Guns, Germs and Steel is a 1997 book by Jared Diamond about the history of humans.

The book is about why some humans societies (from small tribes to big countries) were able to use more inventions and conquer (take over) others. Diamond thinks that the answer is because of geography and not because of differences in the people themselves. The book deals with many topics like history, geography, biology, anthropology and sociology.

In 2005, a TV program was made about the book's ideas, with Diamond as the presenter. This was shown on PBS.

Summary

Introduction
In the introduction, Diamond writes about the time he met Yali, a man from New Guinea, in 1972. Yali asked "Why is it that you white people [made] so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?" By "cargo", Yali meant inventions and objects that are made in a factory. Diamond thought about this question for years, which led to him writing the book.

Diamond says that sometimes, one society has been far better at fighting wars and using inventions than another. This has led to times when one society found it very easy to conquer another. One example is when the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire in the 1530s. The Spanish won because they had far better weapons, and they also had horses. This is why thousands of Incas died fighting against 168 Spaniards at the Battle of Cajamarca. Another important reason why the Spanish won was diseases. The Spanish did not know that they had brought diseases to South America that killed many people. This also weakened the Inca Empire. The Spanish conquered the Inca Empire with their "guns, germs and steel", and other things.

Diamond starts by talking about how modern humans (homo sapiens) spread out of Africa and around the world. Diamond believes that it is unlikely that some modern humans could be born more intelligent than others, because if a more intelligent type of human appeared, they would spread around the world very quickly.

How farming began

At first, humans lived in hunter-gatherer societies. This means that they lived by hunting animals and picking up foods from plants. The journey towards modern inventions began about 9,000 years ago when humans first learned to grow crops. In order to start farming these crops, humans first had to domesticate the crops, meaning that they had to change them so that they were better for farming. They did this by using selective breeding. This means that they planted the seeds from the best plants, to make sure that better plants appeared the next year. Diamond talks about why this happened to some plants and not others. For example, most trees are not useful for farming because they take a very long time to grow. The most useful plants were plants that took only a year to grow.

The Fertile Crescent (an area now mostly in Iraq, Syria and Turkey) was the first place where humans learned to farm. China and New Guinea were also early places where humans learned to farm. Later, farming also began in other regions. However, some regions had more useful crops than others. Crops were more useful if they had more nutritious, meaning they had things like proteins that humans need from their food. They were also more useful if they were easier to grow and were less likely to fail in bad weather. This is why crops from the Fertile Crescent and China spread a long way, while those from New Guinea did not spread far from the island.

Farming was a big change. In a farming society, more people could live in the same area (population density) than a hunter-gatherer society. This is why they could easily take over the lands of hunter-gatherers, if their crops could grow there. Diamond notes that it was usually easier for crops to spread east or west than north or south, because crops could only grow in a similar climate. Humans from farming societies spread to regions where their crops could grow, such as from the Fertile Crescent to Europe, North Africa and South Asia and from China to the rest of East Asia. Eurasia (Europe and Asia) became home to far more farming societies than the rest of the world, and they had better crops. Meanwhile, these crops could not spread from North Africa into the middle of Africa, and therefore they did not spread to South Africa (where the crops could grow). Meanwhile, until Europeans discovered the Americas, crops from Central America did not spread to South America, and crops from South America did not spread to Central America.

Humans also domesticated animals. As with plants, only some animals were good for this. For example, animals that lived in herds were easier to control than animals that lived alone. Mostly for similar reasons, Eurasia had more farm animals than the other parts of the world. Only two large animals were domesticated outside of Eurasia: llamas and alpacas in South America. Living with animals caused humans to catch more diseases. These spread through Eurasia and Africa. This is why many Native Americans died of diseases after European people travelled to the Americas, but the Europeans did not catch diseases from the Native Americans. On the other hand, in tropical areas, diseases like malaria stopped Europeans from moving into those areas until the late 19th century.

Farming by region
Diamond writes about what each region was like before European explorers started travelling around the world:
Eurasia and North Africa: Many crops and animals were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent and spread to these regions, as far west as Ireland and as far east as Japan. They also used crops and animals that were domesticated in other areas, such as rice from China and horses from the Steppes, a region in Central Asia. These areas had more crops than any other part of the world. This is why they had the best farming. Inventions and countries appeared in Eurasia and North Africa much earlier than anywhere else. Eurasia had so many people who lived near to each other and near to farm animals that many diseases like smallpox spread around the region.
The Americas: The Americas were too far away from Eurasia, so did not have their crops. Although many Eurasian crops are grown in North America today, there were few that the Native Americans could domesticate and those that could were not very useful. In some places, people domesticated more useful crops, such as maize in Central America and potatoes in South America. This led to inventions being made; Central America is the only place outside of Eurasia to invent writing on their own. They became home to empires like the Aztec Empire and Inca Empire. But this happened later than in Eurasia, and they did not have as many crops. Because they were too far away from Eurasia, they did not have Eurasian diseases like smallpox.
The rest of Africa: The Sahara Desert was one of several things that made it hard for farming to spread from North Africa to the other parts of Africa. Some farming did spread through Africa, such as cows. Africans also domesticate some crops, such as yams in West Africa and coffee beans in Ethiopia, but their crops were not as good as Eurasia. Most African societies also caught Eurasian diseases like smallpox, although the Khoisan in South Africa did not.
New Guinea: New Guinea was one of the first places to begin farming, with crops such as bananas. However, their crops were not as useful as Eurasian crops or maize, so this farming did not spread far. Because it already had farming societies, New Guinea was one of the few islands in the area that was not settled by Austronesians. The people did get some things from the other islands, such as chickens and Eurasian diseases.
Australia: Australia is the smallest continent. This is one reason why the Australian Aborigines did not domesticate any crops or animals. Although the Aborgines did trade with farmers in New Guinea and Indonesia, they did not start growing their crops. This was because they were far away and because the climate was different in Australia. The Aborigines also did not have Eurasian diseases.
Other Southeast Asian and Pacific islands: Apart from the areas with New Guinean farming, these areas either had no humans or hunter-gatherers until the Austronesian farmers came. The Austronesians probably came from Taiwan. From 3000 BC to 1500 BC, the Austronesians used their boats to sail across the oceans. Some of the last islands that humans reached were Hawaii around 500 AD and New Zealand around 1300 AD. These were reached by Austronesians hundreds of years before European explorers. Some Austronesians did have Eurasian diseases, in places like Indonesia, but those who lived further away in the Pacific Islands did not have Eurasian diseases.

Inventions

Diamond believes that farming was important because humans had to start farming before they could invent things like cities, metal, the wheel and writing. Farming led to humans living in larger groups, so they had to form more complicated societies. They began to live in countries rather than tribes. In a farming society, not everyone may work on a farm. Some people can do other jobs, like rulers, writers and inventors, because there is so much food. The societies with the best farming were the ones that were more likely to have inventors. This is different to a hunter-gatherer society, where everyone must help find food.

Later in the book, Diamond talks about why European countries developed more inventions than the rest of Eurasia. Because of this, some European countries were the first places to be changed by the Industrial Revolution and they also formed empires that ruled over distant lands (known as colonialism). Until the 15th century, China actually had more inventions than Europe. Diamond suggests that this changed because many European countries were in competition with each other. European countries had to keep changing and using new inventions, to avoid being conquered by other countries. Meanwhile, China was ruled as one empire that did not have to worry about this. Diamond also believes that geography affected this pattern. Geography made it hard for Europe to unite into large countries, but made it easy for China.

Science books
History books
Pulitzer Prize winners
1997 books
American literature

Guns, Germs and Steel


Richard Raymond Finch (born January 23, 1954) is an American songwriter, producer, engineer, and song arranger. He is best known as the co-founder, producer and former bass guitar player of KC and the Sunshine Band. Along with Harry Wayne Casey, he co-wrote six No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits.

Biography

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Finch's family moved to Hialeah, Florida, when he was an infant. At five years old and the second youngest of five children, Finch's father died unexpectedly leaving his mother to raise Finch and his four siblings alone. His favorite group growing up was The Beatles. His musical tastes grew to include soul and country music. In his early teens, Finch got his first electric bass guitar and began to learn country music bass lines. He joined several country bands before joining the band Ball & Chain.

Finch became interested in audio recording techniques while working at an Opa Locka, Florida electronics and record store. A schoolmate introduced him to the singer-songwriter Clarence Reid from TK Records. His high school attendance suffered as he spent every free moment at TK Records and unbeknownst to his mother, he dropped out of high school his sophomore year and shortly thereafter was hired as a part-time recording engineer for the label. Henry Stone, Clarence Reid and Willie Clark (in a comment to SongFacts on an interview conducted with Finch in 2010) introduced Finch to Harry Wayne Casey, three years his senior. Casey was hired to work in the shipping department and act as TK's occasional receptionist.

Prior to his introduction to Casey, Finch had already established himself at TK as a skilled engineer, with numerous singles produced before the age of 17, including various tracks for the Allman Brothers and Mother's Finest. and in 1972, 'Have A Good Time' for recording artist Jack Vino for Steve Alaimo and TK Records on the Bell Records Label.

Within weeks of meeting, the Finch-Casey songwriting collaboration began, with their first hit songs recorded by Betty Wright ("Where Is the Love") and George McCrae ("Rock Your Baby"). Finch then assembled the future Sunshine Band members, utilizing his already-established friendships with TK session musicians, guitarist Jerome Smith and drummer Robert Johnson.

The Finch–Casey collaboration produced numerous hits, including "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "Get Down Tonight", "Please Don't Go" and "Boogie Shoes".

Criminal convictions
On March 23, 2010, Finch was arrested in Newark, Ohio, accused of having inappropriate contact with a 17-year-old male. Police stated that during an interview, he admitted to having inappropriate contact with that teen, and other teens aged 13 to 17.

At his bond hearing on April 6, 2010, Finch entered a plea of not guilty to all charges. In December 2010, Finch pleaded "no contest" and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. He served his sentence in Chillicothe Correctional Institution, a medium-security state prison in Ohio, and was released on March 13, 2017. In April 2019, Finch received a parole infraction notice which modified his post-incarceration sentence and added an additional seven months to his parole, which ended in October 2022.

Intellectual property lawsuit
In October 2021, exercising his right under Federal Law to terminate a prior assignment of his co-created musical compositions, Finch sued Sony Music Publishing to reclaim his fifty percent ownership rights and royalties to the songs he co-wrote with Harry Wayne Casey.

On January 11, 2022, the lawsuit was moved to the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

On February 23, 2022, EMI Consortium Songs, Inc. was removed from the complaint, with Harry Wayne Casey (Finch's co-writer) remaining as the sole defendant.

On February 7, 2023, the case was dismissed with prejudice citing a statute of limitations had passed.

On February 22, 2023, an appeal was filed in the 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals to challenge the lower court ruling from United States Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres (case #23-10554).

On July 25, 2023, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the lower court ruling.

On October 23, 2023, Finch, through his counsel, David P. Reiner II filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari with the United States Supreme Court to appeal the ruling made by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on July 25, 2023.

Relationship with Harry Casey
During a 2023 podcast interview, Harry Casey was asked about the duo's individual contributions to their songs. "I did it all," Casey said. "It was just a business that I gave [Finch] credit."

However, all documented history of the Casey/Finch songwriting/business partnership contradicts Casey's recent recollection, to include Casey's own words in his biography, That's the Way I Like It: The Harry Wayne Casey Story. Casey states on page 46 with regard to his working relationship with Finch: "We were good friends and our talents worked very well together. They complimented each other. We were really a great team."

Finch gave a detailed interview in 2008 with Songfacts where he also discusses the workings of the Casey/Finch songwriting partnership and of the events which led up to the now 40 years later copyright termination litigation.

The Casey/Finch partnership also included a publishing company – Harrick Music Inc. – that combined their two names (Harry and Rick) for the name of their corporation.

Henry Stone, TK Records founder and CEO weighed in numerous times on the Casey/Finch relationship, to include on page 496 of his autobiography and specifically of their penning of George McCrae's hit, "Rock Your Baby": "They wrote it, they did the whole thing."

George McCrae stated in a 1976 interview: "They're my writers, KC and Rick."

A search of the United States Copyright Office records also reflects a 50/50 'words and music' relationship between Casey and Finch citing over 150 songs they wrote together. with documentation on file with the United States Copyright Office showing both of their signatures on the filing documents reflecting their co-authorship.

Legacy
Finch is a multi-Grammy Award winner with three wins and nine nominations and was nominated in the 2010 first round Grammy ballot as producer. He is the recipient of an American Music Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame having been a part of the KC and the Sunshine Band legacy. In October 2010, Finch became a nominee to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Discography
With KC and the Sunshine Band
Do It Good (1974)
KC and the Sunshine Band (1975)
The Sound of Sunshine (1975)
Part 3 (1976)
Who Do Ya Love (1978)
Do You Wanna Go Party (1979)
Space Cadet Solo Flight (1981)
The Painter (1981)
All in a Night's Work (1982)
KC Ten (1983)

As songwriter

Writer: H.W. Casey & R. Finch
"You Get Me Hot" (1979) – Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"Goin' Home for Love" (1979) – Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"I Get Lifted" (1979) – Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"Without You" (1979) – Jimmy "Bo" Horne

See also
Henry Stone
George McCrae

References

External links

1954 births
American people convicted of child sexual abuse
Grammy Award winners
KC and the Sunshine Band members
Living people
People from Hialeah, Florida
Musicians from Indianapolis
Guitarists from Indiana
20th-century American bass guitarists
People from Heath, Ohio
Guitarists from Ohio

Richard Finch (musician)


A sacred tree or holy tree is a tree which is considered to be sacred, or worthy of spiritual respect or reverence. Such trees appear throughout world history in various cultures including the ancient Hindu mythology, Greek, Celtic and Germanic mythologies. They also continue to hold profound meaning in contemporary culture in places like Japan (shinboku), Korea (dangsan namu), India (bodhi tree), and the Philippines, among others. Tree worship is core part of religions which include aspects of animism as core elements of their belief, which is the eco-friendly belief that trees, forests, rivers, mountains, etc have a life force ('anime' i.e. alive) and need to be conserved and used in a sustainable manner.

An example of the continued importance of sacred trees in contemporary urban culture is the 700-year old camphor growing in the middle of Kayashima Station. Locals protested against moving the tree when the railway station had to be expanded, so the station was built around it. The sacred Banyan tree is the national tree of India, and the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha is said to have meditated in Bodh Gaya, is also revered as sacred.

Sacred trees are some times planted in the sacred groves, which can also have other type of trees too.

Sacred trees in  mythology

Trees in mythology are the trees that appear in the folklore genre of myth.

Sacred trees and plants by religion and regions

European Pagan Religions

Celtic

Germanic

Serbian

Zapis are the sacred tree in Serbian tradition.

Christianity
Many trees, groves and gardens are considered sacred inside Christianity. Also many Christians adopted the practise of venerating Evergreen trees for winter festivals in December. This was a common practice due to the belief that Evergreens have long lives and would be cut down and decorated. Eventually this practice became apart of the Christmas festival of Christianity. Most notably the Gethsemane, the location where Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot (agony in the Garden) according to the bible. The garden thereby became a common pilgrimage site. Saints associated with specific trees and locations also became pilgrimage sites in early Chirstanity.

Indic religions

In the Dharmic (Indian-origin) religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, the ecology, such as trees, rivers, fauna, and mountains, is sacred and revered objects of worship. There are numerous sacred groves of India. In Hindu belief, the Kalpavriksha is a wish granting tree. In addition to the Panchvati trees described below, other sacred trees include species such as the Akshayavat (sacred fig tree), Banana leaf, Kadamba, Parijata, and Sandalwood. The Bodhi Tree (banyan) is specially revered, and there are numerous large banyan trees in India. Matsya Purana, a Hindu text, has a Sanskrit language shloka (hymn), which explains the importance of reverence of ecology in Hinduism. It states, "A pond equals ten wells, a reservoir equals ten ponds, while a son equals ten reservoirs, and a tree equals ten sons."

Triveni groves

Triveni is a grove of 3 specific trees sacred to Indian-origin religions (Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism), which are the vata (ficus indicus, banyan), ashvattha (ficus religiosa, Peepal) and Nimba (azadirachta indica, neem).

Panchavati groves

Panchavati, are groves of five trees sacred to Indian-origin religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Panchavati has five types of  sacred trees, however there are more than five types of trees which are considered sacred and form the part of panchavati. Sacred trees used in panchavati are the Vata (ficus benghalensis, Banyan), Ashvattha (ficus religiosa, Peepal), Bilva (aegle marmelos, Bengal Quince), Amalaki (phyllanthus emblica, Indian Gooseberry, Amla), Ashoka (Saraca asoca, Ashok), Udumbara (ficus racemosa, Cluster Fig, Gular), Nimba (Azadirachta indica, Neem) and Shami (prosopis spicigera, Indian Mesquite).

Forests Department, Haryana has initiated a state-wide program to plant panchavati groves in each village, which will be planted along the temples, ponds, and common land. From 2021, land was identified in villages for planting these groves which will be looked after by the villagers. Within each grove, peepal will be planted in the east, banyan in the north, bel in the centre, amla in the west and ashoka tree in the south.

Sacred plants
The sacred fruits and plants include the Bael, Kusha grass, Tulasi (see Tulasi chaura and Tulasi Vivaha), flowers such as Lotus, Champaka, coconut, paan (betal leaf), banana leaf, etc are also sacred. Tulsi in India is cultivated for religious and traditional medicine purposes, and also for its essential oil. It is widely used as a herbal tea, commonly used in Ayurveda, and has a place within the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism, in which devotees perform worship involving holy basil plants or leaves. The sacred flowers include the Lotus, Champaka and Marigold.

Japan

Sacred trees, called shinboku, are a deeply ingrained part of a Japanese culture that has historically viewed itself as being united with nature, rather than separate from nature; thus, recognizing the sacredness of trees, stones, mountains, forests, and the elements has been a relatively constant theme in Japanese culture for thousands of years. In the present day Japan, shinboku are trees inhabited by kami (spirits or deities) and can readily be found in many of the 100,000 Shinto shrines existing in throughout the country. Although any tree can technically become a shinboku through a Shinto ritual process of inviting a kami to inhabit it, most shinboku are particularly large or aesthetically interesting examples of endemic species such as camphor, ginkgo, or Japanese cedar. The oldest shinboku are estimated to be several thousands years in age. Because shinboku are viewed as being literal sanctuaries, inhabited by kami, they are protected as a physical and spiritual embodiment of the divine nature. In most cases, Shinboku can be easily identified by the straw or hemp rope called a shimenawa which is typically wrapped around the tree; the rope acts as both a sign of the tree's sacredness, and also as a protective barrier between the spirit world and the human world.

In addition to individual shinboku, shrines and Buddhist temples are often surrounded by sacred forests called Chinju no Mori, which are considered sacred forests where kami, including spirits of ancestors, dwell.

Korea

In Korea, species such as Zelkova serrata, Pinus koraiensis, and Ginkgo biloba, have been considered a symbol of protection for villages since ancient times, and can still be found planted at central points in cities, towns and villages around the country. The trees, referred to as dangsan namu (god tree) often stand next to small pavilions, serving both as shaded informal gathering points, and spaces for traditional rituals and ceremonies involving prayer and offerings to the tree. The oldest of these trees are estimated to be in excess of 1,000 years in age, and are protected as natural monuments by Korean law.

In 2013, the Korea Forest Research Institute announced a project to clone the sacred zelkova, pine, and ginkgo trees that are identified as natural monuments, so their lineage will not be lost in case of disaster or death due to age.

Philippines

Bathala, the indigenous religious beliefs of the Philippines practiced in pre-colonial Philippines, is a mix of Hindu-Buddhist and native belief in spirits such as anitos. Indigenous Philippine shrines and sacred grounds host the sacred trees.

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Gallery

See also
Sacred groves
Sacred mountains
Sacred natural site
Sacred rivers
Sacred site

References

Further reading

Trees in religion
Sacred natural sites

Sacred tree


The Church of Notre-Dame-des-Arts (Église Notre-Dame-des-Arts) is a Roman Catholic church in Eure, Upper Normandy, France. It was founded in Pont-de-l'Arche at the outset of the sixteenth century. A parish church, Notre-Dame-des-Arts is richly decorated, with splendid stained glass windows on the south side, dating to the early seventeenth century, including a renowned original work by Martin Vérel depicting boats being towed (1605). The stalls from Bonport Abbey, the great organ, a gift from Henry IV of France, and a Baroque seventeenth-century altar all further contribute to the richness of the building.

Chronological overview of Notre-Dame-des-Arts
Many of the dates were recorded in the parish fabric accounts; however, these accounts—or at least their transcriptions—likely date to the seventeenth century. The accounts state first that stone was purchased for construction beginning circa 1499-1500. A new chapel was begun in 1501. By 1509 the north nave aisle was completed. Construction progressed on a piecemeal basis through the mid sixteenth century; the nave was probably vaulted by 1543. The vaults and superstructure of the south nave aisle were completed between 1555 and 1558.

Plan
The plan is streamlined though somewhat irregular. A nave of six bays is flanked to the north and south by aisles. The east end terminates in a massive, projecting polygonal chapel. There is no typical Gothic west façade or transept; entrance to the interior is through the single portal in the southwest corner of the edifice. The interior is oriented towards the massive eastern chapel while the south flank serves as the principal façade.

Elevation
The interior elevation is very sober like many of the Flamboyant Gothic churches in the region. It consists of two stories: nave arcade and clerestory. The clerestory windows feature dynamic tracery patterns largely composed of mouchettes and soufflets. The nave vaults contrast with the otherwise conservative articulation. These vaults spring from thin continuous moldings before diverging into tiercerons, liernes, and transverse ribs. The north and south aisles feature quadripartite vaults with large pendant keystones. The nave arcade piers all differ from one another, though those on the south side feature tall (c. 5 feet) prismatic bases and continuous moldings.

South façade
The south façade faces the town while the north closely abutted a large defensive wall. Not surprisingly, this southern façade received the most attention from the architect and sculptors. Indeed, it is richly adorned and features intricate stone carving. Dramatic, steeply-pitched gables intersect a tall balustrade, creating an openwork screen of sinuous stonework. It has been suggested the design recalls the articulation and decoration of the west façade of the highly-influential parish church of Saint-Maclou in Rouen.

Significance
The design and ornamentation of the south façade is contemporary with other similar construction projects nearby, including the south façade and porch of the parish church of Notre-Dame at Louviers and the south façade of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame at Les Andelys. Together with these monuments, it is a good example of late Flamboyant church construction in the Seine valley between Rouen and Gaillon at the end of the Middle Ages. The south façade of Notre-Dame-des-Arts, while not as complex as Notre-Dame at Louviers, represents a significant investment and was reflective of the return to prosperity in Pont-de-l'Arche after the end of the Hundred Years War.

Gallery

References

Gothic architecture in France
Churches in Eure
Flamboyant Gothic
Churches completed in 1564

Church of Notre-Dame-des-Arts


Letesenbet Gidey (Tigrinya: ለተሰንበት ግደይ, born 20 March 1998) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who holds two world records and one world best. In the 10,000 metres, she is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, 2019 World silver medallist, and 2022 World champion.

Letesenbet holds the current world records for the 10,000 metres and half marathon, which she set in June 2021 and October 2021, respectively. She is only the second athlete after Ingrid Kristiansen from 1989–1991 to hold them simultaneously. Her record in the half marathon, making Letesenbet the first debutante to set a world record in the event, broke the previous mark by more than a minute. She also holds the world best in the 15 km road race, which was also an over one-minute improvement. Letesenbet became the first woman to break the 64 and 63-minute barriers in the half marathon and the 45-minute barrier in the 15 km. She recorded the fastest women's marathon debut in history at the 2022 Valencia Marathon, placing her seventh on the respective world all-time list.

At age 17, Letesenbet won the junior race at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships. She retained this title in 2017 to take a bronze medal in the senior race in 2019.

Early life and background
Letesenbet Gidey was born in Endameskel in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. She is the youngest of four siblings, having two brothers and a sister, and grew up on the family's farm.

She was expelled from school as a 13-year-old for refusing to run in physical education classes and was only allowed to return when she agreed to participate. She then won the 2000 m / 3000 m steeplechase double for the Tigray region at the Ethiopian Schools Championships in Shashemane in late 2012.

Junior career

2014
On 14 June, 16-year-old Letesenbet ran the 5000 metres at the Ethiopian Championships to finish third with a time of 16:19.30. Almaz Ayana won in a time of 16:11.40, and Kidsan Alema was second in 16:13.48.

2015
On 1 February, she won the junior 6 km race at the Jan Meda International Cross Country in Addis Ababa – Ethiopia's trials for the World Cross Country Championships – with a time of 20:30.

On 28 March, she competed in her first international race outside of Ethiopia at the World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang, China, claiming the world under-20 title on a 6.03 km course in a time of 19:48; together with her Ethiopian teammates Letesenbet also took the team title with a clean individual podium sweep. Just eight days after her 17 birthday, she was the youngest junior women's winner for 15 years.

On 21 June, she won the 5000 m run in Bottrop, Germany, in a time of 15:39.83. The runner-up was Jana Groß-Hardt in 17:06.33. At first, Letesenbet was disqualified because she had stepped on a marking on the track, and Groß-Hardt stood at the top of the podium during the award ceremony. Letesenbet objected to this decision, reasoning that her misstep had not given her an unfair advantage, and as a result of her appeal, she was reinstated as the winner.

On 15 July, she ran the 3000 m girls' race at the World U18 Championships in Cali, Colombia, finishing fourth with a time of 9:04.64.

2016
On 22 May, an 18-year-old Letesenbet took victory in the 5000 metres at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands, in a time of 14:58.44. On 30 June, she won the event at a track meet in Barcelona with a time of 14:45.63, defeating multiple world record holder Genzebe Dibaba who dropped out after 3600 m.

2017

She won the women's junior race at the Ethiopian Cross Country championships on 13 February in Addis Ababa.

On 26 March, she defended her junior title on a 6 km course at the World Cross Country Championship in Kampala, Uganda.

The then 19-year-old competed in the 5000 m event at the World Championships in London. She advanced to the finals and finished 11th of 14 starters, stopping the clock at 15:04.99. The race was won by Hellen Obiri in a time of 14:34.86, the silver medal went to Almaz Ayana, who ran 14:40.35, and Sifan Hassan was third in 14:42.74.

Senior career

2018
In February, Letesenbet won the 6 km race at the sixth leg of the IAAF Cross Country Permit series taking place in San Vittore Olona, Italy. Her winning time was 18:14. On 26 May, she ran the 5000 m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, U.S. and placed second in a time of 14:30.29, beating Obiri in third in 14:35.03; Genzebe Dibaba won the race in 14:26.89.

2019: World 10,000 m silver medallist
On 10 February, Letesenbet competed in the 10 km run at the Jan Meda Cross Country Championships in Addis Ababa, finishing second with a time of 35:55. The winner of the event was Dera Dida in 35:50.

At the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, she participated in the senior race. The world 5000 m champion Hellen Obiri took the title on the extremely hilly 10.2 km course with a time of 36:14, Dida was the runner-up in 36:16, and Letesenbet earned the bronze medal by clocking 36:24.

She raced the 10,000 m at the Ethiopian Championships in Addis Ababa on 8 May, winning in a time of 32:10.2. On 19 May, Letesenbet ran the 10 km road race in Bengaluru, India. She placed second, with Agnes Tirop the winner and Senbere Teferi in third place. All three women finished at the same time at 33:55. At the Diamond League Prefontaine Classic meet in Stanford, California on 30 June, she took third place in the 3000 m race with a time of 8:20.27, a new African outdoor best. The winner was Sifan Hassan in 8:18.49, a European record, and Konstanze Klosterhalfen was second in 8:20.07. Seven of the top 15 runners ran personal bests. On 17 July, Letesenbet won the 10,000 m Ethiopian trials on the track in Hengelo, Netherlands in a time of 30:37.89.

At the Diamond League final in Brussels, Letesenbet finished second in the 5000 m with a time of 14:29.54. Hassan won the race in 14:26.26.

On 28 September, Letesenbet took the silver medal in the 10,000 m at the World Championships held in Doha, Qatar, with a personal best of 30:21.23. Hassan won the race in a time of 30:17.33, a new Dutch national record, with Agnes Tirop third in 30:25.50.

World 15K run record
On 17 November 2019, Letesenbet set a new world record of 44m 20s in the 15 km road race at the Zevenheuvelenloop road race in Nijmegen, Netherlands, breaking the 2017 world record held by Joyciline Jepkosgei by one minute and 17 seconds, and becoming the first woman to run 15K under 45 minutes. Letesenbet ran the final 10K in 29:12, the fastest time ever recorded by a woman under any conditions (Almaz Ayana's track world record for 10,000 m was at the time at 29:17.45). Her average pace through 15K was 2:57 per kilometre. She lowered by more than 2 minutes Tirunesh Dibaba's 2009 world record set also at the Zevenheuvelenloop in 46:28, which was, in turn, a 27-second improvement on the former mark at the time. She received a prize of 50,000 euros for her world record.

2020
At the Monaco Diamond League meet on 14 August, Letesenbet was defeated in the 5000 m race by Hellen Obiri, who set a meeting record, 14:26.57 to 14:22.12.

World 5000 m record
On 7 October 2020, at the NN Valencia World Record Day meet, the 22-year-old broke Tirunesh Dibaba's 2008 record in the 5000 m taking more than 4 seconds off to stop the clock at 14m 6.62s.

2021: Tokyo Olympic 10,000 m bronze medallist

World 10,000 m record
On 6 June, Sifan Hassan set a 10,000 m world record of 29:06.82. Just two days later, on 8 June, Letesenbet broke Hassan's record at the Ethiopian trials on the same track by more than four seconds with a time of 29m 1.03s, running the last lap in one minute and three seconds. She was slightly behind the world record pace at the halfway point but began to accelerate after 7000 m. Her time for the second half of the race of 14:18 was the eighth-quickest women's 5000 m time ever run. She became the first woman to hold both the 5000 m and 10,000 m world records since Ingrid Kristiansen from 1986 to 1993.

Racing in the event at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in August, Letesenbet took the bronze medal, however. After the tactical race, she led on the final bend but was then outsprinted by both Hassan (29:55.32) and Bahrain's Kalkidan Gezahegne (29:56.18) to finish third in 30:01.72.

World half marathon record
On 24 October 2021, on her half marathon debut, Letesenbet finished in 62m 52s at the Valencia Half Marathon, becoming the first woman to run under 64 minutes (legally) and under 63 minutes, and improving upon previous Ruth Chepng'etich's world record by 70 seconds (52 s upon an unratified mark of Yalemzerf Yehualaw). She reached 10K in 29:45 – the third-fastest clocking in history and just seven seconds off the world record for the distance, and her 15K time was only nine seconds slower than her own world best. Letesenbet's 70-second improvement of the world record was the biggest drop in the women's half marathon since 1978.

2022: World 10,000 m champion

Letesenbet claimed her first senior global title and her first global track title at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July. She held off a twin Kenyan challenge in a nail-biting finish (the top 3 were only separated by 0.13 s) to win the 10,000 metres gold, achieving a world-leading time of 30:09.94 ahead of Hellen Obiri in 30:10.02 and Margaret Kipkemboi in 30:10.07. Seven days later, she also competed in the 5000 m event and finished fifth.

On her highly anticipated marathon debut at the Valencia Marathon in December, the 24-year-old was initially executing her negative split tactic and gradually accelerated to put herself on world record (2:14:04) pace at 33 km, but eventually faded over the final 7 km quite a bit. She finished second behind Amane Beriso with a time of 2:16:49, setting, however, a record for the fastest ever at the time women's marathon debut and placing sixth on the world all-time list.

2023–present
Letesenbet started the year with a win at the Jan Meda Cross Country held in Sululta on 1 January, which doubled as Ethiopia's trial race for the February's World Cross Country Championships in Australia. At the event, she led but faded in the home straight to be overtaken by Beatrice Chebet just metres before the finish line. Letesenbet then stumbled and collapsed, and was eventually disqualified after requiring assistance. At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Letesenbet won silver in the women's 10,000 metres.

Achievements
All information from World Athletics profile.

Personal bests

International competitions

National championships
 Ethiopian Athletics Championships
 10,000 metres: 2019

Notes

References

External links

1998 births
Living people
Ethiopian female long-distance runners
World Athletics Championships athletes for Ethiopia
World Athletics Championships medalists
World Athletics record holders
Ethiopian Athletics Championships winners
Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes for Ethiopia
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)
Olympic bronze medalists for Ethiopia
21st-century Ethiopian women
21st-century Ethiopian people
Sportspeople from Tigray Region

Letesenbet Gidey


Buchanan Point is a headland  north-west of Cape Dundas and  south-east of Mackintosh Cove, at the north-eastern end of Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica.

Etymology
In 1903 the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition under William Speirs Bruce applied the name "Cape Buchanan", after J.Y. Buchanan, a member of the Challenger Expedition of 1872–76, to the prominent cape  north-westward, which had been named "Cape Valavielle" in 1838 by a French expedition under Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville. At the same time, the French name (in English form but misspelled "Cape Vallavielle") was transferred to the point now described. The name Cape Valavielle has been retained for the prominent cape, as applied by d'Urville, on the basis of priority and wide usage. For the sake of historical continuity, the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1954 recommended that the name Buchanan Point be applied to the point now described.

Important Bird Area
The site has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of about 10,000 pairs of chinstrap penguins.

References

Laurie Island
Headlands of the South Orkney Islands
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Penguin colonies

Buchanan Point


Beit Shemesh ( ) is a city located approximately  west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of  in .

History

Tel Beit Shemesh

The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city was identified in the late 1830s as Biblical Beth Shemesh – it was known as Ain Shams – by Edward Robinson. The tel was excavated in numerous phases during the 20th century.

Early development town years
The area that compromised Beit Shemesh today was under Ottoman rule and later British Mandate of Palestine. The Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood area was the site belonging to the Arab village Bayt Nattif, which was built on remnants of an ancient Judean town, with various remnants of Jewish settlement from the time, such as a mosaic floor, wineries and other remains, especially from the period of the Hasmonean kings and earlier. This area is currently under dispute about preservation, having been the subject of a grassroots campaign. Under the proposed United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, the town was slated to be part of an internationalized Jerusalem.

On 6 December 1950, the Hartuv displaced persons camp "Ma'abarat Har-Tuv" was established on the site of the current-day Moshav Naham. The first inhabitants were Jewish Bulgarian immigrants. They were joined by more Jewish immigrants from Bulgaria, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Morocco, and Kurdistan.

In 1952, the first permanent houses were built in Beit Shemesh.  In its early years, Beit Shemesh came to typify the "Development Town" with a largely Maghrebi immigrant population. In 1977, following a writeup in Haaretz newspaper, Beit Shemesh was perceived as the main outpost for Menachem Begin's Likud party. He promised to rehabilitate neighborhoods and when the Likud party came to power that year, investment in the city increased.

Building of a new area of Beit Shemesh called "Givat Sharett" commenced on the hill adjacent to, and immediately to the south of, the original part of Beit Shemesh (the original area now being colloquially referred to as "Old Beit Shemesh" despite continuing building there and in the rest of the city).

21st century
The Israel Police maintains a bomb disposal specialist unit and training center in Beit Shemesh.

The Nahala U'Menucha neighborhood, the Sheinfeld neighborhood, the Nofei Aviv neighborhood and the Migdal HaMayim neighborhood all began to be built in the early 1990's in Givat Sharret.  Ramat Beit Shemesh started to be built on hills immediately south of Givat Sharett in the late 1990s, doubling the size of the city. In 2017, the Israeli government approved a master plan to build 17,000 new housing units along with  zoned as new commercial space for businesses and hotels. It is expected that the city could be home to as many as 250,000 residents by 2025 and 350,000 by 2035. A new commercial center in the Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood is planned to be the city's largest. In 2020, the construction of a hospital in Beit Shemesh, which will be run as a branch of Hadassah Medical Center, was approved.

Demographics

When the city was built in the 1950s, it was initially settled by new immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Romania, Bulgaria, Morocco, and Iraqi Kurdistan. In the 1990s, the city saw a large influx of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, and English-speaking countries, turning it into a major center for immigrants from English-speaking countries. Considerable numbers have come from North America, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia. This population tends to be Orthodox, educated, and from middle-income groups. At the same time, Orthodox Jews from within Israel also began moving to the city, seeking roomier, low-cost housing.

According to a city councilor, there were no "ultra-Orthodox" a/k Haredim groups in Beit Shemesh before the 1990s. Since then, Beit Shemesh has become increasingly religious, with a large Haredi sector, particularly in Ramat Beit Shemesh. Many synagogues and yeshivas have been built in the city. Religious communities represented in Beit Shemesh include Chabad Ger, Belz, American Modern Orthodox and American Yeshivish, French Sefardim, South African Modern Orthodox, Israeli Dati Leumi and more recently a Spanish speaking community.  In 2011 Haredim made up 40% of the population. According to statistics published by the municipality, 63% of the city's schoolchildren in 2010 were Haredim. 75% of the children entering the first grade in the 2012/2013 academic year will be registered in official Haredi institutions.

Ramat Beit Shemesh

Ramat Beit Shemesh is an expansion that lies directly adjacent to, and to the south of, the neighborhood of Givat Sharett in Beit Shemesh, which itself was an earlier extension of Beit Shemesh built on a hill immediately to the south of "Old Beit Shemesh". Ramat Beit Shemesh is located on a hill overlooking Givat Sharett. Ramat Beit Shemesh has a large, diverse Orthodox population. Originally, it consisted of two areas: Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef and Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet. In Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, families belonging to Eda Haredit constitute the majority. In 2002, following tensions between the Haredi and non-religious population, plans were drawn up to build another secular neighborhood, HaShachar. In 2007, Ramat Shilo, considered a subdistrict of Ramat Beit Shemesh, with both Dati Leumi and Haredi residents was built. In 2009, it was announced that a new neighborhood, Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel, would be built as a largely Haredi neighborhood on a large block of state-owned land bordering southern Beit Shemesh. In 2016 the Israeli Land Authority published tenders for 3,268 new apartments, to be built in the newly proposed areas of Ramat Beit Shemesh Dalet and Hey. According to plans, ultimately there are to be 8,300 new apartments in RBS Dalet alone.

Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef
Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph is a neighborhood of Beit Shemesh comprising about 25,000 people. The neighborhood has numerous parks and public areas. The newest park is Yarmut Park, the biggest in Beit Shemesh. Shopping is plentiful as well, with 4 supermarkets and a shopping area with over 130 shops. The area has a few different sections each with its own unique touch and strong points. There is the Dolev section, the Revivim section, and the Mishkenos Yaakov section.

The Dolev section contains a heterogeneous mix of native Israelis and immigrants. Religiosity varies as well from Hareidi until Masorti or Dati Leumi, with each group having its own synagogues and schools, in general. Masos/Masot Mordechai is a place where all types come together to pray at all times of the day. Points of interest in the Dolev section are the Matnas, a community center that services all types of Jews of the RBS A community, and Park Center, a mini-mall of various stores and restaurants. Streets include Dolev, Shimshon, Timnah, Yarkon, and Yarden.

The Revivim section is lower down than Dolev. This area is populated mostly by Haredim, both Israeli and Chutznikim, with religious levels ranging from American religious all the way to a few Yerushalmis. With the majority being Olim (immigrants to Israel), in this case primarily from the US, much of the neighborhood is connected to an American Minyan such as the Gra, Pnei Shmuel, or others. There is a big emphasis on living a Torah lifestyle which pervades the area. Streets include Revivim, Ramot, Gilo, Noam, and Achziv. (A way to remember these streets is their geographic location, from west to east, and from lower to higher on the hill. After Noam, come the GRA streets (Gilo, Ramot, Achziv), which culminate near the GRA shul.)

The Mishkenos Yaakov section is located next to the Merkaz (central shopping area). Here the population is almost exclusively Haredim, both Israelis and Chutznikim, although the Chuznikim tend to lean towards their Israeli counterparts regarding religious/cultural issues. There is an official Rav (Mara D'Asra), Rav Mordechai Goldstein (son of Rav Tuvia ztl), who is looked up to as the respected opinion regarding religious questions and community projects. Points of interest in the Mishkenos Yaakov area include Lev Eliyahu, the synagogue with the most Minyanim in all of RBSA and most likely the most hasmada (diligence in Torah study), and the Merkaz, the shopping center more than 130 stores of all types. Streets include Sorek (lower half), Kishon, Uriah, Micha, and Shacham.

A further expansion to Ramat Beit Shemesh is the leafy suburbs of Mishkafayim located at the eastern edge of Aleph overlooking the Zanoah quarry. The area, still under development, has started to be populated. The makeup is entirely by Orthodox Jews of all strands including Chasidish, Hareidi, and Dati Leumi/Modern Orthodox.
The area currently has 6 minyanim.

Organizations based in Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph include:

Lema'an Achai – A social services charity that has successfully assisted hundreds of families through and out of financial and other crisis with an emphasis on achieving financial independence.
Hatzola Beit Shemesh – An independent organization combining first response and follow-up care of emergency medical situations.
Kupa Shel Tzedaka – A charity organization helping needy families to rehabilitate them to self-sufficiency. (Mishkenos Yaakov has a separate organization for their needy families.)
Ezrat Achim – A medical aid organization such as trips to the hospital, x-rays, and loan of medical equipment.
Mishkan Adei Ad – An organization that assists needy families with the vast expenses of making weddings.
Hakeshiva – An organization that focuses on the prevention of, and giving aiding to, teens-at-risk.

Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet
Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet is primarily populated by Haredi Jews, of which most are Hasidic Jews of various dynasties.

Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel
Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel is located just south of Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph. Gimmel consists of two parts, Gimmel 1 and Gimmel 2. Gimmel 1 is already populated with about 2,000 apartments, Gimmel 2 is currently under construction. With its lowers density building and larger apartments as well as the many open spaces and parks Gimmel 1 is seen as more appealing to the Anglo-Saxon public. Gimmel 1 is officially named "Kiryat Avi Ezri", while Gimmel 2 is named "Kiryat Ovadia".

Gimmel 1 developed into a thriving neighborhood in a very short time and as of 2018 has many synagogues, stores, clinics and schools.

Ramat Beit Shemesh Daled
As of 2020, this neighborhood is still under construction. The residents - most of whom are projected to be Haredi - are expected to move in within a year.

A total of 8,000 homes and apartments will be built in three stages; Daled 1, Daled 2 and Daled 3. The neighborhoods of Daled 1 and Daled 2 will each comprise 3,000 apartments, and Daled 4 will have 2,000 apartments.

Ramat Beit Shemesh Hey / Neve Shamir
The neighborhood, under construction, was originally earmarked for the non-Haredi public and it was designed like non-Haredi neighborhood. However, being that some of the apartments were marketed as part of mechir lamishtacain and the tenders were won by many Haredi and Religious Zionist families, this area also seems to be turning into a religious neighborhood. The rest is being sold in the private market, with many Haredim already have purchased houses.
According to the mayor, Aliza Bloch, "We are witnessing a group of purchasers of residents of Beit Shemesh being divided among the general public, another group outside the city, such as: Gush Etzion, Mevaseret Zion and Jerusalem, and a group of people from abroad, mainly from the US, a community-oriented population such as the Sheinfeld neighborhood. Just a year ago, I toured the US and met with many groups whose fruits are for the encounters that I see there today. In addition, we try to interest the teachers' union, such as the Ashmoreth group, where teachers and education people, the Neve Shamir neighborhood is of interest to them." In May 2020, Dozens of national and secular religious couples (hiloni and dathi leomi) took part in a tour of the Neve Shamir neighborhood with Mayor Aliza Bloch and her deputy. Those in attendance answered current questions and information from the field. In light of the success of the reunion, more tours were held.

Ramat Shilo
Ramat Shilo was built in 2007 with 340 housing units geared toward Modern Orthodox Jews. Since then, the neighborhood has experienced rapid growth and development. The residents of Ramat Shilo are Orthodox Jews, both Dati Leumi and Haredi. The neighborhood has a large community of English-speaking olim. Its residents are both Ashkenazim and Sephardim.

Ramat Shilo has a number of synagogues, yeshivas and kollels. The largest institution is Yeshivat Lev Hatorah, a Religious Zionist yeshiva founded by Rabbi Boaz Mori. The local synagogues include Beis Dovid/Pilzno Beis HaMedrash, a Hasidic synagogue representing the Pilzno Hasidic dynasty under the leadership of Rabbi Yehoshua Gerzi, Mishkan Shilo, an Ashkenazi synagogue under the leadership of Rabbi Dovid Bagno, Mishkan Moshe Va'Eliyahu, a Sephardi synagogue under the leadership of Rabbi Shai Naftali, and Ohev Yisroel, a Hasidic synagogue under the leadership of Rabbi Binyomin Flintenstein of the Kapishnitzer Hassidic dynasty.

Notable residents of Ramat Shilo include:
 Rabbi Avraham Jacobovitz, founder of Machon L'Torah and Jewish Awareness America (JAAM)
 Rabbi Howard Apfel, cardiologist at Columbia University Medical Center.
 Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, founder and executive director of Nefesh B'Nefesh
Among the communal organizations is Chasdei Shilo which provides assistance for families with financial difficulties as well as serves as a communal resource network.

Urban kibbutz Tamuz
Beit Shemesh also has an urban kibbutz affiliated with the Kibbutz Movement, Tamuz, founded in 1987.

Local government
Although Bet Shemesh has a heavy Haredi majority, the current mayor of Beit Shemesh is Dr. Aliza Bloch. She assumed office in November 2018 after extremely close elections which in the end got her the win by the votes of the IDF soldiers from Bet Shemesh. She is also the first female mayor of Beit Shemesh.

The previous mayor of Beit Shemesh was Moshe Abutbul. He is currently a Knesset member as a member of Shas. The deputy-mayor, Shmuel Greenberg, is a member of United Torah Judaism (UTJ). Haaretz quotes Abutbul as saying: "Beit Shemesh is not a Haredi city and will not be one." In the 2009 elections, Shas and UTJ won nine seats in the 21-seat municipal council, one seat went to a new Haredi party called Tov.

Formerly a Likud stronghold, in the 2006 Knesset elections United Torah Judaism became the city's strongest party, with 22.2 percent of the votes and Shas getting 19.9 percent. In 2009 Likud regained its primacy, obtaining 22.2 percent of the votes, and Shas also gained, garnering 20.9 percent, with United Torah Judaism a close third at 20.6 percent. Eda Haredit boycott the elections.

During the municipal elections held on 22 October 2013, acting on several anonymous tips, police raided several private residences and recovered 200 ID cards and disguising materials such as hats, glasses and wigs which law enforcement suspected were used or going to be used for fraudulent voting. Additionally, eight people were arrested on suspicion for engaging and coordinating fraudulent voting activities.

On 10 December 2013, a three-judge panel of the Jerusalem District Court nullified the results of the October municipal elections due to voter fraud and ordered a new election.

Following an unprecedented 76% voter turnout rate, incumbent mayor Moshe Abutbul beat contender Eli Cohen with a 51% majority vote during the reelection which took place on 11 March 2014.

Heads of Local Council

 Shmuel Aviezer (1953–1955)
 Menahem Noyman (1955–1965)
 Oved Seri Levy (1965–1967)
  (1967–1978)
 Yehuda Ben-Zeev (1978–1989)

Mayors

 Shalom Fadida (1989–1993)
 Daniel Vaknin (1993–2008)
 Moshe Abutbul (2008–2018)
 Aliza Bloch (2018–present)

Education
In 2001, there were 56 schools and 14,148 students in the city: 41 elementary schools with 10,716 elementary school students, and 20 high schools with 3,432 high school students. 40.3% of 12th grade students were entitled to a matriculation certificate.

Economy
Beit Shemesh has two industrial zones containing mainly small industry, particularly in the Northern industrial zone which is typified by carpentry and metalwork workshops, garages and wholesale and retail outlets. The Western industrial zone contains several larger companies including Beit Shemesh Engines Ltd. (BSEL) which manufactures and repairs jet engines and jet engine components, Barzellan and others. Nearby in the Noham industrial zone are situated various other factories and offices. Since the high tech boom began in the 1990's, Beit Shemesh has been host to several hi-tech startups including Omek Interactive.

Transportation

Bus transportation within Beit Shemesh and most inter-city routes is operated by Tnufah and Beit Shemesh Express as of 2021, replacing the former Superbus, which began service on 5 January 2009. The Egged Bus Cooperative, which previously operated all bus service in and to Beit Shemesh, still operates to some distant cities but no longer operates from Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem. Nateev express operates busses to Tsfat and Netivot.

Tnufa operates the inter-city bus routes as of 2021 The travel time between Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem by bus is between 40 min and 1 hour.  Transportation to Tel aviv is between an hour and an hour and fifteen minutes.

The new express lines to Jerusalem are direct with new addition such as bus line 600 and the night lines.

Beit Shemesh Express operates over 40 bus routes with over 200 eco friendly electric busses serving all areas of the city as of 2021.

Beit Shemesh Railway Station provides hourly service on the Israel Railways Herzliya–Lod–Jerusalem line. The station is located in the north industrial zone of Beit Shemesh at the Big Fashion Mall and shopping center across from Shaarei Hair Mall. It was renovated in 2003 after being in operation for close to 100 years.

It was renovated and reopened on 13 September 2003, having existed for over a century at the same location. The station has three platforms.

Sports
Beit Shemesh is home to numerous sports clubs all under the main sport associations (Beitar, Hapoel, and Maccabi). The city has soccer teams including juniors, seniors and over-35s teams and boasted a franchise in the Israel Baseball League. The Beit Shemesh Blue Sox represented Beit Shemesh and finished in first place nationally in the league's only season, though they played their games at Gezer Field in Kibbutz Gezer due to a lack of proper facilities in Beit Shemesh.  There is also a very active Little League in Beit Shemesh and Ramat Beit Shemesh, with over 300 members.
In the field of judo, Elitzur Beit Shemesh has won many prizes. Israel Kung Fu and world Nunchaku champion (2001) Eli Ivgi was born in and lives in Beit Shemesh.

Arab-Israeli conflict

Beit Shemesh was not involved in any Arab conflict since 1997.  On 13 March 1997, seven 13 and 14-year-old girls from Beit Shemesh's AMIT Fuerst School were killed at the "Island of Peace" site in Naharayim in Northern Israel by a Jordanian soldier while on a school class trip. They were visiting the joint Israeli and Jordanian tourist resort under Jordanian rule. King Hussein of Jordan went to Beit Shemesh a few days after the massacre to extend his condolences and ask forgiveness in the name of his country, a step which was seen as both courageous and touching.

Gender issues and inter-city conflict
Though there are differing cultural and religious backgrounds it is common to find holiday celebrations, concerts and public events that attract residents of all the various Jewish religious communities who celebrate together harmoniously such as the annual Lag baomer Parade, Yom Haatzmaut independence day fireworks and municipality sponsored performances at public parks and sports arenas, Passover and Succot events in the parks and street processions for Hachnasat Sefer Torah dedications.

All public bus service is operated with mixed-gender seating.  Tnufah Bus company which started service in 2022 and Kavim Express are currently the transportation carriers in Beit Shemesh.  Previously Superbus and Egged also provided bus service.  By law, there is no discrimination in seating between men and women on all public transportation.

Communal tensions
In 2022 Beit Shemesh is a thriving city with a mainly Orthodox and modern Orthodox population.  The growing pains of communal tentions of two decades ago have faded since the efforts of the last two mayors: Moshe Abutbul who now is a Knesset member and Aliza Bloch, the current mayor. Beit Shemesh is considered a religious, family-oriented city where children can walk safely and freely both day and night in all parts of the city.

In 2004 the Israel Association of Ethiopian Jews claimed that Ethiopian Jews working for the municipality were being paid below-minimum wages. In 2011, the Association criticized the referral of Ethiopian Jews to three private pre-schools run by the mayor's wife.

According to The Jerusalem Post, women who belong to a Haredi burqa sect in Beit Shemesh were ostracized by the Haredi community. The leader of the movement, dubbed the "Taliban mother" by the Israeli press, was convicted by the Jerusalem District Court in 2009 on three counts of abuse of a minor and 25 counts of assault in aggravated circumstances, and sentenced to four years in prison. Her husband was also convicted of 10 counts of assault and three counts of abuse of a minor or helpless person, and was sentenced to six months in jail.

In 2011, conflicts erupted in Beit Shemesh between extremist ultra-Orthodox men, possibly members of a group known as the Sikrikim, and other residents of the town due to gender separation at local health clinics, and so called 'mehadrin buses' where men sit in the front and women in the back.

When the municipality removed a sign asking women to stay away from a synagogue, hundreds of Haredi men staged riots in which they attacked police officers and reporters. Several placards urging segregation between men and women were put back after being removed by the police.

After the opening of Orot Banot national-religious girls' school in September 2011 on the border between the primarily National-Religious Sheinfeld neighborhood and the Haredi Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, groups of Haredi extremists gathered in front of the school, calling the girls names and spitting at them when they headed to and from school. Stones hurled at a boys' school belonging to the same educational network injured a boy in the leg. Two men were arrested on suspicion of throwing eggs and tomatoes at students. In a demonstration outside the school a female journalist was assaulted by young Haredi men who cursed and spat at her, and a clash with parents of girls studying at the school was broken up by the police force.

In December 2011, a national public outcry was raised when a television news channel interviewed 8-year-old Na'ama Margolese, who was cursed and spat at on her way to school by Haredi extremists.
The Jewish Daily Forward reported that the issue is really a property dispute over ownership of the school building. Some Haredi women distributed flowers to the girls of Orot Banot school, telling them "sister to sister" that they were beautiful. On 27 December 2011, a protest against extremism near the Orot Banot school drew 10,000 people. After the incidents in Beit Shemesh were reported in foreign press, the US State Department updated its Jerusalem travel advisory advising visitors to "dress appropriately" when visiting ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, or to avoid them entirely.

Twin towns – sister cities

Beit Shemesh is twinned with:
 Cocoa, Florida, United States
 Hangzhou, China
 Nordhausen, Germany
 Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
 Ramapo, New York, United States
 Split, Croatia
 Jersey City, New Jersey, United States

In the Partnership 2gether program of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Beit Shemesh and the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council are linked to South Africa and Washington, D.C.

After The Washington Post'' reported in October 2011 that Montgomery County, Maryland was considering a partnership with Beit Shemesh, a local coalition, Human Rights Matter!, objected. The campaign was supported by the Mossawa Center, an organization that defines its goal as the promotion of equality for the Arab minority in Israel but which has been criticized for its rejection of Israel as a Jewish state and its foreign funding from the European Commission, George Soros's Open Society Institute and the New Israel Fund, among others, as well as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire.

Notable people

 Nissim Black (born 1986), American-Israeli rapper and producer
 Nili Block (born 1995), world champion kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter
 Adam Edelman (born 1991), American-born four-time Israeli national champion in the skeleton event, and Israeli Olympian
 Jamie Geller (born 1978), American-born food writer, celebrity chef, television producer and businesswoman
 Ari Goldwag (born 1979), singer, songwriter, composer, and music producer
 Hezekiah (born 739 BCE), King of Judah
 Avraham Jacobovitz, founder of Machon L'Torah and Jewish Awareness America (JAAM)
 Yosef Karduner (born 1969), singer, songwriter, and composer.
 Shmuel Kozokin (born 1987), footballer
 Tahounia Rubel (born 1988), fashion model and television personality
 Natan Slifkin (born 1975), "Zoo Rabbi", director of the Biblical Museum of Natural History and author on the topics of zoology and science

References

External links

Beit Shemesh Municipality
Places To Visit in Beit Shemesh
 Lilia Kirshenbaum, Tsagai Asamain and Avi Perets, Bet Shemesh-Machsia, Khirbet el-Suyyagh: Relocation of an olive oil press, Israel Antiquities Authority Site - Conservation Department

Cities in Israel
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Beit Shemesh


Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) (or Lateral gene transfer) is how an organism gets genetic material from another organism without being the offspring of that organism.

By contrast, vertical transfer occurs when an organism gets genetic material from its ancestor, e.g., its parent or a species from which it has evolved.

Most thinking in genetics has focused on vertical transfer, but horizontal gene transfer is also important. Amongst single-celled organisms it may be the dominant form of genetic transfer. Artificial horizontal gene transfer may be used as a type of genetic engineering.

Mechanism
There are several mechanisms for horizontal gene transfer:

 Transformation, the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the introduction, uptake and expression of foreign genetic material (DNA or RNA). This process is relatively common in bacteria, but less so in eukaryotes. Transformation is often used in laboratories to insert novel genes into bacteria for experiments or for industrial or medical applications.
 Transduction, the process in which bacterial DNA is moved from one bacterium to another by a bacterial virus (a bacteriophage, or 'phage').
 Bacterial conjugation, a process in which a bacterial cell transfers genetic material to another cell by cell-to-cell contact.
 A gene transfer agent or 'GTA' is a virus-like element which contains random pieces of the host chromosome. They are found in most members of the alphaproteobacteria order Rhodobacterales. They are encoded by the host genome. GTAs transfer DNA so frequently that they may have an important role in evolution. A 2010 report found that genes for antibiotic resistance could be transferred by engineering GTAs in the laboratory.
 Integrons, a bacterial "kit" for transferring gene cassettes.

History
Horizontal gene transfer was first described in Japan in a 1959 publication that demonstrated the transfer of antibiotic resistance between different species of bacteria.

In the mid-1980s, Syvanen suggested that lateral gene transfer not only had biological significance, but was involved in shaping evolutionary history from the beginning of life on Earth.

"Increasingly, studies of genes and genomes are indicating that considerable horizontal transfer has occurred between prokaryotes". The phenomenon appears to have had some significance for unicellular eukaryotes as well. As Bapteste et al. observe, "additional evidence suggests that gene transfer might also be an important evolutionary mechanism in protist evolution".

There is some evidence that even higher plants and animals have been affected. Richardson and Palmer (2007) state: "Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has played a major role in bacterial evolution and is fairly common in certain unicellular eukaryotes. However, the prevalence and importance of HGT in the evolution of multicellular eukaryotes remains unclear".

References

Microbiology

Horizontal gene transfer


A homogenitus, anthropogenic or artificial cloud is a cloud induced by human activity. Although most clouds covering the sky have a purely natural origin, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the use of fossil fuels and water vapor and other gases emitted by nuclear, thermal and geothermal power plants yield significant alterations of the local weather conditions. These new atmospheric conditions can thus enhance cloud formation.

Various methods have been proposed for creating and utilizing this weather phenomenon. Experiments have also been carried out for various studies. For example, Russian scientists have been studying artificial clouds for more than 50 years. But by far the greatest number of anthropogenic clouds are airplane contrails (condensation trails) and rocket trails.

Anthropogenesis

Three conditions are needed to form an anthropogenic cloud:
 The air must be near saturation of its water vapor,
 The air must be cooled to the dew point temperature with respect to water (or ice) to condensate (or sublimate) part of the water vapor,
 The air must contain condensation nuclei, small solid particles, where condensation/sublimation starts.

The current use of fossil fuels enhances any of these three conditions. First, fossil fuel combustion generates water vapor. Additionally, this combustion also generates the formation of small solid particles that can act as condensation nuclei. Finally, all the combustion processes emit energy that enhance vertical upward movements.

Despite all the processes involving the combustion of fossil fuels, only some human activities, such as, thermal power plants, commercial aircraft or chemical industries modify enough the atmospheric conditions to produce clouds that can use the qualifier homogenitus due to its anthropic origin.

Cloud classification
The International Cloud Atlas published by the World Meteorological Organization compiles the proposal made by Luke Howard at the beginning of the 19th century, and all the subsequent modifications. Each cloud has a name in Latin, and clouds are classified according to their genus, species, and variety:
 There are 10 genera (plural of genus) (e.g. cumulus, stratus, etc...).
 There is a number of species for these genera that describe the form, the dimensions, internal structure, and type of vertical movement (e.g. stratus nebulosus for stratus covering the whole sky). Species are mutually exclusive.
 Species can further be divided into varieties that describe their transparence or their arrangement (e.g. stratus nebulosus opacus for thick stratus covering the whole sky).

Further terms can be added to describe the origin of the cloud. Homogenitus is a suffix that signifies that a cloud originates from human activity. For instance, Cumulus originated by human activity is called Cumulus homogenitus and abbreviated as CUh. If a homogenitus cloud of one genus changes to another genus type, it is termed a homomutatus cloud.

Generating process
The international cloud classification divides the different genera into three main groups of clouds according to their altitude:
 High clouds
 Middle clouds
 Low clouds

Homogenitus clouds can be generated by different sources in the high and low levels.

High homogenitus

Despite the fact that the three genera of high clouds, Cirrus, Cirrocumulus and Cirrostratus, form at the top of the troposphere, far from the earth surface, they may have an anthropogenic origin. In this case, the process that causes their formation is almost always the same: commercial and military aircraft flight. Exhaust products from the combustion of the kerosene (or sometimes gasoline) expelled by engines provide water vapor to this region of the troposphere.

In addition, the strong contrast between the cold air of the high troposphere layers and the warm and moist air ejected by aircraft engines causes rapid sublimation of water vapor, forming small ice crystals. This process is also enhanced by the presence of abundant nuclei of condensation produced as a result of combustion. These clouds are commonly known as condensation trails (contrails), and are initially lineal cirrus clouds that could be called Cirrus homogenitus (Cih). The large temperature difference between the air exhausted and the ambient air generates small-scale convection processes, which favor the evolution of the condensation trails to Cirrocumulus homogenitus (Cch).

Depending on the atmospheric conditions at the upper part of the troposphere, where the plane is flying, these high clouds rapidly disappear or persist. When the air is dry and stable, the water rapidly evaporates inside the contrails and can only observed up to several hundreds of meters from the plane. On the other hand, if humidity is high enough, there exists an ice oversaturation, and the homogenitus get wide and can exist for hours. In the later case, depending on the wind conditions, Cch may evolve to  Cirrus homogenitus (Cih) or Cirrostratus homogenitus (Csh). The existence and persistence of these three types of high anthropogenic clouds may indicate the approximation of air stability. In some cases, when there is a large density of air traffic, these high homogenitus may inhibit the formation of natural high clouds, because the contrails capture most of the water vapor.

Low homogenitus

The lowest part of the atmosphere is the region most influenced by human activity, through the emission of water vapor, warm air, and condensation nuclei. When the atmosphere is stable, the additional contribution of warm and moist air from emissions enhances fog formation or produces layers of Stratus homogenitus (Sth). If the air is not stable, this warm and moist air emitted by human activities creates a convective movement that can reach the lifted condensation level, producing an anthropogenic cumulus cloud, or Cumulus homogenitus (Cuh). This type of clouds may be also observed over the polluted air covering some cities and industrial areas under high-pressure conditions.

Stratocumulus homogenitus (Sch) are anthropogenic clouds that may be formed by the evolution of Sth in a slightly unstable atmosphere or of Cuh in a stable atmosphere.

Finally, the large, towering Cumulonimbus (Cb) presents such a great vertical development that only in some particular cases can they be created by anthropic causes. For instance, large fires may cause the formation of flammagenitus clouds, which can evolve to Cumulonimbus flammagenitus (CbFg, or CbFgh if anthropogenic); very large explosions, such as nuclear explosions, produce mushroom clouds, a distinctive subtype of cumulonimbus flammagenitus.

Experiments

Anthropogenic cloud can be generated in laboratory or in situ to study its properties or use it for other purpose. A cloud chambers is a sealed environment containing a supersaturated vapor of water or alcohol. When a charged particle (for example, an alpha or beta particle) interacts with the mixture, the fluid is ionized. The resulting ions act as condensation nuclei, around which a mist will form (because the mixture is on the point of condensation). Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud.  The usual intent is to increase precipitation (rain or snow), but hail and fog suppression are also widely practiced in airports.

Numerous experiments have been done with those two methods in the troposphere. At higher altitudes, NASA studied inducing noctilucent clouds in 1960 and 2009. In 1984  satellites from three nations took part in an artificial cloud experiment as part of a study of solar winds and comets. In 1969, a European satellite released and ignited barium and copper oxide at an altitude of 43,000 miles in space to create a 2,000 mile mauve and green plume visible for 22 minutes. It was part of a study of magnetic and electric fields.

Plans to create artificial clouds over soccer tournaments in the Middle East were suggested in 2011 as a way to help shade and cool down Qatar's 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Influence on climate
There are many studies dealing with the importance and effects of high anthropic clouds (Penner, 1999; Minna et al., 1999, 2003–2004; Marquart et al., 2002–2003; Stuber and Foster, 2006, 2007), but not about anthropic clouds in general. For the particular case of Cia due to contrails, IPCC estimates positive radiative forcing around 0.01 Wm−2.

When annotating the weather data, using the suffix that indicates the cloud origin allows differentiating these clouds from the ones with natural origin. Once this notation is established, after several years of observations, the influence of homogenitus on earth climate will be clearly analyzed.

See also
 Contrail
 Chemtrail conspiracy theory
 Environmental impact of aviation
 Global dimming

References

Bibliography
 Howard, L. 1804: On the modification of clouds and the principles of their production, suspension and destruction: being the substance of an essay read before the Askesian Society in session 1802–03. J. Taylor. London.
 IPCC 2007 AR4 WGI WGIII.
 Marquart, S, and B. Mayer, 2002: Towards a reliable GCM estimation on contrail radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1179, doi:10.1029/2001GL014075.
 Marquart S., Ponater M., Mager F., and Sausen R., 2003: Future Development of contrail Cover, Optical Depth, and Radiative Forcing: Impacts of Increasing Air Traffic and Climate Change. Journal of climatology, 16, 2890–2904
 Mazon J, Costa M, Pino D, Lorente J, 2012: Clouds caused by human activities. Weather, 67, 11, 302–306.
 Meteorological glossary of American meteorological Society: http://glossary.ametsoc.org/?p=1&query=pyrocumulus&submit=Search
 Minnis P., Kirk J. and Nordeen L., Weaver S., 2003.  Contrail Frequency over the United States from Surface Observations.  American Meteorology Society, 16, 3447–3462
 Minnis, P., J. Ayers, R. Palikonda, and D. Phan, 2004: Contrails, cirrus trends, and climate. J. Climate, 14, 555–561.
 Norris, J. R., 1999: On trends and possible artifacts in global ocean cloud cover between 1952 and 1995. J. Climate, 12, 1864–1870.
 Penner, J., D. Lister, D. Griggs, D. Dokken, and M. McFarland, 1999: Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere. Cambridge University Press, 373 pp.
 Stuber, N., and P. Forster, 2007: The impact of diurnal variations of air traffic on contrail radiative forcing. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 3153–3162.
 Stuber, N., and P. Forster, G. Rädel, and K. Shine, 2006: The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing. Nature, 441, 864–867.
 World Meteorological Organization (1975). International Cloud Atlas: Manual on the observation of clouds and other meteors. WMO-No. 407. I (text). Geneva: World Meteorological Organization. .
 World Meteorological Organization (1987). International Cloud Atlas: Manual on the observation of clouds and other meteors. WMO-No. 407. II (plates). Geneva: World Meteorological Organization. pp. 196. .

Cloud types
Weather modification

Anthropogenic cloud


The Forerunner is a print publication (1981-1994) and website (1996-present) that emphasizes reformation of society and biblical worldview. Contributing editors and correspondents from Russia, Ukraine, China, Latin America, South Africa and many other countries have contributed many of the articles. Students are encouraged to reprint the articles in student newspapers with the online version functioning as a "model publication."

In 1993, The Forerunner International was founded by Jay Rogers and versions of The Forerunner were published in nations such as South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, China and America. The Forerunner exists today as a grass-roots organization which is dedicated to the training of student interns to produce media. The stated goal to help fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20) through the arts.

History
The Forerunner was founded by Bob Weiner and Rose Weiner and Maranatha Campus Ministries in 1981. It was conceived as a publication which would reach young people with the message of the Christian faith and especially conservativism as a counterpoint to liberalism. The method was calculated: to influence the thinking of students with biblical principles through the distribution of newspapers on the university campuses of America.

By 1983, thirty-five conservative newspapers had been started on major secular campuses and the number doubled by 1985. Even at the University of California, Berkeley campus, which had long carried the reputation of being the most liberal of academic institutions in the U.S., students were following that trend: One survey proved that twice as many Berkeley students considered themselves conservative as did those in 1971. Today there are hundreds of conservative and Christian newspapers on otherwise liberal university campuses.

The Forerunner addressed issues which were at the center of campus debate. The newspaper presented biblical alternatives to Marxism, feminism and welfare statism. The Forerunner challenged the student audience to re-evaluate the liberal bias taught in the classroom.

Foreign language editions
By 1988, foreign language versions of The Forerunner were published by Maranatha Campus Ministries in Brazil, Indonesia and Venezuela.

The Russian Predvestnik , was produced in Kyiv, Ukraine. This student-run publication was founded in July 1991.

The Chinese The Mandate  is produced by Churches Serving Internationals (CSI) to produce a Chinese publication, in English and Chinese, which reached Chinese students studying in the United States. The on-line version has made an impact on students and intellectuals throughout China.

The Spanish El Campeón , a Spanish newspaper, was produced in cooperation with Champions for Christ (Campeones para Cristo) for Latin America. The goal was to distribute the newspaper in the high school and college campuses during evangelism outreaches in countries such as Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama and Colombia. Some copies were also distributed in Cuba.

External links

1981 establishments in Florida
1994 disestablishments in Florida
Conservative magazines published in the United States
Christian magazines
Defunct political magazines published in the United States
Forerunner
Forerunner
Magazines published in Florida

The Forerunner


Cameron Downtown Historic District is a national historic district located at Cameron, Marshall County, West Virginia. It encompasses 27 contributing buildings in the commercial core developed after a severe fire in 1895 which destroyed much of the downtown area. They are large 2-4 story brick buildings reflecting the Classical Revival and Colonial Revival styles. Notable buildings include the Masonic Lodge 17 (c. 1900), Romine Building/Moose Lodge 758 (c. 1900), First Presbyterian Church (1907), First United Methodist Church (1894), Hotel Main (c. 1896-1897), Finlayson's 5 & 10/ Senior Citizens Building (c. 1896), Flatiron Building (1896), First Christian Church of Cameron (1896), and Old B&O Freight Station (1878).

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

References

External links

Historic districts in Marshall County, West Virginia
Colonial Revival architecture in West Virginia
Neoclassical architecture in West Virginia
Buildings and structures in Marshall County, West Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Marshall County, West Virginia
Historic American Buildings Survey in West Virginia
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia

Cameron Downtown


The Casstown Lutheran Stone Church is a historic former church building in the village of Casstown, Ohio, United States.  Built in the late 1830s, it was home to one of the region's earliest Lutheran congregations for just a short time before being converted for profane use.  Its solid stone construction has made it architecturally important, and it has been named a historic site.

One story tall, the building is a simple stone structure with a basic gabled roofline; the sides are divided into four bays with windows, while the front has a central entrance with one window on each side.  Unlike most other stone buildings, constructed of ashlar stone, the church in Casstown is built of rough, comparatively unworked stone.  Its roof is of a rare form: the wooden beams supporting the roof form a fuller truss system than in many comparable buildings, and the complex system of pegs and mutually supporting beams enables the roof to stand without any interior load-bearing walls whatsoever.

Casstown's first Lutherans organized a church around 1835, just four years after the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio was formed.  Composed largely of emigrants from Pennsylvania, the congregation had no church building in its earliest years, so the members worshipped in that of the village's Methodist Episcopal congregation.  Construction of the present building began in 1839, and upon its completion in the following year, the Lutherans left the Methodist building and occupied their own edifice.  It remained their home for little more than a quarter century, as the congregation erected a larger brick building and moved to it in 1867.  Following this time, it was converted into a residence, with two of its more prominent inhabitants being C.R. and Eunice Randall.

In 1984, the old church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  It qualified for historic designation both because of its architecture and because of its place in the area's history, for it was considered to represent an important stage in the emigration of Pennsylvania Lutherans to western Ohio.  One of more than forty National Register sites in Miami County, it is the only one in Casstown.

References

Houses completed in 1839
Churches completed in 1839
Churches in Miami County, Ohio
National Register of Historic Places in Miami County, Ohio
Former churches in Ohio
Former Lutheran churches in the United States
Lutheran churches in Ohio
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Stone houses in Ohio
Houses in Miami County, Ohio
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio

Casstown Lutheran Stone Church


The Atkinson People is a 1979 BBC radio comedy series. The series, which was first broadcast sporadically in 1979 by the BBC's arts radio station Radio 3, features a satirical profile of a fictional famous person each week.

It is notable as being the first radio or television programme to star comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson. The programme was co-written by Atkinson and Richard Curtis and produced by future Not the Nine O'Clock News co-star Griff Rhys Jones, then a BBC Radio Comedy producer. In most cases, Atkinson played the lead characters, with other voices provided by Hugh Thomas and Peter Wilson. Following the precedent set by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the series was also an early adopter of stereophonic sound; it was recorded in 1978, and broadcast in 1979. The series has been repeated on BBC Radio 7 and its successor BBC Radio 4 Extra, and was picked by Armando Iannucci during his stint as "comedy controller".

Episodes

References

BBC Radio comedy programmes
BBC Radio 3 programmes
Works by Rowan Atkinson

The Atkinson People