The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 . Still having members in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Prof. Babu Joseph from Kottayam, National executive member of Swatantra Party who attended the meeting of 50th year of Commemorating Swatantra Party which is held in Mumbai on August 1, 2009. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly socialist and statist outlook. Swatantra (Freedom) stood for a market-based economy.The party was thus favoured by some traders and industrialists, but at the state-level its leadership was dominated by the traditional wealthy classes such as zamindars (landlords) and formerly princely states. Its membership was not restricted on the basis of religion, unlike the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh. In 1960, Rajagopalachari and his colleagues drafted a 21-point manifesto detailing why Swatantra Party had to be formed, even though they were formerly Congressmen and associates of Nehru during the struggle for independence. The Prime Minister was highly critical of Swatantra, dubbing the party as belonging to "the middle ages of lords, castles and zamindars.

In the 1962 general election, the first after its formation, Swatantra received 6.8 percent of the total votes and won 18 seats in the third Lok Sabha (1962–67). It emerged as the main opposition to the dominant Congress in four states—Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Orissa. By the next general election in 1967, Swatantra had become a significant force in some parts of India; it won 8.7 percent of the votes and became the single-largest opposition party in the fourth Lok Sabha (1967–71) with 44 seats. In 1971, Swatantra joined a "Grand Alliance" of parties from across the political spectrum who aimed to defeat Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The party secured eight seats, winning only 3% of the votes. The next year, in 1972, its founder Rajagopalachari died, and Swatantra declined rapidly. By 1974, with many of its members joining the Charan Singh-led Bharatiya Lok Dal, another coalition committed to anti-Congressism.

Reference

Political parties in India
1959 establishments in Asia
1950s establishments in India
1974 disestablishments
20th-century disestablishments in India

Swatantra Party


Ilkley is a tourist town in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England.  The biggest attraction there is the wonderful and big Ilkley moors.  It is very green and grassy and provides walks for any type of people.  One of these walks includes a big rock and a little rock called the Cow and Calf Rocks.  This is one of the bigger wonders of the Yorkshire dales. By these rocks there is a pub called The Cow and Calf.

The town is has one railway station where trains run to Leeds and Bradford.

Towns in West Yorkshire

Ilkley


The Wolseley 6/99 wis the final lairge Wolseley caur.  Styled bi Pinin Farina with additions bi BMC staff sylists, the basic vehicle wis also sold under twa o BMC's other marques as the Austin A99 Westminster an Vanden Plas Princess 3-Litre.  Production began in 1959 and the caurs war updated an renamed for 1961.  The Wolseley remained in production as the Wolseley 6/110 through to 1968. Many police officers consider the "6/110" as the finest "area caur" ever employed bi the Lunnon Metropolitan Police Force.

The cars war also marketed in Denmark as the Wolseley 300.

There war twa other Farina-designed caur lines launched bi BMC at the same time — the compact Austin A40 Farina an midsized Wolseley 15/60 an derivatives. Although similar-looking, the latter shares no body parts an few other parts with the big Wolseley.

6/99

Wolseley 6/99


Dembiya (Amharic: ደምቢያ Dembīyā; also transliterated Dembea, Dambya, Dembya, Dambiya, etc.) is a historic region of Ethiopia, intimately linked with Lake Tana. According to the account of Manuel de Almeida, Dembiya was "bounded on East by Begemder, on South by Gojjam, on West by Agaws of Achefer and Tangha. Lake Tsana, formerly called Dambaya, is in this region." The region was governed by Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi and his soldiers of Adal in the sixteenth century. Alexander Murray, in his preface to the third volume of Bruce's account, further describes it as "on the east it includes Foggora, Dara, and Alata; on the north-east Gondar, the metropolis, and the rich district beneath it; on the southwest, the district of Bed (the plain barren country) and, on the west, the lands around Waindaga and Dingleber."

Dembiya was incorporated into the Begemder province (which previously only included lands to the east of Lake Tana) during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, and in 1996 became a woreda of the Amhara Region.

References

Regions of Ethiopia
Geography of Ethiopia
North Gondar Zone

Dembiya


Daniel "Danny Kootch" Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946) is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter. Kortchmar's work with singer-songwriters such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Carole King, David Cassidy, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Steve Perry, and Carly Simon helped define the signature sound of the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Jackson Browne and Don Henley have recorded many songs written or co-written by Kortchmar, and Kortchmar was Henley's songwriting and producing partner in the 1980s.

Biography
Kortchmar is the son of manufacturer Emil Kortchmar and author Lucy Cores. Kortchmar first came to prominence in the mid-1960s playing with bands in his native New York City, such as The King Bees and The Flying Machine, which included a then-unknown James Taylor (Kortchmar having been a long-time friend of Taylor's as both summered on Martha's Vineyard in their teens). In Taylor's autobiographical composition "Fire and Rain", the line "sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground" is a reference to the breakup of that band. During 1966, Kortchmar traveled to England, where he spent time as a session musician.

In 1967, Kortchmar joined The Fugs, appearing on their 1968 Tenderness Junction album before following bassist Charles Larkey to California, where they joined Carole King in forming a trio named The City. The group produced an album in 1968, Now That Everything's Been Said, which received scattered good reviews but was not a commercial success. The group subsequently broke up but Kortchmar continued backing King on her more successful solo career, including the groundbreaking 1971 album Tapestry. In 1970, Kortchmar reunited with Taylor on his breakthrough album Sweet Baby James. Kortchmar's work with Taylor and King made him one of the top LA session guitarists in the 1970s and 1980s.

Kortchmar worked on his own, reuniting with Larkey in the band Jo Mama in 1970 and 1971 and recording solo albums Kootch (1973) and Innuendo (1980), but he experienced his greatest success backing other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Harry Nilsson and Jackson Browne (when Browne recorded Kortchmar's song "Shaky Town" for the Running on Empty album, Kortchmar sang harmony vocals). In the 1970s he made three albums with Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Craig Doerge, as The Section.

Kortchmar recorded two albums as part of the band Attitudes, with Jim Keltner, David Foster and Paul Stallworth, for George Harrison's Dark Horse record label. The self-titled album Attitudes included Kortchmar's "Honey Don't Leave L.A.," which James Taylor also recorded. The second album, Good News, included several Kortchmar compositions.

He wrote music for the Cheech & Chong film Up in Smoke and he also produced recordings by Don Henley, Neil Young, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, Hanson, Tracy Chapman, Louise Goffin and others. Kortchmar is featured on guitar on Carole King's 1975 album, Thoroughbred.

In the early 1980s, Kortchmar toured and recorded extensively with Linda Ronstadt and appeared in two of her music videos. He can be seen playing guitar in the video for "Get Closer". In 1983, he played Linda's love interest in the music video for "What's New?". He also appeared with Linda when she performed on the twenty-fifth anniversary Grammy Awards telecast.

Kortchmar had a cameo as Ronnie Pudding (Spinal Tap's bass player in their early years) in the "Gimme Some Money" video segment of the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

In 1984, he co-produced and played on Don Henley's album Building the Perfect Beast. On that album, Kortchmar wrote the songs "You're Not Drinking Enough" and "All She Wants To Do Is Dance". Also on that album, he co-wrote the songs "You Can't Make Love", "Man with a Mission", "Not Enough Love in the World", "Building the Perfect Beast", "Sunset Grill", and "Drivin' With Your Eyes Closed".

In 1989, Kortchmar co-produced and played on Don Henley's album The End of the Innocence. Also on that album, he co-wrote the songs "How Bad Do You Want It?", "I Will Not Go Quietly", "New York Minute", "Shangri-La", "Little Tin God", and "If Dirt Were Dollars".

In 1990, Kortchmar co-produced and played on Jon Bon Jovi's #1 album Blaze of Glory.

In 1991, Kortchmar co-wrote the song "Love In The 21st Century", with Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin for Frey's album Strange Weather.

In 1992, he co-produced Toto's eighth studio album Kingdom of Desire, he also wrote two of the songs on the album: "Kick Down the Walls" and the title track.

In 1993, he co-produced and played on Billy Joel's album River of Dreams.

In 1995, Kortchmar produced and played rhythm guitar on several tracks of The Fabulous Thunderbirds album Roll Of The Dice.

In 1996, Kortchmar formed the group Slo Leak, playing primarily blues rock, and released an eponymous album.

In 1999, the group released its second album, When the Clock Strikes 12.

Kortchmar was brought aboard to produce Van Halen's abandoned second album with former Extreme singer Gary Cherone in 1999.

In 2004, Kortchmar started a new group, the Midnight Eleven, and the band released its first album in 2005.

In 2006 he co-produced Hanson's album The Walk, which was released in the US in the summer of 2007.

Also in 2006, Kortchmar participated in the Japanese tour of the Verbs, a unit consisting of Steve Jordan and Jordan's wife, Meegan Voss.

In 2010 Kortchmar joined the Troubadour Reunion Tour supporting James Taylor and Carole King along with Section bandmates Lee Sklar and Russ Kunkel. In the souvenir book for the tour, his biography stated that he was working on an album of his songs that were originally recorded by other artists.

Discography

Solo
 1973 Kootch (Warner Bros.)
 1980 Innuendo (Asylum)

With associated groups
 1969 The City / Now That Everything's Been Said (Ode)
 1970 Jo Mama / Jo Mama (Atlantic)
 1971 Jo Mama / J Is for Jump (Atlantic)
 1971 (re-released 1996) James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine
 1972 The Section (Warner Bros)
 1973 The Section / Forward Motion (Warner Bros)
 1975 Attitudes / Attitudes (Dark Horse)
 1975 "Wind on the Water/ David Crosby and Graham Nash"
 1977 Running on Empty with Jackson Browne
 1977 Attitudes / Good News (Dark Horse)
 1977 The Section / Fork it Over (Capitol)
 1978 Warren Zevon / Nighttime in the Switching Yard (Excitable Boy LP)
 1981 Shot of Love with Bob Dylan
 1990 " Brent Bourgeois "/ Brent Bourgeois (Charisma Records)
 1995 The Fabulous Thunderbirds / Roll Of The Dice (Private Inc)
 1997 The Fabulous Thunderbirds / High Water (High Street / Windham Hill)
 2001 Boz Scaggs / Dig
 2005 Midnight Eleven / Midnight Eleven
 2018 Danny Kortchmar and The Immediate Family / Honey Don't Leave LA (Vivid Sound)
 2018 Danny Kortchmar and The Immediate Family / Live In Japan at Billboard Live Tokyo June 18, 2018 (Vivid Sound)
 2020 The Immediate Family / Turn It Up To 10 (Vivid Sound)
 2020 The Immediate Family / Slippin & Slidin EP (Quarto Valley Records)
 2021 The Immediate Family / Can't Stop Progress EP (Quarto Valley Records)
 2021 The Immediate Family / The Immediate Family (Quarto Valley Records)

References

External links
 Danny Kortchmar Facebook page
  Danny Kortchmar unofficial website by italian fan

Danny Kortchmar Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (2021)

1946 births
Living people
American session musicians
American people of Russian descent
American rock guitarists
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American folk guitarists
American male guitarists
American country guitarists
American pop guitarists
American male songwriters
Record producers from New York (state)
Songwriters from New York (state)
Guitarists from Los Angeles
Guitarists from New York City
The Fugs members
20th-century American guitarists
Record producers from California

Danny Kortchmar


Soulseek is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network and application, used mostly to exchange music. It was created by Nir Arbel, an Israeli programmer from Safed.

The current Soulseek network is the second to have been in operation, both run by the same management. The older network, used up to version 156 of the client, was shut down after usage dropped to almost nothing. Version 157 of the client was the last for Microsoft Windows only, and work on it ceased in 2008. Its replacement, SoulseekQT, is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. SoulseekQt has slightly different functionality compared to the 157 client interface.

Key features

Content
As a peer to peer (P2P) file sharing program, the accessible content is determined by the users of the Soulseek client, and what files they choose to share. The network has historically had a diverse mix of music, including underground and independent artists, unreleased music, such as demos and mixtapes, bootlegs, live tracks, and live DJ sets, but releases from major and independent labels can also be found.

Central server
Soulseek depends on a pair of central servers. One server supports the original client and network Version 156, with the other supporting the newer network (functioning with clients 157 and Qt). While these central servers are key to coordinating searches and hosting chat rooms, they do not actually play a part in the transfer of files between users, which takes place directly between the users concerned. (See Single Source Downloads below).

Searching
Users can search for items; the results returned being a list of files whose names match the search term used. Searches may be explicit or may use wildcards/patterns or terms to be excluded. For example, searching for blue suede -shoes will return a list of files whose names containing the strings blue and suede, but files containing the string shoes in their names will be excluded.

A feature specific to the Soulseek search engine is the inclusion of the folder names and file paths in the search list. This allows users to search by folder name. For example, typing in experimental will return all the files that are contained in folders having that name, providing quick access to bands and albums in a determined musical genre.

The list of search results shows details, such as the full name and path of the file, its size, the user who is hosting the file, together with that users' average transfer rate, and brief details about the encoded track itself, such as bit rate, length, etc. The resulting search list may then be sorted in a variety of ways and individual files (or folders) chosen for download.

The Soulseek protocol search algorithms are not published, as those algorithms run on the server.

Single source (one-to-one) downloads
Soulseek does not support multi-source downloading or "swarming" like other post-Napster clients, and must fetch a requested file from a single source. (By contrast, swarming allows a requested file to be sourced from a number of users who have that file, thus pieces of the file may be downloaded concurrently from a number of sources, typically giving improved performance.)

Banning
All Soulseek clients contain a ban feature whereby selected users may be banned from requesting files. This is in response to users who might be free-riding (i.e. taking files from others without sharing any files themselves) or who might be causing a nuisance for other reasons, such as a personal argument through the chat facilities or just taking up a user's bandwidth by downloading too many files, or simply on the whim of the banning user. Banning can be a contentious subject, and was the subject of much discussion in the user forums particularly in the early days. Users with download privileges can still be banned.

Album downloads
While Soulseek, like other P2P clients, allows a user to download individual files from another by selecting each one from a list of search results, a Download Containing Folder option simplifies the downloading of entire albums. For example, a user who wishes to facilitate the distribution of an entire album may place all tracks relating to the album together in a folder on the host PC, and the entire contents of that folder (i.e. all the album's track files) can then be downloaded automatically one after the other using this one command.

File transfer monitoring
The Soulseek client features two file transfer monitoring windows where the progress of files being uploaded and downloaded can be monitored and controlled.

User profiles
Users may complete a profile which contains basic free-form text information (e.g. basic information about themselves or their 'file transfer rules') together with a list of things they like, a list of things they dislike, and optionally an image file. These items may then be viewed by other users when selecting the username from a list of members in a chat room or a list of files returned by a search.

The list of items a user likes may also be used to obtain global rankings for that item in the Soulseek community or to obtain recommendations from other users who have the same items in their list of things they like.

Wishlists
The Soulseek 156, 157 and Qt clients provide a "wishlist" feature which functions like a stored search. Search terms are input as entries in a wishlist and each wishlist entry is then periodically executed as a search automatically by the client software, returning results as appropriate.

Privileges
While the Soulseek software is free, a donation scheme exists to support the programming effort and cost of maintaining the servers. In return for donations, users are granted the privilege of being able to jump ahead of non-donating users in a queue when downloading files (but only if the files are not shared over a local area network).

Support forums and blog
Like numerous other software titles, Soulseek has a set of forums where users may seek help on a variety of topics, such as technical aspects of using the software. Separate forums now support clients 156 and 157, and Qt.  The first blog was created in the latter part of 2003.

Financing
Soulseek is entirely financed by donations, with no advertising or user fees. Nir Arbel writes, as of July 1, 2008:

Copyright issues
In 2003 the artist Sapphirecut contacted Soulseek in an effort to stop the group's music from being shared amongst users; when Soulseek's server host Verio became aware of the situation, they dropped the network and it was unavailable for weeks.

Soulseek claims to be against copyright violation and that the purpose of their service is to promote unsigned artists.
This is a quote from their homepage:

Soulseek was taken to court in 2008 by two French music industry groups. The groups alleged that Soulseek is designed to permit unauthorized access to copyrighted works.

History
The original Soulseek user base around 2000 was composed mostly of members of the IDM mailing list, and most of the music first found on Soulseek was underground electronic music or music created by the users themselves. Aided by Soulseek users, the developer Nir Arbel released new versions of the client very frequently, in response to user requests for new features or bug fixes.

There is no known published usage data. Soulseek got a first boost in 2001 when Napster was closed down and then a second boost in 2002 when the site Audiogalaxy was closed down. Nir Arbel stated in an interview published December 26, 2003 that there were, at that time, over a million registered usernames and that 80,000–100,000 users log on during peak hours. The increase in Soulseek users after the shutdown of Audiogalaxy was plainly evident from a before-and-after comparison of chat room populations.  Before the shutdown of its competitor, Soulseek's most-joined chat rooms averaged 50 or so people. After the shutdown, the population of these chat rooms increased to 100 or more.

Soulseek is more of a community than a simple file sharing client. In Soulseek, users can connect with other users with similar music tastes to share files and to chat. Users even have the ability to create their own chat rooms and invite other users with similar tastes to discuss their favorite music. Many musicians from the electronic scene are themselves too part of this Soulseek community. In summer 2004, Soulseek users from all the world met in Augsburg, Germany. Every year since then, that meeting still takes place at a digital arts festival called Lab30 (30 being the street number of the Abraxas Theater) in Augsburg, Germany, organized by longtime Soulseek user Manfred Genther and other Augsburg locals. This festival focuses on showcasing digital musicians, digital artists, and netlabels from all over the world. Many Soulseek artists have performed at the festival, and a large number of them have performed live for the very first time there. Lab30 has steadily grown in size since the first event and continues to be a meeting place for the musicians and users of Soulseek. Attendees usually come from all over Europe and the United States. Lab30 is a well known event in Augsburg and widely supported and cherished by the Augsburg music and art scene.

Soulseek Records
Many of the original Soulseek users are also music producers, and Soulseek Records (not to be confused with "SLSK Records") was formed in 2002.

Versions
The first release was 139, which ran for about 12 months from 2002–03. Following a change in servers, a new version was released to coincide with this event. Whilst the main interface has largely remained unchanged since its inception, additional features such as the chat room 'ticker' were introduced into the 156 version.

Version 156 first appeared in 2005. A second 'test' version of the server, version 157, was set up shortly afterwards, which became the primary client in 2008.

Since July 6, 2008, there have been two versions of the Soulseek client, with entirely different users, user groups, and files. The older version, v.156 is progressively being wound down, but still operates as of August 2011, albeit with few users. Users are not obligated to upgrade, and new users may still inadvertently download the 156 client.

The 157 "test" network has been around since 2005, to circumvent poor search capability on the 156 client. The v.157 test 12c was released in November 2007. All recent versions have several bugs which can hang or cause the system to stop searching or downloading.

The client SoulseekQT Public Build 1 was released in 04/19/2011.

For the older clients (156 and 157) no official client was developed for non-Windows operating systems, but a number of unofficial third-party clients existed at the time. Development of third-party clients was discouraged (but not prohibited), as coding errors or explicit circumvention of network rules in third-party clients had, at times, a drastic negative impact on the Soulseek network.

Alternative clients
Nicotine+ is an actively maintained fork of the now defunct Nicotine client. Nicotine+ runs under GNU/Linux, *BSD, Solaris, Windows, and macOS. It is currently maintained by a team of volunteers with its source hosted on GitHub. It uses Gtk+ 3, Python 3, and supports UPnP. Stable and unstable packages are available for Ubuntu. Nicotine+ is also available as a Flatpak, as of release version 2.0.0.

Nicotine+'s defunct predecessor Nicotine also ran on all Unix-based systems, such as Mac OS X, and on Microsoft Windows. It is in turn based on the original PySoulSeek project. It may still be available from some package distributors on Linux-based systems.

PySoulSeek was a Soulseek client written in Python that runs under Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris and other Unix-based operating systems. PySoulSeek runs under Mac OS X but with some difficulty.

slskd and Museek+ are Soulseek clients utilizing a client-server model, though the latter is no longer under development.

Seeker is a Soulseek client for modern Android devices.  GoSeek was a Soulseek client for older Android devices (before Android Nougat).

MewSeek was originally iSlsk, a Soulseek client for iPod Touch and iPhone clients running jailbroken versions of iOS. MewSeek no longer supports Soulseek.

Clients for Mac OS X included Soulseex (ssX) and iSoul. iSoul was based on an earlier client called Solarseek.

References

External links

File sharing software
2002 software
Windows file sharing software
MacOS file sharing software
File sharing software for Linux
Classic Mac OS software
Proprietary freeware for Linux

Soulseek


Realism theory is a way of thinking about politics and world history, that focuses on being realistic. It is one of the main styles of international relations theory. It gives the theoretic background to Realpolitik statesmanship of early modern Europe. According to Realism, world politics is always and necessarily a field of conflict among actors who want power. The theories of realism are contrasted by the cooperative ideals of liberalism.

Depending on what they see as the cause of the conflict between states, realists can be divided into three classes: Classical realists believe it follows from human nature; neorealists attribute it to the dynamics of the anarchic state system; neoclassical realists believe it results from both, in combination with domestic politics. Neorealists are also divided between defensive and offensive realism. Realists trace the history of their ideas back through classical antiquity, beginning with Thucydides.

Jonathan Haslam defines realism as "a spectrum of ideas." Its theories revolve around four main rules:

 states are the central actors in international politics, rather than leaders or international organizations;
 the international political system is anarchic, as there is no supranational authority to enforce rules;
 states act in their rational self-interest within the international system; and
 states desire power to ensure self-preservation.

Realism is often associated with Realpolitik, as both deal with the pursuit, possession, and application of power. Realpolitik, however, is an older prescriptive guideline limited to policy-making, while realism is a wider theoretical and methodological paradigm to describe, explain, and predict events in international relations. As an academic pursuit, realism is not tied to ideology; it does not favor any particular moral philosophy, nor does it consider ideology to be a major factor in the behavior of nations. Priorities of realists have been described as Machiavellian, single-mindedly seeking the power of one's own nation over others.

References

International relations
Political philosophy

Realism theory


Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England, particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire, parts of South Wales and France, especially Normandy and Anjou, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Production

Fruit

Perry pears are thought to be descended from wild hybrids, known as wildings, between the cultivated pear Pyrus communis subsp. communis and the now-rare wild pear Pyrus communis subsp. pyraster. The cultivated pear P. communis was brought to northern Europe by the Romans. In the fourth century CE Saint Jerome referred to perry as piracium. Wild pear hybrids were, over time, selected locally for desirable qualities and by the 1800s, many regional varieties had been identified.

The majority of perry pear varieties in the UK originate from the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire in the west of England; perry from these counties made from traditional recipes now forms a European Union Protected Geographical Indication. Of these perry pear varieties, most originate in parishes around May Hill on the Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border. The standard reference work on perry pears was published in 1963 by the Long Ashton Research Station; since then, many varieties have become critically endangered or lost. Over 100 varieties, known by over 200 local names, were in Gloucestershire alone. These local pears are particularly known for their picturesque names, such as the various "Huffcap" varieties ('Hendre Huffcap', 'Red Huffcap', 'Black Huffcap', all having an elliptical shape), those named for the effects of their product ('Merrylegs', 'Mumblehead'), pears commemorating an individual ('Stinking Bishop', named for the man who first grew it, or 'Judge Amphlett', named for Assizes court judge Richard Amphlett), or those named for the place they grew ('Hartpury Green', 'Bosbury Scarlet', 'Bartestree Squash'). The perry makers of Normandy grew their own distinctive varieties such as Plant de Blanc, Antricotin and Fausset; the perry of Domfront, which has been recognised with AOC status since 2002 and PDO status since 2006, must be made with a minimum of 40% Plant de Blanc.

Pear cultivars used for perry-making tend to be small in size, turbinate or pyriform in shape, and too astringent for culinary use. Specific perry pear cultivars are regularly used to make single-variety perries; this was formerly the usual practice in traditional perry making, meaning that in the past, each parish would have produced its own characteristic and distinctive perries due to the very restricted distribution of many varieties. Blended perries, made from the juices of several varieties, were traditionally disregarded as they tended to throw a haze, though in modern commercial production, this is overcome with filtration and use of a centrifuge.

Good perry pears should have higher concentrations of tannins, acids, and other phenolic compounds. Some of the pears considered to produce consistently excellent perry include the 'Barland', 'Brandy', 'Thorn,' and 'Yellow Huffcap' cultivars. Compared to cider apples, perry pears have fewer volatile components and consequently fewer aromatics in the finished product. Their tannin profile is very different from that of cider apples, with a predominance of astringent over bitter flavours. They do, however, contain a high concentration of deca-2,4-dienoate, a group of esters that affords them their prominent pear aroma. Another important attribute of perry pears that distinguishes them from cider apples is their relatively higher content ratio of sorbitol to other sugars, such as fructose. Because sorbitol is not readily fermented by yeast, it is not converted to ethanol, so perry tends to have more residual sugar than cider produced from the fermentation of apples. In addition to producing a sweeter beverage, sorbitol also contributes to increased body and a softer mouthfeel in the finished perry. Compared to apples, pear pressing is made more difficult by the additional presence of specialized cells known as sclereids, which have thick cell walls that provide extra support and strength to the pear tissue. Because of this inherent perry pear attribute, the addition of enzymes and pressing aids is a commonly used practice for improving perry production.

Orchard management and harvesting

While cultivation of pears has been to some extent modernised, they remain a difficult crop to grow. Perry pear trees can live to a great age, and can be fully productive for 250 years. Pear trees, both domestic and perry varieties, grow incredibly slowly, taking up to, if not over, a decade before they bear enough fruit for harvest. They also grow to a considerable height and can have very large canopies; the largest recorded, a tree at Holme Lacy, which still partly survives, covered three-quarters of an acre and yielded a crop of 5–7 tons in 1790. Given the long maturing period of pear trees, they can be difficult to manage against diseases. Their size makes it difficult to apply pesticides, which makes preventing fire blight, a disease caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora that pears are even more susceptible to than cider apples, quite challenging. These difficulties, along with demand for perry pears having (until recently) taken a decline, have prompted a national collection of perry pear cultivars to be gathered, housed, and cared for at the Three Counties Agricultural Showground at Malvern in Worcestershire, to maintain genetic resources, which has now become the National Perry Pear Centre at Hartpury. Similar germplasm repositories can be found at the National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon.

Also, key differences between cider and perry production exist in the harvesting and growing processes. Perry trees famously take more time to mature than cider trees. While cider trees may come to bear fruit in three to five years, traditionally managed perry trees typically take much longer, so much so that people say that one plants "pears for your heirs".

Even when fully grown, pear trees bear less fruit than apples, which is one reason that perry is less common than cider. When time to harvest comes, pears should be picked before they are ripe and then left to ripen indoors, while apples should be allowed to ripen on the tree. Both apples and pears suffer from fire blight, which can devastate entire orchards, but pears are also susceptible to pear psylla (also known as Psylla pyri). These insects kill the entire pear tree and are very resistant to insecticides, making them a severe problem for pear orchards. Another added complication is that while apples are often harvested mechanically, pears must be harvested by hand, greatly increasing the time and cost of harvesting.

Perry-making technique

Traditional perry making is broadly similar to traditional cider making, in that the fruit is picked, crushed, and pressed to extract the juice, which is then fermented using the wild yeasts found on the fruit's skin. Traditional perry making employed querns and a rack and cloth press, in which the pulp is wrapped in cloth before being squeezed with a press. Modern perry production can use a belt press, which is much more efficient for pressing fruit. It works by sending the fruit down a conveyor belt, on which it is then pressed by rollers. The principal differences between perry and cider production are that pears must be left for a period to mature after picking, and the pomace must be left to stand after initial crushing to lose tannins, a process analogous to wine maceration.  Additionally, because of the variation in hardness of the fruit, determining if a pear is ready for pressing than an apple can be more difficult. Also, key chemical compositional differences occur between apples and pears; these factors play a crucial role in prefermentation and fermentation decisions for perry production.

Compared to most apples, pears tend to have more sugar and total phenolic compounds. The main sugars in perry pears are glucose (192 –284 mg/L), xylose (140–176 mg/g), and galacturonic acid (108–118 mg/g). Types of sugar that are present in the juice play an important role in yeast activity and determine the success of fermentation. Unlike the juice of apples, pear juice contains significant quantities of unfermentable sugar alcohols, particularly sorbitol. The presence of sorbitol can give perry a residual sweetness, in addition to a mild laxative effect.
Pear juices contain rather low levels of amino acids, sources of nitrogen such as aspargine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid.

After initial fermentation, many perries go through malolactic fermentation. On average, compared to apples, pears have higher levels of titrable acidity, most of it being citric acid. In environments with high levels of malic acid, such as grape must in winemaking, malolactic fermentation bacteria convert malic acid to lactic acid, reducing the perception of acidity and increasing complexity of flavour. However, if high levels of citric acid are present, as in pear pomace, malolactic fermentation bacteria catabolise citric acid to acetic acid and oxaloacetic acid, instead of lactic acid. This results in a floral, citrus-like aroma in the final product, lacking the diacethyl odour typical for most products that have undergone a malolactic fermentation.

History
The earliest known reference to fermented alcoholic drinks being made from pears is found in Pliny. Perry making seems to have become well established in what is today France following the collapse of the Roman empire; references to perry making in England do not appear before the Norman conquest. In the medieval period, France retained its association with pear growing, and the majority of pears consumed in England were in fact imported from France.

By the 16th and 17th centuries, however, perry making had become well established in the west of England, where the climate and soil were especially suitable for pear cultivation. In the three counties of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire in particular, as well as in Monmouthshire across the Welsh border, perry pears grew well in conditions where cider apple trees would not. Smaller amounts were also produced in other cider-producing areas, such as Somerset. Perry may have grown in popularity after the English Civil War, when the large numbers of soldiers billeted in the Three Counties became acquainted with it, and reached a zenith of popularity during the 18th century, when intermittent conflicts with France made the importing of wine difficult. Many farms and estates had their own orchards, and many varieties of pears developed that were unique to particular parishes or villages.

Whereas perry in England remained an overwhelmingly dry, still drink served from the cask, Normandy perry (poiré) developed a bottle-fermented, sparkling style with a good deal of sweetness.

Modern commercial perries
The production of traditional perry began to decline during the 20th century, in part due to changing farming practices– perry pears could be difficult and labour-intensive to crop, and orchards took many years to mature. The industry was, however, to a certain degree revived by modern commercial perry-making techniques, developed by Francis Showering of the firm Showerings of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, in the creation of their sparkling branded perry Babycham. Babycham, the first mass-produced branded perry, was developed by Showering from application of the Long Ashton Institute's research, and was formerly produced from authentic perry pears, though today it is produced from concentrate, the firm's pear orchards having now been dug up. Aimed at the female drinker at a time when wine was not commonly available in UK pubs, Babycham was sold in miniature Champagne-style bottles; the drink was for many years a strong seller and made a fortune for the Showering family. A competing brand of commercial perry, Lambrini, is manufactured in Liverpool by Halewood International. The Irish drinks company Cantrell and Cochrane, Plc, more famous for its Magners and Bulmers ciders, launched a similar light perry, Ritz, in 1986.

Like commercial lager and commercial cider, commercial perry is highly standardised, and today often contains large quantities of cereal adjuncts such as corn syrup or invert sugar. It is also generally of lower strength, and sweeter, than traditional perry, and is artificially carbonated to give a sparkling finish. Unlike traditional perry, its manufacture guarantees a consistent product; the nature of perry pears means producing traditional perry in commercial quantities is very difficult. Traditional perry was overwhelmingly a drink made on farms for home consumption, or to sell in small quantities either at the farm gate or to local inns.

Decline and revival of traditional perry
Both English perry making and the orchards that supplied it suffered a catastrophic decline in the second half of the 20th century as a result of changing tastes and agricultural practices (in South Gloucestershire alone, an estimated 90% of orchards were lost in the last 75 years). Many pear orchards were also lost to fire blight in the 1970s and 1980s. Along with the clearing of orchards, the decline of day labouring on farms meant that the manpower that was once devoted to harvest perry pears – as well as its traditional consumers – disappeared. It also lost popularity due to makers turning to dessert or general-purpose pears in its manufacture rather than perry pears, resulting in a thin and tasteless product. In the UK, before 2007, the small amounts of traditional perry still produced were mainly consumed by people living in farming communities.

However, perry (often marketed under the name "pear cider", see below) has increased in popularity in very recent times, with around 2.5 million British consumers purchasing it in one year. In addition, various organisations have been actively seeking out old perry pear trees and orchards and rediscovering lost varieties, many of which now exist only as single trees on isolated farms. For example, the Welsh Cider Society rediscovered the old Monmouthshire varieties 'Burgundy' and the 'Potato Pear', as well as a number of further types unrecorded up to that point.

Naming controversy
Pear cider has been used as an alternative name for alcoholic drinks containing pear juice, in preference to the term perry. The term has been dated to 1995, when Brothers Cider found that nobody at Glastonbury Festival understood what perry was; they began telling customers that it was 'like cider, but made from pears'.

In the UK the new name has caused controversy. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) defines perry and pear cider as different drinks, stating that 'pear cider' as made by the large industrial cidermakers is a pear-flavoured drink, or more specifically a cider-style drink flavoured with pear concentrate, whereas 'perry' should be made by traditional methods from perry pears only. The National Association of Cider Makers maintain that the terms perry and pear cider are interchangeable, and its rules specify that perry or pear cider may contain no more than 25% apple juice.

See also
Plum jerkum, a similar plum cider from Worcestershire
Umeshu
Framboise
Poire Williams, a fruit brandy produced by distilling perry

References

External links

 Apple Cider and Perry Producers in UK
Real Perry on the ukcider Wiki
Out of the Pear Orchard and Into the Glass from National Public Radio
Overview of making perry at home
The Three Counties Cider and Perry Association
The Holme Lacy Perry Pear , that in 1790 was recorded as producing 5–7 tons of fruit

British alcoholic drinks
British products with protected designation of origin
English alcoholic drinks
Fermented drinks
French alcoholic drinks
Fruit wines
Pears
Welsh alcoholic drinks

Perry


Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (19 April 1795 – 27 June 1876) was a German naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist. He was one of the most famous and productive scientists of his time.

Microscopic organisms
Ehrenberg was appointed professor of medicine at Berlin University in 1827. In 1829 he accompanied Alexander von Humboldt through eastern Russia to the Chinese frontier. After his return he began to concentrate his studies on microscopic organisms, which then were not much studied.

For nearly 30 years Ehrenberg examined samples of water, soil, sediment, blowing dust and rock and described thousands of new species, among them well-known flagellates such as Euglena, ciliates such as Paramecium aurelia and Paramecium caudatum, and many fossils, in nearly 400 scientific publications. He was particularly interested in a unicellular group of protists called diatoms, but he also studied, and named, many species of radiolaria, foraminifera and dinoflagellates.

These researches built up our knowledge of the microorganisms of certain geological formations, especially of the chalk, and of the marine and freshwater accumulations. Until Ehrenberg took up the study it was not known that considerable masses of rock were composed of minute forms of animals or plants. He also demonstrated that the phosphorescence of the sea was due to organisms.

He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1836 and a foreign member of the Royal Society of London from 1837. In 1839, he won the Wollaston Medal, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London. He continued until late in life to investigate the microscopic organisms of the deep sea and of various geological formations. He died in Berlin on 27 June 1876.

Legacy
After his death in 1876, his collections of microscopic organisms were deposited in the Humboldt Museum at the University of Berlin. The "Ehrenberg Collection" includes 40,000 microscope preparations, 5,000 raw samples, 3,000 pencil and ink drawings, and nearly 1,000 letters of correspondence. His collection of scorpions, and other arachnids from the Middle East, is also held in the Berlin Museum.

References

1795 births
1876 deaths
German doctors
German anatomists
German naturalists
German zoologists
Geologists
Foreign Members of the Royal Society

Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg


The Pennsylvania Turnpike is a toll road (a road cars have to pay to drive on) operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States.  It costs more than $7 for a car to enter it from Ohio. The turnpike is a limited-access highway, which means cars must use ramps to get onto the highway. It runs  across the state. The turnpike begins at the Ohio border in Lawrence County, where it goes into that state as the Ohio Turnpike. The designation ends at the New Jersey border at the Delaware River – Turnpike Toll Bridge over the Delaware River in Bucks County, where it goes into that state as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike. The roadway goes east-west path through the state, going through the Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia areas. As it goes across the Appalachian Mountains in the middle of the state, the turnpike goes through four tunnels. It is part of the Interstate Highway System and is signed as part of Interstate 76 (I-76) between the Ohio border and Valley Forge, I-70 and I-76 between New Stanton and Breezewood, I-276 between Valley Forge and Bristol Township, and I-95 between Bristol Township and the New Jersey border.  The road uses a ticket system of tolling, where cars get a ticket listing fares when they head onto the road and pay when they leave the road, between the Warrendale and Neshaminy Falls toll plazas. There is also an eastbound toll plaza at Gateway near the Ohio border and a westbound toll plaza at the Delaware River Bridge that uses cameras to take a picture of the car's license plate and send a bill in the mail. E-ZPass, a form of electronic toll collection, is also used at all toll plazas.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike was planned in the 1930s to make traveling by car better across the mountains of Pennsylvania. It went through seven tunnels that were created for the abandoned South Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1880s. The road opened on October 1, 1940 between Irwin and Carlisle as the first long-distance limited-access highway in the United States that led to the building of other limited-access toll roads and the Interstate Highway System. Following World War II, the turnpike was built east to Valley Forge in 1950 and west to the Ohio border in 1951. In 1954, the road was built east to the Delaware River. The mainline turnpike was done in 1956 when the Delaware River bridge was built. In the 1960s, another tube was bored at four of the two-lane tunnels while the other three tunnels were closed when a new road was built around them. This made all of the highway four lanes wide. Work continues to be done to make the road better, such as rebuilding the original section to today's standards, widening parts of the turnpike to six lanes, and adding new interchanges.

References

Works cited

Turnpike

Pennsylvania Turnpike


The Book of Haggai is a book of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and of the Old Testament, written by the prophet Haggai. It was written in 520 BCE, some 18 years after Cyrus had taken the kingdom of Babylon and made a law in 538 BCE, so that the captive Jews could return to Judea.

Cyrus also wanted the temple in Jerusalem to be built, so that the worship there could be begun again. Haggai told the people to begin to rebuild second Jerusalem temple. Haggai said that a recent drought was because of the people's refusal to rebuild the temple, which he sees as key to Jerusalem's glory.

He said that Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, was the Lord's chosen leader. Haggai writes that three weeks after his first warning, the rebuilding of the Temple began on September 7 521 BCE. "They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the King.

This is in Chapter 1 verses 14 and 15.  The Book of Ezra says that it was finished on February 25 516 BCE "The Temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius." (Ezra Chapter 6, verse 15) After this Haggai said that God would bless the people. (Chapter 2, verse 18-19) The book ends by telling about the future downfall of other kingdoms.

Books of the Hebrew Bible
Old Testament books
6th-century BC books

Book of Haggai


Henryk Ehrlich , sometimes spelled Henryk Erlich; 1882 – 15 May 1942) was an activist of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, a Petrograd Soviet member, and a member of the executive committee of the Second International.

Social-democratic politics
Ehrlich became an activist in the social-democratic movement in 1904. During the 1917 Russian Revolution he was a member of the Petrograd Soviet executive committee, and a member of Soviet's delegation to England, France and Italy.

Interwar Polish and Jewish communal politics
In 1921 Ehrlich was named a co-editor of the Warsaw Yiddish daily Folkstsaytung. In 1924 he was elected to the Warsaw kehilla council as one of 5 Bundists out of 50 members. He was then candidate for the chairmanship of the council, as unique countercandidate to the Agudist Eliahu Kirshbraun, who was elected as well as Jacob Trokenheim, another Agudist, as vice-president. The Bund did not take part to the 1931 kehillot elections, but won 15 seats out of 50 at the 1936 elections. After the elections, Ehrlich created an incident by accusing Zionist leaders Grünbaum and Ze'ev Jabotinsky for recent antisemitic agitation in Poland by their campaign urging Jewish emigration from Poland. This time again Ehrlich was candidate to the presidency, he got 16 votes, the Zionist candidate Yitshak Schipper 10, and the Agudist Jacob Trokenheim won by a plurality of 19 votes.

World War II
After the outbreak of World War II, Ehrlich made his way to the part of Poland that had come under Soviet control. He was arrested by the NKVD in Brest on 4 October 1939. Held in Butyrka prison, he was subjected to continuous interrogation. Reputedly, he was interrogated at least once by the NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria in person. Arraigned in front of a tribunal, on 2 August 1940, in Saratov, and accused of terrorism and collaborating with the Nazis, he was delivered a long speech denying all the charges, but a short deliberation the tribunal sentenced him to death. After two weeks in a death cell, he was told that the sentence had been commuted to ten years in the Gulag. After the June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, he was released in 1942 as part of the Sikorski–Mayski Agreement of 30 July 1941 between the Polish Government in Exile and the Soviet Union. He was asked to join the newly formed Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, headed by Solomon Mikhoels.

Imprisonment and death
At about the same time Ehrlich was supposed to join Gen. Sikorski (the Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile) in traveling to London where he was supposed to join the Polish government. However, on 4 December 1941, Ehrlich, together with Victor Alter were once again arrested by the NKVD in Kuybyshev. At the time of their arrest they both resided in the Polish embassy and no reason was given for their arrest. According to various sources at the time, they were charged with spying for "enemies of the Soviet Union". The arrest of Ehrlich and Alter took place immediately after the Soviet government issued a declaration to the Polish government in exile on 1 December 1941, that Polish citizens of Belarusian or Jewish ethnicity would be treated as Soviet citizens and forbidden to enter the Polish Army (Anders Army) which was being formed at the time.

The Soviet imprisonment of two prominent socialist activists and leaders of the Second International caused a wave of protests among socialist circles in the West. Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Einstein made direct appeals to Stalin for their release. However, Soviet authorities remained quiet throughout 1942. On 23 February 1943, and only after the Soviet victory at Stalingrad, the Soviet ambassador in Washington, Maxim Litvinov, wrote to the President of the American Federation of Labor, William Green, telling him that Ehrlich and Alter had been executed on Stalin's orders.

According to some sources Ehrlich, unlike Alter, was never executed, because he managed to commit suicide by hanging himself from the bars of his prison window. Other sources state that together with Alter, he was shot in December 1942. As late as February 1943, letters from "Henryk Wiktor" (first names of Ehrlich and Alter) were being circulated in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Rehabilitation
On 8 February 1991, Victor Ehrlich, Henryk Ehrlich's son, was informed that according to a decree passed under Russian president Boris Yeltsin, Victor Alter, together with Ehrlich had been "rehabilitated" and the repressions against them had been declared unlawful.

While the exact place where he was buried is unknown, a cenotaph was erected at the Jewish cemetery on Okopowa street in Warsaw on 17 April 1988. The inscription reads "Leaders of the Bund, Henryk Ehrlich, b. 1882, and Wiktor Alter, b. 1890. Executed in the Soviet Union". The establishment of the monument (as well as the publication of the full story of Alter and Ehrlich) was opposed by Poland's post-war communist government and was only made possible because of the efforts of Marek Edelman (last surviving participant of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and a Bundist) and members of the Polish Solidarity Union. The commemoration ceremony was attended by over three thousand people.

Family
His father-in-law was historian Simon Dubnow.

See also
List of Poles

Notes and references

External links
 Albert Glotzer, "Murder as a Political Weapon", The New International, Vol. IX No. 3, March 1943, pp. 69–70.
 Majer Bogdanski, "Purged from history", Jewish Socialist, No. 24, October–December 1991.

1882 births
1942 deaths
Politicians from Lublin
People from Lublin Governorate
19th-century Polish Jews
Bundists
Mensheviks
20th-century Polish journalists
Polish people who died in Soviet detention
Polish people who died in prison custody
Jewish anti-fascists
Polish anti-fascists
Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International
Jews executed by the Soviet Union
Polish people executed by the Soviet Union
Polish people detained by the NKVD
Foreign Gulag detainees
20th-century Polish politicians

Henryk Ehrlich


Southern Ontario is part of the Canadian province of Ontario that is south of the Algonquin Park. It is the farthest south part of Canada.

Over 12 million people live here, more than anywhere else in Canada.

Some cities in Southern Ontario are Toronto, Ottawa, Barrie, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, St. Catharines-Niagra, Waterloo, and Windsor.

Regions of Ontario

Southern Ontario


The Meselson–Stahl experiment was an experiment done by Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl in 1958, using E. coli DNA.
With their experiment, they found that DNA replication was semiconservative. The DNA consists of two helices that are combined. When the two helices are copied, each will have one part coming from the original cell. The other part will be newly made. In chemistry, that is called synthesis.

There are three different way this replication could happen:
 conservative replication: The original DNA is kept as it is. Two new helices will be synthesized from it.
 semi-conservative replication: Half of the DNA is kept, the other half is synthesized.
 disperse replication: The mechanism is the same as semi-conservative replication; but the synthesized links could be added to either the old or new helix.

Meselson and Stahl found that DNA employs semi-conservative replication. They put the bacteria in an environment with a Nitrogen isotope. They first used N15. The bacteria then integrated this isotope into their DNA. Later they used an environment that contained N14. They then looked at which of the isotopes the bacterial DNA contained. They found that it contained both isotopes of nitrogen, which implies that conservative replication is not the correct conclusion. By having a closer look they could then also rule out disperse replication. Some helix strands were all v. Other helix strands from the time in the N15 environment had N14.

References

Molecular biology
Biology experiments
DNA
1958

Meselson–Stahl experiment


Realism is a way of portraying or thinking about reality. The word "realism" is used in many liberal arts in many different ways (such as in music, painting, and philosophy). It usually means trying to be true to reality. This is where the word "realistic" comes from. Realism is usually seen as an opposite of romanticism and idealism. It is also sometimes seen as an opposite of liberalism and classicism. It is used mainly to describe the way that some artists treat making art. These artists try to focus on the world as it really is, without unrealistic or supernatural ideas.

Realism began as an art movement and  in the 19th century. These realists wanted to give an accurate description of nature and of the way people lived. Realism can also apply to artists and artworks from before the 19th century though.

Origins

The word "realism" first appeared in 1794, as the opposite of idealism in art and philosophy. The French magazine  () used the word in 1826. It said that realism was the art-style of being accurate to real life, rather than following art of the past. Around this same time, realism was thought to have been one of the styles of philosophy within scholasticism. Then in the 1840s, realism began as an art movement in France. It focused on realistic modern life without avoiding what was unpleasant. It also focused on the lower or middle classes.

Realism in liberal arts

In music

In music there was a movement called Verismo which was the Italian word for "reality". Verismo was popular in Italian opera around the end of the 19th century and early 20th century.  Puccini was an opera composer whose style is typical of Verismo.

In painting and drawing

In politics and history

In politics, realism focuses on conflict and the harsher parts of history.

In writing and philosophy

Realism as a literary movement began in Germany.  The poet and writer Heinrich Heine  tried in his books to accept the world as it is instead of trying to escape from it. Realistic writers tried to find good things about society. The interest in realism led to a movement called naturalism. This meant describing scenes in nature accurately. The novelist Emile Zola was a naturalist.

In philosophy, realism is also a way of thinking about knowledge and reality. It is usually the view that a particular thing is real whether or not it is known about. In fact, one person can be a realist about some things and a non-realist about other things. For example, some realists say that the past really happened no matter what we think about it. Other realist philosophers say that there are morals that really exist as facts. This is different from philosophers who say that things only exist because of people who are aware of them. For example, a non-realist philosopher might say beauty only exists because someone sees something that they think is beautiful. A realist philosopher might instead say that beauty is there whether anyone sees it or not.

Other styles

The term social realism describes an art form in America in the 1930s which expressed social protest in a naturalistic way.  This is different from what is usually called socialist realism which was a term used by Soviet politicians from 1932 to the mid 1980s to describe art which showed the workers' struggle, glorifying the Soviet Union.

In the early 20th century Realism led to other movements such as Dadaism and Surrealism.

References

Philosophical movements and positions
Art movements
Literature
Music

Realism


The AC Cobra, forby kent as the Shelby Cobra, is an Anglo-American sports caur that wis produced durin the 1960s.

History an development

Lik mony Breetish specialist manufacturers, AC Caurs haed been uisin the smooth, refined Bristol straight-6 ingine in its sma-volume production, includin its AC Ace 2-seater roadster.  This haed a haund-biggit body wi a steel tube frame, an aluminium body panels that wur made uisin Inglis wheelin machines. The ingine wis a pre-Warld War II design o BMW which bi the 1960s wis considered dated.  Bristol decidit in 1961 tae cease production o its ingine an insteid tae uise Chrysler 331 cid (5.4 L) V8 ingines.  Awtho untrue, it is commonly believed that AC wis left wi'oot a future soorce o pouer an that American ex-racin driver Carroll Shelby saved the company frae bankruptcy. AC startit uisin the 2.6 litre Ford Zephyr ingine in its caurs. In September 1961, Shelby airmailed AC a letter askin them if thay wad big him a caur modified tae accept a V8 ingine. AC agreed, providit a suitable ingine coud be foond. He first went tae Chevrolet tae see if thay wad provide him wi ingines, but no wantin tae add competeetion tae the Corvette thay said nae. Ford houiver, wantit a caur that coud compete wi the Corvette an thay happened tae hae a brand new thin-wall sma-block ingine which coud be uised in this endeavor. It wis Ford's 260 in³ HiPo (4.2 L) ingine - a new lichtweight, thin-wall cast sma-block V8 tuned for hie performance. In Januar 1962 mechanics at AC Caurs in Thames Ditton, Surrey fittit the prototype chassis CSX0001 wi a 221ci Ford V8. Efter testin an modification, the ingine an transmission wur removed an the chassis wis air-freightit tae Shelby in Los Angeles on 2 Februar 1962.. His team fittit it wi an ingine an transmission in less nor aicht oors at Dean Moon's shop in Santa Fe Springs, Californie, an began road-testin.

Production proved tae be easy, syne AC haed awready made maist o the modifications needit for the sma'-block V8 whan thay installed the 2.6 litre Ford Zephyr ingine, includin the extensive rework o the AC Ace's front end. The maist important modification wis the fittin o a stranger rear differential tae haundle the increased ingine pouer. A Salisbury 4HU unit wi inboard disk brakes tae reduce unsprung wecht wis chosen insteid o the auld ENV unit. It wis the same unit uised on the Jaguar E-Type. On the production version, the inboard brakes wur moved ootboard tae reduce cost. The anerlie modification o the front end o the first Cobra frae that o the AC Ace 2.6 wis the steerin box, which haed tae be moved ootward tae clear the wider V8 motor.

The first 75 Cobra Mark I (includin the prototype) wur fittit wi the 260 ingine (4.2 L). The remainin 51 Mark I model wur fittit wi a lairger version o the Windsor Ford ingine, the 289 in³ (4.7 L) V8.  In late 1962 Alan Turner, AC's chief engineer completit a major design chynge o the caur's front end an wis able tae fit it wi rack an pinion steerin while still uisin transverse leaf spring suspension. The new caur entered production in early 1963 an wis designatit Mark II. The steerin rack wis borrowed frae the MGB while the new steerin column cam frae the VW Beetle. Aboot 528 Mark II Cobras wur producit tae the simmer o 1965 (the last US-boond Mark II wis produced in November 1964).

Bi 1963 the leaf-spring Cobra wis losin its supremacy in racin. Shelby tried fittin a lairger Ford FE ingine o 390 in³. Ken Miles drove an raced the FE-powered Mark II an pronoonced the caur wis virtually undrivable, namin it "The Turd." A new chassis wis developed an designatit Mark III.

The new caur wis designed in cooperation wi Ford in Detroit, Michigan. A new chassis wis biggit uisin 4" main chassis tubes (up frae 3") an coil spring suspension aw aroond. The new caur haed wide fenders an a lairger radiator openin an aa. It wis pouered bi the "side oiler" Ford 427 ingine (7.0 L) ratit at 425 bhp which providit a tap speed o 164 mph (262 km/h) in the standard model an 485 bhp wi a tap speed o 185 mph in the competeetion model. Cobra Mark III production began on 1 Januar 1965; twa prototypes haed been sent tae the Unitit States in October 1964. Caurs wur sent tae the US as unpaintit rollin chassis, an thay wur finished in Shelby's workshop. Awtho an impressive automobile, the caur wis a financial failure an did no sell well. In fact tae save cost, maist AC Cobra 427s wur actually fittit wi Ford's 428 in³ (7.0 L) ingine, a lang stroke, smawer bore, lawer cost ingine, intendit for road uise rather than racin. It seems that a tot o 300 Mark III caurs wur sent tae Shelby in the USA during the years 1965 an 1966, includin the competeetion version. 27 sma' block narrow fender version which wur referred tae as the AC 289 wur sauld in Europe. Unfortunately, The MK III missed homologation for the 1965 racin saison an wis na raced bi the Shelby team. Houever, it wis raced successfully bi mony privateers an went on tae win races aw the wey intae the 70s. Interestingly, 31 unsold competeetion caurs wur detuned an made road worthy an cawed S/C for semi-competeetion. The day, thir ar the rarest an the maist valuable models an can sell for in excess o 1.5 million dollars.

The AC 427 (i.e. the Mark III) dimensions wur: oweraw lenth o 14.583 feet (4.445 m), oweraw width o 5.583 ft (1.702 m), heicht (wi its removable tap in place) o 4.250 ft (1.295 m), turnin circle o 34 ft (10.363 m), wheelbase o 8.00 feet (2.438 m), front track o 4.50 ft (1.372 m) an  rear track o 4.417 ft (1.346 m).  Its fuel tank held 18 imperial gallons an its empty wecht wis approximately 2,300 lb (1044 kg).

AC Cobras haed an extensive racin career. Shelby wanted it tae be a "Corvette-Beater" an at nearly 500 lb less nor the Chevrolet Corvette, the lichtweight caur did juist that.  The Cobra wis aiblins too successfu as a performance caur an reputedly contreibutit aeo the implementation o naitional speed leemits in the Unitit Kinrick. An AC Cobra Coupe wis calculated tae hae done 186 mph on the M1 motorway in 1964, driven bi Jack Sears an Peter Bolton during shakedown tests prior tae that year's Le Mans 24h race. Houiver, govrenment offeecials hae cited the increasin accident daith rate in the early 1960s as the principal motivation, wi the exploits o the AC Cars team merely hichtlichtin the risk.

Awtho successfu in racin, the AC Cobra wis a financial failure, which led Ford an Carroll Shelby tae discontinue importin caurs frae Ingland in 1967. AC Caurs kept producin the coil spring AC Roadster wi narrae fenders, a sma' block Ford 289 an cried the caur the AC 289. It wis biggit an sauld in Europe till late 1969. This caur wi modifications wad appear again in 1982 as the Autokraft MkIV, basically an AC MkIII caur wi a 5.0L Ford V8 an Borg Warner T5 Transmission. AC forby produced the AC Frua till 1973. The AC Frua wis biggit on a stretched Cobra 427 MK III coil spring chassis uisin a vera angular handsome steel body designed an biggit bi Pietro Frua. Wi the demise o the Frua, AC went on building lesser caurs an eventually fell intae bankruptcy in the late 1970s'. The company's toolin an eventually the right tae uise the name, wur licensed bi Autocraft, a Cobra pairts reseller an replica caur manufacturer awned bi Brian A. Angliss. Autocraft wis manufacturing an AC 289 continuation caur cried the Mark IV. Shortly thereafter, Carroll Shelby filed suit against AC Caurs an Brian A. Angliss, in U.S. Destrict Court in Los Angeles. The ensuin dounset resultit in Shelby an AC Cars/Angliss releasin a jynt press release whaur AC/Angliss acknowledged that Carroll Shelby wis (an is) the manufacturer o record o aw the 1960s AC Cobra automobiles in the Unitit States an that Shelby himsel is the sole person allowed tae caw his caur a Cobra. Carroll Shelby's company Shelby Automobiles, Inc. continues tae manufacture the Shelby Cobra FIA 289 an 427 S/C vehicles in various forms at its facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Thir caurs retain the general style an appearance o thair oreeginal 1960s ancestors, but ar fittit wi modren amenities.

Coupé

In an effort tae improve tap speed alang the legendary Mulsanne Straight at the 24 Hours o Le Mans race, a nummer o enclosed, coupe variations wur constructit uisin the leafspring chassis an runnin gear o the AC/Shelby Cobra Mark II. The maist famous an numerous o thir wur the offeecial works Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupes. Sax wur constructit in tot, each bein subtly different frae the rest. AC forby produced a Le Mans coupe. The caur wis a ane-off an wis nearly destroyed efter a hie-speed tire blow-oot at the 1964 Le Mans race. The caur wis completely rebuilt an as o nou is in private awnership in Ingland. The third significant Cobra-based coupe wis the Willment Cobra Coupe biggit bi the JWA racin team. A road-goin Shelby Daytona Cobra replica is bein manufactured bi Superformance an Factory Five Racing, a well kent kit caur company. Thir caurs uise Pete Brock's bodywork designs, scaled up tae increase room inside, an a newly designed spaceframe chassis, thay ar pouered bi Roush-biggit Ford Windsor (Sportsman) ingines. The Superformance Shelby Daytona Coupe is the anerlie modren-day vehicle recognised bi Shelby as a successor tae the oreeginal Coupes.

Continuation caurs
Frae the late 1980s onwards, Carroll Shelby an associated companies hae biggit what ar kent in the hobby as "Continuation Caurs", Shelby authorized continuations o the oreeginal AC bodied Shelby Cobra series. Initially the caur everyane wantit in a Continuation wis a 427 S/C model which wis representit in the CSX4000 series. This wis meant tae continue whaur the last 427 S/C production left off, at approximately serial nummer CSX3560 in the 1960s.

The initial CSX4000 series caurs wur completit frae new auld stock as well as newly manufactured pairts. Gradually as the vintage pairts supply ran law, newly biggit frames an body panels wur obtained frae a variety o suppliers. The production o chassis nummers CSX4001 tae CSX4999 teuk roughly 20 years an mony different business relationships tae complete.

Aw models o Cobra produced ar available nou as continuations. In 2009, CSX4999 wis produced, concludin the 4000 series. Production haes continued wi the CSX6000 serial nummers, featurin "coil over" suspension. The 289 FIA "leaf spring" race version o the caur is reproduced as CSX7000, an the oreeginal "slab side" leaf spring street caur is the CSX8000 series.

Tae date maist continuations ar produced in feebreglass, wi some orderin caurs wi aluminum or carbon feebre bodywork.

In 2004, at the North American Internaitional Auto Show in Detroit, Ford unveiled a concept for a modernized Shelby Cobra. The Ford Shelby Cobra Concept wis a continuation o Ford's effort tae bring back the retro sports caurs that haed been successfu in the 1960s, includin the Ford GT40 an the fift generation Ford Mustang.

Super Snake

Shelby Motors biggit twintie twa 427 competeetion roadsters. In 1965, ane wis selectit an convertit intae a special model cried the 427 "Cobra tae End Aw Cobras." The first ane o thir (nummer CSX3015) wis oreeginally pairt o a European promotional tour afore its conversion. This conversion cawed for makin the oreeginal racin model street legal wi mufflers, a windshield an bumpers amangst ither modifications. But some things wur no modified, includin the racin rear end, brakes an headers. The maist notable modification is the addition o Twin Paxton Superchargers. This gae the caur a claimed 462 brake horsepouer (bhp) an 800 Ft pounds o torque at 3000 rpm. Offeecially 0 tae 60 mph wis achieved in 4.5 seconds, awtho thare ar reports o this bein achieved in little ower 3 seconds.

Anither non-competeetion 427 roadster, CSX3303, wis convertit an gien tae Shelby's close friend, Bill Cosby. Cosby attemptit tae drive the super-fast Cobra, but haed issues wi keepin it unner control. This wis humorously documentit in Cosby's album titled Bill Cosby, 200 M.P.H.. Cosby gae the caur back tae Shelby, who then shipped it oot tae ane o thair dealers in San Francisco, S&C Ford on Van Ness Avenue. S&C Ford then sauld it tae customer Tony Maxey. Maxey, sufferin the same issues as Cosby did wi the caur, lost control an drove it off o a cliff, landin in the Paceefic Ocean waters. It is tae be notit that Maxey's accident wis lairgely speculatit as suicide. It wis eventually recovered an the wreckage wis bought bi Brian Angliss o AC/Autokraft. Syne CSX3303 wis sae badly damaged in the Maxey accident, it is doubtful that muckle o the oreeginal caur will surface in the restored version.

Shelby's oreeginal model, CSX3015, wis kept bi Carroll Shelby himsel ower the years as a personal caur, whiles enterin it intae local races lik the Turismos Visitadores Cannonball-Run race in Nevada, whaur he wis "wakin [up] whole touns, blowin oot windows, throwin belts an catchin fire a couple o times, but finishin."  CSX3015 wis auctioned off on 22 Januar 2007 at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Caur Event in Scottsdale, Arizona for $5 million plus commission. This wad be a record for Cobras, as well as for a Barrett-Jackson sell price.

Notes

External links

Shelby Automobiles Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada
64' AC Coupe - Vintage Photos
Rare CSX2345 Photos an Information
63-65 Original Race Photos - Le Mans, Laguna Seca, Sebring an mair

Cobra
Rear wheel drive vehicles
Cobra
Roadsters
Sports caurs

AC Cobra


Dota 2 is a video game that was released in 2013. It is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients. Dota was originally a player-made map (also know as a mod) in Warcraft: Frozen Throne that proved to be successful with over 5 million active players. When Warcraft: Frozen Throne game got old, it was hard to continue game development. As a result, Valve Corporation, with the help of the original maker (Icefrog) started to develop Dota 2. We do not know the real name of Icefrog (which is an alias). Blizzard sued Valve over the copyright of Dota and lost.

Goal
The game is a hard to learn, hard to master strategy game. You map pick one of the 115 heroes. They're then put to two teams of five: one called the Radiant(Green) and the other, Dire(Red). The map contains three lanes called top, middle and bottom lanes. Usually, the team chooses to go 2-1-2(2 in top, 1 mid and 2 bot). Sometimes, it will be 2-1-1 or 1-1-2 because there will be a roamer. A roamer, as the name applies, goes all over the map where they can help.

'Creeps' spawn in both sides are called 'Minions' waves. They are controlled by the computer and they will attack the enemy creeps. They will target a hero or a tower if there is no creeps. The creeps are essential into winning the game since they give gold if killed by a hero.

In every lane, there are 3 towers. They're named by their tiers with tier 1 being the nearest to the enemies and tier 3 the farthest. You must destroy all the lane's towers before you can damage the barracks. The barracks are behind the tier 3 towers. If you destroy the 'Ranged Barracks' or 'Melee Barracks', the corresponding creeps spawn at the lane will be more powerful. If all 6 barracks get destroyed, all the creeps get boosted to Mega Creeps. Mega creeps are so powerful that an entire wave of them is equal to the power of a hero. If you have mega creeps, you will likely win the game.

The winning condition of the game is by destroying the enemy 'Ancient' or base while defending your own. Due to the large map and variety of scenarios,

games often last 30–50 minutes. Some games go to 2 hours if necessary. Players can also earn medals, which are displayed on their profile and represent their highest achieved rank during the current season. Each season lasts six months, and at the end of the season, players' ranks and medals are reset based on their performance in calibration matches.

You may leave the game before it ends, but you will get punished. Your next 1-5 games will be in a 'Low Priority' form. In low priority, every player gets a pool of only 3 heroes to pick. They can also not play with 'High Priority' players.

Summary
The game has two different teams with five "heroes" on each side. They can choose between 115 different heroes. Players have to get the rivaled towers in order to eventually get to the ancient and destroy it. Through the game, players can gain gold, buy items and of course, get kills and assists.

Notes
You can also play custom games, which are made by loyal players via the steam workshop. Dota 2 is famous for its complexity and forceful effort. Some people have earned millions of dollars playing this game in important hostages, most knowingly, the International, which has the biggest money pool in video game history, reaching 13 million in U.S.A dollars.

2013 video games
Real-time strategy video games

Dota 2


Charles Emmanuel II (20 June 1634 – 12 June 1675) was the Duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675 and under regency of his mother Christine Marie of France until 1663. He was also the claimant king of Cyprus and Jerusalem. At his death in 1675 his second wife Marie Jeanne of Savoy acted as Regent for their eleven-year-old son.

Biography

He was born in Turin to Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy and Christine Marie of France. In 1638 at the death of his older brother Francis Hyacinth, Duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel succeeded to the duchy of Savoy at the age of 4. His mother governed in his place, and even after reaching adulthood, Charles Emmanuel continued a life of pleasure, far away from the affairs of state.

Only after the death of his mother in 1663, he really assumed power.

But he greatly improved commerce and wealth in the Duchy, developing the port of Nice and building a road through the Alps towards France. He also reformed the army by forming five Piedmontese regiments and recreated cavalry, as well as introducing uniforms. He also restored fortifications. He constructed many beautiful buildings in Turin, for instance the Palazzo Reale where he died. He is buried at Turin Cathedral.

Marriages

Charles Emmanuel married twice.

 Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans (1648-d.1664) daughter of Gaston, Duke of Orléans on 4 March 1663.
 Marie Jeanne of Savoy (1644-1724) daughter of Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours on 20 May 1665.

Issue

Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, future King of Sicily and later Sardinia married Anne Marie d'Orléans and had issue.
Charles Emmanuel II also had a number of illegitimate children.

1634 births
1675 deaths
People from Turin
Princes and Princesses of Savoy
House of Savoy
Dukes and Duchesses of Savoy

Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy


USS MacKenzie (DD-614) was a  in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the third ship named for Lieutenant Commander Alexander Slidell MacKenzie.

MacKenzie was laid down 29 May 1941 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding, San Pedro, California; launched 27 June 1942; sponsored by Miss Gail Nielsen, descendant of Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie; and commissioned 21 November 1942.

Service history
MacKenzie transited the Panama Canal 1 March 1943, after completion of shakedown and training cruises, and continued on to spend her entire World War II career in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theaters. She arrived at Casco Bay, Maine, 13 March and commenced coastwise escort duties. In May, she graduated to transatlantic convoy assignments, completing two voyages to the Mediterranean Sea by the end of June. On 16 May, she made two depth charge attacks on a sonar contact; postwar review of German records proved them successful in the sinking of .

Relieved of transatlantic duties at the end of June, she reported to the staging area for the "Cent" Attack Force, one of three such forces to initiate the Sicilian campaign. On 9 July she departed the north African coast, arriving at Scoglitti, Sicily, the next day to screen the transport vessels and provide fire support. Three days later, the destroyer returned to convoy duty, conducting convoys between the United States and the Mediterranean until 7 October, and then engaging in escort work between North America and the United Kingdom. After repairs at Swansea, Wales, in the late autumn, she made two more ocean crossings before beginning operations in the Mediterranean.

On 18 March 1944, MacKenzie steamed into the harbor at Naples to report for screening, fire support and antisubmarine patrol duties in conjunction with the Anzio operation. Starting her Anzio assignments with an assist in the sinking of a two-man submarine on the 19th, she continued to provide support on this front until resuming convoy duties 6 June. Taking up the offensive again in August, MacKenzie took part in Operation Dragoon, providing fire support for this invasion of southern France. On 15 September, she departed the Mediterranean and headed for Boston, Massachusetts and a 5-month repair and overhaul period.

The destroyer took up duty in the Mediterranean again in February 1945 and from 28 March through 21 April spent her days in the bombardment of the Franco-Italian border and her nights on the blockade of the Gulf of Genoa. In May, having assisted in the continuance of an effective second front, MacKenzie was assigned to convoy duty in the Strait of Gibraltar. She remained in the Mediterranean after the capitulation of the Third Reich, cruising its waters until returning to the United States in July.

Upon her arrival, MacKenzie underwent overhaul preparatory to going to the Pacific. But, with the end of Pacific hostilities in mid-August, her orders were changed and on 4 November she entered the Charleston Navy Yard for inactivation. She decommissioned 4 February 1946 and in January 1947 entered the reserve fleet at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 July 1971 and sunk in fleet exercises on 1 June 1974.

Awards
MacKenzie received four battle stars for World War II service.

References

External links
 Photo gallery at navsource.org
 Photo gallery at Naval Historical Center

Benson-class destroyers
Ships built in Los Angeles
1942 ships
World War II destroyers of the United States

USS MacKenzie (DD-614)


The Great Seal of Oklahoma is a five-pointed star in a circle. The center of the star is made up of the Seal of the Territory of Oklahoma.

Inside the star are seals of five Native American Nations from Oklahoma.

The top point is for the Chickasaw nation, showing a warrior holding a bow and shield.

The upper left-hand point is for the Cherokee Nation, showing  a star with a wreath of oak leaves.

The upper right-hand point is for the Choctaw Nation, showing a tomahawk, a bow, and three crossed arrows.

The lower left-hand point is for the Creek Nation, showing a sheaf of wheat and a plow.

The lower right-hand point is for the Seminole Nation, showing houses and a factory on a lake with a hunter paddling a canoe.

The forty-five small stars around the middle star are for the forty-five states in the Union when Oklahoma became a state in 1907.

References

Symbols of Oklahoma
Oklahoma

Seal of Oklahoma


Sergeant Bosco Albert "B.A." (Bad Attitude) Baracus , played by Mr. T, is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of the 1980s action-adventure television series The A-Team. B. A. Baracus appeared on The A-Team from the series beginning in 1983 until its cancellation in 1987. He is arguably the breakout character of the series and has become a cult icon worldwide.

In the 2010 film version, B. A. Baracus was played by mixed martial artist Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

Fictional character biography
The A-Team is a group of ex-United States Army Special Forces 5th Special Forces Group soldiers who were wrongly convicted of a crime during the Vietnam War. Managing to escape from the Military Police, they fled to Los Angeles where, as fugitives, the A-Team works as soldiers of fortune, using their military training to fight oppression and injustice. B. A., along with Hannibal Smith, Templeton "Faceman" Peck, and H. M. Murdock make up the A-Team.

In the pilot episode, "Mexican Slayride", B. A. is described as follows by a reporter colleague of Amy Allen: "Bosco Baracus. Known as B. A. for 'bad attitude.' The man is a mechanical genius. He also has one of the worst conduct records in the army. He likes to slug officers." A rough-and-tough fighter, the character of B. A. Baracus is basically that of the public persona of Mr. T himself. He is known for his trademark African Mandinka warrior hairstyle (often mistaken for a frohawk hairstyle), and his gold jewelry.

While the other members of the team regularly resort to disguises, scams and subterfuge to achieve their goals, B. A.'s distinctive appearance and confrontational attitude usually lead to a more direct approach to problems, which often involve either his skills at hand-to-hand combat (Boxing, Wrestling), or his mechanical talents.

He is a highly skilled mechanic and has an amazing talent for making impressive machinery out of just about any ordinary parts. He received his initial training in the Jamaican Defense Force. In Season 2, Hannibal once said to B. A., "With a pair of pliers and a little time, you could fix anything but dinner." He is an excellent fighter and is invaluable in hand-to-hand combat. Because of his massive size and strength, he has a unique fighting tactic, which may involve grabbing his opponents, lifting them over his head, and hurling them in the air. He is easily angered to the point of rage, and often greets people with a growl or a snarl. He is most often upset by Murdock and frequently addresses him with the phrase "You crazy fool!", although Murdock is usually unfazed by B. A.'s gruffness. In fact, B. A. and Murdock are very close friends, with almost the relationship of frequently quarrelling brothers, as can be seen in "Curtain Call", the Season 2 finale, where Murdock is shot and B. A. is desperate to save him. Despite B. A.'s reputed attitude, he is a kind person who has a special fondness for children, occasionally working at a youth center teaching sports to the children. It is divulged in a Season 2 episode that he is from Chicago, another parallel with the real life Mr. T.

A teetotaler, B. A. did not touch alcohol, preferring milk instead. He suffers from pteromerhanophobia, an intense fear of flying, especially when the pilot is Murdock. He typically exclaims, "I ain't gettin' on no plane!" This difficulty is often overcome by other members of the team drugging him, knocking him unconscious, or, as in one episode, hypnotizing him, so he can be transported without objection. In the Season 1 episode "The Beast from the Belly of a Boeing", he is on a plane pretending to be a maintenance technician with Murdock when the plane suddenly takes off. He immediately falls into a catatonic state while Murdock tries to revive him. Furthermore, in two episodes "The Sound of Thunder" and "Quarterback Sneak" B. A. hops onto a helicopter which is piloted by Murdock, although he is said to have gone catatonic during the plane ride in "The Sound of Thunder".

In the Season 4 episode "Lease with an Option to Die", he temporarily overcomes his fear of flying when he learns his mother is hurt. In that episode his mother and her friends in Chicago are under the impression that he is the leader of The A-Team, which Hannibal and the others go along with. He submits to her authority, and the team is highly amused when his mother calls him by his childhood nickname of "Scooter". In the Season 2 episode "Diamonds 'n Dust", we learn that B. A.'s father was once beaten up by three men and almost died, giving B. A. a special understanding with the client, Toby, a woman whose father has been murdered.

As revealed in a few episodes, B. A. and Murdock share the same blood type, AB negative, the rarest type. This was a plot device for finding one of them urgently when a transfusion was needed for the other.

B. A. drives a customized 1983 GMC Van, painted black and grey with a red stripe, black and red rims, and a rooftop spoiler. B. A. is extremely protective of his van, and becomes furious if it gets any damage. He prefers to drive the van himself although the other members of the team frequently drive the van for a variety of reasons, generally when B. A. was otherwise indisposed. He often says, "Nobody drives my van, but me!" He appears to also apply this principle to other vehicles, such as in "The Trouble with Harry", where he insists on driving Hulk Hogan's limousine to follow a young friend from the center he helps at.

The meaning of "B. A."
As revealed in the pilot episode, "B. A." stands for the nickname of "bad attitude", although many viewers perceived this to be a euphemism for the phrase "bad ass" which would not have been accepted by television censors at the time. In the Season 4 episode "Lease with an Option to Die", we learn from his mother that his childhood nickname was Scooter, which he detests and only allows his mother to use.

Although not canon, Mr. T has stated that in terms of his Christian faith, B. A. now stands for "Born Again".

In syndicated versions of The A-Team aired in Hispanic and Spanish speaking countries, such as Mexico, B. A. Baracus is translated as Mario Baracus. In Spain, it was translated to M. A. Barracus, in part for the nickname "Bad Attitude" which translates into "Mala Actitud". In the French version, the meaning of the initials was dodged altogether since the character is constantly called "Barracuda" after the large and ferocious fish species of the same name, and even his second name of Baracus is rarely used. In the Italian version, he is named P. E. Baracus, where P. E. stands for "Pessimo Elemento", translated literally as "Very Bad Element". The Polish translation used the original initials, where B. A. stood for "Bardzo Arogancki", translated as "Very Arrogant".

For the 2010 movie, which was sponsored by British Airways, B. A.'s initials were jokingly changed to "British Airways" in some marketing. This was considered cynical by fans, as it is well known that B. A. refuses to travel on aircraft.

Name in other countries
 In Latin-American Spanish-speaking countries, he is known as "Mario Baracus," while in Spain, he is M. A., for Mala Actitud, a literal translation of the original
 Italy – his moniker is P. E. for "Pessimo Elemento" ("Very Bad Element");
 Russia – he is known as D. N., Durnoi Nrav – the Russian equivalent of "Bad Attitude"
 France – he is referred to as Barracuda
 Japan – Kong (コング), dubbed over by Japanese voice actor Shōzō Iizuka
 Hungary – Rosszfiú (translates as "Bad Boy")
 Taiwan – Guai Tou (怪頭) (translates as "Wacky Head" in Chinese)

Awards and decorations

"A Nice Place to Visit"
The following are the medals and service awards fictionally worn by Specialist 6 Baracus in "A Nice Place to Visit".

"Trial by Fire" and "Firing Line"
The following are the medals and service awards fictionally worn by Sergeant First Class Baracus in "Trial by Fire" and "Firing Line".

GMC van

B. A.'s iconic black and metallic gray GMC Vandura van used by the A-Team, with its characteristic red stripe, black and red turbine mag wheels, and rooftop spoiler, has become an enduring pop culture icon. Early examples of the van had a red GMC logo on the front grille, and an additional GMC logo on the rear left door. Early in the second season, these logos were blacked out, although GMC continued to supply vans and receive a credit on the closing credits of each episode.

It is a common error that the van is said to be all-black, whereas, in fact, the section above the red stripe is metallic gray (this error even followed through on to most toy models of the van). The angle of the rear spoiler can also be seen to vary on different examples of the van within the series. Additionally, some versions of the van have a sunroof, whereas others, typically those used for stunts do not. This led to continuity errors in some episodes, such as in the third season's "The Bells of St. Mary's", in a scene where Face jumps from a building onto the roof of the van. There is clearly no sunroof. Moments later, in an interior studio shot, Face climbs in through the sunroof. Also, in many stunts where the van would surely be totaled, other makes have been used, such as a black Ford Econoline with red hubcaps painted to simulate the original red turbine mags.

Many devices have been variously located in the back of the van in different episodes, including a mini printing press in "Pros and Cons", an audio surveillance recording device in "A Small and Deadly War", and Hannibal's disguise kits in various episodes.

When B. A. lends the van to Captain Murdock, Murdock concludes that B. A. has tuned the van's suspension to compensate for the added weight of his gold jewelry.

In the 2010 remake of The A-Team, the 1983 GMC Vandura van returned. Filming in Canada made it difficult to source the original vehicle and instead a modified 1994 Chevrolet G20 cargo van was used, but the red stripe is not the same as in the original van. B. A. tracks the van down in Mexico after leaving it for his career as an Army Ranger. Hannibal hijacks the vehicle and, when B. A. refuses to cooperate, shoots B. A. in the arm. This angers B. A., not because he was shot, but because the round went through him into the van. They rescue Face and pick up Murdock. When the team flees from General Tuco in a medical chopper, Murdock accidentally pilots it into an air-conditioning unit, tipping it off the roof and onto the van, destroying it. This infuriates B. A., prompting him to make death threats against Murdock.

2010 film

The 2010 film adaptation presents a Bosco "B. A." Baracus (born on June 20, 1978, in Phoenix) who is referred to simply as Bosco for much of the film's first act. In the film, he is a former Corporal when he meets Hannibal, and a Sergeant First Class by the time of the trial. While B. A. retains his trademark hairstyle, he does not wear gold chains around his neck like his TV counterpart did. Aside from the Army Ranger tattoo on his right arm, he sports tattoos on his knuckles: the left spells "PITY", while the right spells "FOOL".  This is a reference to Mr. T's catchphrase, "I pity the fool."

His fear of flying is created at the film's start, after Bosco nearly falls out of a helicopter piloted by Murdock. He starts off much like his TV counterpart; he punches first, asks questions later, and still drives his distinctive GMC Vandura van. In contrast with the TV series, in the opening sequence, the van is accidentally destroyed by Murdock; and when B. A. is sprung from prison later in the film, he is a changed man. Concerned with the violence that has driven his life, Bosco swears a vow to never again end another life, and grows his hair out to help reflect this change. The more peaceful Bosco even allows himself to be beaten into submission by the psychotic killer Pike, until he is rescued by Hannibal. It is not until the film's third act, when informed by Hannibal that even Gandhi "wasn't afraid to fight for something he believed in", that Bosco re-shaves his head, and becomes an unstoppable powerhouse once more. He cites later that his conscience is now clear.

B. A. also explains that the reason he started his hairstyle as a child was that everyone in his neighborhood was afraid of him.

Awards and decorations
The following are the medals and service awards fictionally worn by Sergeant First Class Baracus in the 2010 movie adaptation.

Other appearances
B. A. is a playable character in the crossover video game Lego Dimensions. His character pack includes his van. Mr. T is replaced by Dave Fennoy as B. A.'s voice actor. He can also be seen making a cameo appearance in an episode of the comedy sketch show Little Britain.

Baracus is parodied in the side-scrolling shooter game Broforce as a playable character known as B.A. Broracus. As a playable character, he fights with a flamethrower that can set enemies on fire and he can throw grenades.

References

 The A-Team episodes guide
 The A-Team original TV series

External links

The A-Team characters
Fictional African-American people
American male characters in television
Fictional mechanics
Fictional private military members
Fictional mercenaries
Fictional military sergeants
Fictional Vietnam War veterans
Fictional United States Army Special Forces personnel
Television characters introduced in 1983
Fictional characters with superhuman strength
Mr. T
Fictional mechanical engineers
Fictional United States Army Rangers personnel

B. A. Baracus