Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay on the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Conservation Lands, while a small portion remains an active military installation under Army control designated as the Ord Military Community.

Before construction and official designation as a fort in 1940, the land was used as a maneuver area and field-artillery target range during 1917. Fort Ord was considered one of the most attractive locations of any U.S. Army post, because of its proximity to the beach and California weather. The 7th Infantry Division was its main garrison for many years. When Fort Ord was converted to civilian use, space was set aside for the first nature reserve in the United States created for conservation of an insect, the endangered Smith's blue butterfly. Additional endangered species are found on Fort Ord, including Contra Costa goldfields and the threatened California tiger salamander.

While much of the old military buildings and infrastructure remain abandoned, many structures have been torn down for anticipated development. California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and the Fort Ord Dunes State Park, along with some subdivisions, the Veterans Transition Center, a commercial strip mall, a recreational skydiving facility, military facilities and a nature preserve occupy the area today.

On April 20, 2012, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation designating a  portion of the former post as the Fort Ord National Monument. In his proclamation, the President stated that, "The protection of the Fort Ord area will maintain its historical and cultural significance, attract tourists and recreationalists from near and far, and enhance its unique natural resources, for the enjoyment of all Americans."

History

After the American entry into World War I, land was purchased just north of the city of Monterey along Monterey Bay for use as an artillery training field for the United States Army by the U.S. Department of War. The area was known as the Gigling Reservation, U.S. Field Artillery Area, Presidio of Monterey and Gigling Field Artillery Range. Although military development and construction was just beginning, the war only lasted for another year and a half until the armistice in November 11, 1918.

Despite a great demobilization of the U.S. Armed Forces during the inter-war years of the 1920s and 1930s, by 1933, the artillery field became Camp Ord, named in honor of Union Army Maj. Gen. Edward Otho Cresap Ord, (1818–1883). Primarily, horse cavalry units trained on the camp until the military began to mechanize and train mobile combat units such as tanks, armored personnel carriers and movable artillery.

By 1940, the 23-year-old Camp Ord was expanded to , with the realization that the two-year-old conflict of World War II could soon cross the Atlantic Ocean to involve America. In August 1940, it was re-designated Fort Ord and the 7th Infantry Division was reactivated, becoming the first major unit to occupy the post. Sub camps were built around the Fort to support the new training of Troops, Camp Clayton. Camp Clayton was built near CA Highway 1, the South Dakota National Guard 147th Artillery were the first unit to train at the new camp.

In 1941, Camp Ord became Fort Ord. But soon the first threat came from the west as the Imperial Japanese Navy struck the island of Oahu, Hawaii at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu in an unannounced air attack, Sunday, December 7, 1941. In a few days the other Axis powers, such as Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, along with Fascist Italy of Benito Mussolini, declared and spread their war in Europe against Great Britain and France and the Low Countries to the U.S.

The end of the war came with the surrenders of Germany, in May, and Japan, in September 1945. The soon onset of a Cold War against the Soviet Union caused tensions continued for the next forty some years into the early 1990s. In 1947, Fort Ord became the home of the 4th Replacement Training Center. During the 1950s and 1960s, Fort Ord was a staging area for units departing for war in the Korean War and later peacetime/occupation duty in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines and Thailand. Then, when Southeast Asia became a war zone with Vietnam (and later involving, by the 1970s, Cambodia and Laos), the United States had, at one time, 50,000 troops on the installation. The 194th Armored Brigade was activated there under Combat Development Command in 1957, but departed for Fort Knox in Kentucky in 1960.

Between 1952 and 1954 the Del E. Webb Construction Company was hired to construct some 42 new permanent buildings to make Fort Ord a permanent Army post. The total cost of construction was more than $20,000,000. The first buildings completed were dormitories followed by a guard house and stockade. Additional buildings constructed as part of the plan were an administrative headquarters building, quartermaster warehouses, and an improved water storage system. There were a total of 31 dormitory buildings that could house 7,000 men.

In 1957, land on the eastern side of the post was used to create the Laguna Seca Raceway which served to replace the Pebble Beach road racing course that ceased operations for safety reasons in that same year.

The post continued as a center for instruction of basic and advanced infantrymen until 1976, when the training area was deactivated and Fort Ord again became the home of the 7th Infantry Division, following their return from South Korea after twenty-five years on the DMZ ("demilitarized zone").

On July 14, 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed placement of Fort Ord on the National Priorities List (NPL). The site contained leaking underground petroleum storage tanks, a  landfill that was primarily used to dispose of residential waste and small amounts of commercial waste generated by the base, a former fire drill area, motor pool maintenance areas, small dump sites, small arms target ranges, an  firing range, and other limited areas that posed threats from unexploded ordnance. NPL status was finalized on February 21, 1990.

The final basic training classes were held in 1976.

Closing the Fort, 1994
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission of 1991 recommended closing the post and moving the units stationed at Fort Ord to Fort Lewis, Washington. On May 2, 1992, Army elements from Fort Ord along with Marines from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton participated in quelling the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In 1994, Fort Ord was finally closed. Most of the land was returned to the State of California for further public use and became the home of CSUMB. The remainder was given to University of California, Santa Cruz to be developed into the "UC MBEST" (Monterey Bay Education, Science and Technology) Center. The MBEST Center is a regional economic development effort focused on developing collaborative research-business opportunities in the Monterey Bay region.

Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA)
The Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA) is responsible for the oversight of Monterey Bay area economic recovery from the closure of and reuse planning of the former Fort Ord. The military base was located on the California coastline near the Monterey Peninsula, consisting of  of land. FORA implements this legislatively mandated mission by overseeing replacement land use; assuring compliance with adopted measures; removing physical barriers to reuse; financing and constructing major components of the required infrastructure and basewide demands; and protecting identified environmental reserves. FORA exercises its planning, financing, and monitoring responsibilities under state law authority to meet these objectives in the best interest of the northern Monterey Bay community.

FORA is small multi-governmental body, composed of elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as representatives from the United States Armed Forces and educational bodies such as CSUMB at the primary, secondary, and university levels. Voting members are made up of representatives from the cities of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Del Rey Oaks, Marina, Sand City, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Salinas, and Seaside as well as two representatives from the County of Monterey Ex-officio members are composed of representatives from the Monterey Peninsula Community College District, the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, California's 17th congressional district, California's 15th State Senate district, California's 27th State Assembly district, the United States Army, the Chancellor of the California State University, the President of the University of California, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, and the Transportation Agency of Monterey County.

This legislatively mandated mission is directed by FORA's 1997 Fort Ord Base Reuse Plan (Reuse Plan). In 2012, FORA performed a comprehensive Reuse Plan Reassessment to assess remaining work.

Ongoing environmental cleanup efforts

The Army's Fort Ord cleanup project
The Army's environmental cleanup of the former Fort Ord has been underway since the base was closed and is separated into two programs — the Soil and Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Program, and the Munitions and Explosives of Concern (MEC) Program. A Federal Facility Agreement was signed by the Army, EPA, California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board Central Coast Region in 1990. Additionally, the Army provides oversight on FORA's cleanup program, called the Environmental Services Cooperative Agreement (see below).

FORA's privatized cleanup project
In May 2007, the Fort Ord Reuse Authority voluntarily entered into an Administrative Order on Consent with EPA and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) for the cleanup of  of Fort Ord land. The Army and EPA provide the necessary oversight on the project, referred to as FORA's Environmental Services Cooperative Agreement (ESCA). Under this privatized cleanup scheme, FORA received these properties through early transfer and is responsible for the cleanup of these specific areas of Fort Ord. The Administrative Order on Consent requires FORA to clean up the parcels to an extent that would protect human health and environment.

Present-day Fort Ord

Fort Ord's former military golf courses, Bayonet and Black Horse, are, as of January 16, 1997, public golf courses. They have hosted PGA golf events and were recently renovated.

California State University, Monterey Bay
California State University, Monterey Bay opened on the Fort's former ground shortly after Fort Ord's closing in 1994 as part of 42nd President Bill Clinton's "peace dividends" program. The University has currently enrolled more than 7,500 students. The Leon Panetta Institute (named for the former U.S. Representative and Secretary of Defense) is located on its campus. Schoonover, Frederick and Frederick II are housing developments located in the former Fort Ord created for students and families who are associated with CSUMB, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District and local school districts. All three parks are accessible off of Abrams Drive.

Veterans Transition Center
The Veterans Transition Center (VTC) is located on the site of the former Fort Ord. Since its inception it has served 4,155 single veterans and 351 veterans with families.  the center is looking to expand by adding more housing units and a non-profit store (to be run by partner company, Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists Inc.) with the express purpose of employing as many veterans as possible.

Fort Ord Dunes State Park and National Monument

In 2009, a coastal strip overlooking Monterey Bay became California's newest state park, Fort Ord Dunes State Park. At the end of Gigling Road, where the DOD Building is located, is one of many entrances to the Fort Ord National Monument; the land underwent comprehensive remediation that involved an extensive munitions clean-up. There are more than  of recreational trails available. They are used by the trail communities on foot, on bicycles, and on horseback. All open trails are available to all non-motorized trail user groups. A small number of trails are fenced along their edges because of possible unexploded ordnance.

On January 13, 2012, United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar visited Fort Ord, addressed a crowd of 200 supporters and announced that he was proposing to President Obama that Fort Ord be elevated to national monument status. On April 20, 2012, Barack Obama signed a Presidential Proclamation establishing Fort Ord National Monument.

Fort Ord National Monument refers to that land on the former Fort Ord that is administered by the Bureau of Land Management and is open to the general public. The BLM currently manages 7,200 acres and will manage 14,650 acres after the U.S. Army finishes environmental restoration on the remaining parcel.

As of May 2018, Fort Ord National Monument has extended its trail system to add bypass and spur trails to popular areas.

Remaining military presence
A small portion of the former Fort Ord still remains under U.S. Army control, originally called the Presidio of Monterey (POM) Annex. It is now called the Ord Military Community (described below).

The military is still present at Fort Ord, in the form of several California Army National Guard units, facilities administered by the Presidio of Monterey, the Defense Manpower Data Center, and the continued operation of the base Army and Air Force Exchange Service PX and a Commissary catering to the active duty military stationed in the Monterey area as well as reservists, national guardsmen, and military retirees who chose to settle in the area and are entitled to shop at such facilities. Management of the military housing has been outsourced to private firms, but the homes are still occupied by personnel stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, the Naval Postgraduate School and retired military members.

Development
The nearby city of Marina is developing a large parcel of land from the former Fort Ord within its city limits, building more than 1,000 new homes. A large commercial strip mall along Highway 1 at the former 12th Street Gate entrance to Fort Ord opened in late 2007, and houses popular retail stores. The City of Marina is planning a 13-mile recreation trail to run through Fort Ord to the Fort Ord National Monument, the Salinas River, and through Fort Ord Dunes State Park.

As of December 2014, some of the land for a proposed development project (Monterey Downs) will not be officially clear of unexploded ordnance until at least late 2017.

List of development projects
City of Marina
University Villages/Dunes on Monterey Bay
Sea Haven
Imjin Office Park
Cypress Knolls (senior-oriented residential community)
City of Seaside
Seaside Resort
Main Gate Retail Center
Central Coast Veterans Cemetery
City of Del Rey Oaks
Del Rey Oaks Resort (currently on hold)
County of Monterey
East Garrison

Miscellaneous

World War II Warhorse Hospital

The Fort Ord Station Veterinary Hospital at the Marina Equestrian Center Park in Marina was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, by the Friends of the Fort Ord Warhorse. This is the first such designation on Fort Ord. The history is detailed at. The Fort Ord SVH was built for the Army Veterinary Corps as an equine veterinary hospital in 1941 to serve the 1400 horses of the 76th Field Artillery Regiment, cavalry, and quartermaster mule-train units. This is the only remaining example of a major World War II-construction medical facility for warhorses. Twelve of the original twenty-one World War II stables for the horses and mules were about 200 yards away, on Fourth Avenue and Gen Jim Moore Boulevard, but were demolished by CSUMB in 2011.

Stilwell Hall
Stilwell Hall was an immense, 52,000-square-foot (4,800 m2) building that stood on a precipice at the edge of the Pacific across from the former Fort Ord military installation.

The building was constructed between November 1940 and September 1943 under the initiative of General Joseph W. Stilwell. It served as a recreational facility for military members for just over fifty years before Fort Ord was closed in 1994. Abandoned, Stilwell Hall fell into disrepair and was torn down in 2003 after severe coastal erosion threatened to cause the structure, filled with asbestos and lead-paint, to collapse into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Notable people

Nick Bacon, (Basic Training 1963) Medal of Honor recipient for actions in the Vietnam War.
Nick Bockwinkel (stationed at Fort Ord 1958–1960), professional wrestler.
Major General Paul W. Brier, former Commanding General of 4th Marine Division, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe, and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Africa. Born on Ft. Ord in September 1959.
Michelle Boulos, nationally competitive figure skater.
Grey DeLisle, voice actress.
Joe DiMaggio, professional baseball player.
Clint Eastwood, (swimming pool lifeguard); actor and director; later became a restaurateur and mayor in nearby Carmel.
Herm Edwards, NFL player and coach; his father was stationed at Ford Ord.
Jamie Farr, actor.
Jerry Garcia, musician and co-founder of the Grateful Dead.
Jimi Hendrix, musician; was at Fort Ord in May 1961 for basic training.
David Janssen, actor.
Cindy K. Jorgenson, District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
James Lofton, professional football player, coach, and commentator, born at Fort Ord in 1956.
Ollie Matson, Pro Football Hall of Fame football player, Olympic medal winner.
Scott Melville, professional tennis player.
Martin Milner, actor on Route 66 and Adam-12.
Lieutenant General Harold G. Moore, author, and former commander of Fort Ord.
Matthew Morrison, actor and singer.
Lennie Niehaus, jazz musician, film and television composer
Leonard Nimoy, actor, producer, singer and director.
General Raymond T. Odierno, former battalion commander; and formerly Army Chief of Staff.
Jaina Lee Ortiz, actor and dancer.
Alan Osmond, singer, musician, performer and leader of The Osmonds.
Ken Osmond, police officer, actor on Leave It to Beaver.
Steve Owens, Heisman Trophy winner, 1969.
Blake Percival, whistleblower.
Wally Rank, professional basketball player.
Ron Rivera, head coach of the NFL's Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders
Sapphire, author.
John Saxon, actor.
General Joseph Stilwell, World War II commander.
Major General Charles H. Swannack, Jr., battalion commander who went on to command the 82nd Airborne Division.
Brigadier General Huba Wass de Czege, one of the Army's leading strategists in the 1980s.
Jan-Michael Vincent, actor, received basic training as a helicopter mechanic in 1967.

In popular culture
The 1951 film The Lady Says No with David Niven was filmed at Fort Ord.
The 1956 film The Girl He Left Behind with Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood was filmed at Fort Ord.
The 1963 film Soldier in the Rain with Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen was also filmed at Fort Ord.
The 1980 film Private Benjamin featured a photo of moored yachts at Fort Ord during a recruitment scene being used as an inducement.
The television series MythBusters frequently used the streets of an abandoned housing development in Fort Ord for testing that involves driving a car.
Fort Ord is the location of Dave Egger's 2014 novel Your Fathers, Where Are They?.

See also
 Fort Ord Army Airfield
 Rancho Laguna Seca
 California during World War II
 List of national monuments of the United States

References

Further reading
 Ed Salven (2006), The Soldier Factory. A Fort Ord Vietnam War veteran chronicles his personal history as a soldier and reflecting upon a return visit to the fort in the late 1990s. The book includes color reproductions of paintings of soldiers that Salven found as he explored the grounds; the paintings had been rendered by students from CSUMB and suspended from barracks windows.

External links

 Bureau of Land Management: official Fort Ord National Monument website
 Army's Fort Ord Environmental Cleanup Web site
 Fort Ord, California - History & Photos
 Fort Ord Reuse Authority
 Planet Ord—comprehensive contemporary documentation of Fort Ord

Installations of the United States Army in California
1917 establishments in California
2012 establishments in California
Buildings and structures in Monterey County, California
Bureau of Land Management areas in California
California State University, Monterey Bay
Formerly Used Defense Sites in California
Ord
History of Monterey County, California
History of the Monterey Bay Area
Military installations closed in 1994
Military installations established in 1917
Military Superfund sites
National Monuments designated by Barack Obama
Fort Ord National Monument
National Register of Historic Places in Monterey County, California
Protected areas established in 2012
Protected areas of Monterey County, California
Superfund sites in California
Fort Ord National Monument

Fort Ord


Dom Juan, or The Feast with a Stone Statue is a play by Molière. It was first performed on February 15, 1660, in the Theatre of the Palais-Royal, Paris. The play is about the legendary libertine, Don Juan. It ends with him going to Hell when he refuses to repent his sins. The play was one of the source materials used by Lorenzo da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when they wrote the opera, Don Giovanni.

Plays by Molière
1660s plays

Dom Juan


Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy. Religions, and religious beliefs can manifest themselves in different ways. Philosophy of religion looks into explaining certain answers to questions of religion using understanding. It is also looks into different ways religions are practiced and their importance for the everyday lives of the people practicing them. Other domains of it include criticism and analysis of religious texts using philosophy of language.

According to Winfried Löffler, philiosphers of religion can be grouped as follows. Many of the philosophers mentioned belong to more than one group:

 Analysis of religious feelings: The analysis focuses on looking at the typical feelings a religion evokes. Philiosphers include Friedrich Schleiermacher and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
 Question about the essence of religion. Philiosphers include Rudolf Otto,Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Martin Heidegger.
 Analysis of the language a religion uses
 Relationship of a religious an non-religious explanation for a phenomenon. Philiosphers include Richard Swinburne and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
 Rationality or irrationality of religion: Is there / Can there be a rational explaation for religious phenomena. Examples of these are "proofs" for or against the existence of God, and Theodicy. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was the first to talk about theodicy.

Philosophy of religion also looks at more practical matters like defining the features that make up a religion. There are two main schools of thought. The one called Essentialist says that all religions have a common"essence". The following have been proposed:
 They relate to one or more gods.
 There is a belief in spiritual superhuman beings
 There is something holy or sacred, which in someway is also accessible by humans.
The problem with this is that using only these definitions leas to a common "philiosphy of religion" that is harly usable for studies. The other approach (called "functional") tries to counter this: Rather than trying to get an "abstract idea" of religion, it looks at the use or function religion has in the live of people or societies. Among the things mentioned are that religions help keep a psychological equilibrium and that they provide a certain amount of stability to a society. Thinkers with this opion include Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Bronisław Malinowski and Talcott Parsons. Critics of these theories say that such explanations often go against common sense, as religions can also have the popposite effect to that mentioned.

Other topics include arguments for the existence of God, the problem of evil, divine attributes and the relationship between science and religion.

Important philosophers of religion include Thomas Aquinas, Augustine and Alvin Plantinga. Philosophers of religion can be religious or non-religious

Related pages
 Hindu philosophy
 Islamic philosophy

Branches of philosophy
Religion

Philosophy of religion


A coronation is a ceremony that gives a monarch regal or royal power or recognizes that power. The power is symbolized by putting a crown upon his or her head. We say that the king or queen is "crowned" at the coronation.

The ritual with anointing may have a religious meaning. Coronations are not as common now as in the past, although in some countries such as Great Britain it is still normal to hold the ceremony to install a new king or queen.

Related pages
 Enthronement
 Inauguration

Royalty and nobility
Monarchy

Coronation


Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales.  Its top is known as Yr Wyddfa (Old Welsh meaning "the grave").  The English name Snowdon comes from Saxon "Snow Dun", meaning "snow hill".

It is in Snowdonia National Park. As the highest mountain in Wales, Snowdon is one of three mountains climbed as part of the  Three Peaks Challenge.

References

Mountains of the United Kingdom
Geography of Wales

Snowdon


James Hebblethwaite (22 September 1857 – 13 September 1921) was an English-born Australian poet, teacher and clergyman.

Life
Hebblethwaite was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, the son of William Hebblethwaite, a corn miller, and his wife Margaret, née Cundall. His family was originally prosperous but later suffered heavy financial losses, and Hebblethwaite practically educated himself by gaining scholarships. Hebblethwaite was at St John's College, Battersea, London in 1877-8, and entering on a teaching life became headmaster of a board school, and lecturer in English at the Harris Institute, Preston.

In 1892 Hebblethwaite emigrated to Tasmania for health reasons, and obtained a position on the staff of the Friends' School, Hobart. In 1896 a little volume, Verse, was published at Hobart. About this time he entered the Congregational ministry, and in 1899 was principal of Queen's College, Latrobe, Tasmania. In 1900 A Rose of Regret was published. He was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England in 1903 and in 1904 became a priest. He was vicar of George Town, Tasmania, from 1905 to 1908, Swansea, Tasmania,  from 1908 to 1909, and D'Entrecasteaux Channel from 1909 to 1916, when he retired. Another volume, Meadow and Bush, had appeared in 1911, and a collected edition of his poems in 1920. New Poems was published in 1921 and he died in that year. In addition to his poetry he wrote a novel, Castle Hill, published in England in 1895. He was twice married and left a widow and one son.

Hebblethwaite was a man of charming personality. Apparently immersed in a world of dreams, he never allowed himself to neglect his work as a parish clergyman. He was interested in his young men and their sports, and his own simple and sincere piety earned him much respect and affection. As a writer of lyrical poems he has a secure place among the Australian poets of his time.

Bibliography

Novel
 Castlehill: Or, a Tale of Two Hemispheres (1895)

Poetry collections
 Verse (1896)
 A Rose of Regret (1900)
 Meadow and Bush: A Book of Verses (1911)
 The Poems of James Hebblethwaite (1920)
 New Poems of James Hebblethwaite (1921)

References

External Links

1857 births
1921 deaths
Australian poets
Australian people of English descent
Schoolteachers from Preston, Lancashire

James Hebblethwaite


Andrew McGahan (10 October 1966 – 1 February 2019) was an Australian novelist, best known for his first novel Praise, and for his Miles Franklin Award-winning novel The White Earth. His novel Praise is considered to be part of the Australian literary genre of grunge lit.

Early life and education
Born in Dalby, Queensland, McGahan was the ninth of ten children and grew up on a wheat farm. His schooling was at St Columba's and St Mary's colleges in Dalby, and then Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane. He commenced an Arts degree at the University of Queensland, but dropped out halfway through, in 1985, to return to the family farm, and to commence his first novel – which was never published. He then spent the next few years working in a variety of jobs, until 1991, when he wrote his first published novel, Praise.

Literary career

Novels

In 1991 McGahan won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for unpublished novels with Praise – a semi-autobiographical account of a doomed, drug and alcohol-fuelled relationship. It became an Australian bestseller, and is often credited with launching the short-lived Grunge Lit or Dirty realism movement – terminology that McGahan himself (along with most of the writers to whom it was applied) rejected. In 1995 McGahan followed up with 1988, a prequel to Praise, partially based on time the author spent working at a lighthouse in the Northern Territory during Australia's bicentennial year.

In 2000, having by his own admission struggled to come up with a third novel, McGahan produced his first work of non-autobiographical fiction: the crime novel Last Drinks, a reflection upon the endemic political corruption in Queensland in the 1980s, and the aftermath of the famous Fitzgerald Inquiry. It won a Ned Kelly Award for crime writing. In 2004 McGahan published one of his most successful and respected novels – The White Earth, an epic and gothic tale set in a fictionalised version of the wheat district in which he had grown up. It became another bestseller, and won a raft of literary awards, in particular the Miles Franklin Award. In 2006 came Underground, an absurdist satire attacking the more extreme manifestations of the War on Terror in Australia. It received mixed reviews and caused conservative commentator Andrew Bolt to declare McGahan an "unhinged propagandist".

In 2009 he wrote Wonders of a Godless World, a work entirely without dialogue or proper nouns and delving into such topics as geology, weather and immortality and madness. It won the 2009 Aurealis Award for Science Fiction. In 2011 McGahan published The Coming of the Whirlpool, Book 1 of Ship Kings, a fantasy seafaring series. This was followed by Book 2, The Voyage of the Unquiet Ice in 2012, and Book 3, The War of the Four Isles in 2014. The fourth and final volume in the series, The Ocean of the Dead, was released in 2016.

McGahan's final novel, The Rich Man's House was published posthumously in September 2019. John Birmingham praised the book, saying 'a uniquely powerful voice roars out one last time, and then stillness and silence forever. This is Andrew's masterwork. His final gift to us.'

Other writing

Stage
In 1992, while serving a residency at the Queensland Theatre Company, McGahan wrote the play Bait, which was first performed by Renegade Theatre Company in Brisbane in 1995, directed by Shaun Charles, and which won a Matilda award that year. The play is set in a grim Social Security mailing room and concludes the "Gordon Trilogy" – finishing off the story of Gordon Buchanan that was begun in the novels Praise and 1988.

In 2009 McGahan co-wrote and co-directed with Shaun Charles a stage version of The White Earth for La Boite Theatre Company in Brisbane. Both stageplays, Bait and The White Earth, have been published by Playlab Press.

In 2006, McGahan's novel Last Drinks was performed at La Boite Theatre Company in an adaptation by Shaun Charles.

Screen
McGahan wrote the screenplay for the feature film adaptation of Praise, featuring Sacha Horler and Peter Fenton, directed by John Curran and released in 1999. The film won multiple awards, including an AFI Award to McGahan for the screenwriting.

Personal life
McGahan lived in Melbourne, with his partner of many years, Liesje. He died of pancreatic cancer, aged 52, on 1 February 2019.

Awards
Praise – Australian/Vogel Award; Commonwealth Writers Prize South East Asia and South Pacific Region, First Novel.
Praise Screenplay – AFI for Best Adapted Screenplay; Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; Queensland Premier's Award, Best Drama Script.
Last Drinks – Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing, Best First Novel.
The White Earth – Miles Franklin Award, Commonwealth Writers Prize South east Asia and South pacific Region, Age Book of the Year, Courier Mail Book of the Year.
Wonders of a Godless World – Aurealis Award, Best Science Fiction Novel.
The Coming of the Whirlpool – Shortlisted for the 2012 Indie Awards (Children's category), CBCA Book of the Year and a finalist in the 2011 Aurealis Awards for Children's Fiction

Bibliography

Novels
 Praise, Allen & Unwin, 1992,
 1988, Macmillan, 1998,
 Last Drinks, Allen & Unwin, 2000,
 The White Earth, Allen & Unwin, 2004,
 Underground, Allen & Unwin, 2007,
 Wonders of a Godless World, Allen & Unwin, 2009,
 The Rich Man's House, Allen & Unwin, 2019,

Young Adult
 The Coming of the Whirlpool (2011)
 The Voyage of the Unquiet Ice (2012)
 The War of the Four Isles (2014)
 The Ocean of the Dead (2016)

Drama
 Bait (1992)

Screenplay
 Praise (2000)

See also
Grunge lit

References

1966 births
2019 deaths
Australian male novelists
Australian people of Irish descent
Australian crime writers
Writers from Queensland
Miles Franklin Award winners
Ned Kelly Award winners
20th-century Australian novelists
21st-century Australian novelists
People from Dalby, Queensland
Grunge lit authors
Deaths from cancer in Victoria (state)
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
People educated at Marist College Ashgrove

Andrew McGahan


In chemistry, an alkali (; frae Arabic: al-qaly القلي, القالي ) is a basic, ionic saut o an alkali metal or alkaline yird metal chemical element. Some authors alsae define an alkali as a base that dissolves in watter. A solution o a soluble base haes a pH greater nor 7.0. The adjective alkaline is commonly, an  alkalescent less eften, uised in Inglis as a synonym fur basic, especially fur soluble bases. This broad uise o the term is likely tae hae come aboot acause alkalis wur the first bases kent tae obey the Arrhenius defineetion o a base, an thay are still amang the maist common bases.

Inorganic chemistry

Alkali


In Information technology, a packet is a collection of data that can be used by computers which need to communicate with each other, usually as part of a  network. Some computers and networks do not use packets to communicate. But most currently do, including nearly all computers on the Internet. Packets allow many computers on a  network to communicate more quickly and easily.

Structure
A packet consists of two kinds of data: packet information and packet data (or payload). If you think of a packet like a letter in the mail, the control information is like the outside of the envelope. There's an address that says where to send the letter, and a stamp that says how to send it (fast or slow). Similarly, the computer uses the control information in the packet to decide where, and how, to send the data. People aren't usually interested in the control information.

The user data is like the inside of the envelope. It is the actual information the computer is trying to send. This might be any kind of digital data, such as words, pictures, music, or computer programs. It's generally for people or computers to use, but not for the packet system to use.

Different communication protocols put the control information and user information in different places, or make it look different. But they still do the same thing.

Problems
Sometimes the computers make mistakes while transmitting data, or have trouble "hearing" each other. So many packets use a checksum or cyclic redundancy check to make sure they have the right information. This is usually one component of the control information. This helps to make sure the packets themselves have the right information. But then computers also need to get the right packets.

Designing computer networks can be difficult. Even though today's computers are very advanced, sometimes information doesn't arrive where it's supposed to. Sometimes computers try to fix this and end up sending it twice. And sometimes the information doesn't arrive in the right order. The Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP, was invented to fix these problems. But since it is complex, some computers use the User Datagram Protocol, or UDP, instead.

Computer terminology

Packet (computing)


Mario Luzi (20 October 1914 – 28 February 2005) was an Italian poet.

Biography
Born in Castello, near Sesto Fiorentino, Luzi's parents, Ciro Luzi and Margherita Papini, hailed from Samprugnano (later Semproniano). He spent his youth in Castello, where he started his primary school. In Florence he studied at the liceo classico Galileo, and also in Florence he obtained his degree in French literature with a final dissertation about François Mauriac. This was an important period for Luzi. He met poets such as Piero Bigongiari, Alessandro Parronchi, Carlo Bo, Leone Traverso, and the critic Oreste Macrì.

His first book, La barca, was published in 1935 and in 1938 he started to teach in high schools in the cities of Parma, San Miniato and Rome.

In 1940, he published Avvento notturno; in 1945 he went back to Florence and there he taught at the liceo scientifico.
In 1946 he published Un brindisi e Quaderno gotico, in issue 1 of Inventario, in 1952 Onore del vero, Principe del deserto e Studio su Mallarmé. In 1955 he began teaching French literature at Florence University in the Facoltà di scienze politiche (Political Studies Institute).

Between 1963 and 1983, he published many books such as Nel magma (1963); Dal fondo delle campagne (1965); Semiserie (1979), Reportage (1985). In 1978, with the book Al fuoco della controversia, he won the Viareggio Prize (Premio Viareggio). He won the Aristeion Prize in 1991 for his work Frasi e Incisi di un Canto Salutare; in the same year he was proposed for the first time by the Accademia dei Lincei for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ultimately never awarded, when asked for his thoughts by one reporter on his fellow countryman Dario Fo's 1997 success he slammed the phone down: "I'll say only this. I've just about had it up to here!"

His last book, L'avventura della dualità, was published in 2003. In October 2004, he was appointed to the Italian Senate as a senator-for-life by President of the Republic Ciampi. He died in Florence, just some months later, on 28 February 2005.

List of works
 La barca (1935)
 Avvento notturno (1940)
 Biografia a Ebe (1942)
 Un brindisi (1946)
 Quaderno gotico (1947)
 Primizie del deserto (1952)
 Onore del vero (1957)
Il giusto della vita (1960)
 Nel magma (1963; new edition, 1966)
 Dal fondo delle campagne (1965)
 Su fondamenti invisibili (1971)
 Al fuoco della controversia (1978)
 Semiserie (1979)
 Reportage, un poemetto seguito dal Taccuino di viaggio in Cina (1980)
 Per il battesimo dei nostri frammenti (1985)
 La cordigliera delle Ande e altri versi tradotti (1983)
 Frasi e incisi di un canto salutare (1990)
 Viaggio terrestre e celeste di Simone Martini (1994)
 Il fiore del dolore (2003)
 L'avventura della dualità (2003)

References

External links
 Mario Luzi's webpage
 Obituary on Corriere della Sera''

1914 births
2005 deaths
Italian life senators
Italian male poets
People from the Province of Florence
Viareggio Prize winners
20th-century Italian poets
20th-century Italian male writers

Mario Luzi


Alexandria is a city in Egypt.
Alexander The Great built many cities with his name while he had a whole empire.
The name Alexandria may also refer to:

Cities that Alexander The Great built
 Iskandariya, Iraq
 Alexandria Asiana, Iran
 Alexandria Ariana, Afghanistan
 Alexandria Bucephalous, Pakistan, on the Jhelum
 Alexandria on the Caucasus, Afghanistan
 Alexandria on the Oxus, Afghanistan
 Alexandria Arachosia, Afghanistan now called Kandahar (a contraction of Iskandahar)
 Alexandria on the Indus, Pakistan
 Alexandria Eschate, "the Farthest", Tajikistan
 Alinda, Alexandria on the Latmos, previously and afterward called Alinda in Caria, present-day Turkey
 Cebrene, formerly Alexandria
 Alexandria Troas, Turkey
 Merv, Turkmenistan, sometimes also called Alexandria

Other cities with the name Alexandria or similar names
 Alexandroupoli in Thrace, Greece
 Alexandreia in Imathia, Greece
 Aleksandropol, Armenia
 Alessandria del Carretto, Italy
 Alessandria, Italy
 Alexandria, Eastern Cape, South Africa
 Alexandria, Jamaica
 Alexandria, Romania
 Alexandrium, ancient site in Palestine
 Alexandria, Northern Territory
 Alexandria, New South Wales
 Alexandra, Victoria
 Alexandria, British Columbia
 Alexandria, Ontario
 Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland

Alexandria (disambiguation)


The Voynich manuscript is a manuscript named after Wilfrid Voynich who bought it in the early 20th century. The manuscript is made up of about 240 vellum pages, and was probably written in the early 15th century in northern Italy. Today, it is in the library of Yale University.

Many pages contain illustrations. Although many authors have been thought to have written this manuscript, the author remains unknown. The text is written in an unknown language, in an unknown writing system. It looks like there are no errors in the text. There are no corrections to it. The text is probably some ciphertext; many people working in cryptography have tried to break its code, both amateur and professional cryptographers. Much less attention has been given to the illustrations, which seem to show plants, anatomic or astronomic links. It has been described as "the world's most mysterious manuscript".

In 2009, University of Arizona researchers performed radiocarbon dating on the manuscript's vellum, which they say (with 95% confidence) was made between 1404 and 1438. In addition, the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago found that much of the ink was added not long afterwards, confirming that the manuscript is an authentic medieval document.

Sectioning
As the text has not been translated yet, it has been sectioned based on the images. The sectioning is usually the following:
 Herbal: Each page contains the image of one or two plants, with some writing.
 Astronomical: Contains images that look like astronomical or astrological symbols of the time; this includes the signs of the zodiac.
 Biological: Shows pictures of naked women bathing in pools; some of the women wear crowns; also has pictures of body organs.
 Cosmological: More circular diagrams; also with foldouts; one has six pages with what looks like connected islands, with a volcano.
 Pharmaceutical: Labeled images of plant parts, with jars for medicines.
 Recipes: Short passages of text, usually preceded with a star or flower-like illustration.

The very last page seems to have some sort of "key": three lines of text, with a script resembling that used in 15th-century Germany.

Text analysis
The manuscript consists of quires. A quire is made of folded parchment. The quires consist of folios, with text or illustrations on both sides of the folio. The quires are numbered from 1 to 20, the folios from 1 to 116. Some of the fold-outs have unusual shapes. Depending on the way of counting, this gives a total of 240 pages. As there are gaps in the numbering, it seems likely that some pages were lost; the manuscript probably had at least 272 pages. The gaps were already there when Voynich bought the manuscript in 1912.

A quill pen was used for the text and figure outlines. The figures were colored with paint, possibly at a later date. There is strong evidence that many of the book's folios were reordered at various points in its history, and that the original page order may well have been quite different from what we see today.

The text is written from left to right, because there are irregular margins on the right. There is no obvious punctuation. The person or people writing the text seem to have been fluent in the language. There probably was another "source" they copied from. The flow of the text is smooth, which gives the impression that the symbols were not enciphered.

In total there are about 170,000 glyphs. Given the space between these, there seem to be "words" and "paragraphs". It is difficult (and a question of debate) to determine the alphabet used in the text; some glyphs may be variations of others, and some may simply be two glyphs joined. The text can probably be represented with an alphabet of between twenty and thirty characters.

There are about 35,000 "words", made of glyphs or characters. A statistical analysis has been done, and the "words" resemble "natural language":
 They follow Zipf's law.
 The entropy of words is similar to that of Latin or English.

Purpose
The purpose of the book was probably to serve as a manual to make drugs, or as a book about medicine. The first section is almost certainly a herbal. A herbal is a collection of plants, with their description. An identification of the plants, based on the images has mostly failed, though. Two plants can be guessed, with some certainty: the Wild pansy and the Maidenhair fern. Many of the plant pictures are composite: they combine parts of plants; the root of one plant is added to the leaves of another; the flowers may be from a third species. The leaves and fruit of the Castor oil plant have been identified, as well.

Because of the tubes in the biological section, the text may be related to alchemy. This would also make sense, if the text was about making certain kinds of medicine. The problem with that theory is that alchemy books of the time all use a common set of motifs for their pictures; these motifs cannot be found in the manuscript.

Another idea is that the book is about astrology; practices common at the time, such as bloodletting were often connected with astrology. The problem with this approach is, that except for the signs of the zodiac, and one diagram possibly showing the classical planets, no one has shown that the symbols are found in other astrological traditions.

References

Manuscripts
Unreadable writing systems
15th-century works

Voynich manuscript


OpenVMS is an operating system, which Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) originally developed for their VAX servers. Later, it was ported, and now also runs on DEC Alpha and  Itanium-based systems. It is a 32 bit operating system. When it was published in 1977, it was one of the first of its kind. OpenVMS is capable of supporting many users at a time; each user is able to run several programs at the same time. It was also one of the first operating systems with a Graphical user interface, the VAXstation was a very popular workstation at the time. OpenVMS uses virtual memory, and was originally developed as a time sharing, batch processing system. It was made for transaction processing. The jobs users submit can have a higher priority than those of the operating system. The operating system offers high availability through clustering: The system load can be distributed over multiple computers. That way, the system is "disaster-tolerant": One machine that fails will not shut the operation down.

OpenVMS introduced many features that became standard in later operating systems:
It supported  computer networks, first using DECNet, later using TCP/IP
Symmetrical, asymmetrical, and NUMA multiprocessing, including clustering
A distributed file system
An integrated database: first RMS, later Rdb
Support for different programming languages, including a standardized mechanism of calls between those programming languages
An extensible Shell
A high-level of security
Today, OpenVMS is used in many projects where availability and uptime are critical: These include banks and insurance companies.  Systems staying active for over a decade have been reported. A feature called "rolling upgrade" allows to upgrade software or hardware without the need to shut the system down. A data center that is destroyed will not lead to downtime either, if the system is configured properly. Customers using OpenVMS include banks and financial services, hospitals and healthcare, network information services, and large-scale industrial manufacturers of various products.

References

Operating systems

OpenVMS


Adultery (informally known as cheating in non-religious situations) is a word used in religious texts like Exodus 20:14. Adultery applies to a married person having sex with someone other than the person who they are married to.

In countries where religion is important, adultery often comes with a heavy punishment. Some Muslim countries punish it with death by stoning. In most countries adultery is no longer a crime, but most people still see it as a bad thing.(see Gospel of John 8) If a person who is married takes part in adultery, that person's husband or wife would usually have the right to be able to go to court to divorce them.

Word origin
The word adultery originates not from "adult", as is commonly thought in English-speaking countries, but from the Late Latin word for "to alter, corrupt": "adulterare".  "Adulterare" in turn is formed by the combination of "ad" (towards), and "alter" (other), together with the infinitive form "are" (making it a verb). Thus the meaning is literally "to make other". In contrast, the word "adult" (meaning a person of mature years) comes from another Latin root, "adolescere", meaning to grow up or mature: a combination of "ad" (towards), "alere" (to nourish, to grow), and the inchoative infix "sc"(meaning to enter into a state of).

Literature
Famous adulterers include :
 Paris (mythology) and Helen in the Iliad
 Lancelot and Guinevere
 David and Bathsheba the wife of Uriah (2 Samuel 11)
 Anna Karenina and Vronsky
 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
 Genji
 Hestor Prynne

 Othello

Related pages

 Infidelity: the same concept, but without a religious background

Adultery


Umgca manani ngumgca onee-integers (amanani aqhelekileyo, ...-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3...) aya esanda ngokwanda umlibe macala omabini. U-zero (0) udla ngokuba sembindini womgca manani. Amanani anikene izithuba ezilinganayo phakathi kwawo. Amanye amanani phakathi kwamanye amanani apha kulo mgca amele amanani a-rational, a-irrational, kwanezinye iintlobo zee-real numbers.

kukho omnye umgca manani, equally valid and useful, that extends vertically through 0 (the origin) at right angles to our traditional number line and uses imaginary numbers (i). These so-called imaginary numbers extend above and below the traditional number line and are used in very real calculations in many areas of science and technology and also extend in both directions forever (into infinity).

Different forms
A number line is usually drawn as a simple horizontal line. Another form is the helical number line. If the line of numbers is wrapped around a cylinder following an upward helical path, it becomes a helical number line.
If the circumference of the cylinder is equal to the length occupied by ten numbers on the number line, it then becomes a decimal helical number line, and the numbers arrange themselves into columns, each number in a particular column having the same number ending.

Related pages
 Real number
 Complex plane

Izibalo
Masiguqule

Umgca manani


The wingspan of an airplane or a bird is the distance from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. The wingspan of an aircraft is always measured in a straight line, from wingtip to wingtip, independently of wing shape or sweep.

To measure the wingspan of a bird, a live or freshly dead specimen is placed flat on its back, the wings are grasped at the wrist joints and ankles, and then the distance is measured between the tips of the longest primary feathers on each wing.

Aerospace engineering
Birds

Wingspan


Henri Alexandre Deslandres (24 July 1853 – 15 January 1948) was a French astronomer, director of the Meudon and Paris Observatories, who carried out intensive studies on the behaviour of the atmosphere of the Sun.

Biography
Deslandres' undergraduate years at the École Polytechnique were played out against the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War and the chaos of the Paris Commune so, on graduation in 1874, he responded to the continuing military tension with the emerging Germany by embarking on a military career. Rising to the rank of captain in the engineers, he became increasingly interested in physics and, in 1881, resigned his commission to join Alfred Cornu's laboratory at the École Polytechnique, working on spectroscopy. He continued his spectroscopic work at the Sorbonne, earning his doctorate in 1888 and created the deslandres table, which finds numerical patterns in spectral lines that paralleled the work of Johann Balmer and were to catalyse the development of quantum mechanics in the 20th century.

In 1868, Pierre Janssen's solar observations had led him to report to the Académie des Sciences that It is no longer geometry and mechanics which dominate [in astronomy] but physics and chemistry. Such advice was sternly rejected by director of the Paris Observatory Urbain Le Verrier and the French government awarded Janssen a grant to establish an astrophysical observatory at Meudon on the outskirts of Paris with Janssen as the sole astronomer. In 1889, Le Verrier was succeeded by Amédée Mouchez who set to work to bring astrophysics into the mainstream by hiring Deslandres. Deslandres developed the spectroheliograph simultaneously with George Hale.

In 1898, he joined Janssen at Meudon, increasing the scientific staff by 100%. On Janssen's death in 1907, Deslandres became director and embarked on a programme of expansion. Deslandres was the President of the Société Astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society, from 1907-1909. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, though already in his 60s, he returned to active service in the engineers as a major and later lieutenant colonel. In 1918, following the armistice, he resumed his office at Meudon until 1926 when its administration merged with that of the Paris Observatory, Mouchez assuming the role of director of both institutions until his retirement in 1929.

He remained active in research right up until his death. Fellow astronomer Raymond Michard observed that In his bearing, his character and his style of life Deslandres always remained more akin to the soldier (and the officer) than to the scholar.

Honours
Awards
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, (1913)
Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, (1913)
Prix Jules Janssen, the highest award of the Société astronomique de France, the French astronomical society, (1920)
Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, (1921)
Fellow of the Royal Society

Named after him
The crater Deslandres on the Moon
Deslandres Prize of the French Academy of Sciences
Asteroid 11763 Deslandres

References

External links
Biography by Joseph S. Tenn
Bruce Medal page
Awarding of Bruce Medal: PASP 33 (1921) 71
Awarding of RAS gold medal: MNRAS 73 (1913) 317

Obituaries
 MNRAS 109 (1949) 141
 Obs 68 (1948) 79 (one paragraph)
 PASP 60 (1948) 139 (one paragraph)

1853 births
1948 deaths
20th-century French astronomers
French astrophysicists
Recipients of the Bruce Medal
Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)
Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
University of Paris alumni
19th-century French astronomers
19th-century French physicists
20th-century French physicists
Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
École Polytechnique alumni

Henri-Alexandre Deslandres


MI2, the British Military Intelligence Section 2, was a department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence, part of  the War Office. It was originally set up to handle geographic information. MI2a handled the Americas (excluding Canada), Spain, Portugal, Italy, Liberia, Tangier, and the Balkans. MI2b handled the Ottoman Empire, Trans-Caucasus, Arabia, Sinai, Abyssinia, North Africa excluding French and Spanish possessions, Egypt, and the Sudan.

After the First World War, its role was changed to handle Russian and Scandinavian intelligence. These functions were absorbed into MI3 in 1941.

External links
MI5 FAQ
MI2 Military title

Defunct United Kingdom intelligence agencies
1910s establishments in the United Kingdom
1941 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Military communications of the United Kingdom
War Office in World War II
British intelligence services of World War II

MI2


The Quickstep is an International Style ballroom dance that follows a 4/4  time beat, at about 50 bars per minute.p62 From its early beginning as a faster Foxtrot, the Quickstep has become quite different. It is danced to the fastest tempo of the ballroom dances.

The Quickstep developed in the 1920s from a combination of the Foxtrot, the Charleston, and other dances. The dance is English in origin, and was standardized in 1927. Although it came from the Foxtrot, the Quickstep now is quite separate. Unlike the modern Foxtrot, the feet often close and syncopated (split-beat) steps occur often. Three characteristic dance figures of the Quickstep are the chassés, where the feet come together, the quarter turns, and the lock step.p126

This dance became a very dynamic one with a lot of movement on the dance floor, with many advanced patterns including hops, runs, quick steps with a lot of momentum, and rotation. The tempo of Quickstep dance is rather brisk as it was developed to ragtime era jazz music which was fast-paced compared to other dance music.

Today the complexity of Quickstep as done by competition dancers has increased. They use more syncopated steps. While in older times quickstep patterns were counted with "quick" (one beat) and "slow" (two beats) steps, many advanced patterns today are cued with split beats, such as "quick-and-quick-and-quick, quick, slow", with there being further steps on the 'and's.

Other websites
Demonstration of basic figures by Marcus & Karen Hilton, nine times World Professional Ballroom Champions.

References

Ballroom dances

Quickstep


Latur is a city in the Marathwada region—where it is the third most populous city—of Maharashtra state, in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Latur district and taluka. The city is a tourist hub surrounded by many historical monuments, including Udgir Fort and Kharosa Caves. The people in Latur are called Laturkar. The most spoken language in Latur is Marathi. The city's quality of education attracts students from nearby villages.

इतिहासः
Latur has an ancient history, which probably dates to the Rashtrakuta period. It was home to a branch of Rashtrakutas which ruled the Deccan from 753 to 973 AD. The first Rashtrakuta king, Dantidurga, was from Lattaluru (Kannada: ಲಟ್ಟಲೂರು), the ancient name for Latur. Ratnapur is also mentioned as an historic name for Latur.

The King Amoghavarsha of Rashtrakutas developed the Latur city. The Rashtrakutas who succeeded the Chalukyas of Badami in 753 AD called themselves the residents of Lattaluru.

It was, over the centuries, variously ruled by the Satavahanas, the Sakas, the Chalukyas, the Yadavas of Deogiri, the Delhi Sultans, the Bahamani rulers of South India, Adilshahi, and the Mughals.

Later in the 19th century, Latur became part of the Princely state of Hyderabad. In 1905 it was merged with surrounding areas and renamed Latur tehsil, becoming part of Osmanabad district. Before 1948, Latur was a part of Hyderabad State under Nizam. The chief of Nizam's Razakar army, Qasim Rizwi, was from Latur.

After Indian independence and the Indian annexation of Hyderabad, Osmanabad became part of Bombay Province. In 1960, with the creation of Maharashtra, Latur became one of its districts. On August 16, 1982, a separate Latur district was carved out of Osmanabad district.

भौगोलिकम् वायुगुणश्च

Latur is situated 636 metres above mean sea level, on the Balaghat plateau, near the Maharashtra–Karnataka state boundary. It receives its drinking water from the nearby Manjira River, which suffered from environmental degradation and silting in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. As a result of this and lack of implementation of a water management strategy, during the drought of the 2010s the city ran out of water.

Temperature : Temperatures in Latur range from , with the most comfortable time to visit in the winter, which is October to February. The highest temperature ever recorded was . The lowest recorded temperature was . In the cold season the district is sometimes affected by cold waves in association with the eastward passage of western disturbances across north India, when the minimum temperature may drop down to about .

Rainfall : Most of the rainfall occurs in the monsoon season from June to September. Rainfall varies from  per month. Average annual rainfall is .

१९९३ लातूर भुकम्पः

Latur had a devastating intraplate earthquake on 30 September 1993 resulting in a huge loss of life. The earthquake measured only 6.3 on the Richter magnitude scale but around 10,000 people were estimated to have died  and 30,000 injured mainly due to poor construction of houses and village huts made of stones which collapsed on people who were fast asleep in early morning hours. It struck southern Marathwada region of Maharashtra state in central-western part of India and affected Latur, Beed, Osmanabad and adjoining districts about 400 km south-east of Mumbai. Latur was almost completely destroyed and life came to a standstill. The earthquake's focus was around 12 km deep (relatively shallow), causing shock waves to cause more damage. The number of lives lost was high as the earthquake occurred at 3:53 a.m. local time, when people were fast asleep. After the earthquake, seismic zones were reclassified and building codes and standards were revised all over India.

जनसङ्ख्या
Latur's population, as of the 2011 census, is 683,666.

Most residents of the city speak Marathi (62% per district census, urban areas), with Urdu (18%) and Hindi (9%) also being widely spoken.

सर्वकार राजनीतिश्च

स्थानिक सर्वकार

Latur earlier had a Municipal Council, which was established in 1952. Latur Municipal Corporation (LMC) is the local civil body. It is divided into five zones. the Municipal Corporation area is about . It was elevated to the status of Municipal Corporation by the State Government in 2011.

The Urban Development Dept., Govt. of Maharashtra expressed its desire vide letter dated 30/10/2006 to notify fringe area of Latur and appoint CIDCO as its Special Planning Authority. CIDCO has submitted its proposal to notify the fringe area measuring approx. 26541.00 ha. inclusive of urbanisable zone of about 16696 ha. Govt. has appointed CIDCO as Special Planning Authority. The notified area covers 40 villages on the fringe of Latur Municipal Corporation. It is envisaged in the project not to acquire 100% land but to adopt minimum land acquisition model for development of infrastructure and growth corridors.

The city is divided in 70 electoral wards called as Prabhag and each ward is represented by a Corporator (called as Nagarsevak) elected by the people from each ward. LMC is responsible for providing basic amenities like drinking water, drainage facility,road,street lights, healthcare facilities, primary schools,etc. LMC collects its revenue from the urban taxes which are imposed on citizens. The administration is headed by the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation; an I.A.S. Officer, assisted by the other officers of different departments.

राज्य केन्द्रसर्वकारश्च

Latur contributes one seat to the Lok Sabha. The seat is currently held by Sudhakar Shringare, MP, of the BJP. It also holds one seat for the Assembly - Latur Indian National Congress. In latest constituency arrangements made by Election Commission of India, Latur will contribute one Loksabha seat, and two state assembly seats, i.e. Latur City and Latur Rural.

राजनेताराःविशेषाः

Latur is called the "city of politicians".

Keshavrao Sonawane was the first minister from Latur region who was in the cabinet of Maharashtra Chief Minister Yashwantrao Chavan and later in the cabinet of Vasantrao Naik, as cooperatives minister, 1962–1967.

The city is the birthplace of other politicians, such as Shivraj Patil and Diliprao Deshmukh.

Vilasrao Deshmukh was born in Babhalgaon village, Latur. He served twice as Chief Minister of Maharashtra state, and twice as Union cabinet minister.

Amidst national political controversy is the death, on 1 December 2014, of judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya of the Central Bureau of Investigation, who was addressing the case involving Amit Shah, the national leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and who was cremated at his native village of Gategaon.

Vikrant Vikram Gojamgunde is the mayor of Latur. He became mayor in 2019. He is the youngest mayor in the state of Maharashtra.

शिक्षण संशोधनम्

Latur has developed into an educational hub for secondary, higher secondary, and university education. The district is known in Maharashtra for its "Latur Pattern" of study, which involves intensive coaching given in the city. Students of junior colleges in Latur have a good record in taking competitive engineering and medical entrance exams.

Basic and higher education
Public schools (known locally as municipality schools) are run by the LMC, and are affiliated with the MSBSHSE. Private schools are run by educational trusts or individuals. They are usually affiliated with either the state board or national education boards, such as the ICSE or CBSE boards.

University education
Due to more than 140 colleges, the city is known as an educational hub in Marathwada. Many of the students studying in the colleges and the University are from nearby districts. Most colleges in Latur are affiliated with the Nanded University.

The M. S. Bidve Engineering College, Latur, founded in 1983, is one of the oldest engineering colleges in Marathwada. The Maharashtra Institute of Medical Science & Research Latur was founded in 1988 by social activist Vishwanath Karad.

The Border Security Force Training Centre, Chakur and the Disaster Management Training Institute were established in Latur in 2005 and 2008, respectively.

Dayanand Law College was established by the Dayanand Education Society. Established medical schools such as the Government Medical College, Manjara Ayurvedic College are present in the city.

Channabasweshwar Pharmacy College is a degree college that provides diploma, degree, and master courses in the pharmacy field. Other pharmacy colleges are Dayanand College of Pharmacy and Vilasrao Deshmukh College of Pharmacy.

Vilasrao Deshmukh Foundation's(VDF) College is a degree college that provides diploma, degree,  ourses in the engineering and pharmacy field. Other pharmacy colleges are Dayanand College of Pharmacy and Vilasrao Deshmukh College of Pharmacy.

Professional education
Latur is home to a branch of the Western India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, along with an exam centre, Information Technology training lab, reading room, and a library for Chartered Accountants as well as for students.

Trade and industries
The city is a major sugarcane and edible oils, soybean, grapes and mango production centre. A fine blend of mango with locally grown mangoes was developed as Keshar Amba. Oil seeds was the major produce of Latur region. So for benefit of farmers Keshavrao Sonavane had established Dalda Factory which was Asia's first oil mill set up on cooperative terms.

Till 1990, Latur languished as a city, remaining an industrially backward. In 1960, region of Marathwada was merged with Maharashtra. This was the time when the industrial development of the Marathwada region began, propelled through designated backward area benefits. Latur got its first MIDC setup during the tenure of then Co-operative minister Keshavrao Sonavane. It was only when the MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) began acquiring land and setting up industrial estates that it began to grow. Many companies have manufacturing plants in Latur, in agriculture processing, edible oils, biotech, consumer durables, plastic processing, and aluminium processing; but the majority are small- and medium-scale agricultural industries, not industrial ones.

Latur has the largest trading centre for soybean in India. The green city is inside what is called 'Sugar Belt' of Maharashtra. The district has more than eleven sugar factories, which makes it among the highest sugar-producing districts of India. It also has oil seeds, commodities and fruit market.

Latur is also known for high quality grapes and houses many state and privately owned cold storage facilities. A grape wine park spread over 1.42 square kilometres (350 acres) has been established near Ausa, 18 km from Latur city. A brand new Latur Food Park, spread across 1.2 square kilometres (300 acres) is under construction at Additional MIDC Latur. Latur is major transport junction to south India.
In Latur, MDA FOUNDATION has gave students from 1to 12 free education for the welfare of the poor and the city.

Latur sugar belt
The Latur region is known as the "Sugar Belt of India". This region houses over eleven large sugar factories. Most of the sugar factories of the Latur sugar belt work on the co-operative basis. Latur got its title "Sugar Belt of India" largely due to the efforts of its cooperative political leader Keshavrao Sonawane, who was instrumental in setting up several co-operative institutions in Latur, Osmanabad, and elsewhere in Maharashtra.

MIDC industrial areas in Latur
 Latur Industrial Area
 Additional Latur Phase I Industrial Area
 Additional Latur Phase II Industrial Area
 Latur Co-Operative Industrial Estate
 Murud taluka Co-Operative Industrial Estate
 Chakur Co-Operative Industrial Estate
 Udaygiri Co-Operative Industrial Estate
 Ausa Industrial Area
 Ahmedpur Industrial Area
 Nilanga Industrial Area
 Udgir Industrial Area

Specialised industrial parks and export zones in Latur
 Latur Food Park
 Latur Infotech Park
 Latur Integrated Textile Park, Latur
 Bombay Rayon Fashions, Latur
 Grape Yards, Ausa

Chamber of Commerce and industry associations
 Latur Chamber of Commerce, Latur
 Latur Manufacturers Association, MIDC
 Engineers and Architects Association, Latur
 Latur Builders Association, Latur
 Computers and Media Dealers Association (CMDA), Latur
 Latur Branch of the Western India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

माध्यमा: सम्प्रेषणाश्च

Ritesh Deshmukh, son of Vilasrao Deshmukh, a prominent actor in Indian film industry is from Latur.

समाचारपत्राः: Lokmat, Sakal, and Ekmat are the most widely read Marathi newspapers in Latur. Navnirman, Lokasha, Lokman, Marathwada Neta, Punyanagri, Rajdharma, Sanchar, Sarathi Samachar, Tarun Bharat, and Yashwant are some other Marathi daily newspapers available in Latur.

Radio: The city has been sanctioned a FM radio station - All India Radio. But Laturkars are still waiting for the same, as AIR has not yet started functioning in the City.

मार्गा

Road
Latur is connected by roads with various major cities of Maharashtra and other states. Road connectivity is excellent, and roads connecting to Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Satara, Kolhapur, Sangli, and Aurangabad are being upgraded to four-lane highways. Latur city has one national highway running through it, NH 361.

Intercity
The scheme of nationalisation of passenger transport services was started as early as 1932 by the State of Hyderabad, which was one of the pioneers in the field of public road transport, first in collaboration with the railways and then as a separate Government Department. After the reorganisation of the Indian states and with an effective date from 1 July 1961, the Marathwada State Transport was amalgamated with the Bombay State Road Transport Corporation into the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation. The "Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation" (MSRTC) and numerous other private bus operators provide a bus service to all parts of the state.

The "Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation" (MSRTC) and numerous other private bus operators provide a bus service to all parts of the state. Private buses have an established network to connect the city with all the major cities in Maharashtra and other states.

Intracity transport

"Latur Municipal Transport" (LMT) is an intra-city bus service which covers almost all parts of the city and also connects to the more distant industrial suburbs. LMT (Latur Municipal Transport) intra-city buses ply throughout the city including the outskirts and connect different parts of the city and adjoining suburbs together.

Air
Latur is served by Latur Airport, which is near Chincholiraowadi,  northwest of the city. The Airport facilities include aircraft fuelling, night landing with navigational aids, aircraft parking, CAT VII airport fire fighting and rescue service. A well equipped terminal building has VIP lounges, departure and arrival lounges, transit suites and snooze cabins, visitors' waiting area, and a cafeteria.

Rail

The Latur-Miraj Railway (metre gauge) runs for  north-west from Latur city to Miraj on the south-western section of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway and was built between 1929 and 1931.

The station (code: LUR) is located on the Latur-Miraj section of the Solapur railway division of the Central Railway zone. The Manmad-Kacheguda broad-gauge railway line, which emanates from the Vikarabad-Latur-Road-Parli trunk route at Latur Road, is an important artery of traffic in Latur district. It also serves as a link between Aurangabad and Hyderabad.

Latur has rail connectivity with Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Manmad, Aurangabad, Nanded, Parbhani, Parli Vaijnath, Osmanabad, Mudkhed, Adilabad, Basar, Nizamabad, Nashik and Kachiguda.

विक्षणियस्थलानि

धर्मस्थलानि
 Siddheshwar & Ratneshwar Temple is situated about  from the city. It was built by King Tamradwaj and dedicated to Lord Siddharameshwar Swamy Siddarama of Solapur, who is a gramdaivat ("town deity") of Latur town.
 Ganj Golai is in the city center. Latur town planner Faiyajuddin designed the "Ganjgolai Chowk". The main building of the Golai is a huge two-storey structure which was constructed around the year 1917. In the middle of the circular structure is a temple of the Goddess Ambabai. There are 19 roads connecting to this golai ("roundabout") and along these roads are separate markets selling all kinds of traditional local wares from gold ornaments to footwear and food items from chili to jaggery. Thus, the "Ganjgolai" has become the main commercial and trade centre of the city.
 Shri Ashtavinayak Mandir is located in Shivaji Nagar, Latur. Constructed in 1989, it is a newly built temple famous for its beauty, as there are gardens on both sides of the temple, as well as some artificial fountains in front. A statue of lord Shiva, standing 8 to 9 feet tall is situated in the garden.
 The Buddha Garden Temple has a large statue of Buddha.
 Shri Virat Hanuman Mandir is situated at the Parivar Housing Society, close to Ausa Street, Latur. The construction of this sanctuary is quite different from different sanctuaries. this sanctuary is additionally surrounded by an excellent garden. This icon is nearly 28 feet high and is coloured scarlet red (shenderi).
 Shri Keshav Balaji Temple is located in the city of Ausa, in Latur district. The temple is encompassed by slopes. There are four different sanctuaries: dedicated to Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva, Lord Vitthal, and Goddess Rukmini, as well as to Keshavanand Bapu in similar premises. The sanctuary opens at 6:00 am and closes at 9:00 pm. Distinctive Sevas are performed for the duration of the day. There is an ordinary Prasadam, at 10:00 am and 7:00 pm, for guests. Mahaprasadam is held each Friday midway between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm. This temple is part of the Dharma va Sanskar Nagari ("Religion and Sacrament City") project.
 Surat Shahawali Dargah is situated in Patel Chowk Ram Galli, which is part of Latur city. This darga was built around 1939 in memory of a Muslim holy person, Saif Ullah Shaha Sardari, who achieved Samadhi there. A yearly 5-day-long fair is held here in June or July.

उपवनानि
 Nana Nani Park is also known as Vilasrao Deshmukh Park. It is centrally situated, near the municipal office, and is popular with people due to its relaxing atmosphere. People walk here and spend time with family, children, and friends. There is a space for community meetings at the center of the park. An open theater is also available .

व्यक्तिविशेषा:
Late Vilasrao Deshmukh was an Indian politician who served two terms as the Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra. He also served in the Union cabinet as the Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences.
Shivraj Vishwanath Patil is an Indian politician who was the Governor of the state of Punjab and Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh from 2010 to 2015. Previously, he was the Speaker of the 10th Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996 and served in Manmohan Singh's cabinet as Union Minister of Home Affairs from 2004 to 2008. He also served in the Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi cabinets as Minister of Defence during the 1980s.
Riteish Deshmukh is an Indian film actor, producer and architect. He is known for his work in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He is the son of the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra late Vilasrao Deshmukh and Vaishali Deshmukh.
Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar is a Member of 13th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and represents Nilanga. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nilangekar was inducted in the cabinet of Devendra Fadnavis in 2016 and has the portfolio of Labour Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.

See also
 Marathwada
 List of Indian princely states
 List of Maratha dynasties and states
 Maratha Empire

आकर

बाह्यसम्पर्कतन्तु:
Latur police department

महाराष्ट्रे किञ्चन मण्डलम् अस्ति लातूरमण्डलम् । अस्य मण्डलस्य केन्द्रम् अस्ति लातूरनगरम्।

महाराष्ट्रराज्यस्य प्रमुखनगराणि
महाराष्ट्रराज्यसम्बद्धाः स्टब्स्
सर्वे अपूर्णलेखाः
चित्रं योजनीयम्
सारमञ्जूषा योजनीया

लातूर


In motorsport, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. Some series, like A1 Grand Prix and the GP2 series, award bonus points to the driver/team with the fastest lap. Formula One awarded one point to the driver that set the fastest lap until 1960.

In Grand Prix motorcycle racing, which includes the 80cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc, and 500cc/MotoGP classes, no point is awarded for the fastest lap.  Giacomo Agostini holds the current record for the most fastest laps with 117.  Valentino Rossi, who still actively races in MotoGP, is in second place with 83 fastest laps.

Formula 1
In Formula One, 120 different drivers have made fastest race laps. German driver Michael Schumacher has made the most number of total fastest laps with 76. He is followed by Frenchman Alain Prost with 41 and by Finnish driver Kimi Räikkönen with 35. Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and Brazilian Nelson Piquet both had 23 fastest laps, the most for South Americans.

Motor sports

Fastest lap


Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor. he was born on 30 August 1937 Auckland, New Zealand. Bruce McLaren was the founder of the company McLaren. As a child Bruce McLaren was interested in vehicles.  While growing up he spent all of his spare time in his parents workshop, around all the vehicles. Over time Bruce McLaren developed his interest on vehicles. Bruces parents Les McLaren and Ruth Mclaren owned a service station in Remura Rd, Remura. Les McLaren had been interested in motorcycles and had, had  an injury before Bruce was born, which put an end to his motorcycling hobby.

Bruce McLarens races
in 1952 young bruce was only 14 and had entered his first race in an Austin 7 Ulster. It was a hillclimb. Two years later he took part in a proper race in a Ford 10.

Death
Bruce McLaren died while testing out one of his cars. The car had no wing causing the car to flip and crash. The engine of the car rammed into Bruce McLaren. The car then went up in flames. All this happened at the Goodwood Circuit.

1937 births
1970 deaths
Deaths in sport
Formula One drivers
Sportspeople from Auckland

Bruce McLaren


Lead guitar means the use of a guitar to perform melody lines, instrumental fills, and solos within a song structure.

In rock and metal bands, the lead guitarist is usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar (chords and riffs). In some rock or metal bands with two guitarists, the two performers may perform as a "guitar tandem", and trade off the lead guitar and rhythm guitar roles, or both guitarists can play the same role ("dual lead guitars" or "dual rhythm guitars").

Musician Lou Reed used an "interlocking" dual guitar style, with the Velvet Underground and on his solo records, where two guitarists would play complementary riffs in different rhythms. The Eagles and other bands also used this style.

Rock music

Lead guitar


Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) nyaéta thickset herbivora marsupial arboreal asli Australia, sarta mangrupa wawakil kulawarga Phascolarctidae nu aya kénéh.

Koala kapanggih di wewengkon basisir wetan jeung kidul Australia, ti deukeuteun Adelaide ka bagéan kidul Bojong Cape York. Populasina nambahan for considerable distances inland in regions with enough moisture to support suitable woodlands. Koala Australia Kidul were largely exterminated during the éarly part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The Koala is not found in Tasmania or Western Australia.

Ngaran
The word "koala" comes from the Dharuk word gula. Closely related words appéar in other Australian Aboriginal languages, including:
 The Ngunnawal of the Canberra region also call it gula.
 In the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Aborigines called Koalas by the word Cullawines.
 In the Murray Region, Aborigines called Koalas by the word Karbors.
 Other Aboriginal names for Koalas include: Bangaroos, Koolewongs, Narnagoons and Cholos..

It is commonly said that the common name 'Koala' is an Aboriginal word méaning "no drink" although there is no evidence to support this. Koalas do drink water, but only rarely, due to their diet consisting of eucalypt leaves, which contain sufficient water to obviate the need for the Koala to descend to ground level to drink.

éarly Européan settlers to Australia called the Koala the Native Béar, and the Koala is still sometimes called the Koala Béar, but it is not a member of the bear family. It is not even a placental mammal (which most mammals are)—it is a marsupial. The Koala's scientific name (Phascolarctos cinereus) comes from the Greek: phaskolos méaning "pouch" and arktos méaning "bear". The cinereus epithet is Latin and méans "ash-coloured".

Variasi

Although three subspecies have been described, these are arbitrary selections from a cline and are not generally accepted as valid. Following Bergmann's Rule, southern individuals from the cooler climates are larger. A typical Victorian Koala (formerly P. cinereus victor) has longer, thicker fur, is a darker, softer grey, often with chocolate-brown highlights on the back and foréarms, and has a more prominently light-coloured ventral side and fluffy white éar tufts. Typical and New South Wales Koala weights are 12 kg for males and 8.5 kg for females. In tropical and sub-tropical Queensland, however, the Koala is smaller (at around 6.5 kg for an average male and just over 5 kg for an average female), a lighter, often rather scruffy grey in colour, and has shorter, thinner fur. In Queensland the Koala was previously classified as the subspecies P. cinereus adustus, and the intermediate forms in New South Wales as P. cinereus cinereus. The variation from one form to another is continuous and there are substantial differences between individual Koalas in any given region such as hair colour.
The origins of the koala are uncléar, although almost certainly they descended from terrestrial wombat-like animals. Koala fossils are quite rare, but some have been found in northern Australia dating to 20 million yéars ago. During this time, the northern half of Australia was rainforest. The Koala did not specialise in a diet of eucalypts until the climate cooled and eucalypts forests grew in the place of rainforests. The fossil record indicates that before 50,000 yéars ago, Giant Koalas inhabited the southern regions of Australia. The Koala fills the same ecological role as the sloth of South America.

Deskripi fisis

The Koala is broadly similar in appéarance to the wombats (the closest living relatives), but has a thicker, more luxurious coat, much larger éars, and longer limbs, which are equipped with large, sharp claws to assist with climbing. Weight varies from about 14 kg for a large, southern male, to about 5 kg for a small northern female. Contrary to popular belief, their fur is coarse, not soft and cuddly. Koalas' five digits are arranged with opposable thumbs, providing better gripping ability. The first two digits are position in apposition on the front paws, and the first three digits for the hind paws. The Koala is one of the few mammals (other than primates) that has fingerprints. In fact, koala fingerprints are remarkably similar to human fingerprints; even with an electron microscope, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the two.

Furthermore, the male koala, like many marsupials, has a bifurcated penis and the female has a bifurcated vagina.

The Koala has an unusually small brain, with about 40% of the cranial cavity being filled with fluid, while the brain itself is like "a pair of shrivelled walnut halves on top of the brain stem, in contact neither with each other nor the bones of the skull. It is the only animal on Earth with such a strangely reduced brain."

It is a generally silent animal, but males have a very loud advertising call that can be héard from almost a kilometre away during the breeding séason. There is little reliable information about the lifespan of the Koala, but in captivity they have been observed to réach the age of 15 yéars.

The inverted thumbs on the Koala's back feet help for grip while the koala changes branches or éats with its front hands.

Siklus hirup
Females réach maturity at 2 to 3 yéars of age, males at 3 to 4 yéars. If héalthy, a female Koala can produce one young éach yéar for about 12 yéars. Gestation is 35 days; twins are very rare. Mating normally occurs between December and March, the Southern Hemisphere's summer.

A baby Koala is referred to as a joey and is hairless, blind, and éarless. At birth the joey, only a quarter of an inch long, crawls into the downward-facing pouch on the mother's belly (which is closed by a drawstring-like muscle that the mother can tighten at will) and attaches itself to one of the two teats. Koalas retain the réarward-facing pouch of their terrestrial vomaboid ancestors. Young remain hidden in the pouch for about six months, only feeding on milk. During this time they grow éars, eyes, and fur. The joey then begins to explore outside of the pouch. At about this stage it begins to consume small quantities of the mother's "pap" (formerly thought to be excrement, but now thought to come from the mother's caecum) in order to inoculate its gut with the microbes necessary to digest eucalypt léaves. The baby Koala will remain with the mother for another six months or so, riding on her back, and feeding on both milk and eucalypt léaves until wéaning is complete at about 12 months of age. Young females disperse to néarby aréas at that time; young males often stay in the mother's home range until they are two or three yéars old.

Ekologi jeung kalakuan

The Koala lives almost entirely on eucalypt léaves. This is likely to be an evolutionary adaptation that takes advantage of an otherwise unfilled ecological niche, since eucalypt léaves are low in protein, high in indigestible substances, and contain phenolic and terpene compounds that are toxic to most species. Like wombats and sloths, the Koala has a very low metabolic rate for a mammal and rests motionless for about 19 hours a day, sleeping most of that time. Koalas that are disturbed are known to be violent, their teeth and claws capable of providing considerable injury to humans; special handling requirements are as such applicable. Handling of koalas has been a source of political contention due to these risks, which can also cause harm to the koala as well. Koalas spend about three of their five active hours éating. Feeding occurs at any time of day, but usually at night. An average Koala éats 500 grams of eucalypt léaves éach day, chewing them in its powerful jaws to a very fine paste before swallowing. The liver déactivates the toxic components réady for excretion, and the hind gut (especially the caecum) is gréatly enlarged to extract the maximum amount of nutrient from the poor quality diet. Much of this is done through bacterial fermentation: when young are being weaned, the mother passes unusually soft faeces, called pap, which is rich in these bacteria, thus passing these essential digestive aids on to her offspring.
The Koala will éat the léaves of a wide range of eucalypts, and occasionally even some non-eucalypt species, but it has firm preferences for particular varieties. These preferences vary from one region to another: in the south Manna Gum, Blue Gum and Swamp Gum are favoured; Grey Gum and Tallowwood are important in the north, and the ubiquitous River Red Gum of the isolated séasonal swamps and watercourses that méander across the dry inland plains allows the Koala to exist in surprisingly arid aréas. Many factors determine which of the 800 species of eucalypt trees the Koala éats. Among trees of their favourite species, however, the major factor that determines which individual trees the Koala chooses is the concentration of a group of phenolic toxins called formylated phloroglucinol compounds.

Status konservasi

The Koala was hunted almost to extinction in the éarly 20th century, largely for its fur. In recent yéars, some colonies have been hard hit by diséase, especially chlamydia. The Koala requires large aréas of héalthy, connected forest and will travel long distances along tree corridors in séarch of new territory and mates. The ever-incréasing human population of the coastal parts of the continent continues to cut these corridors by agricultural and residential development, forestry and road-building, marooning Koala colonies in decréasing aréas of bush. The Australian Koala Foundation has mapped 40,000 sq.km. of land for Koala habitat and claims it has strong evidence to suggest wild Koala populations are in serious decline throughout the species natural range. Although the species covers a massive aréa, only 'pieces' of Koala habitat remain. These pieces need to be managed, protected and restored in a coordinated way. Presently, many are being lost to weeds, cléared for agriculture, or carved up by developers. Other thréats come from logging, poor management, attacks from feral and domestic animals, diséase and roads.

In contrast to the situation on much of the mainland, where populations are declining, the Koalas of many island and isolated populations have réached what some have described as "plague" proportions. On Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Koalas introduced some 90 yéars ago have thrived in the absence of predators and competition. Combined with an inability to migrate to new aréas, this has caused the Koala populations to become unsustainable and thréaten the Island's unique ecology. In particular, species of Manna Gum, native to the island, are being stripped by Koalas at a rate faster than they can regenerate, endangering local birds and invertebrates that rely on them, and causing the extinction of at léast one isolated population of manna. Koala numbers are estimated at over 30,000, with ecologists suggesting that the Island can sustain 10,000 at most. Although culling has been suggested as a méans to reduce Koala numbers, with the South Australian Government seriously considering such in 1996, this has met with fierce opposition both domestically and internationally, and the species remains protected. The popularity of the Koala has made the possibility of a cull politically improbable, with any negative perception likely to impact tourism and a government's electability. In place of a cull, sterilisation and translocation programmes have had only limited success in reducing numbers thus far, and remain expensive. There is evidence that Koalas relocated to the mainland have difficulty establishing themselves in the different circumstances. A mooted alternative to the complex sterilisation method, wherein the animal must first be captured, are hormonal implants that can be injected via darts.

The Koala inhabits four Australian states. Under state legislation, the species is listed as:

 Queensland - Common, or "Least Concern Wildlife" throughout the state, except in the relatively small South éast Queensland Bioregion, where it is listed as Vulnerable.
 New South Wales - listed at a state scale as vulnerable, but varying regionally from "secure" to "locally extinct".
 South Australia - classified as Rare.
 Victoria - The koala population in Victoria is considered "large and thriving".

A review of the species national conservation status concluded that the koala are not thréatened at a national scale, with a population that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. This was the third review undertaken by the federal government that came to this conclusion. The IUCN lists the species as "Lower Risk / Near Threatened".

As with most native Australian animals, the Koala cannot legally be kept as a pet in Australia without a permit.

Tempo ogé

 Koala emblems and popular culture
 List of monotremes and marsupials
 Sato Australia

Rujukan

Tumbu luar
 Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
 Koala

Kecap jeung frase Aborigin Australia
Mamalia Australia

Koala