The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) () is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia. Located in Moscow, the school was founded on 22 September 1878 as the Shostakovsky Music School. It became the School of Music and Drama of the Moscow Philharmonic Society in 1883, was elevated to the status of a conservatory in 1886 during which time the institution was colloquially referred to as the Philharmonic Conservatory. It was renamed the Institute of Music and Drama in 1918, and was known as the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts (GITIS) from 1934 to 1991.

Mission and background
GITIS trains students in various professions in the theatrical arts (including ballet, acting, etc.) and simultaneously provides a traditional university education in liberal arts and humanities. Approximately 1,500 students, qualification-advancement students, and post-graduate students from various countries study at GITIS.

History

Nineteenth century
The university was founded as the Shestakovskiy Music School for Coming People in Moscow at the end of the 19th century, patronized by the Society of Musical and Dramatic Arts Lovers. In 1883 the Society was renamed the Moscow Philharmonic Society and the school obtained the status of Specialized School of Music and Drama, subordinated by the Society.

Drama classes of the musical-drama school were headed by actors, teachers and theatrical figures such as Alexander Yuzhin (1883–1889), Osyp Pravdin (1889–1891) and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko (1891–1901). The 1898 class graduates included Olga Knipper, Margarita Savitskaya, and Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Twentieth century
In 1902, the school moved into the antique Soldatenkov Family building at Maly Kislovsky, where it has been located since. On 24 October 1903 "The Charter of Musical-Drama School of the Moscow Philharmonic Society under the protection of Her Imperial Highness Princess Elisaveta Fedorovna" was approved. According to the Charter, the School was a department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Since the Revolution in Russia of 1917, the Musical-Drama School has undergone a number of reorganization and changes of names caused by reforms in the state education system. In August 1922, the school was renamed the State Institute of Musical Drama and was joined with Vsevolod Meyerhold's State Theatrical Workshops. This association received the name of State Institute of Theatrical Art – GITIS. The official date of its formation was 17 September 1922.

In June 1923, the State Practical Institute of Choreography joined GITIS as a separate department and the plan was achieved.

In 1924, the existing theatrical institutes of Moscow and St.Petersburg were closed by Sovnarkom Edict because "of failures in the quality of theatrical education," but in spite of this, GITIS was authorized to graduate students in the accelerated manner. Clubs by interests and the club movement actively developed those years, were the main stimulus for the subsequent creation of theatrically instructor classes on the basis of already disbanded GITIS. In 1925 the Central technical school of a theatrical art (CETETIS) an educational institution with the four-year training was created.

In 1926, on the basis of graduates of GITIS and CETETIS theatre, Musical Drama in Zamoskvorechye has been generated.

On 2 August 1931 by decision of Sovnarkom RSFSR "About reorganization of system of art education in RSFSR", regulated activity of art higher educational institutions has been published. And on 1 October of the same year the theatrical high school was created by Sovnarkom order which has received the name already familiar to all – GITIS.

In July 1935 Theatrical Combine again transformed to the State Institute of Theatrical Art with three faculties: production management (with three years training), directing (with four years training), acting (with four years training). The Faculty of those years in GITIS were such known theatrical figures as Serafima Birman, Leonid Baratov, Boris Mordvinov, Boris Sushkevich, Leonid Leonidov, Mikhail Tarkhanov, Vasily Sakhnovsky, Olga Pyzhova, Boris Bibikov, Olga Androvskaya, Yosif Raevsky, Vasily Orlov, Andrey Lobanov, Mikhail Astangov, Ilya Sudakov, Yury Zavadsky.

World War Two
After the beginning of Second World War in September – October 1941 the education process in GITIS has been temporarily stopped. GITIS students were evacuated from Moscow to Saratov on 23 October.
The GITIS Front Theater was organized out of acting and directing faculties graduates in the summer of 1942 in Saratov. It made its contribution to a movement of front theaters in Second World War. For one thousand four hundred eighteen days of war the theater has given more than one thousand and five hundred performances.
Many GITIS graduates, students and teachers were fighting at several fronts.

Post-war years
In post-war years GITIS is widely growing. Few new faculties were organized. In 1946 faculty of a choreography has been created. Since 1958 GITIS Educational Theater was opened.  GITIS Theater known for many theater productions and playing the major in preparation of students for all theatrical specialties.

In 1991, the status of academy has been given to GITIS, and Institute has been renamed into the Russian Academy of Theater Arts – GITIS.

Present day
Today the Russian University of Theatre Arts (GITIS) is integrated into the world system of theatrical education. There are 8 faculties at the Russian University of Theatre Arts (GITIS).

Alumni

 Zina Andri one of the Albanian National Theater founders, in 1950 becomes the first female stage and theater director of the Albanian Theater, born Zinaida Andrejenko in Kharkiv, Ukraine
 Igor Korošec, actor, theorist, professor of acting
 Jurij Alschitz, theatre director, theorist
 Dmitry Bertman, theatre and opera director
 Mikhail Butkevich, theatre director, theorist
 Nazim Baykishiyev, theater artist faculty
 Anatoly Efros, theatre director
 Pyotr Fomenko, theatre director
 Simion Ghimpu, writer and lyricist
 Jerzy Grotowski, theatre director, theorist
 Angel Gutierrez, niño de Rusia, theater director and actor, founder of Chekhov Theatre in Madrid, one of the most important popularizers of Chekhov in Spain.
 Tankho Israelov, dancer, choreographer
 Chulpan Khamatova, actress
 Alim Kouliev, actor and theatre director
 Savely Kramarov, actor
 Lev Leshchenko, actor and singer
 Māris Liepa, ballet dancer
 Olga Lyubimova, Minister of Culture for the Russian Federation since January 2020
 Erkin Mademilova ballet dancer
 Alexandre Marine, actor and theatre director
 Eimuntas Nekrošius, theatre director
 Elena Nikolaeva (actress)
 Alla Pugacheva, musical performer
 Tatiana Samoilova, actress
 Larisa Sinelshchikova, media manager and producer
Tatyana Shmyga, singer and actress
 Georgy Tovstonogov, theatre director
 Anatoly Vasiliev, theatre director
 Roman Viktyuk, theater director, actor, screenwriter
 Mark Zakharov, theater and film director
 Andrey Zvyagintsev, actor and film director
Skënder Selimi, Albanian ballet master, choreographer and professor
Mariya Fomina, actress
Lê Thanh Bạch - Vietnamese theatre actor, choreographer

References

Sources
 A. Yu. Smoliakov Тот самый ГИТИС. – (Moscow: Алгоритм-Книга, 2004. – 288 p.) – .

External links

 GITIS International
 Russian Education. GITIS

Drama schools in Russia
Education in Moscow
Academies of arts
Russian Academy of Arts
Russian National Academies
Educational institutions established in 1878
1878 establishments in the Russian Empire
Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Moscow

Russian Institute of Theatre Arts


Lieutenant General Gerardus Johannes Berenschot (24 July 1887 – 13 October 1941) was Commander-in-Chief of the Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army; KNIL). An Indo – as Eurasians of Indonesian and Dutch descent – Berenschot was the son of a Dutch officer in the KNIL.

G. J. Berenschot was the son of Gerrit Hendrik Berenschot and Florence Mildred Rappa. At the age of 15, he was sent to the Netherlands, where he attended cadet school at Alkmaar. He later entered the Royal Military College, from which he graduated first in his class. He was the only commander of Indonesian descent (Indo) in the Dutch East Indies.

Upon graduation, he returned to his native East Indies where he distinguished himself as a young subaltern serving in the KNIL during the bloody campaigns in Aceh.

In 1934 he became the KNIL's Chief of the General Staff and, in July 1939, was promoted to Commander-in-Chief.

Berenschot was regarded as a gifted officer with organisational skills and possibly the best Commander-in-Chief the KNIL ever had. Not only was he a skilled soldier, Berenschot also displayed an impressive understanding of politics and diplomacy. Following the fall of the Netherlands in 1940, Berenschot participated in conferences involving Allied leaders at Singapore, where he was well liked and well regarded by his British and US counterparts.

On 13 October 1941, the plane carrying Bereschot back from a conference with British Air Chief Marshal Robert Brooke-Popham crashed in the suburbs of Batavia. There were no survivors. By order of the colonial authorities, all flags on public buildings were hung at half-mast. Berenschot's remains were buried in the cemetery at Bandung.

Bereschot's post of Commander-in-Chief of the KNIL was given to Lieutenant General Hein ter Poorten, who had the difficult task of preparing the East Indies for the looming war with Japan.

Berenschot was married and with three children. His brother was Berend Willem Berenschot.

Awards and decorations
  Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
  Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau
  Expedition Cross with clasps "Atjeh 1906–1910" and "Atjeh 1911–1914" and "Honourable Mention"
  Medal for Long, Honest and Faithful Service

External links
 Short biography

1887 births
1941 deaths
People from Solok
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army generals
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army officers
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army personnel of World War II
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Indonesia
Indo people
Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1941

Gerardus Johannes Berenschot


In telecommunications network management, a mediation function is a function that routes or acts on information passing between network elements and network operations.

Examples of mediation functions are communications control, protocol conversion, data handling, communications of primitives, processing that includes decision-making, and data storage.

Mediation functions can be shared among network elements, mediation devices, and network operation centers.

Sources

Network management

Mediation function


Curry powder is a spice mix originating from British India, not to be confused with the native spice mix of garam masala.

History
Key ingredients of curry powder are ginger, garlic, fennel, mace, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric and have been in use for over 4000 years, at least since the Indus Valley civilization. As commercially available in Western markets, curry powder is comparable to the traditional Indian concoction of spices known as "garam masala".

Conceived as a ready-made ingredient intended to replicate the flavor of an Indian sauce, it was first sold by Indian merchants to British traders.

Curry powder was used as an ingredient in 18th-century British recipe books, and commercially available from the late 18th century,  with brands such as Crosse & Blackwell and Sharwood's persisting to the present. The ingredient "curry powder", along with instructions on how to produce it, are also seen in 19th Century US and Australian cookbooks, and advertisements.

British traders introduced the powder to Meiji Japan, in the mid-19th century, where it became known as Japanese curry.

Etymology
In the West, the word "curry" is a broad reference to various Indian curries prepared with different combinations of spices in the Indian subcontinent. The sauce-like component characterized with "curry" has been derived from the Tamil word kaṟi meaning 'sauce' or 'relish for rice', and finds synonyms with other regional references to local dishes evolving over thousands of years in the Indian subcontinent, such as "jhol", "shorba" and "kalia".

Ingredients
A number of standards on curry powder have been defined. Most outline analytical requirements such as moisture, ash content, and oil content as well as permissible additives. Some also define a number of expected ingredients.

In the United States, curry powder is expected to contain at least these ingredients: turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, ginger, and cardamom.

The 1999 East African Standard (EAS 98:1999) does not define an ingredient baseline. A newer 2017 draft from Uganda does require turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek and mustard.

The Indian (FSSAI), Pakistani (PS:1741-1997), and international (ISO 2253:1999) standards do not define a baseline of essential ingredients.

Nutritional information

One tablespoon (6.3 g) of typical curry powder contains the following nutrients according to the USDA:
 Food energy:
 Fat: 0.883 g
 Carbohydrates: 3.52 g
 Fibers: 3.35 g
 Protein: 0.9 g

References

Anglo-Indian cuisine
Herb and spice mixtures
Indian cuisine in the United Kingdom
Powders

Curry powder


Art of Noise (also The Art of Noise) were a British avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and music journalist Paul Morley. The group had international Top 20 hits with its interpretations of "Kiss", featuring Tom Jones, and the instrumental "Peter Gunn", which won a 1986 Grammy Award.

The group's mostly instrumental compositions were novel melodic sound collages based on digital sampler technology, which was new at the time. Inspired by turn-of-the-20th-century revolutions in music, the Art of Noise were initially packaged as a faceless anti- or non-group, blurring the distinction between the art and its creators. The band is noted for innovative use of electronics and computers in pop music, particularly its innovative use of sampling.

History

Beginnings
The technological impetus for the Art of Noise was the advent of the Fairlight CMI sampler. With the Fairlight, short digital sound recordings called samples could be played using a piano-like keyboard, while a computer processor altered such characteristics as pitch and timbre. Music producer Trevor Horn was among the early adopters of Fairlight. While some musicians were using samples as adornment in their works, Horn and his colleagues saw the potential to craft entire compositions with the sampler.

In 1981, Horn's production team included programmer J. J. Jeczalik, engineer Gary Langan and keyboard player/string arranger Anne Dudley. The team produced ABC's 1982 debut album The Lexicon of Love, increasingly using the Fairlight to tweak live-based elements of performance but also to embellish the compositions with sound effects such as a cash register's bell on "Date Stamp" (Dudley also co-wrote a track on the album, which launched her scoring career). The team also worked on Malcolm McLaren's 1982 album Duck Rock and would go on to work with Frankie Goes to Hollywood on what would become the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome (realised predominantly on Fairlight).

During January 1983, Horn's team were working on the Yes comeback album 90125 – Horn as producer, Langan as engineer, and Dudley and Jeczalik providing arrangements and keyboard programming. During the sessions, Jeczalik and Langan took a scrapped Alan White drum riff and sampled it into the Fairlight using the device's Page R sequencer (the first time an entire drum pattern had been sampled into the machine). Jeczalik and Langan then added non-musical sounds on top of it, before playing the track to Horn. This in turn resulted in the Red & Blue Mix of Yes's "Owner of a Lonely Heart" single, which showcased the prototype sound of The Art of Noise.

Seeing further potential in the idea, Horn teamed Jeczalik and Langan with Dudley in February to develop the project and brought in one of his business partners, ex-NME journalist Paul Morley, as a provider of concepts, art direction and marketing ideas. Morley came up with the project name (taken from the essay "The Art of Noises" by noted futurist Luigi Russolo, and finalised at Jeczalik's request by dropping the final 's'). Much later, in a July 2002 article penned for The Guardian, Morley wrote "I loved the name Art of Noise so much that I forced my way into the group. If over the years people asked me what I did in the group, I replied that I named them, and it was such a great name, that was enough to justify my role. I was the Ringo Starr of Art of Noise. I made the tea. Oh, and I wrote the lyrics to one of the loveliest pieces of pop music ever, Moments in Love." Horn himself joined the new group as production advisor and provider of further ideas. This was the first time that he had been part of a group since parting company with his The Buggles' partner Geoff Downes (after they had been part of Yes). It would also be the first and last time that he would enjoy chart success as an artist since the new wave hit in 1979 with "Video Killed the Radio Star" (not counting writing credits on The Dollar Album).

Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? (1983–1984)
The debut Art of Noise EP, Into Battle with the Art of Noise, appeared in September 1983 on Horn's fledgling ZTT label. Many of the samples originally used on 90125 reappeared on the EP, which immediately scored a hit in the urban and alternative dance charts in the US with the highly percussive, cut-up instrumental track "Beat Box",  a favourite among body-poppers.

The first Art of Noise album, Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? was released in 1984. During this period, the group presented themselves as faceless (using masks, minimal personal appearances, or even absence from promotion to indicate that the Art of Noise was not a standard rock or pop band which promoted and mythologised its members as individuals).

"Moments in Love", a ten-minute instrumental ode to sensuality that appeared on both Into Battle and Who's Afraid, was remixed and released as a single in 1985. The song was first released in the US in 1983, where it was a moderate hit on the US R&B singles chart. It was played at one of Madonna's weddings; sampled by Mýa in her hit single "It's All About Me," which featured Sisqó; used in the soundtrack of the movie Pumping Iron II: The Women; featured in the Indian movie Koi...Mil Gaya; name-dropped in the opening pages of Sister Souljah's 2011 novel Midnight and the Meaning of Love (as "Moments of Love"); interpolated in King Sun's song "Hey, Love"; used in a number of advertisements; and remixed, covered, and sampled by numerous other artists. It has also appeared in numerous chill out compilations and has become a staple of smooth jazz radio station playlists. "Moments in Love" has been remixed many times, with names such as "Moments in Bed" and "Moments in love 7" Master Rejected". Most "Moments in Love" remixes can be found in the box set And What Have You Done with My Body, God?

An October 1984 feature in Smash Hits magazine indicated several of Morley and Horn's plans for the group's subsequent projects. These included a cover of "Video Killed the Radio Star", originally by The Buggles (Horn and Geoff Downes); Raiding the 20th Century, an album using sounds from throughout the 20th century as source material; the score for The Living End, a film written by Morley and directed by Godley & Creme; and the soundtrack for a ballet.

"Close (to the Edit)" was issued in October that year. The single was Art of Noise's first major UK hit, reaching number eight in the UK Singles Chart in November 1984.

Split of original line-up (1985)
In 1985, Dudley, Jeczalik, and Langan made an acrimonious split from Morley and Horn as well as from the ZTT label.

In a post-split interview for Melody Maker in October 1985, Jeczalik indicated that he and Morley did not get along and that he felt Morley's writing was pretentious. Jeczalik responded to a question about the level of Morley and Horn's involvement in Who's Afraid by saying, "It's difficult to tell. We say approximately 1.73 percent, but it could even be as high as two percent. You see, all that has happened is that Gary and I started something, it was taken away, and we have taken steps to get it back." In the same interview, Dudley indicated she felt parts of Who's Afraid were of dubious quality.

Much later, Morley would comment "When Trevor and I left, (Jeczalik, Langan and Dudley) became a novelty group who had hits with Tom Jones." His disdain for the artistic direction of The Art of Noise once he was no longer involved with it was even more evident in other articles he penned, including the liner notes of the 1986 compilation album Daft (under the name Otto Flake) and a September 2002 article for The Observer.

In Visible Silence (1986)

After the split, Dudley, Jeczalik, and Langan moved to the UK-based China Records label, taking the Art of Noise name with them. Some of the band's original imagery and ethos was retained for their second album, In Visible Silence. This album spawned the Grammy Award-winning cover of the Peter Gunn theme, recorded with Duane Eddy, who had a hit with Peter Gunn in 1959. The Art of Noise collaboration reached number two on the Billboard dance charts. The Peter Gunn video featured comedian Rik Mayall in a parody of the private eye film genre. The piece would later be used as the theme music for the 2008 BBC TV series Bill Oddie's Wild Side.

From the same album, the "Beat Box"-like single "Legs" (using the same drum sounds) was a mild underground hit in dance clubs. In 1986, the album track "Paranoimia" achieved some success when a remix of it was released as a single with overdubbed vocal samples provided by Matt Frewer as the supposedly computer-generated character Max Headroom. Frewer also appeared as Max Headroom in the music video for the track.

Around 1986, Jeczalik and Dudley started appearing in photographs without masks, alienating some fans that had come to appreciate Morley's "art for art's sake" aesthetic. The upcoming soundtrack pieces continued The Art of Noise's evolution into a pop band and away from Morley's faceless "non-group."

In No Sense? Nonsense!, Below the Waste, and the split (1987–1990)

By 1987, the band's membership was down to just Jeczalik and Dudley. That year saw the release of their album In No Sense? Nonsense!  The album featured Jeczalik's most advanced rhythmic collages to date, plus lush string arrangements, pieces for boys' choir, and keyboard melodies from Dudley. It did not produce any hits, although their record label made efforts to push remixes of "Dragnet" into the dance clubs and the single reached No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart.

In 1987, The Art of Noise provided the score for two movies, Hiding Out and Dragnet, and one particular movement was used in both films. Their brass-based connecting passage between sections from the original Dragnet television show's theme song was used as incidental music during a dramatic scene—an armed chase through the rafters of a gymnasium—near the end of Hiding Out.

In 1988, a one-off collaboration with singer Tom Jones (a cover of Prince's "Kiss" – a staple in Jones' stage shows) renewed the public's interest in the Art of Noise and provided the group's biggest hit in the mainstream. The track appeared on several albums by Jones, and China Records included the song on the greatest hits compilation The Best of The Art of Noise, the first edition of which also contained tracks licensed from ZTT.

The follow-up album, Below the Waste, failed to achieve much success upon its release in 1989. It did spawn the memorable single "Yebo!" (featuring the unique vocals of Zulu performers Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens). Both cassette and CD versions include two bonus tracks in the form of "Robinson Crusoe", and the "James Bond Theme".

In 1990, Dudley and Jeczalik declared that the Art of Noise had officially disbanded.

Interim (compilations, failed reformations and solo work)
Although Dudley and Jeczalik had already dissolved the group, in 1990 they assisted in the promotion of the lightly remixed compilation The Ambient Collection, which the China label released to cash in on the burgeoning ambient house scene. Jeczalik approved the remixes that appeared on The FON Mixes the following year. The rest of the decade saw China Records releasing further Art of Noise compilations: The Drum and Bass Collection, Art Works, and reissues of Best of without the ZTT-era tracks. Some of these featured new remixes by other artists.

According to an interview with J.J. Jeczalik reported in the ZTT fanzine Outside World  in 1991, Jeczalik, Dudley and Langan were inspired by the commercial success of The FON Mixes and had discussed reuniting the group as a trio again. In preparation to record a new album, Jeczalik and Langan travelled to Cuba to gather new source material. However, no new recordings were produced with the new line-up, and the Art of Noise remained defunct.

Dudley became well known for composing numerous film and television scores during the 1990s. The most famous of these is probably The Full Monty, which won an Academy Award for Original Music Score. She also collaborated with Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman on the 1990 album Songs from the Victorious City (inspired by a trip the two made to Egypt) and produced two tracks for the 1993 Deborah Harry album Debravation ("Strike Me Pink", which she also co-wrote and played keyboards on, and "Mood Ring").  She has scored orchestrations for dozens of pop releases over the years, and both scored and produced the album Voice for her neighbour Alison Moyet. Cathy Dennis added lyrics to one of Dudley's compositions and recorded it as "Too Many Walls", which became a US Top 10 hit in 1991.

In 1995–1997, Jeczalik and In No Sense? Nonsense! coengineer Bob Kraushaar produced a number of instrumentals oriented toward dance clubs under the name Art of Silence, issuing an album titled artofsilence.co.uk. Jeczalik also embarked on a new career in trading in futures contracts.

The Art of Noise also received a full writing credit for The Prodigy's "Firestarter", which samples the female "hey, hey" voice from "Close to the Edit". The Prodigy also contributed the remix "Instruments of Darkness (All of Us are One People)" to the 1991 compilation The FON Mixes. Also, an edited version of "Close to the Edit" is featured on the monthly educational Amiga game Ready Robot Club. The Art of Noise are also credited for the music to the ITV series The Krypton Factor.

The reunion and The Seduction of Claude Debussy (1998–2000)
In 1998, Horn, Morley, and Dudley began talking about the original intent of the project, its relevance in 20th-century music, and the impending turn of a new century. The group temporarily reformed, adding guitarist Lol Creme, but without J.J. Jeczalik and Gary Langan.  Their engineering, programming and production tasks were carried out by dance act Way Out West. An album was recorded – Balance – Music for the Eye – but was never released, although several tracks from this project were included on the 2010 retrospective album Influence. and the whole album was released as part of At the End of the Century box set. Instead, a new single called "Dream On" – which featured remixed versions of the forthcoming album track "Dreaming in Colour" – was released to club DJs later in 1998, showcasing mixes by Way Out West.

A second single, "Metaforce", featuring a rap by Rakim, preceded the 1999 release of the concept album The Seduction of Claude Debussy, a cohesive concept album depicting the life and works of Claude Debussy, on the ZTT label.

This album later formed the basis of a 17-minute soundtrack for London's Millennium fireworks celebrations on the banks of the River Thames. The firework display was synchronised to an edit of "Seduction" which also featured a collage of samples from some of Britain's most famous pop and rock songs, plus classical composers. It was broadcast live on 95.8 Capital FM and BBC London 94.9. Trevor Horn worked on the project with Jill Sinclair, Bob Geldof, Capital Radio executive Clive Dickens and producer Ross Ford.

After performing a handful of live shows in the UK and US, the band dissolved. A DVD (Into Vision) and CD (Reconstructed) were released in 2002 and 2003 respectively, featuring music recorded and filmed in Chicago, at the Coachella Festival (10 September 1999), at the Shepherd's Bush Empire (22 March 2000) and Fountain Studios, Wembley, London (1 June 2000).

Later work
A reunion of sorts occurred at a 30 November 2013 live performance by the BBC Concert Orchestra (with a live BBC radio broadcast) including Dudley's orchestral arrangement of the band's EP Into Battle and a new piece entitled "Rhythm of a Decade" by Dudley and narrated by Morley. In their programme notes, they explain "Rhythm of a Decade" was inspired by an unreleased Art of Noise piece: "Of the many Art of Noise albums that did not appear – even if they were recorded – was one that set out to represent various decades through the rhythms that appeared during that particular decade – charting the development of rhythmical patterns and the physical changes in drum sounds throughout the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s".

 On 25 May 2017 Art of Noise members Langan, Dudley and Jeczalik reunited as Reboot Art of Noise, performing at Liverpool Sound City as special support for The Human League during the festival's Pioneers of British Electronic Music.

The three appeared again when they played highlights from their In Visible Silence album plus other career highlights as "Dudley, Jeczalik, Langan" at the British Library in London on 9 March 2018 as part of the library's "Season of Sound" celebrating 140 years of recorded sound.  This performance included a recorded video intro and outro from Paul Morley.

Most recently, Jeczalik and Langan have been performing intermittent live dates as The Art of Noise/Revision/VJ Set, with a four-person line-up also including video operator Ian Peel (a long-term Art of Noise chronicler) and Chilean musician/producer Raimundo Ladrón de Guevara (and following "very good-humoured discussions and input from Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley and Paul Morley").

Re-releases
In 2003, a 20th-anniversary edition of Into Battle was released the first time in CD form in Germany, including bonus tracks and a bonus DVD of their promo videos and a selected discography slideshow of album art. The CD substituted the original version of "Beat Box" with the later "Diversion One".

In early 2004, the Karvavena label released an Art of Noise tribute album, The Abduction of The Art of Noise. This album contains covers of various tracks, including a new version of "Beat Box" performed by J.J. Jeczalik under his Art of Silence moniker. 2004 saw Dudley and Horn perform "Close (To the Edit)" together at a The Prince's Trust charity event.

In 2006, Lol Creme and Trevor Horn formed Producers, a band made up of renowned record producers and musicians.  Gary Langan is the band's audio engineer.

21 August 2006 saw ZTT release a 4-CD Art of Noise box set, titled And What Have You Done with My Body, God?, which consisted of tracks exclusively from the 1983–85 ZTT era, from the initial tentative demos created by Gary Langan and J.J. Jeczalik in the wake of the Yes 90125 sessions, to selections from the Ambassadors Theatre performances featuring Horn and Morley, recorded at concerts profiling ZTT acts—prior to which, Langan, Jeczalik, and Dudley had abandoned the label (and, for the time being, the band). The set featured over 40 unreleased remixes, demos, and works in progress, as well as the complete vinyl version of Into Battle... – sourced from the original masters – for the first time on CD. The project was conceived, researched and compiled by music journalist (and Art of Noise aficionado) Ian Peel, who also wrote the box set's accompanying 36-page book, which featured new interviews with all of the original members.

In April 2011, Peel continued his archiving of classic and vaulted ZTT material, now named the Element Series, with a Deluxe Edition reissue of Into Battle with the Art of Noise. This was intended to be the first of a chronological remastering and repackaging of the Art of Noise's output, collating the original album or EP with extended and previously unavailable tracks. Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise?, considered the first 'true' AON album, was released as a Deluxe Edition on 19 September 2011.

In May 2017, a two-disc deluxe edition of In Visible Silence was released.  Included is the remastered album, along with several remixes and B-sides, taken from previous 12" singles and available on CD for the first time.  Also included are outtakes and unreleased material from the group's time with China Records. Shortly thereafter, a similar deluxe edition of their next album, In No Sense? Nonsense! was released.

Other work
The Art of Noise wrote and recorded the theme music to the popular British game show The Krypton Factor, which was used from 1986 to 1993; the group also composed the short music pieces that introduced each of the six rounds. The group also composed and performed the opening theme for the third series of the chat show The Max Headroom Show. The track, titled "Happy Harry's High Club" (after a phrase spoken by Max Headroom on Paranoimia), is featured on In Visible Silence.

Discography

Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? (1984)
In Visible Silence (1986)
In No Sense? Nonsense! (1987)
Below the Waste (1989)
The Seduction of Claude Debussy (1999)

DVD and video
 "The Art of Noise in: Visible Silence" (1986) – a concert filmed in the Hammersmith Odeon on 15 August 1986.
 The Art of Noise: "Into Vision" (2002) – four different concerts between 1999 and 2000 in Chicago; The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California; in Shepherd's Bush, London; and in Wembley, London.

Band members

See also
List of number-one dance singles of 1984 (U.S.)
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart
Musique concrète

References

External links
 Official website

English electronic music groups
English synth-pop groups
English dance music groups
English new wave musical groups
British synth-pop new wave groups
Musical groups from London
China Records artists
Chrysalis Records artists
Island Records artists
ZTT Records artists
Polydor Records artists
Universal Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Musical groups established in 1983
Musical groups disestablished in 2000

Art of Noise


The Münchenstein rail disaster on 14 June 1891 was historically the worst railway accident ever to affect Switzerland. A crowded passenger train fell through a girder bridge, killing more than seventy people and injuring many others. The accident occurred on the railway line between Basel and Delémont, near the Bruckgut just below the village centre of Münchenstein, as the train was traversing the bridge across the river Birs.

Bridge
The single-track bridge had been built in 1874–75 by Gustave Eiffel (1832–1923), who went on to build the Eiffel Tower in 1889. The contract was given to Eiffel & Cie by the Jurabahn (later Jura–Simplon Railway), a private railway company. Eiffel's engineering company had already acquired the necessary experience, having previously planned and built numerous railway bridges and viaducts in France such as those at Rouzat and Bouble in the Massif Central.

The bridge was composed of wrought iron lattice girders, with an overall length of 42 metres. It crossed the river some five metres above water level at an angle of 51°, and it was completed and put into use in 1875. There were no reasons for complaint, even after serious local floods on the river Birs in 1881, but it was repaired and modified thereafter. One of the abutments was destroyed, leaving the bridge resting on just three points rather than the intended four piers. As one corner sank under its own weight, serious cracks developed. The affected parts were replaced, and further strengthening was done in 1890 after the introduction of heavier locomotives.

The accident

On June 14, 1891 at 14:15 a train left the main Basel railway station for Delémont. Owing to the large number of passengers, two supplementary passenger carriages and an additional engine had been added to the train in the last moment. Later, in the findings of the examination report it was estimated that the number of travellers aboard was between 530 and 550.

The disaster occurred as the passenger train, which had been travelling at full speed, applied its brakes as it approached and crossed the bridge, immediately before entering the Münchenstein railway station. Eyewitnesses said that the bridge appeared to break in the centre as the front wheels of the locomotive reached the further abutment. The train did not completely derail and fly off the track during the collapse.

The locomotive at the front, including the two engines, the two additional passenger carriages, a postal carriage, an express carriage and two further passenger carriages, fell into the river. The first two-passenger carriages sank into the river as the following carriages pushed them forwards. A further passenger carriage hung diagonally from the abutment facing downwards towards the river. The final five passenger carriages remained upon the tracks, virtually undamaged.

As the first carriages fell into the river, the air brake system pipes were severed and the brakes in the rear carriages were therefore instantly applied, keeping them standing on the tracks. Most of the passengers in the rear part of the train were uninjured.

The disaster claimed the lives of 73 and seriously injured 171 people.

Inquiry
The subsequent inquiry focused on the state of the bridge, the quality of the ironwork and the design. A new institute "Empa" (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) started work in 1880. In its first years of activity, "Empa" was involved in wide-ranging quality testing of building and structural materials for the Swiss National Exhibition of 1883. Intensive research work by the co-founder and first director, Prof. Ludwig von Tetmajer, gave rise to the first publications on the testing and standardisation of building materials and metals. Tetmajer was also commissioned to investigate the cause of the collapse of the Münchenstein railway bridge, which was responsible for what was at that time the worst railway disaster to have occurred in Europe. His investigation of the collapse revealed that Euler's formula for buckling, which had hitherto been used to calculate design loads in such structures, needed to be corrected for slender bars.

See also
List of bridge failures
Lists of rail accidents

Bibliography

References

Münchenstein
Railway accidents and incidents in Switzerland
Railway accidents in 1891
Bridge disasters in Switzerland
Bridge disasters caused by engineering error
1891 disasters in Switzerland

Münchenstein rail disaster


The Radhika Krishnashtaka (also called the Radhashtak) is a hymn. It is said that the reciter can get to Krishna via his consort Radha by chanting it. As it is composed of eight verses it is known as ashtak, ashta means eight. It is recited mainly by vaishnavas. Members of the Swaminarayan Sampraday recite this daily as it is prescribed in the Satsangi Jeevan (P.4, A.48). BAPS members do not recite this version but instead recite created version called Shri Swaminarayan Ashtakam. This is due to the use of words such as 'Venu, Vraja, Vrindavan, Gop-Gopi, Nanad, etc., that BAPS does not believe would be applicable to Swaminarayan. Followers of the Swaminarayan Sampraday maintain that even Gunatitanand Swami recited the original ashtak every day and is established in the Satsangi Jeevan for all Satsangi's to recite.

See also

 Krishna
 Radha
 RadhaKrishna

References

Krishna
Swaminarayan Sampradaya

Shri Radhika Krishnashtaka


Tadeusz Makowski (29 January 1882, Oświęcim - 1 November 1932, Paris) was a Polish painter who worked in France and was associated with the School of Paris.

Biography
From 1902 to 1906, he studied classical philology at the Jagiellonian University. During that time, he also began studying art at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts with Jan Stanisławski and Józef Mehoffer. Upon completing his courses there in 1908, he moved to Paris, where he would live for the rest of his life.

Originally he painted in the style taught by his professors. Then, he painted some frescoes that attracted the attention of a group of Cubist painters, led by Henri Le Fauconnier, who worked in Montparnasse. This had a decisive influence on his work.

At the invitation of Władysław Ślewiński, he spent the war years in Brittany and would return there several times. These trips inspired him to depart from strict cubism and go back to studying nature; creating many stylized landscapes.

Later, his favorite subjects were carnivals, fairs and children, done in a style inspired by the old Dutch Masters, Polish folk art and naïve art. He also did woodcut book illustrations. During the 1920s, he lived briefly in the Netherlands. From 1912 to 1931, he kept a diary that was published in Warsaw in 1961 by the State Publishing Institute (PIW).

Selected paintings

References

Further reading
 Władysława Jaworska, Tadeusz Makowski, Kluszczyński, 1999,
 Władysława Jaworska, Izabela Kania and Elżbieta Zawistowska, Tadeusz Makowski 1882-1932. Malarstwo, rysunek, grafika (exhibition catalog), Silesian Museum, 2002,
 Stanisław Ledóchowski, Tadeusz Makowski, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, 1984 ("ABC Sztuki" series),
 Irena Kossowska, Tadeusz Makowski (1882-1932), Edipresse Polska, 2006,

External links

 ArtNet: More works by Makowski.
 An appreciation of Makowski @ Culture.pl

1882 births
1932 deaths
People from Oświęcim
20th-century Polish painters
20th-century Polish male artists
Cubist artists
Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to France
Polish male painters

Tadeusz Makowski


Tiana Chanel Brown  (born July 13, 1981) is an American dancer.

Brown is known for dancing for Christina Aguilera and for being her good friend, and she can be seen in many of Aguilera's videos. Brown has also toured with Aguilera on her Stripped World Tour and the Back to Basics Tour, and she says her favorite song to dance to is "Dirrty".

She has been dancing professionally for seven years and was inspired to pursue a dancing career by the Britney Spears video "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope World Tour.

Brown is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Tiana trained at Dance of Iowa and at Broadway Dance Center in New York. She has done two world tours with Christina Aguilera, and worked with Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Christina Milian, Toni Braxton, The Pussycat Dolls, The Black Eyed Peas, Fergie, and Snoop Dogg. This beauty performed in the Olympics Closing Ceremonies in Utah and danced the stages on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Tonight Shows, Saturday Night Live several award shows.

Tiana stars in ABC's High School Musical: Get in the Picture as a faculty member, encouraging and helping contestants to make it to the finals.

While on tour, Tiana taught dance to students from 10-20 and also taught with the Universal Dance Association, teaching high school dance teams and preparing them for national competitions. For the last several years, Tiana has returned to the Midwest, producing a workshop for high school dance teams called "Get Down with Tiana Brown"

In her spare time, she likes to watch movies.

Brown has completed touring with Britney Spears' The Circus Starring Britney Spears tour.

Extras
Other artists Brown has danced with are:
The Game
Christina Milian
Toni Braxton
Outkast
The Black Eyed Peas
Paula DeAnda
Mary Mary
Fergie
Kylie Minogue
Britney Spears

Filmography
MTV Making The Video (2000 - 20??)
Stripped Live in the UK (2004)
Fat Albert (2004)
Back To Basics: Live And Down Under (2007)
High School Musical: Get in the Picture (2008)

References

External links

1981 births
American female dancers
Place of birth missing (living people)
American dancers
Living people
21st-century American women

Tiana Brown


On 20 December 1938, Bo Aung Kyaw was killed during a mounted police charge by the British Indian Imperial Police during the third Rangoon University student boycott. Bo Aung Kyaw Day (20 December) commemorates him as the first student leader who died in the independence struggle of Myanmar.

In December 1938, striking workers from the Chauk and Yenangyaung oilfields of the Burmah Oil Company marched to Rangoon to meet the British authorities. When the strikers reached  Rangoon, they joined up with Rangoon University students who were staging their third annual protest against colonial rule. The demonstration, which blocked access to the Secretariat, the seat of the colonial government, was broken up by the Indian Imperial Police. Many students, including Kyi Maung and Aung Kyaw, received serious injuries, and the latter later succumbed to a head injury received from a police baton. Aung Kyaw was posthumously conferred the title Bo (leader) by the students.

References

Nationalist movements of Myanmar
December observances

Bo Aung Kyaw Day


Panagiotis "Takis" Roumeliotis (Greek: Παναγιώτης Ρουμελιώτης, born August 19, 1947), is a Greek economist, academic, banker and politician. A friend and advisor of Andreas Papandreou, he has served as Minister of National Economy, Minister of Commerce, Member of the European Parliament for PASOK and as Greece's representative at the International Monetary Fund. Since December 2011, he has been Vice Chairman of Piraeus Bank, Greece's largest.

Biography
He was born in 1947 in Suez, Egypt, the son of a Greek businessman established there. He graduated with a degree in economics from the French School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (École des hautes études en sciences sociales), and later received a PhD in economics from Pantheon-Sorbonne University, also in France.

He has taught economics at various universities in France and Greece. He has also been president of the French think tank IPEMED (Institut de prospective économique du monde méditerranéen).

His political career began in 1978, when he became an economic advisor to Andreas Papandreou. After Papandreou became Greece's Prime Minister in 1981, Roumeliotis served, successively, as:

October - December 1981: General Secretary of the Ministry of Coordination
December 1981 - July 1982: Deputy Minister of Coordination
July 1982 - September 1983: Deputy Minister of Finance
April 1984 - February 1987: Deputy Minister of National Economy
February - November 1987: Minister of Commerce
November 1987 - July 1989: Minister of National Economy

From 1989 until 1994 he was Member of the European Parliament for PASOK.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s he held various positions, such as Special Representative of the Council of the European Union for the stability process in the Balkans (1997-2000) and President of the Working Group for democratization, human rights and minority rights of the South Eastern Europe Stability Pact (2000-2001).

From March 2010 until December 2011, he was Greece's representative at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In December 2011, he became Vice Chairman of Piraeus Bank, Greece's largest. The Chairman of the Bank, Michalis Sallas, was also an economic advisor for Andreas Papandreou, and he and Roumeliotis have known each other for many years.

In 2015, he criticised the IMF of using seminars to misinform Greek journalists.

References

1947 births
20th-century Greek economists
Living people
Economy ministers of Greece
MEPs for Greece 1989–1994
PASOK politicians
PASOK MEPs
People from Suez
21st-century Greek economists

Panagiotis Roumeliotis


A View from the Bridge (, ) is a 1962 drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the Arthur Miller play of the same name. The film was an international co-production between French and Italian studios, with exteriors shot on-location in Brooklyn and interiors filmed in Paris, France. It was written for the screen by Norman Rosten and Jean Aurenche, and stars Raf Vallone as Eddie Carbone, Maureen Stapleton as Beatrice, Carol Lawrence as Catherine, Jean Sorel as Rodolpho, Raymond Pellegrin as Marco, and Morris Carnovsky as Alfieri.

Plot

The Carbones are a working class Italian-American family living in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn - patriarch Eddie, his wife Beatrice, and their niece Catherine. Eddie is a longshoreman on the waterfront, and he and Beatrice have raised 18-year old Catherine from infancy.

When two of Beatrice's cousins from Sicily, Marco and Rodolpho, illegally enter the United States and take refuge in Eddie's home, an attraction develops between Catherine and the handsome young Rodolpho. Eddie's incestuous love for his niece drives him into cruel criticism of Rodolpho, including the accusation that he is an opportunist who plans to marry Catherine only to obtain his U.S. citizenship papers.

When Eddie's efforts fail to influence Catherine, he brands Rodolpho a homosexual and degrades him in front of Catherine by kissing him on the lips. His desperation only serves to further alienate Catherine, however, and when she and Rodolpho make plans to marry, Eddie betrays both Marco and Rodolpho to the immigration authorities. As the two brothers are led away, Marco spits on Eddie, denouncing him as an informer.

A waterfront lawyer, Alfieri, succeeds in winning freedom for Rodolpho because of his pending marriage, but Marco is slated for deportation. While out on bail, Marco goes to the Carbone house and forces Eddie to his knees; humiliated before his family and neighbors, Eddie commits suicide by plunging a cargo hook into his chest.

Cast

Production
A View from the Bridge was filmed in separate English and French versions. Its exterior sequences were filmed on-location on the waterfront of Brooklyn, New York, where the play and the film take place. The interiors were shot at a studio in Paris, France. It was Sidney Lumet's first time directing a film outside the United States.

The film was the first time that a kiss between men was shown on screen in America, in the sequence in which an intoxicated Eddie Carbone kisses his wife Beatrice's male cousin Rodolfo in an attempt to demonstrate the latter's alleged homosexuality. However, this overture was intended as an accusation of someone being gay, rather than a romantic expression.

Unlike the play, in which Eddie is stabbed to death with his own knife in a scuffle with his wife Beatrice's cousin Marco toward the end, in the film Eddie commits suicide by plunging a cargo hook into his chest.

Reception
A View from the Bridge premiered in the United States on January 22, 1962 by Continental Film Distributors, to generally negative reviews. In Film Quarterly, Pauline Kael called the film "not so much a drama as a sentence that's been passed on the audience." Stanley Kauffmann's review for The New Republic was titled "The Unadaptable Adapted."

A more favorable review came from The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, who praised Sidney Lumet's realistic depiction of the Brooklyn waterfront and his choice of actors but believed that principal character Eddie Carbone lacked depth and dimension. "The rumbling and gritty quality of the Brooklyn waterfront," he wrote, "the lofty and mercantile authority of the freight ships tied up at the docks, the cluttered and crowded oppressiveness of the living rooms of the dockside slums are caught in his camera's comprehension, to pound it into the viewer's head that this is an honest presentation of the sort of personal involvement that one might watch—might spy upon—through a telescope set on Brooklyn Bridge." However, "The one great obstruction to the drama — and a fatal obstruction it becomes—is the slowly evolving demonstration that the principal character is a boor. As much as his nigh-incestuous passion and his subsequent jealousy may be credible and touching, they are low in the human emotional scale and are obviously seamy and ignoble. They haven't the universal scope of greed or envy or ambition or such obsessions as drive men to ruin."

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on reviews from 5 critics.

As of 2021, the film has never been released on home video in the United States.

Accolades
For his performance as Eddie Carbone, Raf Vallone won the David di Donatello for Best Actor.

References

External links

1962 films
1962 drama films
1962 LGBT-related films
French drama films
French LGBT-related films
Italian drama films
Italian LGBT-related films
English-language French films
English-language Italian films
Films set in Brooklyn
Films shot in New York City
Films shot in Paris
Films about illegal immigration to the United States
Films directed by Sidney Lumet
1960s Italian films
1960s French films

A View from the Bridge (film)


Decimus Caelius Calvinus Balbinus (died 238 AD) was Roman emperor with Pupienus for three months in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors.

Origins and career
Not much is known about Balbinus before his elevation to emperor. It has been conjectured that he descended from Publius Coelius Balbinus Vibullius Pius, the consul ordinarius of 137, and wife Aquilia. If this were true, he was also related to the family of Q. Pompeius Falco, which supplied many politicians of consular rank throughout the 3rd century, and to the 1st-century politician, engineer and author Julius Frontinus. He was born around 178. He was a patrician from birth, and was the son (either by birth or adoption) of Caelius Calvinus, who was legate of Cappadocia in 184. He was one of the Salii priests of Mars. According to Herodian he had governed provinces, but the list of seven provinces given in the unreliable Historia Augusta, as well as the statement that Balbinus had been both Proconsul of Asia and of Africa, are likely to be mere invention. He had certainly been twice consul; his first consulate is not certainly known but is believed to have been about 203 or in July 211; he was consul for the second time in 213 as colleague of Caracalla, which suggests he enjoyed that emperor's favour.

Reign
According to Edward Gibbon (drawing upon the narratives of Herodian and the Historia Augusta):

Balbinus was an admired orator, a poet of distinguished fame, and a wise magistrate, who had exercised with innocence and applause the civil jurisdiction in almost all the interior provinces of the empire. His birth was noble, his fortune affluent, his manners liberal and affable. In him, the love of pleasure was corrected by a sense of dignity, nor had the habits of ease deprived him of a capacity for business.  (...)  The two colleagues [Pupienus and Balbinus] had both been consul (Balbinus had twice enjoyed that honourable office), both had been named among the twenty lieutenants of the senate; and, since the one was sixty and the other seventy-four years old, they had both attained the full maturity of age and experience.

On the news of the Gordians' defeat, the Senate voted Pupienus and Balbinus as co-emperors on April 238, though they were soon forced to co-opt the child Gordian III as a colleague. Unlike the situation in 161, both emperors were elected as pontifices maximi, chief priests of the official cults. This would be unthinkable in Republican times. Balbinus was probably in his early seventies: his qualifications for rule are unknown, except presumably that he was a senior senator, rich and well-connected. While Pupienus marched to Ravenna, where he oversaw the campaign against Maximinus, Balbinus remained in Rome, but failed to keep public order. The sources suggest that after Pupienus's victorious return following Maximinus' death, Balbinus and Pupienus began to distrust eachother. They were soon assassinated by disaffected elements of the Praetorian Guard; Pupienus attempted to warn Balbinus of the plot, but the latter thought that the guard would instead secure the throne for himself.

Sarcophagus
The 'sarcophagus of Balbinus' has earned this Emperor a niche in the history of Roman Imperial art. Presumably while holding the title of Emperor, Balbinus had a marble sarcophagus made for himself and his wife (whose name is unknown). Discovered in fragments near the Via Appia and restored, this is the only example of a Roman Imperial sarcophagus of this type to have survived. On the lid are reclining figures of Balbinus and his wife, the figure of the Emperor also being a fine portrait of him. The sarcophagus is held in collection at the Museo di Pretastato (at the catacombs of Praetextatus) in the Park of the Caffarella near the Appian Way at Rome.

Although in accounts of their joint reign Balbinus is emphasized as the civilian as against Pupienus the military man, on the side of the sarcophagus he is portrayed in full military dress.

Family tree

Gallery

References

External links

 portrait head from the sarcophagus as an example of Roman 'pathetic' style
 Livius.org: Balbinus (last accessed 22 September 2020)

170s births
238 deaths
3rd-century murdered monarchs
3rd-century Roman emperors
Caelii
Crisis of the Third Century
Imperial Roman consuls
Roman emperors murdered by the Praetorian Guard
Ancient Roman poets

Balbinus


The Karachi Agreement was a cease-fire agreement signed by Pakistan and India on the 27th of July 1949. It established a cease-fire line which could be monitored by observers from the United Nations. The Agreement was signed by the following:

 Major General W. J Cawthorn, Government of Pakistan.
 Lieutenanat-General S.M Shrinagesh, Government of India.
 Hernando Samper and M Delvoie United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan.

1940s in Pakistan
1940s in India
1949 in Asia

Karachi Agreement


Dennis Spiegel is an American lyricist. At the 44th Primetime Emmy Awards Spiegel won the award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics (shared with composer Curt Sobel) for the song "Why Do I Lie?" from the HBO movie Cast a Deadly Spell. He is a three time Emmy nominee. His film work includes the Michael Caine movie "Blame it on Rio" for which he wrote the lyrics for the song score.

Academy Award controversy

Spiegel's song "Alone yet Not Alone" from the 2013 film of the same name was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards, but the nomination was rescinded on January 29, 2014, after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences found that the song's co-writer Bruce Broughton, a former governor and current executive committee member of the music branch of the academy, had improperly contacted other branch members. "No matter how well-intentioned the communication, using one's position as a former governor and current executive committee member to personally promote one's own Oscar submission creates the appearance of an unfair advantage," said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy President.  Not everyone agreed with the academy's actions.

References

American lyricists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people

Dennis Spiegel


Edgar Sydenstricker (15 July 1881 – 19 March 1936) was an American economist and statistician.

Sydenstricker was born on 15 July 1881 in Shanghai to missionaries Caroline Maude (Stulting) (1857–1921) and Absalom Sydenstricker. His parents returned to their home state of West Virginia for the birth of his younger sister Pearl S. Buck. Sydenstricker came to the United States in 1896. He enrolled at Fredericksburg College and later Washington and Lee University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Sydenstricker completed a master's of art degree at Washington and Lee in 1902. For further graduate study, Sydenstricker enrolled at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University.

He was a high school principal in Onancock, Virginia until 1905, when he became editor of the Daily Advance, a newspaper in Lynchburg, Virginia. Sydenstricker also wrote for other publications. Between 1907 and 1908, Sydenstricker was a fellow in political economy at the University of Chicago, after which he worked for the United States Immigration Commission and the Commission on Industrial Relations until 1915. Sydenstricker joined the United States Public Health Service in 1915 to work with Benjamin S. Warren. Together, they researched the health and economic status of textile factory workers in New York City, as well as sickness insurance in Europe. From 1916 to 1918, Sydenstricker and Joseph Goldberger researched causes of pellagra in the American South. Sydenstricker and Wade Hampton Frost began in 1918 to research influenza with a statistical focus. Sydenstricker was named head of the Office of Statistical Investigations in 1920, and began the Hagerstown Morbidity Survey the next year. It later became the U. S. National Health Survey. In 1923, the League of Nations invited Sydenstricker to establish the Epidemiological Service of the Health Organization, which ran similar public health studies on an international scale.

Sydenstricker became a consultant to the Milbank Memorial Fund in 1925. As he took on more extensive leadership roles within the organization, including as director of research in 1928 and scientific director in 1935, Sydenstricker's reduced his responsibilities at the Public Health Service to consultancy work. He served in several positions within the American Statistical Association, among them counsellor, member of the board of directors, and associate editor. Sydenstricker was elected a member of the ASA in 1917, and became a fellow in 1922. He also represented the association on Social Science Research Council between 1931 and 1934. He died on March 19, 1936, aged 54, of a cerebral hemorrhage.

References

1881 births
1936 deaths
American statisticians
Fellows of the American Statistical Association
Scientists from Shanghai
Johns Hopkins University alumni
University of Chicago fellows
University of Chicago alumni
Washington and Lee University alumni
Editors of Virginia newspapers
20th-century American newspaper editors
American school administrators
American expatriates in China

Edgar Sydenstricker


A bellwether is something that is an indicator of trends. The term is used in economics, law and politics.

In politics
In politics, a bellwether seat is a seat that is generally won by the party that forms government.

Australia
Australian psephologist Antony Green, who reports live election results for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), classified 11 federal seats as bellwether seats for the 2016 federal election: Dobell, Eden-Monaro, Lindsay, Macarthur, Page and Robertson in New South Wales; Forde, Herbert, Leichhardt and Petrie in Queensland; and Makin in South Australia. Other seats sometimes considered bellwether seats include Corangamite in Victoria; Longman in Queensland; Hasluck in Western Australia; Hindmarsh in South Australia; Bass and Braddon in Tasmania; and Solomon in the Northern Territory. However, many of these seats would no longer be considered bellwether seats; in 2022, when the Coalition lost power to the Labor Party, the Coalition retained the seats of Bass, Braddon, Forde, Herbert, Leichhardt, Lindsay, Longman, Page and Petrie, while Labor already held the seats of Corangamite, Dobell, Eden-Monaro, Hindmarsh, Macarthur, Makin and Solomon, with Labor only gaining two of the mentioned seats from the Coalition (i.e Hasluck and Robertson).

The state seats of Camden, Monaro and Penrith in New South Wales; and Bentleigh, Carrum, Frankston and Mordialloc in Victoria (often called the four "sandbelt" seats); Barron River and Mundingburra in Queensland; and Albany, Geraldton, Joondalup, Southern River and Swan Hills in Western Australia; are often considered bellwether seats.

References

Political terminology

Bellwether


A pump fake is a feigned attempt to pass or shoot the ball in football or basketball respectively.

Football
In gridiron football, a pump fake is a move by the quarterback to deceive the defense. It entails the movement of the arm so as to fool the defense into thinking the quarterback is throwing.

Basketball
In basketball, it is also known as a shot fake, and usually involves a jump shot, restrained before the feet leave the ground.  The pump fake is a fundamental move in basketball, used to cause defenders to jump (known in basketball slang as "lifting" the defender) or be shifted off-balance. Its main applications are in the low post area, where a player is much more likely to have his or her shot blocked.  On the perimeter, it is useful in creating open lanes to the basket by "showing" the ball enough to entice a defender to attempt to block or steal it, allowing the dribbler to penetrate easily.

See also
Basketball moves

References

American football terminology
Basketball terminology

Pump fake


Bealtaine (, approximated in English as /ˈbɒltɪnə/ or /ˈbjɒltɪnə/ ) is the Gaelic May Day festival. It is traditionally held on May 1st in the Northern Hemisphere and November 1st in the Southern Hemisphere, or about midway between the spring equinox and summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. The festival name is synonymous with the month marking the start of summer in Gaelic Ireland. Historically, it was widely observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In Irish the name for the festival day is  () while the month of May is , in Scottish Gaelic  (), and in Manx Gaelic /. Beltane is one of the four main Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Lughnasadh—and is similar to the Welsh .

Bealtaine is mentioned in the earliest Irish literature and is associated with important events in Irish mythology. Also known as  ('first of summer'), it marked the beginning of summer and was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people and crops, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, whose flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around or between bonfires, and sometimes leap over the flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Bealtaine bonfire. These gatherings would be accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink would be offered to the . Doors, windows, byres and livestock would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people would make a May Bush: typically a thorn bush or branch decorated with flowers, ribbons, bright shells and rushlights. Holy wells were also visited, while Bealtaine dew was thought to bring beauty and maintain youthfulness. Many of these customs were part of May Day or Midsummer festivals in parts of Great Britain and Europe.

Public celebrations of Bealtaine fell out of popularity by the 20th century, though some customs continue to be revived as local cultural events. Since the late 20th century, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed a festival based on Bealtaine as a religious holiday.

Name
In Irish, the festival is usually called  ('day of Bealtaine') while the month of May is  ("month of Bealtaine"). In Scottish Gaelic, the festival is . Sometimes the older Scottish Gaelic spelling  is used. The term  (Scottish) or  (Irish), 'the bright or yellow day of Bealtaine', means the first of May. In Ireland it is referred to in a common folk tale as ; the first day of the week (Monday/) is added to highlight the first day of summer.

The name is anglicized as Beltane, Beltain, Beltaine, Beltine and Beltany.

An old alternative name for the festival was , probably meaning 'first of summer'. Ó Duinnín's Irish dictionary (1904) gives this as  or  in modern Irish. It survives in the Scottish Gaelic name for the month of May, , and matches the Welsh .

Etymology
Two etymologies have been proposed. Beltaine could derive from a Common Celtic , meaning 'bright fire'. The element  might be cognate with the English word bale (as in ) meaning 'white', 'bright' or 'shining'. Alternatively, Beltaine might stem from a Common Celtic form reconstructed as , which would be cognate with the name of the Lithuanian goddess of death , both from an earlier *gʷel-tiōn-, formed with the Proto-Indo-European root * ('suffering, death'). The absence of syncope (Irish sound laws rather predict a **Beltne form) can be explained by the popular belief that Beltaine was a compound of the word for 'fire', tene.

Toponymy

There are place names in Ireland containing the word , indicating places where Bealtaine festivities were once held. It is often anglicised as Beltany. There are three Beltanys in County Donegal, including the Beltany stone circle, and two in County Tyrone. In County Armagh there is a place called Tamnaghvelton/ ('the Beltane field'). Lisbalting/ ('the Beltane ringfort') is in County Tipperary, while Glasheennabaultina/ ('the Beltane stream') is the name of a stream joining the River Galey in County Limerick.

Historic customs
Bealtaine was one of four Gaelic seasonal festivals: Samhain (1 November), Imbolc (1 February), Bealtaine (1 May), and Lughnasadh (1 August). Bealtaine marked the beginning of the pastoral summer season, when livestock were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were held at that time to protect them from harm, both natural and supernatural, and this mainly involved the "symbolic use of fire". There were also rituals to protect crops, dairy products and people, and to encourage growth. The  (often referred to as spirits or fairies) were thought to be especially active at Bealtaine (as at Samhain), and the goal of many Bealtaine rituals was to appease them. Most scholars see the  as remnants of the pagan gods and nature spirits. Bealtaine was a "spring time festival of optimism" during which "fertility ritual again was important, perhaps connecting with the waxing power of the sun".

Ancient and medieval
Bealtaine (the beginning of summer) and Samhain (the beginning of winter) are thought to have been the most important of the four Gaelic festivals. Sir James George Frazer wrote in The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion that the times of Bealtaine and Samhain are of little importance to European crop-growers, but of great importance to herdsmen. Thus, he suggests that halving the year at 1 May and 1 November dates from a time when the Celts were mainly a pastoral people, dependent on their herds.

The earliest mention of Bealtaine is in Old Irish literature from Gaelic Ireland. According to the early medieval texts  (written by Cormac mac Cuilennáin) and , Bealtaine was held on 1 May and marked the beginning of summer. The texts say that, to protect cattle from disease, druids would make two fires "with great incantations" and drive the cattle between them.

According to 17th-century historian Geoffrey Keating, there was a great gathering at the hill of Uisneach each Bealtaine in medieval Ireland, where a sacrifice was made to a god named Beil. Keating wrote that two bonfires would be lit in every district of Ireland, and cattle would be driven between them to protect them from disease. There is no reference to such a gathering in the annals, but the medieval Dindsenchas (lore of places) includes a tale of a hero lighting a holy fire on Uisneach that blazed for seven years. Ronald Hutton writes that this may "preserve a tradition of Bealtaine ceremonies there", but adds "Keating or his source may simply have conflated this legend with the information in Sanas Chormaic to produce a piece of pseudo-history". Nevertheless, excavations at Uisneach in the 20th century found evidence of large fires and charred bones, and showed it to have been a place of ritual since ancient times. Evidence suggests it was "a sanctuary-site, in which fire was kept burning perpetually, or kindled at frequent intervals", where animal sacrifices were offered.

Bealtaine is also mentioned in medieval Scottish literature. An early reference is found in the poem 'Peblis to the Play', contained in the Maitland Manuscripts of 15th- and 16th-century Scots poetry, which describes the celebration in the town of Peebles.

Modern era
From the late 18th century to the mid 20th century, many accounts of Bealtaine customs were recorded by folklorists and other writers. For example John Jamieson, in his Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808), describes some of the Beltane customs which persisted in the 18th and early 19th centuries in parts of Scotland, which he noted were beginning to die out.

Bonfires

Bonfires continued to be a key part of the festival in the modern era. All hearth fires would be doused before the bonfire was lit, generally on a hill.  Ronald Hutton writes that "To increase the potency of the holy flames, in Britain at least they were often kindled by the most primitive of all means, of friction between wood." This is known as a need-fire, or tein' èiginn in Gaelic. It was a sacred fire that could only be kindled with a wooden drill, by a group of certain people (usually nine men), after they had removed all metal and after all other fires in the area had been doused. Nineteenth-century writers record such fires being kindled at Bealtaine in the Scottish Highlands, and also in Wales. Its flames were believed to guard against sickness, supernatural harm and witchcraft.

In the 19th century, cattle were still driven over flames or between two fires—as described in Sanas Cormaic almost 1000 years before—in parts of Ireland and Scotland. Sometimes the cattle would be driven around a bonfire or be made to leap over flames or embers. The people themselves did likewise for good luck and protection. On the Isle of Man, people ensured that the smoke blew over them and their cattle.

When the bonfire died down, people would daub themselves with its ashes and sprinkle it over their crops and livestock. Burning torches from the bonfire would be taken home, carried around the house or boundary of the farmstead, and used to re-light the hearth. From these rituals, it is clear that the fire was seen as having protective powers. Similar rituals were part of May Day or Midsummer customs in some other parts of the British Isles and mainland Europe. Frazer believed the fire rituals are a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic. He suggests they were meant to mimic the Sun and "ensure a needful supply of sunshine for men, animals, and plants", as well as to symbolically "burn up and destroy all harmful influences".

Food was also cooked at the bonfire and there were rituals involving it. In the Scottish Highlands, Alexander Carmichael recorded that there was a feast featuring lamb, and that formerly this lamb was sacrificed. In 1769, Thomas Pennant wrote of Bealtaine bonfires in Perthshire, where a caudle made from eggs, butter, oatmeal and milk was cooked. Some of the mixture was poured on the ground as a libation. Everyone would then take an oatmeal cake, called a  or 'Bealtaine bannock', which had nine knobs on it. Each person would face the fire, break off a knob one-by-one and throw it over their shoulder, offering them to the spirits to protect their livestock (one to protect the horses, one to protect the sheep, and so forth) and to the predators that might harm their livestock (one to the fox, one to the eagle, and so forth). Afterwards, they would drink the caudle.

According to 18th century writers, in parts of Scotland there was another ritual involving the Beltane bannock. The cake would be cut and one of the slices marked with charcoal. The slices would then be put in a bonnet and everyone would take one out while blindfolded. According to one writer, whoever got the marked piece had to leap through the fire three times. According to another, those present pretended to throw the person into the fire and, for some time afterwards, would speak of them as if they were dead. This "may embody a memory of actual human sacrifice", or it may have always been symbolic. There was an almost identical May Day (Calan Mai) tradition in parts of Wales, and mock-burnings were part of spring and summer bonfire festivals in other parts of Europe.

Flowers and May Bushes

Yellow and white flowers such as primrose, rowan, hawthorn, gorse, hazel, and marsh marigold were traditionally placed at doorways and windows; this is documented in 19th century Ireland, Scotland and Mann. Sometimes loose flowers were strewn at doors and windows and sometimes they were made into bouquets, garlands or crosses and fastened to them. They would also be fastened to cows and equipment for milking and butter making. It is likely that such flowers were used because they evoked fire. Similar May Day customs are found across Europe.

The May Bush or May Bough was popular in parts of Ireland until the late 19th century. This was a small tree or branch—typically hawthorn, rowan, holly or sycamore—decorated with bright flowers, ribbons, painted shells or eggshells from Easter Sunday, and so forth. The tree would either be decorated where it stood, or branches would be decorated and placed inside or outside the house (particularly above windows and doors, on the roof, and on barns). It was generally the responsibility of the oldest person of the house to decorate the May Bush, and the tree would remain up until May 31. The tree would also be decorated with candles or rushlights. Sometimes a May Bush would be paraded through the town. In parts of southern Ireland, gold and silver hurling balls known as May Balls would be hung on these May Bushes and handed out to children or given to the winners of a hurling match. In Dublin and Belfast, May Bushes were brought into town from the countryside and decorated by the whole neighbourhood. Each neighbourhood vied for the most handsome tree and, sometimes, residents of one would try to steal the May Bush of another. This led to the May Bush being outlawed in Victorian times. In some places, it was customary to sing and dance around the May Bush, and at the end of the festivities it may be burnt in the bonfire. In some areas the May Bush or Bough has also been called the "May Pole", but it is the bush or tree described above, and not the more commonly-known European maypole.

Thorn trees are traditionally seen as special trees, associated with the . Frazer believed the customs of decorating trees or poles in springtime are a relic of tree worship and wrote: "The intention of these customs is to bring home to the village, and to each house, the blessings which the tree-spirit has in its power to bestow." Emyr Estyn Evans suggests that the May Bush custom may have come to Ireland from England, because it seemed to be found in areas with strong English influence and because the Irish saw it as unlucky to damage certain thorn trees. However, "lucky" and "unlucky" trees varied by region, and it has been suggested that Bealtaine was the only time when cutting thorn trees was allowed. The practice of bedecking a May Bush with flowers, ribbons, garlands and bright shells is found among the Gaelic diaspora, most notably in Newfoundland, and in some Easter traditions on the East Coast of the United States.

Appeasing the fairies
Many Bealtaine practices were designed to ward off or appease the fairies and prevent them from stealing dairy products. For example, three black coals were placed under a butter churn to ensure the fairies did not steal the butter, and May Boughs were tied to milk pails, the tails of cattle were hung in the barns to ensure the cattle's milk was not stolen. Flowers were also used to decorate the horns of cattle, which was believed to bring good fortune. Food was left or milk poured at the doorstep or places associated with the , such as 'fairy trees', as an offering. However, milk was never given to a neighbor on May Day because it was feared that the milk would be transferred to the neighbor's cow. In Ireland, cattle would be brought to 'fairy forts', where a small amount of their blood would be collected. The owners would then pour it into the earth with prayers for the herd's safety. Sometimes the blood would be left to dry and then be burnt. It was thought that dairy products were especially at risk from harmful spirits. To protect farm produce and encourage fertility, farmers would lead a procession around the boundaries of their farm. They would "carry with them seeds of grain, implements of husbandry, the first well water, and the herb vervain (or rowan as a substitute). The procession generally stopped at the four cardinal points of the compass, beginning in the east, and rituals were performed in each of the four directions". People made the sign of the cross with milk for good luck on Beltane, and the sign of the cross was also made on the backsides of cattle.

Bealtaine blessings
In the 19th century, folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832–1912), collected the Scottish Gaelic song  ('The Bealtaine Blessing') in his Carmina Gadelica, which he heard from a crofter in South Uist. The first two verses were sung as follows:

 (Bless, O Threefold true and bountiful,)
 (Myself, my spouse and my children,)
 (My tender children and their beloved mother at their head,)
 (On the fragrant plain, at the gay mountain sheiling,)
 (On the fragrant plain, at the gay mountain sheiling.)

 (Everything within my dwelling or in my possession,)
 (All kine and crops, all flocks and corn,)
 (From Hallow Eve to Beltane Eve,)
 (With goodly progress and gentle blessing,)
 (From sea to sea, and every river mouth,)
 (From wave to wave, and base of waterfall.)

Other customs
Holy wells were often visited at Bealtaine, and at the other Gaelic festivals of Imbolc and Lughnasadh. Visitors to holy wells would pray for health while walking sunwise (moving from east to west) around the well. They would then leave offerings; typically coins or clooties (see clootie well). The first water drawn from a well on Bealtaine was thought to be especially potent, and would bring good luck to the person who drew it. Bealtaine morning dew was also thought to bring good luck and health. At dawn or before sunrise on Bealtaine, maidens would roll in the dew or wash their faces with it. The dew was collected in a jar, left in sunlight, then filtered. The dew was thought to increase sexual attractiveness, maintain youthfulness, protect from sun damage (particularly freckles and sunburn) and help with skin ailments for the ensuing year. It was also thought that a man who washed his face with soap and water on Bealtaine will grow long whiskers on his face.

It was widely believed that no one should light a fire on May Day morning until they saw smoke rising from a neighbor's house. It was also believed to be bad luck to put out ashes or clothes on May Day, and to give away coal or ashes would cause the giver difficulty in lighting fires for the next year. Also, if the family owned a white horse, it should remain in the barn all day, and if any other horse was owned, a red rag should be tied to its tail. Any foal born on May Day was fated to kill a man, and any cow that calved on May Day would die. Any birth or marriage on May Day was generally believed to be ill-fated. On May Night a cake and a jug were left on the table, because it was believed that the Irish who had died abroad would return on May Day to their ancestral homes, and it was also believed that the dead returned on May Day to visit their friends. A robin that flew into the house on Bealtaine was believed to portend the death of a household member.

The festival persisted widely up until the 1950s, and in some places the celebration of Beltane continues today.

Revival

As a festival, Bealtaine had largely died out by the mid-20th century, although some of its customs continued and in some places it has been revived as a cultural event. In Ireland, Bealtaine fires were common until the mid-20th century, but the custom seems to have lasted to the present day only in County Limerick (especially in Limerick itself) and in Arklow, County Wicklow. The lighting of a community Bealtaine fire from which each hearth fire is then relit is observed today in some parts of the Gaelic diaspora, though in most of these cases it is a cultural revival rather than an unbroken survival of the ancient tradition. In parts of Newfoundland, the custom of decorating the May Bush also survives. The town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders holds a traditional week-long Bealtaine Fair every year in June, when a local girl is crowned Bealtaine Queen on the steps of the parish church. Like other Borders festivals, it incorporates a Common Riding.

Since 1988, a Beltane Fire Festival has been held every year on the night of 30 April on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland. While inspired by traditional Bealtaine, it is a modern celebration of summer's beginning which draws on many influences. The performance art event involves fire dances and a procession by costumed performers, led by the May Queen and the Green Man, culminating in the lighting of a bonfire.

Butser Ancient Farm, an open-air archaeology museum in Hampshire, UK, has also held a Bealtaine festival since the 1980s. The festival mixes historical reenactment with folk influences, and features a May Queen and Green Man, living history displays, reenactor battles, demonstrations of traditional crafts, performances of folk music, and Celtic storytelling. The festival ends with the burning of a 30–40 ft wickerman, with a new historical or folk-inspired design each year.

A similar Bealtaine Festival has been held each year since 2009 at Uisneach in Ireland. It culminates in a torchlit procession by participants in costume, some on horseback, and the lighting of a large bonfire at dusk. In 2017, the ceremonial fire was lit by the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins.

The 1970 recording 'Ride a White Swan', written and performed by Marc Bolan and his band T.Rex, contains the line "Ride a white Swan like the people of the Beltane".

Neopaganism

Bealtaine and Bealtaine-based festivals are held by some Neopagans. As there are many kinds of Neopaganism, their Bealtaine celebrations can be very different despite the shared name. Some try to emulate the historic festival as much as possible. Other Neopagans base their celebrations on many sources, the Gaelic festival being only one of them.

Neopagans usually celebrate Beltane on 30 April – 1 May in the Northern Hemisphere and 31 October – 1 November in the Southern Hemisphere, beginning and ending at sunset. Some Neopagans celebrate it at the astronomical midpoint between the spring equinox and summer solstice (or the full moon nearest this point). In the Northern Hemisphere, this midpoint is when the ecliptic longitude of the Sun reaches 45 degrees.

Celtic Reconstructionist
Celtic Reconstructionists strive to reconstruct ancient Celtic religion. Their religious practices are based on research and historical accounts, but modified to suit modern life. They avoid syncretism and eclecticism (i.e. combining practises from unrelated cultures).

Celtic Reconstructionists usually celebrate Bealtaine when the local hawthorn trees are in bloom. Many observe the traditional bonfire rites, to whatever extent this is feasible where they live. This may involve passing themselves and their pets or livestock between two bonfires, and bringing home a candle lit from the bonfire. If they are unable to make a bonfire or attend a bonfire ceremony, candles may be used instead. They may decorate their homes with a May Bush, branches from blooming thorn trees, or equal-armed rowan crosses. Holy wells may be visited and offerings made to the spirits or deities of the wells. Traditional festival foods may also be prepared.

Wicca
Wiccans use the name Beltane or Beltain for their May Day celebrations. It is one of the yearly Sabbats of their Wheel of the Year, following Ostara and preceding Midsummer. Unlike Celtic Reconstructionism, Wicca is syncretic and melds practices from many different cultures. In general, the Wiccan Beltane is more akin to the Germanic/English May Day festival, both in its significance (focusing on fertility) and its rituals (such as maypole dancing). Some Wiccans enact a ritual union of the May Lord and May Lady.

See also

 Samhain
 Celtic calendar
 Calan Mai
 Walpurgis Night

References

Further reading
 Carmichael, Alexander (1992). Carmina Gadelica. Lindisfarne Press.
 Chadwick, Nora (1970) The Celts. London, Penguin
 Danaher, Kevin (1972) The Year in Ireland. Dublin, Mercier
 Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1966, 1990) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. New York, Citadel
 MacKillop, James (1998).  Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford University Press
 McNeill, F. Marian (1959) The Silver Bough, Vol. 1–4. William MacLellan, Glasgow
 Simpson, Eve Blantyre (1908), Folk Lore in Lowland Scotland, London: J.M. Dent.

External links
 Edinburgh's Beltane Fire Society
 Extract on The Beltane Fires from Sir James George Frazer's book The Golden Bough – 1922; from bartleby.com

April observances
Cross-quarter days
Gaelic culture
Holidays in Scotland
Culture of Ireland
Irish folklore
Irish mythology
Irish words and phrases
Galician culture
Manx culture
May observances
Modern pagan holidays
November observances
Scottish culture
Scottish folklore
Scottish mythology

Beltane


The Powder Magazine from Camp Drum is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument located in the Wilmington section of Los Angeles, California, near the Port of Los Angeles. Built in 1862, the Powder Magazine is a  brick and stone structure that was used to store gunpowder during the Civil War. It was originally part of Camp Drum, a facility built upon the outbreak of the American Civil War to address concerns about the loyalty and security of the Los Angeles area. Many of the area's residents were recent arrivals from the Southern states, and southerner John C. Breckinridge received twice as many local votes as Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 Presidential election. Phineas Banning, the founder of Wilmington (then known as New San Pedro), wrote to President Lincoln advising that the Union would lose California unless some provision was made to quell pro-Confederacy sentiment. Camp Drum was built between 1862 and 1863 and was the home base for the California Column, commanded by Colonel James Henry Carleton. Between 2,000 and 7,000 soldiers were stationed at Camp Drum, and Wilmington became a thriving community with a population greater than Los Angeles during the war. The Powder Magazine is one of only two surviving structures from Camp Drum, the other being the Drum Barracks, which is now operated as a Civil War museum by the City of Los Angeles. The Powder Magazine has been used for various private uses over the years, at one point having another structure built around it. When the larger structure was torn down, the Powder Magazine was re-discovered. In order to save it from demolition, it was declared a Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #249) in August 1982. For more than two decades, it has sat on a vacant, fenced-off lot two blocks south of the Drum Barracks.

See also
 List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in the Harbor area

References

External links
 Old Photograph of Powder Magazine

Gunpowder magazines
Military facilities in Greater Los Angeles
Wilmington, Los Angeles
California in the American Civil War
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Government buildings completed in 1862
Infrastructure completed in 1862
1862 establishments in California

Powder Magazine (Camp Drum)


Bahram V, also known as: Bahram Gur - ruler of Persia from the Sassanid Empire, son of Yazdegerd I. Bahram inherited the throne at 420/421 after his father's sudden death (murder?), Reigned until 438. He waged wars with variable luck with the Christian Byzantium, he also repelled the Hephthalite invasion. Above all, however, he became famous among posterity as a ruler who loved the joys of life and was sensitive to the fate of the people.

He was called the Gur (Literally meaning: Onager), as he was keen on hunting Onagers, small animals of the equine family. He is the hero of numerous Persian and Arab legends. Omar Khayyam, Firdausi, and Hamza of Isfahan devoted his works to him. There is also quite a credible message about the origin of the Roma people associated with him

Contemporary historians, however, see him as a relatively weak ruler, excessively succumbing to the clergy of Zoroastrianism and the nobility.

References

Persian people

Bahram V


In statistics, the midhinge is the average of the first and third quartiles and is thus a measure of location.
Equivalently, it is the 25% trimmed mid-range or 25% midsummary; it is an L-estimator.

The midhinge is related to the interquartile range (IQR), the difference of the third and first quartiles (i.e. ), which is a measure of statistical dispersion. The two are complementary in sense that if one knows the midhinge and the IQR, one can find the first and third quartiles.

The use of the term "hinge" for the lower or upper quartiles derives from John Tukey's work on exploratory data analysis in the late 1970s, and "midhinge" is a fairly modern term dating from around that time. The midhinge is slightly simpler to calculate than the trimean (), which originated in the same context and equals the average of the median () and the midhinge.

See also
 Interquartile mean
 L-estimator

References

External links
 H-spread at MathWorld

Means
Exploratory data analysis

Midhinge


George Edward Anson (14 May 1812 – 8 October 1849) was a British courtier and politician from the Anson family.

Anson was the son of the Very Reverend Frederick Anson (1779–1867), Dean of Chester, son of George Anson and the Honourable Mary Vernon, daughter of George Venables-Vernon, 1st Baron Vernon. Frederick Anson was his brother. He served as Keeper of Her Majesty's Privy Purse, Treasurer of the Household to HRH Prince Albert, Treasurer and Cofferer of the Household of HRH the Prince of Wales, a member of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster and of the Prince of Wales's Council for the Duchy of Cornwall.

Anson served as private secretary to Prince Albert, and was frequently employed on diplomatic missions for the Prince. He was married to the Honourable Georgiana Mary Harbord, who was a Woman of the Bedchamber to the Queen and sister of Edward, Third Lord Suffield. Anson died at age 37 in Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire. He was the son of the Rev. Frederick Anson, Dean of Chester, born at Shugborough Hall, and his wife Anne, only daughter of Rev. Richard Levett and Louisa Frances (Bagot) of Milford Hall.

References

External links
The Peerage of the British Empire as at Present Existing, Edmund Lodge, 1843
Obituary of George Edward Anson, The Gentleman's Magazine, 1849
Appointment of Anson, Bulletins and Other State Intelligence, Windsor, 1847
George Edward Anson deceased, Bulletins and Other State Intelligence, Windsor, 1849
Ancestry of George Edward Anson
George Edward Anson, Sudbury, Derbyshire

1812 births
1849 deaths
British and English royal favourites
Court of Queen Victoria
People from Barton-under-Needwood
George

George Edward Anson


The Lawrence Brown House, better known as the L.B. Brown House,  is the home built by Lawrence Bernard Brown a self-made businessman, community leader, and master carpenter. It may be the only home built by a former enslaved person left in Florida. The house "stands as a living testimony to one person's triumph over adversity."

Until 1989, was known as the "Thomas House." It wasn't until the death of the former resident, Lavina Thomas, that the original builder was discovered.

The house is located at 470 L.B. Brown Avenue, Bartow, Florida 33830 (formerly 2nd Ave).  Clifton Lewis, president of Corporation Of Neighborhood Improvement  and other Bartow residents set about restoring old homes in the early 1990s.  When Robert Brown, son of L.B.,  came to look at his childhood home, he casually mentioned to Lewis, his father had built the house.  From that point on, it was known as the L.B. Brown Home and the street name was officially changed from 2nd Ave., to L.B. Brown Avenue.

The L.B. Brown House was added to the National Register of Historic Places, a division of the National Park Service, on January 4, 2001.  The house was completed in 1892.

Every year the town of Bartow recognizes L.B. Brown's "life and achievements" at the annual L.B. Brown Festival, usually held mid-February.

The L.B. Brown house will be represented at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. There will be cornerstone with L.B. Brown's name on it.

See also
Horace King (architect)
Lincolnville Historic District

References

External links

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida
National Register of Historic Places in Polk County, Florida
Buildings and structures in Bartow, Florida
Houses in Polk County, Florida
Slavery in the United States
1892 establishments in Florida
Houses completed in 1892

Lawrence Brown House