The National Cheese Exchange (NCE) was a private non-profit corporation that operated in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Every Friday morning for one-half hour, members of the NCE met to buy or sell cheddar cheese in  blocks and  barrels on the exchange.  The closing prices were published and widely circulated throughout the dairy industry, and were used as the basis for buying and selling cheese throughout the food distribution system.  Up until April 1997 the USDA used changes in the NCE price as a principal component in determining the basic formula price for all milk sold under federal milk marketing orders.  Activity on the NCE was regulated by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and the Wisconsin Attorney General.

In May 1997, cheese trading moved to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

References

Cheese
Companies based in Green Bay, Wisconsin
American dairy organizations

National Cheese Exchange


Cushing is a town in Knox County, Maine,  United States.  The population was 1,502 at the 2020 census. A favorite of artists for its unspoiled natural setting, Cushing includes the villages of North Cushing, Cushing, South Cushing, and Pleasant Point.

History
Part of the Waldo Patent, it was called the Lower Plantation of St. Georges, once extending across both sides of the St. George River. It was first permanently settled in 1733 with Scots and Irish immigrants recruited from Ireland by Brigadier-General Samuel Waldo, who offered  for each household. Attacks during the French and Indian Wars, however, deterred habitation. A stone blockhouse known as Burton's Fort was built in 1753 by its commander, Captain Benjamin Burton. Hostilities finally ceased in 1759 with the Fall of Quebec. On January 28, 1789, the town was incorporated and named for Thomas Cushing, statesman and lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. On February 7, 1803, the town of St. George was set off and incorporated.

The Olson House was depicted in Andrew Wyeth's 1948 painting, Christina's World, which in turn was used as Dahlia Gillespie's house in the horror video game series Silent Hill, and inspired the farmer's house in the 1978 film Days of Heaven. The building is now operated by the Farnsworth Art Museum of Rockland.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which   is land and  is water. Cushing, which includes Gay Island, is situated on Muscongus Bay between the Meduncook River to the west and St. George River to the east.

The town is served by Maine State Route 97. It borders Friendship to the west, Warren and Thomaston to the north, and separated by the St. George River, South Thomaston and St. George to the east.

Demographics

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,534 people, 642 households, and 431 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 926 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.8% White, 0.2% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.6% of the population.

There were 642 households, of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32.9% were non-families. 25.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.83.

The median age in the town was 44 years. 22.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.3% were from 25 to 44; 30.9% were from 45 to 64; and 17.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.2% male and 50.8% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,322 people, 541 households, and 383 families residing in the town.  The population density was .  There were 778 housing units at an average density of .  The racial makeup of the town was 99.47% White, 0.08% Asian, 0.08% from other races, and 0.38% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.45% of the population. 28.3% were of English, 13.5% American, 9.1% Irish, 7.9% German, 5.9% Finnish, 5.2% French and 5.1% Scottish ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 541 households, out of which 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.5% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.82.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.5% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.6 males.  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $40,598, and the median income for a family was $43,929. Males had a median income of $28,553 versus $22,455 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,264.  About 7.6% of families and 12.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.6% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

 Raymond Cazallis Davis, librarian
 Peter Halley, artist
 Elisabeth Ogilvie, writer
 Edward Robinson, US congressman
 Dudley Willis Rockwell, metallurgist
 Andrew Wyeth, artist

References

External links
 Town of Cushing, Maine
 Cushing Public Library
 Cushing Historical Society & Museum

Towns in Knox County, Maine
Towns in Maine
Populated coastal places in Maine

Cushing, Maine


Rony Oren (born in 1953) is an Israeli animator, claymator and academic. In the commercial world he is best known for more than 500 animated short films in clay and over 30 children books which he illustrates or both writes and illustrates.

Filmography
From his "Frame by Frame" independent studio, established in 1978, he has directed and animated over 500 short films and television series that depict the Clayground method. Based on plasticine figures, a number of his films have received international awards. Oren won the Nachum Gutman prize for illustration. Oren's short films were submitted by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority and selected for screening in the Radio and Television Museum in New York and Los Angeles.

Among the series he has produced are The Egg (25x25sec), Foxy Fables (13x7), Tales of a Wise King (26x6), and Grabbit the Rabbit (13x7). These titles have been broadcast in over 80 countries and on numerous networks including Channel One, IETV, and more. Usually director and animator, in 2009 he directed a team of 3 animators for the ClayPlay series (13x4).

In addition to the Secrets of Clay book series for all ages, Oren has produced over 30 books for children in Israel, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Italy, Greece and the United States. Rony Oren illustrated "The animated Haggadah", which was published almost 21 years ago and sold extensively all over the world.

Amongst the TV advertisements Oren has produced is a commercial for Bezeq Beinleumi featuring the well known talking parrot and a commercial for Tene Noga which featured talking cows.

Oren produced over 85 short films for "Rechov Sumsum" and "Shalom Sesame" (the Israeli versions of "Sesame Street").

Published works
Illustrated and Wrote:
 Rony's Clay Christmas (2012)
 The Nativity (2011)
 Secrets of Clay 3: Dinosaurs (2010)
 Secrets of Clay 2: Animals in the Wild (2006)
 Blue Bear Sweeter Than Honey (2006)
 Blue Bear Wants to Sleep (2007)
 The Book of Colors (2006)
 The Book of Numbers (2006)
 Secrets of Clay: Pets & Farm Animals (2005)

Illustratated:
 Plasticine Zoo, by Dror Green, Steimatzky (1987).
 Plasticine Vegetables, by Dror Green, Keter Publishing House (1987).
 Plasticine Zoo, by Dror Green, Keter Publishing House (1987).
 Plasticine Zoo, by Dror Green, Keter Publishing House (1987).

Animation
 Three Green Frogs (2003)
 Grabbit The Rabbit (1996)
 Happy Holidays (short film for Shalom Sesame, 1991)
 Pay Words (short film for Shalom Sesame, 1991)
 Here Is Your Life: Hanukkah (short film for Shalom Sesame, 1990)
 Tales of A Wise King (1989)
 Foxy Fables (1987)
 Excuse Me (short film for Shalom Sesame, 1986)
 Wet Paint (short film for Shalom Sesame, 1986)
 The Egg (1979)
 In The Beginning (1976) (short film)

Clayground brand
Rony's Clayground includes the Secrets of Clay how-to series, as well as a range of board books and story books, internationally broadcast short films and workshops. The Clayground philosophy is based on Oren's trademarked method of working with clay. All creatures, settings and scenes inhabiting Oren's clay world can be built from three key shapes: Ball, Sausage and Pancake. These shapes provide the platform for all his clay figures, in any combination of color and size. Rony Oren has introduced his philosophy and method to children and students around the world through countless workshops and master classes. His workshops take place all over the world in schools, design schools, universities, children's hospitals and festivals.

Academic career
Oren is currently a Professor of Animation at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. Between the years 1980 - 2002 Oren taught animation at different art schools in Israel - Beit Tzvi, the WIZO Haifa Academy of Design and Education, and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Oren also led art classes at different animation festivals. He leads stop motion master classes in various international art and film academies and festivals. Between 2000 and 2008 Oren served as Head of the Animation Department at the Bezalel Academy.

References

Living people
Stop motion animators
Clay animators
Israeli animators
Israeli animated film directors
Jewish artists
1953 births

Rony Oren


Berwickshire is a county in Scotland. It is also the name of a committee area of the Scottish Borders Council. Berwickshire is on the boundary of Scotland with England. It is named after Berwick-upon-Tweed, but Scotland lost Berwick to England in 1482.

Berwickshire's first county town was the Royal Burgh of Berwick-upon-Tweed. In 1482 England seized Berwick. After that the shire's business was done at Duns or Lauder until Greenlaw became the county town in 1596.

A Sheriff Court sits in Duns.

Local government
Berwickshire County Council, like all the County Councils in Scotland, was made in 1890. The Council met in Duns. Berwickshire County Council was ended in 1975.

In 1975 a new Borders Region was made. A Berwickshire District Council was made within it too, with an area like the county's but not the same. Berwickshire District Council was ended in 1996.

Berwickshire is now all in the Scottish Borders Council Area.

Coat of arms

In 1890, when Berwickshire County Council was made, the Council asked the Lord Lyon King of Arms to give them a shield and arms. He gave a shield and arms to the County Council on 10 October 1890.

The shield shows a bear chained to a wych-elm tree. The bear and wych-elm are part of Berwick upon Tweed's shield because they sound like the town's name.

On 12 November 1975 the Lord Lyon gave the arms again to Berwickshire District Council. When the district council ended in 1996, the right to the arms went back to the Queen.

Berwickshire's name today
Berwickshire's name is still used locally. The Berwickshire News is a newspaper in the county and many groups keep "Berwickshire" in their titles.

The Berwickshire Civic Society is (2009) asking the Council to put road signs up to tell drivers who are coming into the county that they are coming into Berwickshire. The Berwickshire Civic Society has a Keep Berwickshire Tidy competition each April.

Places in Berwickshire include:
 Coldingham
 Coldstream
 Duns
 Earlston
 Eyemouth
 Foulden
 Greenlaw
 Lauder
 Mordington
 St. Abbs
 Swinton.

References

Scottish Borders

Berwickshire


A downhill bike (also known as a downhill mountain bike) is a full suspension bicycle designed for downhill cycling on particularly steep, technical trails.  Unlike a typical mountain bike, durability and stability are the most important design features, compared to lighter, more versatile cross-country bikes.  Downhill bikes are primarily intended for high-speed descent, and downhill riders will usually push, or shuttle via chairlifts or motorized vehicles, to the trailhead. Downhill bikes share similarities with freeride bikes due to their large strong frames and increased travel.

History

Geometry
These bikes will also have very slack head tube angles (63 degrees or less), long wheelbases (over ), and will accommodate the use of up to  width knobbed tires.  Downhill frames are also overbuilt to handle the stress of riding over rocky terrain, drops, and jumps. Bike weights have been typically over , but modern downhill bikes have broken the  weight barrier (with some custom builds on carbon frames weighing between ). Some newer (2014/5) downhill bikes can be built to weigh under , such as the Trek Session 9.9 or Kona Supreme Operator. Dual crown e-bikes typically weigh .

Adjustable head tube angles are also available to adapt the bike to the owner's preferred style of riding.

Components

Suspension
Will typically have  of rear suspension travel, and be designed around a  suspension fork.  The suspension sag is also much higher than cross-country bikes (25%-50% of total travel vs. 10%-20%) for a more supple ride at higher speeds.

Fork
Other innovations include the use of OnePointFive head tube standard, which uses a  wide steerer tube, instead of the more conventional  diameter, for added stiffness and strength. Most downhill bikes use dual crown forks which allow longer travel at the front(usually  and increased stiffness that a single crown fork cannot offer. Drawbacks though, are increased weight and reduced turning radius.

Brakes
Downhill bikes usually have hydraulic, quad piston disc brakes, and the discs may be 200 mm or larger. Brake discs and calipers may come with finned heatsinks for better heat dissipation.

Drivetrain
Downhill bikes usually have a chain guide to prevent accidental chain derailment. Some manufacturers are experimenting with internal gearboxes for improved reliability. Cassettes will usually only contain a few small sprockets instead of the 12 sprockets found on other types of mountain bikes.

Tires
Downhill bikes need very strong tires and wheels. The standard wheel size for downhill bikes is 27.5, but with recent changes to UCI World Cup Downhill rules, some brands are experimenting with 29″ and "mullet" 29″ cross 27.5″ downhill bikes. Tires are usually 2.5-2.6″ wide, plus tires are 2.8-3.0″. Plus tires are only used in recreational riding, not competition.

Materials
Downhill bikes are typically made of steel, aluminum or carbon fiber. Some manufacturers have started using 3d printed "lugs" for a more personalized geometry.

See also
 Mountain bike
 Mountain biking
 Downhill mountain biking
 Bicycle suspension
 Single track (mountain biking)
 Glossary of cycling
 Outline of cycling

References

External links
 "A Brief History of the Mountain Bike" by Jobst Brandt

Cycle types
Mountain biking
Cycle sport

Downhill bike


In astronomy, geology, and paleontology, mya is an acronym for 'million years ago'. This abbreviation is commonly used to show the length of time before the present or "B.P." (before AD 1950). Specifically, one mya is equal to 106 years ago.

Mya is traditionally written in lower case (small letters). It is often replaced in scientific literature by a term based on Latin: Ma (megaannum).

Units of time

Mya (unit)


Jonathan Kimble "J. K." Simmons (born Januar 9, 1955) is an American actor. He is kent for the telly roles o Dr. Emil Skoda on the NBC series Law & Order (an ither Law & Order franchise series), neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger on the HBO prison-drama Oz, an Assistant Police Chief Will Pope on TNT's The Closer; the film roles o J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider Man trilogy, an muisic instructor Terence Fletcher in 2014's Whiplash. He is an aa kent for vycin Cave Johnson in the 2011 video gemme Portal 2, Lenny Turtletaub in BoJack Horseman, The Warden in Megamind, Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3, Stanford Pines in Gravity Falls, Tenzin in The Legend of Korra, an Mayor Lionheart in Zootopia. Simmons an aa reprised his role as J. Jonah Jameson in various Marvel animatit series an video gemmes. He haes an aa appeared in a series o telly commercials for Farmers Insurance.

1955 births
20t-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male muisical theatre actors
American male televeesion actors
American male vyce actors
Best Supportin Actor Academy Awaird winners
Best Supportin Actor BAFTA Awaird winners
Best Supportin Actor Gowden Globe (film) winners
Independent Spirit Awaird winners
Livin fowk
Male actors frae Michigan
Ohio State Varsity alumni
Ootstaundin Performance bi a Male Actor in a Supportin Role Screen Actors Guild Awaird winners

J. K. Simmons


Papaveraceae , informally kent as the puppie faimily, is an economically important faimily o  30 genera an aboot 600 species o flouerin plants in the order Ranunculales.  The faimily is cosmopolitan, occurrin in temperate an subtropical climates, but almaist unkent in the tropics. Maist are yerbaceous plants, but a few are shrubs an smaa trees.

Description

The plants mey be annual, biennial, or perennial. Uisually yerbaceous, a few species fairm scrogs or evergreen trees. Thay are lactiferous, producin latex, whilk mey be milky or wattery, coloured or plain. Aw pairts contain a weel-developed duct seestem (thir ducts are cried "laticifers"), producin a milky latex, a wattery white, yellae or reid juice.

The semple leaves are alternate or whiles whorled. Thay hae petioles an are nae enclosed bi a sheath. The leaves are uisually lobed or pinnatifid (i.e. consisting o several nae entirely separate leaflets), or much-dividit. Thare are no stipules.

The plants are hermaphroditic an are pollinatit maistly bi insects (even as flouer nectaries are lackin; entomophilous), a few bi the wind (anemophilous). Thare is a distinct calyx an corolla, except in Macleaya whaur the corolla is lackin. The flouers is medium-sized or lairge an thay leuk spectacular. The terminal flouers solitar in maist species. In ithers the terminal inflorescence is cymose or racemose. The flouers is odourless an regular.

Thare mony stamens, maistly 16 tae 60, arranged in twa separate whorls, the ooter ane wi stamens alternate wi the petals, the inner ane opposite. The gynoecium consists o a compound pistil wi 2 tae 100 carpels. The ovary is superior an 1-locular. The ovary is athoot a footstalk (sessile) or on a short stem (stipitate).

The non-fleshy fruit is uisually a capsule, breakin open at maturity tae release the seeds throu pores (poricidal), or throu the partitions atween the cells (septicidal), or bi means o valves (valvular). The numerous seeds is smaa. Thair nutritive tissue (endosperm) is oily an farinose. The fruit o Platystemon is a schizocarp.
Naur aw o thir plants contain alkaloids. Mony are pushionous. The Mexican Prickly puppie is pushionous if taken internally an mey cause edema an glaucoma.  Even gif an ainimal, lik a gait, shoud persist in grazin on this plant, nae anly will the ainimal suffer but the lik will be for thaim that drink its milk, acause the pushions is passed alang in the milk.

Taxonomy
The APG II seestem (2003; unchynged frae the APG seestem o 1998) places the faimily in the order Ranunculales, in the clade eudicots. Housomever, APG daes provide for the option tae segregate twa faimilies, as optional segregate. Sicweys, thare twa possible circumscriptions:
 Papaveraceae sensu lato, includin the plants that wad itherwise fairm the faimilies Fumariaceae an Pteridophyllaceae. (see subfaimilies)
 Papaveraceae sensu stricto, excludin thir plants.

The faimily sensu stricto confairms tae the faimily as recognised bi the Cronquist seestem, o 1981 (Cronquist recognised Fumariaceae as separate). This comprises aboot 26 genera an aboot 250 species. The description gien abuin applies tae the faimily in this narra sense.

Genera in Papaveraceae sensu stricto

The single genus transferred whan Pteridophyllaceae is includit in Papaveraceae is :

Pteridophyllum

The 20 genera transferred whan Fumariaceae is includit in Papaveraceae are :

Subfaimilies
For discussions o subfaimilies, see Carolan et al. (2006) an Blattner an Kadereit (1999): Eschscholzioideae, Papaveroideae (includin Platystemonoideae), an Chelidonioideae.

The twa taxa considered subfaimilies that hae been considered as separate faimilies is the Fumariaceae (Bercht. & J. Presl, 1820) an the Pteridophyllaceae (Murb., 1912) Nakai ex Reveal & Hoogland, 1991.

Cultivation
The faimily is weel luved for the strikin flouers, wi mony species grawn as ornamental plants, includin Californie puppie (Eschscholtzia californica, the Californie state flouer), the stunnin blue Himalayan poppies (Meconopsis), several species o Papaver, an the wildflouer bloodruit. The faimily conteens the opium puppie (Papaver somniferum) an aw, whilk is the soorce o opium an opiates, as weel as puppie seeds uised in cuikin an bakin, an puppieseed ile.

Seembolism

The opium puppie an corn puppie is seembols, respectively, o sleep an daith. In Great Breetain, Canadae, the Unitit States, an Australie the corn puppie is worn in remembrance o Warld War I.

References

Freemit airtins

Papaveraceae in Topwalks
 Papaveraceae  [sensu stricto] in L. Watson an M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants .
 Papaveraceae [sensu lato] in the  Flora of North America
 NCBI Taxonomy Browser [sensu stricto]
 links at CSDL
 Family Papaveraceae  Flowers in Israel
 *JAMES C. CAROLAN, INGRID L. I. HOOK, MARK W. CHASE, JOACHIM W. KADEREIT and TREVOR R. HODKINSON. Phylogenetics of Papaver and Related Genera Based on DNA Sequences from ITS Nuclear Ribosomal DNA and Plastid trnL Intron and trnL–F Intergenic Spacers. Annals of Botany 2006 98(1):141-155
 Frank R. Blattner and Joachim W. Kadereit. Morphological evolution and ecological diversification of the forest-dwelling poppies (Papaveraceae: Chelidonioideae) as deduced from a molecular phylogeny of the ITS region. Plant Systematics and Evolution Volume 219, Numbers 3-4 / September, 1999 181-197

Eudicot faimilies

Papaveraceae


Levi ibn Habib (c. 1480 – c. 1545), also known by the acronym HaRaLBaCh, was Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem from 1525 until his death.

Under King Manuel of Portugal, and when about seventeen, he was compelled to submit to baptism, but at the first opportunity fled to Salonica, where he could follow the dictates of his conscience in safety. In 1523 he went to Jerusalem, but in a short time returned to Salonica. In 1525 he settled permanently in Jerusalem, where his learning won him the position of chief rabbi. There he met Jacob Berab, with whom he often came into conflict on questions of rabbinical law. A serious quarrel broke out between these two rabbis when Berab, becoming chief rabbi of Safed, reintroduced the ancient practice of the semikhah (rabbinical ordination). They carried on a bitter and envenomed controversy for some time, in the course of which Berab referred to Ibn Habib's adoption of Christianity. The latter frankly admitted the fact, but pointed out that at the time he was a mere youth, that his involuntary profession of Christianity lasted hardly a year, and that he took the first opportunity to escape and rejoin the religion of his fathers. This controversy was chiefly responsible for the fact that the practice of ordination ceased again soon after Berab's death.

Writings
He was knowledgeable in mathematics and astronomy. In his youth he edited his father's book Ein Yaakov (Constantinople, 1516; by Jacob ibn Habib). He wrote: She'elot u-Teshubot, a collection of 147 responsa; Kontres ha-Semikah, a treatise on ordination; Perush Kiddush HaChodesh, a commentary on Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh (rules governing the construction of the Hebrew calendar in Maimonides' code of law). All these works were published together in Venice (1565); the last-named work was also published separately (ib. 1574-76).

References

 Its bibliography:
David Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, pp. 32a, 33b, 37a:
Heinrich Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., ix.293-296;
Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi, Dizionario, i.84;
Hazan, Ha-Ma'alot li-Shelomoh, pp. 53a-54a;
Julius Fürst, Bibl. Jud. i.153;
Moritz Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1606.

16th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire
15th-century Portuguese Jews
Sephardi rabbis in Ottoman Syria
1480s births
1540s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
Chief rabbis of Jerusalem
People from Zamora, Spain
Jews expelled from Spain in 1492
Authors of books on Jewish law
Sephardi rabbis from Ottoman Palestine

Levi ibn Habib


Jewels (or gems or gemstones) are rare minerals. They usually come in colours and sizes. They begin in a rough rock form, but can be cut and polished to turn into a jewellery.

However, some other non-mineral rocks (such as lapis lazuli) or organic materials can also be also used for jewelry and are called gemstones. These include amber or jet. Pearls and coral are sometimes also called gemstones.

Most gemstones are hard. Soft minerals are used in jewelry too, because of their luster that gives them value.

Being rare or in short supply also makes a gemstone valuable.

History
The Ancient Greeks began to decide which gems are precious and semi-precious. This continued in other cultures.

In modern times, the precious stones are diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald, with all other gemstones being semi-precious.

Types
 Amethyst
 Aquamarine
 Diamond
 Emerald
 Jade
 Peridot
 Ruby
 Sapphire
 Topaz
 Turquoise
 Opal
 Spinel

References

Other websites
 "Book of Royal Gemstones" is a book from 1554 that talks about gemstones.
 "The Blossoms of Thoughts Regarding the Precious Stones" is an old book from the 1600s that is considered one of the most important books about precious stones. It is written in the Arabic language.

Basic English 850 words

Jewel


Early Christian sarcophagi are those Ancient Roman sarcophagi carrying inscriptions or carving relating them to early Christianity.  They were produced from the late 3rd century through to the 5th century. They represent the earliest form of large Christian sculpture, and are important for the study of Early Christian art.

The production of Roman sarcophagi with carved decoration spread due to the gradual abandonment of the rite of cremation in favour of inhumation over the course of the 2nd century throughout the empire. However, burial in such sarcophagi was expensive and thus reserved for wealthy families. The end of the Christian persecutions desired by Gallienus in 260 began a period of peace for the Christians that lasted until the end of that century and allowed Christianity to spread in the army, in senior administrative posts and even the emperor's circles. In the second half of the 3rd century, especially due to increased demand from this group of wealthy Christians, the use of sarcophagi spread widely, with plastic treatments following trends in contemporary sculpture.

Production and typology
The sarcophagi seem to have been produced by workshops who also created pieces with pagan or Jewish iconography. The techniques are the same, but Christian sarcophagi developed a rather different style of layout, with framed scenes, later arranged on two tiers. The images of Christ move in an iconic direction, very unlike the depiction of gods in pagan equivalents, where deities are normally shown, if at all, in narrative scenes.

Iconography

A wide variety of subjects are shown on sarcophagi, with the most elaborate containing small cycles of narrative scenes from the gospels and simpler ones symbols such as the Chi Rho. Other motifs depicted include the Hetoimasia, a representation of the empty throne with a book as preparation for the Last Judgment, the  Traditio Legis or "giving of the law", with the scroll of the New Covenant given to St. Peter with St. Paul on the other side of Christ, and Christ in Majesty ("Maiestas domini")- representations of the majesty of the lord ranging from visions of prophets to Christ on a throne between the apostles with his feet on a footstool

Notable examples
Sarcophagi of Helena and Constantina
Sarcophagos of Livia Primitiva (debated)
Sarcophagus of Santa Maria Antiqua
Sarcophagus of Stilicho
Dogmatic Sarcophagus
Sarcophagus of the "Two Brothers"
Sarcophagus of the Good Shepherd
Sarcophagus with the miracles of Christ
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus

Sarcophagus of the Passion
Sarcophagus of Adelphia

Sources

Sarcophagi
Sarchophagi
Sarcophagi
Sarcophagi, Christian

Early Christian sarcophagi


James Alan Bouton (; March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 1962 and 1978. He was also a best-selling author, actor, activist, sportscaster and one of the creators of Big League Chew.

Bouton played college baseball at Western Michigan University, before signing his first professional contract with the Yankees. He was a member of the 1962 World Series champions, appeared in the 1963 MLB All-Star Game, and won both of his starts in the 1964 World Series. Later in his career, he developed and threw a knuckleball. Bouton authored the 1970 baseball book Ball Four, which was a combination diary of his 1969 season and memoir of his years with the Yankees, Pilots, and Astros.

Amateur and college career
Bouton was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Gertrude (Vischer) and George Hempstead Bouton, an executive. He grew up as a fan of the New York Giants in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, where he lived until the age of 13. He lived with his family in Ridgewood, New Jersey until he was 15, when his family relocated to Homewood, Illinois. Bouton enrolled at Bloom High School, where he played for the school's baseball team.

Bouton was nicknamed "Warm-Up Bouton" because he never got to play in a game, serving much of his time as a benchwarmer. Bloom's star pitcher at that time was Jerry Colangelo, who later would become owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Suns. In summer leagues, Bouton did not throw particularly hard, but he got batters out by mixing conventional pitches with the knuckleball that he had experimented with since childhood. Bouton attended Western Michigan University, and pitched for the Western Michigan Broncos baseball team. He earned a scholarship for his second year. That summer, he played amateur baseball, catching the attention of scouts. Yankees scout Art Stewart signed Bouton for $30,000.

Professional career
Bouton signed with the Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1959. After playing in minor league baseball, Bouton started his major league career in 1962 with the Yankees, where his tenacity earned him the nickname "Bulldog." By this time, he had developed a formidable fastball. He also came to be known for his cap flying off his head at the completion of his delivery to the plate, as well as for his uniform number 56, a number usually assigned in spring training to players designated for the minor leagues. (Bouton later explained that he had been assigned the number in 1962 when he was promoted to the Yankees, and wanted to keep it as a reminder of how close he had come to not making the ball club. He wore number 56 throughout most of his major league career.)

Bouton appeared in 36 games (16 starts) during the 1962 season, going 7–7 with two saves and a 3.99 ERA. He did not play in the Yankees' 1962 World Series victory over the San Francisco Giants, although he had originally been slated to start Game 7. When the game was postponed a day because of rain, Ralph Terry pitched instead. Bouton went 21–7 and 18–13 in the next two seasons, and appeared in the 1963 All-Star Game. In Game 3 of the 1963 World Series, Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched a three-hit shutout in a 1–0 victory, while Bouton gave up just four hits in seven innings for the Yankees. The only run scored in the first inning on a walk, wild pitch and single by Tommy Davis that bounced off the pitching mound.

Bouton won both his starts in the 1964 World Series. He beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2–1 with a complete-game six-hitter on October 10 on a walk-off home run by Mickey Mantle, then won again on October 14 at Busch Stadium, 8–3, backed by another Mantle homer and a Joe Pepitone grand slam. He was 2–1 with a 1.48 ERA in three career World Series starts.

Bouton's frequent use by the Yankees during these years (he led the league with 37 starts in 1964 in addition to pitching in that year's World Series) probably contributed to his subsequent arm troubles. In 1965, an arm injury slowed his fastball and ended his status as a pitching phenomenon. Relegated mostly to bullpen duty, Bouton began to throw the knuckleball again, in an effort to lengthen his career. He was 1–1 in 12 appearances when his contract was sold on June 15, 1968, by the Yankees to the Seattle Pilots before the expansion franchise ever played a game. He was assigned to the Seattle Angels for the remainder of the campaign.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19680617&id=Y8JGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eukMAAAAIBAJ&pg=781,3640855 "Major League Teams Beat Clock with Last-Minute Trading Spurt," Schenectady (NY) Gazette, Monday, June 17, 1968.] Retrieved February 17, 2023.</ref> In October 1968, Bouton joined a committee of American sportsmen who traveled to the 1968 Summer Olympics, in Mexico City, to protest the involvement of apartheid South Africa.

He was used almost exclusively out of the bullpen by the Pilots in 1969. On May 16, he pitched three hitless innings of relief without allowing a run against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Pilots scored six in the top of the 11th inning to earn him the win, even though other Seattle relievers gave five runs back in the bottom of the 11th. Bouton earned another win in July against the Red Sox with 1 innings of relief, again not allowing a hit. Over 57 appearances with the Pilots, he compiled a 2–1 record with a 3.91 ERA.

The Pilots traded him to the Houston Astros in late August, where Bouton was 0–2 with a 4.11 ERA in 16 appearances (one start).

Ball Four

Around 1968, sportswriter Leonard Shecter, who had befriended Bouton during his time with the Yankees, approached him with the idea of writing a season-long diary. Bouton agreed; he had taken some notes during the 1968 season with a similar goal.

The diary that became Ball Four chronicled Bouton's experiences the next year with the Pilots. The diary also followed Bouton during his two-week stint with the triple-A Vancouver Mounties in April, and after his trade to the Houston Astros in late August. Ball Four was not the first baseball diary (Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jim Brosnan had written two such books), but it became more widely known and discussed than its predecessors.

The book was a frank, insider's look at professional sports teams, covering the off-the-field side of baseball life, including petty jealousies, obscene jokes, drunken tomcatting of the players, and routine drug use, including by Bouton himself. Upon its publication, baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn called Ball Four "detrimental to baseball", and tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying that the book was completely fictional. Bouton, however, refused to deny any of Ball Four's revelations. Some teammates never forgave him for disclosing information given to him in confidence, and naming names. The book made Bouton unpopular with many players, coaches, and officials on other teams as well; he was informally blacklisted from baseball.

Bouton's writings about Mickey Mantle's lifestyle were most notorious, though they comprise few pages of Ball Four and much of the material was complimentary. For example, when Bouton got his first shutout win as a Yankee, he describes Mantle laying a "red carpet" of white towels leading directly to Bouton's locker in his honor.

The controversy and book sales enabled Bouton to write a sequel, I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally, in which he discussed both the controversies and reactions to Ball Four, and the end of his original pitching career and his transition to becoming a New York sportscaster.

Retirement
Bouton retired midway through the 1970 season, shortly after the Astros sent him down to the minor leagues. After a handful of unsatisfactory appearances, Bouton left baseball to become a local sports anchor for New York station WABC-TV, as part of Eyewitness News; he later held the same job for WCBS-TV. In 1973, Bouton published a collection of manager tales, including one by Bouton himself about Joe Schultz his manager with the Seattle Pilots. Bouton also became an actor, playing the part of Terry Lennox in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973), plus the lead role of Jim Barton in the 1976 CBS television series Ball Four, which was loosely adapted from the book. The show was canceled after five episodes. Decades later, Bouton would also have a brief one-line cameo as a pitching coach in the 2010 James L. Brooks film How Do You Know.

By the mid-1970s, a cult audience saw the book Ball Four as a candid and comic portrayal of the ups and downs of baseball life. Bouton went on the college lecture circuit, delivering humorous talks on his experiences. He authored a sequel, I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally, and later updated the original book with a new extended postscript that provided a ten-year update, dubbed Ball Five.

Return

Bouton launched his comeback bid with the Portland Mavericks of the Class A Northwest League in 1975, compiling a 5–1 record. He skipped the 1976 season to work on the TV series, but he returned to the diamond in 1977 when Bill Veeck signed him to a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox. Bouton was winless for a White Sox farm club; a stint in the Mexican League and a return to Portland followed.

In 1978, Ted Turner signed Bouton to a contract with the Atlanta Braves. After a successful season with the Double-A Savannah Braves of the Southern League, he was called up to join Atlanta's rotation in September, and compiled a 1–3 record with a 4.97 ERA in five starts. His winding return to the majors was chronicled in a book by sportswriter Terry Pluto, The Greatest Summer. Bouton also detailed his comeback in a 10th anniversary re-release of his first book, titled Ball Four Plus Ball Five, as well as adding a Ball Six, updating the stories of the players in Ball Four, for the 20th anniversary edition. All were included (in 2000) as Ball Four: The Final Pitch, along with a new coda that detailed the death of his daughter and his reconciliation with the Yankees.

After his return to the majors, Bouton continued to pitch at the semi-pro level for a Bergen County, New Jersey team called the Emerson-Westwood Merchants, among other teams in the Metropolitan Baseball League in northern New Jersey, while living in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Once his baseball career ended a second time, Bouton became one of the inventors of "Big League Chew", a shredded bubblegum designed to resemble chewing tobacco and sold in a tobacco-like pouch. He also co-authored Strike Zone (a baseball novel) and edited an anthology about managers, entitled I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad (published 1973). His most recent book is Foul Ball, a non-fiction account of his attempt to save Wahconah Park, a historic minor league baseball stadium in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The book was released in 2003 and later updated in 2005.

Although Bouton had never been officially declared persona non grata by the Yankees or any other team as a result of Ball Fours revelations, he was excluded from most baseball-related functions, including Old-Timers' Games. It was rumored that Mickey Mantle himself had told the Yankees that he would never attend an Old-Timers' Game to which Bouton was invited. Later, Mantle denied this charge during an answering-machine message to Bouton after Mantle's son Billy had died of cancer in 1994 – Mantle was acknowledging a condolence card Bouton had sent.

On June 21, 1998 (Father's Day) Bouton's oldest son Michael wrote an open letter to the Yankees, which was published in The New York Times, in which Michael described the agony of his father following the August 1997 death of Michael's sister Laurie at age 31, with Michael wishing that the Yankees would invite Bouton to their Old Timers Game on July 25 (he noted Yogi Berra's decision to not participate in the game as long as George Steinbrenner was owner, but he cited it as just as petty for Berra to spite Steinbrenner as it is for Steinbrenner to spite Bouton). Not long after, the Yankees elected to invite him to the Old Timers Game. On July 25, 1998, Bouton, sporting his familiar number 56, received a standing ovation when he took the mound at Yankee Stadium.

Personal life
Bouton and his first wife Bobbie had two children together, Michael and Laurie, and adopted a Korean orphan, Kyong Jo. Kyong Jo later changed his name to David. Bobbie and Bouton divorced in 1981. In 1983, Bouton's ex-wife teamed up with Nancy Marshall, the former wife of pitcher Mike Marshall, to write a tell-all book called Home Games. In response to the book's publication, Bouton commented:

We all have the right to write about our lives, and she does, too. If the book is insightful, if it helps people, I may be applauding it.
I'm sure most of the things she says are true. I smoked grass, I ran around, I found excuses to stay on the road. It got so bad that I smoked grass to numb myself. It took me a year to where my brain worked again. I no longer think of grass as harmless. We were in the death throes of a marriage. She should ask herself how did she not see these things.

In 1997, Laurie was killed in a car accident at age 31. Bouton later married Paula Kurman. They had six grandchildren.

In 2012, Bouton had a stroke that did not impair him physically but damaged his memory and speaking.

Bouton promoted the Vintage Base Ball Federation to form vintage clubs and leagues internationally, to codify the rules and equipment of its 19th-century origins, and to organize competitions.

Bouton was a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention for George McGovern.

Bouton died at home on July 10, 2019, after weeks of hospice care for cerebral amyloid angiopathy, at age 80.

WritingsBall Four has been through numerous significantly revised editions, the most recent being Ball Four: The Final Pitch, Bulldog Publishing. (April 2001), .I'm Glad You Didn't Take It PersonallyI Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad – edited and annotated by Bouton, compiled by Neil Offen.Foul Ball, Bulldog Publishing. (June 2003), .Strike Zone'', Signet Books. (March 1995),  (with Eliot Asinof).

See also

List of knuckleball pitchers

References

External links

1939 births
2019 deaths
20th-century American memoirists
Alacranes de Durango players
Amarillo Gold Sox players
American League All-Stars
American diarists
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
American expatriate baseball players in Mexico
American male non-fiction writers
Atlanta Braves players
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Baseball players from Chicago
Baseball players from Newark, New Jersey
Greensboro Yankees players
Houston Astros players
Journalists from Illinois
Kearney Yankees players
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Knuckleball pitchers
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People from Chicago Heights, Illinois
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People from Rochelle Park, New Jersey
Sportspeople from Teaneck, New Jersey
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Portland Mavericks players
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Television anchors from New York City
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Writers from Newark, New Jersey

Jim Bouton


The Wonder City of Oz (1940) is the thirty-fourth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the first written and illustrated solely by John R. Neill.

Tone
With The Wonder City of Oz, Neill introduced a change in tone that continued through his subsequent books. Neill's Oz books "are highly imaginative, but the imagination is undisciplined; each book, in fact, has enough ideas to fill several." Neill's Emerald City has skyscrapers and gas stations. Normally inanimate objects act alive: houses talk and fight, shoes sing (they have tongues), and clocks run.

The plot
Jenny Jump captures a leprechaun named Siko Pompus (apparently a pun on "psychopomp") and forces him to make her into a fairy; but he only does half the job before escaping. Jenny then jumps to Oz using her half-fairy gifts. She lands in the carriage of Princess Ozma during a parade — and quickly expresses her desire to be a queen herself.

Jenny displays a bold and tempestuous nature; when she loses her temper she spits flames from her mouth. Yet she is also enterprising and resourceful; she soon sets up a Style Shop with a magic turnstile which gives fashion makeovers (the turnstile turns styles). Jenny half-adopts a Munchkin boy called Number Nine (he's the ninth of fourteen children) who is overwhelmed by the force of her personality, and she treats him like a slave.

Jenny's disruptive nature quickly becomes apparent. In response, the Wizard removes her fairy abilities and starts making her younger. Jenny has her good points too: she saves the Emerald City from conquest by an army of chocolate soldiers. Yet her ambition lures her into running against Ozma in an Ozlection to become ruler of the Land of Oz. It is clear that Ozma will win any fair election by a landslide — but a landslide is a terribly dangerous thing to have in the Emerald City. So Prof. Wogglebug cooks up a more random choice, in which citizens are weighed on scales to determine their votes. In the end, the Ozlection is exactly a tie, with a precisely equal number of votes cast for Ozma and for Jenny Jump. Only one person has yet to vote: the leprechaun Siko Pompus. He assures Jenny that he is her friend, and then he steps forward to cast the deciding vote...for Ozma. He claims it's for Jenny's own good, to save her "a heap of responsibility."

Jenny is so irate at this outcome that she causes chaos in the city: she releases the tigers from tiger-lilies, the bulls from bullrushes, the lions from dandy-lions, etc., to rampage through the streets. The Wizard resolves matters with his magic: he extracts Jenny's bad temper, envy, and ambition, so that these faults no longer plague her. He makes these faults visible for Number Nine, Dorothy, and other assembled friends: bad temper is a black wasp, envy is a green snake, and ambition is a fat red toad. Jenny is delighted with the change in her by quoting "How grand I feel!" Ozma and Glinda make Jenny a Duchess of Oz and she is now young and carefree enough to be a fitting companion for Number Nine.

Finally, Jenny's leprechaun godfather gives her back her fairy gifts, in externalized and material forms: "an ivory-handled eyeglass for one eye" that provides fairy sight, and a pair of rose-colored gloves, "a golden slipper for her left foot, and a pair of thistle-down earmuffs" that enable her other fairy powers, whenever she needs them.

Editorial interference
The Ozlection storyline, with its shoes-as-votes scenario, was not written by Neill but by an anonymous editor who found portions of Neill's version of the book inadequate.  None of the incidents in this plot thread is illustrated by Neill.

Geography
In a prefatory note addressed to the book's child readers, Neill states that he and his family live in Flanders, New Jersey, which he describes as "on top of the Schooley Mountains and the Jenny Jump Mountains are really truly mountains right next to us." He characterizes them as "wonderful mountains for fairies to hide in." As Neill indicates, Jenny Jump Mountain is a real place, located in northwestern New Jersey in the Jenny Jump State Forest.

References

External links

 On The Wonder City of Oz

Oz (franchise) books
1940 fantasy novels
1940 American novels
1940 children's books
Leprechauns in popular culture

The Wonder City of Oz


The Descent of Man, and selection in relation to sex is a book by Charles Darwin, first published in 1871.

It was Darwin's second great book on evolutionary theory, with the first being his 1859 work, On the Origin of Species.

Darwin had said almost nothing about human beings in the Origin, except a single sentence:
"Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history".

In The Descent of Man, Darwin applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and also explains his theory of sexual selection. He thought the two topics were closely connected.

In the nearly 12 years between the Origin and the Descent of Man, several writers had written works on the subject. Noteworthy were:

Man's Place in Nature by Thomas Henry Huxley.
The Antiquity of Man by Charles Lyell.

Both were published in 1863.

Sexual selection

Sexual dimorphism
The starting point for sexual selection is the observation that males differ from females, not just in sexual apparatus, but in many other traits. This is true of many animals, and the question is why this happens. The answer given by Darwin, and followed by many other biologists, is that the selection on males is different from the selection on females.

Sexual selection in Man
Sexual selection is the theory proposed by Charles Darwin that states that certain evolutionary traits can be explained by intraspecific competition (competition between members of the same species).

Darwin defined sexual selection as the effects of the "struggle between the individuals of one sex, generally the males, for the possession of the other sex".

Biologists today distinguish between "male to male combat" or "intrasexual selection" (it is usually males that fight each other), "mate choice" or "intersexual selection" (usually female choice of male mates) and sexual conflict.

Secondary sex characteristics are features that distinguish the two sexes of a species, but are not directly part of the reproductive system. They are believed to be the product of sexual selection for traits which give an individual an advantage over its rivals in courtship and fighting.

Traits selected by male combat are called "weapons"; and traits selected by mate choice are called "ornaments".

References

Evolutionary biology
Biology books
1871 books
Books by Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man


Pepin I or Pepin I of Aquitaine (French: Pépin; 797 – 13 December 838) was King of Aquitaine and Duke of Maine.

Pepin was the second son of Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye. When his father assigned to each of his sons a kingdom (within the Empire) in August 817, he received Aquitaine, which had been Louis's own subkingdom during his father Charlemagne's reign. Ermoldus Nigellus was his court poet and accompanied him on a campaign into Brittany in 824.

Rebellions
Pepin rebelled in 830 at the insistence of his brother Lothair's advisor Wala.  He took an army of Gascons with him and marched all the way to Paris, with the support of the Neustrians.  His father marched back from a campaign in Brittany all the way to Compiègne, where Pepin surrounded his forces and captured him.  The rebellion, however, broke up.

In 832, Pepin rebelled again and his brother Louis the German soon followed. Louis the Pious was in Aquitaine to subdue any revolt, but was drawn off by the Bavarian insurrection of the younger Louis. Pepin took Limoges and other Imperial territories.  The next year, Lothair joined the rebellion and, with the assistance of Ebbo, archbishop of Reims, the rebel sons deposed their father in 833.  Lothair's later behaviour alienated Pepin, and the latter was at his father's side when Louis the Pious was reinstated on 1 March 834. Pepin was restored to his former status.

Death
Pepin died scarcely four years after getting restored to his former status, he was buried in the Church of St. Radegonde in Poitiers.

Marriage and issue
In 822, Pepin had married Ingeltrude, daughter of Theodobert, count of Madrie, with whom he had two sons: Pepin II (823-after 864), and Charles (825-830 - 4 June 863), who became Archbishop of Mainz.

Both were minors when Pepin died, so Louis the Pious awarded Aquitaine to his own youngest son, Pepin's half-brother Charles the Bald. The Aquitainians, however, elected Pepin's son as Pepin II. His brother Charles also briefly claimed the kingdom. Both died childless. Pepin also had two daughters, one of whom married Gerard, Count of Auvergne.

Notes

Sources
Collins, Roger. "Pippin I and the Kingdom of Aquitaine." Charlemagne's Heir: New Perspectives on the Reign of Louis the Pious, edd. P. Godman and Roger Collins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.  Reprinted in Law, Culture and Regionalism in Early Medieval Spain. Variorum, 1992. .

Monarchs of the Carolingian Empire
Dukes of Maine
Frankish warriors
797 births
838 deaths
Burials in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Rebellious princes
Sons of emperors

Pepin I of Aquitaine


Fleet Street is a road in central London. It used to be where newspapers were made, before they moved east to Wapping.

The street existed in the 14th century. It connected the City of London to Westminster. It takes its name from the River Fleet.

Roads in London

Fleet Street


The  (FIFA ; French for "International Federation of Association Football") is the organization that controls international football (also called association football). The organization's main  buildings are in Zürich, Switzerland. FIFA organizes major international football tournaments, and the most famous one is the FIFA World Cup, which has been held since 1930. FIFA was established on May 21, 1905 in Paris and has 209 national associations as its members. The organization's official languages are English, French, German and Spanish.

The president of FIFA is currently Gianni Infantino, serving since 26 February 2016.

The most powerful organ of FIFA is the FIFA Congress, which is an assembly made up of representatives from each member association. The Congress holds a regular meeting once a year, and since 1998 an additional meeting has been held every year. Only the Congress can pass changes to FIFA's laws.

The Congress decides whether FIFA should accept new national associations and elects the President of FIFA, its General Secretary and the other members of FIFA's executive committee. The President and General Secretary take care of what goes on within and around FIFA. The executive committee, with the President as its head, is responsible for deciding the dates, locations and format of tournaments.

Also, there are six regional confederations recognized by FIFA which take care of the game in the seven different continents of the world. National associations must be members of both FIFA and their regional confederation in order for their teams to compete in FIFA's competitions. The six confederations are AFC (Asian Football Confederation in Asia and Australia), CAF (Confédération Africaine de Football in Africa), CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football in North America and Central America), CONMEBOL (Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol in South America), OFC (Oceania Football Confederation in Oceania) and UEFA (Union Européenne de Football Association in Europe).

Related pages
 FIFA World Cup
 FIFA Women's World Cup
 FIFA Club World Cup
 Asian Football Confederation
 Confederation of African Football
 CONCACAF
 CONMEBOL
 Oceania Football Confederation
 UEFA

Further reading
 Paul Darby, Africa, Football and Fifa: Politics, Colonialism, and Resistance (Sport in the Global Society), Frank Cass Publishers 2002, .
 John Sugden, FIFA and the Contest For World Football, Polity Press 1998, .
 Jim Trecker, Charles Miers, J. Brett Whitesell, ed., Women's Soccer: The Game and the Fifa World Cup, Universe 2000, Revised Edition, .

References

Other websites

 Official website
 FIFA Laws of the Game

1904 establishments

FIFA


Acanthocyte (from the Greek word ἄκανθα acantha, meaning 'thorn'), in biology and medicine, refers to an abnormal form of red blood cell that has a spiked cell membrane, due to thorny projections. A similar term is spur cells. Often they may be confused with echinocytes or schistocytes.

Acanthocytes have coarse, irregularly spaced, variably sized crenations, resembling many-pointed stars. They are seen on blood films in abetalipoproteinemia, liver disease, chorea acanthocytosis, McLeod syndrome, and several inherited neurological and other disorders such as neuroacanthocytosis, anorexia nervosa, infantile pyknocytosis, hypothyroidism, idiopathic neonatal hepatitis, alcoholism, congestive splenomegaly, Zieve syndrome, and chronic granulomatous disease.

Usage
Spur cells may refer synonymously to acanthocytes, or may refer in some sources to a specific subset of 'extreme acanthocytes' that have undergone splenic modification whereby additional cell membrane loss has blunted the spicules and the cells have become spherocytic ('spheroacanthocyte'), as seen in some patients with severe liver disease.

Acanthocytosis can refer generally to the presence of this type of crenated red blood cell, such as may be found in severe cirrhosis or pancreatitis, but can refer specifically to abetalipoproteinemia, a clinical condition with acanthocytic red blood cells, neurologic problems and steatorrhea. This particular cause of acanthocytosis (also known as abetalipoproteinemia, apolipoprotein B deficiency, and Bassen-Kornzweig syndrome) is a rare, genetically inherited, autosomal recessive condition due to the inability to fully digest dietary fats in the intestines as a result of various mutations of the microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTTP) gene.

Pathophysiology

Acanthocytes arise from either alterations in membrane lipids or structural proteins. Alterations in membrane lipids are seen in abetalipoproteinemia and liver dysfunction. Alteration in membrane structural proteins are seen in neuroacanthocytosis and McLeod syndrome.

In liver dysfunction, apolipoprotein A-II deficient lipoprotein accumulates in plasma causing increased cholesterol in RBCs. This causes abnormalities of membrane of RBC causing remodeling in spleen and formation of acanthocytes.

In abetalipoproteinemia, there is deficiency of lipids and vitamin E causing abnormal morphology of RBCs.

Differential diagnoses

The diagnosis of acanthocytosis should be differentiated from:
acute or chronic anemia, hepatitis A, B, and C, hepatorenal syndrome, hypopituitarism, malabsorption syndromes, and malnutrition.

Acanthocytosis secondary to malnourishment, such as anorexia nervosa and cystic fibrosis, remits with resolution of the nutritional deficiency. Acanthocyte-like cells may be found in hypothyroidism, after splenectomy, and in myelodysplasia.

Acanthocytes should be distinguished from echinocytes, which are also called 'burr cells', which although crenated are dissimilar in that they have multiple, small, projecting spiculations at regular intervals on the cell membrane. Burr cells usually imply uremia, but are seen in many conditions, including mild hemolysis in hypomagnesemia and hypophosphatemia, hemolytic anemia in long-distance runners, and pyruvate kinase deficiency. Burr cells can also arise in vitro due to elevated pH, blood storage, ATP depletion, calcium accumulation, and contact with glass.  Acanthocytes should also be distinguished from keratocytes, also called 'horn cells' which have a few very large protuberances.

See also
 List of hematologic conditions

References

External links

  Acanthocyte: Presented by the University of Virginia

Abnormal clinical and laboratory findings for RBCs
Histopathology

Acanthocyte


Potassium chlorate is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is KClO3. It has potassium and chlorate ions.

Properties
It is a colorless crystalline solid. It dissolves in water. It is a strong oxidizing agent. It gives off oxygen when heated. Sometimes manganese(IV) oxide is used to make the oxygen come faster. It can explode when mixed with a strong reducing agent. It can make many things burn that don't normally burn.

Preparation
It is made by electrolysis of a hot solution of potassium chloride. This is similar to the chloralkali process. It can also be made by reacting concentrated sodium chlorate with potassium chloride.

Uses
It is used in fireworks. It is a part of Armstrong's mixture, a sensitive explosive. It is also used to make oxygen gas in high school and college labs. It can burn sugar when mixed with sugar and concentrated sulfuric acid. It can also replace potassium nitrate in gunpowder. It is used in oxygen candles. Oxygen candles made oxygen when burned. They are used in spaceships.

Safety
Potassium chlorate is a strong oxidizing agent and can catch many things on fire. When it is mixed with sulfur or phosphorus, it burns very easily. Many other chemicals can make dangerous mixtures with potassium chlorate.

Related pages
Oxidizing agent
Potassium chloride
Perchlorate

Potassium compounds
Chlorine compounds

Potassium chlorate


Blue Merle was an American band centered in Nashville, Tennessee. Their name comes from the lyrics of a Led Zeppelin song, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp from Led Zeppelin III, referring to a "blue-eyed merle" border collie dog. The band was fronted by lead singer Luke Reynolds.

The band was first formed when Luke Reynolds and Jason Oettel met and began to work together. A friend in a studio offered them some recording time, and they began recording several demo tracks. While they were doing so, the President of Sony Publishing happened to be there, and offered them a contract. While they passed on it, it was a start. Reynolds then met Beau Stapleton, a Mandolin player, on his way back to his home in Vermont and invited him to join. Oettel brought one of his own friends, William Ellis, a drummer into the band as well. It was William who came up with the band's name. The last member to join was Luke Bulla, a fiddle player, who had been asked to fill in for a couple weeks, and soon was a full-time member.

In February 2005, Blue Merle released Burning In The Sun, which features the singles "Burning In The Sun", "Every Ship Must Sail Away", and "Lucky To Know You". The album hit #8 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and peaked at #199 on the Billboard 200. Blue Merle played Lollapalooza in 2005, and toured with Guster, Jem, J.J. Cale, and Badly Drawn Boy.

In April 2006, the band broke up.  They played their last show, 45 minute set, on Friday, April 21 at Vanderbilt University's Rites of Spring music festival along with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and My Morning Jacket.

Since the band's breakup, Luke Reynolds released two solo EPs entitled The Space Between the Lines and Maps, before joining the band Guster full-time. Beau Stapleton also released a solo EP, Will I Shine For You Still.

Luke Reynolds's last project was named Pictures and Sound, and released their self-titled debut album August 19, 2008 on Vanguard Records.

In August 2008, NBC used Blue Merle's song "Burning in the Sun" during a feature on the Women's Pole Vault during the Beijing Olympics. The song "If I Could" was also prominently featured in the Friday Night Lights episode "Let's Get It On" (first aired Nov 2 2007). "Every Ship Must Sail Away" was the final song in Season 1, Episode 2 of the TV series "Bones".

Discography
Blue Merle EP (2003)
Blue Merle The Fires EP (2004)
Burning in the Sun (2005)
Live at Bull Moose EP (2005)

References

Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee
Island Records artists
Musical groups established in 2003
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
American bluegrass music groups
Vanguard Records artists

Blue Merle


Syed Kasim Razvi (17 July 1902 – 15 January 1970), also Qasim Razvi, was the leader of a local militia in India, the Razakars of Hyderabad State, who blocked accession into the Republic of India after the Partition of British Indian empire against the wishes of the local  majority Hindu-population, and fought against the Indian forces during occupation.

Razvi held views that Hyderabad should eventually join Pakistan in a major war against Bharat, as clearly evidenced by some of his speeches and publications in Hyderabadi newspapers. Razvi was politically powerful and a close advisor of the Nizam, whom he encouraged to defy the infidel government, and blocked the invasion of Hyderabad into Republic of India. At the height of the crisis, Razvi had placed his allies in influential posts, and was virtually dictating the Nizam's policy on the issue. Razvi even traveled to Delhi and had a stormy meeting with Indian leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He is quoted to have said "Death with the sword in hand, is always preferable to extinction by a mere stroke of the pen. "prompting the Indian government to call him the "Nizam's Frankenstein monster."

After Indian military intervention, Razvi was placed under house arrest and tried under Indian laws on seditious activities and inciting communal violence. He was released in the 1950s, and he later fled to Pakistan.

People from Hyderabad, India
1902 births
1970 deaths

Qasim Razvi


Three-phase electric power is a method to generate, transmit and distribute AC electricity. It is the most common method in power systems to transfer power from generation to load. Three-phase systems are usually more economical to be used than equivalent single-phase or double-phase systems.

Electricity

Three-phase electric power


Hospitality is about people welcoming other people into their homes or other places where they work or spend their time.  People who welcome visitors are called hosts.  The people they welcome are called guests.

The word hospitality comes from the Latin hospes, which came from  the word hostis, which originally meant "to have power."

Hospitality is all about the art of entertaining or receiving guests.  We talk about "offering hospitality".  There are many different ideas about how to offer hospitality according to the various cultures in the world.  In the past, many societies taught us, that it is always right to offer hospitality to strangers who came to their door in need of food or shelter. This may seem a strange act to many of us today, but it was an important way to survive in many societies, especially in lands (where people travelled long distances, often far away from large towns).

The words hospital, hospice, and hostel also come from the word "hospitality". They are all about giving personal care to people who are away from their homes.

The hospitality industry is service industry that includes hotel and restaurant workers.

References

Everyday life

Hospitality