The Saarbahn is a regional Stadtbahn operating on the tram-train principle in the German state of the Saarland. It consists of a core line in Saarbrücken and Riegelsberg operating under tram operating procedures (BOStrab), connected to two lines that are operated under railway operating procedures (EBO), the Lebach–Völklingen railway to the north and the Saarbrücken–Sarreguemines railway in the south. Stadtbahn Saar GmbH is responsible for the infrastructure of the central section of line, while the outer tracks are operated by the national railway infrastructure companies, DB Netz AG in Germany and Réseau Ferré de France in France. The system is operated by Saarbahn GmbH, and integrated in the  (SaarVV).

The route of the new line of the Saarbahn that was opened in central Saarbrücken in 1997 is essentially line 5 of the Saarbrücken tramway, which was closed in 1965. This line ran between Rastpfuhl and Schafbrücke and was the last line of the old metre-gauge network.

, the current network operates on  of route, and serves 43 stations.

History

Early planning
The first considerations of building a regional rail network in and around Saarbrücken began in the 1990s. The bus service in central Saarbrücken then ran at such a high density that the vehicles sometimes operated at one-minute intervals. Following the example of the Karlsruhe model, which had operated with great success since 1992, the Saarland began to plan to build a regional Stadtbahn. The core of the concept was the building of an inner-city railway line, while the outer branches would share the existing Deutsche Bahn railway infrastructure. As early as 1992, it borrowed a light rail vehicle from the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn and ran it on the Fürstenhausen–Gersweiler Bahnhof–Saarbrücken Messebahnhof route on the Rossel Valley Railway (Rosseltalbahn), south of the Saar.

Advance operations on the Saarbrücken–Sarreguemines line
Before the opening of the Saarbrücken city centre line, there was a trial operation between Saarbrücken Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) and Hanweiler with Saarbahn vehicles. However, as it was still in the Deutsche Bahn timetable, replacing the previously locomotive-hauled trains on this section, it was operated  by Deutsche Bahn. This forward operation began on 29 September 1997 and ended on 24 October 1997, the opening day of the new line through the city centre.

Tenth anniversary
On 24 October 2007, the Saarbrücken Stadtbahn celebrated its tenth train anniversary. Since inception more than 100 million passengers had been carried, almost twice as many as originally planned. Thus, it had become a great success as a model for other cities considering the establishment of a light railway.

Operations

Commissioning of the central section
The core of the Saarbahn—the new line between Brebach station and Ludwigstraße—was put into operation on 24 October 1997, after just under two and a half years of construction. Since its opening, there has been a system separation point between Römerkastell and Brebach station. This is a -long non-energised section of the overhead line, which is traversed using momentum, while the vehicle's electric system automatically switches to the other system. Saarbahn railcars coming from central Saarbrücken change from  to  and run via Kleinblittersdorf to Sarreguemines, Lorraine. The French section from the border station at Hanweiler has been equipped with the German electric system since 1983. The first light rail vehicle that reached Saarguemines was two-system railcar 810 of the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG), which ran there on 11 September 1993 during a presentation ride.

Northern extension
The extension in the northerly direction took place in several stages. It was extended to Cottbuser Platz on 31 July 1999, to Siedlerheim on 13 November 2000, to Riegelsberg Süd on 24 September 2001 and to Walpershofen/Etzenhofen on 26 September 2009. Construction of the Riegelsberg Süd–Walpershofen/Etzenhofen section, required the contribution of additional costs of around €630,000 per year (an amount that was until recently disputed) from the city of Saarbrücken, the municipality of Riegelsberg and indirectly from the Saarland. Clearing work was performed on the former route of the Koller Valley Railway (Lebach–Völklingen railway) through Walpershofen and Dilsburg in January and February 2009, the railway overpass in the center of Walpershofen was renewed in 2009/10 and the reactivation of Heusweiler Markt was largely completed in the summer of 2011. This stretch of track was inaugurated on 30 October 2011.

Although another system separation point between BOStrab and EEO was instituted at Walpershofen in 2011, the electrical system does not change there because the electric system for the Saarbahn on the Koller Valley Railway also runs at 750 V DC.

With the exception of a small section between Riegelsberg-Güchenbach and Walpershofen/Etzenhofen over which the Saarbahn runs in an east-west direction along the Russenweg (L 267), which had never been used by a railway, the Saarbahn follows two very different historical railway lines:

From Saarbrücken through the Köllertaler Wald (Köller valley forest) and Riegelsberg to Riegelsberg-Güchenbach, Saarbahn follows the course of the historical Riegelsberg tramway: an interurban tram line from  St.Johann/Saarbrücken via Riegelsberg to Heusweiler, which was opened in 1907. The line broadly followed the following day's federal highway 268, which also continues directly from Güchenbach to Heusweiler. The line served the mines in Heusweiler-Dilsburg and Von der Heydt. The tramway was replaced by trolleybuses in 1953 and was replaced in turn by diesel-powered buses in 1964.

After the new section between Riegelsberg-Güchenbach and Walpershofen/Etzenhofen, the Saarbahn reaches, at the Walpershofen/Etzenhofen stop, the line of the former Koller Valley Railway, over which it continues north through Walpershofen to its temporary terminus at Heusweiler Markt.

Extension to Lebach
A  extension of the current line, from the current northern terminus, Heusweiler Markt, north to Lebach-Jabach opened for service on 5 October 2014. This extension will expand the Saarbahn line to cover a total of  of route.

Operational concept
Currently the  cross-city route is operated as line S1 between Heusweiler Markt and Sarreguemines, with services every 7.5 minutes during the day on the core section between Siedlerheim and Brebach station. Originally, a five-minute interval service was planned for the central area, but this was rejected because it would have led to operational problems. On the sections using rail tracks between Brebach and Kleinblittersdorf and between Heusweiler Markt and Siedlerheim there is a 15-minute interval service and on the Kleinblittersdorf–Sarreguemines section services operate every 30 minutes only in the morning and every 60 minutes at other times.

In the off peak hour, services operate at 15-minute intervals in the central section, every 30 minutes to Kleinblittersdorf or Siedlerheim and every 60 minutes to Sarreguemines. In the morning peak for professional and school transport and in the afternoon peak, coupled vehicles are used, otherwise single sets are operated. The Saarbahn carries approximately 40,000 passengers daily.

Rolling stock
Currently there are 28 Flexity Link tram-trains in use, which were manufactured by Bombardier in Vienna and Bruges. Six sets were temporarily loaned to Kassel, where they operated trial runs for RegioTram Kassel. From the timetable change in December 2009, three tram-trains were lent to the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe for use on line S9.

Future service
A line is proposed towards Schafbrücke. Another proposal would include an extension via Burbach to Völklingen station, but this plan has been put on hold, as the effects of mining have to be remedied first. Other plans include an extension to the University, to Rotenbühl, to Alt-Saarbrücken, to Forbach and to Eschberg. , no work has been carried out on any of these proposals.

References

External links

 Saarbahn GmbH – official website
 Saarbrücken at UrbanRail.Net

Railway lines in the Saarland
Tram transport in Germany
Light rail in Germany
750 V DC railway electrification
15 kV AC railway electrification
Railway lines opened in 1997
1997 establishments in Germany
Buildings and structures in Saarbrücken

Saarbahn


A file server is a computer joined to a web network or to a home network, and that can store many files in the server's hard disk(s).

Characteristics
The file server can be a normal computer, or a Network Attached Storage, which is a special computer created to only be a file server. Often people recycle their old computer and they modify it to become a file server which can hold photos, songs, films, and backups. Sometimes web servers that are "hand made" are used as a media center, people put things on the file server (for example movies) and then watch (or use) the things on the file server, often on a Television (like how a DVD player works).

Related pages
Server

Computer terminology

File server


A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music which has a story attached to it or describes something such as poem or a painting or any idea which is not music.  A symphonic poem is a kind of programme music (music for instruments which has an idea outside music).

Symphonic poems were mostly written in the 19th century at the time known as the  Romantic period.  They are normally in one movement lasting perhaps between 10 and 20 minutes.  Some of the longest ones, such as Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss are much longer, like a symphony with four movements which run into one another.

The idea can be seen in Beethoven's overtures which tell the story of the opera or play which is about to be performed.  Composers such as Felix Mendelssohn then started to write overtures which told a story but were not attached to any opera. Fingal's Cave (1832) describes the sea lapping against the rocks of a cave in the Scottish Hebrides.

Franz Liszt was the composer who made the symphonic poem an important musical form.  He wrote twelve works which he called Symphonische Dichtung (Symphonic poem) because the music developed in the same way as in a symphony.  One example is Mazeppa (1851) which describes the poem by Victor Hugo about a wild horse that carries a man tied to him until he is rescued by the Ukrainians and made into their chief.

Other composers who wrote symphonic poems include Sergei Rachmaninoff, Modest Mussorgsky, Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, Jean Sibelius, Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and César Franck.

The opening of Richard Strauss's  tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra (1895-1896) has become particularly famous in recent years through its use in the movie  2001: A Space Odyssey.

Musical forms

Symphonic poem


Gunthorpe is a civil parish and a hamlet in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England.

The village's name means 'outlying farm/settlement of Gunni'.

The population of Gunthorpe grew to several hundred before being devastated by the plague which ravaged Great Britain and much of Europe from 1347 to 1351. Today, Gunthorpe remains as one of Rutland's smallest inhabited hamlets, with just 10 houses and 16 residents. Despite being dissected by the railway and the main Oakham to Uppingham A6003 road, the tiny hamlet of Gunthorpe remains a lively idyll, which typifies the agricultural heart of the county of Rutland. Set in the rolling hills adjoining the River Gwash, approximately  miles south of Oakham and on the western shores of Rutland Water, Gunthorpe has several footpaths and bridleways which offer some of the county's most enjoyable, all-year round views. The population of the civil parish remained less than 100 at the 2011 census and was included in the civil parish of Manton.

The estate was sold by the Earl of Ancaster to Charles Harvey Dixon in 1906.

Gunthorpe's oldest surviving building was built . Now a farmhouse, the Durham Ox Inn was a popular haunt of the navvies and labourers engaged in the construction of part of the railway which became known as the London Midland and Scottish Railway, running between Kettering and Oakham from the mid 19th Century and to this day.

References

External links

Hamlets in Rutland
Civil parishes in Rutland

Gunthorpe, Rutland


A supernova is the explosion of a giant star. It usually happens when the nuclear fusion in the star cannot hold the core against its own gravity. The core collapses, and then explodes.

The biggest stars that make supernovae are hypergiants and smaller ones are supergiants. They are massive: because of gravity, they use up their energy very quickly. Normally they only live for a few million years.

During the explosion, the total energy radiated by supernovae may briefly outshine the entire output of a galaxy. They emit energy equal to that of the whole lifetime of a solar-like star. The explosion blows off its stellar material away from the star, at velocities up to 30,000 km/s or 10% of the speed of light. This drives a shock wave into the surrounding interstellar medium. This sweeps up an expanding shell of gas and dust, which we see as a supernova remnant. After exploding, what is left becomes a black hole or a neutron star.

Most stars are small and do not explode.  After their red giant phase, they become colder and smaller and become white dwarf stars.

Supernova explosions happen rarely. The last time people saw a supernova in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, was in the year 1604. We can see supernovas in other galaxies too. Every year we see 300 supernovas in other galaxies, because there are so many galaxies. Sometimes they are brighter than the whole rest of the galaxy.

Types
Supernovas are usually sorted into Type I and Type II supernovas.

Type I supernovas have absorption lines that show they do not have hydrogen in them. Type Ia supernovas are very bright for a short amount of time.  Then they get less bright very quickly.  Type Ia supernovas happen when a white dwarf star is orbiting a big star.  Sometimes, the white dwarf star sucks matter off of the big star. When the white dwarf eventually gets to be about 1.4 times the mass of the sun, it collapses.  This makes lots of energy and light, which is why supernovas are very bright.  Type 1a have mostly the same brightness. This allows them to be used as a secondary standard candle to measure the distance to their host galaxies.

Type II supernovas have absorption lines that show they do have hydrogen in them. A star must have at least 8 times, and no more than 40–50 times, the mass of the Sun to undergo this type of explosion.

In a star like the Sun, nuclear fusion turns hydrogen into helium.  In very large stars, helium gets turned into carbon, then oxygen, and so on. The star fuses increasingly higher mass elements, up through the periodic table until a core of iron and nickel is produced. Fusion of iron or nickel produces no net energy output, so no more fusion can take place. When the energy released from the fusion process fades it cannot counteract gravitational collapse. The collapse of the core is so rapid (about 23% of the speed of light) that a huge shock wave is produced. The extremely high temperature and pressure lasts long enough for a brief moment when the elements heavier than iron are produced. Depending on initial size of the star, the remnants of the core form a neutron star or a black hole.

Supernovas and life
Without supernovas there would be no life on Earth. This is because many of the chemical elements were made in supernova explosions. These are called "heavy elements". Heavy elements are needed to make living things. The supernova is the only natural way heavy elements can be made. Other elements were made by fusion in stars. Heavy elements need very high temperature and pressure to form. In a macho supernova explosion the temperature and pressure are so high that heavy elements can be made. Scientists call this supernova nucleosynthesis.

It could be dangerous if a supernova explosion happened very close to the Earth. The explosion is very big and many kinds of dangerous radiation are formed. But we do not have to be afraid. Only very big stars can explode as supernovas. There are no stars big enough near the Earth and if there was it would take millions of years for it to happen.

Important supernovas
SN 1572 was seen by Tycho Brahe. This supernova helped astronomers learn that things in space could change. SN 1604 was seen by Johannes Kepler. It was the last supernova close enough to be seen from Earth's northern hemisphere without a telescope. SN 1987A is the only supernova so close that scientists could find neutrinos from it. SN 1987A was also bright enough to see without a telescope. People in the southern hemisphere saw it.

Effects on Earth
The Earth does have traces of past supernovae. Traces of radioactive iron-60, a strong indicator of supernova debris, is buried in the sea floor right across the globe.

The "local bubble" is a ballooning region of hot gas, 600 light-years across. It surrounds the Solar System and dominates our stellar neighbourhood. It was formed by over a dozen supernovae blowing up in a nearby moving clump of stars. This happened between 2.3 million and 1.5 million years ago. This roughly corresponds with the start of the Pleistocene ice ages. The connection may be accidental.

Related pages
Luminous blue variable
Nova

References

Other websites
 Supernovae  (NASA)
 Supernovae (GSU)
 Supernova Citizendium

Supernova


Astragalus douglasii is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Douglas's milkvetch. It is native to California and Baja California, where it can be found in many types of desert, valley, chaparral and woodlands, and montane habitats, usually below  elevation.

Description
Astragalus douglasii is a bushy perennial herb producing a number of erect or prostrate stems up to a meter long. The abundant leaves are up to 18 centimeters long and are made up of oval-shaped leaflets. The open inflorescence holds up to 30 whitish to pale yellow flowers, each about a centimeter long. The calyx is green with  lobes.

The fruit is an inflated legume pod up to 6 centimeters long and 3 wide which dries to a thin, papery texture.

Varieties
There are three varieties of Astragalus douglasii:
A. d. var. douglasii – limited to California
A. d. var. parishii (Parish's milkvetch) – found throughout the mountain ranges of Southern California
A. d. var. perstrictus (Jacumba milkvetch) – rare variety limited to San Diego County, California, and northern Baja California

References

External links

Astragalus douglasii – Photo gallery

douglasii
Flora of Baja California
Flora of California
Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Flora of the California desert regions
Flora without expected TNC conservation status

Astragalus douglasii


A demonstration can mean an event where people do something to let others know what they think and to try to change their point of view. It is one kind of protest. Examples of demonstrations include marches, where people walk together, and rallies, where people gather in one place. During a demonstration, the people who are part of it, called demonstrators, may display placards or other symbols that are easy to see, especially when the protests are being shown on mass media such as news, television, or social networks.

Demonstrations are often made against a government if they do something the people do not want. Because they are meant for many people to be a part of, they are usually considered more successful if more people take part. Demonstration is permitted by international human rights law as the freedom of assembly if done peacefully (meaning there is no violence). However, demonstrations can get out of control and even turn into a riot.

Another meaning
A demonstration can also mean when someone shows how to do something, or in what ways a thing can be used. Salespeople often demonstrate things like computers, cars, and televisions to customers so they can make sure the customer sees all the features of the item. "Demo" is short for demonstration, and people often use it to describe this meaning of the word.

References

Protests

Demonstration


16 Þrimilcemōnaþ
 The National Assembly of Kuwait passes new legislation for women's suffrage, allowing all women aged 21 and older, subject to Islamic law, to vote in elections in Kuwait in 2007.

14 Þrimilcemōnaþ
 Uzbek troops kill over 400 people in Andijan during protests in eastern Uzbekistan over the trials of 23 accused Islamic extremists. President Islam Karimov defends the act.
 In Taiwan, political parties supporting new amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of China win with 249 of 300 seats in the National Assembly election.
 Sūþcorēa announces that bilateral talks with Norþcorēa will resume after a hiatus of almost a year, with the North's nuclear weapons as a key issue.

Þrimilcemōnaþ 2005


"Funeral Blues" is a poem written in 1936 by W. H. Auden.

Funeral Blues is a simple poem about death, isolation (loneliness), emptiness and longing. The death of a lover may or may not be a literal event (actually happened). The poem is also about the end of a romantic relationship with somebody other than the person's spouse/partner. In four stanzas it moves from the time before the funeral (Stop all the clocks, Silence the pianos...), during the funeral itself (Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come...), after the funeral (He was my North, my South...), and the loneliness and grief that comes with it.

20th-century British poems
1936 works

Funeral Blues


Patently offensive is a term used in United States law regarding obscenity under the First Amendment.

The phrase "patently offensive" first appeared in Roth v. United States, referring to any obscene acts or materials that are considered to be openly, plainly, or clearly visible as offensive to the viewing public. The Roth standard outlined what is to be considered obscene and thus not under First Amendment protection. The Roth standard was largely replaced by the Miller test established by Miller v. California (1973).

Roth standard

According to the "Roth Standard" a work is obscene if:
The dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex,
The material is patently offensive because it affronts contemporary community standards relating to the description or representation of sexual matters,
The material is utterly without redeeming social value

Miller test

The Miller test was developed in the 1973 case Miller v. California. It has three parts:

Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,
Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law,
Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, writing for the majority, included the following definitions of what may be "patently offensive":

"Representations or descriptions of ultimate sex acts normal or perverted, actual or simulated."
"Representations or descriptions of masturbation, excretory functions, and lewd exhibitions of the genitals."

References

Supreme Court of the United States
Obscenity law

Patently offensive


Laverne Andrew Fator (October 21, 1899 – May 16, 1936) was an American Hall of Fame jockey.

Born in Hailey, Idaho, Laverne Fator and his brothers Mark and Elmer all became jockeys. The most successful of the three, Laverne Fator's riding career began at small bush tracks in the Western United States. His first major win came in 1918 at Oriental Park Racetrack in Havana, Cuba. Returning to the United States, he raced on the New York State circuit in a professional career that lasted through 1933. A contract jockey for Rancocas Stable, in 1925 and 1926 he was the United States Champion Jockey by earnings.

In the American Classic Races, Laverne Fator rode in the Kentucky Derby four times, earning his best finish in 1926 when he finished fifth aboard Pompey. For the 1932 running, prominent stable owner Edward R. Bradley offered top rider Laverne Fator his choice of the two horses he had entered. Fator chose the colt Brother Joe, leaving Burgoo King for 19-year-old Eugene James who won the race. Of his three mounts in the Preakness Stakes, Fator's best result came aboard Mad Play when he finished third in 1923.

Laverne Fator died in a fall from a Jamaica (N.Y.) Hospital window while awaiting an operation. The cause of death was said by TIME magazine to be suicide but it has been reported that he may have been disoriented from his illness and fell accidentally.

On its creation, Laverne Fator was inducted in the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1955.

References
 May 17, 1948 TIME magazine article
 Laverne Fator at the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

1899 births
1936 deaths
People from Hailey, Idaho
American jockeys
American Champion jockeys
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees

Laverne Fator


The Fußballclub Erzgebirge Aue is a football club which plays in the  German 2. Bundesliga. The club is from Aue in Saxony.

History
The club was founded as SG Aue in 1945 and on 1 November 1948 became BSG Pneumatik Aue. Changes in sponsorship led to a change in name to Zentra Wismut Aue in 1949 and then simply to SC Wismut Aue in 1951. 1951 they promoted to the DDR-Oberliga. In 1954 the government decided that the nearby city Chemnitz(now called Karl-Marx-Stadt) should have a good team. So the name of Aue was changed to SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt. But the club still played  in Aue. In 1963 Karl Marx Stadt got its own team so the club was renamed to SC Wismut Aue.

Till 1989 Aue was one of the most successful teams in the DDR. They were 3 times winner of the DDR Oberliga (1956, 1957, 1959) and won the Cup once(1955). In the united Germany the started in the  NOFV-Oberliga Süd (4th stage). With the establishment of the Regionalliga Nordost (3rd stage) in 1994, the club qualified for the new league. 200o they came to the Regionalliga Nord and were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga after the 1st place there. 2007 they were again relegated but came back in 2010.

Current squad
As of July 1, 2011

1946 establishments in Germany
Football clubs in Saxony

FC Erzgebirge Aue


The term saturation in chemistry is used in several ways:

Saturation is the point at which a solution of a substance can dissolve no more of that substance. This point of maximum concentration, the saturation point, depends on the temperature of the liquid as well as the chemical nature of the substances involved. If a change in conditions (e.g. cooling) means that the concentration is higher than the saturation point, the solution has become 'supersaturated'.
In organic chemistry, a saturated chemical compound has no double bond or triple bond or ring. In non-cyclical, saturated hydrocarbons, every carbon atom is attached to two hydrogen atoms, except those at the ends of the chain, which have three hydrogen atoms.
In biochemistry, the term saturation refers to the fraction of total protein binding sites that are occupied at any given time. Applies to enzymes, and molecules like hemoglobin.
In organometallic chemistry, an unsaturated complex has fewer than 18 valence electrons and thus is susceptible to oxidative addition or coordination of an additional ligand. Unsaturation is characteristic of many catalysts because it is usually a requirement for substrate activation.

Related pages
 Saturation
Chemistry

Saturation (chemistry)


Raseśvara was a Shaiva philosophical tradition which "arose about the commencement of the Christian era" (1st century CE). It advocated the use of mercury to make the body immortal. This school was based on the texts Rasārṇava, Rasahṛidaya and Raseśvarasiddhānta, composed by Govinda Bhagavat and Sarvajña Rāmeśvara according to Cowell and Gough.

Overview
Raseśvaras, like many other schools of Indian philosophy, believed that liberation was identity of self with Supreme lord Shiva and freedom from transmigration. However, unlike other schools, Raseśvaras thought that liberation could only be achieved by using mercury to acquire an imperishable body. Hence, they called mercury pārada or the means of conveyance beyond transmigratory existence. Extrication of soul to Raseśvaras was a cognizable act and therefore, for liberation it was necessary to maintain an imperishable bodily life. They used scriptural evidence from the Purusha Sukta and Puranas to support this point of view.

Usage of mercury
Mercury was sacred to the Raseśvaras, so much so that they considered disparaging mercury blasphemy. Rasahṛidaya mentions mercury to be a creation by Shiva and Gauri whereas, Rasārṇava holds the worship of mercury to be more beatific than the worship of all symbols of supreme lord Shiva. Raseśvaras described eighteen methods of treating mercury—sweating, rubbing, swooning, fixing, dropping, coercion, restraining, kindling, going, falling into globules, pulverising, covering, internal flux, external flux, burning, colouring, pouring, and eating it by parting and piercing it. Mercury could applied to both blood and body.

Raseśvarasiddhānta described three modes in which mercury could be used together with air—swooning, dead and bound. Swooning mercury and air were thought to carry diseases, dead they were thought to restore life and bound they were thought to give the power of levitation.  Mercury was described as swooning when it was of various colours and free from excessive volatility. It was dead when it showed wetness, thickness, brightness, heaviness and mobility. And it was bound when it was continuous, fluent, luminous, pure, heavy, and if it parted under friction.

However, it is now known that exposure to mercury and its compounds causes hydrargyria or mercury poisoning.

See also
 Rasayana
 Rasashastra
 Rasalingam
 Mercury poisoning
 Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning

Notes

References

Schools and traditions in ancient Indian philosophy
Āstika
Hindu denominations
Hindu philosophy
Mercury (element)

Raseśvara


William James (1842–1910) was an American psychologist and philosopher. He was an original thinker in physiology, psychology and philosophy. His major work was a twelve-hundred page book which gave us such ideas as the "stream of thought". William was the brother of the novelist Henry James.

Epistemology
James was a pragmatist. He defined true beliefs as those that prove useful to the believer.  Truth is verifiable (can be tested) when thoughts and statements correspond with actual things, and also "hang together," or cohere, as pieces of a puzzle might fit together. These 'truths' are confirmed by the observed results putting them into practice.p427

"The most ancient parts of truth... once were plastic. They were called true for human reasons... Purely objective truth..., is nowhere to be found... The reasons why we call things true is the reason why they are true, for 'to be true' means only to perform this marriage-function." he wrote. The "marriage-function" is "marrying previous parts of experience with newer parts".p83

James held a world view in line with pragmatism, declaring that the value of any truth depended on its use to the person who held it. The world is a mosaic of diverse experiences that can only be understood through "radical empiricism". Radical empiricism, not related to the everyday scientific empiricism, asserts that the world and experience can never be halted for an entirely objective analysis. The mind of the observer and simple act of observation will affect the outcome of any empirical approach to truth. The mind, its experiences and nature, cannot be separated. James's emphasis on diversity as the default human condition has kept a strong influence in American culture, especially among liberals. James's description of the mind-world connection, which he described as a "stream of consciousness", had a direct and significant effect on avant-garde and modernist literature and art.

In What pragmatism means, James writes that the central point of his own doctrine of truth is, in brief, that "Truths emerge from facts, but they dip forward into facts again and add to them; which facts again create or reveal new truth (the word is indifferent) and so on indefinitely. The 'facts' themselves meanwhile are not true. They simply <u/l>are</u/l>. Truth is the function of the beliefs that start and terminate among them".

References

1842 births
1910 deaths
American philosophers
American psychologists
Writers from New York City

William James


The history of the English penny from 1485 to 1603 covers the period of the House of Tudor up to the death of Elizabeth I without an heir. The Tudor era saw the debasement of the penny under Henry VIII and Edward VI, with Elizabeth I's reign overseeing the recovery of the silver quality. Under the Tudors, the penny decreased in size.

The Tudors (1485–1603)

Henry VII

Henry Tudor, who reigned as King Henry VII between 1485 and 1509, had a rather tenuous claim on the throne, being the Lancastrian claimant via an illegitimate descendant of Edward III when all the more senior candidates had been killed off in the Wars of the Roses. He concluded the wars with his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Subsequently, he consolidated this power through various means, including his marriage to Elizabeth of York, which united the two warring dynasties. Henry VII's reign was marked by pretenders' claims to the throne, whose existence resulted from the king's initially insecure grasp of power; Henry could subdue each of these attempted usurpers without particular difficulty. The whole style of Henry's coinage marked a break with what had gone before — the king's bust became more lifelike, and the shields on the reverse became much more detailed. Henry's first coinage is very like that of Henry V and Henry VI, minted at London, Canterbury, Durham, and York. The inscription was one of a variety of HENRIC DI GRA REX ANG — Henry by the grace of God King of England. Soon, however, Henry introduced what is known as the "Sovereign coinage", so called because the king is depicted seated on a throne, while the reverse shows the royal shield over a cross. This issue is regarded as marking the division between the coins of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance in England. The Sovereign coinage was minted at London, Durham, and York, and inscribed with one of a variety of HENRICUS DI GRA REX ANG.

Henry VIII

Henry's first coinage, to 1526, resembled that of his father and still used his father's portrait. With higher bullion prices on the continent, the weight of the silver coins was reduced again. Pennies were minted at the London, Canterbury, and Durham mints. With the reformation starting in the 1530s, the principal effect as far as the coinage was concerned was the closure of the ecclesiastical mints of Canterbury, Durham and York — in future all mints would be Royal mints, under the control of the crown who would consequently get all the revenue. The second coinage, of 1526–1544 had a completely different inscription, H.D.G. ROSA SIE SPIA — Henry by the grace of God a rose without a thorn. At this time the pound standard for mintage was changed from the local Tower pound to the internationally known troy pound; therefore, the value of a pennyweight increased from 1.46 grams to 1.56 grams. The coins were minted at London, and the Canterbury, Durham and York ecclesiastical mints.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s and the ratification of the First Act of Supremacy in 1534 resulted in a huge financial bonus for the king, but by 1544 Henry was running short of money, thanks partially to his extravagant lifestyle and expenditure. Henry's solution was to drastically lower the fineness of the third coinage (1544–47) to only one-third silver and two-thirds copper. This was understandably unpopular with the people, resulting in Henry acquiring the nickname "Old Coppernose" as the silver rubbed off the high-relief part of the coin design. By this time, there were two mints in London, at the Tower and in Southwark, and both of them, together with mints in Bristol, Canterbury and York produced the debased coinage which bore the inscription H.D.G. ROSA SINE SPINA.

Edward VI

The debased coinage caused rampant inflation, so when Henry died in 1547 he left behind a country with a nine-year-old king, religious turmoil, and economic unrest. Moreover, the influx of silver and gold from Central and South America into Spain and thus to the rest of Europe was destabilising the price of bullion and worsening the situation.

Until 1551, what is known as the posthumous coinage was produced — these were coins which were exactly the same as Henry's last issue, but with a different portrait of him. Inflation over the last thirty years had made the penny much less important, and in fact, for the next few reigns, the most common coins would be shillings, sixpences, and groats. The reign of Edward VI though short (1547–1553) was numismatically important for seeing the introduction of new denominations — the silver crown, half crown, shilling, Sixpence, and Threepence — which were to survive until 1971, and which were a reflection of the increasing wealth of the country. The new coins were struck in good silver, with the aim of revitalising the economy. Edward VI's pennies however, were still struck in debased metal (except for one, possibly unique, coin) at the Tower, Southwark, Bristol and York, with the inscription E.D.G. ROSA SINE SPINA — Edward by the grace of God a rose without a thorn.

Mary I

In 1553 Edward died and was succeeded — after the nine-day rule of Lady Jane Grey — by his older sister, the strongly Catholic Queen Mary. Pennies of her first year, bearing her head alone with the inscription M.D.G. ROSA SINE SPINA — Mary by the grace of God a rose without a thorn — are quite rare. In 1554 she married Philip, the Prince of Spain, and put his portrait on the coinage and her own. Both fine silver and base metal pennies of this reign were issued from the Tower mint, with the legend P Z M D G ROSA SINE SPINA — Philip and Mary by the grace of God a rose without a thorn.

Elizabeth I

When Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558, England was an impoverished country, in religious turmoil, and with a coinage that was in a poor state after Henry VIII's debasement, since when little had been done to improve either the quantity or quality of the coins in circulation. The coinage system as a whole urgently needed reform, and Elizabeth boldly set about doing this. Throughout her reign large quantities of gold and silver coins of many denominations were produced (the gold and silver often being obtained by raiding Spanish shipping); of the silver denominations produced the shilling and sixpence were most important, but small denomination coins — groats, threepences, half-groats, three-halfpence, pennies, three-farthings, and halfpennies — were also struck and were very popular with merchants and small traders.

For the first time in England milled, or machine-produced, coins were produced by Eloye Mestrelle, an ex-employee of the Paris mint, between 1560 and 1572. Still, while the milled issue was fairly successful, there was animosity towards Mestrelle by other employees of the Tower mint who feared for their jobs, ultimately leading to his dismissal. No milled pennies were produced, as they would probably have been too small to be mechanically produced by the equipment of the time. Also, some of Elizabeth's coins were dated for the first time.

Elizabethan pennies are very small, and are often found creased or bent. The obverse bears the legend E D G ROSA SINE SPINA — Elizabeth by the grace of God a rose without a thorn — around a left-facing bust of the queen, while the reverse bears the legend CIVITAS LONDON — City of London. All pennies were minted at the Tower mint in London.

References

Coincraft's Standard Catalogue English & UK Coins 1066 to Date, Richard Lobel, Coincraft.

15th century in England
16th century in England
17th century in England
Coins of England
Tudor England
15th-century economic history
16th-century economic history
17th-century economic history
History of the English penny

History of the English penny (1485–1603)


Viola, Duchess of Opole, also known as Veleslava (), ; (died 7 September 1251) was a Duchess consort of Opole-Racibórz through her marriage to Casimir I.

Life

Origins
Viola's father's origins are disputed by historians. Chronicler Jan Długosz noted that she was originally from Bulgaria. A more popular hypothesis about Viola's parentage was given by Władysław Dziewulski, who stated that she could be the daughter of either Kaloyan of Bulgaria or his successor Boril, but this theory has been challenged by Wincenty Swoboda. Jerzy Horwat put forward another hypothesis, under which Viola could have been a daughter of either King Béla III from his second marriage to Margaret of France or his son and successor, Emeric. Today, historians widely favor that the origins of Viola are unknown.

Marriage
Viola was married to Casimir I, Duke of Opole-Racibórz sometime between the years 1212 and 1216.

Arguments for Viola's Bulgarian origin involve her marriage to Casimir I, because she was not mentioned in any Polish source before the duke's departure on the Fifth Crusade. According to one hypothesis, the marriage of Casimir I and Viola may have been arranged by King Andrew II of Hungary. On his way home, the Hungarian King arranged several marriage contracts at the courts he visited for various of his children.  One such contract may have been the engagement of his daughter Anna Maria to the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II. As a near kinswoman of the Tsar of Bulgaria, Viola could have become engaged to Casimir I, a close associate of King Andrew II, and returned with the King to meet her future husband.

According to another hypothesis, Casimir I befriended an unknown Hungarian knight, a relative of the King and a commander of the Hungarian troops, in Mount Lebanon, which was depopulated in January 1218. This would suggest that the marriage between the Duke of Opole and the king's near kinswoman Viola took place before his embarcation on the crusade, around 1217.

Widowhood
Casimir died on 13 May 1230. According to his will, Viola was appointed regent of the duchy on behalf of their sons, Mieszko II and Władysław, neither of whom had attained majority. Despite her efforts to maintain an independent rule, she was eventually forced to share, and later to cede, the regency of Opole-Racibórz to Henry I the Bearded, Duke of Wrocław.

In 1233, probably with the consent of the Duke of Wrocław, Pope Gregory IX issued a Bull under which the young dukes were removed from the care of their mother and given to the Archbishop of Gniezno and the Bishops of Wrocław and Olomouc. A year later, in 1234, to calm the rebellion caused by this decision, Henry I the Bearded gave Kalisz and Wieluń to Casimir I's sons and took full control of Opole-Racibórz, but without denying the dukes' hereditary rights.

Viola and her children moved to Kalisz, where they remained after Henry I's death in 1238, while his son and successor, Henry II the Pious, took over the regency of Opole-Racibórz. Soon after, Mieszko II began to claim rule over his duchy. Henry II was forced to accept this, and by late 1238 or early 1239, Mieszko II returned to Opole and began his independent rule. Viola and her second son Władysław were expected to remain in Kalisz, which was held under the guidance of Henry II. Viola remained as regent of the Duchies of Kalisz and Wieluń on behalf of Władysław until 1241, when he was declared an adult and able to rule in his own right.

Mieszko II died on 22 October 1246, without issue. In his will, he left all his land to his brother Władysław, except Cieszyn, which he gave to Viola as her dower. She ruled this land for the next five years, until her death, after which Cieszyn was reunited with the Duchy of Opole-Racibórz.

Footnotes

Year of birth unknown
1251 deaths
13th-century women rulers
Piast dynasty
13th-century Polish women
13th-century Polish people
13th-century Bulgarian women
13th-century Bulgarian people

Viola, Duchess of Opole


A xenolith (foreign rock) is a rock fragment which another rock surrounds.

It happens most in igneous rock when magma is fluid enough to flow round more solid rock. Xenoliths may be covered in the margins of a magma chamber, torn loose from the walls of a flow of lava  or picked up along the ground by flowing lava on Earth's surface. A xenocryst is an individual foreign crystal included within an igneous body. Examples of xenocrysts are quartz crystals in a low-silica lava and diamonds in kimberlite diatremes.

Although the term xenolith is most commonly associated with igneous inclusions, a broad definition could include rock fragments which have become encased in sedimentary rock. Xenoliths are sometimes found in meteorites.

Xenoliths and xenocrysts provide important information about the composition of the otherwise inaccessible mantle. Basalts, kimberlites, lamproites and lamprophyres, which have their source in the upper mantle, often contain fragments and crystals assumed to be a part of the lower mantle mineralogy.

References

Igneous rocks

Xenolith


The  was a producing coal mine in the northwestern area of Uchibanare and Iriomote Islands, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.  At its peak, between 120,000 and 130,000 tons of coal were produced annually in the years 1936 and 1937 by 1,400 coal mine workers, but production ceased in 1960.

History
On Iriomote Island, sandstone layers of the Iriomote Formation of the Yaeyama Group were laid down in the Miocene era. Between the layers of sandstone  are layers of coal which vary from 15 to 90 cm thick. On the island, this burning stone had been known  for a long time. In a document written at end of the 18th century, this burning stone was described in detail. In 1853 a technician with American Commodore Matthew C. Perry reported the presence of coal in Shioya Bay, Okinawa. In 1854 Ryūkyū ordered the people of Iriomote to plant trees to hide the coal mines. In 1871 Hayashi Tasuke of Satsuma asked Ōhama Kana to find the coal. Ōhama was exiled to a remote island for leaking the secret. In 1885 the Japanese Government first investigated the Iriomote Coal Mine. In 1886 a politician, Yamagata Aritomo inspected the site with Masuda Takashi of Mitsui Zaibatsu company, and suggested the use of prisoners to mine the coal. Mitsui Bussan Company started mining the coal with between 100 and 200 workers including prisoners. On 21 September 1889, there was a severe outbreak of malaria which put an end to mining operations for the time being.

The development of the Iriomote coal mines
In 1891, several companies resumed coal mining at Iriomote but ceased their operations shortly thereafter. After the Russo-Japanese War and World War I were over, there was a new boom in coal mining. The Okinawa Mining Company and Ryukyu Mining Company, both founded in 1906, were successful in coal mining operations at Iriomote. The mines were distributed on Uchibanare Island and the areas along the Nakaragawa river and the Urauchigawa River. The extracted coal was energy rich and was exported to Japan and to Formosa, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Problems of the workers
There had been repeated founding and merging of coal mine companies which had led to problems for the workers. The payment of wages was made by the Naya Seido or Kinsaki method, by which a Kinsaki person was responsible for the production of coal and the personal management of the wage money. The salary of the workers was under the control of the Kinsaki person or Nayagashira, and given in coupons redeemable at the shops of the company. The coupons were said to be interchangeable for bank notes, but at unfavorable rates. Many workers grew to have debts due to the job brokers. Originally Iriomote Island was sparsely inhabited, and the workers were imported from various parts of Japan, Taiwan and China without detailed information of the work they would be doing or the conditions they would be living in. Employment brokers used sweet words such as, "It is warm in Iriomote, and there is no need of clothes. There are many women and you can eat pine and bananas by extending your arms. You can make lots of money and there is no place better than this." However, the bananas have owners, and the pines were really pandanus tectorius and not edible. The working conditions were very hard. Some of the workers tried to escape from the island, but they were seldom successful. The biggest company did have a 300-seat theater and other worker facilities.

Decline and end of Iriomote Coal Mine
In 1941, the Pacific War had started and many workers were drafted for military service with the Japanese Imperial army. In 1943, the coal mines ceased production due to a shortage of workers. After the war, the mines were taken over and reopened in 1953 by Americans who resumed production. Eventually, the arrangement of the coal in thinning layers did not allow large quantities of coal to be mined. This led to small profits for the owners and the mines final closure in 1960.

See also
Utara Coal Mine

References
Kei Higa, Okinawa Encyclopedia 1983 jō chū ge, Okinawa Times Sha, Naha.
Takeshi Miki, History of Okinawa Iriomote Coal Mine 1996, Nihon Keizai Hyōronsha, Tokyo.
Takeshi Miki, Photo Album of Iriomote Coal Mine 2003, Nirai Sha, Okinawa.

Footnotes

Buildings and structures in Okinawa Prefecture
Yaeyama Islands
Coal mines in Japan
Former coal mines

Iriomote Coal Mine


Derealization (DR) is a change in the way someone views the world so that it seems unreal. Derealization can also make someone feel as if their environment does not have emotion or depth. This is a symptom of other problems, such as sleeping disorders, schizophrenia, and other mental disorders. It can also be caused by drug intoxication.

Similar to derealization is depersonalization, but the two are different. Depersonalization is a sense of unreality about oneself. Derealization is a sense of unreality of the outside world.

Derealization often happens during a traumatic or tragic event.

Psychology

Derealization


Puchen Wang (born 20 January 1990) is a New Zealand chess International Master. He became the New Zealand Champion, Rapid Champion and Lightning Champion in January 2007 when he was 17.

Chess career
Wang was New Zealand Junior Champion at the age of 11, and a winner in the 2005 and 2006 NZCF Grand Prix, topping both the Open and Junior sections.

Wang has twice played for the New Zealand national team at the Chess Olympiads; in 2004, on 1st reserve board at the 36th Chess Olympiad in Calvià (+5 –3 =1); and in 2006, on 1st reserve board at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin (+5 –1 =3). He has been selected for board 2 for the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden in 2008, behind Grandmaster Murray Chandler.

In May–June 2006, Wang gained the FIDE Master title and an IM norm at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin. He won in the 114th New Zealand Championship at Wanganui 2007, at the age of 17. In May 2007 he came away unbeaten in the Zonal Tournament of Oceania held in Fiji. He shared second place, behind Zhao Zong-Yuan of Australia, with a score of 6/9 that enabled him to be awarded the International Master (IM) title.

He was invited to the Euwe Stimulus Tournament in Arnhem, The Netherlands, 17–26 August 2007. It was an invitational tournament in the format of a nine-round Round Robin. Together with this group, ten players competed in a regional group. Players included Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua, Oscar Panno, Friðrik Ólafsson and Nona Gaprindashvili. The tournament was won by Amon Simutowe, and Wang was placed third.

He was not able to defend his New Zealand Champion title in January 2008 as he was due to sit an exam, but he did retain his Lightning title.

For the year 2008, Wang is taking a gap year before going to university to try to achieve the Grandmaster (GM) title. Wang will be travelling to Europe mid-February 2008 to play in several strong events to gain experience and gain opportunities to become New Zealand's second Grandmaster (after Murray Chandler). He is being supported and project managed in this by the New Zealand Chess Federation, and there was a "launch" at the 115th New Zealand Chess Congress in January 2008 of "Project Grandmaster". The New Zealand Chess Federation is seeking to provide the best tournament format and funding vehicle to maximise his chances for success, which they estimate a budget of $50,000 is required.

He began this European tour with the 24th Cappelle La Grande Open (16–23 February 2008) in Spain. Seeded 140th out of 612 players, he finished 71st with a score of 6/9 (+4, =4, -1) and tournament performance rating of 2425.

In 2014 he again became New Zealand Champion.

References

External links
Puchen Wang chess games at 365Chess.com

Howick Pakuranga Chess Club, includes details of Wang Puchen's progress and future events.

1990 births
Living people
Chess International Masters
New Zealand chess players
Chess Olympiad competitors
New Zealand people of Chinese descent

Puchen Wang


The Sprint Showdown and Sprint All-Star Race XXIV were run on Saturday, May 17, 2008, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, a suburb outside of Charlotte. The events were telecast live at 7 pm US EDT on Speed Channel with radio broadcast on MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio beginning at 6:15 pm US EDT.

The All-Star Race is an annual race that involves winners of the entire 2007 and 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races (known as the Nextel Cup Series in 2007) through the Dodge Challenger 500, either as a driver or team owner, and also includes past championship drivers of the Winston/Nextel Cup series from 1998 through 2007, as well as winning drivers from 2000 to 2007, known through this period as either "The Winston" or the "Nextel All-Star Challenge".

Eligible 2008 drivers

NOTE: Only the driver's first accomplishment is listed, as most of those drivers listed have attained more than one of the previously mentioned accomplishments to qualify.  All former All-Star Race winners are referenced by the current use of the Roman Numeral designation.  For example, Ryan Newman won All-Star Race XVIII, but he also won the 2008 Daytona 500. Sprint Cup champions of the past ten years, winners of Sprint All-Star Races XIV through XXIII, and all race winners (driver and owner) from the 2007 Daytona 500 through the 2008 Dodge Challenger 500 have exemptions into the race, as will the top two finishing drivers in the Sprint Showdown as well as the fan vote winner from said Showdown.

The following drivers were eligible:

+ – Dale Jarrett is retiring after the 2008 Food City 500 marking his final driving appearance.

§ – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is eligible as a past All-Star Race winner as a driver, while the No. 8 team is also eligible as Mark Martin, a past All-Star Race winner, is scheduled to drive in this race.

± – Kyle Busch and Casey Mears are eligible as both won races in 2007 for different teams.  Kyle Busch won the 2007 Food City 500 as the driver of the No. 5 team, while Mears won the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 with the No. 25 team (now the No. 88 team). Kyle Busch's No. 18 team won the 2008 Kobalt Tools 500 and 2008 Aaron's 499 and is eligible for the 2009 race as well.

≠ – Sprint All-Star Race XXIII Champion.

Race format

Sprint Showdown
The teams that have not qualified for the All-Star Race were in a 40-lap race divided into two "halves" (two 20-lap segments) with a five-lap break to allow for teams to have the option to make a pit stop. The top two drivers from this race, along with a fan ballot that selected the third (from the internet, Sprint cellular phone subscribers, Sprint retail locations, and on-site fan voting up to that night) among those on the lead lap and in the Top 50 in driver points will qualify for the main event.  The cell phone votes counted double those of the other methods. Qualifying was the standard NASCAR two-lap event, with the fastest lap counting, and Elliott Sadler winning said pole. However, during the first segment, Sadler was knocked out of the race when A. J. Allmendinger bumped him high into the Turn Two wall, and Allmendinger and Sam Hornish Jr. automatically qualified, while Kasey Kahne won the fan vote.

Sprint All-Star Race XXIV
The race format of four "quarters" (like football or professional basketball) was slightly modified this season.  In Sprint All-Star Race XXIII, the quarters were each 20 laps. This year, as announced at NASCAR's Media Tour, five laps were added to each segment to have a total of 100 laps (or four 25-lap quarters) in the race.  The remainder of the race format, adopted last year, was unchanged. The qualifying for this race is a three-lap cumulative timed event with a mandatory four-tire pit stop arriving at the pit road speed of 45 MPH but leaving as full throttle after either the first or second qualifying lap.  Kyle Busch took advantage of numerous miscues by others (including penalties for speed violations or loose lug nuts) to win the pole position. Kahne became the first to qualify from the fan vote to win, only taking a splash of gas to dominate the final quarter which, along with the rest of the race, went caution free.

Other events

The traditional skills challenge for the pit crews, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pit Crew Challenge presented by Craftsman, was held on Thursday night, May 15 at Time Warner Cable Arena.  This annual skills challenge again awarded prizes to top teams and individuals for the best demonstration of pit stop skills, including the main competition, a single-elimination tournament. The Team Red Bull crew of Brian Vickers' No.83 car won the event; however, since they had not won a race in the period prior to the All-Star main event, Joe Gibbs Racing's No.11 Denny Hamlin team got the first pick of the pit box to use on pit road for the All-Star Race as they were the runner-up and had won a race. Vickers failed to even make the main event, finishing fourth in the Showdown.
A new skills challenge took place just before the green flag of the Sprint Showdown.  In the Pennzoil Victory Challenge, five drivers simulated a burnout as if they had just won a race.  The winner was determined by the fastest time traveling from the start-finish line to victory lane, deducting penalties.  Drivers were in identically prepared cars supplied by the Richard Petty Driving Experience.  Greg Biffle won $10,000, to be donated to his self-named foundation charity.  The event lineup also included Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch.

References

NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
Sprint All-Star Race
NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
NASCAR All-Star Race

2008 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race


A fire hose is a big flexible tube that is easy to bend. It is used to bring water from a pump to put on a fire at a high intensity. Because the water is under high pressure, all fire hoses must be very strong. They come in several sizes.
Firefighting

Fire hose


Murray Langston (born 1945, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada) is a Canadian comedian and writer. His television work includes The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, Make Me Laugh, and The Gong Show.

Langston is best known, oddly enough, as The Unknown Comic – a comedian who appears onstage wearing a paper bag over his head. He first appeared as the Unknown Comic on The Gong Show. He did not want his true identity known, because an appearance on an amateur show could have hurt his comedy career, when he was already well-known.

Audiences liked the Unknown Comic, and Langston began to appear as that character on other shows, and in live performances. In time, Langston was as famous for the character as for himself. When he was finally unmasked in public (on a television show called Real People), the two careers became one. Langston has performed both as himself and as the Unknown Comic ever since.

Langston partly retired from his career during the 1990s, to focus on raising his daughter.

References

1945 births
Living people
Canadian television actors
Canadian comedians

The Unknown Comic


२०१० पुणे बाँबस्फोट १३ फेब्रुवारी, २०१० रोजी जर्मन बेकरीमध्ये घडवून आणला गेला. यात ९ व्यक्ती ठार तर ६० जखमी झाल्या.

The bakery, which is popular with tourists and locals alike, was busy at the time of the blast. An Italian woman and an Iranian student were among the nine killed. The bomb went off after a waiter opened an unattended bag and triggered an improvised explosive device. This is the first major terror attack in India since the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks. The German Bakery is located near a Jewish centre and the Osho ashram. The ashram and the bakery are frequented by foreigners.

The blast occurred just after three days of inter-ministerial meetings on dialogue between India and Pakistan.

Location and time

The site of the bombing was the German Bakery, a two-decade-old quaint and popular establishment in Pune. The bakery, situated on the ground floor of a corner building in the Koregaon Park area of Pune, was reduced to rubble, though the rest of the building was left intact. At the time of the explosion, the bakery's limited seating areas were full of students and foreign visitors from the nearby Osho Ashram. A security alert had been issued in October 2009 for a Jewish Chabad House in the vicinity of the German Bakery, but the German Bakery was not deemed to be at risk at the time. The bakery is located close to the Osho Ashram which is frequented by foreigners..

Initial media reports indicated that an LPG cylinder used for cooking had caused the blast, but the Pune City Fire Brigade issued a statement that the cylinders at German bakery were intact. Security agencies confirmed shortly thereafter that the explosion was a terrorist strike.

As in the case of several terrorist bombings in India in 2008, the blast occurred on a Saturday evening at approximately 7.15PM (IST).

Hypotheses about the perpetrators and motives
Indian authorities say they do not know who is behind the attacks.

In connection with the bomb blast, the Indian Home Secretary, G. K. Pillai referred to David Headley, a Pakistani-American businessman based in Chicago and accused of involvement with terrorism. News organizations have reported that Headley had visited Pune in July 2008 and March 2009 to scout the area near the blast and described him as a suspected member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the largest and most active South Asian Islamist terrorist organisations.

Speculation in India has mentioned both the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Indian Mujahideen.

The attack occurred just a few days after an agreement between India and Pakistan to resume dialogue at a meet on February 25 in New Delhi. Within the first few hours of the attack the Indian media had already started speculating the attack was aimed as a blow to such talks. "Investigators will doubtless establish the identity ... but the timing of the first major act of terrorism since 26/11 strongly indicates a likely motive: to ensure the forthcoming dialogue between India and Pakistan is sabotaged even before it has a chance to get off the ground."

Repercussions
The Maharashtra police had announced a probe was under way to establish the cause of the explosion, while a Central Bureau of Investigation team was sent from New Delhi to Pune to assist in the investigations. Consequently the entire country was put on high alert, especially Mumbai and Hyderabad. After a detailed review of the internal security situation in the wake of the attack, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directed the Union and Maharashtra governments to take coordinated and effective action to speedily investigate the terror attack. Hindu nationalist leaders blamed the attack on Pakistan and demanded the government call off the inter-ministerial talks, scheduled for Feb. 25 in New Delhi.

Investigation
Investigation in the blast is being done by Maharashtra governments Anti Terrorist Squad along with National Investigation Agency of Delhi. Maharashtra ATS Chief K P Raghuvanshi is heading the blast probe. The agency has got crucial CCTV footages of the alleged bombers.

प्रतिक्रिया

आंतरराष्ट्रीय प्रतिक्रिया
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the blast and indicated that the Pakistani government still wants the peace talks to go ahead.
ambassador Timothy J. Roemer condemned the Pune bombing. "On behalf of the people of the United States, I extend heartfelt sympathy to the Government of India and the victims of this tragic terrorist blast in Pune. The US remains shoulder-to-shoulder with India in the fight against terror and will assist as needed to help bring the perpetrators of this cowardly act to justice."
In a statement, the British High Commission condemned the Pune attack and expressed U.K.'s solidarity with India. "We condemn the cowardly attack on innocent people in Pune. The U.K. expresses its wholehearted solidarity with India. Our sympathies and condolences are with the families of all those affected in this incident," it said.

भारतातील प्रतिक्रिया
 - पंतप्रधान मनमोहन सिंगनी गृहमंत्री पी. चिदंबरमशी चर्चा करून या घटनेची तातडीने चौकशी करून "हे हीन कृत्य करणाऱ्या गुन्हेगारांचा शोध घ्यावा व लवकरात लवकर त्यांना शिक्षा केली जावी" असे सांगितले
 BJP president Nitin Gadkari described the Pune blast as an "unfortunate incident." In a statement, opposition leader Arun Jaitley said: "The BJP urges the government to reconsider both these steps: allowing persons from PoK to return and resuming the dialogue with Pakistan. Terror and talks cannot coexist."
The भारतीय कम्युनिस्ट पक्ष (मार्क्सवादी) condemned the Pune blast and asked the Union government to provide all help to Maharashtra to bring the guilty to book.

हेसुद्धा पहा
 List of terrorist incidents, 2010

References

बाह्य दुवे
 खबड हाउस, पुणे
 जर्मन बेकरी भागाचा नकाशा

भारतातील दहशतवादी हल्ले
पुणे
भारतात इस्लामिक दहशतवाद

२०१० पुणे बाँबस्फोट


Spiritual warfare is a Christian belief of fighting against bad supernatural forces (demons). The existence of bad spirits which can affect humans is the main idea for this belief system. Many Christian groups have used ideas of this movement to hold back these bad forces. These ideas mainly come from Christian demonology. A way to fight these forces is by using prayer. Exorcisms (removing demons), laying-on of hands, fasting, or anointing with oil are also used.

Famous believers in spiritual warfare

Billy Graham
Pope John Paul II
Gabriele Amorth
D. L. Moody
Billy Sunday
John Livingstone Nevius
Don Basham
Derek Prince
C. Peter Wagner
Merrill Unger

Criticism
Some well known people, such as Bill Ellis, Elliot Miller (Christian Research Institute),  and Gretchen Passantino have claimed that ideas in spiritual warfare are based on Christian stories that are not from the Bible. These stories are not considered true by Christians who believe that only the Bible is fact.

More reading
 James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy, eds., Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012).

Christian theology
Religious ethics

Spiritual warfare


Hangman's House is a 1928 romantic drama genre silent film set in County Wicklow, Ireland, directed by John Ford (uncredited) with inter-titles written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan. It is based on a novel by Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne.  It was adapted by Philip Klein with scenarios by Marion Orth.  The film is also notable for containing the first confirmed appearance by John Wayne in a John Ford film.

Plot

While stationed in Algiers, Commandant Denis Hogan receives a letter containing bad news and requests leave to return to his home country of Ireland, where he is a wanted man.  In Ireland, Baron James O'Brien is told by his doctor that he has no more than a month to live.  He decides to marry off his only daughter Connaught to a socialite, John D'Arcy, despite her love of childhood friend Dermot McDermot.

Hogan returns to Ireland and disguises himself as a holy man.  On his way to the O'Brien's house he is recognised by a gatekeeper, to whom he reveal his intention to kill a man.  Hogan meets Dermot McDermot and the three men witness the lights of Glenmalure's chapel being lit, signifying a wedding is taking place.  Later that night, after Connaught and D'Arcy have been wed, the Baron dies.  On the night of his funeral Hogan sneaks about the grounds of Hangman's House and is spotted by D'Arcy. D'Arcy tries to sleep with Connaught but she rejects his advances.

A community race is held on St. Stephen's Day and Connaught's horse, The Bard, is due to race. The horse's jockey goes missing just before the race because of interference from D'Arcy, who has bet against the horse.  Dermot is required to jockey the horse and he wins the race, leading a drunken D'Arcy to shoot The Bard.  D'Arcy is ostracised by the community because of this.  Hogan is arrested at the race.  At night Dermot and D'Arcy meet in a pub where D'Arcy reveals that he had an affair with Hogan's sister.  Dermot gives D'Arcy money to leave Ireland and threatens that if he ever sees him again, he will kill him.

Hogan escapes from prison and a gunfight erupts between his men and the guards. Dermot and Connaught visit Hogan's hideout and Hogan reveals that his sister died following D'Arcy's desertion.  Connaught returns to Hangman's House to discover that D'Arcy has returned.  After a struggle she flees to Dermot's house.  Hogan and Dermot go to Hangman's House and confront D'Arcy. During a fight between the men a fire breaks out and burns down the house.  Hogan and Dermot escape but D'Arcy falls to his death as a balcony collapses.  Connaught and Dermot see Hogan off at the port as he returns to Algiers.  Connaught and Dermot depart together as Hogan watches.

Cast
 Victor McLaglen as Citizen Denis Hogan
 June Collyer as Connaught "Conn" O'Brien
 Earle Fox as John D'Arcy
 Larry Kent as Dermot McDermot
 Hobart Bosworth as Lord Justice O'Brien
 John Wayne as Horse Race Spectator/Condemned Man in Flashback (uncredited)
 Brian Desmond Hurst as Horse Race Spectator and witness to the horse shooting (uncredited)

Production

The film began production in January 1928 and took seven weeks to film.

Reception

The film received positive reviews, Wilfred Beaton of Film Spectator called it "the finest program picture ever turned out by a studio".  In particular he praised the photography which he said "almost outdoes for sheer beauty the shots in Street Angel and Sunrise". Variety shared this opinion by proclaiming the film had "some of the most striking touches of composition seen on the screen since those swampland shots in Sunrise, which they often resemble." However the film was not a box office success as Fox Film Corporation did not promote the film.

Home media
The film was released on DVD in North America by Fox on December 4, 2007.  The film can be obtained three different ways:
 In the Ford at Fox - The Collection box set which is a 21 disc collection containing most of the films John Ford made at Fox.
 In the Ford At Fox Collection: John Ford's Silent Epics which also contains Just Pals, Four Sons, The Iron Horse and 3 Bad Men.
 As a separate release also containing 3 Bad Men on the opposite side of the disc.

The DVD begins with a disclaimer stating that the film has been brought to DVD using the best surviving elements possible. The DVD has an option to view the film accompanied with a musical score by Tim Curran.

See also
 John Wayne filmography
 List of American films of 1928

References

External links

1928 films
American black-and-white films
American silent feature films
Films directed by John Ford
Fox Film films
Films set in Ireland
1928 romantic drama films
1920s American films
Silent American romantic drama films

Hangman's House


Novafeltria is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Rimini, in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna.

Geography
The town is located about  southeast of Bologna and about  south of Rimini. It is the main center of the Montefeltro traditional region. It is located on the Marecchia river.

History
Until 1941 it was known as Mercatino Marecchia (). The current Town Hall was the 17th century residence of Counts of Segni from Bologna.

After the referendum of 17 and 18 December 2006, Novafeltria was detached from the Province of Pesaro and Urbino (Marche) to join Emilia-Romagna and the Province of Rimini on 15 August 2009.

People
Ivan Graziani, Italian singer-songwriter

References

External links
 Official website

Cities and towns in Emilia-Romagna

Novafeltria


Sergei "Serge" Malatov (Ukrainian: Сергій Малатов) is a fictional character on the HBO drama series The Wire, played by Chris Ashworth. He acts as a driver and enforcer for The Greek. He is Ukrainian, although Americans often assume he is Russian. He hates this and their subsequent tendency to nickname him "Boris". He is responsible for picking up containers of smuggled goods from the port and taking them to The Greek's front warehouse to be fenced.

Biography
Malatov is a trusted lieutenant in The Greek's import business. He is said by White Mike to be "straight muscle." When vodka, appliances, electronics, drugs or Eastern Bloc women destined to be prostitutes arrive in Baltimore, Sergei ensures the cargo is delivered to The Greek's associates in the city. He mentions that he has spent four years in prison in Ukraine, and that American prisons are nowhere near as harsh.

Season two
Sergei is supposed to collect fourteen prostitutes hidden in a cargo container from the docks, but when he does not receive the all-clear signal from The Greek's accomplice on the ship which delivered the women, he abandons the container on the waterfront. The Greek later learns that the women were killed, and Sergei is sent to the Philadelphia port (the ship's next destination) to find the crewman.

He infiltrates the port and captures the crewman. When The Greek and Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos arrive, the crewman tells them everything about how the women were killed, and Spiros murders him. Sergei is charged with disposing of the body and The Greek instructs him to make sure there is no face or fingerprints. The body is later found and identified by a tattoo.

Sergei is friendly with drug kingpin Proposition Joe, who is supplied by The Greek. He intervenes on behalf of Nick Sobotka — because The Greek needs Nick and his uncle Frank's help to smuggle containers off of cargo ships — when Ziggy Sobotka gets into debt with Proposition Joe's nephew, Cheese.

He is ruthless in his work, and thorough in clean-up. When a drug dealer asks whether a recently found body was his handiwork, he retorts "Did he have hands? Did he have a face? Yes? Then it wasn't us. Idiot!" As most of the US population is not in police/federal DNA records (minus convicted felons, military, etc.), a body that has neither fingerprints, a recognizable appearance, or intact teeth is generally impossible to identify.

When security camera footage of him abducting the crewman is discovered by a police detail investigating the deaths of the girls and smuggling on the docks, Sergei is persuaded to become an informer and turn on The Greek and Spiros, but The Greek has already escaped. After the events on season 2, Sergei was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and sent to Jessup penitentiary to serve out his sentence.

Season five
Several years later, as rising kingpin Marlo Stanfield gets a line on Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos and the Greeks, he has Chris Partlow investigate the port investigation, as well as Sergei's criminal record at the courthouse. Upon learning that Sergei is locked up in Jessup, Marlo arranges a meeting with him. Initially, Marlo's access to Sergei is blocked by Avon Barksdale, who is effectively running the criminal activities within the prison, but after Marlo makes a payment to Avon's sister, Avon grants Marlo access to Sergei.

Sergei, despite receiving a great deal of money from Marlo, is disrespectful and states that he does not need Marlo's help or money. However, Marlo points out that Sergei can win back some favor with the Greeks if he gets a message to Vondas regarding Marlo's intentions to do business with them. Avon encourages Sergei to cooperate with Marlo, and Sergei, realizing that Marlo is right that he can claim some credit if the deal happens, agrees to get in touch with Vondas.

References

The Wire characters
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional career criminals
Fictional Ukrainian people
Television characters introduced in 2003
Fictional smugglers
Fictional gangsters
Drug dealers of The Wire
Henchmen of The Wire
Shipyard associates of The Wire
Male characters in television

Sergei Malatov


A meridian is an imaginary line of longitude drawn along the surface of the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole.

Geographers today measure these lines from what they call the Prime Meridian. It is the line of longitude that goes through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich, England. They decided this at the 1884 International Meridian Conference.

Meridians, as lines of longitude, are measured in degrees. The Prime Meridian, as the starting point, is 0 (zero) degrees. Lines west of the Prime Meridian are either called west, as in "the longitude of Los Angeles, California is 118 degrees west", or as a negative number: "the longitude of Los Angeles, California is -118 degrees". Going the other direction, east of the Prime Meridian is always said as a positive number: "The longitude of Mecca is about 40 degrees east," or just "The longitude of Mecca is about 40 degrees."

Related pages
Eastern Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
International Date Line

Lines of longitude

Meridian


Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, according to the Hebrew Bible. She is most known for the biblical narrative in which she had an affair with King David, who had seen her bathing and lusted after her. This affair resulted in the birth of Solomon, who succeeded David as king, making her the Queen mother.
Old Testament people

Bathsheba


Aswan (, population 200,000) is a city in the south of Egypt and the capital of the Aswan Governorate. It is on the east bank of the Nile and is a busy market and tourist center.

Aswan is one of the driest places in the world where people live; as of early 2001, the last rain there was 6 years earlier. As of October 13, 2007, the last rainfall was a thunderstorm on May 13, 2006. In Nubian settlements, the people often do not put a roof over all of the rooms in their houses.

Related pages
 Aswan Dam

Cities in Egypt
Aswan Governorate

Aswan


Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow ( in Berlin –  in Sachsenhausen) was a German writer notable in the Young Germany movement of the mid-19th century.

Life
Gutzkow was born of an extremely poor family, not proletarian, but of the lowest and most menial branch of state employees. His father held a clerkship in the war office in Berlin, and was pietistic and puritanical in his outlook and demands. Jacob Wittmer Hartmann speculates that Gutzkow's later agnosticism was probably a reaction against the excessive religiosity of his early surroundings. After completing his basic studies, beginning in 1829 Gutzkow studied theology and philosophy at the University of Berlin, where his teachers included Hegel and Schleiermacher.

While still a student, he began his literary career by the publication in 1831 of a periodical entitled Forum der Journalliteratur. This brought him to the notice of Wolfgang Menzel, who invited him to Stuttgart to assist in the editorship of the Literaturblatt. At the same time he continued his university studies at Jena, Heidelberg and Munich. In 1832 he published Briefe eines Narren an eine Närrin anonymously in Hamburg; and in 1833 his novel Maha-Guru, Geschichte eines Gottes, a fantastic and satirical romance set in Tibet, was issued in Stuttgart by the well known  publishing house. In 1835 he went to Frankfurt, where he founded the Deutsche Revue. While Gutzkow started out as a collaborator of Wolfgang Menzel, he ended up his adversary.

Also in 1835, his novel Wally die Zweiflerin appeared.  News of the 1830 July Revolution at Paris had moved him deeply, and the general atmosphere of radicalism pervading Europe at that time, and perhaps more specifically a reading of the Life of Jesus by David Friedrich Strauss, influenced Gutzkow in the composition of this first novel, which exalts the agnosticism and emancipated views of the heroine, Wally. The work was directed specially against the institution of marriage and the belief in revelation. The book incorporates many ideas that Gutzkow had recently absorbed from French writers, notably Henri de Saint-Simon, particularly the latter's theory of the emancipation of the flesh.

Immediately after its publication, the writings of Gutzkow, together with those of Heinrich Heine, Heinrich Laube, Ludolf Wienbarg and Theodor Mundt, were banned by the German Federal Assembly in December 1835. This is usually taken as the starting point of the school known as Young Germany, literary reformers heralding the democratic upheaval of 1848. Whatever interest Gutzkow's novel might have attracted from its own merits was enhanced by the action of the German federal diet, which condemned Gutzkow to three months' imprisonment, decreed the suppression of all he had written or might yet write, and prohibited him from exercising the functions of editor within the German confederation.

During his term of imprisonment at Mannheim, Gutzkow wrote his treatise Zur Philosophie der Geschichte (1836). On obtaining his freedom he returned to Frankfurt, whence he went in 1837 to Hamburg. Here he inaugurated a new epoch of his literary activity by bringing out his tragedy Richard Savage (1839), which immediately made the round of all the German theatres. Of his numerous other plays, the majority by c. 1910 were neglected; but a few had obtained an established place in the repertory of the German theatre, especially the comedies Zopf und Schwert (1844), Das Urbild des Tartüffe (1847), Der Königsleutnant (1849) and the blank verse tragedy, Uriel Acosta (1847). In 1847, Gutzkow went to Dresden, where he succeeded Tieck as literary adviser to the court theatre. Meanwhile, he had not neglected the novel. Seraphine (1838) was followed by Blasedow und seine Söhne, a satire on the educational theories of the time. Between 1850 and 1852 appeared Die Ritter vom Geiste, which may be regarded as the starting point for the modern German social novel. Der Zauberer von Rom is a powerful study of Roman Catholic life in southern Germany.

After the success of Die Ritter vom Geiste, Gutzkow founded a journal on the model of Dickens' Household Words, entitled Unterhaltungen am häuslichen Herd, which first appeared in 1852 and continued until 1862. In 1864 he had an epileptic seizure, and his theatrical powers began to diminish. To this period belong the historical novels Hohenschwangau (1868) and Fritz Ellrodt (1872), Lebensbilder (1870–1872), consisting of autobiographic sketches, and Die Söhne Pestalozzis (1870), with a plot founded on the story of Kaspar Hauser. After another epileptic episode Gutzkow journeyed to Italy in 1873, taking up residence in the country near Heidelberg on his return before moving again to Frankfurt, where he died on 16 December 1878.

With his play Uriel Acosta and other works, Gutzkow stood up for the emancipation of the Jews; this play would later become the first classic play to be translated into Yiddish, and become a longtime standard of Yiddish theater. Gutzkow was never a revolutionary, and he became more conservative with age. He was one of the first Germans who tried to make a living by writing. His strong controversial purpose obscured his artistic genius, but his work profoundly influenced the popular thought of c. 1910 Germany, and gives one of the best pictures we have of the intellectual life and the social struggle of his generation and nation.

Adaptations
His comedy in 5 acts Zopf und Schwert (1844) received two adaptations; in 1926 Aafa-Film made the movie Sword and Shield, and Edmund Nick used it for his operetta Über alles siegt die Liebe (Love Conquers Everything, 1940), libretto by .

References

External links

German non-fiction writers
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
University of Jena alumni
Heidelberg University alumni
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
1811 births
1878 deaths
Writers from Berlin
Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery
German male novelists
German male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German novelists
19th-century German dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German male writers
German male non-fiction writers

Karl Gutzkow


Geta are traditional Japanese sandals. They are stilted to keep the hem of a kimono above the ground. They are worn with tabi socks. Geta makes the person's feet stay out of the mud.

Usually Japanese people wear them with a casual kimono rather than formal one. It is common to wear them with bare feet when a yukata is worn. Also they are worn with western clothes.
Today, in Japan, most people rarely wear kimono and rarely wear geta. One reason for this is most gravel roads were changed to asphalt roads for Tokyo Olympic. Since 1995, the number of people who wear geta casually increased because of the pretty looks and sounds. In addition, the popularity of geta grew little by little through trend for yukata. At one time, Japanese people thought that it is hard to walk with geta and sometimes get injured by hanao. Hanao is a rope which is set between the big toe and second toe when geta are worn. However, because of efforts by yukata makers and footwear makers, Japanese people are starting to like to wear geta again.

Footwear
Japanese clothing

Geta (footwear)


Makaton is a set of simple sign language and black-and-white symbols (pictures) which are used alongside simple talk. Makaton is a sign language that is free to teach other people but it is also sold, taught, guarded and checked up on by the business which started it. Makaton started with simple ordinary English and British Sign Language hand-signs; the pictures were added later. It is now used all over the world and changed for the country it is used in. It uses the same hand-signs as the sign language of the country it is used in but not in the same way. For example, in Britain, Makaton hand-signing is mostly made from BSL (British Sign Language), but the signs are used in a different order alongside the simple spoken words.

Makaton is mainly taught to children and adults with special needs in speech and language, with or without hearing problems, by teachers, teaching assistants and childcare practitioners, carers or caregivers such as parents, grandparents, foster carers, other friends and family, and  specialist clinicians such as speech and language therapists.  Makaton is also popular to use with babies - "baby signing".

In British television, Justin Fletcher uses Makaton signing in Something Special, a series of television programmes aimed at children with special needs shown on CBeebies. It was also used by Dave Benson Phillips while telling nursery rhymes on BBC children's television years earlier than this.

In schools and nursery schools and childcare as well as at home Makaton signs and symbols are often used alongside other ways of talking and showing like photographs and "PECS", which are drawn colour pictures of parts of a routine, like washing hands, eating a snack, or using the toilet. This way of using different ways of showing routines and making requests for people with communication problems is sometimes called "total communication".

Sign languages
Disability

Makaton


The ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) is one of the three sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); it is responsible for creating policies, regulation and providing training programs and financial strategies in developing countries.

Created in 1992, its secretariat is the Bureau de développement des télécommunications (BDT), known in English as the Telecommunication Development Bureau.

References

External links
Official website

D
Internet governance organizations

ITU-D