Identification, friend or foe (IFF) is an identification system designed for command and control. It uses a transponder that listens for an interrogation signal and then sends a response that identifies the broadcaster. IFF systems usually use radar frequencies, but other electromagnetic frequencies, radio or infrared, may be used. It enables military and civilian air traffic control interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles or forces as friendly, as opposed to neutral or hostile, and to determine their bearing and range from the interrogator. IFF is used by both military and civilian aircraft. IFF was first developed during World War II, with the arrival of radar, and several friendly fire incidents.

IFF can only positively identify friendly aircraft or other forces. If an IFF interrogation receives no reply or an invalid reply, the object is not positively identified as foe; friendly forces may not properly reply to IFF for various reasons such as equipment malfunction, and parties in the area not involved in the combat, such as civilian airliners, will not be equipped with IFF.

IFF is a tool within the broader military action of Combat Identification (CID), the characterization of objects detected in the field of combat sufficiently accurately to support operational decisions. The broadest characterization is that of friend, enemy, neutral, or unknown. CID not only can reduce friendly fire incidents, but also contributes to overall tactical decision-making.

With the successful deployment of radar systems for air defence during World War II, combatants were immediately confronted with the difficulty of distinguishing friendly aircraft from hostile ones; by that time, aircraft were flown at high speed and altitude, making visual identification impossible, and the targets showed up as featureless blips on the radar screen. This led to incidents such as the Battle of Barking Creek, over Britain, and the air attack on the fortress of Koepenick over Germany.

British develpment

Early concepts

Already before the deployment of their  Chain Home radar system (CH), the RAF had considered the problem of IFF. Robert Watson-Watt had filed patents on such systems in 1935 and 1936. By 1938, researchers at Bawdsey Manor began experiments with "reflectors" consisting of dipole antennas tuned to resonate to the primary frequency of the CH radars. When a pulse from the CH transmitter hit the aircraft, the antennas would resonate for a short time, increasing the amount of energy returned to the CH receiver. The antenna was connected to a motorized switch that periodically shorted it out, preventing it from producing a signal. This caused the return on the CH set to periodically lengthen and shorten as the antenna was turned on and off. In practice, the system was found to be too unreliable to use; the return was highly dependent on the direction the aircraft was moving relative to the CH station, and often returned little or no additional signal.

It had been suspected this system would be of little use in practice. When that turned out to be the case, the RAF turned to an entirely different system that was also being planned. This consisted of a set of tracking stations using HF/DF radio direction finders. Their aircraft radios were modified to send out a 1 kHz tone for 14 seconds every minute, allowing the stations ample time to measure the aircraft's bearing. Several such stations were assigned to each "sector" of the air defence system, and sent their measurements to a plotting station at sector headquarters, who used triangulation to determine the aircraft's location. Known as "pip-squeak", the system worked, but was labour-intensive and did not display its information directly to the radar operators. A system that worked directly with the radar was clearly desirable.

IFF Mark II

The first active IFF transponder (transmitter/responder) was the IFF Mark I which was used experimentally in 1939. This used a regenerative receiver, which fed a small amount of the amplified output back into the input, strongly amplifying even small signals as long as they were of a single frequency (like Morse code, but unlike voice transmissions). They were tuned to the signal from the CH radar (20–30 MHz), amplifying it so strongly that it was broadcast back out the aircraft's antenna. Since the signal was received at the same time as the original reflection of the CH signal, the result was a lengthened "blip" on the CH display which was easily identifiable. In testing, it was found that the unit would often overpower the radar or produce too little signal to be seen, and at the same time, new radars were being introduced using new frequencies.

Instead of putting Mark I into production, a new IFF Mark II was introduced in early 1940. Mark II had a series of separate tuners inside tuned to different radar bands that it stepped through using a motorized switch, while an automatic gain control solved the problem of it sending out too much signal. Mark II was technically complete as the war began, but a lack of sets meant it was not available in quantity and only a small number of RAF aircraft carried it by the time of the Battle of Britain. Pip-squeak was kept in operation during this period, but as the Battle ended, IFF Mark II was quickly put into full operation. Pip-squeak was still used for areas over land where CH did not cover, as well as an emergency guidance system.

IFF Mark III

Even by 1940 the complex system of Mark II was reaching its limits while new radars were being constantly introduced. By 1941, a number of sub-models were introduced that covered different combinations of radars, common naval ones for instance, or those used by the RAF. But the introduction of radars based on the microwave-frequency cavity magnetron rendered this obsolete; there was simply no way to make a responder operating in this band using contemporary electronics.

In 1940, English engineer Freddie Williams had suggested using a single separate frequency for all IFF signals, but at the time there seemed no pressing need to change the existing system. With the introduction of the magnetron, work on this concept began at the Telecommunications Research Establishment as the IFF Mark III. This was to become the standard for the Western Allies for most of the war.

Mark III transponders were designed to respond to specific 'interrogators', rather than replying directly to received radar signals. These interrogators worked on a limited selection of frequencies, no matter what radar they were paired with. The system also allowed limited communication to be made, including the ability to transmit a coded 'Mayday' response. The IFF sets were designed and built by Ferranti in Manchester to Williams' specifications. Equivalent sets were manufactured in the US, initially as copies of British sets, so that allied aircraft would be identified upon interrogation by each other's radar.

IFF sets were obviously highly classified. Thus, many of them were wired with explosives in the event the aircrew bailed out or crash landed. Jerry Proc reports:

Germany

FuG 25a Erstling (English: Firstborn, Debut) was developed in Germany in 1940. It was tuned to the low-VHF band at 125 MHz used by the Freya radar, and an adaptor was used with the low-UHF-banded 550–580 MHz used by Würzburg. Before a flight, the transceiver was set up with a selected day code of ten bits which was dialed into the unit. To start the identification procedure, the ground operator switched the pulse frequency of his radar from 3,750 Hz to 5,000 Hz. The airborne receiver decoded that and started to transmit the day code. The radar operator would then see the blip lengthen and shorten in the given code. The IFF transmitter worked on 168 MHz with a power of 400 watts (PEP).

The system included a way for ground controllers to determine whether an aircraft had the right code or not but it did not include a way for the transponder to reject signals from other sources. British military scientists found a way of exploiting this by building their own IFF transmitter called Perfectos, which were designed to trigger a response from any FuG 25a system in the vicinity. When an FuG 25a responded on its 168 MHz frequency, the signal was received by the antenna system from an AI Mk. IV radar, which originally operated at 212 MHz. By comparing the strength of the signal on different antennas the direction to the target could be determined. Mounted on Mosquitos, the "Perfectos" severely limited German use of the FuG 25a.

Further wartime developments

IFF Mark IV and V

The United States Naval Research Laboratory had been working on their own IFF system since before the war. It used a single interrogation frequency, like the Mark III, but differed in that it used a separate responder frequency. Responding on a different frequency has several practical advantages, most notably that the response from one IFF cannot trigger another IFF on another aircraft. But it requires a complete transmitter for the responder side of the circuitry, in contrast to the greatly simplified regenerative system used in the British designs. This technique is now known as a cross-band transponder.

When the Mark II was revealed in 1941 during the Tizard Mission, it was decided to use it and take the time to further improve their experimental system. The result was what became IFF Mark IV. The main difference between this and earlier models is that it worked on higher frequencies, around 600 MHz, which allowed much smaller antennas. However, this also turned out to be close to the frequencies used by the German Würzburg radar and there were concerns that it would be triggered by that radar and the transponder responses would be picked on its radar display. This would immediately reveal the IFF's operational frequencies.

This led to a US–British effort to make a further improved model, the Mark V, also known as the United Nations Beacon or UNB. This moved to still higher frequencies around 1 GHz but operational testing was not complete when the war ended. By the time testing was finished in 1948, the much improved Mark X was beginning its testing and Mark V was abandoned.

Postwar systems

IFF Mark X

Mark X started as a purely experimental device operating at frequencies above 1 GHz, the name refers to "experimental", not "number 10". As development continued it was decided to introduce an encoding system known as the "Selective Identification Feature", or SIF. SIF allowed the return signal to contain up to 12 pulses, representing four octal digits of 3 bits each. Depending on the timing of the interrogation signal, SIF would respond in several ways. Mode 1 indicated the type of aircraft or its mission (cargo or bomber, for instance) while Mode 2 returned a tail code.

Mark X began to be introduced in the early 1950s. This was during a period of great expansion of the civilian air transport system, and it was decided to use slightly modified Mark X sets for these aircraft as well. These sets included a new military Mode 3 which was essentially identical to Mode 2, returning a four-digit code, but used a different interrogation pulse, allowing the aircraft to identify if the query was from a military or civilian radar. For civilian aircraft, this same system was known as Mode A, and because they were identical, they are generally known as Mode 3/A.

Several new modes were also introduced during this process. Civilian modes B and D were defined, but never used. Mode C responded with a 12-bit number encoded using Gillham code, which represented the altitude as (that number) x 100 feet - 1200. Radar systems can easily locate an aircraft in two dimensions, but measuring altitude is a more complex problem and, especially in the 1950s, added significantly to the cost of the radar system. By placing this function on the IFF, the same information could be returned for little additional cost, essentially that of adding a digitizer to the aircraft's altimeter.

Modern interrogators generally send out a series of challenges on Mode 3/A and then Mode C, allowing the system to combine the identity of the aircraft with its altitude and location from the radar.

IFF Mark XII

The current IFF system is the Mark XII. This works on the same frequencies as Mark X, and supports all of its military and civilian modes.

It had long been considered a problem that the IFF responses could be triggered by any properly formed interrogation, and those signals were simply two short pulses of a single frequency. This allowed enemy transmitters to trigger the response, and using triangulation, an enemy could determine the location of the transponder. The British had already used this technique against the Germans during WWII, and it was used by the USAF against VPAF aircraft during the Vietnam War.

Mark XII differs from Mark X through the addition of the new military Mode 4. This works in a fashion similar to Mode 3/A, with the interrogator sending out a signal that the IFF responds to. There are two key differences, however.

One is that the Interrogation pulse is followed by a 12-bit code similar to the ones sent back by the Mark 3 transponders. The encoded number changes day-to-day. When the number is received and decoded in the aircraft transponder, a further cryptographic encoding is applied. If the result of that operation matches the value dialled into the IFF in the aircraft, the transponder replies with a Mode 3 response as before. If the values do not match, it does not respond.

This solves the problem of the aircraft transponder replying to false interrogations, but does not completely solve the problem of locating the aircraft through triangulation. To solve this problem, a delay is added to the response signal that varies based on the code sent from the interrogator. When received by an enemy that does not see the interrogation pulse, which is generally the case as they are often below the radar horizon, this causes a random displacement of the return signal with every pulse. Locating the aircraft within the set of returns is a difficult process.

Mode S

During the 1980s, a new civilian mode, Mode S, was added that allowed greatly increased amounts of data to be encoded in the returned signal. This was used to encode the location of the aircraft from the navigation system. This is a basic part of the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), which allows commercial aircraft to know the location of other aircraft in the area and avoid them without the need for ground operators.

The basic concepts from Mode S were then militarized as Mode 5, which is simply a cryptographically encoded version of the Mode S data.

The IFF of World War II and Soviet military systems (1946 to 1991) used coded radar signals (called Cross-Band Interrogation, or CBI) to automatically trigger the aircraft's transponder in an aircraft illuminated by the radar. Radar-based aircraft identification is also called secondary surveillance radar in both military and civil usage, with primary radar bouncing an RF pulse off of the aircraft to determine position.  George Charrier, working for RCA, filed for a patent for such an IFF device in 1941. It required the operator to perform several adjustments to the radar receiver to suppress the image of the natural echo on the radar receiver, so that visual examination of the IFF signal would be possible.

By 1943, Donald Barchok filed a patent for a radar system using the abbreviation IFF in his text with only parenthetic explanation, indicating that this acronym had become an accepted term.  In 1945, Emile Labin and Edwin Turner filed patents for radar IFF systems where the outgoing radar signal and the transponder's reply signal could each be independently programmed with a binary codes by setting arrays of toggle switches; this allowed the IFF code to be varied from day to day or even hour to hour.

Early 21st century systems

The United States and other NATO countries started using a system called Mark XII in the late twentieth century; Britain had not until then implemented an IFF system compatible with that standard, but then developed a program for a compatible system known as successor IFF (SIFF).

Modes

 Mode 1: military only; provides 2-digit octal (6 bit) "mission code" that identifies the aircraft type or mission.
 Mode 2: military only; provides 4-digit octal (12 bit) unit code or tail number.
 Mode 3/A: military/civilian; provides a 4-digit octal (12 bit) identification code for the aircraft, assigned by the air traffic controller. Commonly referred to as a squawk code.
 Mode 4: military only; provides a 3-pulse reply, delay is based on the encrypted challenge.
 Mode 5: military only; provides a cryptographically secured version of Mode S and ADS-B GPS position.

Modes 4 and 5 are designated for use by NATO forces.

Submarines

In World War I, 8 submarines were sunk by friendly fire and in World War II nearly 20 were sunk this way. Still, Identification of friend or foe (IFF) has not been regarded a high concern before the 1990s by the US military as not many other countries possess submarines.

IFF methods that are analogous to aircraft IFF have been deemed unfeasible for submarines because they would make submarines easier to detect. Thus, having friendly submarines broadcast a signal, or somehow increase the submarine's signature (based on acoustics, magnetic fluctuations etc.), are not considered viable. Instead, submarine IFF is done based on carefully defining areas of operation. Each friendly submarine is assigned a patrol area, where the presence of any other submarine is deemed hostile and open to attack. Further, within these assigned areas, surface ships and aircraft refrain from any anti-submarine warfare (ASW); only the resident submarine may target other submarines in its own area. Ships and aircraft may still engage in ASW in areas that have not been assigned to any friendly submarines. Navies also use database of acoustic signatures to attempt to identify the submarine, but acoustic data can be ambiguous and several countries deploy similar classes of submarines.

See also
 Automatic target recognition
 Challenge–response authentication
 List of World War II electronic warfare equipment
 Nelson Chequer, early 19th-century identification pattern
 Invasion stripes

References

External links

 Overview of SSR and IFF Systems

Military air traffic control
Military communications
Radio-frequency identification
Avionics
Authentication methods

Identification friend or foe


Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is a Pokémon game where you form a rescue team (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue and Red Rescue Team) or an exploration team (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Darkness, Time and Sky). In the game, the main star is you, and before you start playing, you have to answer a quiz to determine what Pokémon you turn into.

Pokémon RPGs
Video game spin-offs

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon


The Grand Canyon is a famous canyon in Arizona, formed by the Colorado River. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a National Park of the United States.  It is also one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and is over a mile (1.83 km) (6000 feet) deep in places. Nearly two billion years past of the Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries (smaller rivers) cut their channels through layer after layer of rock.

Evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to the point we see it at today.
"Local erosion in the western Grand Canyon began about 17 million years ago, but a through-flowing Colorado River to the Pacific Ocean did not exist until about 5.4 million years ago... most of the downward cutting has been concentrated in the last 2.5 million years".

Geology

The result of all the erosion is one of the most complete geologic columns (stacks of rock layers) on the planet. There are nearly 40 major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area. They range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old.

Most were laid down in warm, shallow seas, near ancient, long-gone sea shores in western North America. Both marine and terrestrial sediments are represented, including fossilized sand dunes from an ancient desert. There are at least 14 known unconformities in the geologic record found in the Grand Canyon area.

The major rock exposures in the Grand Canyon range in age from the almost 2 billion year old Vishnu Schist at the bottom of the Inner Gorge to the 230 million year old Kaibab Limestone on the rim.

Shown in the diagram, there is a gap of about one billion years between the stratum that is about 500 million years old (blue) and the lower level, which is about 1.5 billion years old at the top (green). This large unconformity indicates a period of erosion between two periods of deposition.

Many of the formations were deposited in warm shallow seas, near-shore environments (such as beaches), and swamps. The seashore repeatedly advanced and retreated over the edge of a proto-North America.

The great depth of the Grand Canyon and especially the height of its strata (most of which formed below sea level) was caused by 5,000 to 10,000 feet (1500 to 3000 m) uplift of the Colorado Plateau. This started about 65 million years ago during the Laramide period of orogeny (mountain-building). This uplift steepened the gradient of the Colorado River and its tributaries, which increased their speed and their ability to cut through rock.

Weather conditions during the ice ages also increased the amount of water in the Colorado River drainage system. The ancestral Colorado River responded by cutting its channel faster and deeper.

The base level and course of the Colorado River (or its ancestral equivalent) changed 5.3 million years ago when the Gulf of California opened and lowered the river's base level (its lowest point). This increased the rate of erosion and cut nearly all of the Grand Canyon's current depth by 1.2 million years ago. The stepped appearance of the rocks was caused by their varied resistance to the flow of water.

Between three million and 100,000 years ago, volcanic activity spread ash (tuff) and lava over the area and at times completely blocked the river. These volcanic rocks are the youngest in the canyon.

Tourism

Many people come from around the world to visit the Grand Canyon. People can also take trips floating on the Colorado River in boats and rafts. Some people like to hike in the Grand Canyon. The land on the north side of the Grand Canyon is called the North Rim. The land on the south side of the Grand Canyon is called the South Rim. North Rim is open to visitors from May to October. It is possible to visit South Rim all year round.

There are trails leading from the North Rim and the South Rim to the bottom of the canyon. These trails lead to a place at the bottom of the canyon called Phantom Ranch. Phantom Ranch has a campground and cabins where hikers can spend the night. Some people also ride mules into the Grand Canyon. Most people who visit the Grand Canyon drive in cars to the South Rim and just look at the canyon from the rim and take pictures. The are also free shuttles for visitors. They are a good way to go from one viewpoint to another. Many tourists like to fly over the canyon on a helicopter to have a panoramic view.

Grand Canyon admission is $35 per car. People accessing by foot or bicycle have to pay $20. Admission to Grand Canyon is included in the National Parks & Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass ($80), which is valid to enter all National Park in United States for a year.

Related pages
List of World Heritage Sites in the United States

References

Other websites

Grand Canyon National Park Service
Photos and road book in the Grand Canyon

Geography of Colorado
Geography of Arizona
Canyons
National parks in the United States
World Heritage Sites in the United States

Grand Canyon


Wulfrun wis an Anglo-Saxon (early Inglis) noble wumman an landawner, who established a landit estate at Wolverhampton, Wast Midlands, Ingland in 985. Contemporary knowledge o her comes frae several text sources:

 Year 943 entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that Vikings seized her when they teuk the fort at Tamworth. [It wis in aw probability tae obtain a ransom.]
 Leetit as a witness in an Anglo-Saxon chairter datit 985, which is leetit as no. 650 in Kemble's "Codex Diplomaticus Ævi Saxoni". In it King Ethelred II (Æthelred the Unready), grantit tae Wulfrun ten hides o land at Hēatūn, which means "heich or principal ferm or enclosur". * It is recordit that in 994 Wulfrun gave ten hides o land tae endou a kirk at a place cried Heantune (dative case). This mey be the same land as in the previous entry.  The kirk haed previously been foondit as an abbey bi Wulfere.
 A chairter tae Eynsham Monastery datit 1005 says that Wulfrun bequeathed land at Ramsey, "being at her last breath".
 The West Midlands placename Wolverhampton seems tae hae come frae Anglo-Saxon Wulfereēantūn = "Wulfere's heich or principal enclosur or ferm", though some toponymists & historians attribute it tae Wulfrun. Mony biggins an ferms in Wolverhampton are named efter her, for example, The Wulfrun Centre, Lady Wulfrun (umwhile 'The Goose in the ceety' pub), Wulfrun Hall an the Wulfrun Hotel.

It is thocht probable that these references aw refer tae the same wumman, Lady Wulfruna, spelt in Auld Inglis as Wulfrun. The 'a' commonly seen at the end o her name is a latinization.

She foondit a convent in Tamworth, whaur it is believed she is buriet.

Wulfrun haed twa sons: Ælfhelm (Ealdorman o Northumbrie), an Wulfric Spot, foonder o Burton Abbey.

The relevant Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entries are (frae the Worcester manuscript):-
941: Her Norðhymbra alugon hira getreowaða 7 Anlaf of Yrlande him to cinge gecuron.
943: Her Anlaf abræc Tamewurþe, 7 micel wæl gefeol on ægþra hand, 7 þa Denan sige ahton, 7 micele herehuþe mid him aweglæddon, þær wæs Wulfrun genumen on þære hergunge. Her Eadmund cyning ymbsæt Anlaf cyning 7 Wulfstan arcebiscop on Legraceastre, 7 he hy gewyldan meahte, nære þæt hi on niht ut ne ætburston of þære byrig, 7 æfter þæm begeat Anlaf Eadmundes cynges freondscipe, 7 se cyning Eadmund onfeng þa Anlafe cyninge æt fulwihte, 7 he him cynelice gyfode. 7 ðy ilcan geare ymbe tæla mycelne fyrst he onfeng Regnalde cyninge æt bisceopes handa.
941: Here the Northumbriens belied their promises an chose Olaf frae Ireland as king.
943: Here Olaf brak doun Tamworth an great slaughter fell on either side, an the Danes haed the victory an led away great war-buity wi them. There Wulfrun wis taken in that raid. Here king Edmund besieged Olaf an airchbishop Wulfstan in Leicester, an he micht hae controlled them, except that they brak oot o the fort in the nicht, an efter that Olaf haed king Edmund's friendship, an king Edmund received king Olaf at baptism, an gave tae him ryally. An in the same year efter a fairly lang time he received Rægnald at a bishop's haunds.

Anglo-Saxon weemen
Mercie fowk
Wolverhampton
Fowk frae Wolverhampton

Wulfrun


Indian Mound Park, also known as Shell Mound Park or Indian Shell Mound Park, is a park and bird refuge located on the northern shore of Dauphin Island, a barrier island of Mobile County, Alabama in the United States. In addition to the many birds which visit, a wide variety of botanical species contribute to the natural offerings. The site is historically significant due to the presence of prehistoric Indian shell middens, mounds composed of discarded oyster shells. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973. It is administered by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

History
The shell middens located at Indian Mound Park date to the Mississippian period (1100 to 1550). The mounds were visited throughout this period by Native Americans of the Pensacola culture, who harvested oysters and fished in Little Dauphin Island Sound, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico.  Archaeologist Gregory Waselkov of the University of South Alabama believes that the visitors to the island came from Bottle Creek, the largest Mississippian settlement in the area. Waselkov theorizes that Bottle Creek, located on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, served as the major village while Dauphin Island acted as a migration destination during the winter months.

Relatively immune from the unpredictable weather conditions that affect farming, the fish and oysters from the sound were a reliable supply of food that could be immediately consumed or dried for use during later months. The oysters were collected from reefs during low tide conditions. Placed atop heated coals in a pit, the oysters were steamed by covering with seaweed. The cooking technique likely resembled a traditional New England clam bake. The steaming process would also have facilitated easy recovery of the oyster meat since the shells open naturally when heated. For preservation of the oysters, the recovered meat would be treated by smoking. Over the years, the discarded shells accumulated to form the middens. Some have suggested that such waste disposal (dumping) with apparent lack of care is inherent in human behavior, not just a trait of Western civilizations.
Spaniards first visited Dauphin Island in 1519.  The arrival of Europeans to the region led to the disruption of the Mississippian culture.  The Mississippian tribes in the coastal region were replaced by or became the Choctaw and Creek tribes. The Creeks and Seminoles continued to fish and harvest oysters in the area until the 1830s when they were forcibly displaced to the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

In 1699, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville landed on the island and discovered a large pile of human bones. Based on the discovery, d'Iberville coined the name Massacre Island. The height and serpentine shape of the shell mounds on the north side of the island indicated use or habitation by earlier civilizations.

Archaeology
Indian Mound Park contains six oyster shell middens of varying sizes. The largest is approximately circular with a recessed bowl in the center of the mound. This midden measures  with a height of .  In the book Stars Fell On Alabama, however, Carl Carmer states that the largest mound rose to a height of  and was composed of layers measuring  thick.  The structures are archaeologically similar to shell rings found on the coasts of Florida and South Carolina.

In 1940 and 1941, a limited archaeological survey was executed on a large prehistoric shell midden on Dauphin Island. More extensive excavations of the site were conducted by archaeologists from the University of South Alabama in 1990. Observation of the mound profile revealed stratification with large layers of oyster shells and thin intervening layers of charcoal, fish bones, and potsherds.  The stratified layers are due to the seasonal use of the mounds by various bands of people over a period of centuries. The oyster shells were discarded into the area surrounding the fire used for steaming. As the location of the fire moved each year, a complex pattern of overlapping layers emerged in the form of shell mounds.  Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, a mapping team from the University of South Alabama produced a contour map of the shell mounds.

Few artifacts were recovered from the site during the excavations. Objects discovered at the location were primarily broken cooking pots.  Stone tools were particularly scarce in the region.

Wildlife
Indian Mound Park exhibits a variety of subtropical plants exceeding that of the other Gulf Coast barrier islands. Likely brought to the area by Native American groups for medicine or culinary purposes, the species include representatives of families from as far inland as the Appalachian Mountains and as far south as the state of Yucatán in Mexico.  Live oaks on the island may be over 800 years old. They were present at the first visits of Spanish and French explorers.

The park is located on the Dauphin Island-Bayou La Batre Loop of the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail.  Due to its location on the northern boundary of the Gulf of Mexico, Dauphin Island is a stop for many migrant birds. Up to 384 species of birds have been spotted on the island, including a large variety of shorebirds, long-legged waders, and warblers. The city of Dauphin Island was named America's "birdiest" small coastal city in both 2005 and 2006.   Additionally, migratory butterflies can be spotted at Indian Mound Park.

See also

Emeryville Shellmound
Fig Island
Green Mound
La Jolla complex
Madira Bickel Mound State Archeological Site
Mound Key Archeological State Park
Whaleback Shell Midden

References

Pensacola culture
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
National Register of Historic Places in Mobile County, Alabama
Mounds in Alabama
Shell middens in the United States
Parks in Alabama
Protected areas of Mobile County, Alabama
Shell rings
Archaeological sites in Alabama
Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
Dauphin Island, Alabama

Indian Mound Park (Dauphin Island, Alabama)


An apartment (US English) or flat (British English) is a place to live that is only part of a larger building. Usually it is a group of rooms on one floor of a building in a city, where land is too expensive for people to have separate houses. An apartment that people own is called a condominium or "condo". A lesser known ownership structure for apartments is housing cooperatives. A rented has an owner called a landlord who charges money ("rent money" or "rent") from the people who live there ("tenants").

An apartment building or block of flats may have a few or many apartments. Each apartment is a separate room or set of rooms for people to live in. Sometimes an apartment will only be one small room, and tenants will have to share other rooms like the bathroom and kitchen. Other times, tenants will only share an entrance hallway with different doors leading to each apartment. This shared area is often cared for by a janitor or caretaker.

An apartment complex or housing estate is a group of apartment buildings. In an apartment complex, all of the apartment buildings are usually made in a similar way.

In many apartments, the tenants only pay the landlord for renting the apartment, and they have to pay other people to provide utilities like electricity and heat. In some apartments, especially the ones in apartment complexes, the tenants will have to pay more to rent the apartment, but in return the landlord will give them things like utilities, laundry rooms (where people wash their clothing), exercise rooms, and parking spaces for bicycles, motorcycles, and cars.

An apartment complex may also provide recreational facilities such as a swimming pool, mini golf course, movie theater, bowling alley and others

Apartment buildings are more common in cities than houses, because there is less room in a city to fit buildings. Building a house for one family in a dense city would cost an enormous amount of money compared to building a house outside of a city.

Kinds of apartments

In a studio apartment, there is a single large room instead of separate rooms for the living room, bedroom, and other areas. Usually the bathroom is a separate room.

Apartments can be classed according to how many bedrooms and bathrooms they have (e.g. one bedroom apartment, two bedroom apartment one bed one bath apartment, etc.).

Apartments can also be named by the type of building they are in (like high-rise apartments, etc.)

A garden apartment building is usually no more than three stories high and grouped around a courtyard. Sometimes a garden apartment has its own building entrance.

Communal apartments are single-room units in countries that practice or practiced Marxist-Leninism. In these apartments, all the units on a floor share a bathroom and kitchen

Loft apartments are units converted from a warehouse or factory.

In the United Kingdom, a bedsit is a one-room apartment that does not have its own bathroom.

A duplex apartment is on two floor levels

Triplex apartments have three levels.

Penthouses are luxurious apartments on the top floors of the building.

Accommodations

Apartment


A pinhole camera is a camera without a conventional glass lens.  An extremely small hole in a thin material can create an image when all light rays from a scene go through a single point. In order to produce a reasonably clear image, the aperture has to be about 1/100th the distance to the screen, or less.  The shutter of a pinhole camera usually consists of a hand operated flap of some light-proof material to cover and uncover the pinhole.

A common use of a pinhole camera is to capture the movement of sunlight over a long period of time. This type of photography is called Solargraphy.
Pinhole cameras require much longer exposure times than conventional cameras because of the small aperture; typical exposure times can range from 5 seconds to hours or days.

The image may be projected on a translucent screen for real-time viewing (popular for viewing solar eclipses; see also camera obscura).

Like other cameras, pinhole cameras make the picture upside-down.

Invention of pinhole camera
Very early in history (as far back as 500 B.C.), Greeks such as Aristotle and Euclid wrote on naturally-occurring rudimentary pinhole cameras, for example light may travel through the slits of wicker baskets and the crossing of leaves  The ancient Greeks, however, believed that our eye emitted rays which enabled us to see. What enabled a much better understanding of the pinhole camera was the discovery that light enters the eye rather than leaving it. It was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haytham who published this idea.

Notes and references

Other websites

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day website
Pinhole Photography and Camera Design Calculators
Illustrated history of cinematography
History and Pinhole Photography Resources

Cameras

Pinhole camera


A Child of Our Time is an oratorio by Michael Tippett.  It was composed between 1939 and 1941.

Why Tippett wrote this oratorio

Tippett composed this oratorio at the beginning of World War II.  He had already lived through World War I and he was very upset about all the evil in this world.  He wanted to write a musical work about it.  He did it by taking the story of the beginning of World War II as a basis of the oratorio, but he also made the work speak in general about the evil of this world.

In 1938 a 17 year old Jewish boy Hershel Grynspan, who lived in Paris, desperately wanted to attack the Nazis because of the cruel way his parents in Germany had been treated.  He therefore murdered a Nazi diplomat in France.  The Nazi's in Germany were so furious that they attacked and murdered lots of Jews in Germany.  This terrible attack became known as the Kristallnacht.  This series of events can be found in the words of Tippett's oratorio.  Tippett wrote the words himself.

The title comes from Ödön von Horváth's novel, Ein Kind unserer Zeit (A Child of Our Time), written in 1938 and published in English in 1939.  Tippett began composing it on 5 September 1939, two days after Britain declared war against Germany.

In 1958 Tippett arranged the five negro spirituals so that they could be sung by unaccompanied chorus.  They are often performed like that, separately from the oratorio.

Tippett uses a similar structure to the Passions of Bach.  This meant that he used a narrator (like the evangelist in Bach's Passions) who tells the story.  Instead of Bach's Lutheran chorales he adds five negro spirituals which add an emotional comment to the events. The music of these spirituals blend very cleverly into the style of Tippett's music. The whole oratorio, which lasts a little over one hour, has three parts.  This idea is based on the three parts of  Handel's Messiah.  Tippett calls the three parts: 1) Prophecy;  2) Narrative;  3) Meditation.

The story in the oratorio

Part One
Part one opens with a picture of the world in darkness.  The alto solo shows what the person's soul is feeling.  The bass (narrator) tells of the purges in Russia, the lynching in the USA, the terrible poverty in Britain.  The chorus tell of their despair.

Part Two
The chorus describes an atmosphere of icy stillness.  They talk of "The Scape-Goat, The Child of Our Time" (a "scape-goat" is someone who gets the blame for something they have not done).  There is a chorus of the Persecutors and the Persecuted.  The choir are split into two like the crowd scenes in Bach's Passions.  In the "Chorus of the Self-Righteous" we hear about the attitude of countries who refuse to accept more than just a few of the persecuted Jews (this includes Britain).  The boy tries to save his mother.  We are told of the murder of the Nazi diplomat.  There is a chorus of terror.  We see the boy in prison and the grieving of the mother.

Part Three
This is about the descent through evil and the discovery of rebirth and liberation.  The bass suggests that, if we have patience, we shall be healed.  The chorus finish by singing of the universal nature of the problem.

References
"Tippett, the composer and his music"; Ian Kemp;

Other websites
 Richard Smith, An introduction to Michael Tippett's 'A Child of Our Time', documentary,  Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Oratorios

A Child of Our Time


Cynanthropy (sometimes spelled kynanthropy; from /, 'dog' + /, 'man; human') is, in psychiatry, the pathological delusion of real persons that they are dogs and in anthropology and folklore, the supposed magical practice of shape-shifting alternately between dog and human form, or the possession of combined canine and human anatomical features, a form of therianthropy.

The Greeks spoke of cynanthropy (kyon, dog). The term existed by at least 1901, when it was applied to myths from China about humans turning into dogs, dogs becoming people, and sexual relations between humans and canines. After lycanthropy, cynanthropy is the best known term for a specific variety of therianthropy.

Anthropologist David Gordon White called Central Asia the "vortex of cynanthropy" because races of dog-men were habitually placed there by ancient writers. Hindu mythology puts races of "Dog Cookers" to the far north of India, the Chinese placed the "Dog Jung" and other human/canine barbarians to the extreme west, and European legends frequently put the dog men called Cynocephali in unmapped regions to the east. Some of these races were described as humans with dog heads, others as canine shapeshifters.

The weredog or cynanthrope is also known in Timor. It is described as a human/canine shapeshifter who is also capable of transforming other people into animals against their wills. These transformations are usually into prey animals such as goats, so that the cynanthrope can devour them without discovery of the crime.

See also
Clinical lycanthropy
Cynocephaly
Otherkin
Shapeshifting
Skin-walker
Therianthropy
Were
Werecat
Werehyena
Wererat
Werewolf

References

Shapeshifting
Psychiatric diagnosis

Cynanthropy


William Joseph Rigney (January 29, 1918 – February 20, 2001) was an  American infielder and manager in Major League Baseball.  A 26-year big-league veteran, Rigney played for the New York Giants from  to , then spent 18 seasons as the skipper of three major-league clubs. The Bay Area native began his managerial career with the Giants (–) as the team's last manager in New York City () and its first in San Francisco (). In , Rigney became the first manager in the history of the Los Angeles Angels of the American League, serving into May of . Then, in , he led the Minnesota Twins to the American League West Division championship, the only postseason entry of his big-league tenure. Fired in midseason of , he concluded his managerial career in  by serving a one-year term at the helm of his original team, the Giants.

New York Giants' infielder
Born in Alameda, California, Rigney batted and threw right-handed, stood  tall and weighed .  He began his professional baseball career in 1938 when he signed with the unaffiliated Oakland Oaks of the top-level Pacific Coast League.  After seasoning in the Class B Western International League, Rigney played the full seasons of 1941 and 1942 with the Oaks, then performed World War II service in the United States Coast Guard from 1943–1945.

Acquired by the Giants during the war, he was a 28-year-old rookie in  and played third base, shortstop and second base during his MLB career—appearing in over 100 games played in each of his first four MLB seasons.  Rigney was the Giants' regular third baseman in  and their starting second baseman in both  and . His most productive season came in 1947, when he reached career highs in home runs (17), runs batted in (59), runs (84), hits (142), doubles (24) and games played (130). In 1948, he was selected to the National League All-Star team; in the 1948 midsummer classic, on July 13 at Sportsman's Park, St. Louis, he drew a base on balls off Joe Coleman in his only plate appearance.

On August 12, 1950, Rigney replaced Eddie Stanky at second base after Stanky had been ejected from a game against the Phillies for repeatedly waving his arms while Andy Seminick was batting. Seminick was still irritated, and after he reached base on an error in the fourth inning, he slid hard into second base, crashing into Rigney and causing him to fall over. A nearly ten-minute brawl erupted between the teams, which required police intervention and resulted in the ejection of Seminick and Rigney from the game. The Phillies went on to win 4–3.

As a utility infielder, Rigney was a member of the  NL champion Giants, and he appeared in four games of the 1951 World Series, collecting one hit in four at bats (a single off Vic Raschi), with one run batted in, as a pinch hitter.

As a big-leaguer, Rigney was a .259 career batsman with 510 hits, 41 home runs and 212 runs batted in over 654 games.

Manager of three MLB clubs

Giants
Following his MLB playing career, Rigney was named manager of the Giants' top farm club, the Triple-A Minneapolis Millers, in 1954–1955. He led the Millers to two playoff appearances, a 170–135 overall record, and the 1955 American Association and Junior World Series championships. He then was promoted to skipper of the parent Giants in , succeeding his mentor, Leo Durocher.  Despite the presence of Hall of Fame center fielder Willie Mays, the Giants' final two seasons in Upper Manhattan, 1956 and 1957, were dismal: they lost 87 and 85 games, respectively, finished in sixth place in the eight-team National League both years (a combined 52 games out of first place), and their attendance fell below 700,000.

But upon their move to San Francisco in 1958—and rejuvenated by young players such as Orlando Cepeda, Jim Davenport, Felipe Alou, and, later, Willie McCovey—the Giants returned to the first division and contended for the NL pennant into the final regular-season weekend in .  The 1960 Giants moved into new Candlestick Park and were expected to again contend for the league title. They got off the mark quickly, winning 20 of their first 29 games.  But then they stumbled, losing 16 of their next 29, and were coming off a three-game series sweep at home by the eventual world champion Pittsburgh Pirates when, on June 17, Rigney was fired.  At 33–25, his club was in second place, four games behind Pittsburgh, when Rigney was dismissed.  Tom Sheehan, the veteran scout who replaced Rigney, fared even more poorly, however, going only 46–50 as the Giants plummeted into fifth place by season's end.

Angels

Rigney was not unemployed for long. He became the first skipper in the history of the expansion Los Angeles Angels of the American League in . Gene Autry and Robert O. Reynolds, the Angels' owners, originally wanted to hire future Baseball Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel, a resident of nearby Glendale who had been fired by the New York Yankees after the 1960 World Series. But Stengel declined all managerial offers and spent 1961 in temporary retirement. Then Durocher, out of uniform since leaving the Giants in 1955 and working as a broadcaster, campaigned for the Angel job. Like Stengel, he had become a permanent resident of Southern California—he lived in Palm Springs—and was a future Hall of Fame pilot. But Autry and Reynolds bypassed him and chose Rigney instead, believing that he would have the patience to develop an expansion team's younger players.

While the Angels' maiden edition lost 91 games and finished eighth in the ten-team AL, the  team, paced by young pitchers Dean Chance and Bo Belinsky, stunned baseball by finishing in third place with an 86–76 record during their second season of existence. As a result, Rigney was named  Manager of the Year by The Sporting News.

During Rigney's eight full years with the Angels, the club played in three home ballparks—Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium and Anaheim Stadium—and also compiled winning records in  and .  But , Rigney's ninth season, proved catastrophic.  The Angels started the year 11–28 and were mired in a ten-game losing streak when Rigney was fired on May 27 and succeeded by Lefty Phillips. Later in 1969, Rigney joined the San Francisco Giants' radio broadcast team to close out the season; coincidentally, KSFO, the Giants flagship station, was then owned by Autry and Reynolds.

Twins
Returning to the field (and to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis–St. Paul) the next year, Rigney succeeded Billy Martin as manager of the Minnesota Twins in , leading them to 98 victories and the 1970 American League West Division championship.  But the Twins fell in three straight games to the eventual world champion Baltimore Orioles in the 1970 American League Championship Series, then won only 74 games in . When the Twins began 1972 with a 36–34 record and 9 games behind the eventual World Series champion Oakland Athletics in third place, Rigney was replaced by Frank Quilici on July 6. Team owner Calvin Griffith's explanation for the move was that he felt many of the Twins players "were too nonchalant."

Second turn with Giants
After serving as a scout for the San Diego Padres and California Angels (1973–1974), Rigney had a second managerial stint with the Giants in 1976, a year of transition between the Horace Stoneham and Bob Lurie ownerships.  Rigney's 1976 club went only 74–88 and finished 28 games behind the world champion Cincinnati Reds. Joe Altobelli succeeded him at the Giants' helm on October 7, 1976. Rigney finished with a managerial record of 1,239 wins and 1,321 losses.

Managerial record

Broadcaster, scout and "ambassador"

In an 18-season managerial career, Rigney posted a 1,239–1,321 record (.484) in 2,561 games. The Twins' three-and-out loss in the 1970 ALCS was his only MLB postseason managing appearance. As a minor league pilot, Rigney won the 1955 American Association championship at the helm of the Minneapolis Millers.

After leaving the Giants at the close of his second managerial term in 1976, he served as a front-office consultant and a radio and television broadcaster for the Oakland Athletics in the 1980s.

Rigney died in Walnut Creek, California, at age of 83.

The "Bill Rigney Good Guy Award" is given each year to a San Francisco Giant and Oakland Athletic who is most accommodating to the media.

Quotation
Rigney took the reins of the Giants in 1956, succeeding Leo Durocher, for whom he had played from 1948 to 1953. "I learned a lot from Leo Durocher", he said. "I learned about the hit-and-run, about gambling and going against the percentages. You can't play it the same all the time." – Norman L. Macht, at Baseball Library

See also

 List of Major League Baseball managers by wins

References

External links

1918 births
2001 deaths
Bellingham Chinooks players
California Angels managers
California Angels scouts
Los Angeles Angels managers
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Major League Baseball second basemen
Major League Baseball shortstops
Major League Baseball third basemen
Minneapolis Millers (baseball) managers
Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players
Minnesota Twins managers
National League All-Stars
New York Giants (NL) managers
New York Giants (NL) players
Oakland Athletics announcers
Oakland Oaks (baseball) players
Baseball players from Alameda, California
San Diego Padres scouts
San Francisco Giants announcers
San Francisco Giants managers
Spokane Hawks players
Topeka Owls players
United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II
Vancouver Capilanos players

Bill Rigney


Harrison's Reports was a New York City-based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publisher was P. S. Harrison (1880–1966), who previously had been a reviewer for Motion Picture News, in which his column was titled "Harrison's Exhibitor Reviews".

The first issue, dated 5 July 1919, stated that film advertising would not be accepted. A year's subscription cost $10. For more than a year, the type was set by a typewriter. The issue of 4 December 1920 and all subsequent issues were professionally typeset. The masthead of 1 January 1921 proclaimed itself
FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISING
In later years, that slogan was changed to
A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING

During its 44 calendar years of operation, more than 2,200 issues of Harrison's Reports were published. Approximately 17,000 feature films were reviewed; shorts were not reviewed, although their titles were listed in the indexes published several times a year.

Subscription base
Before 1948 and the antitrust United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. decision, most movie theaters in the United States were owned and operated by film studios as part of a vertically integrated system, exclusively playing their own releases. Since the management of those theaters had little choice as to what movies they played, they had little or no use for Harrison's Reports. Independently owned-theaters were consequently the principal subscription base of Harrison's Reports and the publication's editorials addressed the interests of independent theaters. In 1937 there were approximately 3,000 subscribers at $15 per year.

Opposition to product placement
From its review of The Garage (1920) to its last year of publication, Harrison's Reports unyieldingly opposed product placement in movies. Other films criticized for brand name products appearing on screen include

 The Lost World (1925)
 Palmy Days (1931)
 Impact (1949)
 Love Happy (1949)

Management and ownership changes
The 10 March 1956 issue printed the first appearance of a name other than P.S. Harrison on the masthead, Al Picoult, managing editor, who bought control of the paper from Harrison.
 In June 1959, Picoult sold the paper to individuals associated with exhibitor, Allied States, which the paper had been close to and supported for many years. Harrison still retained an interest.
The issue of 18 July 1959 showed Harrison's name on the masthead as "founder" (the previous week he had been "editor"), and David Martin was the new editor. The following week's issue (25 July 1959) mentioned Harrison's retirement.
David Martin's name disappeared from the masthead with the issue of 6 February 1960. Wynn Loewenthal was the new editor.
The masthead of 8 July 1961 showed a $2 increase in the price of a yearly subscription to $17, the first increase in 25 years.
The first article of 5 August 1961 was titled "Editorial Transition", stating there would be a new editor; nobody's name appeared on the masthead of that issue. On 12 August 1961, Martin Starr became editor.

Final issues
The last issue was a two-page sheet dated 1 September 1962. It was headlined "MAYBE, IT'S NOT YET "30"." It lamented the financial woes of exhibitors in general. It also expressed hope that funding could be found to continue Harrison's Reports.

The issue of 18 August 1962 was the last to carry reviews with the last reviews being Five Weeks in a Balloon, Waltz of the Toreadors and Der Rosenkavalier directed by Paul Czinner.

Reprints
The entire run of Harrison's Reports has been reprinted in a 15-volume set of library-bound hardcover books, including an index of titles. The series is titled Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews (1919-1962). The Media History Digital Library has scans of the archive from 1927–1962 available online.

Two other significant English-language periodicals with 10,000 or more film reviews have appeared reprinted in book form:
 Variety, as Variety Film Reviews (1907–1996) in 24 volumes.
 The New York Times, as The New York Times Film Reviews (1913–2000) in 22 volumes.

For Variety and The New York Times, film reviews continued after the dates of the last reprints.

External links
 Media History Digital Library

References

Defunct magazines published in the United States
Film magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1919
Magazines disestablished in 1962
Magazines published in New York City
Professional and trade magazines
Weekly magazines published in the United States

Harrison's Reports


A formality is an established procedure or set of specific behaviors and utterances, conceptually similar to a ritual although typically secular and less involved. A formality may be as simple as a handshake upon making new acquaintances in Western culture to the carefully defined procedure of bows, handshakes, formal greetings, and business card exchanges that may mark two businessmen being introduced in Japan. In legal and diplomatic circles, formalities include such matters as greeting an arriving head of state with the appropriate national anthem.

Cultures and groups within cultures often have varying degrees of formality which can often prove a source of frustration or unintentional insult when people of different expectations or preferences interact. Those from relatively informal backgrounds may find formality to be empty and hypocritical, or unnecessarily demanding. Those from relatively formal backgrounds may find informal cultures hard to deal with, as their carefully refined and nuanced behaviors go completely unnoticed.

The difference between formality and politeness is often a point of confusion for those from relatively informal cultures. On the other hand, those who have been brought up in relatively formal circumstances often experience discomfort and even, over the long term, disenchantment, in less formal circumstances.

Notes

References

 Morand, D.  "The Role of Behavioral Formality and Informality in the Enactment of Bureaucratic and Innovative Organizations." Academy of Management Review, 20:831-872 (1995).

Cultural conventions

Formality


Efficiency could mean:

 Energy efficiency, useful work per quantity of energy
 Energy conversion efficiency, desired energy output per energy input
 Energy conservation, reducing the use of energy
 Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed
 Fuel efficiency, converting energy in fuel to kinetic energy or work
 Specific impulse, in propulsion systems, a measure of fuel-efficiency
 Volumetric efficiency, in internal combustion engine design
 Lighting efficiency, visible light from a light source per unit of power, in lumens per watt
 Mechanical efficiency, the effectiveness of a simple machine, mechanical advantage over ideal mechanical advantage
 Thermodynamic efficiency, useful work per change in heat
 Exergy efficiency, measure of 2nd-law themodynamic loss
 Thermal efficiency, useful work per the higher heating value of the fuel
 Radiation efficiency, ratio of radiated power to power absorbed at the terminals of an antenna
 Efficiency (aerodynamics), for fixed wing aircraft the Lift-to-drag ratio
 Efficiency (economics), a general term, to capture the amount of waste or other undesirable features
 Pareto efficiency, making one individual better off, without making any other individual worse off
 Kaldor-Hicks efficiency, like a less stringent Pareto efficiency
 Allocative efficiency, an optimal distribution of goods
 The optimisation of a social welfare function
 Efficiency wages, paying workers more than the market rate for increased productivity
 Efficiency (statistics), a measure of desirability of an estimator
 Efficiency ratio, expenses as a percentage of revenue, etc.
 Efficiency Movement, of the Progressive Era 1890-1932, advocated efficiency in the economy, society and government
 Material efficiency, compares material requirements between construction projects or physical processes
 Textual efficiency, density of a message
 Algorithmic efficiency, the speed and space requirements of a computer program
 Quantum efficiency, a measure of sensitivity of a photosensitive device: the percentage of photons hitting the photoreactive surface that will produce an electron–hole pair

Efficiency


Long pepper (Piper longum),  sometimes called Indian long pepper or pippali, is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. Long pepper has a taste similar to, but sweeter and less pungent than, that of its close relative Piper nigrum – from which black, green and white pepper are obtained.

The fruit of the pepper consists of many minuscule fruits – each about the size of a poppy seed – embedded in the surface of a flower spike that closely resembles a hazel tree catkin. Like Piper nigrum, the fruits contain the pungent compound piperine, which contributes to their pungency. Another species of long pepper, Piper retrofractum, is native to Java, Indonesia. The fruits of this plant are often confused with chili peppers, which belong to the genus Capsicum, originally from the Americas.

History
The oldest known reference to long pepper comes from ancient Indian textbooks of Ayurveda, where its medicinal and dietary uses are described in detail. It reached Greece in the sixth or fifth century BCE, though Hippocrates discussed it as a medicament rather than a spice. Among the Greeks and Romans and prior to the Columbian exchange, long pepper was an important and well-known spice.

The ancient history of black pepper is often interlinked with (and confused with) that of long pepper, though Theophrastus distinguished the two in the first work of botany. The Romans knew of both and often referred to either as just piper; Pliny erroneously believed dried black pepper and long pepper came from the same plant.

Round, or black, pepper began to compete with long pepper in Europe from the twelfth century and had displaced it by the fourteenth. The quest for cheaper and more dependable sources of black pepper fueled the Age of Discovery.

Only after the discovery of the American continents and of chili pepper, called by the Spanish pimiento, employing their word for long pepper, did the popularity of long pepper fade away.  Chili peppers, some of which, when dried, are similar in shape and taste to long pepper, were easier to grow in a variety of locations more convenient to Europe. Today, long pepper is a rarity in general commerce.

Etymology
The word pepper itself is derived from the word for long pepper, Tamil word pippali. The plant itself is a native of India. The word pepper in bell pepper, referring to completely different plants under genus Capsicum, is of the same etymology. That usage began in the 16th century.

Usage

Though often used in medieval times in spice mixes like "strong powder", long pepper is today a very rare ingredient in European cuisines, but it can still be found in Indian and Nepalese vegetable pickles, some North African spice mixtures, and in Indonesian and Malaysian cooking. It is readily available at Indian grocery stores, where it is usually labeled pippali. Pippali is the main spice of Nihari, one of the national dishes of Pakistan and the Indian metropolis of Lucknow.

See also
Piperlonguminine

References

Piper (plant)
Flora of the Indian subcontinent
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors
Spices
Plants described in 1753
Indian spices

Long pepper


The Captain of Köpenick (born Wilhelm Voigt on February 13, 1849 - January 3, 1922) was a German shoemaker, criminal and  impostor who became world-famous in 1906 for a trick he played in Berlin when he pretended to be a Captain in the army.

Early life
Voigt was born in Tilsit, a town which was then part of Germany but is now called Sovetsk near Kaliningrad, Russia. In 1863, aged 14, he was sent to prison for 14 days for stealing.  He was expelled from school.

Voigt's father taught him how to make shoes.  However, Voigt continued to steal and forge and was often sent to prison.  Eventually he was let out of prison in 1906.

Voigt travelled around until he went to live with his sister who lived near Berlin.  He worked briefly as a court shoemaker until, on August 24, 1906, police expelled him from Berlin as an "undesirable" (someone who is not wanted).  Although he was supposed to have gone to Hamburg he stayed in Berlin.  He could not get a job because he was an unregistered citizen, but he could not register to live in Berlin because he had no job.

Captain of Köpenick

On October 16 1906 Voigt was ready for the big adventure that made him famous. He had bought parts of a captain's uniform from different shops. He had resigned from the shoe factory ten days before. He put on the captain's uniform and went to the local army barracks, stopped four grenadiers and a sergeant on their way back to barracks and told them to come with him.

These soldiers had been taught to obey officers without asking any questions, so they did what they were told. He told the commanding sergeant to report to his boss, and told 6 more soldiers to come with him. Then he took a train with the soldiers to Köpenick, east of Berlin, occupied the local city hall and told the soldiers to guard all the exits.

He told the local Police to go and look for people breaking the law, and told the local Post Office not to let anyone make telephone calls to Berlin for an hour (this was in the early days of the telephone when people could not dial numbers automatically: they had to ask the Post Office to make the connection).

He arrested the town secretary and the mayor, saying that they had been taking money from the town hall, and he took a large amount of money: 4002 marks and 37 pfennigs, signing  a receipt for it, but using the name of the governor of the jail where he had been.

Then he stopped two carriages and told the grenadiers to use them to take the mayor and the treasurer to the police so that they could be questioned. He told the remaining guards to stand in their places for half an hour.  Then he went to the train station. Later he changed back into ordinary clothes and disappeared.

His capture

During the next few days the newspapers around the world reported what had happened.  Everybody seemed to think it was a very amusing joke.

Voigt was arrested on October 26 and on December 1 he was sentenced to four years in prison for forgery, impersonating (pretending to be) an officer and wrongful imprisonment. However, so many people seemed to have sympathy with Voigt.  Even the  Emperor Wilhelm II was probably amused by it and he pardoned him on August 16, 1908.

In England everybody thought the whole story was funny.  The English people thought it showed that the stereotype (idea) they had about Germans was right, i.e. that they were taught to obey orders and not to think.

Voigt's last years.
After Voigt had been pardoned and let out of jail he spent his remaining years travelling to many countries including United States and Canada where he told people about his great adventure. He appeared in small theatres and signed lots of photographs.  A waxwork was made of him in Madame Tussaud's museum in London.

In 1910, he moved to Luxembourg and worked as a waiter and shoemaker. Two years later, he bought a house and retired, but the inflation after World War I made him poor. Voigt died in Luxembourg.

Many plays and movies were written about him, including a play by the German author Carl Zuckmayer called Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain of Köpenick), Several movies were produced about the affair, including an English language adaptation by John Mortimer (1971).

References

Other websites
 Wilhelm Voigt: Captain von Köpenick
 The Captain of Köpenick

1849 births
1922 deaths
German criminals

Captain of Köpenick


Ezekiel Hart (; May 15, 1770 - September 16, 1843) was a Jewish Canadian businessman and politician, and the first Jew to be elected to public office in the British Empire.

He was born May 15, 1770 at Trois-Rivières, Quebec to Aaron Hart and Dorothea Judah.

Ezekiel Hart created a brewery with his brothers in Trois-Rivières and, on April 11, 1807 was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. Because he was Jewish, he swore his oath on a Hebrew Bible, instead of a Christian Bible, and while wearing a kippah. At the time, British laws did not let Jews have important positions like these, and Hart was expelled from the assembly. He was elected again in 1808 and expelled again.

He did not run for public office again. He continued to live in Trois-Rivières where he was a successful businessman and well-respected member of the community. He served in the militia during the War of 1812 and became colonel in 1830.

He came from a very important and rich family. His father, Aaron Hart, was member of the British forces, and a well-known businessman in Canada. His brothers, Moses and Benjamin, were important businessmen at Trois-Rivières and Montreal. His cousin, Henry Judah, later became a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada.

Ezekiel Hart died on September 16, 1843 at Trois-Rivières, at the age of 76.

1770 births
1843 deaths
Canadian Jews
Canadian politicians
People from Quebec
Trois-Rivières, Quebec

Ezekiel Hart


Kent R. Weeks (born December 16, 1941) is an American Egyptologist.

Biography
He was born in Everett, Washington, on December 16, 1941.

He remembers deciding to be an Egyptologist at the age of eight. Weeks attended R. A. Long High School in Longview, Washington, and graduated in 1959. He studied anthropology at University of Washington in Seattle, from where he obtained a master's degree. He visited Egypt for the first time in 1963 and was active in digs in Nubia associated with relocation work necessitated by the building of the Aswan Dam and the flooding of the Nile Valley to create Lake Nasser. In 1970 he earned a doctorate in Egyptology from Yale University.

Dr. Weeks' professional career began with his appointment as Professor of Anthropology at American University in Cairo for the academic year 1971–72.  Later he was appointed assistant Curator of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then assistant Professor at the University of Chicago and Director of its Institute in Luxor (Chicago House), then professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 1988 he became a professor of Egyptology at The American University in Cairo. His wife, Susan Weeks, was also an archaeologist and a gifted artist before her death in December 2009.

In 1978, Weeks devised and launched the Theban Mapping Project–an exceedingly ambitious plan to photograph and map every temple and tomb in the Theban Necropolis. As part of this project, Weeks introduced hot air ballooning to the Luxor area with the intent of making inexpensive aerial surveys, which grew into an important part of the local tourist industry. However, a more important achievement of the Project was its 1995 discovery of the identity, and vast dimensions, of KV5, the tomb of the sons of Ramesses II in the Valley of the Kings.

In 1996, Weeks received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Publications
Atlas of the Valley of the Kings: The Theban Mapping Project
The Illustrated Guide to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings: The Tombs and the Funerary of Thebes West, (as editor)
The Lost Tomb, 1998

References

External links
The Theban Mapping Project
Dr. Kent R. Weeks' profile

1941 births
Living people
People from Everett, Washington
American Egyptologists
People from Longview, Washington
University of Washington alumni

Kent R. Weeks


Thomas Joseph Hagerty (c. 1862 – sometime in the 1920s) was an American Roman Catholic priest and trade union activist. Hagerty is remembered as one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), as author of the influential Preamble to the Constitution of the IWW, and as the creator of "Hagerty's Wheel", a frequently reproduced illustration depicting the interrelation of the IWW's constituent industrial unions.

Hagerty abruptly abandoned the radical movement shortly after the formation of the IWW, adopting the pseudonym "Ricardo Moreno" and working as a Spanish teacher and an oculist. After 1920 Hagerty lived on the streets of Chicago in conditions of dire poverty, eking out a meager existence as a beggar.

Biography

Activist priest

Little is known about the early years of Thomas Joseph Hagerty, prior to his completion of seminary training in 1895. He is believed to have become a Marxist about 1892 and to have spent his early life attempting to rectify the teachings of the church and the socialist movement.

Hagerty's first posting was to St. Agatha's Parish in Chicago in 1895, where he served as assistant to the rector. He was assigned to St. Joseph's Church in Cleburne, Texas in the Diocese of Dallas in 1897 before being promoted to rector of Our Lady of Victory Church in Paris, Texas in 1901. He was transferred to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Las Vegas, New Mexico later that same year.

As a Catholic priest in the Southwestern United States Hagerty came into frequent contact with Mexican railroad workers, the mistreatment of whom by their employers angered him. Finding little socialist writing to be available in Spanish, Hagerty began translating a number of short works from German, French, and English. Hagerty was warned by the railroads to stay out of labor relations, he told a messenger "Tell the people who sent you here that I have a brace of Colts and can hit a dime at twenty paces."

Upon arriving in New Mexico in 1901, Hagerty became associated with the American Labor Union (ALU) and the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). During the summer of 1902, Hagerty went on a tour of mining camps in Colorado with Socialist Party of America (SPA) orator Eugene V. Debs, attempting to recruit the impoverished miners to the ALU and the SPA. This blatantly political activity brought Hagerty into conflict with his superiors, resulting in his suspension by his archbishop.

Despite this fall from grace with the church hierarchy, Hagerty continued to consider himself a priest in good standing, writing in International Socialist Review that

"While it is true that I have withdrawn from the technical work of the ministry, the withdrawal implies no derogation of my sacerdotal character. I am as much a priest today as I ever was. I have not separated myself from the communion of the Catholic Church; and I hold myself as much a member thereof as the Pope himself."

Hagerty remained defiant of his superiors, declaring that "bishops and priests exceed their authority when they use the influence of their position to oppose a movement whose highest purpose is the industrial liberation of the wage slaves of the world." Catholics were "not bound to pay any attention to them in such matters," Hagerty asserted, adding that the papal encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII against Socialism "have no more authority than that which attaches to the opinions of any private theologian."

One chapter of Hagerty's life was at an end. Another was beginning.

Industrial union activist

Hagerty was employed as a touring organizer for the Socialist Party in 1903, traveling the breadth of the United States to deliver lectures on behalf of the party. Hagerty proved of value to the Socialists for his ability to appeal to Catholic workers on the basis of the social gospel, standing in contrast to the conservative church establishment, which remained staunchly and outspokenly anti-socialist. Hagerty proved to be a skillful orator and authored several pamphlets as a written adjunct to his activities as a party lecturer.

Hagerty attempted to instill the idea that radical political ideas and traditional theological conceptions were fully independent. In his pamphlet Economic Discontent and Its Remedy, Hagerty wrote:

"As a matter of fact, Socialism has no more to do with religion than astronomy or biology. Socialism is an economic science, not a system of dogmatic beliefs. It is as much beyond the scope of Socialism to deal with Divine revelation as it is beyond the range of the Republican Party to advance a new exegesis of the Davidic Psalms.
"If there are atheists and infidels in the Socialist Party, it is not the fault of Socialism. They have as much right to membership there as in any of the other political parties under a free government.... No one would dream of censuring the Democratic Party because the founder of that party, Thomas Jefferson, was an infidel in the ecclesiastical sense of the term. There are many physicians who do not believe in God, yet no one is so ignorant as to condemn the science of Therapeutics on that account. One does not enquire into the religion of the architect before admiring some Corinthian structure which he has designed, nor the particular church affiliations of the bricklayer who built the walls of the house which one is about to buy or rent."

Hagerty was further radicalized during 1903 and 1904, a period marked by particular violence among the mining communities of the American west. Hagerty emerged as a leading critic of electorally-oriented socialist gradualists, who sought slow evolution towards the ultimate socialist goal by means of "boring from within" the established craft unions of the American Federation of Labor. Hagerty was not long in moving outside of the Socialist Party's orbit altogether, changing the focus of his efforts to the construction of new radical industrial unions.
In 1904 Hagerty took a position as editor of a short-lived monthly publication of the American Labor Union called Voice of Labor, through which he gave voice to his ideas about organization of workers in industry. It was in this capacity as a leading union magazine editor of the day that Hagerty was invited early in January 1905 as one of 23 industrial union activists from 9 organizations to a secret Chicago conference for the planning of a new national union. Hagerty help to draft the gathering's "Industrial Union Manifesto," a document which was to serve as an intellectual foundation stone for the establishment of the Industrial Workers of the World at a convention later that same year.

At the founding convention Hagerty served as secretary of the Constitution Committee, and as such wrote the preamble to the IWW Constitution — a short and effective manifesto which became a fundamental element of the organization's official doctrine for decades to follow.

Hagerty favored direct action, as opposed to political action of the Socialist Party and its left wing rival, the Socialist Labor Party, referring to them as "slowcialists." Emphasizing this point during a speech to the founding convention of the IWW, Hagerty declared:

"The Ballot Box is simply a capitalist concession. Dropping pieces of paper into a hole in a box never did achieve emancipation of the working class, and in my opinion it never will."

Hagerty's Wheel of Fortune

Hagerty also produced a circular graphic commonly known as "Hagerty's Wheel", which depicted the various industrial unions comprising the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) organization as interrelated spokes.

The diagram was around the clock divided into eight departments: Manufacture, Public Service, Distribution, Food Stuffs, Agriculture, Mining, Transportation, and Building, and in the centre a Central Administration. The diagram pretend to encompass "every imaginable type of economic activity and form of employment."

It was Samuel Gompers who sarcastically labelled the diagram "Father Hagerty's Wheel of Fortune".

Later years
Shortly after the formation of the IWW in 1905, Thomas Hagerty suddenly dropped out of the radical union movement.  Hagerty severed his connections with both the church and the IWW, adopted the pseudonym "Ricardo Moreno" and henceforth earned his living as a teacher of Spanish and an oculist.

From 1920 until the time of his death Hagerty-Moreno lived as a derelict on the streets of Chicago's skid row. The few of his old comrades who located Hagerty in Chicago found him, in the words of Roland Boer, "living in deep poverty, eventually reliant on soup kitchens, a few cents from passers-by, missions for a bed, and free concerts to keep up his cultural interests."

Hagerty-Moreno's death passed unremarked, probably sometime in the 1920s.

See also

Industrial Workers of the World

Footnotes

Works
 Socialism and Freedom of Conscience. —Title listed among Hagerty's works in Economic Discontent, no known copies.
 Why Physicians Should Be Socialists. Terre Haute, IN: Standard Publishing Co., 1902.
 Economic Discontent and Its Remedy. Terre Haute, IN: Standard Publishing Co., 1902.
 "Socialism Versus Fads," International Socialist Review [Chicago], vol. 3, no. 8 (February 1903), pp. 449–453.

External links

Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
1860s births
19th-century American Roman Catholic priests
1920s deaths
American anti-capitalists
American Christian socialists
American Roman Catholic priests
Catholic socialists
Christian communists
Industrial Workers of the World leaders
Industrial Workers of the World members
American trade union leaders
Members of the Socialist Party of America
People from New Mexico
Western Federation of Miners people

Thomas J. Hagerty


Delft is a ceety an municipality in the province o Sooth Holland (Zuid-Holland), the Netherlands. It is locatit in atween Rotterdam an The Hague.
Delft is primarily kent for its teepically Dutch toun centre (wi canals); an aa for the painter Vermeer, Delft Blue pottery (Delftware), the Delft University o Technology, an its association wi the Dutch ryal faimily, the Hoose o Orange-Nassau.

History

The ceety dates frae the 13t century. It received its chairter in 1246.

The association o the Hoose o Orange-Nassau wi Delft began when William o Orange (Willem van Oranje), nicknamed William the Silent (Willem de Zwijger), teuk up residence in 1572. William wis the leader at the time in the struggle against the Spainyie, the Aichty Years' War.

Delft wis ane o the leadin ceeties o Holland an wis buskit wi the necessar ceety waws tae serve as a heidquarters. When William wis assassinatit in 1584, the faimily's traditional burial place in Breda wis in the haunds o the Spainyie. Therefore, he wis buirit in the Nieuwe Kerk (New Kirk), stairtin a tradeetion for the Hoose o Orange that haes continued iver syne.

Delft Explosion
The Delft Explosion, an aa kent in history as the Delft Thunderclap, occurred on 12 October 1654 when a gunpouder store explodit, malafoustert muckle o the ceety.  Ower a hunder fowk wur killed an thoosans woundit.

Aboot 30 tonnes o gunpouder wur stored in barrels in a magazine in a umwhile Clarissen convent in the Doelenkwartier destrict.  Cornelis Soetens, the keeper o the magazine, opened the store tae check a sample o the pouder an a huge explosion follaeed.  Luckily, mony ceetizens wur away, visitin a mercat in Schiedam or a fair in The Hague. Airtist Carel Fabritius wis woundit in the explosion an dee'd o his injuries.  Efterward, Egbert van der Poel paintit several pictures o Delft showin the devastation.

Sichts
The ceety centre retains mony auld an historical biggins, an mony streets hae canals in the center, inhabited bi fish an plants makin this bonnie sma ceety a tourist destination.
Historical biggins include:
 Oude Kerk (Auld Kirk). Buirit here: Piet Hein, Johannes Vermeer, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek.
 Nieuwe Kerk (New Kirk), constructit atween 1381 an 1496. It contains the Dutch ryal faimily's burial vault, which atween funerals is sealed wi a 5000 kg kiver stane.
 The Prinsenhof (Princes' Court), nou a museum.
 Ceety Haw on the Markt.
 The Oostpoort (Eastren gate), biggit aroond 1400. This is the anerlie remainin gate o the auld ceety waws.
 The Gemeenlandshuis Delfland, or Huyterhuis, biggit in 1505, which hooses the regional water authority Delfland syne 1645.
 Waag (Delft)

Cultur
Delft is weel kent for the Delft pottery ceramic products which wur styled on the importit Cheenese porcelain o the 17t century. The ceety haed an early stairt in this aurie syne it wis a hame port o the Dutch East Indie Company.

The painter Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) wis born in Delft. Vermeer uised Delft streets an hame interiors as the subject or backgrund o his paintins.

Several ither famous painters lived an wirked in Delft at that time, sic as Pieter de Hoogh, Carel Fabritius, Nicolaes Maes, Gerard Houckgeest an Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet. Thay aw wur members o the Delft Schuil. The Delft Schuil is kent for its images o domestic life, views o hoosehaulds, kirk interiors, courtyards, squares an the streets o Delft. The painters an aa produced pictures showin historic events, flouer paintins, portraits for patrons an the court, an decorative pieces o airt.

Education
Delft University o Technology (TU Delft) is ane o three varsities o technology in the Netherlands. It wis foondit as an academy for ceevil ingineerin in 1842 bi Keeng William II. The day well ower 16,000 students are enrolled.

The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Eddication, providin postgraduate eddication for fowk frae developin kintras, draws on the strang tradeetion in water management an hydraulic ingineerin o the Delft varsity.

Recreation
East o Delft is the Delftse Hout ("Delft Wood") recreation aurie, wi a lake (suitable for soummin an windsurfin), narrae beaches, a sma nudist aurie (no fenced aff), restaurant, community gardens, campgrund an ither recreational an sports facilities. Thare is a possibility tae rent bikes at the station.

Internaitional relations

Twin touns — Sister ceeties
Delft is twinned wi:

Freemit airtins

Municipal Websteid o Delft
National Gallery: A View o Delft eter the Explosion o 1654
Delft University o Technology

Ceeties in the Netherlands
Populatit places in Sooth Holland

Delft


Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure is a video game made by Capcom in 2007 for the Wii game console.

Plot

Characters

 Zack - The star of the game. He and Wiki discover Barbaros, and go on a quest to rebuild his body while being pursued by the Rose Rock Pirates.
 Wiki - Zack's companion and a flying monkey. He has the ability to transform into a bell, and when he is rung, living creatures can be turned into items.
 Barbaros - The former Captain who once owned Treasure Island before he was cursed into the form of a golden skeleton and had his parts scattered across the world. Promises Zack and Wiki his ship and Treasure Island if they return him to normal.
 Captain Rose - The leader of the Rose Rock Pirates. She has a rivalry with Zack and Wiki, and tries to beat Zack and Wiki to the treasure throughout the game.
 Johnny Style - A member of The Sea Rabbits who joins Zack and Wiki often, and is able to pilot a plane. He gives advice and often runs away from danger.
 The Sea Rabbits - A group of pirates that Zack, Wiki, and Johnny Style belong to.
 Goons - Goons are members of the Rose Rock Pirates, and the minions of Captain Rose.

Summary
A pirate called Zack and a monkey called Wiki search for treasure and meet a pirate called Barbaros (who is a flying skull) after their plane was destroyed. Zack and Wiki agree to help him get his body back if he gives them his ship and treasure. Throughout the journey, Zack and Wiki collect pieces of his skeleton (all of them resembling objects used by pirates), while solving puzzles and fighting enemies, the most important being Captain Rose and her pirates. After Zack and Wiki find all of Barbaros's parts and revive him, Barbaros betrays Zack and Wiki to keep his ship and treasure, and returns to Treasure Island. Zack, Wiki, and Johnny Style join forces with the Rose Rock Pirates and travel to Treasure Island. Barbaros kidnaps Wiki to bring back his pirates, while Zack and the Rose Rock Pirates are captured. Zack breaks out and fights Barbaros, rescues Wiki and the Rose Rock Pirates, and escape in Barbaros' ship. They beat Barbaros and his giant robot when he chases them and he is sucked into a black hole.

Gameplay

Zack & Wiki uses the Wii Remote by itself to play the game. The Wii Remote is pointed at the screen, and a star icon is shown. The player uses the star to move to a spot he or she picks, to pick up stuff, or to check things. The level is seen zoomed out from Zack. The player can do many things to look around the level, including zooming out more or zooming in. The main goal of almost every level is to reach a treasure chest at the end, most containing a part of Barbaros. The player also has to get as many points, or "HirameQ", as he or she can to rank the player on how well he or she did. This is done by solving puzzles quickly and making as few mistakes as possible.

When the player starts the game or ends a level, he or she returns to the Sea Rabbits HQ. There are eight things that can be done here. The first thing is that the player can go to the map of the world and pick a level to go to. After that, the player can buy Platinum Tickets (which revive Zack) and Oracle Dolls (which give hints), have a rabbit go treasure hunting, be taught how to do all the Wii Remote actions, see his or her stats, see all the treasure he or she has found, hear rumors, and check his or her progress on building Barbaros.

Each item in the game has a special way to hold it. For example, when the player gets an umbrella, he or she has to hold the Wii Remote like an umbrella. There are dozens of different items, and they are used on stuff around Zack and Wiki or as a tool to protect them. An umbrella can protect Zack from rain, while a key can be used to unlock a door. These items can be found in every level, and when they get picked up, they are added to the player's treasure list. There is another group of items called "Enemy Items", which can only be gotten when Zack turns an enemy or creature into an item by shaking Wiki. Some enemies can be changed, while others can not. The first enemies in the game, the Centipede, can be turned into an item called a "Centisaw", which can cut down trees. Human-looking creatures like Goons can be turned into totem poles also.

Most levels have enemies in them. They are often able to kill or capture Zack and Wiki, while others are harmless and can be turned into items. Each world ends with a boss level, where the player has to either battle a boss or survive it to beat the level. Zack & Wiki has many parts where the player can get a game over. The game does not have a health bar, and falling in a pit of spikes or getting crushed is instant death, and it makes the player have to start the level over unless he or she has a Platinum Ticket.

Development

Controversy
Capcom's video of Zack & Wiki at E3 in 2007 had a sound effect in it that sometimes plays when the player does something good. The sound effect is the Islamic prayer "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Great"), and after The Council on American-Islamic Relations complained, Capcom removed the phrase.

Reception

Zack & Wiki received mostly positive reviews, gaining a score of 87 on metacritic. Praised for reviving the point-and-click genre, IGN called it "an unpredictably top-quality undertaking whose winning marriage of sometimes-genius environmental puzzles and beautiful graphics will suck you in."

IGN gave Zack & Wiki their "Adventure Game of the Year" 2007 award, while Nintendo Power ranked it was 7th on their best Wii games list.

References

2007 video games
Capcom games
Point-and-click adventure games
Puzzle video games
Wii games
Wii-only games


Soapstone or steatite is a metamorphic rock.  It has a large amount of the mineral talc.

Steatite is softer than most stones.  Because steatite feels like soap, people call it "soapstone".  People have been making things out of soapstone for thousands of years.

Soapstone has been a major component of ceramics used as electrical component insulators for many years. It is easily formed or carved into shapes.

During the Harappan/Indus civilization (2500 BC1750 BC) soapstone was used in the manufacture of seals. These people used to import steatite from Shaher-i-sokhta and the Kirthar hills.

Metamorphic rocks

Soapstone


In medicine, people talk about complications if a disease or condition a patient has gets worse. This makes it more difficult (or more complicated, that is where the word is from) to treat.
Some people are allergic to certain anesthetics; they will have an allergic shock. This makes surgery more difficult.
People with osteoporosis may have their ribs or sternum broken when they undergo cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Health problems

Complication


Progressive bluegrass is a type of bluegrass music which became popular in the 1960s and 1970s. The four important elements (not always all present) of progressive bluegrass are instrumentation (usually including electric instruments, drums, piano, and more), songs imported or styles imitated from other musical genres (like jazz, rock and others), non-traditional chord progressions, and lengthy "jam band"-style improvisation.

Bands such as Nickel Creek produce music in this style.

Music genres

Progressive bluegrass


Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804–1857) was a Russian composer, regarded as the first to become very famous.

Russia is a very large country. In the 18th century there was a lot of music in Europe, but Russian people had not yet heard it. A lot of them were very poor and modern transport did not exist. By the time Glinka was born Russian people in the large towns like Saint Petersburg were becoming very interested in European music.

Mikhail Glinka was born in a little village called Novospasskoye. His father was a rich landowner. Glinka was brought up by his grandmother who looked after him very carefully. She was always afraid he would be cold, so she wrapped him up in a fur coat in a room which was kept at 77 °F. He was not often allowed to play in the fresh air. Later in his life Glinka was always worrying about his health.

It was a long way to the big cities from where the child lived. There was no radio in those days, and no CDs. The only music he heard was the church bells, and the singing of the peasants (the simple people who worked on the land). They sang folksongs and made up harmony underneath the tunes.

After his grandmother died he was allowed to travel 6 miles to his uncle's home. His uncle had a group of musicians who played music by European composers like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. He had never heard such music before.

When he was 13 he went to school in St Petersburg. Now he could hear lots of music and meet some good musicians. He had piano lessons and spent a lot of time at parties. He started to compose some songs.

In 1830 he went to Italy. Italy was famous for its music, especially for opera. Glinka met famous composers like Mendelssohn and Berlioz as well as Italian composers like Donizetti and Bellini. He like their music, and decided he wanted to write opera as well, but he wanted to make his music sound very Russian.

Glinka went back to Russia. He wrote two great operas. The first one was called Ivan Susanin. The story of the opera, set in 1612, is about a poor peasant Ivan Susanin who dies to save the life of the Tsar (the Tsar was the ruler of Russia, like a king or emperor). The Tsar liked the opera and thought that it should be called A Life for the Tsar. It was a big success when it was first performed in 1836.

He soon wrote his second opera: Ruslan and Lyudmila. The story comes from a tale by the famous Russian poet Pushkin. The man who wrote the words for him did it very quickly while he was drunk, so the story is a bit muddled, but the music is wonderful. It is a fairy tale about a nasty dwarf Chernomor who has taken away a princess called Lyudmila. In the end Ruslan, the hero, rescues her. Some of the music sounds quite oriental. The overture that starts the opera is very famous.

Glinka also wrote piano music, songs and chamber music.

Glinka's music is important because he was the first Russian composer to write music that sounded Russian. Later composers like Tchaikovsky were influenced by his music.

References
 David Brown: Mikhail Glinka, a biographical and critical study London OUP1974

Other websites

1804 births
1857 deaths
Russian composers
Romantic composers
People from Saint Petersburg
Russian musicians

Mikhail Glinka