996 establishments in North America
1990s establishments in Mexico

Cartel de Santa


Stephen James Backley, OBE (born 12 February 1969) is a retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He formerly held the world record, and his  throw from 1992 is the British record. During his career, he was a firm fixture in the British national athletics team. He won four gold medals at the European Championships, three Commonwealth Games gold medals, two silvers and a bronze at the Olympic Games, and two silvers at the World Championships. Currently, he is an occasional commentator for athletics competitions, especially the field events.

Career

Early life
Backley was educated at Hurst Primary School, Bexley, and later at Bexley and Erith Technical High School for Boys (now Beths Grammar School) in his teens. He was a member of the South East London-based Cambridge Harriers Athletics club, and competed for Bexley in the London Youth Games. He enrolled at Loughborough University in October 1988 to study for a BSc Honours degree in physical education, sports science and recreation management. Although he completed his first year there and remained a student until 2002, the time he dedicated to the javelin prevented him from completing his studies. However, on 16 December 2002 Loughborough University honoured him with the degree of Doctor of Technology honoris causa.

Backley's first significant title, was won in 1987 when he threw 75.14 metres to pick up the European junior title, ahead of Vladimir Sasimovich (73.24) of Russia and East German Raymond Hecht (72.78). In 1988, Backley won the silver medal at the 1988 World Junior Championships. He also broke the world junior record that year.

1990–1993: World records
In July 1990, Backley set a world record of 89.58m in Stockholm, Sweden. The record was then bettered by the Czech thrower Jan Železný a few weeks later, but Backley then regained the record with a throw 90.98m at Crystal Palace, London, to end the year as the world record holder. Finland's Seppo Räty then bettered the record in 1991. The records set by Železný and Räty, as well as Backley's 90.98m throw, had all been made using new 'Nemeth' javelins, however in August 1991 the IAAF declared this type of javelin illegal and all records set using them were retrospectively deleted. As a consequence, the world record reverted to the 89.58m mark that Backley had set in 1990. Backley then set another world record of 91.46m in January 1992 in New Zealand, a record which stood until 1993, when it was bettered by Železný.

2000 Olympics and 2001 World championships
Backley started the year recovering from knee surgery throwing 82.19m against the U.S. in Glasgow, Scotland. The injury forced him to withdraw from the European Cup Super League meeting in Gateshead, England in early July. Due to injury his second competition came in August, taking second (85.84m) to Finlands Aki Parviainen in the Norwich Union Grand Prix and improved to 86.70m in winning the AAA Championship.

At Sydney, Australia for the 2000 Summer Olympics he beat the qualifying mark with his very first throw (83.74m), although the favourite, Jan Železný, threw an enormous qualifying throw of 89.39m. In the final, Backley set a new Olympic record with his second throw of 89.95m, but in the third round two-time champion Železný threw a distance of 90.17m. Subsequent rounds did not see improvements from either competitor and again Železný won the gold medal ahead of Backley. Sergey Makarov took bronze.

With the 2001 World Championships in Athletics to look forward to, he threw over ninety metres for the first time since 1992 at the British Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on 22 July. He had trailed behind Latvian Ēriks Rags (86.47) and American Breaux Greer (85.91) who had both produced personal bests before he pulled out a huge 90.81 with his final throw.

This should have given him an enormous for boost for the worlds in Edmonton, but on 10 August Backley had not taken his A-game to the show.  He could only manage 81.50 in the qualifying rounds and when both pools had finished this left him way down in thirteenth place.  One consolation was that his teammate Mick Hill had qualified well, but even this good news was short lived as Mick unfortunately picked up an injury and only managed to record one distance in the final, finishing last.

Jan Železný took gold with a championship record of 92.80 ahead of Aki Parviainen (91.31) and Konstadinós Gatsioúdis of Greece (89.95). American, Breaux Greer once again increased his personal best to 87.00 in finishing one place outside the medals.

Such was his disgust at his performance he had been contemplating retirement but re-appeared in Gateshead, for the Norwich Union Classic and gained a little revenge by beating world silver medallist Aki Parviainen with a throw of 86.74. Of his six throws this day five of them would have qualified for final nine days earlier.

Backley then travelled to Brisbane in September to take part in the Goodwill Games but despite leading after two rounds, the up and down season continued and he could not improve to leave Jan Železný on top once again ahead of Ēriks Rags and Breaux Greer.

2002 Commonwealth and European champion
It was going to be a busy with two major back-to-back competitions, the Commonwealth Games on 25 July – 4 August and the European Championships on 6–11 August .

On 31 July was the first test and with no major competition he knew that he had reclaimed his Commonwealth title after his very first throw of 86.81 in the City of Manchester Stadium. Runner up Scott Russell of Canada was nearly eight metres back with (78.98) and England's bronze medallist Nick Nieland managed only 78.63.  This gave Backley a hat-trick of Commonwealth titles.

The European Championships in Munich would be much stiffer task with all of the World's leading exponents on show.  Producing an opening throw of 86.29 and then surpassing that marginally in the third with 86.37 it was obvious that he was in form but he still trailed behind Russian leader Sergey Makarov who had sent out a massive 88.05 first round throw.

World record holder Jan Železný again found the European title beyond him and did not manage to record a distance so was eliminated after the third round. This seemed to inspire Backley and the reigning champion went half a metre past the leader in the fifth with 88.54.  Makarov couldn't respond to this and ended up with silver with Germany's Boris Henry taking bronze with 85.33.  This fantastic achievement made Backley the first British athlete to win four consecutive European Championship golds.

Closing career
Backley began the year having problems with a knee injury, but with an early season win in Sweden under his belt, and another victory on 13 July at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Gateshead, throwing 85.69 to defeat Boris Henry (83.52) and Alexandr Ivanov (81.69), he put injury firmly behind him.

A couple of weeks later at the North Down International at Bangor Northern Ireland his opening throw of 81.42m was once again good enough to see off the competition.

It was therefore disappointing when after managing to qualify for the final, only in seventh position, at the IAAF championship Stade de France, Paris, on the final weekend of August, his third and best throw of only 80.13m could not take him through to the last eight in the Sunday final.  Sergey Makarov took the title with 85.44 ahead of Andrus Värnik 85.17 and Boris Henry 84.74 with these all being recorded in the first round.

In Backley's final year of competition in 2004, where he was hoping to add to his Olympic medal haul, he struggled to find form and at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, in a wide-open field, he only made the final as the last non-automatic qualifier. In the final his third round throw of 84.13 metres pulled him up to fourth place but he could not improve on this and finished in that position unable to gain a medal at his fourth consecutive games.

Personal best
Backley's personal best was 91.46 metres achieved on 25 January 1992 at North Shore City, New Zealand. That throw still stands as the British record in men's javelin.

Life outside athletics
Backley was awarded the MBE in the 1995 New Year's Honours list, and then an OBE in 2003. He was inducted into the London Youth Games Hall of Fame in 2009. He was also on a special Olympic medal winners version of Jungle Run. The team collected the most monkey statues ever, getting 3 minutes out of a possible 3 minutes and 20 seconds. The team walked out of the temple with about 35 seconds to spare. The other members of the team were Mark Foster and Iwan Thomas.

Backley competed in the 2008 edition of Dancing on Ice with partner Susie Lipanova. He survived three consecutive skate-offs against Samantha Mumba, Aggie MacKenzie and Tim Vincent. However, Steve ended up in the skate-off for the fourth time in a row, where he lost out to Zaraah Abrahams and her partner Fred Palascak after the judges chose to save her. Steve finished 7th. In 2012 he joined the BBC athletics commentary team for the London Olympic Games, and has commentated at various events for them since. He is the main commentator for field events.

In August 2014, Backley was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.

International competitions

Seasonal bests by year

World Record and / or 90m+ in bold.

See also
Lists of Olympic medalists
List of Olympic medalists in athletics (men)

References

External links

STEVE BACKLEY Timeline. NYT. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
Steve Backley Profile by MTC Talent Management

1969 births
Living people
People from Sidcup
Sportspeople from the London Borough of Bexley
English male javelin throwers
Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
English Olympic medallists
Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
Olympic athletes for Great Britain
Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain
Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain
Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England
World Athletics Championships medalists
European Athletics Championships medalists
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People educated at Beths Grammar School
Alumni of Loughborough University
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England
Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)
Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
FISU World University Games gold medalists for Great Britain
Medalists at the 1989 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade
Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games
Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
World record setters in athletics (track and field)

Steve Backley


A biological hazard, or biohazard, is anything coming from living organisms (i.e. pollen, fungi, animals, insects, bacteria and viruses)  that could be a threat to someone's health. It is represented by ☣, the biohazard symbol, which is used everywhere in the world. When people see this sign they know to take precautions, and to follow proper conduct for science labs.

Biosafety levels

There are four biosafety levels made by the Center of Disease Control. These are used in laboratories so only people who have the right skills can enter. Different levels mean scientists must wear different uniforms and take special care when dealing with dangerous things like viruses.

Biosafety Level 1 The viruses handled in BSL-1 are not very dangerous and usually only cause mild sickness. Diseases in BSL-1 include  chicken pox and some E-Coli strains. People in BSL-1 have to wash their hands with soap, wear gloves, and put waste materials in specially-marked bins.

Biosafety Level 2 BSL-2 is filled with slightly more hazourdous diseases than BSL-1. They have to take more safety precautions has a result. Hepatitis, influenza, HIV / AIDS, and salmonella are handled here.

Biosafety Level 3 BSL-3 is for diseases that may kill but are less deadly than those in Level 4, SARS and yellow fever. A lot of them are airborne, and the lab must be in an closed off area in case of an incident.

Biosafety Level 4 BSL-4 is for very hazardous diseases that kill many people and are hard to treat. BSL-4 workers must be careful and alert at all times and wear suits with special air filters. A lot of hemorrhagic fevers are dealt with in BSL-4, like Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa Virus.

References

Biology
Pollution
Safety
Security

Biological hazard


Jim (or Jimmy) Clark OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland.

He was the dominant driver of his era, winning two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. At the time of his death, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions (33) than any other driver. He also competed in the Indianapolis 500 five times, and won it once, in 1965.

In 2009, The Times placed Clark at the top of a list of the greatest Formula One drivers.

Clark crashed off the Hockenheimring, Baden-Wuerttemberg, West Germany during a race and died of his injuries on the way to hospital.

References

1936 births
1968 deaths
Deaths in sport
British Formula One drivers
Scottish racecar drivers
Sportspeople from Fife

Jim Clark


Little Six Casino is owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Prior Lake, Minnesota, southwest of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area.  The casino features slots and live dealer blackjack tables.  With 4,100 employees, the SMSC, Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, and Little Six Casino combined are the largest employer in Scott County.

Little Six is named after Little Six, a leader during the Dakota War of 1862.  Its sister casino is Mystic Lake Casino Hotel.

History
Little Six Casino is owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC), a federally recognized, sovereign Indian tribe.

The SMSC opened Little Six Bingo in 1982, which became Little Six Casino in 1990 following the passage of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 and the signing of a gaming compact between the SMSC and State of Minnesota. Little Six Casino opened in its new facility in 2007.

Awards
The SMSC Gaming Enterprise, which includes Little Six Casino and Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, received a "Best Places to Work" award from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Business Journal in 2012 and 2013 and a "Top 100 Workplaces" award from the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2013.

See also
 Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
 List of casinos in Minnesota

External links
 Little Six Casino
 Mystic Lake Casino Hotel
 Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
 Minnesota Indian Gaming Association
 National Indian Gaming Association

References

Native American casinos
Casinos in Minnesota
Buildings and structures in Scott County, Minnesota
Tourist attractions in Scott County, Minnesota
1982 establishments in Minnesota
Casinos completed in 1982
Native American history of Minnesota
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community

Little Six Casino


The Banner o Nigerie wis designed in 1959 an first offeecially hoistit on October 1, 1960.
The uniquely sea-green baunds represent the forests an abundant naitural weel o Nigerie while the white baund represents peace.

The naitional banner is an adaptation o the winnin entry in a competeetion held in 1959. The oreeginal haed a reid sun wi streamin rays placed at the tap o the white stripe. This wis removed bi the judges an the banner haes no been altered syne. Lik ither kintras, Nigerie haes special ensigns for ceevil an naval vessels. Some o its states an aa hae banners.
The designer o the naitional banner wis a student, Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi. He hailed frae Owu in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Akinkunmi wis a student o Norwich Technical College, Ingland when he saw the advertisement in the naitional daily that entries wur bein acceptit for the design o a new naitional banner. Akinkunmi quickly prepared his entry an sent it tae Lagos whaur it wis eventually picked in 1958 as the best an the banner wis uised tae celebrate an independent Nigerie on October 1, 1960; when the Union Banner (Banner o the Unitit Kinrick o Great Breetain an Northren Ireland) wis lowered for the Nigerian banner tae tak its place on the flagpole.

Akinkunmi haes received numerous awairds frae baith individuals an organisations, an presently lives in Ibadan.

Banners adoptit through competition
Naitional banners
Banner

Banner o Nigerie


A person who has a coat of arms is sometimes called an armiger.  They are armigerous.

Originally an armiger was an Armour-Bearer or Esquire, who helped a Knight, but who had his own coat of arms.

The term "armiger" is well-defined only in countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, and Spain where there is a state or other heraldic body.  These bodies include the College of Arms in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the Office of the Chief Herald in the Republic of Ireland or the Court of the Lord Lyon in Scotland).

Someone can have a coat of arms either because they are descended from a person with a right to bear a coat of arms, or by having a new grant of arms  to him or herself.

References

Heraldry

Armiger


Phyllis Tate (6 April 1911 – 29 May 1987) was an English composer known for forming unusual instrumental combinations in her output. Much of her work was written for the use of amateur performers and children.

Biography
Phyllis Margaret Duncan Tate was born at Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, the daughter of an architect. She was excluded from primary school by her headmistress at the age of 10 for singing a lewd song at the end of the year. She taught herself how to play the ukulele. She was discovered in 1928 by Harry Farjeon, who prompted her to receive formal music training, which she took up at the Royal Academy of Music for the next four years. While at the academy, where she studied composition, timpani, and conducting, Tate composed a number of pieces including an operetta entitled The Policeman's Serenade. She was very self-critical, and destroyed all of her compositions from before the mid-1940s.

The first piece she would claim as her own was a concerto for saxophone and strings, written in 1944 and commissioned by the BBC. Between then and 1947 Tate composed four pieces: the concerto; a sonata for clarinet and cello (1947); Songs of Sundry Natures (1945); and Nocturne for Four Voices (1945). Tate enjoyed using atypical instrumental combinations. Songs is scored for a baritone accompanied by a flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn and harp. Nocturne is written for four voices with a string quartet, double bass, bass clarinet, and celesta. Following this period of creativity, Tate fell into a five-year slump due to illness.

Although not wishing to write larger instrumental works, Tate's overall artistic output was extraordinary. She experimented in many genres, including orchestral music, chamber music, operas and operettas, sacred music, piano music, and vocal music, which is where she concentrated her efforts. Her most famous pieces, aside from those mentioned above, include her setting of Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, which was written for the 10th anniversary of the BBC Third Programme; the opera The Lodger, based on the tale of Jack the Ripper; her Prelude, Interlude, and Postlude for chamber orchestra; All The World's A Stage; Saint Martha and the Dragon; The What d'ye Call It; A Secular Requiem: The Phoenix and the Turtle; and London Fields, a four movement suite, also commissioned by the BBC.

Although committees were not her forte, Tate was involved in several organizations, usually joining their boards. She participated in the Hampstead Music Club, the Barnet and District Choral Society (she was president and wrote Saint Martha and the Dragon for it), the Performing Rights Society's Member Fund (she was the first woman appointed to be on their management committee), and the Composers' Guild (where she served on the executive committee).

Tate believed that "music should entertain and give pleasure" (Fuller OUP 1). In 1979, she wrote "I must admit to having a sneaking hope that some of my creations may prove to be better than they appear. One can only surmise and it's not for the composer to judge. All I can vouch is this: writing music can be hell; torture in the extreme; but there's one thing worse; and that is not writing it" (Whitehouse 2). After hearing her play at a lunch one day, Dame Ethel Smyth said "At last I have heard a real woman composer!" (Whitehouse 2) However, since, at that point, Smyth's hearing was deteriorating, Tate did not put much stock in this.

Tate married a music editor, Alan Clifford Frank, in 1935. They had two children: a son Colin, born in 1940 and a daughter Celia, in 1952. Frank worked for Oxford University Press, the company that began to publish Tate's compositions in 1935.

Discography
 Dreams Melting. James Geer (tenor), Ronald Woodley (piano). SOMM CD 0630 (2021)
Grimethorpe. Various performers. Chandos B000000A7V, 1997.
In Praise of Women. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; Graham Johnson, piano. Hyperion B00026W65Y, 2004.
Lee Carrol Levine… Plus!. Roy Christensen, Virginia Christensen, Rebecca Culnan, Lee Carroll Levine, Craig Nies, Christian Teal. Gasparo Records B0001DMUW2, 2004.
London Landmarks. Royal Ballet Sinfonia. White Line B000067UM9, 2002.
Songs My Father Taught Me. Sir Thomas Allen, baritone; Malcolm Martineau, piano. Hyperion B00005Y0N9, 2002.
String Quartet in F major. English String Quartet. Tremula Records TREM102-2, 1993

Bibliography
Fuller, Sophie. Liner notes from In Praise of Women.  1994.
Fuller, Sophie. "Tate, Phyllis (Margaret Duncan)." Grove Music Online. Ed. L. Macy. (Accessed April 19, 2007), http://www.grovemusic.com.

Searle, Humphrey. "Phyllis Tate." The Musical Times. Vol. 96, No. 1347 (May 1955): 244–247.
"Tate, Phyllis (Margaret Duncan)." International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Ed. Aaron I. Cohen. 2 vols. New York: Books & Music, Inc., 1987.
Whitehouse, Edmund. "Phyllis Tate (1911-85)." MusicWeb International. 2007 (Accessed April 25, 2007).

External links

1911 births
1987 deaths
Women classical composers
English opera composers
People from Gerrards Cross
English classical composers
20th-century classical composers
20th-century English composers
Women opera composers
Brass band composers
20th-century English women musicians
20th-century women composers

Phyllis Tate


Runaways is a Marvel Comics comic book series created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. The series is about a group of teenagers who try to make up for the evil done by their supervillain parents by becoming superheroes. They are commonly called "the Pride's kids" or "those kids in L.A." by other characters in the Marvel Universe. This is because the team does not have an official name and the most of Marvel's characters are in New York.

In 2006, the series won the Harvey Award for best continuing/limited series.

In February 2007, series creators Vaughan and Alphona stopped making Runaways at issue #24 of the second series.  In April 2007, long-time Runaways fan Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly fame) will take over the series for 6 issues.  Marvel has said that Terry Moore, creator of Strangers in Paradise will take over after Whedon leaves, with Humberto Ramos on art.

Overview
Runaways was started in 2002 as part of Marvel Comics' "Tsunami" imprint. After Marvel cancelled the Tsunami imprint in January 2003, the series moved to the "Marvel Age" imprint. Because of this, the individual story arcs for "Runaways" are collected in small, manga-sized trade paperbacks. The hardcover collections are in normal sized books.  In September 2004, the series ended at issue #18. Marvel started the series again in February 2005 and it has been published ever since.

The series is not usual in that it does not use the ideas of superhero names, uniforms, and team names.  All the characters in the first series (except Alex) chose codenames, but they are used less and less throughout of vol. 1. In vol. 2, the codenames are mentioned once but never actually used.  Molly is the only character who makes a costume but it is made from old bedsheets and clothes. She never wears the costume again after vol. 1 issue #8.  During battle, the runaways mainly fight in their street clothes and call each other by their given names or nicknames.  Also, the children never call themselves "The Runaways". Their team simply goes without a name.  Other Marvel characters usually call the team "the Pride's kids" or "those kids in L.A."  Vaughan even makes fun of common superhero sayings such as "Hulk smash!" or "Avengers assemble!" when Nico tells Victor that the team's rallying call is "Try not to die."

Character histories

The runaways

Original members
Nico Minoru - Daughter of evil wizards Robert and Tina Minoru.  Nico uses the mystical Staff of One to cast spells but she can only cast each spell one time. When it is not being used, the Staff of One hides inside her body. To make the Staff of One come out she must bleed.  She is the leader of the group in Volume 2.
Karolina Dean - Daughter of alien invaders Frank and Leslie Dean.  In her alien form she can fly, control solar energy to do many different things, and her skin glows with a rainbow-like light.
Molly Hayes - Daughter of evil telepathic mutants Gene and Alice Hayes.  She has super-strength and is very hard to hurt.  At first when she uses her powers get tired very quickly, but as she uses them more often, she does not get tired as quickly.
Chase Stein - Son of mad scientists Victor and Janet Stein.  He used a glove that could create and control fire and X-ray goggles stolen from his parents in vol. 1. Chase pilots the Leapfrog, the group's transport, in vol. 2.  He also gets a telepathic and empathic link with Old Lace in vol. 2.
Old Lace - Genetically engineered Deinonychus from the 87th century. Old Lace was empathically linked to Gertrude, but is now linked with Chase and obeys his mental commands.  During vol. 1, Old Lace was thought to be a Velociraptor.
Alex Wilder - Son of organized crime bosses Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder.  Alex was the leader of the group in vol. 1.  However it turns out that Alex was on the side of his parents instead of the Runaways. He is killed along with all of the Runaways parents.
Gertrude Yorkes - Daughter of time-traveling criminals Dale and Stacey Yorkes.  She shared an empathic and telepathic link with Old Lace, however she transfers the link to Chase when she dies in volume 2.

Later members
Victor Mancha - Cyborg "son" of the android Avengers enemy Ultron.  Victor has electromagnetic powers similar to X-Men villain Magneto. He can also create large electric blasts.
Xavin - Child of Skrull alien warlords.  He has all the powers of the Fantastic Four, but can only use them one at a time. He also has the Skrull racial ability to change his form (Shapeshifting).
Klara Prast - a Swiss immigrant to America from 1907 and child bride of an abusive older man, can control the growth of plants

Bibliography
 Runaways vol. 1 #1-18 (April 2003 - September 2004)
 Runaways vol. 2 #1- (February 2005 -)
 X-Men/Runaways (Free Comic Book Day 2006 offering)
 Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways (July 2006 - October 2006)
 Daily Bugle: Civil War Edition
 Runaways Saga (March 2007)

Runaways has been collected in the following digest-sized comic book collections trade paperbacks:

Runaways has also been collected in the following hardcovers:

References

Other websites
Brian K. Vaughan's official site
Marvel Page on the Runaways
Runaways cover artist Jo Chen's official site
Comic Book DB Vol.1 page
Comic Book DB Vol.2 page
Comic Book DB X-Men/Runaways page
Comic Book DB Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways page
Runaways at Merging Minds

Marvel Comics

Runaways (comics)


The Gregg Smith Singers is a mixed chorus from the United States, directed by Gregg Smith (August 21, 1931 – July 12, 2016). The group, which comprises 16 singers, was founded at an all-Japanese Methodist church in West Los Angeles, California in 1955, while Smith was studying for his master's degree in music at the University of California, Los Angeles. The group moved to New York in 1970.

The group's repertoire ranges from the colonial-era American compositions of William Billings to contemporary works by Morton Feldman as well as many works by Smith himself.  They have also performed works by William Duckworth, Arnold Schoenberg, Elliott Carter, Charles Ives, Earle Brown, Edwin London, Blas Galindo, Jorge Córdoba, Harold Blumenfeld, Irving Fine, Morton Gould, William Schuman, Louise Talma, Arthur Sullivan, and Ned Rorem, as well as early music by composers such as Giovanni Gabrieli and Heinrich Schütz. They have also made a well received yuletide album entitled "Christmas Songs from around the World" whose arrangements have also been performed by other choruses, chorales, and choirs as well.

The Gregg Smith Singers have toured the United States 40 times, in addition to 16 tours of Europe, and three visits to Asia. It has recorded over 100 albums, on the Albany, Columbia, Cp2, CRI, Crown, Koch International Classics, Lovely Music, New World, Newport Classic, Sony, Crown, Everest and Vox labels.

The Gregg Smith Singers have performed with numerous orchestras and worked with Igor Stravinsky for 12 years beginning in 1959, until the composer's death in 1971. The group has received three Grammy Awards.

External links
Gregg Smith Singers official site
[ All-Music Guide entry for Gregg Smith Singers]
[ All-Music Guide entry for Gregg Smith]
Gregg Smith Singers page
Gregg Smith Singers information
"Atonal Choir", from Time magazine, 1961
Autobiographical sketch by Gregg Smith

Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical groups established in 1955
Choirs in California
Grammy Award winners
1955 establishments in California

Gregg Smith Singers


Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse is a two-act operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan. It was premiered by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company on 22 January 1887 at the Savoy Theatre in London, England. It ran for 288 performances over 8 months. It is the tenth of the fourteen operettas written by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Roles
 Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd (comic baritone), disguised as a young farmer named Robin Oakapple
 Richard Dauntless (tenor), his foster-brother and a man-o'-war's-man
 Sir Despard Murgatroyd (bass-baritone or baritone), a wicked baronet
 Old Adam Goodheart (bass), Robin's faithful servant
 Rose Maybud (soprano), a village maiden
 Mad Margaret (mezzo-soprano)
 Dame Hannah (contralto), Rose's aunt
 Zorah (soprano), a professional bridesmaid
 Ruth (speaking/chorus), a professional bridesmaid
 Sir Roderic Murgatroyd (bass-baritone), a ghost

Story
The baronets of Ruddigore are compelled to commit a crime every day under a witch's curse. Robin Oakapple is a baronet of Ruddigore who has fled the curse. He and his love, Rose Maybud, are about to marry when Robin's identity is exposed.

In Ruddigore Castle, Robin cannot commit himself to a life of crime. The portraits of his ancestors come to life to punish him. He outwits them and frees himself from the curse for all time. He is reunited with Rose.

Musical numbers
 Overture
Act I
1. "Fair is Rose" (Chorus of Bridesmaids)
2. "Sir Rupert Murgatroyd" (Hannah and Chorus)
3. "If somebody there chanced to be" (Rose)
4. "I know a youth" (Rose and Robin)
5. "From the briny sea" (Chorus of Bridesmaids)
6. "I shipp'd, d'ye see, in a revenue sloop" (Richard and Chorus)
6a. Hornpipe

7. "My boy, you may take it from me" (Robin and Richard)
8. "The battle's roar is over" (Rose and Richard)
9. "If well his suit has sped" (Chorus of Bridesmaids)
10. "In sailing o'er life's ocean wide" (Rose, Richard, and Robin)
11. "Cheerily carols the lark" (Margaret)
12. "Welcome, gentry" (Double Chorus)
13. "Oh, why am I moody and sad?" (Sir Despard and Chorus)
14. "You understand?  I think I do" (Richard and Sir Despard)
15. Finale Act I
"Hail the bride of seventeen summers" (Ensemble)
Madrigal, "When the buds are blossoming" (Ensemble)
"When I'm a bad Bart, I will tell taradiddles!" (Robin and Chorus)
"Oh, happy the lily" (Ensemble)

Act II
16. "I once was as meek" (Sir Ruthven and Adam)
17. "Happily coupled are we" (Rose and Richard)
18. "In bygone days" (Rose with Chorus of Bridesmaids)
19. "Painted emblems of a race" (Sir Ruthven, Sir Roderic, and Chorus of Ancestors)
20. "When the night wind howls" (Sir Roderic and Chorus)
21. "He yields, he yields" (Chorus)
21a. (original) "Away, remorse!" ... "For thirty-five years I've been sober and wary" (Robin)
21a. (replaced) "Away, remorse!" ... "Henceforth all the crimes" (Robin) (The original song was replaced about a week into the original run.
22. "I once was a very abandoned person" (Margaret and Despard)
23. "My eyes are fully open" (Margaret, Sir Ruthven, and Despard)
24. "Melodrame"
25. "There grew a little flower" (Hannah with Sir Roderic)
26. Finale Act II (Ensemble)
 "When a man has been a naughty baronet"
 "For happy the lily" (reprise) (Ensemble)

References
 Brahms, Caryl. 1975. Gilbert and Sullivan: lost chords and discords. Little, Brown. pp. 159-170.

Operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan
1880s operas

Ruddigore


Paul Huet (3 October 1803 – 8 January 1869) was a French painter and printmaker born in Paris. He studied under Gros and Guerin. He met the English painter Richard Parkes Bonington in the studio of Gros, where he studied irregularly from 1819 to 1822. Bonington's example  influenced Huet to reject neoclassicism and instead paint landscapes based on close observation of nature. The British landscape paintings exhibited in the Salon of 1824 were a revelation to Huet, who said of Constable's work: "It was the first time perhaps that one felt the freshness, that one saw a luxuriant, verdant nature, without blackness, crudity or mannerism." Huet's subsequent work combined emulation of the English style with inspiration derived from Dutch and Flemish old masters such as Rubens, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Meindert Hobbema.

He exhibited in the Salon for the first time in 1827, when one of the eight paintings he submitted was accepted by the jury. Afterwards he showed at the Salon regularly, and won the support of many important critics. Among his champions was Eugène Delacroix, whom Huet had met In November 1822. Less enthusiastic was Étienne-Jean Delécluze, who criticized Huet as "the painter who has been the most faithful to the principles of Constable, Turner, Daniell and by extension Watteau ... he totally neglects design."

Huet participated in the July Revolution of 1830, and was involved in republican politics for a period afterwards. He was awarded a pair of Sèvres porcelain vases from King Louis-Philippe in 1844. He was awarded a gold medal at the Salon of 1848. He exhibited in the Exposition Universelle of 1855, where he was awarded a medal, and also exhibited in the International Exposition of 1867.

Huet's works, which include oil paintings, watercolors, etchings, and lithographs, are Romantic in feeling. He was unusual among French landscape painters in his use of watercolor for sketching as well as for finished works, which were often so richly developed that they resemble oil paintings. The vividness with which he depicted natural forms influenced the painters of the Barbizon School and later the Impressionists.

Huet died in Paris on 8 January 1869.

Selected works

 The Flood of Saint-Cloud
 Normandy Thatched Cottage, Old Trouville

References

External links

1803 births
1869 deaths
19th-century engravers
French engravers
19th-century French painters
French male painters
19th-century French male artists

Paul Huet


Scott S. Sheppard is an astronomer in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He graduated from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.

He discovered many small moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the second known Neptune Trojan, 2004 UP10 as well as several Kuiper Belt Objects, Centaurs, and near Earth asteroids.

Living people
American astronomers
1976 births
Asteroid discoverers

Scott S. Sheppard


Pedro de Ribera (Madrid 4 August 1681 - Madrid, 1742) was a Spanish architect of the Baroque period.

Biography
Ribera worked almost exclusively in Madrid during the first half of the 18th century. He was a disciple of José Benito de Churriguera (creator of the style Churrigueresque). Following in the footsteps of his master, Ribera is considered one of the most important architects of the late Baroque period in Spain. He designed a remarkable quantity of work in Madrid, the capital of Spain, giving the city bridges, palaces, monumental fountains, churches and a variety of public buildings, many of which can still be seen.

Between 1718 and 1719, he was Lieutenant Major Master of Works and sources of Madrid, succeeding Teodoro Ardemans following his death. This position cemented his reputation and allowed him to occupy an important position at court, despite the clear preference of King Philip V of Spain of the sort of foreign architects working in Madrid in the 1720s.

Many of Ribera's creations were destroyed or modified later, especially in the 18th century, when Neoclassicism was a dominating movement. Ribera's architectural style was attacked by influential art scholars like Antonio Ponz.

Works
Francisco Antonio de Salcedo and Aguirre, Marqués de Vadillo, was a patron of Ribera who encouraged him and funded many of his projects. These may include:

 Paseo Nuevo. Puerta de San Vicente (1726–1727)
 Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Puerto (1716–1718)
 Cuartel del Conde-Duque (Guardias de Corps) (iniciado en 1717)
 Puente de Toledo (1718–1732)
 Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat (1720)
 Real Hospicio del Ave María y San Fernando (1721–1726)
 Iglesia de San Cayetano (1722–1737)
 Iglesia de San José (1730)
 Portada de la capilla del antiguo Monte de Piedad de Madrid (1733)
 Real Seminario de Nobles (finalizado en 1725)
 Fuente de la Mariblanca (1726)
 Puente Verde (1728–1732)
 Puente sobre el Abroñigal (1729–1732)
 Carmelitas Descalzas (1730–1742)
 Monasterio de Uclés (1735)
 Teatro de la Cruz (1743)
 Camino nuevo del Escorial (1737)
 Palacio de Torrecilla (1716–1731)
 Palacio del marqués de Miraflores (1731–1732)
 Palacio de Santoña (1730–1734)
 Palacio de Perales (1732)
 Fuente de la Fama (c. 1732)

18th-century Spanish architects
Spanish Baroque architects
Architects from Madrid
1681 births
1742 deaths

Pedro de Ribera


William Elphinstone (143125 October 1514) was a Scottish statesman, Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of the University of Aberdeen.

Biography
He was born in Glasgow. His father, also William Elphinstone, later became the first Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Glasgow.  It has been suggested that his mother may have been Margaret Douglas, daughter of Sir William Douglas, the first laird of Drumlanrig. William Elphinstone junior was educated at the High School of Glasgow and then the University of Glasgow, taking the degree of M.A. in 1452. After practising for a short time as a lawyer in the church courts, he was ordained a priest, becoming rector of St. Michael's Church, Trongate, Glasgow, in 1465. Four years later he went to continue his studies at the University of Paris, where he became reader in Canon law, and then, proceeding to Orléans, became lecturer in the university there.

Before 1474 he had returned to Scotland, and was made academic rector of the university, and official of the see of Glasgow. Further promotion followed, but soon more important duties were entrusted to Elphinstone, who was made Bishop of Ross in 1481. He was a member of the Parliament of Scotland, and was sent by James III of Scotland on diplomatic missions to Louis XI of France and Edward IV of England. In 1483 he was appointed Bishop of Aberdeen, although his consecration was delayed for four years; and he was sent on missions to England, both before and after the death of Richard III of England in 1485.

Although he regularly attended the meetings of parliament he continued with his episcopal duties, and maintained the fabric of the cathedral. Early in 1488 he was made Lord High Chancellor, but on the king's death in the following June he left office, and retired to Aberdeen. As a diplomat, his services were quickly required by the new king, James IV of Scotland, in whose interests he visited the kings of England and France, and the German king, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Having been made Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland in 1492, and having arranged a dispute between the Scots and the Dutch, Elphinstone's later years were mainly spent in the foundation of the University of Aberdeen. The papal bull was obtained in 1494, and the royal charter which made Aberdeen the seat of a university is dated 1498. A small endowment was provided by the king. The university, modelled on that of Paris and intended principally as a law school, soon became the most famous and popular of the Scots seats of learning, largely due to the prestige of Elphinstone and his friend, Hector Boece, the first rector. The building of the college of the Holy Virgin in Nativity, now King's College, was completed in 1506. Elphinstone also built the central tower of St Machar's Cathedral, and funded the building of the first stone bridge over the River Dee. Continuing to participate in public affairs he opposed the policy of hostility towards England which led to the Battle of Flodden in September 1513. He died in Edinburgh.

In 1503, Elphinstone was involved with the merchants James Merchamestoun and James Hommyll, and Italian financer Jerome Frescobaldi buying silverware and furnishings for the king's marriage to Margaret Tudor. Elphinstone was partly responsible for the introduction of printing into Scotland, and for the production of the Breviarium Aberdonense. He may have written some of the lives in this collection, and gathered together materials concerning the history of Scotland.

References

Sources
 Thomas, John. "The Elphinstone monument at King's College Aberdeen. Its construction in the sixteenth century and reconstruction (1909–31) by Henry Wilson", Aberdeen University Review, Vol. LIV, 4, No. 188 Autumn 1992, pp. 315–333.

Further reading
 Hector Boece, Murthiacensium et Aberdonensium episcoporum vitae, edited and translated by J. Moir (Aberdeen, 1894)
 Fasli Aberdonenses, edited by C. Innes (Aberdeen, 1854)
 Alexander Gardyne, Theatre of Scottish Worthies and Lyf of W. Elphinston, edited by David Laing (Aberdeen, 1878).

1431 births
1514 deaths
Bishops of Aberdeen
Bishops of Ross (Scotland)
People educated at the High School of Glasgow
Diplomats from Glasgow
Clergy from Glasgow
Lawyers from Glasgow
Members of the pre-1707 Parliament of Scotland
Scottish printers
Academics from Glasgow
People associated with the University of Aberdeen
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Academic staff of the University of Orléans
University of Paris alumni
Academic staff of the University of Paris
15th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops
Founders of Scottish schools and colleges
Court of James IV of Scotland
16th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops
Scottish expatriates in France
15th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Scotland

William Elphinstone


The Helmet of Iron Gates () is a Geto-Dacian silver helmet dating from the 4th century BC, housed in the Detroit Institute of Arts, United States.

It probably comes from Iron Gates area, in the  Mehedinți County, Romania. Formerly it was in the collection of Franz Tau, Vienna.

The helmet is similar to the Helmet of Coțofenești, Helmet of Peretu, Helmet of Agighiol and Helmet of Cucuteni-Băiceni, all being ancient Getian gold or silver helmets discovered so far on the territory of Romania.

Archaeological context
It is referred to as "Iron Gates" as it was supposedly dredged out of the Danube in the Iron Gate gorge in 1913 or 1914. But, there is no documentary record of the Iron Gate material before 1931, the year in which the Agighiol burial was discovered containing the helmet nowadays named Agighiol helmet. It is probably that the so-called Iron Gates material was looted from the Agighiol grave shortly after its opening by local villagers. However, no other grave has been suggested for the "Iron Gate" helmet. And, In fact, it seems that both Agighiol and Iron Gates helmets had been made by the same workshop, or by the same silversmith. Also, it appears that punchmarks on the helmets had been made by the same tool.

Iconography
The design is sufficiently unusual in ancient art to offer the opportunity to trace it to its origin, and, thereby, provide some insight into the elements that went into the formation of early Dacian art and the means by which ancient Oriental motifs survived and were transmitted into Europe. Almost identical in decoration and details of craftsmanship are the two silver beakers, now in Bucharest and New York, that reputedly came from the region of the Iron Gates. The other designs chased on the helmet are clearly within the Scythian sphere. The helmet type is related to and probably a little earlier in date than the gold helmet in Bucharest which shows some Sarmatian aspects. Lacking evidence of comparable helmets in the Scythian homeland, we may assign this helmet to a local development of a helmet type found in Kuban dating in the early years of the fifth century B. C, with the addition of some Greek features.

The "apotropaic" eyes

The most striking feature of the helmet that is found in all five Getian helmets is their so-called "apotropaic" eyes, which could have looked out as a second set from immediately above the real eyes of the wearer.  Such eyes were considered to be a borrowing from the Greek world where greaves and shields have eyes that have been considered truly apotropaic, serving to divert evil. However, it is argued that the helmets display the feature of doubling of attributes. Besides the eyes, there is the stag depicted with eight legs that is interpreted as "I run twice as fast". Therefore, the "apotropaic eyes" could say : I see twice as well.

The predatory motif

The motif in question is that of a predatory bird with a great round eye and folded wing, grasping in its enormous claw a hare while a fish dangles from its beak. The beakers that reputedly came from the region of the Iron Gates (now reposited in Bucharest and New York museum) carry the same eagle-hare motif.

See also
 Getae
 Dacia
 History of Romania

References

Further reading

 DIA Bulletin, vol 36, no 3, 1956–57, p 68 (ill).
 Piggott, S., Ancient Europe, Chicago: Aldine, 1965, pp 224–6 (ill), as Dacian 3rd-2nd second century B.C.
 Berciu, Dumitru, Arta traco-getică, Bibliotega de Archeologie, v 14, Bucharest, Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Romania, pp 83–88 (ill).
 Rosu, L., CONSILIUL CULTURII SI EDUCATIEI SOCIALISTE REVISTA MUZEELOR SI MONUMENTALOR, Bucharest, 1975, no 12, 2:55-59 (ill).
 Nickel, H., ULLSTEIN WAFFENBUCH, Frankfurt, 1974, p 60 (ill).
 Farkas, Anne E., "Style and Subject Matter in Native Thracian Art," METROPOLITAN MUSEUM JOURNAL, vol 16, 1981, pp 33–48, p 34 for mention of helmet associated with the Getae and Triballi tribes of northern Thrace.
 Meyers, Pieter, "Three Silver Objects from Thrace: A Technical Examination," METROLPOLITAN MUSEUM JOURNAL, vol 16, 1981, pp 49–54.
 Goldman, B., "A Scythian Helmet from the Danube", DIA Bulletin, vol 42, no 4, 1963, pp 63–71 (ill).
 Goldman, B., "Late Scythian Art in the West: The Detroit Helmet," IPEK, vol 22, 1966–69, pp 67–76.
 Rosu, L., "Thraco-Getae-Dacian Art Works In The Detroit Institute of Arts," ROMANIANS CELEBRATING ONTARIO: HERITAGE FESTIVAL, Toronto, 1984, pp 166–168.
 "Family Art Game: Details, Details, Details," DIA Advertising Supplement, The Detroit Free Press, April 29, 1990, p. 25 (ill.).
 "A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts", ed. Julia P. Henshaw (Detroit 1995), p. 101 (ill.)
 A. Fol et al., "The Rogozen Treasure", Sofia, 1989, p. 42 compares Rogozan Beaker #165 to the Metropolitan Museum beaker, the two cups from Aghigol and the Detroit helmet in the iconography of the horned bird of prey which symbolizes ad deity with supernatural powers to defeat evil. p. 194 Author says that the Metropolitan Museum beaker and the Detroit helmet may have been found near Rogozen.

External links

 DIA helmet page
 Gold and Silver Armour of the Getian-Dacian Elite. Military Equipment and Organization.
 Article on the helmet

Military history of Dacia
Archaeological discoveries in Romania
Dacian culture
Ancient helmets
Thracian archaeological artifacts
Collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts
4th century BC in Romania
Individual helmets

Helmet of Iron Gates


Penguins are seabirds in the family Spheniscidae. They use their wings to swim underwater, but they cannot fly in the air. They eat fish and other seafood. Penguins lay their eggs and raise their babies on land.

Penguins live only in the Southern Hemisphere of the world: Antarctica, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and South America. The furthest north they get is the Galapagos Islands, where the cold Humboldt Current flows past.

Physical description
All penguins have a white belly and a dark, mostly black, back. This is a type of camouflage to keep them safe when they swim because it makes them blend in with their background. The white and black colors make an effect called countershading. While a predator looking from below sees the white belly and wings of a swimming penguin, it can not see the penguin well because the light is coming from above. However, when seen from above, the penguin's black back blends in with the dark water below, so they are hard to see.

The biggest penguins may stand nearly 4 feet tall (110 cm) and can weigh almost 100 pounds (40 kg) but the smallest kinds are only about one foot (32 cm) tall.

Penguins have a thick layer of blubber that helps them keep warm and their feathers are very tightly packed to make another cover. They also have a layer of woolly down feathers, under the outer veined feathers that are coated with a type of oil that makes them waterproof.

Penguins have webbed feet used for paddling in the water. They cannot walk well, so they waddle. Penguins cannot fly, but they can swim very well. Their wings have become stiff and small swimming flippers. They have good hearing and can see underwater.

Life
Most penguins lay two eggs per year but emperor penguins lay only one. After the penguins mate, the mother lays her egg or eggs and soon goes to the ocean to eat. The father and mother take turns keeping the eggs warm and the chicks warm after hatching. The parent on baby duty has nothing to eat. Parent penguins call to find each other amongst the thousands of birds when they return from the feeding grounds. The time one parent is alone with the eggs or chicks and going hungry may be weeks or months depending on what kind of penguin they are. If one parent does not return, the other must abandon the egg to go and eat. Global warming is a threat to penguins along with other antarctic animals.

Diet
Penguins eat krill, fish, squid and other small animals from the ocean. They are at home in the ocean. They come up on the land or ice to lay their eggs and raise the chicks. They live in places where the land has no food for them. In most species, the birds all nest together in a huge group called a rookery. They usually make nests on the ground with rocks or mud.

Penguins cannot taste fish. This was discovered when a research team noticed they were missing some key genes for taste. A closer look at the DNA of penguins showed that all species lack functioning genes for the receptors of sweet, umami, and bitter tastes. It doesn't matter to them, because they swallow the fish whole. Birds do not swallow straight into their stomachs, as we do. They have a crop for storage and a gizzard with swallowed stones for grinding food. This compensates for their lack of teeth.

Different kinds
There are 15–20 living species of penguins. The white-flippered penguin is today generally considered a subspecies of the little penguin. It is still unclear if the royal penguin is a subspecies of the macaroni penguin. Scientists are also uncertain whether rockhopper penguins are one, two, or three species. King penguins live up to 25 years.

List of penguins
 Aptenodytes
 King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)
 Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri)
 Pygoscelis
 Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)
 Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis Antarctica)
 Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua)
 Eudyptes (crested penguins)
 Rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome)
 Fiordland penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus)
 Snares penguin (Eudyptes robustus)
 Royal penguin (Eudyptes schlegeli)
 Erect-crested penguin (Eudyptes sclateri)
 Macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus)
 Megadyptes
 Yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes)
 Eudyptula
 Little penguin (Eudyptula minor)
 White-flippered penguin (Eudyptula minor albosignata)
African penguin (Spheniscus demersus)
 Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus)
 Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti)
 Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus)

Images

Related pages
 Tux (Linux mascot)

References

Other websites

 Penguin at Citizendium

Penguins
Flightless birds
Animals of Antarctica

Penguin


Unitarian Universalism is a religion which encourages liberalism and an individual search for truth. It includes many spiritual paths. Its adherents have a pluralistic approach to faith hence may be atheists, agnostics, ignostics, deists, pagans, humanists, polytheists, or monotheists. A common tenet or doctrine within this religion is bodily integrity, self-ownership and individual autonomy. Unitarian Universalist places of worship are called congregations. The religion accepts differences and there is no holy book, dogma, or doctrine. Instead, the adherents are guided by seven principles:
 1st Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
 2nd Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
 3rd Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
 4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
 5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
 6th Principle: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
 7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
The seat of Unitarian Universalism in the United States is in Boston, MA.

External links
Official website

Religions

Unitarian Universalism


Planetarion (commonly referred to as PA) is a browser-based massively multiplayer online game. Created by Fifth Season AS in early 2000, then bought by Jolt in 2003, and then purchased by Renegade Games in 2009; it is now currently owned by Jagex. The game places players in control of a planet, with the ability to mine its asteroids for resources, enabling them to construct a fleet of spaceships to attack other players' planets. Although its popularity has declined with the emergence of other similar games and the introduction of a pay-to-play model, which has since been changed to a freemium format, the game is currently still active, and as such is one of the oldest running internet games of its genre.

The objective of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponents, which can be achieved primarily by stealing their asteroids and destroying their fleets. The game offers a player the choice between five races, each with their own types ships and advantages, allowing for a variety of strategies. Every few months, the game is reset, at which point winners are declared and a new round of play starts, commonly with a number of new features and updates to keep the gameplay balanced.

The game updates once per hour, which is called a tick in-game. Every action within the game, from the construction of a factory to the attack of another planet, takes a set number of these ticks, which gives the game a unique mix between turn-based and real-time gameplay, as it allows players only a limited window of time to react to other players' actions. Because of this, cooperation and communication between planets is a necessity, which leads to a strong sense of community play as the players organise themselves into alliances. Alliances use a variety of communications platforms, including IRC, Discord and Telegram.

History
When the game was launched in 2000 it quickly achieved great popularity, receiving eleven Multiplayer Online Games Directory Game of the Month Awards.

Whilst originally free, the crash of the dotcom bubble also meant a decline in advertising revenue for Fifth Season AS, the Norwegian company behind Planetarion. As a result, the move was made to a pay-to-play model with the start of Round 5. This led to a sharp decline in the game's userbase.

In 2003, Planetarion was sold by Fifth Season AS to the UK-based company SimTech Ltd., a daughter company of Jolt, who provide hosting for the game.

In 2007, round 22 ("Shards of Infinity") once again was a free round. A notable feature is that inactive players will automatically be moved to an inactive part of the universe.

On 16 January 2009, it was announced that OMAC, the company that bought Jolt, had decided to discontinue Planetarion after round 30.

On 6 February 2009, Peter Zaborszky from Renegade Games Limited confirmed that they had purchased the rights to Planetarion and that they would continue to run the game.

On 26 July 2010, it was confirmed that Jagex had purchased Planetarion.

In August 2013, Jagex allowed a newly formed company called Ranul Tech Ltd the licence to operate and manage the game, whilst still maintaining ownership.

In July 2021, in reaction to the impending shutdown of the Netgamers IRC network, Planetarion migrated to Discord for its official communications.

Races
Planetarion currently has five races from which players can choose when creating their planet, each offering particular bonuses and different styles of play. Since the introduction of separate races there had always been four; the twentieth round saw the introduction of a fifth: the Eitraides, who are said to be a Terran race that broke off in search of profit. Making extensive contact with the other races, they receive mostly financial bonuses, as well as a mixture of ships which previously belonged to separate races, such as ships with EMP, cloaking and stealing technology.

Terran (Ter) Terrans are a human race, whose ships use conventional weaponry. Generally they favour the larger and heavier ship classes to attack and inflict damage with.
Cathaar (Cat) Cathaar are a humanoid feline race, who possess advanced EMP technology, resulting in the ability to use highly efficient but non-lethal weaponry.
Xandrathii (Xan) The Xandrathii are a highly advanced insectoid race using small and fast ships equipped with cloaking technology. Their high firepower and speed, combined with the unpredictability of their fleets due to cloaking technology, is offset by the fact that their ships are quite fragile.
Zikonian (Zik) The Zikonians are a mysterious race about whom not much is known. It is claimed that they are an ancient race come to claim domination over the universe, others say that they are a rebel offspring of the Cathaar. They have the uncommon ability to steal enemy ships, thus giving them a variety of ships from each race.
Eitraides (Etd) The Eitraides are humans who decided to leave their home planet and pursue profit, rather than war. This has made them the traders of the universe, receiving great financial advantages. Additionally, their travels have brought them into contact with the other races' ship technology, giving them a mixed arsenal of ships to deploy in their efforts.
Kinthia (Kin) The Kinthia are a race of neutron based life forms that feed off light. Their ships also absorb and store the light from the surrounding stars which makes them impossible to detect from a distance (cloaked). This stored light is then used to power their energy based weapons in the form of EMP (stun) which can disable any ship for a short duration.

Game setup
The game takes place in so-called rounds, the length of which has varied throughout history, but which is currently at approximately two months in length. At that time, the winners are declared and the game is reset, upon which everyone can sign up for a brand new planet. New rounds generally also bring changes in gameplay, ship statistics or even universe makeup, as a result of feedback from the players during the active round.

In between rounds, speedgames are frequently held over weekends which generally run at one-minute ticks, instead of hourly ones for more fast-paced action. In the past, these speedgames have been run at LAN events such as The Gathering in Norway and the Multiplay i-Series in the United Kingdom, and have also been used for competitions such as the Planetarion World Cup.

Reception
PC Zone reviewed version 2 of Planetarion in October 2000, at which point, there were over 30,000 players. PC Zone described the gameplay as having a "charm and subtle addiction that is a pleasant change of pace" and highlighted the quality of support available for the game via volunteer staffed IRC channels. The game was awarded a score of 72%.

Michael Dougherty reviewed Planetarion on 28 August 2007 and awarded a score of 7.0/10, stating that "if you sit in front of your PC twitching uncontrollably when you do not kill a PC/NPC or blow something up on a regular basis then this is definitely not the game for you. However, if you are a strategist who enjoys a slow-paced, turn-based game then you will not find anything better than Planetarion. The keys to this game are strategy and patience, couple this with the proper player base and the right frame of mind when entering the game and you just might find yourself pleasantly surprised and extremely addicted."

Awards and accomplishments
Planetarion has won the MPOGD game of the month award 13 times, most recently in January 2012.

References

External links
 Planetarion website
 Planetarion Wiki

2000 video games
Browser games
Browser-based multiplayer online games
Jagex
Massively multiplayer online turn-based strategy games
Video games developed in Norway

Planetarion


The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is one of the British orders of chivalry. It is the newest order, created on 4 June 1917, by King George V.

Classes
The order is cut into two parts, civil and military. Both parts have five classes or ranks. In order, from highest to lowest, these are:

 Knight or Dame Grand Cross (GBE)
 Knight or Dame Commander (KBE or DBE)
 Commander (CBE)
 Officer (OBE)
 Member (MBE)

Only the two highest ranks are knighthoods, and allow the holder to call themselves 'Sir' (male) or 'Dame' (female). If the person is not a citizen of a country where the King is Head of State, the award is called honorary, and the holder cannot use the title before their name. For example Terry Wogan became a British citizen and was therefore called Sir Terry Wogan, but Bob Geldof is still an Irish citizen, and is therefore not "Sir Bob". He can, however, style himself "Bob Geldof KBE".

The British Empire Medal (BEM) was restarted in 2012, but only in the civil group.  Although the BEM it is the newest British order of chivalry, it has more members than any other.

History
King George V wanted to be able to honour the thousands of people who helped to win the First World War, but were not soldiers.

This Order of Knighthood has a more democratic character than the exclusive Order of the Bath or Saint Michael and Saint George, and in its early days was not held in high esteem. This changed over the years.

Structure
The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order but only on the advice of the Government. The next-most senior member is the Grand Master. There have been three:
Edward, Prince of Wales (1917–1936) (later called King Edward VIII and then the Duke of Windsor)
Queen Mary (1936–1953)
 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1953–2021), Queen Elizabeth II's husband.

The order's rules, called statutes, say that the Order can only have 100 Knights and Dames Grand Cross, 845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8960 Commanders, but there is no limit to the number of members of the Officers and Members but no more than 858 Officers and 1464 Members may be appointed per year. Appointments are made on the advice of the governments of the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms.

Some jobs are usually rewarded with the Order. Usually female judges of the High Court of England and Wales are created Dames Commander after appointment. Male judges are not, because they are usually made Knights Bachelor instead.

Officials and Knights and Dames Grand Cross
Sovereign: Charles III

Grand Master: Vacant since 2021

Current Knights and Dames Grand Cross

 Sir Christopher Leaver GBE (1981)
 Sir Anthony Jolliffe GBE (1982)
 Sir Frank Kitson GBE KCB (1985)
 Sir David Harcourt-Smith GBE KCB (1989)
 Sir Alexander Graham GBE (1990)
 Sir Patrick Hine GCB GBE (1991)
 Sir Brian Jenkins GBE (1991)
 Sir Bill Wratten GBE CB (1998)
 The Lord Rothschild OM GBE CVO (1998)
 Sir Stephen Brown GBE (1999)
 Sir Anthony Bagnall GBE KCB (2002)
 Sir Michael Sydney Perry GBE (2002)
 Sir Ronnie Flanagan GBE (2002)
 The Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE PC (2005)
 Sir David Cooksey GBE (2007)
 Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman GBE KCB (2011)
 The Lord King of Lothbury KG GBE (2011)
 Sir John Parker GBE (2012)
 The Baroness Hayman GBE PC (2012)
 Sir Keith Mills GBE (2013)
 Sir John Bell GBE FRS (2015)
 The Lord Peach GBE KCB (2016)
 Sir Ian Wood KT GBE (2016)
 Sir Cyril Chantler GBE (2017)
 Sir Keith Peters GBE (2018)
 Sir Craig Reedie GBE (2018)
 Sir Christopher Greenwood GBE CMG KC (2018)
 The Lady Higgins GBE KC (2019)
 Sir Michael Burton GBE KC (2019)
 The Earl Howe GBE PC (2021)
 Dame Sue Ion GBE FRS (2022)
 Sir Partha Dasgupta GBE FRS (2023)
 Dame Hermione Lee GBE (2023)

Officers

Like the orders of chivalry, this order has six officials:
 Prelate - The Right Rev. and Right Hon. Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, Bishop of London
Dean - The Very Rev. Andrew Tremlett, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral (The Dean of St Paul's always holds this office).
 Secretary - Stephen Segrave
 Registrar - Simon Case CVO, Cabinet Secretary
 King of Arms - Sir Robert Fulton KBE
 Lady Usher of the Purple Rod - Dame Amelia Fawcett DBE CVO. Many years ago the ushers helped to organise royal events, now only the usher of the Order of the Garter has any official duties.

Revocation
Anyone who behaves in a way that might bring the order into disrepute, may have his or her award taken away.

 1921: Cecil Malone was stripped of his OBE (awarded 1919) following his conviction under the Defence of the Realm (Acquisition of Land) Act 1920.
 1940: Vidkun Quisling was stripped of his CBE (awarded 1929) following his work with Nazi Germany in the occupation of Norway.
 1949: Man Wai Wong was stripped of his OBE (awarded 1947) following his conviction for outlawry in Malaya.
 1965: Kim Philby was stripped of his OBE (awarded 1946) following his exposure as a spy.
 1975: William Spens was stripped of his MBE (awarded 1954) following his conviction for theft.
 1980: Albert Henry was stripped of his KBE (awarded 1974) following his conviction for election fraud.
 1988: Lester Piggott was stripped of his OBE (awarded 1975) following his conviction for tax fraud.
 2006: Michael Eke was stripped of his MBE (awarded 2003) following his conviction for theft and deception.
 2006: Naseem Hamed was stripped of his MBE (awarded 1999) following his conviction for dangerous driving.

John Lennon once criticised military membership in the order, saying:

"Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war - for killing people. We received ours for entertaining other people. I'd say we deserve ours more."

References

Order of the British Empire


Accommodation is the way the eye increases optical power (the degree to which the lens converges or diverges light). This is necessary to produce a clear image (focus) on an object when it draws near the eye. A lens that is more convex( fatter in the middle) would refract more light rays than a less convex lens (thinner lens). The lens can change shape because the cells of the lens contain an elastic crystalline protein. The young human eye can change focus from distance to seven centimeters from the eye in 350 milliseconds.

The eye focuses on a given object by changing the shape of the eye lens through accommodation.  This is controlled by ciliary muscle,which surrounds the lens.

Other websites
 pupilEyes - Learn about accommodation of the eye

Optometry
Eye anatomy

Accommodation (eye)


Israel Abrahams, MA (honoris causa) (b. London, 26 November 1858; d. Cambridge, 6 October 1925) was one of the most distinguished Jewish scholars of his generation.  He wrote a number of classics on Judaism, most notably, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896).

Life and writings
He was educated at Jews' College, where his father Barnett Abrahams served as principal, and at University College, London. In 1881, he received the degree of MA from the University of London. Abrahams taught secular subjects as well as homiletics at Jews' College, and was appointed senior tutor of that institution in 1900. He was a forceful lecturer and an earnest lay preacher. As honorary secretary of the Jewish Historical Society of England and as a member of the Committee for Training Jewish Teachers, he was very active. He was also a member of the Committee of the Anglo-Jewish Association, and of several other institutions of the community. He co-founded the newspaper .

Abrahams collaborated with Claude Montefiore to write the book Aspects of Judaism, which was published in 1895. His chief works were Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896) and Chapters on Jewish Literature (1898). In 1889, he became joint editor of the Jewish Quarterly Review and helped materially to raise the prestige of the publication. He was a prolific contributor to periodical literature, and was especially well known for his articles on literary subjects, which appeared weekly in the Jewish Chronicle under the title of "Books and Bookmen." He also contributed to the Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903).

In 1902, after teaching for several years at Jews' College, Abrahams succeeded Solomon Schechter, who was moving to New York to head the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, as reader in Talmudic and Rabbinic literature at the University of Cambridge. He received the honorary degree Master of Arts (MA) from the University in late May 1902.

In 1914, he published A Companion to the Authorised Prayer Book, a helpful commentary on and supplement to the prayer book edited by Simeon Singer.  Singer himself had intended to write such a work, but died before he had progressed very far.  Revised editions appeared in 1922 and 1932.

In 1922 he was invited to deliver the Schweich Lecture of the British Academy. The lectures were published under the title Campaigns in Palestine from Alexander the Great.

References

External links

1858 births
1925 deaths
19th-century British people
20th-century British people
Judaic scholars
Alumni of University College London
English Jews
Academics of the University of Cambridge

Israel Abrahams


Dina matematik, produk nyaéta hasil multiplying, or an expression that identifies factors to be multiplied.  The order in which real or complex numbers are multiplied has no béaring on the product; this is known as the commutative law of multiplication.  When matrices or members of various other associative algebras are multiplied the product usually depends on the order of the factors; in other words, matrix multiplication, and the multiplications in those other algebras, are non-commutative.

Several products are considered in mathematics:
 Products of the various classes of numbers
 The dot product and cross product are forms of multiplication of vectors.
 The product of matrices; see matrix multiplication.
 The pointwise product of two fungsi.
 Products in rings and fields of many kinds.
 It is often possible to form the product of two (or more) mathematical objects to form another object of the same kind, e.g.
 the cartesian product of sets,
 the product of groups,
 the product of rings,
 the product of topological spaces,
 for the general tréatment, see product (category theory).

Produk (matematika)


The Nomad rover is an uncrewed vehicle designed as a test for such a vehicle to ride on other planets.

From June 15 to July 31 of 1997 on a mission, Carnegie Mellon University deployed the robotic rover Nomad to traverse the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile. Nomad traveled an unprecedented 215 km in 45 days, remotely controlled and driven from both the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA, and the Intelligent Mechanisms Group laboratory at Ames Research Center (ARC). This NASA-funded research program tested technologies critical to planetary exploration and enabled scientists to perform remote geological experiments. The total cost of developing Nomad and conducting the desert trek was $1.6 million.

Nomad was operated entirely under remote control from the U.S., including telepresence and autonomous guidance with simulated 4- to 15-minute time delays such as those that would be encountered on missions to Mars. 20 of the 215 km it travelled were done under autonomous control. The distance was travelled in 45 days.

Nomad is about the size of a small car and has a mass of 550 kg. To maneuver through rough terrain, the robot has four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering with a chassis that expands to improve stability and travel over various terrain conditions. Four aluminum wheels with cleats provide traction in soft sand. For this terrestrial experiment, power was supplied by a gasoline generator that enabled the robot to travel at speeds up to about one mile per hour. Nomad employed a panospheric camera, a high-resolution video camera that focuses up into a hemispheric mirror similar to a store security mirror. The video view includes all of the ground up to the horizon in the circle surrounding Nomad. The robot also had three pairs of conventional stereo cameras and a laser rangefinder for 3D visualization.

Today, Nomad is on display at the Museo del Desierto de Atacama (Atacama Desert Museum) in Antofagasta, Chile.

See also

LORAX (robot)
Rover (space exploration)

References

Planetary rovers
1997 robots
Robots of the United States
Four-wheeled robots
Carnegie Mellon University
Ames Research Center

Nomad rover


The Fokker G.I was a Dutch twin-engined heavy fighter aircraft comparable in size and role to the German Messerschmitt Bf 110. Although in production prior to World War II, its combat introduction came at a time the Netherlands were overrun by the Germans. The few G.Is that were mustered into service were able to score several victories. Some were captured intact after the Germans had occupied the Netherlands. The remainder of the production run was taken over by the Luftwaffe for use as trainers.

Design and development
Demonstration on the Eindhoven airfield in 1937
The G.I, given the nickname le Faucheur ("The Reaper" in French), was designed as a private venture in 1936 by Fokker chief engineer Dr. Schatzki. Intended for the role of jachtkruiser, "heavy" fighter or air cruiser, able to gain air superiority over the battlefield as well as being a bomber destroyer, the G.1 would fulfill a role seen as important at the time, by advocates of Giulio Douhet's theories on air power. The Fokker G.I utilized a twin-engined, twin-boom layout that featured a central nacelle housing two or three crew members (a pilot, radio operator/navigator/rear gunner or a bombardier) as well as a formidable armament of twin 23 mm (.91 in) Madsen cannon and a pair of 7.9 mm (.31 in) machine guns (later eight machine guns) in the nose and one in a rear turret.

Besides its main mission, the G.1 could be configured for ground attack and light bombing missions (it could carry a bomb load of one 400 kg/882 lb bomb or combinations of two 200 kg/441 lb or 10 26 kg/57 lb bombs).

The design and construction of the prototype (registered as X-2) was completed in just seven months. At its introduction at the Paris Air Show in November 1936, even before its first flight, the G.I was a sensation, appearing in a purple and yellow finish (evocative of the Spanish Republican colors, thought to be Fokker's first export customer).

Like all Fokker aircraft of the period, the G.I was of mixed construction; the front of the central pod were built around a welded frame, covered with aluminium plating. The back of the central pod, however, as well as the wings, were completely constructed with wood.

The G.I prototype, powered by 485 kW (650 hp) Hispano-Suiza 14AB-02/03 engines, had its first flight at Welschap Airfield, near Eindhoven on 16 March 1937 with Karel Mares at the controls. Later, Emil Meinecke took over much of the test flights. The maiden flight went well, but a subsequent test flight in September 1937 ended with a supercharger explosion that nearly caused the loss of the prototype. The accident prompted a replacement of the Hispano-Suiza engines with 559 kW (750 hp) Pratt & Whitney SB4-G Twin Wasp Junior engines.

Operational history
Replica of the G.I at the Dutch Air Force Museum in Soesterberg, The Netherlands.
During testing, the company received a contract from the Spanish Republican government for 26 G.1 "export" versions with Pratt & Whitney engines. Despite receiving payment, the order was destined never to be fulfilled as the Dutch government placed an embargo on the sale of military equipment to Spain. Fokker however continued building the aircraft and a story was released to the press that they were intended for Finland, hence the persistent tales about a "Finnish" order. To make matters more complex, Finland showed great interest in the G.I, but eventually purchased Bristol Blenheim light bombers.

Besides the Dutch Luchtvaartafdeeling, several foreign air forces showed an interest in the G.I. as either a fighter or dive-bomber. In order to test its potential as a dive-bomber, the G.1 prototype was fitted with hydraulically operated dive brakes under the wings. Flight tests revealed that the G.1 was capable of diving at over 644 km/h (400 mph) and demonstrated aerobatic capabilities. Swedish Air Force officer Captain Björn Bjuggren tested the G.1 in over 20 dives and reported favourably on its effectiveness as a dive bomber. Orders for G.1 Wasp aircraft came from Spain (26 ordered) and Sweden (18), while the Mercury variant was ordered by Denmark (12) together with a production license that never came to be used, and Sweden (72). Although Belgium, Finland, Turkey, Hungary and Switzerland air forces showed great interest, they never placed firm orders.

The Luchtvaartafdeeling ordered 36 G.I's with 541 kW (825 hp) Bristol Mercury VIII engines, the standard engine used by the Dutch Air Force in the Fokker D.XXI fighter, in order to equip two squadrons. Only the first four examples were built as three-seaters intended for ground-attack, with the remainder being completed as two-seat fighters. During the lead-up to hostilities, a total of 26 G.I's were operational in the 3rd Jachtvliegtuigafdeling (JaVA) at Rotterdam (Waalhaven Airfield), and 4th JaVA Fighter Group at Bergen near Alkmaar. The aircraft were actively involved in border patrols and in order to ensure neutrality, on 20 March 1940, a G.1 from 4th JaVA forced down an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley from the RAF's 77 sqn when it strayed into Dutch air space.

Battle of the Netherlands
On 10 May 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands, 23 G.1 aircraft were serviceable while production of Spain's order of the G.1 Wasp variant continued with a dozen aircraft completed, awaiting armament.

The German invasion started with an early morning (03:50 hours) Luftwaffe attack on the Dutch airfields. While the 4th JaVA received a devastating blow, losing all but one of its aircraft, eight 3rd JaVA G.1 fighters of the Waalhaven airbase in Rotterdam, that were already fully fuelled and armed, scrambled in time and successfully engaged several German aircraft. The surviving aircraft continued to fly, but with mounting losses, bringing their numbers down to three airworthy aircraft by the end of the first day. Despite the heavy losses of 4th JaVA, some of the planes could be kept in the air by scavenging parts from various planes. In the "Five-day War", the available G.1 fighters were mainly deployed in ground attack missions, strafing advancing German infantry units, but also used to attack Junkers Ju 52/3m transports. Although reports are fragmentary and inaccurate as to the results, G.1 fighters were employed over Rotterdam and the Hague, contributing to the loss of 167 Ju 52s, scoring up to 14 confirmed aerial kills.

Aftermath
At the conclusion of hostilities, several G.Is were captured by the Germans, with the remainder of the Spanish order completed at the Fokker plant by mid-1941 in order for the G.1s to be assigned as fighter trainers for Bf 110 crews at Wiener Neustadt. For the next two years, Flugzeugführerschule (B) 8 flew the G.1 Wasp until attrition grounded the fleet.

On 5 May 1941, a Fokker test pilot, Hidde Leegstra, accompanied by engineer (and member of the Fokker Board of Directors) Ir. Piet Vos, managed to fly a G.1 to England. The crew's subterfuge involved acquiring additional fuel for the supposed test flight as well as ducking into clouds to deter the trailing Luftwaffe aircraft from following. After landing in England, the G.1 was conscripted by Phillips and Powis Aircraft, later Miles Aircraft. The company had designed an all-wooden fighter-bomber, and was interested in the G.1 wing structure and its resistance to the rigours of a British climate. Despite being left outdoors for the remainder of the war, the G.1 survived only to be eventually scrapped after 1945.

There are no surviving G.Is today, although a replica has been built and is on display at the Dutch Nationaal Militair Museum (National Military Museum).

Variants

 G.I : Prototype, powered by two Hispano-Suiza 14AB-02/03 engines; one built, c/n 5419. Armed with two 7,92 mm machine guns and two 23 mm Madsen automatic cannons.
 G.I Mercury : Two and three-seat models, powered by Bristol Mercury VIII engines; 36 built, c/n 5521–5556.
 G.I Wasp : Two-seat, smaller "export model" , powered by Pratt & Whitney SB4-G Twin Wasp Junior; 26 built, c/n 5557–5581.
 B 26 : Swedish dive bomber variant of the G.1 Mercury. Originally designated B 7, 18 were ordered with 77 (later 83–95) more planned. Due to the cancellation of the 12 Swedish S 10's (Breguet Bre 694) by the French government due to the German invasion of France it was decided to let the first batch of 12 aircraft become reconnaissance planes called S 13. The B 26 was unique compared to the Dutch variant. Its armament would consist of four 13,2 mm akan m/39 auto cannons in the nose and an 8 mm ksp m/22-37R machine gun for the gunner. It would be equipped with a bomb bay that could hold 8 x 50 kg bombs or a single 250 kg bomb with a bomb fork along with hard points under the wings for 4 more 50 kg bombs (2 under each wing). The B 26 could not be delivered to Sweden due to the invasion of the Netherlands. A mock up was apparently built by Fokker.
 S 13 : Swedish reconnaissance variant of the G.1 Mercury. 12 of the original 18 B 26's where re designated S 13 and where reordered with glass domes called "bath tubs" where a third crew member would sit and scout. Armament would be similar to the B 26 but 2 of the 13,2 mm akan m/39 guns where replaced with 8 mm ksp m/22 ones. The glass domes could also be removed and replaced with a bomb bay. Just like the B 26 none was delivered due to the invasion of the Netherlands.

Operators

 Netherlands

 Luchvaartafdeling (LVA)

 Germany

 Luftwaffe (small numbers)

Specifications (Fokker G.I Mercury)[edit]
Data from Nederlandse Vliegtuig Encyclopedie No.12: Fokker G-1 (2nd edition); The Fokker G-1

General characteristics

 Crew: 2-3
 Length: 10.87 m (35 ft 8 in)
 Wingspan: 17.16 m (56 ft 4 in)
 Height: 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
 Wing area: 38.3 m2 (412 sq ft)
 Empty weight: 3,325 kg (7,330 lb)
 Gross weight: 4,800 kg (10,582 lb)
 Max takeoff weight: 5,000 kg (11,023 lb)
 Fuel capacity: 1,050 l (277 US gal; 231 imp gal)
 Powerplant: 2 × Bristol Mercury VIII 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 540 kW (730 hp) each at 2,650 rpm - takeoff power

 830 hp (619 kW) at 4,100 m (13,451 ft) at 2,750 rpm - maximum continuous power

 Propellers: 3-bladed controllable-pitch propellers

Performance

 Maximum speed: 475 km/h (295 mph, 256 kn) at 4,100 m (13,451 ft)
 Range: 1,510 km (940 mi, 820 nmi)
 Service ceiling: 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
 Rate of climb: 13.5 m/s (2,660 ft/min) 5,000 m (16,404 ft) in 6 minutes 20 seconds
 Wing loading: 125.3 kg/m2 (25.7 lb/sq ft)
 Power/mass: 0.22 kW/kg (0.13 hp/lb)

Armament

 8× 7.9 mm (0.31 in) forward-firing FN-Browning machine guns in the nose
 1× 7.9 mm (0.31 in) machine gun in rear turret
 300 kg (660 lb) of bombs (G.1 Wasp could take 400 kg (880 lb))

or

 2× 23mm Madsen cannons in nose
 2× Further unspecified forward firing machineguns
 1 Further unspecified machinegun firing aft

See also

 Twin-boom aircraft

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

 Bristol Beaufighter
 Kawasaki Ki-45
 Lockheed P-38 Lightning
 Messerschmitt Bf 110
 Potez 630

Related lists

 List of aircraft of World War II
 List of fighter aircraft

Notes

 ^ The Netherlands Air Force before World War II was known as the Luchtvaartafdeeling. (Luchtvaartafdeeling was correctly written in the 1930s style of writing with a double ee.)
 ^ The G.I Wasp had a significantly smaller fuselage length and reduced wingspan/area. G.1 Wasp length: 10.38m (33.9 ft), wingspan: 16.50m (54.2 ft), wing area: 35.70 m2 (384.27) ft2.
 ^ The Luftwaffe operated between 35 and 40 Fokker G.1s.

Citations

 ^ "Foreign Fokker G.1" Fokker G-1 Foundation. Retrieved: 26 August 2010.
 ^ Jump up to:a b c d Green 1967, p. 507.
 ^ Van der Klaauw 1966, p. 183.
 ^ Jump up to:a b c d Green 1967, p. 509.
 ^ Hooftman 1981, p. 62.
 ^ Green 1967, p. 510.
 ^ Morten Hein, "Danish military aviation in relation to the Second World War", website of the Rathbone Museum, rathbonemuseum.com, retrieved 2 August 2014
 ^ Jump up to:a b c d Green 1967, p. 511.
 ^ Van der Klaauw 1966, p. 186.
 ^ Green 1961, p. 107.
 ^ Van der Klaauw 1966, pp. 188–189.
 ^ Hooftman 1981, pp. 108–117.
 ^
 ^
 ^ https://www.tracesofwar.com/articles/2543/Fokker--G1-G-1.htm
 ^ Hooftman 1981, p. 156.
 ^ Hooftman 1981, pp. 156–176.
 ^ Hooftman 1981, p. 176.
 ^ Ketley & Rolfe 1996, p. 11.
 ^ Hooftman 1981, pp. 120–121.
 ^ Hooftman 1981, pp. 194–195.
 ^ Van der Klaauw 1966, p. 191.

External links

 Official website of the Fokker G-1 Foundation (in English)
 G.I, Fokker (in Dutch)
 Images and Videos of the G.1 at Dutch Aviation
 [1] Mentions the order of 12 "bath tubs for the S 13.
 [2] Swedish S 13 and B 26.
 [3] Bombing of the Moerdijk bridges

Fokker G.I