In the field of telecommunications, a Clos network is a kind of multistage circuit-switching network which represents a theoretical idealization of practical, multistage switching systems. It was invented by Edson Erwin in 1938 and first formalized by the American  engineer Charles Clos in 1952.

By adding stages, a Clos network reduces the number of crosspoints required to compose a large crossbar switch. A Clos network topology (diagrammed below) is parameterized by three integers n, m, and r: n represents the number of sources which feed into each of r ingress stage crossbar switches; each ingress stage crossbar switch has m outlets; and there are m middle stage crossbar switches.

Circuit switching arranges a dedicated communications path for a connection between endpoints for the duration of the connection. This sacrifices total bandwidth available if the dedicated connections are poorly utilized, but makes the connection and bandwidth more predictable, and only introduces control overhead when the connections are initiated, rather than with every packet handled, as in modern packet-switched networks.

When the Clos network was first devised, the number of crosspoints was a good approximation of the total cost of the switching system. While this was important for electromechanical crossbars, it became less relevant with the advent of VLSI, wherein the interconnects could be implemented either directly in silicon, or within a relatively small cluster of boards. Upon the advent of complex data centers, with huge interconnect structures, each based on optical fiber links, Clos networks regained importance. A subtype of Clos network, the Beneš network, has also found recent application in machine learning.

Topology

Clos networks have three stages: the ingress stage, the middle stage, and the egress stage.  Each stage is made up of a number of crossbar switches (see diagram below), often just called crossbars.  The network implements an r-way perfect shuffle between stages.  Each call entering an ingress crossbar switch can be routed through any of the available middle stage crossbar switches, to the relevant egress crossbar switch.  A middle stage crossbar is available for a particular new call if both the link connecting the ingress switch to the middle stage switch, and the link connecting the middle stage switch to the egress switch, are free.

Clos networks are defined by three integers n, m, and r.  n represents the number of sources which feed into each of r ingress stage crossbar switches.  Each ingress stage crossbar switch has m outlets, and there are m middle stage crossbar switches.  There is exactly one connection between each ingress stage switch and each middle stage switch.  There are r egress stage switches, each with m inputs and n outputs.  Each middle stage switch is connected exactly once to each egress stage switch. Thus, the ingress stage has r switches, each of which has n inputs and m outputs. The middle stage has m switches, each of which has r inputs and r outputs. The egress stage has r switches, each of which has m inputs and n outputs.

Blocking characteristics

The relative values of m and n define the blocking characteristics of the Clos network.

Strict-sense nonblocking Clos networks (m ≥ 2n−1): the original 1953 Clos result

If m ≥ 2n−1, the Clos network is strict-sense nonblocking, meaning that an unused input on an ingress switch can always be connected to an unused output on an egress switch, without having to re-arrange existing calls.  This is the result which formed the basis of Clos's classic 1953 paper.  Assume that there is a free terminal on the input of an ingress switch, and this has to be connected to a free terminal on a particular egress switch.  In the worst case, n−1 other calls are active on the ingress switch in question, and n−1 other calls are active on the egress switch in question.  Assume, also in the worst case, that each of these calls passes through a different middle-stage switch.  Hence in the worst case, 2n−2 of the middle stage switches are unable to carry the new call.  Therefore, to ensure strict-sense nonblocking operation, another middle stage switch is required, making a total of 2n−1.

The below diagram shows the worst case when the already established calls (blue and red) are passing different middle-stage switches, so another middle-stage switch is necessary to establish a call between the green input and output.

Rearrangeably nonblocking Clos networks (m ≥ n)

If m ≥ n, the Clos network is rearrangeably nonblocking, meaning that an unused input on an ingress switch can always be connected to an unused output on an egress switch, but for this to take place, existing calls may have to be rearranged by assigning them to different centre stage switches in the Clos network.  To prove this, it is sufficient to consider m = n, with the Clos network fully utilised; that is, r×n calls in progress. The proof shows how any permutation of these r×n input terminals onto r×n output terminals may be broken down into smaller permutations which may each be implemented by the individual crossbar switches in a Clos network with m = n.

The proof uses Hall's marriage theorem which is given this name because it is often explained as follows.  Suppose there are r boys and r girls. The theorem states that if every subset of k boys (for each k such that 0 ≤ k ≤ r) between them know k or more girls, then each boy can be paired off with a girl that he knows. It is obvious that this is a necessary condition for pairing to take place; what is surprising is that it is sufficient.

In the context of a Clos network, each boy represents an ingress switch, and each girl represents an egress switch.  A boy is said to know a girl if the corresponding ingress and egress switches carry the same call. Each set of k boys must know at least k girls because k ingress switches are carrying k×n calls and these cannot be carried by less than k egress switches.  Hence each ingress switch can be paired off with an egress switch that carries the same call, via a one-to-one mapping.  These r calls can be carried by one middle-stage switch.  If this middle-stage switch is now removed from the Clos network, m is reduced by 1, and we are left with a smaller Clos network. The process then repeats itself until m = 1, and every call is assigned to a middle-stage switch.

Blocking probabilities: the Lee and Jacobaeus approximations

Real telephone switching systems are rarely strict-sense nonblocking for reasons of cost, and they have a small probability of blocking, which may be evaluated by the Lee or Jacobaeus approximations, assuming no rearrangements of existing calls.  Here, the potential number of other active calls on each ingress or egress switch is u = n−1.

In the Lee approximation, it is assumed that each internal link between stages is already occupied by a call with a certain probability p, and that this is completely independent between different links.  This overestimates the blocking probability, particularly for small r.  The probability that a given internal link is busy is p = uq/m, where q is the probability that an ingress or egress link is busy.  Conversely, the probability that a link is free is 1−p.  The probability that the path connecting an ingress switch to an egress switch via a particular middle stage switch is free is the probability that both links are free, (1−p)2. Hence the probability of it being unavailable is 1−(1−p)2 = 2p−p2.  The probability of blocking, or the probability that no such path is free, is then [1−(1−p)2]m.

The Jacobaeus approximation is more accurate, and to see how it is derived, assume that some particular mapping of calls entering the Clos network (input calls) already exists onto middle stage switches.  This reflects the fact that only the relative configurations of ingress switch and egress switches is of relevance.  There are i input calls entering via the same ingress switch as the free input terminal to be connected, and there are j calls leaving the Clos network (output calls) via the same egress switch as the free output terminal to be connected.  Hence 0 ≤ i ≤ u, and 0 ≤ j ≤ u.

Let A be the number of ways of assigning the j output calls to the m middle stage switches.  Let B be the number of these assignments which result in blocking.  This is the number of cases in which the remaining m−j middle stage switches coincide with m−j of the i input calls, which is the number of subsets containing m−j of these calls.  Then the probability of blocking is:

If fi is the probability that i other calls are already active on the ingress switch, and gj is the probability that j other calls are already active on the egress switch, the overall blocking probability is:

This may be evaluated with fi and gj each being denoted by a binomial distribution.  After considerable algebraic manipulation, this may be written as:

Clos networks with more than three stages

Clos networks may also be generalised to any odd number of stages.  By replacing each centre stage crossbar switch with a 3-stage Clos network, Clos networks of five stages may be constructed.  By applying the same process repeatedly, 7, 9, 11,... stages are possible.

Beneš network (m = n = 2)
A rearrangeably nonblocking network of this type with m = n = 2 is generally called a Beneš network, even though it was discussed and analyzed by others before Václav E. Beneš.  The number of inputs and outputs is N = r×n = 2r.  Such networks have 2 log2N − 1 stages, each containing N/2 2×2 crossbar switches, and use a total of N log2N − N/2 2×2 crossbar switches.  For example, an 8×8 Beneš network (i.e. with N = 8) is shown below; it has 2 log28 − 1 = 5 stages, each containing N/2 = 4 2×2 crossbar switches, and it uses a total of N log2N − N/2 = 20 2×2 crossbar switches.  The central three stages consist of two smaller 4×4 Beneš networks, while in the center stage, each 2×2 crossbar switch may itself be regarded as a 2×2 Beneš network.  This example therefore highlights the recursive construction of this type of network.

See also
 Banyan switch, an alternative way to connect networks
 Fat tree, an alternative way to connect networks
 Omega network, an alternative way to connect networks

References

Telephone exchange equipment
Network topology
Networking hardware

Clos network


Lamidi Ona-Olapo Adesina  (; 20 January 1939 – 11 November 2012) was a Nigerian educator and politician who became governor of Oyo State in Nigeria on 29 May 1999 after winning the 1999 Oyo State gubernatorial election as a member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) party.

Early life
Adesina was born on 20 January 1939. He attended Loyola College, Ibadan. then studied at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from 1961–1965 and obtained a BA (Hons) in History. Later he attended the University of Ibadan in 1971 and obtained a PGDE.

Career
Lam Adesina was an educator. He was a teacher at Lagelu Grammar School Ibadan where he taught History, English and Literature. Among his students at the school was Abiola Ajimobi, who would later become the Governor of Oyo State. He rose through the ranks and assume the role of school administrator (principal). Lam later worked in private educational institutions and established a bookshop before entering politics.
Lam Adesina was also a popular newspaper columnist. His writings under the "search continues column" in the Nigerian Tribune were uncomfortable for successive military regimes and he was detained several times.

Political life
Lam Adesina was elected to the federal house of representative for Ibadan south 1 constituency in 1979 under the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria established by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He returned to private business after the military took over in 1983. Lam was elected to the constituent assembly in 1988. Lam Adesina was a leader of the National Democratic Coalition popularly known as NADECO in Oyo State, Nigeria. The coalition was formed to bring an end to the military government of Sani Abacha and the regime to honour the electoral mandate given to MKO Abiola who won the presidential elections and was later detained In 1998, Lam Adesina was arrested by the military government of Abacha along with other activists, imprisoned and tagged a "prisoner of war".

Later career
Lam Adesina was a sponsor of Abiola Ajimobi in his bid to be elected to the senate for Oyo South in 2003. Later the two men fell apart, and Ajimobi moved to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), but in October 2009, Ajimobi returned to the Action Congress of Nigeria under the leadership of Lam Adesina in Oyo State the two were reconciled. Lam Adesina supported Ajimobi and campaigned for his election as the Governor of Oyo state under the Platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011.

Death
Lam Adesina died on 11 November 2012 at the private St. Nicholas Hospital on Lagos Island.
It was thought that the cause was related to diabetes, from which he had suffered for some time.
He was buried at his Felele residence according to Islamic rites.

References

1939 births
2012 deaths
Yoruba politicians
Governors of Oyo State
Alliance for Democracy (Nigeria) politicians
All Nigeria Peoples Party politicians
Action Congress of Nigeria politicians
University of Nigeria alumni
Burials in Oyo State
Loyola College, Ibadan alumni

Lam Adesina


The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (plural: Lords Lieutenant) is the name of a political office (job). It was the representative of the King and head of the Irish executive (government) between 1171 and 1922. The term is always pronounced as 'Lord Lef-tenant of Ireland'.

Other words used for this office were Judiciar in the early medieval period, and Lord Deputy as late as the 17th century. The people in this job were often also called viceroy, from the French vice roi or deputy king.

In the Middle Ages some Lord Lieutenants had been Irish noblemen. After that only noblemen from Great Britain worked in this job.

Role
The King's representative had a number of different roles. He was
 the representative of the King (the "viceroy");
 the head of the government in Ireland;
 a member of the English or British Cabinet;
 sometimes also commander-in-chief of the army in Ireland.
 Grand Master of the Order of St. Patrick

The structure of the government
The Lord Lieutenant was helped to govern by the Irish Privy Council. This was a group of people chosen to be on the Council. Some inherited their seat. They usually met in the Council Chamber in Dublin Castle.

The main politicians were:
 Chief Secretary for Ireland  From 1660, originally the chief administrator. By the end of the 19th century the Chief Secretary worked like a prime minister, with the Lord Lieutenant in the role of the King.
 Under-Secretary for Ireland  The head of the civil service in Ireland.
 Lord Justices  Three people who acted in for the Lord Lieutenant's when he was away. Before 1800 they were: Lord Chancellor of Ireland, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh as Primate of All Ireland.

Lords Lieutenant stayed in power until the British Government/the King wanted them to leave.

Importance of the post
Two Lords Lieutenant, Lord Hartington and the Duke of Portland, went from Dublin Castle to 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister of Great Britain, in 1756 and 1783 respectively. At other times, the post was used to move politicians that were no longer wanted in London out of the way.

By the mid-to-late 19th century the post was no longer very important. The Chief Secretary for Ireland had become more important in ruling the country than the Lord Lieutenant.

Housing

The official house of the Lord Lieutenant was the Viceregal Apartments in Dublin Castle. This was also where the Viceregal Court was based. When the Lord Lieutenant had to live in Ireland full time, this had to change. In 1781 the British government bought the former ranger's house in Phoenix Park. It was named the Viceregal Lodge. It is now known as Áras an Uachtaráin. It is the residence of the President of Ireland.

The Lords Lieutenant then only lived in the Castle during the Social Season (early January to St. Patrick's Day, 17 March).

Irish attitudes
The office of Lord Lieutenant, like the British government in Ireland, was generally unpopular.

From the early 19th century, calls were made frequently to get rid of the office. However, the office survived right down until the end of British rule in most of Ireland.

More reading
 Joseph Robins, Champagne and Silver Buckles: The Viceregal Court and Dublin Castle 1700–1922 (Lillyput Press, 2001)

Irish politicians
Lord-lieutenants

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland


disney.com is a website operated by Disney Digital Network, a division of The Walt Disney Company, that promotes various Disney properties such as films, television shows, and theme park resorts, and offers entertainment content intended for children and families.

For years, disney.com has been a very popular website: a survey back in April 1998 revealed that Disney.com had over 10% more unique visitors than ABCNews.com, and the combined Disney/Infoseek websites were second in web traffic to leader Yahoo! that month.

The current portal is Disney's second effort at a web portal, the first being ended with the loss of go.com.

On September 21, 2011, the content from disney.com was launched as a free channel available through the Roku streaming player. It is the first player so far to allow viewing through a television.

History
disney.com was first registered on March 21, 1990. On February 12, 1996, a ten-day preview of disney.com is launched through America Online and Netscape.

In January 2007, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a major overhaul of Disney.com at the Consumer Electronics Show. The announced changes put a heavy emphasis on an integrated video player. Further changes were also announced to sort content based on visitor demographics and the addition of social networking features that would be monitored for appropriate content.

The newly redesigned website was unveiled in February 2007. It included a new service called Disney Xtreme Digital (Disney XD for short, not to be confused with the channel of the same name), which allowed members to communicate and interact with each other in chat rooms. Users were limited to select phrases and the ability to create their own Disney XD page, which were called channels. Disney XD allowed users to watch full-length episodes from Disney Channel and other videos, play online quizzes and games, stream Radio Disney and preview new movies and music albums. It included a further feature called Shop DXD. Shop DXD used an internal currency called D-Points that users could earn from playing games and activities on the website. D-Points could be used to purchase items such as backgrounds and phrases for a user's channel or chat rooms. The service was only available in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Disney XD initiative was later de-emphasized and split into My Pages for pages and Homeroom for TV episodes. The Disney XD name was later recycled by the Disney-ABC Television Group, another division of The Walt Disney Company to launch Disney XD, an unrelated television network launched on February 13, 2009, as the successor to Toon Disney. They later added Disney Create to the website, an art gallery where users can draw and publish their art. Disney Create closed on May 1, 2014.

References

Sources

External links

Disney Interactive
Browser-based game websites

Disney.com


A taxicab stand (also called taxi rank, cab stand, taxi stand, cab rank, or hack stand) is a queue area on a street or on private property where taxicabs line up to wait for passengers.

Operation

Stands are normally located at high-traffic locations such as airports, hotel driveways, railway stations, subway stations, bus depots, ferry terminals, shopping centres, and major street intersections. Usually stands are marked by simple painted signs.

Stands generally work as a first-come, first-served queue, so that the first taxicab to arrive on the stand (the one at the front of the line) serves the first passenger to arrive, and as the first taxicab leaves, each taxicab behind it moves ahead one spot, with the last taxicab to arrive taking the last spot.

In the Republic of Ireland an intending passenger is entitled to choose any taxicab that is available for hire at an appointed taxi stand. The Commission for Taxi Regulation has deemed that the customer has the right to choose and that the principle of first come, first served is dismissed.

Around the world

In some cities, such as London and New York, some older taxi stands are marked by special lamps with "TAXI" painted on the sides of them.

Some major stands are divided into separate queues.  For example, at the Nagoya railway station in Japan, small- and large-capacity taxis line up separately; while at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, short- and long-distance taxis use separate queues. In Hong Kong, different kinds of taxis line up separately, as some of their service areas overlap.

Recharging
Taxicab stands can be used to recharge batteries of electric taxis.

See also

 Charging station
 Electric vehicle

Sources

References

Taxis
Stations, terminals and stops
Charging stations
Street furniture

Taxi stand


The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, the second-highest member below the standard C flute after the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is characterized by its rich, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range. It uses the same fingerings as the C flute and piccolo, but is a transposing instrument in G (sounding a perfect fourth lower than written).

The bore of the alto flute is considerably larger in diameter and longer than a C flute and requires more breath from the player. This gives it a greater dynamic presence in the bottom octave and a half of its range.

It was the favourite flute variety of Theobald Boehm, who perfected its design.

Its range is from G3 (the G below middle C) to G6 (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo register stretching to D7. The headjoint may be straight or curved.

British music that uses this instrument often refers to it as a bass flute, which can be confusing since there is a distinct instrument known by that name. This naming confusion originated in the fact that the modern flute in C is pitched in the same range as the Renaissance tenor flute; therefore, a lower pitched instrument would be called a bass.

Headjoint shape

Alto flute headjoints are built in 'curved' and 'straight' versions. The curved headjoint is frequently preferred by smaller players because it requires less of a stretch for the arms, and makes the instrument feel lighter by moving the center of gravity nearer to the player. However, the straight version is more commonly used for better overall intonation.

The embouchure for alto flute is similar to that for C flute, but in proportion to the size of the instrument. Hence the embouchure-hole sits lower on the lower lip, and the lip-aperture is wider.

Repertoire
The following lists are not intended to be complete, but rather to present a representative sampling of the most commonly played and well-known works in the genre. The lists also do not generally include works originally written for other instruments and subsequently transcribed, adapted, or arranged for alto flute, unless such piece is very common in the repertory, in which case it is listed with its original instrumentation noted.

Alto flute alone
 Bruno Bartolozzi: Cantilena
 Garth Baxter: Variations on the Willow Tree
 Jonathan Bayley: Music for Pan (1982)
 Michael Csany-Wills: Trystyng
 Charles Delaney: Variations on the 'Seeds of Love''' (1989)
 Jon Gibson: Untitled (1974)
 Alexander Goehr: Ariel Sing (2003)
 Philippe Hersant: Cinq Miniatures (1995)
 Daniel Kessner: A Serene Music (2012)
 Coreen Morsink: Andromache (2010)
 Patrick Nunn: Maqamat (2002)
 Michael Oliva: Les Heures Bleues (2013)
 Edwin Roxburgh: The Curlew (1994)
 Kaija Saariaho: Couleurs du vent (1998)
 Alexander Shchetynsky: Five Etudes (2011)
 Harvey Sollberger: Hara Karlheinz Stockhausen:Susani's Echo, 3. ex Nr.  (1985)Xi, 3. ex Nr. 55 (1986)
 David Bennett Thomas: Carla (2012)
 Guillem Ponsí: Alnilam (2020)

Alto flute and piano
 Arnold Cooke: Sonatina for Alto Flute and Piano (1985)
 Tom Febonio: Sonata for Alto Flute and Piano
 Daniel Kessner: Simple Motion (1993)
 Melvin Lauf: Passing Thoughts Phyllis Louke: As The Clouds Parted Andrew McBirnie: The Moon by Night (2003)
 Mike Mower: Sonnets Laura Pettigrew: OffertoireGary Schocker: Sonata for a Lost Planet Alto flute and guitar

 Toru Takemitsu: Toward the Sea (1981)
 also scored for alto flute and marimba, alto flute and harp, or alto flute and harp and string orchestra

Alto flute, piano and electronics
 John Palmer: AfterglowOrchestral excerpts
In the classical literature, the alto flute is particularly associated with the scores of Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel, both of whom used the instrument's distinctive tone color in a variety of scores. It is featured in Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Franco Alfano's opera Cyrano de Bergerac, Sergei Prokofiev's Scythian Suite and the original version of Webern's Six Pieces for Orchestra. Shostakovich used it in his operas The Gamblers (left unfinished), Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (also known as Katerina Ismailova), as well as in his Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad). It also figures prominently in several movements of Gustav Holst's The Planets. It also appears in Howard Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings among many other contemporary film scores. Even before 1940 it had been used occasionally in Hollywood; early Broadway pit orchestrations using the instrument include Jerome Kern's Music in the Air (1932) and Very Warm for May'' (1939), both scored by Robert Russell Bennett (the manuscript orchestrations are in the Jerome Kern Collection, Music Division, The Library of Congress).

Performers
A number of specialist alto flute players have emerged in recent years. These include French improvisor/composer Christian Le Delezir, American Christine Potter, British Kingma System alto flute player Carla Rees, jazz players Ali Ryerson and Brian Landrus, American Peter Sheridan who currently resides in Australia, Swiss composers/performers Matthias Ziegler and Stefan Keller and Dutch composer/performer Anne La Berge. Florian Schneider-Esleben of the German Electronic Group, Kraftwerk, played an alto flute in the first few years of the band's tenure.

References

Side-blown flutes
G instruments

Alto flute


Knights Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Sonoma County, California.  One of Sonoma County's original five AVAs, Knights Valley AVA was formally designated an American Viticultural Area on October 21, 1983.  Knights Valley AVA includes approximately . Over 30 growers maintain the  planted to wine grape vineyards.  The easternmost designated Sonoma County wine region, Knights Valley AVA has the warmest climate in the county.  The valley lies between the Alexander Valley AVA and Chalk Hill AVA wine regions to the west and the Mayacamas Mountains to the east. Geographically, the appellation separates the rest of Sonoma County from the Napa Valley AVA.

History
Very few people inhabited the valley in 1843 when a  land grant was given to Jose de los Santos Berryessa as a reward from the Mexican Governor for his years of good service. Most of Knights Valley (known as Mallacomes Valley) and Calistoga (Known as Agua Caliente) was within this grant. Knights Valley became Berryessa's private hunting preserve where he built an adobe hunting lodge that remains to this day. In 1850, after the Mexican War, California became part of the United States and most of the Spanish settlers including Berryessa returned to Mexico.

Thomas B. Knight, a participant in the Bear Flag Revolt at Sonoma bought a large portion of Rancho Mallacomes from Berryessa and received title to the land in 1853. He called his rancho, Muristood, added a second story to the lodge and planted vineyards, peaches, apples and wheat. Mallocomes Valley would later be renamed "Knights Valley" after Thomas Knight.

Climate
Protected from direct Pacific Ocean influence, the valley is the warmest of Sonoma County's viticulture areas. Warm afternoons and cool evenings provide the ideal environment for growing Bordeaux grape varieties. Cabernet Sauvignon remains the star in the valley. Also present are the rest of the Meritage blend: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot, as well as Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Syrah, and some limited plantings of other varietals.

Producers
Several producers make wine with the Knights Valley AVA designation.  The three largest producers of Knights Valley AVA designated wines are Beringer Vineyards, Kendall Jackson Winery, (under its Highland Estates label), and Bavarian Lion Vineyards.

References

External links
Knights Valley AVA

American Viticultural Areas
American Viticultural Areas of California
American Viticultural Areas of the San Francisco Bay Area
Geography of Sonoma County, California
1983 establishments in California

Knights Valley AVA


In baseball, striking out the side refers to when a pitcher strikes out all the batters he faces in the defensive half-inning in which he pitches. There is no official statistic in regard to this accomplishment, though it is often noted by commentators and fans when it occurs.

There is a disagreement as to the exact definition of striking out the side. Some feel a pitcher should be credited with striking out the side when all three outs in the inning were obtained via the strikeout, regardless of what other hitters that the pitcher has faced have done. Others believe a pitcher only has struck out the side when he has retired 3 batters in succession without allowing anyone to reach base.

In theory, a pitcher can record any number of strikeouts in an inning, since it is possible for a batter to safely reach first base without recording an out if the catcher does not hold the third strike. Recording more than three strikeouts in an inning, however, is a rare occurrence.

See also
An immaculate inning is the rare feat of retiring all three batters faced in an inning on strikeouts with only nine pitches thrown.

References
https://archive.today/20130801194553/http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/2013/07/31/steve-delabars-immaculate-inning-from-last-night/

Baseball terminology
Baseball pitching

Striking out the side


John Engstead (22 September 1909 - 15 April 1983) was an American photographer. Engstead was born in California, and began his career in 1926, when he was hired as an office boy by Paramount Pictures' head of studio publicity, Harold Harley.

In 1927, Engstead pleased his boss by arranging a photo session for actress Clara Bow with photographer Otto Dyar using an outdoor setting which was unusual at that time. Engstead's creative direction of photographs of actress Louise Brooks led to a promotion to art supervisor, where he oversaw the production of Paramount's publicity stills.

In 1932, due to a strike by photographers, Engstead assumed the position of studio portrait photographer, despite having never previously photographed anyone. Actor Cary Grant posed for his practice shots. He returned to his job as art supervisor after the strike was resolved.

In 1941, Paramount Pictures fired Engstead, and Harper's Bazaar hired him for freelance advertising and portrait photography assignments. From 1941 to 1949, he took fashion photography assignments from numerous other magazines, including Collier's, Esquire, House Beautiful, Ladies Home Journal, Life, Look, Mademoiselle, McCall's, Vogue, and Women's Home Companion.

In the 1940s, Engstead photographed many celebrities, including Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Maureen O'Hara and Shirley Temple. Unlike other photographers, he often shot his subjects at home or outdoors, and his portraits of Judy Garland in Carmel, California were particularly successful. During this decade, he built a studio in Los Angeles that became a gathering place for celebrities.

Engstead continued to photograph movie stars and other celebrities through the 1950s (Marilyn Monroe or Marlene Dietrich) and 1960s. He produced promotional material for many television personalities, including Pat Boone, Carmel Quinn, Donna Reed, Ozzie and Harriet, Eve Arden, and Lucille Ball. He also shot cover photos for albums recorded by singers such as Peggy Lee and Connie Francis, as well as society portraits. His work extended into governmental figures in the 1950s, including then-Second Lady Pat Nixon.  Engstead closed his studio in 1970 but continued to accept special portrait and television assignments until his death in West Hollywood, California, in 1984 at age 72.
Engstead's images are represented by the Motion Picture and Television Photo Archive and can be viewed by the public at MPTV.net

References

American photojournalists
American portrait photographers
1909 births
1983 deaths
Photographers from California

John Engstead


Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz (also August Kekulé) (7 September 1829 – 13 July 1896) was a German organic chemist. Kekulé was born in Darmstadt, the son of a civil servant. After graduating from secondary school, in 1847 he entered the University of Giessen, with the intention of studying architecture. After hearing the lectures of Justus von Liebig he decided to study chemistry. Following his education in Giessen, he took further doctorate fellowships in Paris (1851-52), in Chur, Switzerland (1852-53), and in London (1853-55), where he was decisively influenced by Alexander Williamson.

In 1858, he was hired as a full professor at the University of Ghent. In 1867, he was asked to work at the University of Bonn. There he studied carbon organic compounds and benzene. He suggested a benzene ring structure.

Kekulé's most famous work was on the structure of benzene. In 1865 Kekulé published a paper in French suggesting that the structure contained a six-membered ring of carbon atoms with alternating single and double bonds. The next year he published a much longer paper in German on the same subject. The empirical formula for benzene had been long known, but its highly unsaturated structure was challenging to determine. Archibald Scott Couper in 1858 and Joseph Loschmidt in 1861 suggested possible structures that contained multiple double bonds or multiple rings, but the study of aromatic compounds was in its earliest years, and too little evidence was then available to help chemists decide on any particular structure.

1829 births
1896 deaths
German chemists
Scientists from Darmstadt

Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz


Sobek was the ancient Egyptian god of the Nile. In art, he was shown with the head of a crocodile. In temples to Sobek, live crocodiles were kept in pools to honor him.

Jobs & Roles

Sobek was worshipped wherever the Nile was presenting difficulties. Sobek was the ancient Egyptian god of crocodiles and controlled the waters. Sobek's role was to protect the pharaoh from evil but it differs with each person. He was the most popular god in Arsinoe (Crocodilopolis in Greek), and was considered the Lord of Faiyu (a place in Egypt).

Myths & stories

One day when Sobek was in the Nile, he saw Osiris' (who was murdered by Set, the god of chaos) body. He was so hungry he could not resist eating part of it. His tongue was cut off as a punishment, which is why crocodiles have no tongues in Egyptian myths. He also caught the sons of Horus when they were born.

Physical Appearance
Sobek was seen as a crocodile headed man or very rarely a plain crocodile. Egyptians mummified crocodiles in honor of Sobek. Crocodiles were treated like household pets and were adorned with anklets and other decorative jewels. In temples people kept sacred crocodiles because they thought that they were images of Sobek on earth. The sacred crocodiles were a big attraction, the Egyptian's believed that if the crocodiles were fed and they accepted their food, you would receive blessings from the God Sobek.

Family & friends

Sobek was a friend of Horus. Sobek's mother Neith was considered the sister of Isis, who was Horus's mother. This made Sobek the cousin of Horus, which was a very important fact because Horus was a major God. In other myths, Sobek was allied with Set. Set was also sometimes thought of as Sobek's father.

References
The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt Thames and Hudson
Atlas of ancient Egypt Pemberton Delia
Egyptian mythology A to Z Remler Pat

Other websites
ancientegypt.so.uk
touregypt.net
egyptianmyths.net

Egyptian gods and goddesses

Sobek


The French defence is a chess opening, one of the asymmetric replies to 1.e4, namely 1...e6. It is the third most popular reply to 1.e4. Often, Black plays more actively on the queenside while White plays more actively on the kingside.

A problem that Black often has in the French defence is finding a way for his light squared bishop to become active. Although this is true, it may not matter if Black knows what he is doing. The defence has a reputation for reliability, and has been played by many great players (such as Botvinnik), and has featured in several world championship matches.

Typical examples go:

Tarrasch variation
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 (3...Nf6 is popular) 4.exd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.0-0 Ne7 and so on. This line is quiet, and mostly about the centre.

Winawer variation
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7 (7...0-0 is possible) 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 and so on. The play in lines like this is strongly asymmetric: White owns the kingside, and Black owns the queenside.

References

Chess openings

French defence


John Allan Hobson (June 3, 1933 – July 7, 2021) was an American psychiatrist and dream researcher. He was known for his research on rapid eye movement sleep. He was Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School, and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Biography
Hobson grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1955 he obtained his A.B. degree from Wesleyan University. Four years later he earned his MD degree at Harvard Medical School in 1959.

For the following two years he interned at Bellevue Hospital Center, New York. Then in 1960, he was a resident in Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston for a year. Hobson then traveled to France where he was a Special Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health for the Department of Physiology at the University of Lyon.

Upon returning to the United States, he went back to the Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston until 1966.

He worked in numerous hospitals and research laboratories over the years and became the Director of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center.

Hobson received four awards for his work:
 Admission to the Boylston Medical Society
 The Benjamin Rush Gold Medal for Best Scientific Exhibit
 Honorary Member of the American Psychiatric Association since 1978.
 Recipient of the 1998 Distinguished Scientist Award of the Sleep Research Society

Hobson's sense of humor was shown in such quips as: "The only known function of sleep is to cure sleepiness".

Work

In addition to his many paid appointments, Hobson was actively involved with four groups relating to his neurological sleep research: the Society Memberships, the Society for Neuroscience, the Society for Sleep Research, the AAAS, and the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD), for which he used to be president.

Dream theories

Hobson's research specialty was quantifying mental events and correlating them with quantified brain events, with special reference to waking, sleeping and dreaming. Hobson's recent work puts forward the idea that during dreaming, different aspects of the conscious mind, Primary consciousness and Secondary consciousness, which are distinct from unified qualia, enter a self-referential interplay where by one constantly creates the environment of another. In this way, secondary consciousness performs the role of the dream environment itself, with the primary consciousness, not usually involved in self-awareness in waking life, becoming the object of conscious identity.

This process transpires for multiple reasons, but the primary one suggested is as a means to reductively simplify and stabilise the ideas learned in waking consciousness to less computationally complex ones, to improve overall system stability and reduce computational entropy, or free energy. Free energy is proposed by Hobson and Friston to correlate with capacity for an organism to experience shock or surprise. Thus, for humans, the process of daily learning becomes unsustainable without a corresponding process to revert from these neuroplastic increases in complexity.

Since 2009, he had been developing his theory of 'proto-consciousness.' According to this theory, dreaming is the most readily available representative of primary or proto-consciousness. Primary or proto-consciousness represents a relatively more primitive stage of consciousness that develops earlier in both evolutionary and ontological terms. In Psychodynamic Neurology (2015), he discussed the little-studied yet crucial role that proto-consciousness plays in overseeing and organizing the intricately complex growth of the individual, from zygote to fetus, through the trimesters in utero, and following parturition, and draws parallels with analogous phases of development in animals such as cats.

Dream interpretation

Hobson was critical of the idea that there are deep, nonphysiological, or hidden meanings in dreams, calling such notions "the mystique of fortune cookie dream interpretation." However, he used less confrontational phrasing in his critiques of Freud,
and produced much academic work supporting the notion that dreams may contain analytically useful information,
just not psychoanalytically useful information in a Freudian sense of the term.

Hobson asserted that dreams require no explicit training to decipher, and are certainly not encrypted to hide their meaning. Instead, as we can observe through dream reports, during REM sleep, it is emotional salience that steps into a directorial role, and the seemingly bizarre connections made within and between the scenes of dreams are trying to reveal rather than disguise whichever type of emotional salience we have associated with new, unpredicted sensory impressions with which we have been bombarded during waking periods. However, dreams may still be enormously useful to understanding our psychological state so long as we ground our interpretations in the hard science of how dreams work at the physiological level. In this sense, the emotions and feelings experienced in a dream can be viewed as the brain's 'best attempt' to communicate information to itself in a fractured state of awareness, as a means of preparing itself for waking consciousness the following day.

By exploring these emotions in an integrated state of wakeful awareness, according to Hobson, it may be possible to gain insight into what our brain was preparing itself for and why.

Books
Hobson wrote, co-authored, or co-edited twenty-three books that relate to research on dreaming and waking consciousness and on mental health.  The following is a complete list (as of July 2021):

 1988, The Dreaming Brain. Basic Books.
 1989, Abnormal States of Brain and Mind [Co-edited with Paul Adelman]. Birkhäuser Verlag.
 1989, Sleep (Scientific American Library Series). W. H. Freeman & Co.
 1992, Sleep and Dreams. (Carolina Biology Readers Series). Carolina Biological Supply Co. [16 pages].
 1994, The Chemistry of Conscious States: How The Brain Changes Its Mind. Little, Brown & Co.
 1999, Consciousness (Scientific American Library Series). W. H. Freeman & Co.
 1999, Dreaming As Delirium: How the Brain Goes Out of Its Mind [This book a reprint of The Chemistry of Conscious States, originally published in 1994 (see above)]. MIT Press.
 2000, The Conscious Exploration of Dreaming: Discovering How We Create and Control Our Dreams [Co-authored with Janice E Brooks and Jay Vogelsong]. AuthorHouse.
 2001, Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness. Bradford Books.
 2002, Dreaming: An Introduction to the Science of Sleep. Oxford University Press.
 2002, Out of Its Mind: Psychiatry in Crisis, a Call for Reform [Co-authored with Jonathan A. Leonard]. Basic Books.
 2005, 13 Dreams Freud Never Had. Pi Press.
 2005, From Angels to Neurones: Art and the New Science of Dreaming. Mattioli.
 2005, Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
 2011, Dream Life: An Experimental Memoir. MIT Press.
 2012, Creativity, [Illustration by Sofia Areal]. ISPA University Press.
 2014, Ego Damage and Repair: Toward a Psychodynamic Neurology. Karnac Books.
 2014, Dream consciousness: Allan Hobson's new approach to the brain and its mind [Edited by Nicholas Tranquillo]. Springer.
 2015, Psychodynamic Neurology: Dreams, Consciousness, and Virtual Reality. CRC Press.
 2018, Conscious States: Waking, Sleeping, and Dreaming. CreateSpace.
 2018, Dreaming as Virtual Reality. Kindle Direct Publishing.
 2021, Godbrain. Kindle Direct Publishing.
 2021, Dream Self. Manuscript in preparation.

References

External links

1933 births
2021 deaths
American psychiatrists
Sleep researchers
Oneirologists
Loomis Chaffee School alumni
Harvard Medical School alumni
Lucid dreams
Wesleyan University alumni
Physicians from Hartford, Connecticut

Allan Hobson


Thixotropy is the property of certain gels or fluids that are viscous (thick) under normal conditions, but flow (become thin, less viscous) when shaken, agitated, or otherwise stressed.

In more technical language:
some Non-Newtonian fluids show a change in viscosity; the longer the fluid undergoes shear stress, the lower its viscosity.  A thixotropic fluid is a fluid which takes a finite time to attain equilibrium viscosity when introduced to a step change in shear rate. Many gels and colloids are thixotropic materials, exhibiting a stable form at rest but becoming fluid when agitated.

Some fluids are anti-thixotropic: constant shear stress for a time causes an increase in viscosity or even solidification. Constant shear stress can be applied by shaking or mixing. They are much less common.

Natural examples
It is a common experience walking on sand that in places it liquifies as one walks on it. This is a thixotropic response to pressure. In extremes, a quicksand may be danger to people and animals.

Some clays are thixotropic, and their behaviour is of great importance in structural and geotechnical engineering. Landslides, such as those common in the cliffs around Lyme Regis, Dorset and in the Aberfan disaster in Wales are evidence of this. Similarly, a lahar is a mass of earth liquefied by a volcanic event, which rapidly solidifies once coming to rest.

Drilling muds used in geotechnical applications can be thixotropic. Honey from honey bees may also exhibit this property under certain conditions.(Heather honey).

Another example of a thixotropic fluid is the synovial fluid found in joints between some bones.

Some clay deposits found in the process of exploring caves exhibit thixotropism: an initially solid-seeming mudbank will turn soupy and yield up moisture when dug into or otherwise disturbed. These clays were deposited in the past by low-velocity streams which tend to deposit fine-grained sediment.

These properties are often used in commercial products which are applied to surfaces, such as paint or toothpaste. With paint, the fluidity vanishes quickly and the surface sets permanently as water (or oil) evaporates.

References

Fluid mechanics
Materials science

Thixotropy


Medieval music is music from the Middle Ages. The time we call the Middle Ages is a long period from about 400 AD to 1400 AD. We do not know a great deal about music of this time because it was such a long time ago and music was not often written down. Music was used for both entertainment and religious practice.

Troubadours and Trouvères
In Europe there were people who went around the countryside making a living by singing and playing musical instruments. They often went to big houses where rich people lived and entertained them with their faces. These travelling musicians were called minstrels in England, and troubadours or trouvères in many other countries, or Minnesinger in Germany.

The minstrels often sang long songs which told stories (a ballad). This was a way to tell people about what was happening in the world. Some of the stories were made up: they were about love or about mythology.

Richard the Lionheart was a keen musician. He wrote many songs in the style of the trouvères. On the way back from a Crusade he was captured by Leopold of Austria. The story goes that his attendant, Blondel, was looking for him everywhere. Then he heard Richard's voice singing a tune which he knew and so he found him. The song that he was singing was called Ja Nuns Hons Pris (I am no longer captive).

Minstrels very often went with their masters when they went on journeys to battles. They also sang at important ceremonies, for example when people were being knighted. Many of them played instruments such as the lute or fiddle.

Minstrels were poets and musicians, because they made up their own words and the tunes. Sometimes we know the words of these songs because they wrote them down, but they did not write the tunes down. Walther von der Vogelweide was a famous minnesinger in Germany.

One famous tune that was written down is the round Sumer is icumen in. It was written down by a monk. Monks could often read and write.

Troubadours would go from town to town playing love songs.

Dances
There were two main types of dances in medieval times: line dances and circle dances. The farandole is a line dance. It was a bit like a modern conga with people following a leader in a line. The bransle was a round dance or circle dance. The word "bransle" comes from the French word "branler" ("to sway"). It is pronounced 'Brawl'.

Other dances were the basse dance and estampie.

Instruments

Instruments could be divided into quiet ones which were used indoors, and loud ones which were used outside. The recorder was a very popular indoor instrument. There was also the psaltery and the harp (which looked like a small Welsh harp of today).

The bagpipes were loud instruments for outside. They were used for dancing. They were not as loud as modern Scottish bagpipes. They were more like Northumbrian pipes or the French musettes. There was also the hurdy-gurdy which was played by turning a handle. Pipe and tabor were used for Morris dancing.

Many medieval plucked string instruments were similar to the modern guitar, such as the lute and mandolin. The dulcimer and zither were had strings which were hit with sticks. These are still popular in East Europe today. There were also "fiddles" (vielle) and trombones (called sackbut).

It was believed that if you were entertained with music while you are eating it would help you digest your food and help keep your heart healthy. And people believed that you will not get fat even if you scoffed down a load of food. Also eating food while having people dancing for you was believed to have made you fit.

Church music

Church music was very important. The mass was the main form of church music. It used the five parts of the mass Ordinary (the Eucharist service): Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. The priests in the churches wanted church music to be serious. They did not want it to become popular. They thought that if people enjoyed it too much they would forget about worshipping God. Religious plays had become very popular. They told stories from the Bible. However, the church leaders banned them, so they were performed in the streets and squares of the towns.

Instruments were also banned in church. The church leaders thought that they belonged to the devil. Only singing was allowed. Gradually, however, the organ started to be allowed in church. It helped people to sing. Some organs were very tiny. They were called portative organs. The large organs that were fixed in place were called "positives". Bells were also used in church. They looked like our sleigh bells.

Medieval music was based on plainsong. This was a melody which sounded quite free in rhythm. Composers started adding a second part to the melody as an accompaniment. This was called organum. Sometimes it just simply followed the main tune a fourth or fifth below. This was called "parallel organum". In the 12th and 13th centuries the original plainsong started to be put at the bottom. It became known as the cantus firmus (the "firm tune"). Sometimes antiphony was used. The simplest form of antiphony is when a leader sings something and a group (the choir) sing something back.

The type of plainchant that evolved was called Gregorian chant. By the 13th century all other types of chant had been forgotten in Western Europe.

Carols became popular at this time. At first a carol was a dancing song, but often these popular songs became used for songs for particular seasons or festivals. In later periods these developed into Christmas carols as we know them.

People often went around in groups, particularly at Christmas, singing at the houses of rich people. This was called Wassailing. The word means "being of good cheer" (i.e. "happy"). The Boar's Head is a well-known medieval carol.

Mummers were groups of people who performed religious plays. They were travelling entertainers. They normally wore masks so that people did not know who they were.

Written music

There are not many musical manuscripts which have survived from the Middle Ages. Most of them are religious music. They were often written using a system called neumes. The pitch (music) of the music is shown by the neumes, but the rhythms were not very clear. Gradually the system of writing music we know today was evolving. Philippe de Vitry was an important composer and music theorist. He developed ways of writing rhythms.

High medieval music (1150-1300)

Most of the medieval music we know today belongs to the last part of the Middle Ages. There was a tradition known as the "Notre Dame school". This music dates from around 1150 to 1250. It was the time that great cathedrals were being built in Gothic architecture. The cathedral of Notre Dame was a very famous example. The music of this time was called "Ars antique". It used a system of rhythms called "rhythmic modes". Gradually a new way of writing was used. This was called "Ars nova" ("New art"). The most famous composer of this time was Guillaume de Machaut. He developed a kind of composition called the isorhythmic motet. He wrote a lot of songs called chansons (the French word for "song"). Other types of song were called rondeau, ballade, and virelai.

Composers who were born at the end of the Middle Ages such as John Dunstable, Guillaume Dufay, and Gilles Binchois are often thought to belong to the next period in music history: the Renaissance period.

References

Other websites
 Training in medieval music in Germany
 Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Study of medieval music in Switzerland
 A channel dedicated to Secular-Profane Medieval music

Medieval music
Periods in music history

Medieval music


Paavo Pylkkänen (born 1959) is a Finnish philosopher of mind. He is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Skövde and a university lecturer in theoretical philosophy at the University of Helsinki. He is known for his work on mind-body studies, building on David Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics, in particular Bohm's view of the cosmos as an enfolding and unfolding whole including mind and matter.

Work
Pylkkänen's areas of specialization are the mind-body problem, the basis of cognitive science, philosophy of physics, the philosophy of David Bohm and the foundations of quantum theory.

Since 1996 he has been employed at the University of Skövde in Skövde, Sweden, where he initiated a consciousness studies program combining philosophy and cognitive neuroscience. He is currently a temporary university lecturer in theoretical philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, at University of Helsinki, where he has regularly worked since 2008.

Pylkkänen has worked and published together with theoretical physicist Basil Hiley, a close co-worker of David Bohm over three decades. Hiley and Pylkkänen together addressed the question of the relation between mind and matter by the hypothesis of an active information within the conceptual framework of the de Broglie–Bohm theory. Pylkkänen's work Mind, Matter and the Implicate Order (2007) builds upon David Bohm's ontological interpretation of quantum theory, in which quantum processes are understood as a holomovement in terms of implicate and explicate orders.

Bibliography
Articles and book chapters
 Pylkkänen, P.: Fundamental Physics and the Mind – Is There a Connection? Quantum Interaction, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 8951, p. 3–11, 20 February 2015
 Pylkkänen, P.: David Bohm och den vetenskapliga andan, 2010, Beyond belief and knowledge: Thoughts from a dialogue. Liljenström, H. & Linderman, A. (eds.). Stockholm : Carlsson p. 127–142. (In Swedish language)
 Pylkkänen, P. : Quantum philosophy is philosophy enough, 2010, How we became doctors of philosophy. Roinila, M. (ed.). Helsinki: Suomen Filosofinen Yhdistys ry. p. 151–157.
 Pylkkänen, P.: Implications of Bohmian quantum ontology for psychopathology, March 2010. In : NeuroQuantology. vol. 8, no. 1, p. 37–48.
 Pylkkänen, P.: Does dynamical modelling explain time consciousness?, 2007, Computation, Information, Cognition: The Nexus and the Liminal. Stuart, S. & Crnkovic, G. D. (eds.). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press p. 218–229.
 Pylkkänen, P.: Escaping the prison of language, 2007, Communication - Action - Meaning: A Festschrift to Jens Allwood. E. A. (ed.). Department of Linguistics, Göteborg University
 Pylkkänen, P. & Hiley, B. J.: Can mind affect matter via active information?, In: Mind and Matter, vol.3, no.2, Imprint Academic, 2005, p. 7–26.

Books and edited works
 Dewdney, C., Pylkkänen, P., Atmanspacher, H. (eds.) Foundations of Physics Vol. 43(4) April 2013, Special issue: Hiley Festschrift. Springer.
 Pylkkänen, P.: Mind, Matter and the Implicate Order, 2007 Berlin Heidelberg New York: Springer-Verlag. 270 p. (The Frontiers Collection), .
 Paavo Pylkkänen and Tere Vadén (eds.): Dimensions of conscious experience, Advances in Consciousness Research, Volume 37, John Benjamins B.V., 2001, .
 David Bohm & Charles Biederman (Paavo Pylkkänen, ed.): Bohm-Biederman Correspondence: Creativity and science, Routledge, 1999, .
 P. Pylkkänen, P. Pylkkö, A. Hautamäki (eds.): Brain, Mind and Physics, IOS Press, 1997, .
 P. Pylkkänen: Mind, matter and active information: the relevance of David Bohm's interpretation of quantum theory to cognitive science, Yliopistopaino, 1992,
 P. Pylkkänen (ed.): The Search for Meaning: The New Spirit in Science and Philosophy, Crucible, The Aquarian Press, 1989, .

References

External links
 Paavo Pylkkänen, University of Helsinki
 Paavo Pylkkänen, publications
 Paavo Pylkkänen, University of Skövde

1959 births
20th-century Finnish philosophers
21st-century Finnish philosophers
Consciousness researchers and theorists
Quantum mind
Academic staff of the University of Helsinki
Philosophers of mind
Living people
Academic staff of the University of Skövde

Paavo Pylkkänen


This article is about the kind of address that you find or communicate with someone through. Address can also mean public speaking. It can also be used when someone is working on something, or talking about something.

An address (pronounced AD-dress or ad-DRESS) is a way to find or communicate with someone. It can be a postal address or an e-mail address. On forms, it is common to ask for someone's name, address and phone number, so that the person can be found easily.

Postal address
A postal address is usually the location of someone's house, but sometimes it is the person's Post Office Box. It is the information that is put on a letter to have the letter delivered to a person.

Example (in England):
Mr John Smith
132, My Street,
Bigtown  BG23 4YZ
England

Example (in the U.S.):
Mr John Smith
132, My Street,
Kingston, New York 12401
United States

Example (in Nigeria):
Mr Daniel Izuchukwu Nwoye
8, My Street,
Ilassan Lekki, Lagos 105102
Nigeria.

Email Address
An email address is used to send someone an e-mail. It has a username, and this is followed by the name of the person's email provider. The at sign (@) separates the two. For example:
email@example.com
firstname.lastname@example.com
email@example.com
firstname.lastname@example.com

The "name" part can be made up of any letters or numbers, and a few special characters, but it cannot contain spaces. The "provider" part can be made up of any letters or numbers, but no special characters and no spaces. Some providers may restrict the "name" part in other ways. For example, Gmail does not allow underscores.

Human geography
E-mail
Postal services

Address


The Luxembourg Palace (, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de' Medici, mother of King Louis XIII. After the Revolution it was refashioned (1799–1805) by Jean Chalgrin into a legislative building and subsequently greatly enlarged and remodeled (1835–1856) by Alphonse de Gisors. The palace has been the seat of the upper houses of the various French national legislatures (excepting only the unicameral National Assembly of the Second Republic) since the establishment of the  during the Consulate; as such, it has been home to the Senate of the Fifth Republic since its establishment in 1958.

Immediately west of the palace on the Rue de Vaugirard is the Petit Luxembourg, now the residence of the Senate President; and slightly further west, the Musée du Luxembourg, in the former orangery. On the south side of the palace, the formal Luxembourg Garden presents a  green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and large basins of water where children sail model boats.

History

Palace as royal residence
After the death of Henry IV in 1610, his widow, Marie de' Medici, became regent to her son, Louis XIII. Having acceded to a much more powerful position, she decided to erect a new palace for herself, adjacent to an old hôtel particulier owned by François de Luxembourg, Duc de Piney, which is now called the Petit Luxembourg and is the residence of the president of the French Senate.

Marie de' Medici desired to make a building similar to her native Florence's Palazzo Pitti; to this effect she had the architect Métezeau (either Louis Métezeau or his brother, Clément Métezeau) sent to Florence to make detailed drawings of the building.

She bought the Hôtel de Luxembourg and its fairly extensive domain in 1612 and commissioned the new building, which she referred to as her Palais Médicis, in 1615. Its construction and furnishing formed her major artistic project, though nothing remains today of the interiors as they were created for her, save some architectural fragments reassembled in the Salle du Livre d'Or. The suites of paintings she commissioned, in the subjects of which she expressed her requirements through her agents and advisers, are scattered among museums.

De' Medici installed her household in 1625, while work on interiors continued. The apartments in the right wing on the western side were reserved for the Queen and the matching suite to the east, for her son, Louis XIII, when he was visiting (floor plan). The 24 Marie de' Medici cycle canvases, a series commissioned from Peter Paul Rubens, were installed in the Galerie de Rubens on the main floor of the western wing. These paintings were executed between 1622 and 1625 and depicts Marie's struggles and triumphs in life. They are now visible in the Galerie Medicis of the Louvre, one of the treasures of the museum's Flemish paintings department. A series of paintings executed for her Cabinet doré ("gilded study") was identified by Anthony Blunt in 1967.

The gallery in the east wing had been intended for the display of paintings celebrating Henri IV and buildings housing stables and services were planned to either side of the pavilions flanking the entrance on the street, but these projects remained unfinished in 1631, when the Queen Mother was forced from court, following the "Day of the Dupes" in November. Louis XIII commissioned further decorations for the Palace from Nicolas Poussin and Philippe de Champaigne.

In 1642, Marie de' Medici bequeathed the Luxembourg to her second and favourite son, Gaston, duc d'Orléans, who called it the Orléans Palace (Palais d'Orléans) but by popular will it was still known by its original name. Upon Gaston's death, the palace passed to his widow, Marguerite de Lorraine, then to his elder daughter by his first marriage, Anne, duchesse de Montpensier, La Grande Mademoiselle. In 1660, Anne de Montpensier sold the Luxembourg to her younger half-sister, Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans, duchesse de Guise who, in turn, gave it to her cousin, King Louis XIV, in 1694.

In 1715, the Luxembourg Palace became the residence of Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchess of Berry. The widowed Duchess was notoriously promiscuous, having the reputation of a French Messalina, relentlessly driven by her unquenchable thirst for all pleasures of the flesh. The palace and its gardens thus became stages where the princess acted out her ambitions, enthroned like a queen surrounded by her court. In some of her more exclusive parties, Madame de Berry also played the leading part in elaborate "tableaux-vivants" that represented mythological scenes and in which she displayed her person impersonating Venus or Diana. According to various satirical songs which scurrilously evoked her amours "the Lady of the Luxembourg" hid several pregnancies, shutting herself up from society when about to give birth. Her taste for strong liquors and her sheer gluttony also scandalized the court. On 21 May 1717, Madame de Berry received Peter the Great at the Luxembourg. She welcomed the visiting Tsar splendidly dressed in a magnificent sack-back gown which showcased her voluptuous bosom as well as her mischievous face but also helped conceal her growing corpulence for she was then in an "interesting condition".

On 28 February 1718, the Duchess of Berry threw a magnificent party for her visiting aunt, the Duchess of Lorraine. The entire palace and its gardens were elaborately illuminated. The lavish banquet was followed by a masked ball. Madame de Berry made a dazzling appearance before her guests. She was then in the full splendour of her youthful beauty and pride and acted as if she were the very incarnation of the goddess of love, mirth, beauty and sensual pleasures. On 2 April 1719, after a grueling four-day labour, shut up in a small room of her palace, the young widow was delivered of a still-born baby girl, supposedly fathered by her lieutenant of the guards, the Count of Riom. Berry's delivery was extremely troublesome and almost killed her. The Church refused her the Sacraments thus adding moral infamy to the physical tortures of the labouring woman. Saint-Simon wrote a very sarcastic description of this childbirth. Hoping to regain her health and undeceive the public that she had been confined, Madame de Berry left Paris and the Luxembourg Palace. She died in her castle at La Muette on 21 July 1719 and, according to Saint-Simon, was found to be again pregnant.

In 1750, the palace became a museum, the forerunner of the Louvre, and was open two days a week until 1779. In 1778, the Luxembourg Palace was given to the comte de Provence by his brother Louis XVI. During the French Revolution, it was briefly a prison, then the seat of the French Directory, and in 1799, the home of the  and the first residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul of the French Republic.

Palace as legislature seat

From 1799 to 1805, the architect Jean Chalgrin transformed the palace into a legislative building. He demolished the grand central staircase (escalier d'honneur), replacing it with a senate chamber on the first floor, which incorporated and destroyed Marie de Médicis' chapel on the garden side of the corps de logis. Chalgrin also enclosed the flanking terraces, making space for a library. At the same time he created a neo-classical escalier d'honneur in the west wing, a single monumental flight enclosed by an Ionic colonnade and covered with a coffered barrel vault, the construction of which resulted in the destruction of the long gallery that had formerly housed the cycle of paintings by Rubens.

Beginning in 1835, the architect Alphonse de Gisors added a new garden wing parallel to the old corps de logis, replicating the look of the original 17th-century facade so precisely that it is difficult to distinguish at first glance the old from the new. The new senate chamber was located in what would have been the courtyard area in between.

The new wing included a library (bibliothèque) with a cycle of paintings (1845–1847) by Eugène Delacroix. In the 1850s, at the request of Emperor Napoleon III, Gisors created the highly-decorated Salle des Conférences (inspired by the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre), which influenced the nature of subsequent official interiors of the Second Empire, including those of the Palais Garnier.

During the German occupation of France (1940–44), Hermann Göring took over the palace as the headquarters of the Luftwaffe in France and took for himself a sumptuous suite of rooms to accommodate his visits to the French capital. His subordinate, Luftwaffe Field Marshal Hugo Sperrle, was also given an apartment in the Luxembourg Palace. He spent most of the war by enjoying the luxurious surroundings. "The Field Marshal's craving for luxury and public display ran a close second to that of his superior, Goering; he was also his match in corpulence", wrote Armaments Minister Albert Speer after a visit to Sperrle in Paris.

The palace was a designated "strong point" for German forces defending the city in August 1944, but thanks to the decision of Commanding General Dietrich von Choltitz to surrender the city rather than fight, the palace was only minimally damaged although furniture was stolen. On 7 November 1944, after the Liberation of France, the Provisional Consultative Assembly held its first meeting at the Luxembourg Palace.

From 29 July to 15 October 1946, the Luxembourg Palace was the site of the talks of the Paris Peace Conference.

Gallery

See also

 List of works by James Pradier

References

Notes

Sources
 Ayers, Andrew (2004). The Architecture of Paris. Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges. .
 BeauxArts éditions (2012), Palais du Luxembourg,
 Benevolo, Leonardo (1978). The Architecture of the Renaissance, vol. 2. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. .
 Collins, Peter (2004). Concrete: The Vision of a New Architecture, 2nd edition. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. .
 Hustin, Arthur (1904). Le Palais du Luxembourg. Paris: P. Mouillot. Listings at WorldCat. View at Google Books.

External links
 "The Luxembourg Palace" at the website of the French Senate

1615 establishments in France
Baroque buildings in France
Buildings and structures in the 6th arrondissement of Paris
Châteaux in Paris
French Parliament
Gardens in Paris
Defunct prisons in Paris
Houses completed in 1615
Legislative buildings in Europe
Palaces in Paris
Royal residences in France
Seats of national legislatures
Terminating vistas in Paris
Government buildings with domes
Louis XVIII
Napoleon

Luxembourg Palace


The Arctic Ocean is the ocean around the North Pole. The most northern parts of Eurasia and North America are around the Arctic Ocean. Thick pack ice and snow cover almost all of this ocean in winter, and most of it in summer. An icebreaker or a nuclear-powered submarine can use the Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean to go between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The ocean's area is about 14.056 million km2, which is the smallest of the world's 5 oceans, and it has  of coastline. The central surface covered by ice about  thick. The biology there is quite special. Endangered species there include walruses, whales and polar bears. Year by year the Arctic Ocean is becoming less icy, as a result of global warming.

The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is . The deepest point is in the Eurasian Basin, at .

Geography
The Arctic Ocean covers an area of about 14,056,000 km2.  The coastline is 45,390 km (28,200 mi) long It is surrounded by Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and by several islands.

It is generally taken to include Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, White Sea and other bodies of water. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait  and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea and Labrador Sea.

Countries bordering the Arctic Ocean are: Russia, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the United States.

Climate
The Arctic Ocean is in a polar climate. Winters are characterized by the polar night, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies.

The temperature of the surface of the Arctic Ocean is fairly constant, near the freezing point of seawater.  Arctic Ocean consists of saltwater but its salinity is less than other oceans. The temperature must reach −1.8 °C (28.8 °F) before freezing occurs.

Ice covers most of the Arctic Ocean. It covers almost the whole ocean in late winter and the majority of the ocean in late summer. Much of the Arctic ice pack is covered in snow for about 10 months of the year. The maximum snow cover is in March or April — about 20 to 50 cm (7.9 to 19.7 in).

The climate of the Arctic region has varied significantly in the past. As recently as 55 million years ago, during the eocene epoch, the region reached an average annual temperature of 10–20 °C (50–68 °F). The surface waters of the Arctic Ocean warmed enough to support tropical lifeforms.

Animal and plant life
Endangered marine species in the Arctic Ocean include walruses and whales. The area has a fragile ecosystem. The Arctic Ocean has relatively little plant life except for phytoplankton.  Phytoplankton are a crucial part of the ocean. They feed on nutrients from rivers and the currents of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

References

Other websites

 The Hidden Ocean Arctic 2005 Daily logs, photos and video from exploration mission.
 Oceanography Image of the Day, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
 Arctic Council
 The Northern Forum
 Arctic Environmental Atlas  Interactive map
 NOAA Arctic Theme Page

 Daily Arctic Ocean Rawinsonde Data from Soviet Drifting Ice Stations (1954–1990)  at NSIDC
 Arctic time series: The Unaami Data collection
 NOAA North Pole Web Cam Images from Web Cams deployed in spring on an ice floe
 NOAA Near-realtime North Pole Weather Data Data from instruments deployed on an ice floe
 Search for Arctic Life Heats Up by Stephen Leahy
 International Polar Foundation
 National Snow and Ice Data Center – Daily report of Arctic ice cover based on satellite data
 Marine Biodiversity Wiki

Oceans
Arctic

Arctic Ocean


The vas deferens (or ductus deferens)   is a duct in a man's body.  It is also present in other male vertebrates. Its function is to carry sperm away from the testes, towards the penis.

There are two of these ducts, which are tubes surrounded by smooth muscle.  They connect the left and right epididymis to the ejaculatory ducts in order to move sperm. Each tube is about 30 centimeters long. During ejaculation the smooth muscle in the wall of the vas deferens contracts. That pushes the sperm toward the penis. The sperm go from the vas deferens into the urethra. Other male sex glands push out at the same time.

Vasectomy
There is a surgery called vasectomy that is a method of contraception. The two vasa deferentia (Latin plural) are cut and sealed, so the sperm cannot get out of the body. This is usually permanent, but in some cases, it can be reversed.  Sometimes instead of cutting the vas deferentia, the surgeon puts something to block the sperm instead of cutting them.

Related pages
 Cystic fibrosis

Notes

Anatomy of the male reproductive system

Vas deferens


Alice in Wonderland is an Australian 51-minute direct-to-video animated film from Burbank Films Australia originally released in 1988.

The film is based on Lewis Carroll's classic English novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, first published in 1865, and was adapted by Paul Leadon. Unlike many other adaptations of the novel, this one did not borrow elements from its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871), combined into one film. Burbank Films Australia produced a 73-minute adaptation of the second novel the year before, in 1987, entitled Alice: Through the Looking-Glass.

This film was produced by Roz Phillips and directed by Rich Trueblood. Quite uncommon among Burbank Films Australia's adaptations of classic literary works, Alice in Wonderland featured one original theme song, composed by Mark Isaacs and sung by Kerrie Biddell.

The copyright in this film is now owned by Pulse Distribution and Entertainment and administered by digital rights management firm NuTech Digital.

Plot summary
Alice is sitting by the riverbank all alone reading her book entitled The Principles of Logical Calculus when she decides she simply could not stand to read any further. She's bored and she hates being stuck in that "horrible place", as she refers to her beautiful outdoor garden. Suddenly out of nowhere, a talking white rabbit wearing a waistcoat and a pocket watch appears, and Alice sees that he is in a big hurry. Running with curiosity, Alice follows the white rabbit down his rabbit hole, and the girl soon finds herself falling deep into the hole. Amazingly, her dress balloons out and she begins to float down past shelves and cupboards, mirrors and other curious objects, which are lined up on shelves.

Alice continues to float until she lands and is then in a place called Wonderland. Inside a hall with many different passages, Alice opens a tiny door leading to what she believes is the most beautiful garden she could have ever imagined. In the distance, Alice spots a very curious sort of race, a caucus race, and watches the animals cheer as a small snail defeats the other animals.

During her day in Wonderland, Alice questions all of the interesting characters she meets, including the Duchess and her Cheshire Cat about the beautiful garden and how to get there. The girl attends a very extraordinary tea party with two very unusual characters, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, and is finally invited for a game of croquet with her majesty, the Queen of Hearts. When the Knave of Hearts is unjustly accused of stealing some of the queen's tarts, Alice confesses the truth and tells the jury that it was really she who took the tarts when they had been offered to her. Thus ends Alice's day in Wonderland, and upon finding herself once more in her own garden, Alice for a moment believes to have at last found the beautiful garden she had sought; only then does she realize that she's really at home. After a long day of nonsense and topsy-turvy madness, Alice embraces her book on "logical" calculus and smiles back at the wonderful world she had the pleasure of visiting, if only in a dream.

Cast

 Olivia Martin – Alice
 Philip Hinton – Mad Hatter/King Phillip of Hearts/Bill the Lizard/Card Painter
 Paul Johnstone – Cheshire Cat/Chef/The Dormouse/Mock Turtle/Mr. Mouse/Duck/Card Painter
 Moya O'Sullivan – Duchess/Queen of Hearts
 Keith Scott – March Hare/White Rabbit/Dodo/Card Painter

References

External links

 Alice in Wonderland at the Big Cartoon DataBase

1988 animated films
1980s English-language films
1988 fantasy films
Australian children's animated films
Animated films based on Alice in Wonderland
Direct-to-video animated films
Direct-to-video fantasy films
1988 direct-to-video films
1980s Australian animated films

Alice in Wonderland (1988 film)


New World vultures are the group of vultures that are found in the Americas.  They form the  family Cathartidae.  There are seven species in five genera.  Four of the genera have only one species each.

These are large birds of prey that feed on the meat of dead or dying animals.  The name "Cathartidae" comes from the Greek word katharsis meaning to purge or make clean.

Unlike other birds of prey, they have a good sense of smell.  The opening of their nostrils has a hole through from one side of the beak to the other.  Some other vultures hop to move on the ground, but the New World vultures walk.

The two largest species are called condors.

Species
Genus Coragyps
Black vulture Coragyps atratus in South America and north to US
Genus Cathartes
Turkey vulture Cathartes aura throughout the Americas to southern Canada
Lesser yellow-headed vulture Cathartes burrovianus in South America and north to Mexico
Greater yellow-headed vulture Cathartes melambrotus in the Amazon Basin of tropical South America
Genus Gymnogyps
California condor Gymnogyps californianus in California. Formerly widespread in the mountains of western North America.
Genus Vultur
Andean condor Vultur gryphus in the Andes
Genus Sarcoramphus
King vulture Sarcoramphus papa from Southern Mexico to northern Argentina

References

Vultures

New World vulture