Quantiles mangrupa titik penting dicokot dina interval vertikal teratur dina fungsi sebaran kumulatif variabel random.  Ngabagi susunan data nu diparentahkeun kana ukuran sub-susunan data q mangrupa hal nu penting dina kuantil-q; kuantil nyaéta nilai data nu nandaan wates antara susunan data nu ngantay.  Put another way, the pth q-quantile is the value x such that the probability that a random variable will be less than x is at most p/q and the probability that a random variable will be less than or equal to x is at léast p/q.  There are q-1 q-quantiles, with p an integer satisfying 0 < p < q.

Specially named quantiles include the percentiles (q = 100), deciles (q = 10), quintiles (q = 5), quartiles (q = 4),  and the median (q = 2).  There are 99 percentiles, éach corresponding to a quantile represented by an integer number of percent (such as 99%).  Deciles are the 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90th percentiles.  Quintiles are the 20, 40, 60, and 80th percentiles.  Quartiles are the 25, 50, and 75th percentiles.  The median is the 50th percentile.  Some software programs regard the minimum and maximum as the 0th and 100th percentile, respectively; however, such terminology is an extension beyond traditional statistics definitions.  For an infinite population, the pth q-quantile is the data value where the cumulative distribution function is p/q.  For a finite sample of N data points, calculate Np/q—if this is not an integer, then round up to the next integer to get the appropriate sample number (assuming samples ordered by incréasing value); if it is an integer then any value from the value of that sample number to the value of the next can be taken as the quantile, and it is conventional (though arbitrary) to take the average of those two values.

More formally: the pth q-quantile of the distribution of a random variable X can be defined as the value(s) x such that:

If instéad of taking p and q as integers, the p-quantile is based on a real number p with 0<p<1 then this becomes: the p-quantile of the distribution of a random variable X can be defined as the value(s) x such that:

For example, given the 10 data values {3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 20}, the first quartile is determined by 10*1/4 = 2.5, which rounds up to 3, and the third sample is 7.  The second quartile value (same as the median) is determined by 10*2/4 = 5, which is an integer, so take the average of the fifth and sixth values, that is (8+10)/2 = 9, though any value from 8 through to 10 could be taken to be the median.  The third quartile value is determined by 10*3/4 = 7.5, which rounds up to 8, and the eighth sample is 15.  The motivation for this method is that the first quartile should divide the data between the bottom quarter and top three-quarters.  idéally, this would méan 2.5 of the samples are below the first quartile and 7.5 are above, which in turn méans that the third data sample is "split in two", making the third sample part of both the first and second quarters of data, so the quartile boundary is right at that sample.  (Note that the quartile is the boundary between two quarters, which are the data sets.  The first quarter are those data below the first quartile, the second quarter those data between the first and second quartiles, etc.  In statistics the first quarter is the lowest quarter, wheréas in everyday life, such as ranking students by grade, the first quarter is often regarded as the highest quarter.

Standardized test results are commonly misinterpreted as a student scoring "in the 80th percentile", for example, as if the 80th percentile is an interval to score "in", which it is not; one can score "at" some percentile or between two percentiles, but not "in" some percentile.)

It should be noted that different software packages use slightly varying algorithms, so the answer they produce may be slightly different for any given set of data.  Besides the algorithm given above, which is the proper one based on probability, there are at léast four other algorithms commonly used (for various réasons, such as of éase of computation, ignorance, etc.).

If a distribution is symmetrical, then the median is the méan, but this is not generally the case.

Quantiles are useful méasures because they are less susceptible to long tailed distributions and outliers.  For instance, with a random variable that has an sebaran eksponensial, any particular sample of this random variable will have roughly a 63% chance of being less than the méan.  This is because the exponential distribution has a long tail for positive values, but is zero for negative numbers.

Empirically, if the data you are analyzing are not actually distributed according to your assumed distribution, or if you have other potential sources for outliers that are far removed from the méan, then quantiles may be more useful descriptive statistics than méans and other moment related statistics.

Closely related is the subject of robust regression in which the sum of the absolute value of the observed errors is used in place of the squared error.  The connection is that the méan is the single estimate of a distribution that minimizes expected squared error while the median minimizes expected absolute error.  Robust regression shares the ability to be relatively insensitive to large deviations in outlying observations.

The quantiles of a random variable are generally preserved under incréasing transformations, in the sense that for example if m is the median of a random variable X then 2m is the median of 2X, unless an arbitrary choice has been made from a range of values to specify a particular quantile.   Quantiles can also be used in cases where only ordinal data is available.

Quantile


Raffaele Gualazzi (born 11 November 1981), better known as Raphael Gualazzi, is an Italian singer and pianist. He was born in Urbino.

Biography

Love Outside the Window
On 16 September 2005, Gualazzi released his first studio album, titled Love Outside the Window and distributed by Edel Music.

In 2008, Gualazzi recorded a cover of "Georgia on My Mind" for the compilation Piano Jazz, released in France by Wagram Music.

Sanremo Festival 2011
In September 2010 he released a self-titled digital EP in Italy and Europe. The EP features a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" and three new songs written by Gualazzi, including his first single, "Reality and Fantasy". The song was later released in a remix version by British/French DJ Gilles Peterson.

On 18 February 2011, he won the Sanremo Festival in the Newcomers section, the Critics' "Mia Martini" Award for Newcomers and the "Sala Radio-Tv" Award with the self-penned song "Follia d'amore". The song is included in Gualazzi's second studio album, Reality and Fantasy, released on 16 February 2011 by Sugar Music.

Eurovision Song Contest 2011
On 19 February 2011, Gualazzi was chosen among the participants at the Sanremo Festival 2011 to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, held in Düsseldorf, Germany. Gualazzi was the first Italian singer to represent the country since the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. "Madness of Love" finished second out of 43 participating countries with 189 points, 32 points behind the winning song "Running Scared".

Sanremo Festival 2013
On 13 December 2013, his participation in the "Big Artists" section in the Sanremo Music Festival 2013 is confirmed with the songs "Senza ritegno" and "Sai (ci basta un sogno)". His third studio album, Happy Mistake, is released on 14 February 2013. On 12 February 2013, during the first night of the Sanremo Festival, "Sai (ci basta un sogno)" is chosen as Gualazzi's song for the rest of the competition; the song finished in fifth position in the final.

Sanremo Festival 2014
In 2014, he took part in the "Big Artists" section in Sanremo 2014 for the second year in a row, this time together with The Bloody Beetroots, with the songs "Liberi o no" and "Tanto ci sei". They took second place in the final with the song "Liberi o no".

Sanremo Festival 2020
He participated at the Sanremo Music Festival 2020 with the song "Carioca".

Discography

Filmography
Oceania - Tamatoa (2016)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
Raphael Gualazzi at Allmusic
Video of a concert at the Unesco's First International Jazz Day, 2012

Italian jazz singers
1981 births
Living people
Artists from Urbino
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2011
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Italy
Sanremo Music Festival winners of the newcomers section
21st-century Italian male singers
Italian male pianists
21st-century pianists
Male jazz musicians

Raphael Gualazzi


Top Chef is a television reality competition show. It is shown on Bravo Television on cable. The first season was hosted by Katie Lee Joel. Other seasons were hosted by Padma Lakshmi. Tom Colicchio is the head judge. Every episode, they invite a 'guest judge' to come and help judge the dishes with Padma Lakshmi (or Gail Simmons, when Padma cannot be there) and Tom Colicchio. Gail Simmons is a judge. Tim Allen was a judge. Some past guest judges are: Anthony Bourdain, Rocco DiSpirito, and many others.

American reality television series
English-language television programs

Top Chef


Lewis Hill (May 1, 1919 – August 1, 1957) was a co-founder of KPFA, the first listener-supported radio station in the United States, and the Pacifica Radio network.

He was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on May 1, 1919. His father was an attorney who made his fortune by brokering a deal to sell an oil company to J.P. Morgan. His mother's brother was Frank Phillips, builder of Phillips Petroleum. Lewis was sent to Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri, because he was too bright for the public school. According to his widow, he "despised" his time at military school, but he completed his first two years of college there and also was the Missouri State doubles tennis champion. He then transferred to Stanford University.

While studying at Stanford in 1937, his interest in Quakerism led him to a belief in pacifism. As a conscientious objector, Hill served in Civilian Public Service during World War II. In 1945, Hill resigned from his job as a Washington, D.C., correspondent and moved to Berkeley, California.

In 1949 he established KPFA. To support the station financially, he founded the Pacifica Foundation. He served as Pacifica's head until his suicide (during a period of failing health from spinal arthritis) in 1957.

References

External links
PACIFICA FOUNDATION VINDICATED ON LABOR ISSUES AT KPFA
The Lengthening Shadow: Lewis Hill and the Origins of Listener-Sponsored Radio in America
MY KPFA: A Historical Footnote John Whiting documents Pacifica Radio's early years, with almost a hundred hours of programs and interviews.

1919 births
1957 deaths
People from Kansas City, Kansas
Wentworth Military Academy and College alumni
Stanford University alumni
American conscientious objectors
American radio company founders
Pacifica Foundation people
Suicides in California
American radio executives
Members of the Civilian Public Service
20th-century American businesspeople
1957 suicides

Lewis Hill (Pacifica Radio)


The Ladbroke Grove rail crash (also known as the Paddington rail crash) was a rail accident which occurred on 5 October 1999 at Ladbroke Grove in London, England, when two passenger trains collided almost head-on after one of them had passed a signal at danger. With 31 people killed and 417 injured, it was one of the worst rail accidents in 20th-century British history.

It was the second major crash on the Great Western Main Line in just over two years, the first being the Southall rail crash of September 1997, a few miles west of this crash. Both crashes would have been prevented by an operational automatic train protection (ATP) system, wider fitting of which had been rejected on cost grounds. This severely damaged public confidence in the management and regulation of safety of Britain's privatised railway system.

A public inquiry into the crash by Lord Cullen was held in 2000. Since both the Paddington and Southall crashes had reopened public debate on ATP, a separate joint inquiry considering the issue in the light of both crashes was also held in 2000; it confirmed the rejection of ATP and the mandatory adoption of a cheaper and less effective system, but noted a mismatch between public opinion and cost-benefit analysis.

The Cullen inquiry was carried out in two blocks of sittings, sandwiching the 'joint inquiry'; the first block dealt with the crash itself, the second block dealt with the management and regulation of UK railway safety; this had always been part of the inquiry terms of reference, but was given additional urgency by a further train crash at Hatfield in October 2000. Major changes in the formal responsibilities for management and regulation of safety of UK rail transport ensued.

Incident
At 08:06 BST on 5 October 1999, a Thames Trains service to Bedwyn railway station in Wiltshire left Paddington Station. From Paddington to Ladbroke Grove Junction (about  to the west), the lines were bi-directional (signalled to allow trains to travel in either direction, in and out of the platforms of Paddington Station); beyond Ladbroke Grove the main line from London to South Wales and the West of England is a more conventional layout of two lines in each direction ('up' for travel to London, 'down' for travel away from London) carrying both fast and slow trains.

Being an outbound train, the train (a three-car Class 165 Turbo diesel multiple unit or DMU) would have been routed onto the down main line at Ladbroke Grove. It should have been held at a red signal at Portobello Junction until it could be rerouted safely. Instead, it passed the signal; and the points directed the multiple unit onto the Up Main Line at Ladbroke Grove. At about 8:09, as it was entering the Up Line, it collided nearly head-on and at a combined speed of approximately  with the 06:03 First Great Western train from Cheltenham to Paddington.

The 06:03 InterCity 125 high speed train (HST) was driven by 52-year-old Brian Cooper. It consisted of a rake of eight Mark 3 coaches with a Class 43 diesel power car at each end. The chassis and body of the HST are notably stronger than the structure of the Class 165 DMU, the leading car of which was totally destroyed. The diesel fuel it was carrying was dispersed by the collision and ignited, leading to a series of fires in the wreckage, particularly in coach H near the front of the HST, which was completely burnt out.

The drivers of both trains were killed, as well as 29 others (23 on the Class 165, five on the HST as a result of the impact, with a further fatality as a result of the fire), and 417 people were injured.

Immediate cause
The immediate cause of the disaster was determined to be the Class 165 passing a red signal (numbered SN109 on gantry 8 overhead beside four signals serving other tracks) at which the train should have been stopped. The signal was displaying a red aspect, and the preceding signal a single yellow which should have alerted the driver of the red signal ahead. Since the driver, 31-year-old Michael Hodder, had been killed in the collision, it was not possible to establish why he had passed the signal at danger. However, Hodder was inexperienced, having qualified as a driver only two weeks before the crash. His driver training was found to be defective on at least two grounds: assessing situation-handling skills, and being notified of recent local incidents of Signals Passed at Danger (SPAD). The local signals were known to have caused other near misses – SN109 had been passed at danger on eight occasions in six years, but Hodder had no specific warning of this. Furthermore, 5 October 1999 was a clear day and at just past 08:00 the sun would have been low, behind Hodder, meaning that sunlight would reflect off yellow aspects, reducing visibility. The driver of a previous westbound train reported that "all the signals right the way across all lit up like a Christmas tree" at gantry 6 at about 7:50 that morning. Poor signal placement meant that Hodder would have seen the reflection of the yellow aspects of SN109 at a point where his view of the red aspect (but not of any other signal on the gantry) was still obstructed. The inquiry considered it more probable than not that the poor visibility of SN109, caused by not only its own position but the positioning of other signals at gantry 8, along with the reflections of sunlight, led Hodder to believe that he was able to proceed and pass the red signal.

Contributory factors
The inquiry noted that the lines out of and into Paddington were known to be prone to SPAD mishapshosting an unusual concentration of eight SPADs at signal SN109 in the preceding six yearsand attempted to identify the underlying causes.

Problems with signal visibility
Paddington approaches had been resignalled by British Rail in the early 1990s to allow bidirectional working.  The number of signals and limited trackside space meant that most signals were in gantries over the tracks; the curvature of the lines meant that it was not always obvious which signal was for which track. Reflective line-identification signs had therefore been added but, the inquiry report noted, they were closer to the signal to the right hand side than to the signal for the line to which they related. However, misreading of which signal related to which track cannot have caused the fatal crash, because at the time all the other gantry 8 signals westbound were also showing red.
Local spacing between signals and points was designed to allow fast through-running by freight trains, such that gantry 8 was less than  west of a road bridge not at high level; this compromised the distance from which the signal could be seen by drivers of trains leaving Paddington. To allow the higher ('proceed') aspects to be seen sooner, the standard signals (with the four aspects arranged vertically) were replaced with non-standard 'reverse L' signals, with the red aspect to the left of the lower yellow. The resignalling had been implemented ahead of formal HMRI approval; awaited at the time of the crash.

The line had been electrified to allow the new Heathrow Express service to operate from 1994 with overhead electrification equipment that further obstructed drivers' view of signals:

... from the outset there was not an adequate overall consideration of the difficulties which would face drivers, in particular in signal sighting, on which the safety of travellers critically depended. Secondly, when difficulties did emerge, there was not an adequate reconsideration of the scheme. There was a resistance to questioning what had already been done. Cost, delay and interference with the performance objectives underlay that resistance.

The red aspect of SN109 was particularly badly obscured by the overhead electrification equipment; it was last of all the gantry 8 signal aspects to become clearly visible to the driver of a Class 165 approaching from Paddington.

Problems with signal visibility management
All new or altered signals or which had multiple SPADs should have been reviewed for sighting issues by a 'signal sighting committee', but none had been held for signals around Paddington since Railtrack assumed responsibility for this in April 1994. An internal audit in March 1999 had reported this, but a follow-up audit in September 1999 found no evidence of any remedial action being taken.

The failure to have signal sighting committees convened was persistent and serious. It was due ... to a combination of incompetent management and inadequate process, the latter consisting in the absence of a process at a higher level for identifying whether those who were responsible for convening such committees were or were not doing so.

There had been over the years a number of proposals or recommendations for the risk assessment of the signalling in the Paddington area; none of them was carried into effect. Multiple SPADs at SN109 in August 1998 should have triggered a risk assessment; none took place. An inquiry into a February 1998 SPAD at SN109 had already recommended risk assessment of signalling on the Paddington–Ladbroke Grove bi-directional lines; this and many other inquiry recommendations had not been implemented: the Railtrack employee with formal responsibility for action-tracking had been told his responsibility ended once someone accepted an action, and did not extend to checking that they had acted upon it.

'Disjointed and ineffective' SPAD reduction initiatives
Between February 1998 and the accident there had been four separate groups set up with the aim of reducing SPADs; their existence, membership and functions overlapped. A Railtrack manager told the inquiry how he struggled on his arrival in October 1998 to understand how "so many apparently good people could produce so little action": people had burdens that were too complex; they were not prioritising; people were "square pegs in round holes"; some were not competent; and, in summary, "the culture of the place had gone seriously adrift over many years". The chief executive of Railtrack spoke of a seemingly endemic culture of complacency and inaction, which he said reflected the culture of the old British Rail:
"The culture is one in which decisions are delegated upwards. There has been little empowerment. People have tended to manage reactively, not proactively. The basic management discipline of 'plan-do-review' is absent the further down the organisation one goes."

Problems with driver training
Thames Trains inherited a driver training programme from British Rail, which had changed to the point where in February 1999, a concerned incoming training manager commissioned an external audit which reported

The trainers did not appear to be following the training course syllabus and supporting notes as they considered these to be 'not fit for purpose' with inappropriate time allowances for some sessions. The traction and introduction to driving section of the course has been extended and the six week route learning session is being used as additional practical handling.

Indeed, Michael Hodder's 16 weeks' practical training had been given by a trainer who felt that "I was not there to teach ... the routes. I was totally to teach ... how to drive a Turbo"; the training manager was unaware of this. Details of signals which had been repeatedly passed at danger should have been supplied to trainers and passed on to trainees; no trainer had done so, and the practical trainer quoted above was unaware that SN109 was a multi-SPAD signal. Testing of trainees was similarly unstructured and unstandardised, with no clear pass/fail criteria. Under the previous British Railways training regime, trainees would have spent far longer in training and once qualified, were not allowed to drive over the notoriously difficult approach to/from Paddington until they had at least two years' experience on less complex routes. Hodder had only qualified 13 days earlier; he was ex-navy with no previous experience as a railway worker, but no special attention was paid to this in either training or testing.

It must be concluded therefore that [the driver's] training was not adequate for the task for which he was being prepared. The very favourable comments made as to his progress by his various teachers have to be viewed against the background that his teachers were working with a less than perfect training programme.

Other issues

Train protection
The Class 165 unit had been fitted with an Automatic Warning System (AWS) which required the driver to acknowledge a warning every time he approached a signal not at green. If an Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system had been fitted and working it would have automatically applied brakes to prevent the train going beyond any signal at red.  National adoption of ATP, British Rail's preferred train protection system, had been recommended after the Clapham Junction rail crash, but later abandoned because the safety benefits were considered not great enough to justify the cost. After a previous SPAD, Thames Trains had commissioned a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) study specific to the Paddington situation which came to the same conclusion. The Ladbroke Grove accident was felt to cast doubt on the wisdom of these decisions.  However, the Cullen inquiry confirmed that CBA would not support the adoption of ATP by Thames Trains.

Flank protection
The signalling system on the approaches to Paddington did not incorporate 'flank protection' (where the points beyond a stop signal are automatically set to direct the train away from the path which would cause a collision). This would have routed the train running past SN109 onto the Down Relief line. This should have been considered at the design stage. The reasons for not engineering flank protection were not known but it was noted that the introduction of Automatic Train Protection (ATP) had been thought to be imminent at previous safety reviews. Flank protection would have increased the 'overlap' (the distance for which a train could run past the signal before fouling lines) at SN109; the desirability of doing so should have been considered by the risk assessment which had not taken place.

Response of signalmen
The written instructions for Railtrack signalling centre staff at Slough were that as soon as they realised that a train had passed a signal at danger they should set signals to danger and immediately send a radio "emergency all stop" signal to the driver of the train by Cab Secure Radio (CSR) as soon as they realised that it had done so. In the event, only when the Thames train was  past the signal did they start to send a radio "emergency all stop" signal (it is not clear whether the signal was actually sent before the crash).  Their understanding of the instructions was that they should wait to see if the driver stopped of his own accord before attempting to contact him; this interpretation was supported by their immediate manager. The signalmen had never been trained in the use of CSR, nor had they ever used it in response to a SPAD.
The general picture which emerged was of a slack and complacent regime, which was not alive to the potentially dire consequences of a SPAD or of the way in which signallers could take action to deal with such situations.

Regulatory shortcomings
The Health and Safety Executive's HM Railway Inspectorate was also criticised for its inspection procedures.
The then head of HSE told the Inquiry the HSE were concerned about, first, the length of time taken for the approval of the signalling scheme; secondly, the slow progress by Railtrack and the HMRI in bringing issues to a conclusion; and, thirdly, the inadequate risk analysis.  Matters had not been followed up with more urgency. More could have been done to enforce health and safety legislation. She attributed these deficiencies to three causes:
 a lack of resources on the part of the HMRI;
 a lack of vigour by the HMRI in pursuing issues; and
 the placing of too much trust in the duty holders

Wider ramifications

National policy on train protection systems
A fortnight before the crash the HSE had announced an intention to require the adoption of TPWS (an upgrade of AWS, which could stop trains travelling at less than 70 mph within the overlap distance of a red signal delivering it assessed about  the safety benefits of ATP at much lower cost) by 2004 (advanced, a week after the crash, to 2003).

The separate joint inquiry on the problem nationally noted that ATP and contrasting AWS introduced since about 1958 (and therefore TPWS) had continuing reliability problems and were obsolescent technology inconsistent with the impending standardisation EU-wide per the ETCS European Train Control System. In the year between Ladbroke Grove and the joint inquiry the rail industry (if not the general public) had become largely committed to the adoption of TPWS. Consequently, although the joint inquiry expressed considerable reservations about the effectiveness of TPWS it concurred with its adoption.

The joint inquiry noted that public reaction to catastrophic rail accidents ... should be and is taken into account in the making of decisions about rail safety but did not align with the output of CBA (cost-benefits analysis). Any future ATP system will entail expenditure at levels many times higher than that indicated by any approach based upon CBA. Despite its cost, there appears to be a general consensus in favour of ATP. Both TPWS and ETCS would be mandatory and therefore their cost implications need not be considered by any body other than the UK government and the EU Commission.

Management and regulation of rail safety
The inquiry noted evidence that railway safety statistics had not worsened after privatisation, nor had there been any evidence that however privatisation had been carried out it would have been detrimental to safety. Concerns were however expressed about how privatisation had been carried out:
 The fragmentation of the industry had created numerous, complex interfaces exacerbated by defensive or insular attitudes (expected to worsen in the future as managers who had broad, sobering experience in BR passed out of the system). It also gave problems with the management, development and implementation of large-scale projects; and meant that little real research and development was being carried out.
 The quality of safety leadership and communications varied between the various successor organisations.
 A stress on performance targets had diluted the perceived importance of safety. Cullen contrasted multimillion-pound penalties for poor punctuality with much lower fines for serious safety breaches.
 Train Operating Company (TOC) franchises had been awarded for too short a period, and with inadequate consideration of safety aspects.
 Railtrack relied extensively on contractors to carry out safety critical work; there were too many contracting organisations, contracts were for too short a period, and were inadequately supervised by Railtrack.

Beyond exhortations to do better, the Inquiry recommended changes in the industry structure.
Railtrack had not merely had responsibility for railways infrastructure, but also a lead responsibility for safety: for acceptance of the Safety Case of each TOC and for setting "Railway Group Standards" (system-wide standards on matters affecting safety). Since it also had commercial interests in these issues TOCs were unhappy with this: Cullen recommended that safety case acceptance should be directly by HSE in future, and a new body should be set up to manage Railway Group Standards.

In 1996 ScotRail had initiated the creation of a confidential rail safety reporting system (later to become CIRAS) formed from an independent panel chiefly from Strathclyde University. Other TOCs expressed interest and others in Scotland voluntarily joined the system. Following the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott mandated that all mainline rail in the UK come under the Confidential Incident Reporting & Analysis System (CIRAS) to involve every rail employee in the rail safety process. CIRAS now provides services to all rail workers and operating sectors throughout England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland (ROI).

The Railways Inspectorate had a responsibility for advising on and inspecting against matters affecting railway safety; they were also the usual investigating body for serious railway crashes. Cullen felt that there was "a strong argument for an investigating body which enjoys real and perceived independence" and therefore recommended that rail accident investigation should become the responsibility of a separate body.

Aftermath

The recommendations of Lord Cullen's inquiry into the crash led to the creation in 2003 of the Rail Safety and Standards Board and in 2005 of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch in addition to the Railway Inspectorate. Standards-setting, accident investigation and regulatory functions were thenceforth clearly separated, on the model of the aviation industry.

On 5 April 2004, Thames Trains was fined a record £2million after admitting violations of health and safety law in connection with the crash and ordered to pay £75,000 in legal costs.

On 31 October 2006, Network Rail (the successor body to Railtrack, formed in the wake of a subsequent train crash at Hatfield) pleaded guilty to charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in relation to the accident. It was fined £4million on 30 March 2007 and ordered to pay £225,000 in legal costs.

Signal SN109 was brought back into service in February 2006. It and many other signals in the Paddington area are now single-lens type signals.

A memorial garden and cenotaph has been created, partially overlooking the site, accessible from a supermarket car park, at .

Heavy damage to power car 43011 saw it written off, officially withdrawn in November. After the completion of the inquiry it was cut up by Sims Metals in Crewe, Cheshire in June 2002. The Turbo unit was written off, the front two cars were scrapped; the rear car was undamaged, able to be used for spare parts.

Pam Warren wrote the book From Behind the Mask which narrates her experiences during the crash, her recovery, and how it has affected her life and relationships.

See also
 Southall rail crash – an earlier incident on the Great Western Main Line caused by a SPAD, also involving a High Speed Train
 2005 Glendale train crash – an incident in the United States which was also followed by a fire caused by spilt diesel

Further reading

References

External links

 The Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry Part 1 by The Rt Hon Lord Cullen PC (3.2 MB pdf file) – The Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry Part 1
 The Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry Part 2 by The Rt Hon Lord Cullen PC (1.4 MB pdf file) – The Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry Part 2
 Paddington Survivors Group – Website of the Paddington Survivors Group, which campaigned for better rail safety and supports survivors.
 Locomotion No.1 to simulation: A brief history of train driver training on Britain's railways a Rail Safety And Standards Board review (with comments – including on the transition from British Rail)
 1999: Death toll rising in Paddington crash BBC NEWS
 Simplified diagram of track layout at Ladbroke Grove Junction

Railway accidents and incidents in London
Transport in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
20th century in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Railway accidents in 1999
1999 disasters in the United Kingdom
1999 in London
Public inquiries in the United Kingdom
Railway accidents involving a signal passed at danger
Accidents and incidents involving Thames Trains
Accidents and incidents involving First Great Western
October 1999 events in the United Kingdom
Train collisions in England
Rail accidents caused by a driver's error

Ladbroke Grove rail crash


Eduardo Capetillo Vásquez (born April 13, 1970) is a Mexican actor and singer.

Life
He was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He belongs to the Capetillo family, who have a long tradition of being bullfighters.

Being still very young, he participated in some courses of preparation with the actress Martha Zabaleta and some courses of jazz in the center of qualification of Televisa. His career started when he won the festival Juguemos a Cantar, where he won the second place with the song Mi grupo toca Rock (My band plays rock), later launched by Orfeón Records.

He participated in the Spanish theatre version of Grease, Vaselina, and recorded his first telenovela in 1983 called Martín Garatuza.

In 1986, Eduardo entered Timbiriche, replacing Benny Ibarra. Success followed through Rock Shows, on Timbiriche VI album, and subsequently recording more hits with albums Timbiriche VII, Timbiriche VIII and Timbiriche lX. Capetillo sang various solos that became hits, such as No seas tan cruel, Todo Cambia, Con todos menos conmigo. He then toured Mexico and some Latin American countries.

In 1989, Capetillo left the group and began his career as a solo artist. In 1991 he sold more than a million copies of the album of five songs, sound track of the telenovela Alcanzar una estrella.

That same year he launched his album Dame Una Noche. In 1992 he returned as an actor and singer thanks to another telenovela, Baila conmigo, and to his second album, Estoy Aquí.

Later he released a new album, Piel Ajena (1995), and a career in which the formula is mixed actor-singer in telenovelas, that strengthens him as an idol in the Latin world thanks to titles like Marimar, together with Thalía, that was seen in more than 150 countries, or Canción De Amor, Camila or El secreto, in which he and Yadhira Carrillo are the only Mexican actors of a Spanish cast.

Thanks to the telenovela El secreto, seen on Spanish television (the TVE), Capetillo has returned to record a new album, with Horus-Muxxic, registered in diverse studios of Mexico and Spain, with a production directed and made by his brother-in-law Chacho Gaytán.
The album includes the hit song "El Secreto", the main theme of the telenovela, composed, arranged and produced by Federico Vaona in 2001–2002.
In 2003 he also interpreted one of the songs of the telenovela Bajo la misma piel.
In 2004 he appeared in Amy, la niña de la mochila azúl.
His most recent telenovela is Peregrina, a story of an 18-year-old circus girl who discovers her real family.

Capetillo is married to actress and singer Bibi Gaytán, his partner from the Timbiriche years. They have five children: Eduardo (born August 17, 1994), Ana Paula (born 1997), Alejandra (born 1999), Manuel and Daniel Capetillo (born June 20, 2014).

Telenovelas

References

External links
 Eduardo Capetillo on Myspace

1970 births
Living people
21st-century Mexican male singers
Mexican male child actors
Mexican male stage actors
Mexican male telenovela actors
Mexican people of Spanish descent
Mexican people of Basque descent
Male actors from Mexico City
Timbiriche members
Singers from Mexico City
20th-century Mexican male singers

Eduardo Capetillo


Proton is an expandable launch vehicle used for both commercial and Russian government launches. It is still in use as of 2018. All Protons are built at Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, and are then launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. It can launch around 22.8 tonnes to Low Earth orbit, and it can launch around 6.3 tonnes to Geostationary orbit. It is expected to be retired before 2030.

It was originally created as a super heavy Intercontinental ballistic missile. The first Proton rocket was launced in 1965. Proton's design was kept secret until 1986. It launched several sections of the Mir space station, and also launched two modules to the ISS.

References

Rockets
Russia

Proton (rocket family)


Saint Eormenhild (or Ermenilda, Ermenildis, Ermengild, all meaning "battle-great", from eormen- "great", hild- "battle") (died about 700/703) is a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon saint venerated in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

Life
She features in the genealogies of various 11th- and 12th-century versions of the Kentish Royal Legend. These describe her as the daughter of King Eorcenberht of Kent and St Seaxburh of Ely, and wife to Wulfhere of Mercia, with whom she had a daughter, St Wærburh, and a son, Coenred. Eormenhild became a nun after her husband died in 675, and eventually became abbess of Minster-in-Sheppey and Ely consecutively.

There are almost no contemporary records for her life. When discussing Wulfhere, Bede mentions neither she nor her daughter Wærburh. However, her name is mentioned as an abbess in a (copy of a) charter of King Wihtred of Kent, dated 699, along with three other abbesses present at the occasion when the charter was issued: "Irminburga, Aeaba et Nerienda".

Her feast day is 13 February.

References

Primary sources
Charter of King Wihtred, Sawyer no. 20 (AD 699)
The Kentish Royal Legend, also known as Þá hálgan (Cambridge, CCC, MS 201,), ed. Felix Liebermann, Die Heiligen Englands. Hanover, 1889. 1–10. Edition transcribed by Alaric Hall.
Kentish Royal Legend / Þá hálgan (London, Lambeth Palace 427, f. 211), transcribed by Alaric Hall
Anonymous Old English Life of St. Mildrith (Caligula), ed. and tr. Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, vol. 3. London, 1866. 422-9 (Caligula), 428-32 (MS Lambeth Palace). Caligula text partially transcribed by Alaric Hall and Cockayne's volume available as PDF from Google Books.
Goscelin, Vita Deo delectae virginis Mildrethae, 11th century. Published in Latin, in Rollason, D, (1982) The Mildrith Legend, Leicester University Press.
Charter of King Cnut, Sawyer no. 958 (AD 1022), possibly a forgery.
Goscelin, Lectiones in natale S. Eormenhilde, ed. and tr. Rosalind C. Love, Goscelin of Saint-Bertin. The Hagiography of the Female Saints of Ely. OMT. Oxford, 2004. 11 ff.
Liber Eliensis, ed. E.O. Blake, Liber Eliensis. Camden Society 3.92. London, 1962; tr. J. Fairweather. Liber Eliensis. A History of the Isle of Ely from the Seventh Century to the Twelfth. Woodbridge, 2005.

External links

Ermenilda at Patron Saints Index
Ermenilda at Catholic Online
Saint ERMENILDA
Saint of the Day, February 13 at SaintPatrickDC.org

7th-century births
Year of birth unknown

700s deaths
Year of death uncertain
7th-century Christian saints
7th-century English people
Abbesses of Ely
Anglo-Saxon royal consorts
Kentish saints
7th-century English women
House of Kent
Female saints of medieval England
People from Minster, Swale

Ermenilda of Ely


Aristides the Athenian (also Saint Aristides or Marcianus Aristides; ) was a 2nd-century Christian Greek author who is primarily known as the author of the Apology of Aristides. His feast day is August 31 in Roman Catholicism and September 13 in Eastern Orthodoxy.

Biography
Very little is known of Aristides, except for the introductory information given by Eusebius of Caesarea and Saint Jerome. According to their account, Aristides practiced philosophy in Athens, where he lived, prior to and after his conversion to Christianity.  Eusebius writes in his Ecclesiastical History "Aristides also, a faithful disciple of our religion, has left an Apology of the faith dedicated to Hadrian." Eusebius and Jerome both state that the Apology was given to Hadrian at the same time that Quadratus delivered his own apology. This suggests that Aristides gave his apology during Hadrian's reign (r. 117–138) as emperor of Rome, which supports the theory of Aristides died between the years 133–134 AD. It is also supported by the express language of the Apology in the Armenian version. It is contradicted only by the second superscription to the Syriac version, which says that the Apology was given to Emperor Antoninus Pius in the year 140. If this is taken to mean that it was delivered in person by Aristides, it would rule out the dating of Aristides's death in 133-134 AD. It has been suggested that Eusebius was confused by the fact that Antoninus Pius had adopted the name "Hadrianus" (Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius) and believed it was Hadrian to whom the Apology was given, and further that Jerome had never read the Apology and copied Eusebius's mistake accidentally. But Jerome tells us that the Apology was extant in his day, and he gives an account of its contents. The testimony of Eusebius and Jerome and the text of the Armenian version are all in favor of its being delivered to Hadrian, probably in circa 124–125 AD.

His Apology is the oldest Christian apologetic work preserved until the Contemporary Era. Other apologists of the 2nd century were the following: Saint Justin the Martyr, Quadratus, Aristo of Pella, Tatian the Syrian, Miltiades, Apollinaris of Hierapolis, Athenagoras of Athens, Hermias, Theophilus of Antioch and Melito of Sardis.

Writings

The Apology of Aristides

In 1878, an Armenian fragment of an apology titled To Emperor Hadrian Caesar from the Athenian Philosopher Aristides was published by the Mechitarists of San Lazzaro in Venice from a 10th-century manuscript. The Armenian translation was accepted by most scholars as the long lost Apology of Aristides; however, a few did dispute its authenticity, most notably Ernest Renan. In 1889, the authenticity of the fragment was confirmed with the discovery of a complete Syriac translation of the Apology by British scholar Rendel Harris in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. With this new discovery, J.A. Robinson was able to show Aristides's work had been in fact extant and edited in the religious book The Life of Barlaam and Josaphat since the 7th century. Another fragment of the Apology containing two portions of original text in Greek was published in 1922 by the British Museum on papyri. The Apology of Aristides is the oldest extant Christian apology since only a fragment of the older apology of Quadratus exists.

In the 1889 Syriac translation, Aristides begins his apology by stating his name, where he is from and that he is delivering it to Antoninus Pius. In the first chapter, he proclaims God exists because the world exists and that God is "eternal, impassible and perfect." In the second chapter, he writes that there are four races of the world; (1) Barbarians, (2) Greeks (includes Egyptians and Chaldeans), (3) Jews, and (4) Christians. He then devotes chapters 3–16 to describing the different groups of people and how they practice religion. The Barbarians (chapters 3–7) worship dead warriors and the elements of the Earth, which he claims are the works of God, therefore they do not know who the true God is. The Greeks (chapters 8–13) are next because:

"...they are wiser than the Barbarians but have erred even more than the Barbarians, in that they have introduced many gods that are made; and some of them they have represented as male and some of them as female; and in such a way that some of their gods were found to be adulterers and murderers, and jealous and envious, and angry and passionate, and murderers of fathers, and thieves and plunderers."

In other words, Aristides is calling the Greek gods corrupt, immoral and guilty of being human. He concludes his chapters on the Greeks by commenting on the religious beliefs of the Egyptians, who he claims are the most ignorant people on earth since they did not accept the beliefs of the Greeks or Chaldeans and instead worshiped gods modeled after plants and animals. The Jews (chapter 14) are only commented on in a concise manner. Aristides commends them for their worship of God as the Creator and almighty but claims they have gone "astray" because "their service is to angels and not to God, in that they observe sabbaths and new moons and the passover and the great fast, and the fast, and circumcision, and cleanness of meats: which things not even thus have they perfectly observed." In chapters 15 and 16, Aristides describes the commandments of God and claims Christians "walk in all humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them, and they love one another." He explains "they ask from Him petitions which are proper for Him to give and for them to receive: and thus they accomplish the course of their lives." He concludes the Apology in chapter 17 by requesting the emperor to stop persecuting the Christians and convert to their faith; where he ends with a nice description of the Christian life.

Other works
It has been suggested that Aristides is the author of the Epistle to Diognetus. This theory is supported by similar writing styles, descriptions of Christians, the treatment of Jews, as well as other similarities. Abbé H. Doulcet was primarily the leading voice of this theory in the late 19th century. The Epistle to Diognetus has been credited to Justin Martyr but without any sufficient evidence. Aristides is also credited with a sermon on Luke 23:43.

Contribution to other authors

Relation to contemporaries
Aristides is the second Greek Christian apologetic of the 2nd century. His writing style and thesis are very similar to the likes of Quadratus, Aristo of Pella, Justin Martyr and the author of the Epistle to Diognetus. Jerome suggests Aristides's apology was the combined opinions of philosophers at the time and imitated by Justin Martyr afterwards. Negatively, Celsus used the Apology for his arguments against the Jews and "also certain features which he used in order to scoff at Providence."  However, he was easily countered by Origen.

Influence on later writing
The Apology of Aristides was later adapted into the work The Life of Barlaam and Josaphat during the 7th century. In the book, the Apology is told by a pagan philosopher by the name of Nachor, a character in the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat. The unknown use of the Apology in the book, allowed for the text to remain extant the entire time and influence Christian perception of Buddhism. Only with the rediscovery of the Apology in 1878 and 1889, did it reappear in history books. Rendel Harris, J.A. Robinson and few European scholars provided some commentary and studies of the text in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There has been little revisionist history on the Apology of late, except for an article by G.C. O'Ceallaigh in 1958. He suggested the Apology was a Jewish work of the 2nd century and was then edited by a Christian writer in the 4th century to be a Christian apology. W. Fairweather, D.W. Palmer and Massey Hamilton Shepherd Jr. have used the Apology of Aristides, and other apologists' works, in order to support their theories on early Christian thought and Greek apologists of the 2nd century.

See also
Apology of Aristides
Christian apologetics
Early centers of Christianity#Greece

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading

External links

Translation of 1891 Syriac version of the Apology of Aristides

2nd-century Christian saints
2nd-century Athenians
2nd-century Greek philosophers
2nd-century Christian theologians
Christian apologists
Saints of Roman Athens
Ancient Greek writers

Aristides of Athens


Structuralism is an idea in many sciences, especially social sciences. Structuralism says that when looking at the way culture works, it is important to look at the structure.  For example, structuralism is important in the study of languages and how they affect culture. The word structuralism comes from "structure." It has been in use since the 19th century.

Systems have structure:
When looking at the system as a whole, it is more than the sum of its parts
Different elements of a system depend on each other; changing one element will also affect the others
Elements change over time, according to a set of rules
Changes regulate themselves
Even though it changes, the system as a whole, will have its identity; it is different from other systems
It is possible to create the system in its current state, though a predefined set of operations

References

Philosophy of science
Social sciences
Philosophical anthropology
Philosophical movements and positions

Structuralism


Boogie Wings (known in Japan as ) is a horizontally scrolling shooter released in arcades by Data East in 1992. The game was never ported to home systems.

Gameplay

The game is set around the time of World War I, where the player maneuvers biplanes, automobiles, animals, and various other unidentifiable objects to battle an army of mech-wielding scientists. One of the game's bosses is a giant robot Santa Claus.

The player uses the 8-way joystick to control the biplane's movements, and the 2 buttons to shoot or hook enemies. The biggest characteristic of the player's biplane is the hook attached to its rear section. The hook is also controlled by the joystick, and enemies or objects that come in contact with the hook are dragged along by the plane. Dragged objects cause damage to anything they collide with, and the player can release the objects on the hook by pressing the hook button again. Dragged objects are destroyed when the player releases them from the hook, or if they collide enough times to break apart.

The ship's power gauge increases when the player taps the shot button rapidly, and filling up the gauge causes the plane to shoot a bolt of lightning that covers a large area of the screen. However, the plane overheats if the player taps the shot button too many times, so this attack must be used sparingly.

The game's graphics are highly detailed, and many of the backgrounds are likened to European towns and cities or World's fair-like scenes. Many of the game's background objects can also be destroyed or dragged around with the hook.

Vehicles
Though the player's main vehicle is the biplane, they can still continue on foot if their plane is shot down. The player can attack with a handgun while on foot, and can also ride various vehicles found along the way to make the progress easier. The vehicles include various animals such as giraffes, elephants, and horses, pogo sticks, bicycles, motorcycles, jeeps, and several types of robots that can hop and shoot missiles. Though the biplane is by far the most effective unit in terms of game completion, the presence of the ground units adds another layer of amusement to the game.

Development
Rohga: Armor Force was developed and released in Japan by Data East a year prior to Boogie Wings, and the vehicles in Boogie Wings were derived from the gameplay in Rohga: Armor Force, where the player could continue on foot even after their robot was destroyed.

References

External links
Boogie Wings at Arcade History

1992 video games
Arcade video games
Arcade-only video games
Christmas video games
Data East video games
Horizontally scrolling shooters
Video games developed in Japan
Data East arcade games
Multiplayer and single-player video games

Boogie Wings


Hejaz is the western region of Saudi Arabia, stretching along the Red Sea (Sea of Hejaz). It extends from Taif in the south to Jordan in the north. There are four important cities in this region:

 Jeddah is the largest city, in the middle of the Red Sea coast. Jeddah is the economic and tourism capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
 Mecca is the holy city for Muslims because of Al-Haram Mosque and Al-Kaaba. Muslims face this city when they pray, and millions go there every year for doing Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage.
 Medina is the second most holy city, and was the first capital of Islam. This is where the Mosque Of Prophet Muhammad is and where the Prophet Muhammad lived. There are many monuments and historical places.
 Taif is the youngest city. Taif is a tourist city in Saudi Arabia due to the cooler climate compared with the other cities. Hejaz has spiritual, cultural, economic and tourist importance.

Geography of Saudi Arabia

Hejaz


The Pacific Railroad (not to be confused with Union Pacific Railroad) was a railroad based in Missouri. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway.

The Pacific was chartered by Missouri in 1849 to extend "from St. Louis to the western boundary of Missouri and thence to the Pacific Ocean." Due to a cholera epidemic in St. Louis in 1849 and other delays, groundbreaking did not occur until July 4, 1851.

The railroad purchased its first steam locomotive from a manufacturer in Taunton, Massachusetts; it arrived at St. Louis by river in August 1852. On December 9, 1852, the Pacific Railroad had its inaugural run, traveling from its depot on Fourteenth Street, along the Mill Creek Valley, to Cheltenham in about ten minutes.  By the following May, it had reached Kirkwood; within months tunnels west of Kirkwood were completed, allowing the line to reach Franklin.

The Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad was authorized in 1852 and split off at Franklin (renamed Pacific, Missouri, in 1859), as the Southwest Pacific Railroad (later the main line of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway) in 1866.

Financial difficulties meant that Pacific Railroad did not reach Washington, eighteen miles away, until February 1855.  On November 1, 1855, an excursion train carrying 600 passengers from St. Louis to celebrate the opening of the railroad to Jefferson City crashed through a temporary bridge over the Gasconade River killing at least 30.  This became known as the Gasconade Bridge train disaster.  Later that year, the line reached Jefferson City, the state capital.

By July 1858 the Pacific Railroad reached Tipton, the eastern terminus for the Butterfield Overland Mail, an overland mail service to San Francisco. The combined rail/coach service reduced mail delivery times between St. Louis and San Francisco from about 35 days to less than 25 days.

In 1865, it became the first railroad to serve Kansas City, after construction was interrupted by the American Civil War. In 1872, the Pacific Railroad was reorganized as the Missouri Pacific Railroad by new investors after a railroad debt crisis.

See also
List of defunct Kansas railroads
List of defunct Missouri railroads
 Butterfield Overland Mail in California
 Butterfield Overland Mail in New Mexico Territory
 Butterfield Overland Mail in Texas
 Butterfield Overland Mail in Indian Territory
 Butterfield Overland Mail in Arkansas and Missouri

References

External links

Defunct Missouri railroads
Defunct Kansas railroads
Predecessors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Railway companies established in 1849
Railway companies disestablished in 1876
1849 establishments in Missouri

Pacific Railroad


Calamba City is a city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. It is the regional center of Calabarzon, after Lucena City, Calamba is a component city in the placed,
first is San Pablo City, The City of Calamba, is one of the fastest growth city in region 4A, and it growth population, which divided into barangays, because of its economic some, commercials, entertainment, factory companies and others, are served in city, Calamba City is  south of Manila. Calamba City is a popular tourist destination. It has several hot spring resorts. Most of these are in Barangay Pansol. There are 651 resorts and hot springs in the city. The Canlubang Golf and Country Club has been the host of many  Philippine Opens. Calamba is also an important modern industrial center in the CALABARZON region. This is shown by the large number of industrial parks and business estates in the city. 454,486 people live in the city (2015). There are in 58,466 households. Calamba City is  the most populated city in Laguna province. San Pedro, Santa Rosa City, Biñan City, and San Pablo City follow it as the top 5 municipalities and cities by number of people in the province.

Calamba City is the birthplace of José Rizal. He is a national hero in the Philippines.

History
The name of the city comes from a legend. The legend says that during the early time of the Spanish period in the country, two "guardias civil" or Spanish soldiers were lost. As they moved through the area that is now Calamba, they met a young woman. She came from a river carrying a jar of water and a wooden stove.  The soldiers asked the lady what the name of the place was. They asked this in Spanish and used an angry tone to hide the fact that they were lost. She did not speak Spanish and thought she was being questioned about what she was carrying. She answered "kalan-banga", meaning "clay stove" (kalan) and "water jar" (banga). Because they could not pronounce it correctly, the city has been called Calamba since then. This legend is immortalized with a large concrete water jar built in the city plaza with the names of the city's barangays written on it. It is said to be the World's Biggest "Claypot". This same jar is also in the city's seal. The idea to build the plaza came from Dr. Agapito Alzona. He was a town councilor at the time. It was built on an unused area that was at one time the old town market. The plaza was built in 1939.

Before it became a separate city, Calamba was a part of Tabuco. Tabuco is now known as  Cabuyao, Laguna. Calamba became an independent pueblo on August 28, 1742.

While the area was under the control of the Japanese in World War II, the city was the site of a massacre. The Imperial Japanese Army killed at least 2,000 civilians.

With the passage of  Republic Acts of the Philippines-Republic Act,No. 9024 on April 7, 2001 and the approval of the people on April 21, Calamba went from being a  municipality into being Laguna's second component city. San Pablo City was the other component city at the time. Calamba is seen as a major growth center.

On October 28, 2003, Calamba City became the regional center of Region IV-A CALABARZON.

Calamba has been the home to five national heroes:  Dr. Jose Rizal, General Paciano Rizal, Teodora Alonzo, General Vicente Lim, and Lt. Geronimo Aclan.

The main church in Calamba City is the St. John the Baptist Church. It was built in 1859. The church was burned by the Japanese during World War II. It was rebuilt by Fr. Eliseo Dimaculangan. It was the christening site of Jose Rizal. The original baptismal font has been is still there.

References

Other websites
Calamba City Website
Calamba, Laguna Website

Cities in the Philippines
2001 establishments in Asia
Establishments in the Philippines

Calamba City


Nubia was an ancient African Kingdom. It dates back to around 6000 BC. It was in northeastern Africa.

They were a valuable culture because of their trading abilities. They were on the coast of the Red Sea. That gave them many ports from which they were able to trade. This culture, though, had many hardships. It declined in power many times, which forced it to break up into smaller kingdoms which flourished on their own. These are commonly referred to as the A-Group, B-Group, and C-Group. Their true decline was around 350 AD, when the kingdom of Axum invaded and broke up the culture once again. This time, the culture never recovered its strength, thus ending of Historic Nubia.

Other websites
"Journey to Ethiopia, Eastern Sudan, and Nigritia", an old book from the 1800s that talks about Nubia

Ancient Egypt
History of Africa

Nubia


Seinen manga are Japanese comics for young men. There are also seinen anime. Much the same way that shônen is meant for boys up to about high school age, seinen is meant for men older than high school age. It's basically the next male demographic.

Seinen manga and anime have a very wide range of stories. Seinen can be almost anything that's intended for men over 18 years of age. Action, comedy, drama and even hentai can all be called seinen.

Manga

Seinen manga


Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, 1st Duke of Sanlúcar, 3rd Count of Olivares, , known as the Count-Duke of Olivares (taken by joining both his countship and subsequent dukedom) (6 January 1587 – 22 July 1645), was a Spanish royal favourite () of Philip IV and minister. Appointed as Grandee on 10 April 1621, a day after the ending of the Twelve Years' Truce to January 1643, he over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform. His policy of committing Spain to recapture Holland led to a renewal of the Eighty Years' War while Spain was also embroiled in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). In addition, his attempts to centralise power and increase wartime taxation led to revolts in Catalonia and in Portugal, which brought about his downfall.

Rise to power

Olivares was born in Rome in 1587, where his father, Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Olivares, from one of Spain's oldest noble families, was the Spanish ambassador. His mother died young, and his father brought him up under a strict parental regime. He returned to Spain in 1599, and became student rector at Salamanca University. By background, he was both a man of letters and well trained in arms. During the reign of King Philip III, he was appointed to a post in the household of the heir apparent, Philip, by his maternal uncle Don Baltasar de Zúñiga, a key foreign policy advisor to Phillip III, who himself had already established a significant influence over the young prince. Olivares in turn rapidly became the young prince's most trusted advisor.

When Philip IV ascended the throne in 1621, at the age of sixteen, he showed his confidence in Olivares by ordering that all papers requiring the royal signature should first be sent to the count-duke; despite this, Olivares, then aged 34, had no real experience of administration.

Olivares told his uncle de Zúñiga, who was to die the following year, that he was now the dominant force at court; he had become what is known in Spain as a , something more than a prime minister, the favourite and alter ego of the king. His compound title is explained by the fact that he inherited the title of Count of Olivares, but was created Duke of Sanlúcar la Mayor by King Philip IV of Spain. He begged the king to allow him to preserve his inherited title in combination with the new honour — according to a practice almost unique in Spanish history. Accordingly, he was commonly spoken of as .

Olivares' personality and appearance have attracted much comment, especially by 17th-century writers, who were generally critical of them. He possessed a strikingly 'big, heavy body and florid face'. Contemporaries described an 'extravagant, out-size personality with a gift for endless self-dramatisation', others, more positively, have outlined a 'determined, perceptive and ambitious' personality. Olivares' enemies saw in him a desire to acquire excessive wealth and power. He disliked sports and light-hearted entertainment, but was a good horseman, albeit hampered by his weight in later life.

Olivares did not share the king's taste for personally acquiring art and literature, although he may have helped assemble the king's own collection, and it was he who brought to Philip's attention the young artist Diego Velázquez, in 1623. For himself he formed a vast collection of state papers, ancient and contemporary, which he endeavoured to protect from destruction by entailing them as an heirloom. He also formed a splendid aviary for the Buen Retiro Palace, which lent him comfort after the death of his daughter but which opened the door for his enemies to nickname the entire Retiro the Gallinero, or the hencoop.

Velázquez painted at least three portraits of his friend and original patron, producing the baroque equestrian portrait along with the standing portraits now at the Hermitage and São Paulo. It is possible that other portraits by Velázquez commissioned by the king were destroyed after Olivares' fall — in a copy of Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School, his figure was painted over — though a few minor portraits made in the conde-duque's last years of power remain.

Style of government
The royal favourite, who also was Sumiller de Corps and Caballerizo mayor to the King, came to power with a desire to commit the monarchy to a 'crusade of reform', with his early recommendations being extremely radical. The heart of the problem, Olivares felt, was Spain's moral and spiritual decline.

De Zúñiga and Olivares had both presented Philip IV with the concept of restoring the kingdom to its condition under Philip II, undoing the alleged decline that had occurred under the king's father, Philip III, and in particular his royal favourite, the Duke of Lerma. Olivares was concerned that Spain was too attached to the idea of limpieza de sangre, 'purity of blood', and worried about Castilians' disinclination for manual work. For Olivares, the concept of Spain was centred on the monarchy and Philip IV as a person; unlike his French contemporary Cardinal Richelieu, Olivares did not elaborate a concept of the 'state' as separate from the person of the king.

Olivares was inclined to see domestic policy as a tool in support of foreign policy – a common view amongst contemporary arbitristas, such as Sancho de Moncada and Jeronimo Zeballos. Like many other contemporaries, he had a keen interest in astrology, and its potential impact on the world around him. Naturally, he incorporated that interest into political expression: he promoted Philip as "The Planet King" — the Sun, traditionally the fourth planet, was a fitting emblem for the fourth Philip of Spain — taking for his own symbol the sunflower. Whilst displaying huge confidence in his own capabilities and judgment, he also felt considerable 'doubt and uneasiness' over his position as chief minister to the king.

Olivares was well known for his passion for work. Olivares would rise early, go to confession, wake Philip IV and discuss the day's events with him, before then working throughout the rest of the day, often until 11 o'clock at night. Initially, Olivares would meet with the king three times a day, although this declined over time until he met with him only once a day. Whilst living a private life of "Spartan austerity" himself, Olivares was skillful in using the formal and elaborate protocol of the court as a way of controlling the ambitions of Philip's enemies and rivals.

Determined to attempt to improve the bureaucratic Castilian system of government, during the 1620s Olivares began to create juntas, smaller governmental committees, to increase the speed of decision making. By the 1630s, these were increasingly packed with Olivares' own placemen, tasked to implement his policies. He placed tight controls on the use of special royal favours to circumvent tight spending controls. The result was a very particular combination of centralised power in the form of Olivares, and loose government executed by small committees.

Over time, Olivares began to suffer under his tremendous workload, developing sleeping disorders and, later in life, clearly suffering from mental illness. He became increasingly impatient with those who disagreed with him, flying into rages, and refusing to listen to advice proffered by his own advisers. His behaviour may also have been exacerbated by the severe bloodletting and excessive purging he received from his doctors at key moments in his career. Olivares wrote extensively, although there are differences of opinion amongst modern scholars on his work: some find them 'forceful, incisive and persuasive', others consider them 'inflated and tortuous prose', wandering down 'interminable labyrinths'.

Foreign policies

For twenty-two years Olivares directed Spain's foreign policy. It was a period of constant war, and finally of disaster abroad and of rebellion at home. Olivares' foreign policy was based around his assessment that Philip IV was surrounded by jealous rivals across Europe, who wished to attack his position as a champion of the Catholic Church; in particular, Olivares saw the rebellious Dutch as a key enemy. Although Olivares made much of religion as a facet of Spain's foreign policy, in practice he often overruled that principle. It has also been argued that Olivares' dislike of flamboyant spending may have influenced his views of the Dutch Republic, known for its relatively open show of wealth.

Olivares' first key decision came in 1621. Under Philip III, Spain had successfully intervened in the Electorate of the Palatinate in combination with the forces of the Emperor Ferdinand, a fellow Habsburg, during 1618–20, surrounding the Dutch provinces that had rebelled against Spanish rule some forty years before.

An armistice had successfully held since April 1609, but in his role as foreign policy advisor, Olivares' uncle de Zúñiga had brought Spain closer and closer to recommencing hostilities as a means of improving Spain's negotiating position with the Dutch. Olivares' new influence was central to the decision to finally abandon the armistice in favour of renewed military action using the Army of Flanders and economic warfare – ending the Twelve Years Truce and attacking Dutch fleets and applying trading embargoes. This policy would ultimately fail over the next thirty years; to some the Spanish recommencement of the war has appeared 'surprising', whilst it can also be explained as a misreading of internal Dutch politics. Whilst the strategy itself was a failure, Olivares' tactics – his attempt to combine military and economic warfare – have since been praised as a 'shrewd policy'.

For the remainder of the Eighty Years' War, Olivares would pursue a 'Netherlands first' strategy, focusing his resources and attention on delivering success in the Netherlands first, with the hope of dealing with the other challenges facing the Spanish across Europe once this key Spanish possession had been secured. For the first fifteen years of the war, this strategy proved largely successful. Spain made considerable early advances against the Dutch, finally retaking the key city of Breda in 1624, albeit at huge expense.

In 1634, against the backdrop of Swedish successes across northern Europe, Olivares was crucial to the creation of a fresh Spanish army in northern Italy, and the projection of that force under the leadership of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand along the Spanish Road into Germany, where the 'almost miraculous appearance' of the army defeated the Protestant alliance at the Battle of Nördlingen. The scene had been set, Olivares believed, for a renewed attack on the Dutch.

Olivares' strategy ultimately failed due to the entry of France into the war. His handling of War of the Mantuan Succession, which started to pitch France against the Habsburgs in northern Italy and would ultimately result in the French invasion of Spain, has been much criticised. By 1634, France seeing the Spanish successes in Germany and the defeat of her Swedish allies, began raising the political stakes, taking provocative military action on a small scale. In 1635, Spain responded by intervening against the Elector of Trier, a significant move that effectively forced a French declaration of war. By this stage in the war, Olivares' advice to the king was that this conflict with France would be for all or nothing – Spain would win or fall by the result.

Nonetheless, French victory was far from certain in the 1630s; Olivares' invasion plan in 1635 involved four different armies and two navies, being described as 'the most ambitious military conception of early modern Europe.' Although Spanish forces were within 16 miles of Paris at the height of their success that year, Olivares' plan had severely overstretched Spanish resources and ultimately failed, leaving Spain to face a massive counter-attack in 1637.

By 1639, Olivares was attempting to convince the king to compromise with the French but without success; he considered making a separate peace with the Dutch, which would have freed up resources for the war on France, but the Dutch occupation of Brazil and the Portuguese opposition to any peace involving relinquishing their colony made this impossible. The destruction of the Spanish Atlantic fleet at the Battle of the Downs was another major blow, leaving a cash-strapped Spain unable to build a replacement force. An attempt to bring Poland into war failed. By 1640, Olivares' foreign policy was creaking badly under pressure from an increasingly powerful France, with money increasingly tight.

Domestic policies

Olivares approached the problem of domestic policy through the prism of foreign affairs. Spain in the early 17th century was a collection of possessions – the kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Valencia, Naples,  Portugal, the autonomous provinces of Catalonia and Andalusia as well as the Netherlands, Milan etc. – all loosely joined together through the institution of the Castile monarchy and the person of Philip IV.

Each part had different taxation, privileges and military arrangements; in practice, the level of taxation in many of the more peripheral provinces was less than in Castile, but the privileged position of the Castilian nobility at all senior levels of royal appointment was a contentious issue for the less favoured provinces. This loose system had successfully resisted reform and higher taxation before, resulting in Spain having had historically, up until the 1640s at least, less than the usual number of fiscal revolts for an early modern European state.

By the 1620s and '30s, however, the ability of the Spanish monarchy to extract resources from Castile was at breaking point, as illustrated by Olivares' early failure to reform the millones food tax in Castile, and with war continuing across Europe, new options were necessary.

Like many contemporaries, Olivares was 'haunted' by Spain's potential decline, and saw part of the solution at least in a reform of the Spanish state. Olivares saw Catalan and the other provinces as paying less to the crown than they should, and did not really understand why the inhabitants should object to a fairer distribution of taxes. He was confident in the intellectual argument for a better defended, better ordered Spain, and never seems to have shown serious doubt that his plans would succeed, or understood the growing hatred against his rule.

These plans took form first in Olivares' Unión de Armas, or 'Union of Arms' concept, put forward in 1624. This would have involved the different elements of Philip's territories raising fixed quotas of soldiers in line with their size and population. Despite being portrayed by Olivares as a purely military plan, it reflected Olivares' desire for a more closely unified Spain – although not, it is generally argued, a completely unified kingdom.

Olivares' 'Union of Arms' plan failed in the face of opposition from the provinces, in particular Catalonia, leading him to offer his resignation to the king in 1626 – it was not accepted. The subsequent years were challenging financially for Spain. In 1627, Olivares attempted to deal with the problem of Philip's Genoese bankers – who had proved uncooperative in recent years – by declaring a state bankruptcy.

With the Genoese debt now removed, Olivares hoped to turn to indigenous bankers for renewed funds. In practice, the plan was a disaster. The Spanish treasure fleet of 1628 was captured by the Dutch, and Spain's ability to borrow and transfer money across Europe declined sharply. Faced by the Dutch capture of Brazil, Olivares turned to Portugal in 1637, attempting to raise taxes to pay for a mission to reclaim the Portuguese colony. The result was a minor Portuguese uprising.

The final years of Olivares' rule were marked by major uprisings in Catalonia and Portugal. Catalan histories have tended to represent Olivares as deliberately provoking the rebellion of 1640, in order that he could crush it and thereby unify Spain, although this is considered doubtful by most historians. Instead, it appears most likely that in the face of the increased French threat and the need to raise men, money and arms to defend the Peninsula, Olivares sent his army of 9,000 men into Catalonia expecting relatively limited resistance. Chaos ensued in the form of a major revolt; Portugal followed suit later in the year in the face of Olivares' attempts to convince its nobility to serve in the war in Catalonia, with Lisbon offering Philip's throne to the House of Braganza.

Fall from power

Olivares' fall from power occurred for several reasons. The revolts in Catalonia and Portugal proved the immediate factor, placing the stability of Spain itself in doubt, but other factors played a part. Olivares increasingly suffered from mental illness in his later years, and was no longer as effective an administrator as he had once been. He had also increasingly alienated the other Castilian nobility. His use of juntas – committees – packed with his own men, irritated many. Olivares was also largely blamed by contemporaries for the new royal palace of Buen Retiro, the huge cost of which appeared to fly in the face of the wider austerity measures Olivares had championed in the 1630s. 1641 had seen a disastrous bout of inflation, causing economic chaos. More generally the Spanish people held his favourite responsible for the numerous misfortunes of the country in the 1640s.

Olivares did not let go of power readily. He attempted to use art and theatre in the 1630s to shore up his waning popularity amongst the elite but without success, although he was able to overcome the attempts of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, whose family was a traditional enemy of the Counts of Olivares, to remove him from power in the Andalusian revolt in 1641. By the following year, his situation was weakening as the Catalan revolt dragged on.

Olivares' nephew and favoured successor, along with Olivares' daughter and young baby had all died in 1626, and in the absence of other children he chose to legitimate his bastard son, Don Enrique Felipez de Guzman in 1641. In doing so he had effectively disinherited another nephew and heir, causing huge family tensions within the upper echelons of Castilian society. The king himself noted that it might be necessary to sacrifice Olivares' life in order to divert unpopularity from the royal house. The end was near, but the king parted with him reluctantly in January 1643, and only under the pressure of a court intrigue headed by Queen Isabel.

He retired by the King's order first to Loeches, where he published an apology under the title of , which was perhaps written by an agent but was undeniably inspired by the fallen minister.  was denounced to the Inquisition, and it is not impossible that Olivares might have ended in the prisons of the Holy Office, or on the scaffold, if he had not died beforehand of natural causes. His rivals felt that Loeches remained too close to the court, and he was moved onto his sister's palace at Toro.

He endeavoured to satisfy his passion for work, partly by sharing in the municipal government of the town and the regulation of its commons, woods and pastures. He died, increasingly consumed by madness, in 1645. The Olivares library was not preserved as he had instructed after his death, and his collection of private and state papers was largely destroyed in an 18th-century fire.

The Count-Duke became, and for long remained, in the opinion of his countrymen, the accepted model of a grasping and incapable favorite, although this commonly held opinion about his personality  has changed.  His personal reputation has traditionally been portrayed unfavorably, especially compared to his French contemporary, Cardinal Richelieu, a trend which began in the 18th century.

See also
 History of Spain
 Thirty Years' War
 Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares
 Portrait of Duke de Olivares

References

Sources
 Aercke, Kristiaan P. The Gods of Play: Baroque Festival Performances as Rhetorical Discourse. Albany: State University of New York Press. (1994)
 Anderson, M. S. War and Society in Europe of the Old Regime, 1618–1789. London: Fontana. (1988)
 Armstrong, Walter, edited by Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1896). The Portfolio: Monographs on Artistic Subjects, Issues 28–30. London: Seeley and Co. Limited and New York: The Macmillan Co.
 Brown, Jonathan, and John H. Elliott. A Palace for a King: The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV (revised and expanded edition). New Haven: Yale University Press. (2004)
 Brown, Jonathan, and Carmen Garrido. Velazquez: The Technique of Genius. New Haven: Yale University Press. (1998)
 Corteguera, Luis R. For the Common Good: Popular Politics in Barcelona, 1580–1640. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (2002)
 Elliott, J. H. The Statecraft of Olivares. in Elliot and Koenisburger (eds) 1970.
 Elliott, J. H. The Revolt of the Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain, 1598–1640. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1984)
 Elliott, J. H. The Count-Duke of Olivares. The Statesman in an Age of Decline. Yale University: New Haven. (1986)
 Elliott, J. H. Richelieu and Olivares. Cambridge: Canto Press. (1991)
 Elliott, J. H. and H. G. Koenisburger (ed). The Diversity of History: Essays in Honour of Sir Henry Butterfield. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. (1970)
 Kamen, Henry. Spain, 1469–1714: A Society of Conflict. Harlow: Pearson Education. (2005)
 Mackay, Ruth. The Limits of Royal Authority: Resistance and Authority in Seventeenth Century Castile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1999)
 Munck, Thomas. Seventeenth Century Europe, 1598–1700. London: Macmillan. (1990)
 Parker, Geoffrey. Europe in Crisis, 1598–1648. London: Fontana. (1984)
 Parker, Geoffrey. The Dutch Revolt. London: Pelican Books. (1985)
 Polisensky, J. V. The Thirty Years War. London: NEL. (1971)
 Schama, Simon. The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age. London: Fontana. (1991)
 Stradling, R. A. 'Olivaries and the origins of the Franco-Spanish war, 1627–1635. in English Historical Review ci (1986).
 de Vallory, Guillaime. Anecdotes du Ministere du Comte-Duc d'Olivares. Paris. (1722) (in French)
 Wedgewood, C. V. The Thirty Years' War. London: Methuen. (1981)
 Zagorin, Perez. Rebels and Rulers, 1500–1660. Volume II: Provincial rebellion: Revolutionary civil wars, 1560–1660.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1992)

Further reading
See the  (Madrid, 1889); and Don F Silvela's introduction, much less favourable to Olivares, to his edition of the  (Madrid, 1885–1886).

External links

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Government ministers of Spain
Spanish Baroque people
1587 births
1645 deaths
Counts of Olivares
Dukes of Spain
Philip IV of Spain
Spanish royal favourites
University of Salamanca alumni
17th-century Spanish nobility
Court of Philip IV of Spain

Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares


A jerkin is a man's short close-fitting jacket, made usually of light-coloured leather, and often without sleeves, worn over the doublet in the 16th and 17th centuries.  The term is also applied to a similar sleeveless garment worn by the British Army in the 20th century. A buff jerkin is an oiled oxhide jerkin, as worn by soldiers.

The origin of the word is unknown. The Dutch word jurk, a dress, often taken as the source, is modern, and represents neither the sound nor the sense of the English word.

Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Leather jerkins of the 16th century were often slashed and punched, both for decoration and to improve the fit.

Jerkins were worn closed at the neck and hanging open over the peascod-bellied fashion of the doublet. At the turn of the 17th century, the fashion was to wear the jerkin buttoned at the waist and open above to reflect the fashionable narrow-waisted silhouette.

By the mid-17th century, jerkins were high-waisted and long-skirted like doublets of the period.

Gallery

20th century

During the First World War, the British army issued brown leather jerkins to the troops as a measure to protect against the cold and to allow freedom of movement. These garments generally had four buttons and were lined with khaki wool. They were practical, hardwearing and appreciated by officers and other ranks alike. By the time of the Second World War, the leather jerkins were still on issue to all the Commonwealth forces and were universally popular. Jerkins made in Canada were dark brown with black wool linings and differed in general appearance from the British jerkins.

The jerkins from WWII had bakelite buttons instead of the brass or brown leather of the originals, and were each unique in that they were finished around the bottom edges with offcuts  to eliminate waste. (It has been suggested that many of the WWII jerkins were made from leather remaining from the Irvin flying jackets also in production in the UK. The flying jackets were made of sheepskin so this may not be the case). Jerkins remained warm and comfortable garments to wear whilst fighting, working or driving, and came to characterise the British forces as a preferred alternative to the heavy greatcoats that other armies persisted with. Horsehide Leather Jerkins of the Great War/Second World War pattern continued to be produced into the late 1950s before being replaced with a version made of artificial leather.

A practical garment known as the Battle Jerkin was developed in 1942 by Colonel Rivers-MacPherson of the British Army. A modification of the English hunting vest, it was developed into a garment made of heavy-duty dark brown, water-repellent canvas with multiple pockets and attachment points for field equipment such as the standard issue entrenching tool that formed part of the 1937 Pattern Web Equipment. While originally intended to replace the conventional web gear then in use, the original Battle Jerkin was found to be cumbersome and lacking the flexibility of 1937 Pattern webbing to add and remove items as demanded by operational realities. The garment was found to cause soldiers to overheat during strenuous activities, and very limited numbers were issued to assault troops for the Normandy landings. A lighter, skeletalised version consisting only of a Y-shaped back piece and two large ammunition pouches on the chest as well as webbing straps for attaching other kit was used widely by commando personnel in 1944–45 to carry ammunition.

During the post-war period, a much less distinctive PVC version of the Leather Jerkin was introduced to British forces with the final version being produced in olive green with a mesh back strengthened with nylon straps printed with DPM camouflage.
The Belgian Army also produced vinyl jerkins in the postwar era.

WD surplus leather jerkins flooded the UK during the 1950s and 1960s and were a common sight on manual workmen across the country. Wartime vintage leather jerkins are now collector's items, and at least one UK firm has produced a facsimile.

See also
1550–1600 in fashion
1600–1650 in fashion

References

Janet Arnold: Patterns of Fashion: the cut and construction of clothes for men and women 1560–1620, Macmillan 1985. Revised edition 1986. ()

Medieval European costume
16th-century fashion
17th-century fashion
20th-century fashion
Jackets
History of clothing (Western fashion)

Jerkin


Biosemiotics is a science where the models of sign processes are used to study living systems. Unlike biophysics, biochemistry and molecular biology, sciences where the quantitative physical laws are used to explain the living things, biosemioticians study the organisms and phenomena of life on the basis of qualitative semiotic principles.

Bibliography
Emmeche, Claus; Kull, Kalevi (eds.) (2011). Towards a Semiotic Biology: Life is the Action of Signs. London: Imperial College Press.

Systems theory
Semiotics

Biosemiotics


Peveril Meigs III (May 5, 1903 – September 16, 1979) was an American geographer, notable for his studies of arid lands on several continents and in particular for his work on the native peoples and early missions of northern Baja California, Mexico.

Meigs was born in Flushing in New York City. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, receiving his B.A. degree in 1925 and a Ph.D. in 1932. He held academic positions at San Francisco State Teachers College (1929), Chico State College (1929-1942), Louisiana State University (1938-1939), American University (1948), and George Washington University (1948).

Beginning during World War II, Meigs was employed primarily by the U.S. government, working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (1942-1944), Joint Intelligence Study Publishing Board (1944-1947), Earth Sciences Division of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps (1949-1953), and Quartermaster Research and Engineering Center (1953-1965). In the red scare of the early 1950s, Meigs was prominent among those listed as security risks by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Meigs published dozens of articles and books. Particularly notable was his early work on Baja California, which was influenced by his Berkeley mentors, Carl O. Sauer in historical geography and Alfred L. Kroeber in ethnography.

He co-authored with Sauer a study of Mission San Fernando Velicatá, the only mission founded by the Franciscans during their brief tenure (1768-1773) on the peninsula. Meigs' doctoral dissertation (1932) was a groundbreaking study of the Dominican missions of northwestern Baja California. It was subsequently published and remains the key source on the subject.

During his field trips to northern Baja California, particularly in 1928, 1929, and 1936, Meigs became familiar with the region's surviving Indian groups. He published a monograph on the Kiliwa (1939) that continues to be the most reliable source concerning the aboriginal lifeways of that people. Also included were important notes on the neighboring Paipai and Kumeyaay. After his retirement in 1965, Meigs published several additional articles on the ethnography and archaeology of these groups, based on his notes from his earlier field studies. His book on the coastal deserts was published by UNESCO in 1966. He also mapped tide mills along the Atlantic coast of the U.S.

Has died aged 76 in Wayland, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Bibliography

 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1935. The Dominican Mission Frontier of Lower California. University of California Publications in Geography No. 7. Berkeley.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1939. The Kiliwa Indians of Lower California. Iberoamericana No. 15. University of California, Berkeley.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1966. Geography of Coastal Deserts. Arid Zone Research No. 28. UNESCO, Paris.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1970. "Capes of Human Hair from Baja California and Outside". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 6(1):21-28.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1971. "Creation Myth and Other Reflections of the Nijí Mishkwish". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 7(1):9-13.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1972. "Notes on the La Huerta Jat'am, Baja California: Place Names, Hunting, and Shamans". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 8(1):35-40.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1974. "Field Notes on the Sh'un and Jat'am, Manteca, Baja California". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 10(1):19-28.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1974. "Meigs on Tablas". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 10(1):37-38.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1976. "Some Pictographs in Northern Baja California". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 12(1):2-8.
 Meigs, Peveril, III. 1977. "Notes on the Paipai of San Isidoro, Baja California". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 13(1):11-20.
 Sauer, Carl O., and Peveril Meigs, III. 1927. "Site and Culture at San Fernando de Velicatá". University of California Publications in Geography 2:271-302. Berkeley.

References
Sources
 Mathes, W. Michael. 2001. "Peveril Meigs, III, and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, the Final Dominican Mission Frontier of Lower California". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 37(4):16-18.
Notes

External links
 Biographical outline and bibliography
 Peveril Meigs Baja California Research Materials MSS 530.
 Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.

1903 births
1979 deaths
American geographers
Archaeologists of the Baja California peninsula
People of the Office of Strategic Services
California State University, Chico faculty
Historians of Baja California
20th-century geographers

Peveril Meigs


Serge Poliakoff (January 8, 1900 – October 12, 1969) was a Russian-born French modernist painter belonging to the 'New' École de Paris (Tachisme).

Biography
Serge Poliakoff was born in Moscow in 1900, the thirteenth of fourteen children. His father, a Kyrgyz, supplied the army with horses that he bred himself and also owned a racing stable. His mother was heavily involved with the church, and its religious icons fascinated him. He enrolled at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, but fled Russia in 1918. He arrived in Constantinople in 1920, living off the profits from his talent as a guitarist.

He went on to pass through Sofia, Belgrade, Vienna, and Berlin before settling in Paris in 1923, all the while continuing to play in Russian cabarets. In 1929 he enrolled at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. His paintings remained purely academic until he discovered, during his stay in London from 1935 to 1937, the abstract art and luminous colours of the Egyptian sarcophagi.It was a little afterwards that he met Wassily Kandinsky, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, and Otto Freundlich. Poliakoff held his first one-man Paris exhibition in 1945.

With these influences, Poliakoff quickly came to be considered one of the most powerful painters of his generation. In 1947, he was trained by Jean Deyrolle in Gordes in the Vaucluse region of France amongst peers such as Gérard Schneider, Émile Gilioli, Victor Vasarely, and Jean Dewasne. By the beginning of the 1950s, he was still staying at the Old Dovecote hotel near Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which was also home to Louis Nallard and Maria Manton, and continuing to earn a reliable income by playing the balalaika. A contract enabled him to quickly gain better financial stability.

In 1962 a room was given over to his paintings by the Venice Biennial, and Poliakoff became a French citizen in the same year. His works are now displayed in a large number of museums in Europe and New York. Poliakoff also worked with ceramics at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres.  He influenced the paintings of Arman.

In 2006, works by Poliakoff were chosen by the Musée du Luxembourg for their exhibition entitled 'L'Envolée lyrique(lit:'lyric Flight'), Paris 1945-1956', namely 'Composition en brun', 1947, Ny Carlsberg Glypothek, Copenhagen; 'Composition rouge avec trait', 1952, Cologne Museum; 'Composition IV', 1954) [catalogue : ].

In 2013, The Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris devoted a large-scale retrospective to the abstract painter which included 150 works from the period 1946–1969. Since 1970 there has been no significant exhibition of the work of Serge Poliakoff in what became his home city.

Exhibitions
Serge Poliakoff, Galleria Lorenzelli, Bergamo (1970)
Serge Poliakoff, Lorenzelli Arte, Milan (1983)
Serge Poliakoff, Le rêve des formes, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2013)
Serge Poliakoff, Galerie Applicat-Prazan, Paris (2013)

Works
Available Paintings, Works on Paper and Biography Galerie Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany

See also
 École de Paris

References

Sources
This article draws heavily on the :fr:Serge Poliakoff article in the French-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of November 20, 2006.
 Jean Cassou, Poliakoff, Bodensee-Verlag, Amriswil (Switzerland), 1963.
 Lydia Harambourg, Serge Poliakoff, dans L'École de Paris 1945–1965, Dictionnaire des peintres, Neuchâtel, Ides et Calendes, 1993 ().
 Alexis Poliakoff et Gérard Schneider, Poliakoff, Editions Galerie Française, München, 280 p. ()
 Françoise Brütsch, Serge Poliakoff'', Editions Ides et Calendes, Neuchâtel, 1993, 200 p. ()

External links
 Artfacts.net containing a portrait of Poliakoff, and nine reproductions of his gouache and lithograph work.
 Lorenzelli Arte Milano: Serge Poliakoff Biography
  - Serge Poliakoff, The Dream of Forms - Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Art Informel and Tachisme painters
20th-century Russian painters
Russian male painters
20th-century French painters
20th-century Russian male artists
French male painters
Abstract painters
Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery
School of Paris
Abstract expressionist artists
1900 births
1969 deaths
Painters from Moscow
Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
French people of Kyrgyzstani descent
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France
French abstract artists
Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni

Serge Poliakoff