The Royal National Park is a national park in New South Wales of Australia. It is located 29 kilometres south of Sydney and is part of the Sydney metropolitan area.

History

The national park was founded in 1879 by Sir John Robertson, then premier of New South Wales, making it the second oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Sir John Robertson cared for and supported him all the rest of his life. After coal was discovered on the terrain, it was founded out of economic interests to keep competition away from the gates of Sydney. Its original name was The National Park . In 1955 it was renamed after a visit from Queen Elizabeth II. The park is repeatedly ravaged by bushfires, which contribute to the constant change and regeneration of the vegetation. Plants like the native Waratah are adapted to the environmental factor fire and need the fires to bloom in subsequent years.

Location

The park is partly in the Sydney and Wollongong administrative districts and forms a jewel with unspoiled nature between these two major cities. It is bounded to the north by the Port Hacking fjord, to the west by the motorway between the cities and to the south to Otford. The Heathcote National Park connects across the freeway and continues the green belt around Sydney.

The Royal National Park offers very different landscapes and vegetation. It lies on sandstone hills that break off a few hundred meters down to the coast. They are mostly covered by eucalyptus forests with a wealth of species. Centrally, deeply cut, the Hacking River runs through the park, which flows into the seawater of Port Hacking at Audley. This rugged bay offers protection from the open sea. The water at Bundeena is very shallow and is home to an extensive mangrove forest . There are a few beaches and lagoons on the open coast to the Tasman Sea. Most of them can only be reached on foot via the coastal footpath. Wattamolla can be approached and offers ample picnic and barbecue facilities. In the southeast the forest merges into the subtropical rainforest of the Illawarra Escarpment, in which there are also palm trees.

Access
Access by car is via three routes, north from Sutherland, west from Waterfall and south from Otford via Stanwell Park . A daily or annual fee is required, which can be purchased at various points of sale as well as on NSW national parks website.

Other websites
 Official website of the park

1879 establishments in Australia
National parks in Australia

Royal National Park


Tears of Steel (code-named Project Mango) is a short science fiction film by producer Ton Roosendaal and director/writer Ian Hubert. The film is both live-action and CGI; it was made using new enhancements to the visual effects capabilities of Blender, a free and open-source 3D computer graphics app. Set in a dystopian future, the short film features a group of warriors and scientists who gather at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam in a desperate attempt to save the world from destructive robots.

Overview
Work began in early 2012 as the Mango Open Movie Project. The film is a combination of live-action and computer generated sets, props and special effects. It was officially released online for viewing and download on September 26, 2012.

Tears of Steel is the fifth project from the Blender Foundation, following Elephants Dream, Big Buck Bunny, Yo Frankie  and Sintel. It was created by the Blender Institute, a division of the foundation set up specifically to facilitate the creation of open-content films and games.

The film was funded by the Blender Foundation, donations from the Blender community, pre-sales of the film's DVD, the Netherlands Film Fund and Cinegrid Amsterdam. The film itself and any material made in the studio are released under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Plot
The short begins with a view of a rocket lifting off. Thom (Vanja Rukavina) and Celia (Denise Rebergen) are standing on a bridge, arguing. Thom says both of them need to follow their passions; his is to be an astronaut and hers is the field of robotics. Celia, however, correctly concludes that Thom is scared of her robotic hand and breaks up with him.

Forty years later, killer robots created by Celia have taken over a deserted Amsterdam. Atop of a modified, futuristic Oude Kerk, Barley (Sergio Hasselbaink) remotely activates the lights of a flying vehicle. Giant quadrupedal robots immediately attack the vehicle. With the robots distracted, Barley lowers an older Thom (Derek de Lint) into the Oude Kerk. There, a small team of scientists have prepared augmented reality projectors and are preparing to simulate the same bridge location shown earlier in the film, along with a robot in containment. They appear to be attempting to overwrite the memories of the trapped robot. The captain (Rogier Schippers) commands the scientists to start. Thom walks into the simulation, at which point his physical appearance transforms into the younger version of himself. One of the scientists then transforms the robot into Celia.

Thom relives the breakup moment in the simulation, in hopes of calming Celia and neutralizing the robots. The captain, using a teleprompter, orders Thom to respond to Celia's conclusion with "Celia, I love your robot hand", but Thom instead says "Listen, Celia, I was young, and a dick, but that's no reason to destroy the world." Celia grabs Thom by the face and seemingly prepares to kill him. The captain and his team panic, as this sentence has previously been tested and proven not to work. Scientists' attempts to abort the simulation, however, fails. Meanwhile, the killer robots break into Oude Kerk. Barley opens fire and other scientists join the fray using unconventional energy weapons.

Thom, nevertheless, is not harmed. As the memory overwrite process reaches completion, he ends the simulation by saying, "The world's changed, Celia. Maybe we can too." The trapped robot shows signs of calming down. Thom and "Celia" embrace as the other robots close in on them. Since they are not showing signs of aggression, it is implied that the experiment has ended successfully. The captain proclaims that it had lessons for them.

In a post credit scene, a breathless Barley is shown siting atop a heap of fallen robots, sipping mango juice.

Technical information
The live-action footage was filmed digitally using a Sony F65 CineAlta digital motion picture camera. The finished film is available for viewing and download in 4K and HD resolutions, Dolby 5.1 audio and 2.35:1 aspect ratio format.

Filming was done in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

All visual effects, computer-generated content and compositing work was done within the Blender software package.

The Mango Open Movie Channel on YouTube contains several videos explaining development and the techniques used by the team in making the film. There is also a behind-the-scenes documentary by user Sutrabla entitled "Throw it in the Canal."

On March 15, 2013, the computer-based film makers released the source material (about 5 times the length of the used materials) into the public using the CC-by license with the major restriction that images of the actors shall not be used for commercials. The material is available using the OpenEXR half float file encoding and makes up 4 TB of data for roughly 80,000 frames using a dimension of 4096 × 2160 pixels (see also Ultra HD). It is the intention of the releasers to ease future developments for the film industry and other areas of image processing by making available this noticeably large amount of high definition professionally shot test data that has not been seen until now.

Improvements to Blender
As with the previous Blender Open Movie Projects, the Blender developers and community worked together to provide a movie studio style production work flow for the team. The results are a complete open source pipeline for visual effects work in Blender including but not limited to camera tracking, rotoscoping, compositing and color grading.

These features are available starting with Blender v. 2.64.

Reception
The reviewer David Masters praised the film's visual effects while noting that the acting was wooden in places.

References

External links

 Tears of Steel Complete Press Release
 Sony F65 CineAlta Camera
 Original live action footage on xiph.org

2012 science fiction films
2012 animated films
2012 films
Blender Foundation
2012 computer-animated films
Creative Commons-licensed science fiction films
2010s dystopian films
Open content short films
Films with live action and animation
Robot films
Articles containing video clips
2012 short films
Dutch science fiction films
2010s English-language films
English-language Dutch films
Films released on YouTube

Tears of Steel


The Finnish War (, , ) was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire. Other notable effects were the Swedish parliament's adoption of a new constitution and the establishment of the House of Bernadotte, the new Swedish royal house, in 1818.

Background

After the Russian Emperor Alexander I concluded the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon, Alexander, in his letter on 24 September 1807 to the Swedish King Gustav IV Adolf, informed the king that the peaceful relations between Russia and Sweden depended on Swedish agreement to abide by the limitations of the Treaty of Tilsit which in practice meant that Sweden would have been required to follow the Continental System. The king, who viewed Napoleon as the Antichrist and Britain as his ally against Napoleon's France, was apprehensive of the system's ruinous consequences for Sweden's maritime commerce. He instead entered into negotiations with Britain in order to prepare a joint attack against Denmark, whose Norwegian possessions he coveted.

In the meantime, the Royal Navy attacked Copenhagen and the Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812) was declared. Referring to the treaties of 1780 and 1800, the emperor demanded that Gustav Adolf close the Baltic Sea to all foreign warships. Although he reiterated his demand on November 16, 1807, it took two months before the king responded that it was impossible to honor the previous arrangements as long as the French were in control of the major Baltic ports. King Gustav Adolf did this after securing an alliance with Britain on 8 February 1808. Meanwhile, on 30 December 1807 Russia announced that should Sweden not give a clear reply Russia would be forced to act.

Although most Swedish officers were sceptical about their chances in fighting the larger and more experienced Imperial Russian Army, Gustav Adolf had an unrealistic view of Sweden's ability to defend itself against Russia. In Saint Petersburg, his stubbornness was viewed as a convenient pretext for Russia to occupy Finland, thus pushing the Russo-Swedish frontier considerably to the west of the Russian capital and safeguarding it in case of any future hostilities between the two powers.

The situation was problematic for Sweden, since it once again faced both Denmark and Russia as potential enemies requiring the Swedes to split their forces. The king had thought it impossible to defend Finland should the enemy attack during the winter and chose largely to ignore the repeated warnings of the Russian threat he received in early 1808. Most of the Swedish plans assumed that warfare would be impossible during winter, disregarding the lessons from recent wars. In addition, several new good roads had been built into Finland greatly reducing the earlier dependency on naval support for any large operation in Finland.

The Swedish plan was to first passively defend and hold on to the fortifications in the southern coast of Finland, in which Sweden had strong garrisons, while the rest of the Swedish Army retreated to the north. Then in the spring, counterattack simultaneously from north and south, when the Swedish army would have naval support and the Russian army would be spread over Finland and thus have long supply lines. The basic reason for the plan was to avoid major decisive battles.

Some advocates existed for taking a more active approach immediately, namely Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Möller (fi) who advocated for taking an immediate offensive and Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt who supported actively delaying the advancing enemies in co-operation with the garrisons in the southern coast.

In the end instructions which the new Swedish commander in Finland, General Wilhelm Mauritz Klingspor, received from the king were an unsuccessful and open-ended mixture of ideas from these very different plans.

Russia had gathered a wealth of information from Finland using spies and other sources.  The level of detail was so great that Russian maps of Finland were in many respects more accurate than their Swedish counterparts. The Russians used the services of General Georg Magnus Sprengtporten when forming their plans. Sprengtporten suggested going on to an offensive during the winter since Finland would be mostly isolated when seas were frozen. His ideas were further developed by General Jan Pieter van Suchtelen before General Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden was appointed as the commander of the Russian army in Finland in December 1807.

The plan involved using the series of fortifications built after 1790 as staging grounds for the Russian advances into Finland. In southern Finland, armies were to isolate the fortifications and first take control of the whole of southern Finland before advancing further to the north. Forces in Savolax (Finnish: Savo) were to press hard against the Swedes and reach the Gulf of Bothnia towards Uleåborg (Finnish: Oulu) and Vasa (Finnish: Vaasa) to cut off the retreat of the main body of the Swedish army.

February–May 1808

On February 21, 1808, 24,000 Russian troops under Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoevden crossed the border in Ahvenkoski and took the town of Lovisa (Finnish: Loviisa). Since Klingspor had not arrived, Lieutenant General Karl Nathanael af Klercker acted as Swedish commander in Finland. He was notified of the Russian invasion already on 21 February and since it was impossible to hold the predefined defense lines as the army had not yet fully assembled he ordered the army to assemble at Tavastehus (Finnish: Hämeenlinna). Before the engagement started Klingspor finally arrived on 2 March and assumed command. Instead of facing the Russians at Tavastehus he ordered the army to withdraw. In Savolax the Russians also forced the Swedes to withdraw. The king was quite unprepared for the attack, especially as war was not declared until April. About 21,000 Swedish troops were stationed in various fortresses in Finland, while the rest of his army was unable to leave southern Sweden for fear of Danish attack.

The Russian advance was swift. On the first day of the war they had captured the town of Lovisa and besieged the Swedish sea fortress of Svartholm. Borgå (Finnish: Porvoo) was captured on 24 February and Helsingfors (Finnish: Helsinki) on 2 March. Abandoned Swedish fortifications on the Hangö Peninsula (Finnish: Hanko) were taken and manned on 21 March and on the same day the Russian army took Åbo (Finnish: Turku) while a small detachment was sent to Åland. Before the end of March 1808 even Vasa was taken. In Savolax, Russians also advanced rapidly and took Kuopio on 16 March. Swedish forces had mostly just withdrawn before the advancing Russian often destroying usable materials. For example, the Swedish archipelago fleet's ships that been docked in Åbo (nearly 50 gun sloops) were torched to prevent their capture.

The Swedish fortress of Svartholm, commanded by Major Carl Magnus Gripenberg, was ill-prepared for a war. While the garrison was 700 men strong, only a third of the men had actually functioning weapons, while most of the fortress' guns had no carriages. The fortress had fallen into disrepair and lacked both adequate food and ammunition stores. Even the wells were found to be unusable. After starting the siege on 21 February, the Russians issued a surrender demand for the fort, but this was refused by the Swedes. The demand was repeated on 2 March but without success. After a meager Russian bombardment, Gripenberg agreed to negotiations on 10 March. The fortress surrendered to the Russians on 18 March after a siege that had lasted roughly a month, with just one man having been wounded in action.

Sveaborg (Finnish: Suomenlinna) under Admiral Carl Olof Cronstedt had been well prepared for the war with a garrison of 6,000 men, over 700 cannons, and enough stores to last until the summer of 1808. Defenses were strong enough to prevent the Russians from trying to storm the fortress by surprise. Instead the Russians laid siege to Sveaborg. The fortress surrendered on 6 May 1808 after prolonged negotiations with the Russians as the commanding officer Carl Olof Cronstedt and his council believed that resistance was futile. The Russians gained the main body of the Swedish archipelago fleet intact as well as large stores of supplies and munitions.

The Russians had advanced considerably but they had also gained the long and vulnerable coastline with it. After the sea would be clear of ice there would be nothing to prevent Swedish forces from landing troops on the shore. With the Royal Navy supporting the Swedish Navy there was little the Russian Baltic Fleet could accomplish. Capture of the main body of the Swedish archipelago fleet had resulted in a real advantage to the Russians since it allowed them to gain superiority in the narrow waters of the Finnish archipelago where large ships of the line could not operate. Even the powerful explosion at Sveaborg which destroyed several of the captured ships did little to change Russian superiority in the Finnish archipelago. The Russians utilized the guns from the burned ships, and from those which burned during the winter, and constructed several fortifications on the coast, both in Hangö as well as along narrow passages leading to Åbo.

Under Colonel Carl Johan Adlercreutz the Swedish army counter-attacked at Siikajoki and began to halt the Russian offensive. Soon after at the Battle of Revolax (Finnish: Revonlahti), the Swedish army under Colonel Johan Adam Cronstedt started an advance towards the south. These successes yielded a promotion to Field Marshal for Wilhelm Mauritz Klingspor. The Swedish advance was very slow however, as operations were often halted due to the thaw. An exception was the brigade under Colonel Johan August Sandels, which swiftly advanced towards Kuopio. Nikolay Tuchkov, a Russian general who was dispatched to the north of Finland, left garrisons in every fort along his way. This reduced his unit to 4,000 troops, which proved insufficient to pacify the hostile country. The Finns rose up in guerrilla fighting as far east as Frederikshamn (Finnish: Hamina) within the Old Finland province of Russia.

In May, the Russians suffered further setbacks when they were driven from Gotland and Åland, where a Swedish flotilla, supported by the local population, compelled the small Russian force left on the main island of Fasta Åland to surrender, and then invaded the island of Kumlinge where the bulk of the Russian garrison on the Åland Islands was based. After a two-hour-long battle, the local militia, together with the Swedish landing force, overwhelmed their enemies and Colonel Vuich and his garrison were compelled to surrender.

On May 26, a British fleet carrying 14,000 troops under Sir John Moore entered the port of Gothenburg. Due to various disagreements with the Swedish king, however, they never landed and sailed off to fight the French in Spain after leaving 16 battleships and 20 other ships at Sweden's disposal.

June–July 1808
The Swedish battlefleet which had been expelling Russians from Gotland was ordered to blockade the Hangö Peninsula and reached the cape on 10 June. Due to bad weather and poor visibility the fleet under Admiral Rudolf Cederström chose to stay relatively far from the coast. Upon approaching the coast on 21 June, Cederström learned that the Russians had already passed the cape some time earlier. Attempts to stop the Russians deeper in the archipelago were also unsuccessful. Failure to block the Russians led the king to relieve Cederström of his duties and replace him with Commander Henrik Johan Nauckhoff.

Major General Eberhard von Vegesack was chosen to lead the first Swedish army to Finland. He was to lead a force of 2,600 men, land somewhere between Nystad (Finnish: Uusikaupunki) and Åbo, and then capture the latter. Von Vegesack instead chose to land his force at the Lemo (Finnish: Lemu) manor house a few kilometers south of Åbo. The landing began on 19 June and was initially successful. The surprised Russians garrisoned at Åbo reacted quickly, however, and deployed over 3,000 men to stop the landing force. By the morning of 20 June, the Swedish forces were forced to withdraw.  In addition, Colonel Johan Bergenstråhle landed 1,100 Swedes just a few kilometers northeast of Vasa on 25 June and managed to quickly advance to the town. The Russians, however, managed to gather a force of 3,000 men which was able to force the ill-trained Swedes to withdraw.

The advance of the Russian coastal squadron beyond Hangö created difficulties for the Swedes. The strength of the Swedish coastal forces deployed to the Finnish archipelago was equal in size to the coastal fleet that the Russians had obtained by the Sveaborg surrender. To prevent the Russians from gaining strength, the Swedish coastal fleet's unit under Rear Admiral Claes Hjelmstjerna tried to engage them twice in battle. The first was at the Battle of Rimito Kramp on 30 June, and after Russians withdrew closer to Åbo, the second was a battle at Pukkisaari on 4 July. Fighting ended in a stalemate, but can be viewed as a Swedish failure since they failed to decisively defeat the Russians.

Having been alerted to the approach of additional Russian coastal units from Sveaborg, the Swedish forces moved to intercept them before they could link up with the Russian coastal unit now bottled up at Åbo. Learning that the Russians intended to go around the island of Kimito (Finnish: Kemiönsaari), a Swedish force of gunboats was deployed to the narrows. They met the Russians first at Tallholmen on 21 July and again on 2 August in the Battle of Sandöström. Swedish attempts to land troops and artillery in support of the gunboats at Vestankärr on 2 August ended in failure, though the attempt came very close to capturing General Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden. While none of the fights ended with a decisive winner, the overall strategic victory went to Russia, who gained advantage in the Finnish archipelago by managing to link up their separate coastal units.

Sweden performed several small landings along the coast near Kristinestad (Finnish: Kristiinankaupunki) and Kaskö (Finnish: Kaskinen) and managed to raise local men to oppose the Russians. The first occurred on 3 July with several others taking place soon after. Altogether the Swedes had several hundred local men-in-arms. The Russians, however, were able to send reinforcements to the area which were, in addition to being numerically superior, both far better trained and equipped than the peasants and militia the Swedes had raised. By the end of July the small forces Sweden had landed and the men that had supported them were either beaten or withdrawn back to their ships.

August–September 1808
After the Russians were driven from Central Finland, their forces stretched along the line of Pori–Tampere–Mikkeli. Having received considerable reinforcements, their numbers increased to 55,000, as opposed to the 36,000 estimated for Sweden. On 14 August, Count Nikolay Kamensky decided to use this numerical superiority to launch a new offensive.

Kamensky's 11,000-strong corps achieved important victories at Kuortane (1 September) and Salmi (2 September), and although Georg Carl von Döbeln won the Battle of Jutas for Sweden on 13 September, Kamensky gained the most important victory at Oravais on 14 September. Swedish attempts to land more troops near Åbo were stalled by Lieutenant-General Pyotr Bagration's prompt actions. In Eastern Finland, the guerrilla movement was gradually extinguished. As a consequence, Russia's situation in Southern Finland improved significantly.

In the north, the situation was more complicated. Tuchkov's battered unit strained to hold its own against Sandels, while the progress of a relief force under General Alekseyev was contained by guerrilla fighters. It was not until 26 September that Prince Dolgorukov (Alekseyev's replacement) managed to join his forces with Tuchkov's, inducing Sandels to retreat. Three days later, Buxhoeveden—pressed by the early onset of winter weather—signed an armistice, much to the dismay of Alexander I. The emperor refused to ratify the truce and replaced Buxhoeveden with a new commander-in-chief, Bogdan von Knorring, in December of that year.

In the south, the Swedish battle fleet remained anchored within the Finnish archipelago, blocking some of the deeper coastal sea routes from Hangö towards Åbo. Russian ships continued to arrive from the east but remained within the shallow narrows where the Swedish ships of the line could not reach. Small boat actions took place during the night time of 17–18 July which became known as the skirmish at Lövö (). However, the Swedish fleet dropped its blockade on 22 August, allowing the Russian coastal units to unite. Odds were very much against the Swedes as the Russians had nearly one hundred coastal ships in the Finnish archipelago, against which Sweden could deploy only 7 galleys and 30 gun sloops.

Swedish efforts to harass the Russians with landings continued, with roughly 1,000 volunteers under Captain Anders Gyllenbögel landing on 1 August to support Swedish-led uprisings on the coast south of Vasa. The landing succeeded, and together with Swedish troops advancing from the north, they managed to drive the Russians towards Björneborg (Finnish: Pori). Swedish patrol ships (consisting of armed merchant vessels) scouted and raided the coast, taking Russians prisoners to Åland. These raids caused much confusion, and Russian responses to them thinned their strength along the coast. Also the Swedish southern army of Finland, consisting of roughly 4,000 men under Major General Eberhard von Vegesack, was moved from Åland to Finland, and landed at Kristinestad in late autumn, joining with von Döbeln's forces. However, since von Vegesack had been ordered to land his men at Björneborg, the king, after pursuing the matter unsuccessfully in military tribunals, condemned von Vegesack to lose his rank and title.

A Russian battle fleet under Admiral Pyotr Khanykov (also Chanikoff) sortied in late July to clear the Swedish blockades in the archipelago, to cut contact between Åland and Sweden, and to stop Swedish supply transports sailing in the Gulf of Bothnia. The Russian fleet reached Hangö on 6 August and chose not to engage the scattered Swedish fleet elements in the vicinity. On 20 August, two British ships of the line (HMS Implacable and Centaur) joined the Swedish fleet. The allied fleet moved on 25 August 1808 to engage the Russian fleet, which turned and attempted to reach the relative safety of Baltiyskiy Port. The British ships were far superior sailing ships compared to those of either the Swedes or Russians, and engaged the withdrawing Russian squadron (nine ships of the line and several frigates) on their own. The last of the Russian ships of the line was disabled and then captured and burned by the British ships. More Royal Navy ships (including HMS Victory, Mars, Goliath, and Africa) arrived to oversee a blockade of the Russian fleet at Baltiyskiy Port which continued until the sea started to freeze. The Swedish fleet suffered from outbreaks of scurvy and had been unable to maintain the blockade on its own.

Skirmishes and landings continued in the Finnish archipelago from late summer into autumn. On 30 August, the Swedish coastal fleet defeated its Russian adversaries at the Battle of Grönvikssund, forcing the Russians to abandon their plans to invade Åland and concentrate on defense. On 17 September, the Swedes landed again, this time at Lokalax (Finnish: Lokalahti), while the coastal fleet covering the landing managed to keep the Russians away in the Battle of Palva Sund on 18 September. The troops that landed were forced to withdraw to their ships on 18 September, but landed in Finland again on 26 September. However, owing to bad weather, only a portion of the troops that had been intended to participate in the landing actually reached the Finnish coast, and this resulted in another withdrawal on 28 September.

The Swedish situation was further weakened by being at war with France and Denmark, both of whom threatened Sweden's possessions, with a joint invasion force of 45,000 troops in Denmark (under French Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte) and a further 36,000 in Norway. This forced the Swedes to allocate forces to southern Sweden and along the Norwegian border (23,000 troops). Denmark had declared war on Sweden on 14 March and some battles and skirmishes were fought along the Norwegian border. In April Napoleon began to devote more attention to the situation in Spain, and the British navy remained a continuous threat for troop movements between Denmark and Sweden.

Winter 1808

By November 1808, Russian forces had overrun all of Finland. On 19 November, the Convention of Olkijoki was signed and the Swedish army was forced to leave the Finnish countryside. The Russian emperor was, however, now eager to bring hostilities to the territory of Sweden proper, which was certain to bring the war to a victorious end.

With this objective in mind, Kamensky suggested a daring plan, whereby the Russian army was to cross the frozen Gulf of Bothnia at two locations: one unit was to march from Vasa towards Umeå and the other from Åbo to Åland and thence towards the vicinity of Stockholm. A third unit was to advance into Sweden by land, going around the gulf and through the town of Torneå (Finnish: Tornio).

Although Knorring was urged to execute the plan as quickly as possible, he regarded the idea as unrealistic and procrastinated until March, when the emperor dispatched the War Minister Arakcheyev to Finland in order to pressure Knorring into action before joining the army himself.

Spring 1809

As Russian forces embarked upon their unprecedented march across the frozen gulf, King Gustav IV, accused of fatal mistakes leading to the loss of Finland—was dethroned by a coup in Stockholm on 13 March, and his uncle was proclaimed Charles XIII of Sweden. Four days later, Bagration's corps of 17,000 men occupied the strategic Åland Islands, while Kulnev led a vanguard further across the frozen sea that on 19 March reached the Swedish shore within 70 km from Stockholm.

When news of Kulnev's incursion spread to the Swedish capital, the new king sent an embassy to Knorring, proposing a truce. The Russian commander agreed and speedily recalled Kulnev back to Åland. Meanwhile, the other Russian contingent—5,000 men under Barclay de Tolly—endured great hardship in crossing the frozen gulf further north; they entered Umeå on 24 March.

The third force, commanded by Count Shuvalov, struck against Torneå and, braving fierce frost, encircled a Swedish army, which capitulated on 25 March. Six days later, the tsar arrived in Åbo and, on learning about the truce, not only revoked Knorring's signature but named Barclay de Tolly as the new commander-in-chief. Hostilities thus continued until May, when Shuvalov finally reached Umeå, where he was succeeded by Kamensky.

Summer 1809 and conclusion

A British Royal Navy fleet under Admiral James Saumarez had arrived in Sweden in May and he concentrated his ships, 10 ship of the line and 17 smaller ships, to the Gulf of Finland. The presence of the British naval units kept the Russian battlefleet strictly confined to Kronstadt, and after the British constructed artillery batteries to the Porkkala cape they cut off the coastal sea route from Russian ships. Total British control of the Gulf of Finland was a large obstacle to the Russian supply network and required sizable garrisons to be posted all along the Finnish coast. The Royal Navy captured 35 Russian ships and burnt 20 others before leaving the Baltic Sea on 28 September 1809.

In August, Charles XIII, anxious to improve his position at a peace settlement, ordered General Gustav Wachtmeister to land in the north of Sweden and to attack Kamensky's rear. Engagements at Sävar and Ratan proved inconclusive and Kamensky succeeded in neutralizing this belated counter-offensive, following up with a final victory over the Swedes at Piteå.

Wachtmeister's action was only a prelude to the peace negotiations that opened in August and resulted in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (17 September), in which Sweden ceded the whole of Finland and all of its domains east of the Torne river (the north-eastern parts of what was then called Västerbotten, today Norrbotten) to Russia. Sweden then joined the Continental System and closed its harbours to British ships, leading to a formal declaration of war on Great Britain. A few months later, on 6 January 1810, the Russian government mediated the Treaty of Paris between Sweden and France.

Russia would create the Grand Duchy of Finland from the territory obtained from Sweden, and would attach the areas gained from Sweden in the 18th century (so-called Old Finland) to the new Grand Duchy in 1812. The Grand Duchy of Finland was to retain the Gustavian constitution of 1772 with only slight modifications until 1919. Almost all Finnish soldiers in Sweden (most of them in the Umeå area) were repatriated after the war.

Analysis
Sufficient stocks of supplies had not been prepared for the Swedish army, since King Gustaf IV Adolf thought it might be taken as provocative by the Russians. Furthermore, Swedish strategy relied on the outdated plans for Finland which took into account neither the advances in weaponry, mobility of the armed forces or the greatly improved road networks of Finland. Most of the fortifications in Finland had not been completed and those that were completed had mostly fallen into neglect and disrepair. Even the strongest of the Swedish fortresses, Sveaborg, still had several of its planned fortifications missing, most notably all the land side fortifications designed to protect against a besieging enemy.

In 1808 a British expeditionary force under John Moore arrived in Sweden, but after months of idleness departed for the beginning of the Peninsular War. Had the king accepted the landing of 10,000 British troops in Skåne, where the expeditionary force had been authorized to disembark, it would have enabled the Swedes to release at least 10,000 trained soldiers for the Finnish War. As it happened, the bulk of the Swedish army, including the best units, were kept out of the Finnish War by the king, who reserved them for his plans for conquering either Sjælland or Norway. Swedish landings were invariably made with poorly equipped and trained forces, often with troops who had very low morale. Landings were further complicated by the Swedish Navy's failure to tightly block the coastal sea route past Hangö.

Commemoration

The 200th anniversary of the war was selected as the main motif for a high value commemorative coin, the €100 200th Anniversary of Finnish War commemorative coin, minted by Finland in 2008. The motif on the coin is the passage of Finland from Sweden to Russia. The same coin depicts both the pre-war Finnish history, with the withdrawing Swedish crown on the reverse side, and the post-war future of the country, with the Russian eagle symbol on the obverse side.

Legacy
According to two 2015 studies by political scientists Jan Teorell and Bo Rothstein, Sweden's loss in the Finnish War led to reforms of the Swedish bureaucracy. Prior to 1809, Sweden had a reputation as one of Europe's most corrupt countries, but the loss in the war created the perception of an existential threat in the east for Sweden and motivated Swedish elites to reform its bureaucracy. The motivation behind the reforms were to make the Swedish state more effective and functional, and thus protect against the existential threat in the East.

See also

 Dano-Swedish War of 1808–1809
 Åland War
 Diet of Porvoo
 Sven Tuuva the Hero
 The Tales of Ensign Stål

References

Bibliography
 Nordling, Carl. "Capturing 'The Gibraltar of the North:'How Swedish Sveaborg was taken by the Russians in 1808." Journal of Slavic Military Studies 17#4 (2004): 715–725.

 Norbert Götz. "The Good Plumpuddings' Belief: British Voluntary Aid to Sweden During the Napoleonic Wars." International History Review 37 (2015) 3: 519–539.

Further reading
 Ордин К., Покорение Финляндии, ч. 1, СПБ, 1889.
 Михайловский–Данилевский А. И., Описание финляндской войны в 1808–1809. СПБ, 1849.
 Ниве П. А., Русско-шведская война 1808–1809, СПБ, 1910.
 Захаров Г., Русско-шведская война 1808–1809, М., 1940.
 Фомин А.А., Швеция в системе европейской политики накануне и в период русско-шведской войны 1808–1809 гг., М., 2003.

External links

 "The Final War" – The Swedish-Russian War of 1808–09
 "The Union's Last War" – The Russian-Swedish War of 1808–09 by Göran Frilund

Conflicts in 1808
Conflicts in 1809
Napoleonic Wars
Wars involving Finland
Wars involving Sweden
Wars involving the Russian Empire
1808 in Finland
1809 in Finland
1808 in Sweden
1809 in Sweden
1808 in the Russian Empire
1809 in the Russian Empire
Grand Duchy of Finland

Finnish War


Brian Brikowski (born February 11, 1989) is a former American football defensive end and linebacker. Brikowski was a member of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) until his release in June 2015. Brikowski has previously played for the Chicago Rush in  the Arena Football League (AFL). Brikowski also played for the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks of the Indoor Football League (IFL).

Early years
Brikowski attended Freehold Township High School in Freehold, New Jersey, and was a letterman in basketball, football, track & field, and lacrosse. Brikowski signed with the Akron Zips of the Mid-American Conference as a Redshirt (college sports) and did not play during his tenure. A semester later, Brikowski transferred to play for the Monmouth Hawks.

Professional career

Lehigh Valley Steelhawks
In 2011, Brikowski played for the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks of the Indoor Football League. Brikowski was second place in the IFL Rookie of the Year voting, despite playing less than half of a season. Brikowski led the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks in sacks during his time with the team.

Cleveland Gladiators
Brikowski's play in the IFL helped him earn a spot with the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League in 2012. Brikowski has received notable achievements, being named "the player who made the biggest impact on the defensive front for the Gladiators by ESPN Cleveland." Brikowski returned to the Gladiators in 2013.

Chicago Rush
On May 15, 2013, Brikowski was traded to the Chicago Rush in exchange for Joe Phinisee and Jacob Hardwick. Following a fold from the team, Brikowski became a free agent and later choose to sign with the Cleveland Gladiators.

Cleveland Gladiators
On February 21, 2014, Brikowski signed with the Cleveland Gladiators. Brikowski played only 9 of the Cleveland Gladiators historic 17–1 record before signing with the Montreal Alouettes.

Montreal Alouettes
On May 31, 2014, Brikowski announced via Twitter that he had signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. On July 31, 2014, Brikowski was activated from the practice squad to the playing roster. On June 20, 2015, the Montreal Gazette reported that Brikowski had been release from the team.

Cleveland Gladiators
Brikowski, for the third time, rejoined the Cleveland Gladiators after his release from the Montreal Alouettes.

Montreal Alouettes
Brikowski was signed to the Montreal Alouettes's practice roster on August 30, 2015.

Albany Empire
Brikowski was assigned to the Albany Empire on July 5, 2018. On April 15, 2019, Brikowski was assigned to the Empire. He was placed on recallable reassignment two days later.

References

External links
Montreal Alouettes bio
https://web.archive.org/web/20121025085627/http://www.arenafootball.com/player/player-profile-brian-brikowski
https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025346/http://www.allstarincagency.com/contract-division/brian-brikowski-254.php
http://www.arenafootball.com/sports/a-footbl/spec-rel/051513aaf.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626125133/http://cfl.ca/roster/show/id/7315
http://montrealgazette.com/sports/football/cfl/montreal-alouettes/alouettes-pare-roster-veteran-running-back-whitaker-among-those-releasedq

1989 births
Living people
Players of American football from Monmouth County, New Jersey
Players of Canadian football from New Jersey
Albany Empire (AFL) players
American players of Canadian football
American football defensive ends
Canadian football defensive linemen
Monmouth Hawks football players
Lehigh Valley Steelhawks players
Cleveland Gladiators players
Chicago Rush players
Montreal Alouettes players
Freehold Township High School alumni
People from Freehold Township, New Jersey

Brian Brikowski


The men's large hill individual ski jumping competition for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, was held on 14–15 February 2014 at RusSki Gorki Jumping Center in the Esto-Sadok village on the northern slope of Aibga Ridge in Krasnaya Polyana.

The gold medal won in this event featured Chelyabinsk meteor fragment to commemorate the first anniversary of this meteor strike.

Results

Qualifying
50 ski jumpers qualify for the finals. The top 10 ski jumpers from the World Cup season pre-qualify for the finals. The top 40 ski jumpers from qualifying fill the final 40 spots in the finals.

Final
The final was started at 21:30.
The final consisted of two jumps, with the top thirty after the first jump qualifying for the second jump. The combined total of the two jumps was used to determine the final ranking.

References

Ski jumping at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Men's events at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Ski jumping at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Men's large hill individual


Wincentz Thurmann Ihlen (2 May 1826 – 18 January 1892) was a Norwegian engineer and industrialist.

He was born in Holmestrand as the son of Nils Ihlen and Barbara Wincentz Thurmann. His brother Jacob Thurmann Ihlen was a politician. In November 1852 Wincentz married Birgitte Elisabeth Mørch, granddaughter of Constitutional founding father Ole Clausen Mørch, and the couple had one daughter and three sons. His oldest son Nils Claus Ihlen would become a member of the national parliament and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

During the 1860s Ihlen started as an entrepreneur and bought several local enterprises and real estate. This included the farms at Haneborg, Granholt and Vittenberg, and the Nordby saw mill. Based at Fjellhamar Farm in Lørenskog, he built up a major complex of saw mills and grain mills, establishing the first industrial complex in Lørenskog. The background for the establishment was the new railway line that ran past Lørenskog, giving easy access to lumber from the inner parts of the country, as well as to the port in Oslo. The mills were owned proprietorially until they incorporated as the limited company A/S Fjeldhammer Brug in 1893, and the company has today become part of Icopal.

Wincentz Thurmann Ihlen established his own mechanical workshop and iron works at Strømmen in 1873, under the name W. Ihlen, Strømmen. The main product was railway cars, with the first being produced in 1874. After Wincentz's retirement the Ihlen family retained ownership of the company, with Nils Claus taking over the works in 1883, changing the name to Strømmens Værksted, and his sons Joakim and Alf Ihlen in 1908, who transformed it to a limited company.

He died in 1892 in Kristiania.

References

1826 births
1892 deaths
Norwegian engineers
People from Holmestrand

Wincentz Thurmann Ihlen


Steve Fifita (born May 16, 1982) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was originally signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Utah.

Early years
Fifita was twice an all-conference selection as well as an all-county selection at Fountain Valley High School in Fountain Valley, California. He was the team captain and defensive player of the year for the football team. In 1999, he made 62 unassisted tackles, 17 tackles for a loss and recovered four fumbles including one returned for a touchdown. On offense, he scored on runs of 55 and 65 yards.

College career
After being redshirted his freshman year at the University of Utah in 2001, Fifita played in 11 games including one start as a redshirt freshman in 2002. On the year, he had 16 total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one interception for 14 yards, two fumble recoveries and one pass breakup.

Fifita started all 12 games at nose guard during the 2003 season, earning an honorable mention All-Mountain West Conference selection. On the year he had 31 tackles, 8 tackles for a loss and three sacks. He posted a career-high six tackles against Texas A&M.

As a junior in 2004, Fifita experienced a breakout season. He once again started all 12 games at nose guard and earned a first-team All-Mountain West selection with 45 tackles, nine tackles for a loss and 4.5 sacks. His 23 solo tackles were the most by a Utes lineman during the year while his sack total tied him for the team lead.

During a 35-7 rout of Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl, Fifita had five tackles, two tackles for a loss and a 12-yard sack in a performance that earned him defensive MVP honors.

Fifita earned his second consecutive All-Mountain West selection as a senior in 2005 with 44 tackles, 14 tackles for a loss and six sacks.

Professional career

Pre-draft
Prior to the NFL Draft, Fifita was clocked at 5.16 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

Miami Dolphins
He went undrafted and signed a free agent contract with the Miami Dolphins on May 1. On August 29, Fifita was waived from the team. He worked out for the Minnesota Vikings the following October but was not signed.

Despite a new head coach in Miami, Fifita was signed to a future contract by the Dolphins on during the 2007 offseason. He played for the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europa in the spring, and made the team's 53-man roster out of training camp.

Fifita was released by the Dolphins on April 29, 2008.

New England Patriots
On May 5, 2008, Fifita was signed by the New England Patriots. Fifita was among the last cuts by the New England Patriots on August 29, 2008 before the final 53 man regular season roster.

Coaching
Fifita began coaching the defensive line at Idaho State University in 2012.

Personal
Majored in sociology at Utah.
Married to high school sweetheart, Heidi Glatt Fifita. They have 3 daughters: Makayla Melenaite, Nia Christine and Malia Melevesi.
Is a distant cousin of former WWE wrestler Tonga Fifita (Haku).
Utah Utes bio

References

1982 births
Living people
American people of Tongan descent
American football defensive tackles
Miami Dolphins players
New England Patriots players
Frankfurt Galaxy players
Utah Utes football players
Players of American football from Huntington Beach, California
Fountain Valley High School alumni
Alabama Vipers players

Steve Fifita


Edward Williams Byron Nicholson (16 March 1849 – 17 March 1912) was a British author and Bodley's Librarian, the head of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, from 1882 until his death in 1912.

Early life and career
Nicholson was born in St. Helier, Jersey. His father, a former member of the Royal Navy, participated in the California Gold Rush and died in America, leaving Nicholson's mother in poverty. She moved back to her mother's house in Llanrwst, north Wales. Nicholson was educated at Llanrwst Grammar School, Liverpool College (for one term) and Tonbridge School. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford, from 1867, initially reading classics before obtaining a third-class degree in Law and Modern History in 1871. During his time at Oxford, he won the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse in 1871 and the Hall-Houghton Junior Greek Testament Prize in 1872. Nicholson married Helen Grant on 1 February 1876; they had three daughters.

Nicholson had been the librarian at Tonbridge School and was the honorary Librarian of the Oxford Union Society from 1872 to 1873, and produced catalogues of the contents of each library, demonstrating his aptitude for cataloguing. After spending some time teaching, he became Principal Librarian and Superintendent of the London Institution in 1873. He reinvigorated the organisation, which promoted education through lectures and a library, and helped to increase its activities, membership and income, as well as the quality of its library. An international conference of librarians was held in London in 1877, largely through his work, leading with his help to the foundation of the Library Association of the United Kingdom. He was a council member until 1881, when he resigned complaining that the council had failed to instigate "one single improvement however trifling in library-management or library-appliances".

Oxford
Bodley's Librarian (the head of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford), Henry Octavius Coxe, died in 1881. Nicholson applied for the post, relying on his experience as a librarian and his organisational skills to compensate his lack of experience in palaeography, bibliography and languages. He was a surprise choice, as the position had traditionally been held by scholar-librarians, but he had the support of Benjamin Jowett (Vice-Chancellor of the University from 1882 and Master of Balliol College) and others who thought that the Bodleian needed reform. The library was cramped, under-staffed and poorly catalogued, but was still regarded as one of the leading libraries in the world. Nicholson instituted a number of reforms and improvements: he obtained further space for the library in the rooms of nearby buildings; he changed the system of cataloguing; more books were acquired; open access to some reference books in the Radcliffe Camera was introduced; and boys were employed to carry out some tasks, freeing up the time of the more experienced staff. However, these changes had internal opponents, including Falconer Madan, the senior Sub-Librarian (and Nicholson's eventual successor). The battles between Nicholson and some of his staff, which included anonymous complaints in newspapers, were an ongoing problem and affected Nicholson's health. One writer, however, later said of Nicholson, "I have always regarded him as almost the refounder of the Library".

The library continued to suffer from inadequate space and money, but Nicholson made the most of the building and his staff, even though increasing the number of books added pressure on the available space. Nicholson proposed an underground book store in 1899 and work on this (the first specially-constructed underground book store to be built), along with other expansion work, began in 1907. However, by this time, his struggles and hard work had affected his health: he was confirmed as suffering from heart disease in 1890, he had a breakdown in 1901, and collapsed in the street in 1907 on two occasions. His last dispute with staff concerned his decision to appoint a woman to a permanent position. He was very reluctant to take a leave of absence from the library, suspecting motivations behind the suggestions, but finally did so less than a month before his death.

Outside the library, he enjoyed chess, swimming, cycling, and writing limericks. He was noted for his kindness and consideration, and was particularly appreciated by junior staff at the library.

He died at home in Oxford on 17 March 1912.

Animal rights

Nicholson was an early advocate of animal rights. He argued in his book, The Rights of an Animal (1879) that animals have the same natural right to life and liberty that human beings do, disregarding Descartes' mechanistic view—or what he called the "Neo-Cartesian snake"—that they lack consciousness. He argued that animals having no powers of reason is inconsistent with observations of household pets. Nicholson noted that animals like people, have nervous systems and experience pain and pleasure. He concluded that "animals have the same abstract rights of life and personal liberty with man."

Nicholson dedicated the book to Arthur Helps and John Lawrence. It contains a reprint of Lawrence's chapter "The Rights of Beasts".

The book was criticized in the Nature journal, in 1879. The reviewer commented that "animals, as sentient creatures, have some rights—i.e., that man may not kill or torture them needlessly without incurring some moral blame—no one nowadays would undertake to dispute. It therefore seems useless to fill, a number of pages with a number of truisms on the theme that animals have some rights in common with man."

Publications
Nicholson published on various topics, such as classical literature and Celtic antiquities. His writings included:
 The Christ-Child, and other poems, 1877.
 The Rights of an Animal, 1879.
 The Bodleian Library in 1882–1887, 1888.
 Golspie, contributions to its folklore, collected and edited by Edward WB Nicholson London, 1897.
 The Gospel according to the Hebrews, 1879.
 Keltic Researches: Studies in the History and Distribution of the Ancient Goidelic Language and People. London, 1904.
 "The Vandals in Wessex", 1906.
 Can We Not Save Architecture in Oxford?, 1910.

References

External links

1849 births
1912 deaths
19th-century British male writers
20th-century British male writers
Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford
Bodley's Librarians
British animal rights scholars
British librarians
People educated at Liverpool College
People educated at Tonbridge School
People from Saint Helier
People from Llanrwst

Edward Nicholson (librarian)


Almost Home (aka On the Move) was an educational television show which was produced and broadcast by TVOntario (known at the time as the Ontario Educational Communications Authority) in 1972 or 1973. The premise of the show is about a young man from Cornwall, Ontario, Ken Matthews, who travels to Manitoba and returns into Ontario, hitchhiking his way home through Northern Ontario and southward. The stories of each episode detail the various people he meets in his travels. The show was also shown in junior high and high schools as a teaching tool.

Actors and actresses
 Michael Duhig as Ken Matthews
 Beth Amos
 Jack Mather
 James Barron
 Mel Tuck
 Syd Brown
 Larry Reynolds
 Les Rubie

Episodes
Nine episodes were broadcast. A tenth was scripted but not filmed. Here are the titles for all ten:

1- "Boots"- Ken meets a shopkeeper who accuses him of stealing a pair of boots.
2- "I'm Looking For Volunteers And You're It"- Ken is conscripted to help battle a forest fire.
3- "Words are Wild Birds"- Ken learns about business from the owners of a roadside service station.
4- "Playing the Angles"- Ken and another hitchhiker get a lift from two bank robbers.
5- "It's My Country and You Better Believe It"- On Manitoulin Island Ken learns about its rich native history.
6- "Just Talk to Us"- Ken witnesses the struggles between an immigrant construction owner and the union.
7- "An Old Man With A Suitcase Full Of Books"- Ken gets a job picking tobacco and meets a drifter who teaches him a valuable lesson.
8- "Remember All the Things We Were Going to Do?"- Ken heads to Niagara Falls to meet an old friend whose life hasn't turned out too well.
9- "Almost Home"- Ken heads back to home to Cornwall when he meets a professional car racer and an architect which make Ken question his own future.
10- "Never the Same Again"- The final program integrates Ken's adventures into a TV movie about his travels and his responsibility to others.

Filming locations
 Kakabeka Falls, Ontario
 Manitoulin Island
 Niagara Falls, Ontario
 Uxbridge, Ontario
 Schomberg, Ontario
 King City, Ontario

External links
 A webpage dedicated to the show as well as other classic TVOntario children's shows of the '70s and '80s
 Internet Movie Database listing

TVO original programming

Almost Home (Canadian TV series)


6-(2-Aminopropyl)tetralin (6-APT), also sometimes called tetralinylaminopropane (TAP), is a drug of the amphetamine class which acts as a selective serotonin releasing agent (SSRA). It has IC50 values of 121 nM, 6,436 nM, and 3,371 nM for inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, respectively. Though it possesses an appreciable in vitro profile, in animal drug discrimination studies it was not found to substitute for MMAI or amphetamine and to only partially substitute for MBDB. This parallels Alexander Shulgin's finding that EDMA (the 1,4-benzodioxine analogue of 6-APT) is inactive, and appears to indicate that the pharmacokinetics of both EDMA and 6-APT may not be favorable.

See also
 2-Aminotetralin
 5-APDI
 Naphthylaminopropane
 TH-PVP

References

Substituted amphetamines
Tetralins
Serotonin releasing agents
Entactogens and empathogens

6-APT


Osman Türkay (born February 16, 1927, in Ozanköy – 2001) was a Turkish Cypriot poet and was a nominee for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988.

After completing his studies at a private school in Kyrenia, Türkay went to London where he read philosophy and studied journalism, after which he was employed on the staff of several magazines and newspapers.

The internationally acclaimed poet, whose literary output includes a number of published books and anthologies, has been credited with many honours in recognition of his contributions to the literature.

In his latest works, Türkay has shown a greater tendency towards working in English and his poetry has also become more abstract in essence and concept. His notable "space age" poetry has won him recognition.

His works are published in more than 30 languages.

1927 births
2001 deaths
People from Kyrenia District
Turkish Cypriot journalists
Turkish Cypriot poets
20th-century poets

Osman Türkay


The Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Watertown, New York was erected in 1891 to commemorate local citizens who fought in the Civil War. The monument rests upon the former village green, which has been located there since 1805.

History and Description

The granite monument is approximately 50 feet tall, resting upon a raised earthen berm. It sits on a 12-foot base. An allegorical figure of Victory (seven and a half feet tall ) sits atop a decorative column, plinth and base. Commemorative bronze plaques are on the east and west sides of the monument, with a cast bronze soldier on the north side and a cast bronze sailor on the south side. The sailor and soldier are in period uniforms, standing at parade rest.
The cornerstone was laid in the afternoon on Memorial Day late May 1890; the ceremony featured a speech by Colonel Albert D. Shaw given to "brother soldiers", local notables and the public who attended. The Watertown Herald prominently featured an engraving of the monument on their front page on June 6, 1891.

The monument was dedicated on June 3, 1891 in the Public Square in Watertown. $10,000 was donated toward the monument by a Mr. and Mrs. George Cook. The night before it was unveiled, the monument was covered by a large US flag, measuring 36 feet long. It once flew from a flagpole in the square when each of the local regiments left for the Civil War. Originally costing $115, it was said to be the largest flag in the state at the time.

Plaques on the monument read:
"In grateful memory of the
Soldiers and Sailors of
Jefferson County
who fought or fell in defense of
the Union and the freedom of man.

This monument to witness
that these dead have not
died in vain and that
through them,
under God,
this nation had
a new birth of freedom."

The monument underwent restorations and conservation between 2009 and 2012. It was cleaned, stabilized and repaired, which included adding the sailor's missing cutlass blade. The monument was found not to be leaning in any particular direction at that time.
The monument forms part of the Public Square Historic District in Watertown, listed in the National Register of Historic Places

References

Outdoor sculptures in New York (state)
Union (American Civil War) monuments and memorials in New York (state)
Sculptures in Watertown, New York

Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Watertown, New York)


Wid Curry Matthews (October 20, 1896 – October 5, 1965) was an American outfielder, scout and front office executive in Major League Baseball. Matthews served as general manager of the Chicago Cubs for seven full seasons and became one of the first front-office employees in the history of the New York Mets in 1961, the year before they began play in the National League. A native of Raleigh, Illinois, Matthews stood 5 ft, 8 in (174 cm) tall and weighed 155 pounds (70 kg) in his playing days. He threw and batted left-handed.

Playing career

After playing in the highest level of the minor leagues — the American Association and the International and Pacific Coast leagues — Matthews made the major leagues for  seasons (1923–midseason 1925) for the Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators, batting .284 with 188 hits, 21 doubles, ten triples, one home run and 39 runs batted in in 192 games played. Sent by Washington to Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League after 53 games played in , Matthews did not appear in the 1924 World Series, won by the Senators in seven games.

Scout/front office career

Matthews' career as a scout and general manager began in , when he joined the St. Louis Cardinals, the pioneers of the MLB farm system. Seven years later, he moved with Redbird GM Branch Rickey to the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he served as the Dodgers' director of Midwest scouting through the 1949 season. As Brooklyn's top scout in the Midwest, Matthews was one of multiple Dodger evaluators who followed Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues in 1945. His glowing assessment of Robinson's ability to "protect the strike zone" was key to Rickey's decision to target Robinson as the first African-American to break the baseball color line that had been in force since the 1880s.

On February 14, 1950, Matthews became "director of player personnel" and de facto general manager of the Cubs. The Cubs had just begun a long skein of losing seasons, finishing in the NL's second division for 20 consecutive years (1947–66), and compiling an over-.500 record only in 1963. During his seven seasons (1950–56) as the top baseball official in the Chicago front office, Matthews was able to break the Cubs' color line, signing Ernie Banks as the team's first African-American player. However, plagued by a poor farm system and not aggressive enough in the signing of other black and Latin talent, the Cubs could not escape the NL's second division during Matthews' reign.

After his dismissal by the Cubs, Matthews joined the front office of the Milwaukee Braves, then one of the National League's dominant teams. He held the identical title he did with Chicago, but in his new post he served as assistant GM to John J. Quinn, the Braves' incumbent general manager. In January of 1961, Matthews became a scout for the Mets, newly admitted to the National League as a 1962 expansion team. He was promoted, along with Johnny Murphy, to the post of top aide to club president George Weiss in November of that year.

Matthews resigned as the Mets' director of player personnel during the 1964 season. His last job in baseball was as a scout for the Los Angeles/California Angels. He died in a West Hollywood, California, hotel at the age of 68 during the Angels' end-of-year organizational meetings.

References

 "Top Dodger Scout Switches to Cubs", The New York Times, Feb. 15, 1950.
 "General Manager of Mets Resigns: Front Office Realigned as Hurth Quits Post", The New York Times, Nov. 15, 1961.

External links
 The Dead Ball Era

Sources

1896 births
1965 deaths
Baseball players from Illinois
Brooklyn Dodgers scouts
California Angels scouts
Chattanooga Lookouts players
Chicago Cubs executives
Indianapolis Indians players
Little Rock Travelers players
Los Angeles Angels scouts
Major League Baseball executives
Major League Baseball general managers
Major League Baseball outfielders
Milwaukee Braves executives
Milwaukee Braves scouts
Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players
New York Mets executives
New York Mets scouts
Sportspeople from Hattiesburg, Mississippi
People from Saline County, Illinois
Philadelphia Athletics players
Reading Keystones players
Rochester Hustlers players
Sacramento Senators players
St. Louis Cardinals scouts
Salt Lake City Bees players
Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players
Washington Senators (1901–1960) players

Wid Matthews