Nicholas Paul Wolterstorff (born January 21, 1932) is an American philosopher and theologian. He is currently Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University. A prolific writer with wide-ranging philosophical and theological interests, he has written books on aesthetics, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and philosophy of education. In Faith and Rationality, Wolterstorff, Alvin Plantinga, and William Alston developed and expanded upon a view of religious epistemology that has come to be known as Reformed epistemology. He also helped to establish the journal Faith and Philosophy and the Society of Christian Philosophers.

Biography
Wolterstorff was born on January 21, 1932, to Dutch emigrants in a small farming community in southwest Minnesota. After earning his BA in philosophy at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1953, he entered Harvard University, where he earned his MA and PhD in philosophy, completing his studies in 1956. He then spent a year at the University of Cambridge, where he met C. D. Broad. From 1957 to 1959, he was an instructor in philosophy at Yale University. Then he took the post of Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College and taught for 30 years. He is now teaching at Yale as Noah Porter Professor Emeritus Philosophical Theology.

In 1987 Wolterstorff published Lament for a Son after the untimely death of his 25-year-old son Eric in a mountain climbing accident. In a series of short essays, Wolterstorff recounts how he drew on his Christian faith to cope with his grief. Wolterstorff explained that he published the book "in the hope that it will be of help to some of those who find themselves with us in the company of mourners."

He has been a visiting professor at Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, the University of Oxford, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Texas, the University of Michigan, Temple University, the Free University of Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit), and the University of Virginia. In 2007, he received an honorary Doctorate in Philosophy from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He has been retired since June 2002.

Wolterstorff published his memoir with William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. in 2019, illustrating the close relationship between his personal life and his distinguished academic career.

Professional distinctions
 Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, 1953
 Harvard Foundation Fellowship, 1954
 Josiah Royce Memorial Fellowship, Harvard University, 1954
 Fulbright Scholarship, 1957
 President of the American Philosophical Association (Central Division)
 President of the Society of Christian Philosophers
 Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study in Culture, University of Virginia, 2005

Endowed lectureships

 Kuyper Lectures, Free University of Amsterdam, 1981
 Wilde Lectures, University of Oxford, 1993
 Gifford Lectures: "Thomas Reid and the Story of Epistemology", St Andrews University, 1995
 Tate-Willson Lectures, Southern Methodist University, 1991
 Stone Lectures, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1998
 Lectures at Southern Seminary, Lecture #2, Lecture #3, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000
 Taylor Lectures, Yale University, 2001
 Laing Lectures, Regent College, 2007

Personal life
Nicholas Wolterstorff lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his wife Claire. He has four grown children. His oldest son died in a mountain climbing accident at age 25. He has seven grandchildren.

Thought
While an undergraduate at Calvin College, Wolterstorff was greatly influenced by professors William Harry Jellema, Henry Stob, and Henry Zylstra, who introduced him to schools of thought that have dominated his mature thinking: Reformed theology and common sense philosophy. (These have also influenced the thinking of his friend and colleague Alvin Plantinga, another alumnus of Calvin College).

Wolterstorff builds upon the ideas of the Scottish common-sense philosopher Thomas Reid, who approached knowledge "from the bottom-up". Instead of reasoning about transcendental conditions of knowledge, Wolterstorff suggests that knowledge and our knowing faculties are not the subject of our research but have to be seen as its starting point. He rejects classical foundationalism and instead sees knowledge as based upon insights in reality which are direct and indubitable. In Justice in Love, he rejects fundamentist notions of Christianity that hold to the necessity of the penal substitutionary atonement and justification by faith alone.

Bibliography

Selected writings
 On Universals: An Essay in Ontology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1970.
 Reason within the Bounds of Religion. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1976. 2nd ed. 1984
 Works and Worlds of Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1980.
 Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1980. 2nd ed. 1995
 Educating for Responsible Action.  Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1980.
 Until Justice and Peace Embrace. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 1983. 2nd ed. 1994.
 Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God (ed. with Alvin Plantinga). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 1984.
 Lament for a Son. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1987.
 "Suffering Love" in Philosophy and the Christian Faith (ed.Thomas V. Morris). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 1988.
 Divine Discourse: Philosophical Reflections on the Claim That God Speaks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1995.
 John Locke and the Ethics of Belief. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1996.
 Religion in the Public Square (with Robert Audi). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. 1997.
 Thomas Reid and the Story of Epistemology.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2001.
 Educating for Life: Reflections on Christian Teaching and Learning. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. 2002.
 "An Engagement with Rorty" in The Journal of Religious Ethics, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring, 2003), pp. 129–139.
 Educating for Shalom: Essays on Christian Higher Education. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2004.
 Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2008.
 Inquiring about God: Selected Essays, Volume I (ed. Terence Cuneo). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2009.
 Practices of Belief: Selected Essays, Volume II (ed. Terence Cuneo). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2009.
 Hearing the Call: Liturgy, Justice, Church, and World . William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2011.
 The Mighty and the Almighty: An Essay in Political Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2012.
 Journey toward Justice: Personal Encounters in the Global South. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. 2013.
 Understanding Liberal Democracy: Essays in Political Philosophy (ed. Terence Cuneo). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2012.
 Art Rethought: The Social Practices of Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2015.
 Justice in Love. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2015.
 The God We Worship: An Exploration of Liturgical Theology. Grand Rapids:  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2015.
 Acting Liturgically: Philosophical Reflections on Religious Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2018.
 In This World of Wonders: Memoir of a Life in Learning. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2019.
 United in Love: Essays on Justice, Art, and Liturgy. (ed. Joshua Cockayne and Jonathan Rutledge). Eugene, OR: Cascade, Wipf & Stock. 2021

Secondary
 Sloane, Andrew, On Being A Christian in the Academy: Nicholas Wolterstorff and the Practice of Christian Scholarship, Paternoster, Carlisle UK, 2003.

See also

 American philosophy
 Christian philosophy
 Christian Reformed Church in North America

References

External links
 Faculty page at Yale
 Interview from The Christian Century.
 "The Irony of It All" in The Hedgehog Review vol. 9, no. 3 (Fall 2007). Article discussing human dignity and justice.
 Lecture at Calvin College on "How Calvin Fathered a Renaissance in Christian Philosophy".
 Wolterstorff's Spiritual Autobiography from Clark, Kelly James, Philosophers Who Believe (Intervarsity Press, 1993).
 Theology and Ethics Contains many PDF files of Wolterstorff's work not available elsewhere.
 Art in Action: New Thoughts Lecture at the 2009 International Arts Movement.
 Lectures by Wolterstorff from the C.S. Lewis Institute.
 Faith and Philosophy
 Society of Christian Philosophers

1932 births
20th-century American philosophers
20th-century American theologians
20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians
21st-century American philosophers
21st-century American theologians
21st-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians
American Calvinist and Reformed theologians
American members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America
Analytic theologians
Calvin University alumni
Calvin University faculty
Calvinist and Reformed philosophers
Critics of atheism
Epistemologists
Epistemology of religion
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Living people
Metaphysicians
Philosophers of art
Philosophers of education
Philosophers of religion
Political philosophers
Presidents of the Society of Christian Philosophers
Yale University faculty

Nicholas Wolterstorff


Mattia Biagi (born 1974 in Ravenna) is an Italian professional artist. He currently resides and works in Los Angeles.

Professional background
Biagi's work is shown internationally at galleries and museums such as The Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Not long after graduating art and design school in Milan, Mattia Biagi arrived in Los Angeles. He was immediately impressed by one of the city's most famous landmarks, the La Brea Tar Pits, which became the influence for his initial body of work in the U.S.

"I was intrigued with tar as a medium and how it illuminates and highlights objects in a very esoteric and ethereal sense."

The mix of a traditional Italian background with life in America has made quite an impact on his creative process.

In this new body of work, Biagi explores through multi-media forms the desire to make tangible a belief in supernatural causality and its cultural nuances.

By traversing abstract sculpture, video, painting, photography and performance he will investigate human emotional reaction to physical objects that have superstitious associations.

Galleries and exhibits

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Public and Selected Notable Private Collections

Before Midnight - Mint Museum - North Carolina - NC (2012)

Print media

Further reading
 Taglialagamba, Sara; and Galluzzi, Francesco. Mattia Biagi - Black Tar, Milan: Skira, 2011.

References

External links

 http://www.mintmuseum.org/craft-design.html

1974 births
Living people
Italian contemporary artists

Mattia Biagi


"Don't Cha" is a pop song by American girl group the Pussycat Dolls. It was on their self-titled studio record PCD in 2005. The song is about a girl teasing a man that she is more attractive than his girlfriend.

The song received positive reviews by most critics. "Don't Cha" got very high on records charts worldwide. It hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It sold three million copies in the United States and six million worldwide.

2005 songs
Pop songs
The Pussycat Dolls songs

Don't Cha


Henry Flad (July 30, 1824 – July 20, 1898) was a German-born civil engineer who served as an engineering officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, as a railroad engineer before and during the civil war, and later as a civil engineer after the war.  He helped found and was first president of the Engineers' Club of Saint Louis, and in 1886 was president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Biography

Early life
Henry Flad was born July 30, 1824, in the Grand Duchy of Baden near the university town of Heidelberg. His father, Jacob Flad, dying within the same year, his mother Francisca Brunn Flad, very soon afterwards removed to the town of Speyer a few miles distant upon the left bank of the Rhine in the Rhine Palatinate, a province belonging to Bavaria. After passing through the preparatory schools of Speyer, young Henry entered the University of Munich, in Bavaria where he took the polytechnic course.

After his graduation in 1846, at twenty two years of age, he was given a position in the engineering service of the Bavarian Government, his first employment being on works for the improvement of the River Rhine. The years which immediately followed, particularly the years 1848 and 1849, were years of great political commotion throughout Europe. Encouraged by the success of the French Revolution of 1848 which drove out King Louis Philippe I, the longings of the German people for a freer and more united government found such vigorous expression that the princes of the many petty states into which Germany was divided acceded to the convocation of a  National Assembly or Parliament, which, in May 1848, met in Frankfurt to frame a constitution for United Germany. Unfortunately the deliberations of this assembly showed such wide differences of opinion and so little ability to unite in any workable plan that the ardor of the more conservative classes began to cool. The princes seized their opportunity to reassert themselves and repudiated the authority of the Parliament.

In Southern Germany the champions of the Parliament took up arms in its behalf. Amongst them was Henry Flad, then in his twenty fifth year, who joined the Parliamentary army as a captain of engineers. Fortune, however, was against them and after several engagements the Parliamentary army was driven into Switzerland and disbanded. Meantime its leaders were placed under the ban and Captain Flad, with many others, was sentenced to death.

Under these circumstances he very naturally turned his face westward and took passage for the United States where the right of the people to govern themselves has found its fullest expression.

Emigration to America
He landed in New York City in the autumn of 1849. His first employment after his landing was as a draftsman in an architect's office. It was not long, however, before he entered the engineering service of the Erie Railroad, then under construction, his headquarters being at Dunkirk, New York, at the extreme western end of the road. Mr James P. Kirkwood and Mr James H. Morley with whom Captain Flad was afterwards associated, were also employed at this time on the same road. After the completion of the New York and Erie Railroad in 1851, we hear of Captain Flad, first as located for a time at Tonawanda between Niagara Falls and Buffalo, and then, in 1852, as an assistant engineer in the construction of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad from Cincinnati to St. Louis, his headquarters being at Vincennes, Indiana.

Upon the opening of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad to St. Louis in 1854 (this being the first railway to reach St Louis from the East) Captain Flad went to Missouri as an assistant engineer on the Iron Mountain Railroad, of which his former colleague on the Erie Railroad, Mr. James H. Morley, was the chief engineer. During the construction of this road Captain Flad was located at Potosi, Missouri. After its completion to Pilot Knob, where for a number of years it ended, he became land and tie agent of the railroad company, with headquarters at Arcadia, Missouri. On September 12, 1856, Captain Flad was married to Miss Reichard of St. Louis.

Civil War
Upon the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Captain Flad came to St. Louis and enlisted, June 15, as a private soldier in Company F, of the Third Regiment, United States Reserve Corps. From this rank he rose rapidly, advanced to be corporal and then sergeant.

In July 1861 a regiment known as the Engineer Regiment of the West recruited mainly in the States of Illinois and Missouri, was organized by Col. J. W. Bissell, and Henry Flad was made captain of Company B. In August of the same year he was detailed by General Frémont, then in command at St. Louis, for service in the construction of fortifications at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he remained for several months. Later in the year, when Frémont was succeeded by General Halleck, Captain Flad was ordered to join General Pope in southeast Missouri, and served as a staff officer through the campaign of New Madrid and Point Pleasant and the taking of Island Number Ten, after which he rejoined his regiment at New Madrid. He was with his regiment at Fort Pillow and Pittsburgh Landing and in the operations before Corinth. During the summer of 1862 he was engaged in repairing the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, in building forts at Corinth, and in repairing the Mississippi Central Railroad. He was also engaged in Grant's advance on Grenada. In February, 1863, he was ordered to Young's Point, where he was employed in engineering work, as he was later at Baxter Bayou, Lake Providence, and Bayou Macon.

In April 1863, under Colonel William W. Wright he had charge of the repairs of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad at Memphis, Grand Junction, Jackson, and Columbus. In October of the same year he was employed in repairing the same railroad east of Corinth under General Sherman and was with him at Cherokee, Bear Creek and Iuka in northern Mississippi.

Meantime he had been promoted, November 17, 1862, to the rank of Major, July 30, 1863, to that of Lieutenant Colonel, and October 16, 1863, to that of Colonel. On January 1, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee, he was transferred as Colonel to the First Regiment of Engineers Missouri Volunteers, a new regiment formed by the consolidation of the former engineer regiment and the Twenty-fifth Missouri Infantry. During the summer of 1864, again under Colonel Wright, he was engaged in completing the Nashville and Northwestern Rail road from Nashville to Johnsonville and in constructing defensive works. In August he was ordered to Atlanta, Georgia, and served here and in this neighborhood until about the first of November, his last work being the construction of a new line of fortifications at Atlanta.

At this time the term of enlistment of seven companies expired. The command of the remaining five companies, then under the army regulations, devolved upon the Lieutenant Colonel, and the Colonel was mustered out November 12, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee. His term of service had been three years and six months, during which time with not more than a week's leave of absence he had been constantly in the field. Through it all he was never sick, wounded, or captured.

Post Civil War

St. Louis Waterworks
Upon being mustered out Colonel Flad returned to St. Louis and began to look around for employment in his profession. In a short time the agitation for an improved water supply for St. Louis, Missouri, took form in a State law authorizing the appointment of a Board of Water Commissioners, charged with the duty of making surveys and plans and constructing a new system of waterworks for the city. Soon after the organization of the new board, in the spring of 1865, Mr. James P. Kirkwood, who had formerly been chief engineer of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and had just completed the building of new waterworks for Brooklyn, New York, was appointed chief engineer, and Henry Flad chief assistant engineer.

Surveys and investigations were at once begun, and by the end of the year, a plan was presented for new works with intake, settling basins and filter beds at the Chain of Rocks, and a distributing reservoir on what was then known as Rinkels Hill, on Easton Avenue near the present city limits. This plan received the approval of the Board of Water Commissioners, and, as subsequent experience has abundantly proven, was undoubtedly the best. But, besides running counter to some private interests, it involved such a large outlay and such a radical departure from the old plan that on the part of many leading citizens as well as the city authorities it encountered an overwhelming disapproval. The opposition finally became so great that the Water Commissioners were called upon by the City Council to resign. To this demand they presently acceded, and in July, 1866, a new board, committed to a new plan, was appointed. Meantime Mr. Kirkwood had been commissioned to go to Europe to study the subject of filtration, and Colonel Flad was left as acting chief engineer. In December, 1866, a revised plan, with intake and settling basins at Bissell Point and a distributing reservoir on Compton Hill, substantially as afterwards built, was presented.

Early in the following year the act organizing the Board of Water Commissioners was amended, the number of members being reduced from four to three, and in March, 1867, a new board was appointed with Colonel Flad as one of its members. This position by reappointment he held continuously for eight years, or until April 1875. During this time and under his general supervision, the new waterworks were completed and put into service during the year 1872.

Eads Bridge
Whilst he was still acting as assistant engineer to Mr Kirkwood, Colonel Flad made the acquaintance of Captain James B Eads who was at that time employed upon plans for gun carriages and turrets. The rooms occupied by the Water Board being larger than they then needed, Captain Eads, upon his request, had been granted space in which to set a draftsman at work. This was followed by frequent discussions between the two men upon engineering questions, and this led to a mutual recognition of each other's abilities and laid the foundation of a lifelong friendship. When therefore in 1868 Captain Eads was ready, as chief promoter as well as chief engineer, to begin the work of constructing the great bridge over the Mississippi River at St Louis, he very naturally tendered the position of chief assistant engineer to Colonel Flad. As the duties of the latter, as member of the Board of Water Commissioners, did not require all his time, this opportunity to take part in this most interesting and important work was gladly accepted, and he retained his connection with it until its completion in 1874. Some of the boldest features of this great enterprise, such as the method of erection without falsework, were due to Colonel Flad.

Public works in St. Louis, Missouri
During 1875 and 1876 he was engaged as consulting engineer in various works in conjunction with Mr. Charles Pfeiffer, who had been associated with him on the St. Louis bridge, Mr. Thomas J. Whitman, chief engineer of the Waterworks, and Prof. Charles A. Smith of Washington University.

Amongst other engagements he was engineer for the commissioners who purchased and laid out Forest Park.

In the autumn of 1876 the new charter of the city of St. Louis, by virtue of which the city was separated from the county of St Louis and made, as to its local affairs, to a large degree independent of the State Legislature, was inaugurated, and Colonel Flad was elected the first President of the newly constituted Board of Public Improvements. This office he held continuously for nearly fourteen years being re-elected in 1880, 1884, and 1888.

The problem to which the new board addressed itself was that of taking the whole system of municipal public works out of the mire of politics and placing them upon the basis of merit and fitness. Into this work Colonel Flad entered with characteristic zeal and a determination which nothing could shake. His efforts were crowned with entire success, so that during the whole period of his administration the board over which he presided had the entire confidence of the whole community. Every citizen felt sure that in every department of the public works the city received a dollar's worth for every dollar spent, and in this respect St. Louis became a model for other cities.

In the spring of 1890, having become somewhat weary under the increasing burdens of his position, he resigned his office as President of the Board of Public Improvements to accept membership in the Mississippi River Commission in the place made vacant by the resignation of Captain Eads. In this latter position he remained until his death, giving to the work his best energies and nearly the whole of his time. The new policy of deepening the low water channel of the river by dredging rather than by contraction works, which the commission adopted during his membership, was very largely the result of his efforts. Colonel Flad was a charter member of the Engineers Club of St Louis, and was its President for twelve years, from 1868 to 1880. He became a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers February 15, 1871, and was President of the Society for the year ending January 19, 1887, thus receiving from both organizations the highest honors within their power to bestow.

Death
His death occurred June 20, 1898, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he stopped on his way home from a meeting of the Mississippi River Commission to visit Mr Godfrey Stengel, a lifelong friend who had come with him on the same ship to America forty nine years before. He died very suddenly of acute heart failure while walking to Highland park in company with Mr and Mrs Stengel. Up to the last moment he was in excellent spirits and died without pain as without fear.

Legacy
As an engineer Colonel Flad was remarkable for his great fertility of invention. For every new problem he had not only one but many solutions and the rapidity with which he grasped all its conditions and framed his plans to meet them amounted to genius. In doing this he was not limited by precedent but looked instinctively for new and better methods than any before known. In boldness and originality he has had but few equals in the annals of the profession. And like the most successful workers in every field he delighted in his work for its own sake. Nothing could exceed the interest with which he attacked a new problem and he gave himself no rest until he had solved it. The solution once found however the whole subject ceased to interest him and he passed on to something new. This trait is illustrated by the fact that although he took out numerous patents for new and useful inventions to their introduction and utilization he gave no thought. It was the work rather than its rewards for which he cared. As a man he was equally great. His unassuming modesty, his perfect candor, and simplicity, his unflinching courage, his absolute fidelity to his convictions, his single minded subordination of personal to the public welfare, qualities which were written in every line of his face and manifested in every act of his life, all stamped him as a man of the highest type. No one who knew him but believed in him without limit. His name was a synonym for fidelity and skill and all knew that every work committed to his charge would be well done and come from his hand as sound and flawless as the man himself. This evident and perfect integrity of purpose made his public service a legacy of incalculable value to his fellow citizens. His life was a demonstration of how honorable the public service could be made and is an encouragement to those who have not yet lost faith in the possibility of having this service in all its branches lifted to the same standard to abate no jot of heart or hope but still work on for the accomplishment of this high end. To us his fellows in his chosen calling his name and example are specially precious For in him was realized the highest ideal of the engineer, a man of trained intellect controlled by an iron will and directed to the noblest public ends And  the fact of his success in attaining this ideal will inspire others to frame their lives upon the same noble lines.

Flad Avenue in St. Louis is named after Henry Flad.

References
 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Further reading
 William Baehr, Henry Flad Papers, Special Collection and Archives, Southeast Missouri State University

External links
Colonel Henry Flad, 1st MO Eng. USV

1824 births
1898 deaths
American civil engineers
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Baden
German-American Forty-Eighters
Union Army colonels

Henry Flad


The median eminence is generally defined as the portion of the ventral hypothalamus from which the portal vessels arise. The median eminence is a small swelling on the tuber cinereum, posterior to and atop the pituitary stalk; it lies in the area roughly bounded on its posterolateral region by the cerebral peduncles, and on its anterolateral region by the optic chiasm.

As one of the seven areas of the brain devoid of a blood–brain barrier, the median eminence is a circumventricular organ having permeable capillaries. Its main function is as a gateway for release of hypothalamic hormones, although it does share contiguous perivascular spaces with the adjacent hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, indicating a potential sensory role.

Physiology
The median eminence is a part of the hypothalamus from which regulatory hormones are released. It is integral to the hypophyseal portal system, which connects the hypothalamus with the pituitary gland. The pars nervosa (part of the posterior pituitary gland) is continuous with the median eminence of the hypothalamus via the infundibular stalk.  Parvocellular neurosecretory cells from the hypothalamus terminate in the median eminence of the hypothalamus.

The median eminence is the structure where secretions of the hypothalamus (releasing and inhibiting regulatory hormones, known as "hypophysiotropic hormones") collect before entering the portal system emptying into the general circulation. Such hypophysiotropic hormones include: CRF (corticotropin-releasing factor), GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone), TRH (thyrotropin-releasing hormone), GHRH (growth hormone-releasing hormone), and DA (dopamine). These hypophysiotropic hormones stimulate or inhibit the release of hormones from the anterior pituitary. Further, anatomical evidence exists for bidirectional communication between the median eminence and the arcuate and ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus.

References

Neuroendocrinology
Hypothalamus

Median eminence


The pee curl (Dutch: plaskrul) is a public urinal, many of which are found in the centre of Amsterdam. They originated at the end of the 19th century, and were first installed by the Public Works Department of Amsterdam.

The curl is made of a spiral-shaped steel sheet suspended half a metre above the ground by four iron legs, and painted dark green. The top half of the plate is perforated so that any passers-by can determine at eye-level whether it is vacant or in use. The floor is made of tiles with a natural stone slab making up the urinal itself, housing the central drain. The curls are connected to the sewer by this drain and are cleaned by the local municipality with water from the canal. The curls come in either a single or double version, with some coming equipped with roofs.

History
By the 1800s, public sanitation in Paris was in a shambolic condition, the city being plagued by public urination. The population was also rapidly rising with an expectation for it to pass a million by 1840, meaning the problem could only get worse.

In the spring of 1830, the city government of Paris decided to install the first public urinals on the major boulevards, with them being ready come the summer. In July that same year however, many were destroyed and used as street barricades during the French Revolution of 1830.

In 1832, a cholera epidemic spread from Britain to Paris, killing 18,500 people (or roughly 2% of the city's population at the time) in 169 days. Among the dead was the French Prime Minister Casimir Pierre Périer. The epidemic also brought Paris' economy to a standstill, with anyone who could flee doing so and anyone who stayed adopting futile measures to protect themselves from it.

In 1839 the Préfet de la Seine Claude-Philibert de Rambuteau began installing over 400 pissoirs in an effort to fix the sanitation issues that plagued Paris while also working to improve the water supply to the city, to enlarge the Paris sewer system and to install gas lighting in the city. The pissoirs that were installed at the time were simple, single-person masonry tubes with an entrance cut into the street side and a cornice and ball above. Despite these efforts, Parisians still relieved themselves "en plein air" according to an April 1843 column in the Gazette Municipale.

In 1859, 20 years after the introduction of the pissoirs, Dutch inventor Leijs proposed the placement of similar hollow pillars to try and solve Amsterdam's issues with public sanitation, however the design of the pee curl was chosen. In the 19th and most of the 20th century facilities like the Dutch pee curls and French pissoirs were used by homosexual men to have sexual intercourse. The anxiety of the public and indeed the government about homosexuality is clearly visible in the design of the pee curl and later designs of the pissoir.

The first of these pee curls weren't installed until 1870, with 1877 bringing the first double pee curl - an S shaped curl with opposing chambers - to the Paleis voor Volksvlijt. An updated design of the pee curl was later created in 1916 by architect Joan van der Mey.

19th century and women's rights
Amsterdam has had a urinary committee since 1928. Despite the Second World War, meetings continued under the so-called "Committee of Consultation on the Urinal Question in Amsterdam". In 1941, a new urinal committee was established. Throughout the entire history of the committee, the ratio of male to female public toilets has always been heavily skewed, with the committee initially being of the opinion that public toilets were intended "for the man who has his work on the street". Another rationale for the gender disparity of public toilets being heavily skewed is that "Public toilet facilities, especially those for women, involved very high costs."

At the same time, there were fears (as stated previously) that enclosed public toilets would result in a higher rate of public indecency, where two person urinals "often acted as places for gay men to meet and engage in sexual acts."

In December of 1969, a Dutch Feminist group called Dolle Mina was founded to campaign for equal rights for women, including public "pee-right". The group mainly fought to improve said rights by using protests in a playful and humorous manner. One of these protests occurred in Amsterdam's Dam Square in April 1970, installing a "towering papier-mâché penis with a sign that read 'damestoilet' (ladies' room)." The structure was placed there to address the lack of public toilets for women in Amsterdam. Also in 1970, several public toilets were wrapped with pink ribbons to protest this imbalance.

In 1984 the Urinal Commission published a report recommending the installation of the Sanisette, a lockable and self-cleaning unisex public toilet which was pioneered by the French company JCDecaux. Negotiations were in an "advanced stage", however the plans were cancelled in 1985 due to a lack of funds.

Plasrecht

In 2015, Geerte Piening was fined €90 for public urination when she relieved herself in an alleyway in Amsterdam due to the fact that the nearest public toilet that was designed for use by women was several kilometres away. She refused to pay the fine on the grounds that she felt that the design of public toilets in Amsterdam discriminated against women, and she was unable to go to a bar to pay to go to relieve herself as it was beyond closing time.

The male judge in the case, however, held that "It would not be pleasant but it can be done," in regards to the use of urinals and pee curls and she was forced to pay the fine. This led to widespread mockery by the public and even led some women to demonstrate the "obvious difficulties" of using male urinals.

This event also led to a call being put out on Facebook by Cathelijne Hornstra for people to gather and protest at the spot where Geerte was found by Police. The protest was cancelled because of the overwhelming interest, with the organisers asking those interested (said to be nearly 10,000 women) to gather at urinals across Amsterdam. Attendees were asked to upload photos on Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag "#wildplassen", the Dutch word for the crime of public urination.

21st century use
In 2008 all remaining examples of the original pee curls were repainted, galvanised and restored. The city had thirty-five of the original pee curls as of 2017, of which two were the curls designed by Joan van der Mey. Amsterdam also has many different kinds of other public urinals, with portable urinals being used for outdoor concerts and other events, retractable urinals being able to be used overnight before retracting into the ground and wheelchair accessible urinals for those who need them.

In 2016, it was announced that new retractable urinals for women would be placed in Dam Square, Amsterdam. The urinals were equipped with two urinals for men and one for women, with the one for women having a lockable sliding door. Unfortunately, there is still limited public toilet availability for women, with only a few throughout the city being accessible.

The pee curls to the side of the canals are kept in place by the local government to keep people from publicly urinating and thereby falling in the canal in an attempt to cut down on the amount of people falling into the canal; an average of 15 people drown each year in the canals due to multiple causes, including public urination.

References

External links
  map of the public toilets in Amsterdam

Buildings and structures in Amsterdam
Urinals

Pee curl


Naval gunfire support (NGFS), also known as naval surface fire support (NSFS), or shore bombardment, is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of several disciplines encompassed by the term naval fires. Modern naval gunfire support is one of the three main components of amphibious warfare assault operations support, along with aircraft and ship-launched land-attack missiles. Shipborne guns have been used against shore defences since medieval naval warfare.

Tactics
Naval gunfire support is classified into two types: direct fire, where the ship has line of sight with the target (either visually or through the use of radar), and indirect fire, which, to be accurate, requires an artillery observer to adjust fire.

When on the gun line, ships are particularly vulnerable to attack from aircraft coming from a landward direction and flying low to avoid radar detection, or from submarines because of a predictable and steady (non-evasive) course.

History

Early history
An early use of shore bombardment was during the Siege of Calais in 1347 when Edward III of England deployed ships carrying bombards and other artillery. An early type of vessel designed for the purpose of shore bombardment was the bomb vessel, which came into use during the 17th century. The burning of Falmouth by the Royal Navy was among the grievances of the United States Declaration of Independence. These were small ships whose main armament was one or two large mortars that fired explosive shells at a high angle. They were typically poor sailing craft that were of limited use outside their specialized role. However, small vessels armed with large mortars saw use as late as the American Civil War, when the Union Navy used them in several attacks on coastal fortifications.

During the 18th century, another special class of vessel known as floating battery was devised for shore bombardment. An early use was by the French and Spanish during the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779–1782). During the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy commissioned several vessels of the  and . These carried either naval long guns or carronades. Floating batteries were used by the French and British during the Crimean War and by both sides during the American Civil War.

World War I

During World War I, the principal practitioner of naval bombardment (the term used prior to World War II for what was later designated naval gunfire support (NGFS)) was Britain's Royal Navy (RN); and the main theatres in which RN ships fired against targets ashore were the Aegean—Dardanelles/Gallipoli, and later the Salonika front—and along the Belgian coast. In the Aegean the enemy coastal defences (forts, shore-batteries etc.) were fairly unsophisticated; however, on the Gallipoli peninsula these still proved to be difficult targets for the navy's low angle firing guns. Here, the fortress outlines tended to blend into the hillside making identification difficult, and the guns presented small targets. Mobile howitzers on the plateau presented even greater problems, since these were higher still, and being completely shielded from view proved almost impervious to naval bombardment. For RN ships bombarding German targets along the Belgian coast the situation was altogether different from the autumn of 1915 until the enemy withdrawal in October 1918.

For this role, the Royal Navy frequently made use of specially designed vessels known as monitors. They carried extremely heavy armament for their size, often a single turret from a decommissioned battleship. With a broad-beamed hull designed for stability and a shallow draft to allow close approach to the shore, the vessels were slow and thus unsuitable for naval combat. Two s were fitted with BL 18-inch Mk I naval guns, the largest guns ever used by the Royal Navy.

The Germans constructed an extensive, well-equipped and well-coordinated system of gun batteries to defend the coast—and especially the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge. Those ports, and the canals linking them to Bruges, were of major importance to the U-boat campaign in the North Sea and English Channel—and for that reason were frequently bombarded by RN monitors operating from Dover and Dunkirk.

The RN continually advanced their technology and techniques necessary to conduct effective bombardments in the face of the German defenders—firstly refining spotting/correction by aircraft (following initial efforts during the Dardanelles/Gallipoli campaign), then experimenting with night bombardment and moving on to adopt indirect fire (in which a ship can accurately engage an unseen target, which may be several miles inland) as the norm for day and night firings.

In the summer of 1918, monitors were equipped with gyro director training (GDT) gear—which effectively provided the director with a gyro-stabilised artificial line of sight, and thereby enabled a ship to carry out indirect bombardment while underway. This was a very significant advance which basically established a firm foundation for naval bombardment as practiced by the RN and USN during the Second World War.

Between 1919–39 all RN battleships/battlecruisers and all new-construction cruisers were equipped with Admiralty Fire Control Tables and GDT gear, and from the early 1930s (probably earlier) were required to carry out "live" bombardment practice once in each commission. In 1939, therefore, the RN was quite well prepared for this particular aspect of joint warfare.

World War II
Indirect bombardment reached its zenith during World War II, when the availability of man-portable radio systems and sophisticated relay networks allowed forward observers to transmit targeting information and provide almost instant accuracy reports—once troops had landed. Battleships, cruisers (including Bobtail cruisers, designed to support amphibious operations), and destroyers would pound shore installations, sometimes for days, in the hope of reducing fortifications and weakening defending forces. Obsolete battleships unfit for combat against other ships were often used as floating gun platforms expressly for this purpose. However, given the relatively primitive nature of the fire control computers and radar of the era combined with the high velocity of naval gunfire, accuracy depended upon designated observer aircraft until troops landed and were able to radio back reports to the ship. Observation seaplanes proved vulnerable to land-based fighter aircraft during the invasion of Sicily so gunfire observers flew Spitfires in support of the Normandy landings.

The solution was to engage in longer bombardment periods—up to two weeks, in some cases—saturating target areas with fire until a lucky few shells had destroyed the intended targets. This alerted an enemy that a landing attack was imminent. In the Pacific War this mattered less, where the isolated defenders of island strongholds expected to be invaded at some point and had already committed whatever combat resources were available. The Japanese used battleships only once for shore bombardment, when two battleships bombarded United States Marines at Guadalcanal's Henderson Airfield in October 1942, inflicting minor damage. Bombardment periods were usually shorter in the European theatre, where surprise was more often valued, overland reinforcement far more likely, and ships' guns were responding to the movements of mobile defenders, not whittling away at static fortifications.

Naval gunfire could reach as far as  inland and was often used to supplement land-based artillery. Naval gunfire was used extensively throughout Normandy, although initially the surprise nature of the landings precluded a drawn-out bombardment which could have reduced the Atlantic Wall defences sufficiently, a process that fell to specialist armoured vehicles instead.

Late 20th century

Naval gunfire support played a critical role in the Korean War; the conflict was ideal for this type of service, with much of the fighting taking place along the coast of the Korean Peninsula. The battleship  and light cruiser  provided heavy support, along with numerous light cruisers and destroyers. In particular were so-called "Trainbuster" patrols, working with spotter aircraft to destroy North Korean supply trains, as well as railway bridges and tunnels.

In 1961, the annexation of Goa by Indian naval gunfire support was provided by the Indian Navy's cruisers, destroyers, and frigates in support of Indian Army operations.

During the Vietnam War, Task Unit 70.8.9, the U.S. Naval Gunfire Support Unit, was made up of destroyers armed with 5-inch/38 caliber or 5-inch/54 caliber guns, and continuously patrolled the coast of South Vietnam to provide NGFS at short notice. If greater firepower was required then larger gunned cruisers were called in for reinforcements, along with the battleship USS New Jersey for a single tour of duty. NGFS was controlled by the United States Marines Corps First Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company which provided spotters, usually airborne in light aircraft but sometimes on foot, in all military regions.

During the Multinational Force in Lebanon, naval gunfire support was provided on several occasions by destroyers, cruisers, and New Jersey assigned to coastal patrol. They supported the US Marines as well as the Lebanese Army. In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm the battleships  and  fired Tomahawk cruise missiles along with their main battery guns against Iraqi targets in the Euphrates Delta. This was the last firing of battleship guns during war, as well as the first use of drone aircraft to observe targets and give targeting corrections. In the 2003 invasion of Iraq, NGFS was used in support of operations on the Al-Faw peninsula in the early stages of the war by Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy frigates.

During Operation Unified Protector in 2011 in Libya, allied forces provided gun naval support to rebel forces. The French Navy fired approximately 3,000  shells against military targets (the warships , , , ). On 1 June 2007, the American destroyer  shelled jihadist positions at Bargal, Somalia during Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa. During the Battle of Sirte in the Second Libyan Civil War, the destroyer USS Carney conducted shore bombardments of ISIS positions as part of Operation Odyssey Lightning.

United States
Naval gunfire is still used for many of its traditional purposes. In the Marine Corps, artillery units have several naval gunfire liaison officers (NGLO, pronounced "no-glow") in each battalion to maintain close contact with the Navy for amphibious operations. The NGLO is responsible for the Shore Fire Control Party and works in the Fire Control Center with other liaison officers to coordinate naval gunfire with close air support, mortars, and howitzers.  The NGLO joins the others in the planning of fire missions in support of the Marine Infantry Regiment.

The Marine Corps maintains three active (1st, 2nd, & 5th) and three reserve (3rd, 4th & 6th) Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) units. ANGLICO members are temporarily assigned to combat units of the United States and foreign nations that lack inherent fire support capability, such as naval gunfire. The ships equipped with the large caliber guns of the early and middle of the 20th century have all been decommissioned. The last American battleship, , was decommissioned in 31 March 1992, which left no naval guns larger than  in service on any active warship in the United States Navy until the introduction of the Zumwalt class with the 155 mm (6.1 inch) Advanced Gun System (however these larger guns are functionally inoperable because no ammunition was purchased for them). The aircraft carrier and sea to land missile have been used instead. The remaining naval artillery typically has more advanced targeting systems than the older large-caliber artillery.

Within the U.S. there was a long debate over the role naval gunfire support should play in warfare. This took on a greater sense of urgency with the removal of the last two battleships from the Naval Vessel Register.

Continued naval gunfire support training
Despite the reduction in calibre size to  guns, even ground-based NATO forces' artillery observers and Forward Air Controllers  are taught the rudiments of calling in and adjusting naval gunfire. With the exception of a few procedures, the controlling principles are quite similar in both land and naval bombardment. Shore fire control parties participate in field operations, often with a Marine artillery battery to provide simulated naval gunfire support.  When available, Marine spotters will call the fire missions for naval ships undergoing their gunnery qualification tests, to provide both parties the opportunity to practice their skills. One use of naval gunfire in modern operations is to provide Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses for close air support. Well-timed salvos provide covering fire for sorties and prevent enemy troops and batteries from effectively using anti-aircraft weapons.

See also
 US Field artillery team
 148 (Meiktila) Battery Royal Artillery

References

Citations

Online sources
 U.S Marine Corps: An Annotated Bibliography of Naval Gunfire Support

Further reading

Naval artillery

Naval gunfire support


In geometry, the midpoint polygon of a polygon  is the polygon whose vertices are the midpoints of the edges of . It is sometimes called the Kasner polygon after Edward Kasner, who termed it the inscribed polygon "for brevity".

Examples

Triangle
The midpoint polygon of a triangle is called the medial triangle. It shares the same centroid and medians with the original triangle. The perimeter of the medial triangle equals the semiperimeter of the original triangle, and the area is one quarter of the area of the original triangle. This can be proven by the midpoint theorem of triangles and Heron's formula. The orthocenter of the medial triangle coincides with the circumcenter of the original triangle.

Quadrilateral
The midpoint polygon of a quadrilateral is a parallelogram called its Varignon parallelogram. If the quadrilateral is simple, the area of the parallelogram is one half the area of the original quadrilateral. The perimeter of the parallelogram equals the sum of the diagonals of the original quadrilateral.

See also
Circulant matrix
Midpoint-stretching polygon
Varignon's theorem

References

Further reading

External links

Polygons

Midpoint polygon


Super-dense water is water that has been contained in an environment with both molecular uniformity and extreme depth, which causes the molecules of water to be packed tightly together and thus gain a tougher solidity and higher density than regular ice.  Super dense water is found on planets, such as the moons Tethys, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa in the Solar System, which are covered entirely in water and have little to no landmass.

Speculation
Speculation exists that a planet located at around 30 light-years away from Earth may contain super-dense water. See ocean planet for more information on its formation.

References

Planetary science
Water

Super-dense water


Florida Agriculture & Mechanical Hospital (1911-1971) was the first institution in Florida providing medical care to African Americans, who, during the segregation period, were not permitted to receive care at whites-only hospitals. (See Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare on Tallahassee's other hospitals of the period.) There was no other such institution within  of Tallahassee. In 1940, "less than a dozen" counties in Florida had hospital facilities for Negroes.

Founding
The hospital was originally designated a sanitarium, had 19 beds, and was created to allow Florida A&M University (FAMU) to establish a nursing program. It was housed in a wooden building located slightly NW of the brick building, with 105 beds, which replaced it in 1950. Funding to build the hospital was provided in part to avoid integration at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, by creating a "separate but equal" facility. (See Gibbs Junior College for other such efforts in Florida.) It was officially dedicated as a hospital in 1951, although since 1946 it was named the FAMC Hospital, Health Center and Nursing School. Like most hospitals serving African Americans, it was chronically underfunded; Tallahassee levied a tax on residents to support the whites-only hospital, but refused to distribute any of the funds to the FAMU hospital, whose patients were almost exclusively African Americans.

Closure
The hospital closed as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the federal government's threat to withhold Medicare funding from both the FAMU hospital and Tallahassee Memorial Hospital if racial segregation continued. Tallahassee Memorial started admitting black patients, and federal and state funding which previously supported the FAMU Hospital was transferred to Tallahassee Memorial. When state funding was ended in 1967, the name was changed to Tallahassee A&M Hospital and it was leased to the city and county from 1967 to 1970, renewed for 1970-72. On December 24, 1971, citing unsustainable losses, the Hospital Board announced that it was closing down the hospital, which at that time had three patients housed there. FAMU President Dr. B. L. Perry, Jr., cited "the unwillingness of white doctors to commit patients to it. Concurrent with this problem was the unavailability of black doctors in this community". He also cited the low salary for nurses, which did not meet the requirements of the minimum wage and hour law and did not attract applicants. As was typical of racial desegregation in the U.S., it was the black facility that closed, and the employees lost their jobs.

Two identical historical markers commemorating the hospital were erected in 2013. One is in front of the former hospital building. The other, at an entrance to the campus, is on the SW corner of the intersection of Palmer Avenue and South Adams Street. The marker (note that the transcriptions of its text in the references just given are not completely accurate) reads as follows:
The first healthcare facility built in Florida for African-Americans [ sic ] was the Florida A&M College (FAMC) Hospital, known as the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Hospital after 1953. The school's original two-story, 19-bed wooden sanitarium was built in 1911 (since demolished), and provided medical care to patients of all races living in Leon and surrounding counties. It was supervised by Jennie Virginia Hilyer, RN, a graduate of Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C., later renamed Howard University Hospital. In 1926, Leonard H.B. Foote, MD, a graduate of Howard University Medical School, became hospital administrator. Foote established FAMC's School of Nursing in 1936, the first baccalaureate nursing program in Florida. He led a 10-year campaign to construct a new modern brick hospital, which opened in 1950. As a major medical center, the hospital provided clinical training for students and opportunities for research. After the withdrawal of federal and state support, the doors of the hospital closed on December 11, 1971. Today, the hospital's legacy continues through Florida A&M University's School of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, and School of Allied Health Sciences.

The former hospital is currently (2017) the Foote-Hilyer Administration Building. It continues to house the university's student health center.

References

Florida A&M University
History of Tallahassee, Florida
Defunct hospitals in Florida
Nursing schools in Florida
African-American history of Florida
Historically black hospitals in the United States
Buildings and structures in Tallahassee, Florida
Historic buildings and structures in the United States
Hospitals disestablished in 1971
Hospitals established in 1911
1911 establishments in Florida
1971 disestablishments in Florida
1946 establishments in Florida

Florida A&M Hospital


The Xarxa Vives d'Universitats (, acronym: XVU; English: "Vives Network"), formerly known as Institut Joan Lluís Vives (English: "Joan Lluís Vives Institute"), is the network of Catalan language universities.
XVU was founded in 1994 and it is headquartered in the Valencian Community, in the city of Castelló de la Plana. On May 21, 2008, it was integrated into the Ramon Llull Institute.

The institute is named after Joan Lluís Vives, a prominent Valencian scholar and humanist from the 16th century.

Members
The network currently comprises 21 universities situated in the Catalan language domain, in four different states (Andorra, France, Italy and Spain). It consists of the following 21 universities:

Abat Oliba CEU University (Barcelona)
Autonomous University of Barcelona (Barcelona)
International University of Catalonia (Barcelona)
Jaume I University (Castelló de la Plana)
Miguel Hernández University of Elche (Elche)
Open University of Catalonia (Barcelona)
Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona)
Polytechnic University of Valencia (Valencia)
Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona)
Ramon Llull University (Barcelona)
Rovira i Virgili University (Tarragona and Reus)
University of Alicante (Alicante)
University of Andorra (Sant Julià de Lòria, Andorra)
University of the Balearic Islands (Palma)
University of Barcelona (Barcelona)
University of Girona (Girona)
University of Lleida (Lleida)
University of Perpignan (Perpignan)
University of Sassari (Sassari)
University of Valencia (Valencia)
University of Vic (Vic)

References

External links
 Xarxa Vives Institute Official Web Page

Catalan culture
College and university associations and consortia in Europe
Organizations established in 1994
1994 establishments in Spain

Xarxa Vives d'Universitats


Teo Tuvale (26 August 1855 – December 1919) was a notable Samoan historian who served terms as Chief Justice and Secretary to Government in Samoa during the era of colonialism.

Tuvale is the author of An account of Samoan History up to 1918, a key historical text in Samoan history which includes first hand accounts of the rivalry between European colonial powers and Samoan chiefly families. He was also an official translator and spoke English, German and some Fijian.

Background
Tuvale was born in Faleasiu village on the north coast of Upolu island. His father was Vaaelua Petaia (1822–1881), one of the first Samoan Christian converts to the London Missionary Society and the first pastor of Faleasiu. Following in his father's footsteps, Tuvale attended the seminary at Malua village in 1875. The Malua Theological College had been established in 1844. He taught at the Malua training school in 1877. An older brother with the family's matai chief title of Le Mamea Makalau was a Samoan official in the government and helped him to get work in the administration. In 1878, he was appointed assistant secretary to the official indigenous Samoa government based at the village of Mulinu'u. He held successive positions through different colonial regimes. He spent some years in Fiji where he became friends with Fiji's paramount chief Ratu Cakobau. In 1900, he led a group of traditional dancers to Germany where he met the Kaiser. He was a translator for Wilhelm Solf, the German governor in Samoa.

He also worked as a government translator, and wrote the historical account in 1918 at the behest of Colonel Robert Logan, the commander of the British Military Occupation.

Historian
Tuvale's historical works included detailed recordings of Samoan architecture, genealogies (gafa), fa'a Samoa, culture, language and ceremonies.

Tuvale writes in the introduction of An Account of Samoan History up to 1918;

Tuvale also helped two brothers compile another important historical document Tusi Fa'alupega (Samoan ceremonial greetings in oratory) which was given to the London Missionary Society.

Death
Tuvale's last job was supervising the burial of the dead during the 1918 flu epidemic which killed an estimated 22% (8,500) of Samoa's population. He died in December 1919, immediately following the epidemic. He is buried in Faleasiu.

Descendants
Tuvale is the grandfather of Samoan author, educator and professor Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop and great-grandfather of New Zealand High Commissioner to South Africa Emma Dunlop-Bennett.

See also

 Le Mamea Makalau brother

 Faletoese Lipano brother

 Peggy Fairbain-Dunlop granddaughter

References

An Account of Samoa History up to 1918 At NZ Electronic Text Centre, CC-BY-SA 3.0 NZ Licence. Retrieved 16 November 2009

Samoan writers
1855 births
1919 deaths
Samoan historians
Historians of the Pacific
People from A'ana
Mataʻafa family
Samoan male writers
19th-century writers
20th-century non-fiction writers

Teo Tuvale


A geostationary orbit (or Geostationary Earth Orbit - GEO) is a type of geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator (0° latitude).  Like all geosynchronous orbits, it has a period (time for one orbit) that is 24 hours.  This means it goes around the Earth as fast as the Earth spins, and so it appears to stay above the same spot all the time.  A person watching from Earth sees a satellite in a geostationary orbit as not moving, at a steady place in the sky.

Satellites in geostationary orbit
Communications satellites and weather satellites often use these orbits, so that the satellite antennas that communicate with them do not have to move to track them. The ground atennas can be pointed permanently at a fixed position in the sky.  This is cheaper and easier than having a satellite dish that is always moving to track a satellite. Each one stays above the equator at a set longitude (distance east or west).

The idea of a geosynchronous satellite for communication was first published in 1928 (but not widely so) by Herman Potočnik. The idea of a geostationary orbit became well known first in a 1945 paper called "Extra-Terrestrial Relays — Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?" by the British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, published in Wireless World magazine. The orbit, which Clarke first described as good for broadcast and relay communications satellites, is sometimes called the Clarke Orbit. Named after the author, the Clarke Belt is this part of space above the Earth - about  above sea level, over the equator, where near-geostationary orbits may be implemented. The Clarke Orbit (another name for a geostationary orbit) is about  around.

Details of the orbit
The satellite orbits in the direction of the Earth's rotation, producing an orbital period equal to the Earth's period of rotation, known as the sidereal day (very nearly 24 hours).

The orbit needs to be above the equator.  Since all orbits are around the center of the Earth, if it was tipped above the equator (so that the satellite was straight above New York City, for example) it would need to swing an equal distance to the south pole on each orbit.  It needs to spend an equal amount of time on each side of the equator.  So if it is directly above the equator, it doesn't move north or south at all. (Geosynchronous orbits are like geostationary orbits, but also include those that go above and below the equator).

The height of the orbit is an exact distance, because the speed of the orbit depends on how far it is from the center of the Earth.  An orbit is a balance between centripetal force against the Earth's gravity.  Objects closer to Earth feel more gravity.  This is why objects in low orbit (like the International Space Station orbit the Earth very quickly, about 90 minutes or so for each orbit.  Objects farther away take longer for each orbit.  The moon for instance, takes about 29 days for each orbit.

Because this orbit is so high, it takes radio (and light) waves about 1/4 second to go up to the satellite and back to Earth.  This means that a broadcast interview taking place between the television station and a distant reporter can have a gap of a half second (1/4 second to go from the studio to the reporter, and a 1/4 second back to the studio, where the signal is then sent to viewer).  This half second delay can be noticed in many news broadcasts.

When satellites reach the end of their life, it would be too expensive to bring them all the way back down to Earth to burn up in the atmosphere.  It is much cheaper to put them a little higher (300 km) in a 'graveyard' orbit, where they will stay essentially forever.

References

Other websites
 Graphical derivation of the geostationary orbit radius for the Earth
 Orbital Mechanics (Rocket and Space Technology)
 List of satellites in geostationary orbit
 Clarke Belt Snapshot Calculator
 3D Real Time Satellite Tracking
 Geostationary satellite orbit overview

Satellites
Astrophysics

de:Geosynchrone Umlaufbahn#Geostationäre Umlaufbahn

Geostationary orbit


Totentango is a short orchestral work by the British composer Matthew King, commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra who premiered the work in the Barbican Hall in London in February 2010. The conductor at the first performance was Pavel Kotla. The composer has said of the work: Ever since the mysterious "dancing plague" of 1518 there has been a long tradition of pieces of music in which dancing and death find themselves in close proximity and the orchestral repertoire is littered with totentanzes and danse macabres. Totentango is my own modest attempt to engage with that tradition.

Totentango takes about 7 minutes to play. The music fuses together a plethora of dance styles in an intricate polyphony of rhythm. Tango melodies and snatches of Viennese waltz collide with habanera and techno in rapid succession as the music spirals towards obliteration. The virtuoso orchestral style contains a number of elaborate instrumental combinations whilst the lush string writing and use of muted brass is occasionally reminiscent of the film music of the 1940s. The composer Colin Matthews described the work as being "like La Valse orchestrated by Bernard Hermann". Totentango embraces an almost bewildering diversity of styles and is unashamedly melodious which perhaps explains why one dissenting critic has objected to the work's being "listener friendly with a vengeance" whilst conceding that it contained "skillful scoring".

References

Compositions by Matthew King
2010 compositions
Music commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra
Tangos
2010 songs

Totentango


The Creodonta are, traditionally, an extinct order of mammals which lived from the Palaeocene to the Miocene epoch. They are distant relatives of the Carnivora. However, the carnassial teeth of modern carnivores and both groups of creodonts are not formed from the same teeth. This evolutionary convergence suggests the creodonts are not the ancestors of modern carnivores.

Also, they are perhaps not a natural group. However, a phylogenetic analysis of Paleocene mammals published in 2015 supported the monophyly of Creodonta, and put the group as relatives of pangolins. There is an extensive literature on the subject.

Creodonts were the dominant group of carnivorous mammals from 55 to 35 million years ago (mya) in the ecosystems of Africa, Eurasia and North America. They competed with the Mesonychids and the Entelodonts and ultimately outlasted them. In Oligocene Africa, they were the dominant predatory group.

At last, they lost ground to the Carnivora. The Carnivora are the only group to survive today. The last creodont genus went extinct eight million years ago, and modern carnivores now occupy their ecological niches.

The first creodont fossils were in the Palaeocene, about 60 million years ago (mya), and the last Dissopsalis, perhaps eight mya. So, the creodonts lasted for at least 50 million years.

Adaptations
Creodonts show various adaptations to their carnivorous life-style, and show convergent evolution with modern carnivores. They share, for example, the carnassial shear, a modification of teeth that sliced meat like scissors.

The Carnivora also developed larger brains and more efficient running. Once forest and woodland was partly replaced by grassland, in the Miocene, the true carnivores had the advantage, and the creodonts lost ground and eventually became extinct.

References

Fossils

Creodont


The Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning is one of the Federal Ministries of Nigeria.

History
It was originally set up by Decree No 12 of 1992 as the National Planning Commission and later amended by Act 71 of 1993. The core responsibility of the commission is the formulation of medium term and long term economic and development plans for the nation.

Organisation
The National Planning Commission is headed by the Minister of National Planning, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the National Planning Commission. The Chairman of the Commission is the Vice President (currently, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo).

History
The National Planning Commission was originally   established   by Decree No 12 of 1992 and later   amended by Act 71 of    1993.  The  Commission has the   mandate to determine and    advise the  Government of   the Federation on matters relating   to National  Development and overall management   of the    national   economy.   The   detailed   objectives, functions, powers   and  structure of   the  Commission are outlined under sections  2, 3 and 5 of the  Establishment Act.

Functions
 To provide policy advice to the President in particular and Nigeria in general on all spheres of national life;
 To set national priorities and goals and engender consensus among Government agencies, as may be contained in guidelines issued by the Commission from time to time;
 To undertake periodic review and appraisal of the human and material resources capabilities of Nigeria with a view to advancing their development, efficiency and effective utilization;
 To formulate and prepare long-term, medium-term and short-term national development plans and to co-ordinate such plans at the Federal, State and Local government levels;
 To monitor projects and progress relating to plan implementation;
 To advise on changes and adjustments in institutions and management techniques as well as attitudes necessary for the alignment of actions with plan targets and goals;
 To conduct research into various aspects of national interest and public policy and ensure that the implications and results of the findings in such research are geared towards the enhancement of national, economic, social, technological defence and security capabilities and management;
 To mobilize popular group and institutional consensus in support of Government policies and programmes;
 To manage multilateral and bilateral economic co-operation, including development aid and technical assistance;
 To deal with matters relating to regional economic co-operation, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Common Market (ACM), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and South–South cooperation; and
 To carry out such other duties as are necessary or expedient for the full discharge of all or any of the functions conferred on the Commission under the Act.

Programs

Transformation Agenda
The Transformation Agenda is a medium term development strategy to speed up the actualization of the NV 20:2020. It is a framework for the actualization of the Federal Government's economic growth agenda during 2011–2015. The Agenda is anchored on the pillars and targets of the NV 20:2020 and it aims to i) create decent jobs in sufficient quantity to resolve the protracted problem of unemployment and reduce poverty, ii) lay foundation for robust and inclusive growth within the Nigerian economy, and iii) improve, on a sustainable basis, the well-being of all classes of Nigerians regardless of their circumstances and location. The four areas of focus of the Transformation Agenda are governance, human capital development, infrastructure and real sector.

First National Implementation Plan
The First National Implementation Plan (1st NIP), with the theme "Accelerating Development, Competitiveness and Wealth Creation", is a medium term plan for the actualization of the long term broad objectives and targets of the NV 20:2020. The 1st NIP is the period 2010-2013 and it aims to bridge the infrastructural gap in the country, optimize the sources of economic growth to increase productivity and competitiveness, develop a knowledge-based economy to deepen the technology base of the country, improve governance, security law and order, and foster accelerated, sustainable social and economic development in a competitive business environment. The 1st NIP contains priority projects and programmes of the Federal Government and investment plans for the State Governments. The total investment profile for 1st NIP is N32 trillion, with the Federal Government investing N10 trillion, and the States and Local Governments investing N9 trillion. The private sector will invest the remaining N13 trillion.

A Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework has been established to track progress in the implementation of the 1st NIP to ensure high performance and accountability. The M&E framework also includes a Performance Contract between the President and the Ministers/Heads of agencies, which is cascaded down the Ministries and Agencies. A National M&E Report is produced annually.

Nigeria Vision 20: 2020
The Nigeria Vision 20: 2020 is a perspective plan; an economic business plan intended to make Nigeria one of the top 20 economies by 2020, with a growth target of not less than $900 billion in GDP and a per capita of not less than $4,000 per annum. The three Pillars of the NV 20:2020 are i) guaranteeing the well-being and productivity of the people, ii) optimizing the key sources of economic growth and iii) fostering sustainable social and economic development.

NV 20:2020 is Nigeria's second attempt at driving the attainment of her national aspirations using long-term perspective plan.  In addition to the first perspective plan (Vision 2010), several strategic planning efforts have been undertaken by the Federal Government in recent years.  These efforts include the Poverty Strategy Reduction Papers (PSRPs), the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS I & II), Nigeria's Strategy for attaining the Millennium Development Goals, and the Seven Point Agenda.

NEEDS
NEEDS is Nigeria's home- grown poverty reduction strategy (PRSP). NEEDS builds on the earlier two-year effort to produce the interim PRSP (I-PRSP), and the wide consultative and participatory processes associated with it. NEEDS is not just a plan on paper, it is a plan on the ground and founded on a clear vision, sound values, and enduring principles. It is a medium term strategy (2003– 07) but which derives from the country's long-term goals of poverty reduction, wealth creation, employment generation and value re-orientation.

NEEDS is a nationally coordinated framework of action in close collaboration with the State and Local governments (with their State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, SEEDS) and other stakeholders to consolidate on the achievements of the last four years (1999–2003) and build a solid foundation for the attainment of Nigeria's long-term vision of becoming the largest and strongest African economy and a key player in the world economy.

SEEDS
On the State level, State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS) are being developed to complement NEEDS. The donor community, made up of IBRD, DFID, EU and UNDP, is taking advantage of this change to align their local programs to improve the quality of assistance to the country.

Since states receive over 52% of federal resources, NPC – in collaboration with the donors-decided to develop a system whereby state performance can be monitored using SEEDS and to identify priority areas and states that demonstrate effective use of allocated resources.

The SEEDS process was launched in early 2004 and a SEEDS Manual designed by the National Planning Commission (NPC) setting out the required contents and process for an effective SEEDS was disseminated to all state via a national dissemination process involving representatives of government, civil society and the private sector at state level. Subsequently, technical assistance was offered to all state to support the development of their SEEDS by teams of consultants with relevant expertise.

Benefits to Selected States

 The Federal Government, together with a number of donors are committed to provide project matching grants to those States that perform well in the exercise.
 Possible debt relief is to be made available to states that perform well in the exercise.
 Increase Donor presence is also one of the benefit for performing well in the exercise.
 The Federal Government, together with donor partners are also committed to give capacity support to States that perform well in the exercise.

Parastatals
 Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research
 Centre for Management Development

The Centre for Management Development (CMD) is a resource institution established by Decree 51 of 1976 as the operational arm of the Nigerian Council for Management Development.

The Federal Executive Council, in line with the Federal Government's policy on rationalization of the Public Service, approved the merger of the Centre with the National Centre for Economic Management and Administration (NCEMA).  Following this, NCEMA was shut down and all its activities transferred to CMD.

Specifically, the Centre pursues one of its roles of capacity building by:

Identifying the type and quantity of programmes required for the country's managerial manpower; developing resources for management teaching, training and consultancy; building institutions to meet the need of national development; improving the quality and enhancing the use of management consulting, research and training; serving primarily as a training centre for economic planners, policy analysts, budget and project officers at the federal, state and local government levels; developing and strengthening specific skills that will enhance the quality of management of the national economy at the macro and sectoral levels; and being a policy laboratory for vigorous and sustained development and promotion of highly specialized skills required for enhancing efficient and effective planning and management of the Nigerian economy among others.

In addition to these mandates, the Centre undertakes the management development component of small-scale industries development through the design and provision of suitable training packages for small-scale industrialists and officials of federal/state agencies, which have responsibilities for developing small-scale industries in the economy.

Director-General Dr Kabir Kabo Usman
Assumed office January 2010 – Present

Preceded by Dr Joseph Maiyaki

 National Bureau of Statistics

See also
 Nigerian Civil Service
 Federal Ministries of Nigeria

References

External links

Federal Ministries of Nigeria
Planning ministries

Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning (Nigeria)


Beat Street is a 1984 American dance drama film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to various elements of early hip hop culture, including breakdancing, DJing and graffiti.

Plot
In the South Bronx, New York City, budding disc jockey and MC Kenny "Double K" Kirkland is hired as a featured DJ at a house party at an abandoned building, accompanied by his best friend Ramon Franco, a graffiti artist known by his tag "Ramo", and his friend/manager Chollie Wilson. Kenny's younger brother Lee crashes the party with his dance crew the Beat Street Breakers, who begin sparring with rival crew the Bronx Rockers. The next day, Chollie informs Kenny of complimentary tickets to the Roxy, one of Manhattan's most popular nightclubs. Meanwhile, Ramon's father, Domingo, implores his son to get a job and marry Carmen Carraro, the young mother of his illegitimate baby.

While visiting The Roxy a few nights later, Kenny meets composer Tracy Carlson. During an ensuing breakdance battle between the Breakers and Bronx Rockers, Tracy notices Lee's performance, inviting him to audition for a dancing television show. Lee, Kenny and their crew visit a dance rehearsal at the City College of New York (CCNY), where she is contributing a dance composition to a television program, and Lee performs only to be rejected. Kenny accuses Tracy of being condescending towards Lee.

Later, Ramon visits with Carmen and their baby. After her mother accuses him of shirking his responsibility, Carmen begs him to take them away. Meanwhile, Tracy visits the Kirklands' apartment to apologize. She and Kenny bond over some of his musical mixes that he plays for her. Later, the pair visits the subway tunnels, where Ramon and Lee are spray-painting a wall. Ramon longingly watches a clean, white train pass, claiming it his dream canvas. Startled by rival graffiti artist Spit, a shadowy and taciturn hooded street punk who has been defacing Ramon's artwork and is tagging a freshly painted wall, the group departs.

Walking Tracy home, Kenny explains that his older brother Franklin, a gang member, was killed a year ago. The next day, Chollie invites him to play at the Burning Spear club, run by DJ Kool Herc. Accompanied by Tracy, Kenny delights the crowd, and Kool Herc hires him for the following weekend. The next day, Ramon asks his father if Carmen can live with them. Domingo declines, calling Ramon a criminal, then orders him to marry Carmen and provide for his child.

Later, Chollie takes Kenny to the Roxy, where a talent scout is auditioning local performers, and invites the scout to see Kenny deejay at the Burning Spear. Afterward, Kenny visits CCNY to surprise Tracy and sees her intimately embracing her professor, Robert. Ramon tells his friends he plans to move Carmen and the baby into an empty apartment upstairs, and gets a job at a hardware store. His friends help him furnish the apartment, surprising Carmen with a small housewarming party.

On Saturday night at the Burning Spear, Kenny impresses the talent scout, who invites him to perform at the Roxy on New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, Tracy permits Kenny to use the college's computerized studio, while she assists Robert at a nearby piano. Kenny accidentally deletes his work, and rejects Robert and Tracy's attempts to help him. He tells Tracy their relationship might not last.

At the college, Tracy premieres her dance composition. Waiting for a train with Ramon, Kenny worries that he offended Tracy. Ramon explains that his job interferes with his artwork. He sees an all-white train on the "A" line, realizing he can paint it that night after work. Later that evening, Kenny helps Ramon paint the train, but Spit, lurking nearby, tags the train even before Ramon can finish the other side. The two chase Spit through the subway tunnels and a fight ensues. Spit sprays paint in Ramon's eyes and both tussle on the roadbed before rolling onto the electrified third rail, which kills both of them instantly.

After Ramon's funeral, Kenny contemplates forgoing the Roxy's New Year's Eve show, but Tracy and Chollie dissuade him. Kenny ultimately uses his big break to celebrate Ramon's life, starting with a rap performance while images of Ramon and his work appear on a screen behind him, impressing Domingo, followed by Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five and a Bronx gospel choir, and backed by the City College Dancers and a group of twenty-five breakdancers.

Cast

 Rae Dawn Chong – Tracy Carlson
 Guy Davis – Kenny "Double K" Kirkland
 Jon Chardiet – Ramon "Ramo" Franco
 Leon W. Grant – Chollie Wilson
 Saundra Santiago – Carmen Carraro
 Robert Taylor – Lee Kirkland
 Mary Alice – Cora Kirkland
 Shawn Elliott – Domingo
 Bill Anagnos – Spit
 Jim Borelli – Monte
 Dean Elliot – Henri
 Franc Reyes – Luis
 Tonya Pinkins – Angela
 Lee Chamberlin – Alicia
 Duane Jones – Robert
 Afrika Bambaataa – Himself
 Soulsonic Force – Themselves
 Jazzy Jay – Himself
 Doug E. Fresh – Himself
 Bernard Fowler – Himself
 New York City Breakers – Beat Street Breakers
 Tony Lopez – Pex
 Rock Steady Crew – Bronx Rockers
 Kuriaki  – Bronx Rocker
 Devious Doze – Bronx Rocker
 Crazy Legs – Bronx Rocker
 Prince Ken Swift – Bronx Rocker
 Buck Four – Bronx Rocker
 Baby Love – Bronx Rocker
 Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell – Himself
 Treacherous Three – Themselves
 Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five – Themselves
 Wanda Dee – Herself
 Brenda K. Starr – Herself
 The System – Themselves

Kadeem Hardison was credited as "High School Student" in the director's cut of the film. However, his scenes were all cut from the final theatrical version.

Background
The movie was inspired by an original story, "The Perfect Beat", by journalist Steven Hager, who sold the idea to producer Harry Belafonte. Only a few character names from Hager's story made it into the final film. The 1983 film Wild Style was an obvious inspiration and model, in terms of story, style, characters, and themes. In addition, some of the plotline of the film was based on the New York City graffiti documentary, Style Wars, also released in 1983. Most visibly, the antagonist, Spit, in Beat Street was lifted from the real-life graffiti artist CAP MPC, who was portrayed in Style Wars.

Filming locations
Beat Street was filmed in New York City in December 1983, in the boroughs of The Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Several scenes were shot inside the city's subway system, both onboard trains and in stations, notably Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets, 57th Street-Sixth Avenue and Fresh Pond Road. Scenes were also filmed on the campus of the City College of New York, which includes the concert venue Aaron Davis Hall. Many of the internal dance sequences were filmed at the popular night club, the Roxy, located in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

Musical performances and soundtrack

There are several performances in the movie, notably from established early hip hop groups, Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five, Doug E. Fresh, Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force and the Treacherous Three. As a member of the Treacherous Three, Kool Moe Dee also appeared in the film.

The musical performance of Kool Moe Dee stands as one of the few media appearances he has ever made without his trademark sunglasses (a style he had not yet adopted at the time). In addition to these acts, Guy Davis, who played Kenny, is also a blues musician in real life.

Three female MCs appear in a party scene in Beat Street: Debbie D, Sha-Rock and Lisa Lee. They perform a limited and limiting performance as a group called "Us Girls" (see video). The first lyrics you hear are sung (vs. rapped). This moment tends to diminish the significance of women in early hip hop performance as if by 1984 female emcees were already exceptional to a musical genre that was still emerging and developing. The group sings in unison, "Us Girls / Can Boogie, too," then each emcee performs a short rhyme.

The film also includes other musical performances from Tina B and The System, both of whom appear on the soundtrack album. Though not featured on the album, there were also appearances by rapper Richard Lee Sisco and singers Bernard Fowler and Brenda K. Starr, known as the Queen of freestyle who later became a Latin artist.

At least three breakdancing battles between the New York City Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew were also included in the film. In addition, the Roxy audition scene features a pair of breakdancing boys known as the Fantastic Duo.

This was the first American film to feature more than one soundtrack album. Originally, Atlantic Records, which released the soundtrack albums, had three volumes planned, but only two of these were released. The second volume was never released on compact disc.

The trailer includes an alternate version of the title song performed by Kool Moe Dee, a version that was not featured in the movie or on the original soundtrack albums.

Reception
Beat Street was screened out of competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. It received mixed critical reviews and the film holds a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on seven reviews.

Legacy

Beat Street's impact was felt internationally as well as throughout the United States. In Germany, for example, movies such as Beat Street and Wild Style are credited with introducing the hip hop movement to the country. Because movies are so easily distributed over borders, part of the importance of this movie lay in its ability to influence both East Germany and West Germany, which at the time were still divided. Beat Street was of particular importance in the East, where it is said to illustrate for young people the evils of capitalism. Because the film focused so heavily on the visual aspects of hip hop, such as breaking and graffiti, these aspects had the heaviest influence on the emerging German hip hop scene.

It was precisely these visual aspects that helped bring hip hop culture to Germany, rather than simply a genre of music. Beat Street appeared in the German Democratic Republic at almost the same time as in the West. Dresden, the center of the Beat Street scene was geographically out of western media range, making it a perfect center to explore this genre of music. The hip hop scene for the entire public would meet at breakdancing competitions, emceeing competitions, and graffiti spraying. Puerto Rican and African American breakdancing, hip hop and Latin freestyle dance sounds, and inner-city American graffiti made up what Germans knew as hip hop culture. The aftermath of Beat Street propelled events such as competitions in emceeing, break dancing, and graffiti spraying throughout Germany.

In popular culture

 AZ mentions the film in his song "The Come Up", in the line "Before Beat Street, streets was heavily in deep with the ryders."
 The Notorious B.I.G. in his song "Suicidal Thoughts" said, "Should I die on the train tracks like Ramo in Beat Street/People at my funeral frontin' like they miss me."
 Jay Electronica mentions the film in his song "Exhibit A (Transformations)" in the line "Who gone bring the game back/who gone spit that Ramo on the train tracks".
 Ras Kass in his song "Won't Catch Me Runnin'" said, "When my voice hits the mic, I electrocute Spit like Beat Street."
 Mr. Lif, on "Elektro", rapped the lines: "So I use the same flow to put niggas under in The Serpent and the Rainbow/Go back to Beat Street and resurrect Ramo knock the shit out of Spit verbal eclipse"
 In The Proud Family Movie, Oscar offhandedly mentions Beat Street.
 In 2022, author Steven Hager published the inside story of what went wrong with the film. https://stevenhager.net/2022/01/13/beat-street-what-went-wrong/

See also
 Breakin'
 Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
 Krush Groove
 Rappin'
 Style Wars
 Wild Style
 List of hood films

References

External links

 Original script
 Official site

1984 films
1980s teen drama films
1980s musical drama films
American dance films
American musical drama films
American teen drama films
1980s English-language films
Films set in New York City
Films set on the New York City Subway
Films shot in New York City
Films directed by Stan Lathan
1980s hip hop films
Orion Pictures films
New York City hip hop
1984 drama films
Breakdancing films
1980s American films

Beat Street


A backpack (also called rucksack, knapsack, packsack, pack, Haversack, or Bergen) is a bag put on somebody's back.  It usually has two straps that go over the shoulders.  It is used to carry things in it, and it often has many pockets or compartments to carry things.  People often use backpacks when camping, hiking, or other activity where they need to carry many things.  Backpacks are also be used in the military by soldiers.  When used in school they are called bookbags or school bags.

Large backpacks, used to carry loads over 10 kg (22 lbs), and smaller sports backpacks, usually offload the biggest part of their weight onto padded hip belts. This leaves the shoulder straps mainly for keeping the load in place. This makes it easier to carry heavy loads, because the hips are stronger than the shoulders. It also improves agility and balance, because the load lies closer to the center of mass of the person wearing it.

In the distant past, backpacks were used to carry hunters' larger catches. If the hunts were even larger, the hunters would butcher their prey into pieces and hand out the pieces to other hunters.  The hunters would then carry smaller pieces separately.  The bag would be made up of animal skin and sewn together by animal intestines. They would then be woven together tightly to make a firm material.

Some backpacks are specialized to carry a particular thing, such as fluids or a laptop computer.

Designs
Most backpacks can be closed with a buckle, a zipper, or a dry-bag type closure.

A backpack may or may not have a pack frame.  If it does not, it is frameless. If it has a frame, it may be external or internal.  A pack frame supports the pack and scatters its weight across the body.  Most of the weight is taken off the shoulders.  This way, users are less often injured, and the upper body moves freely.

Frameless
The simplest backpack design is a bag fixed to two shoulder straps.  The simplest designs consist of one main pocket.  This can be combined with webbing or cordage straps.  More complicated models add extra pockets, straps, and padding.  Sometimes they have reflective materials for safety at night.  These packs are usually cheap to make.  They are not suited for heavy loads.

External frame packs
External frame packs were designed to carry heavy loads (>20 kg or 40 lb). This gives the wearer more support and protection and distributes weight better. Wooden pack frames were used for a long time around the world. Ötzi the Iceman may have used one in Copper Age Alpine Italy. But some archaeologists think the frame found with the body was part of a snowshoe. These packs are common in military and mountaineering. Metal packs first appeared in the mid-20th century.

The frame of an external frame pack is made from aluminum or other light material. It also has straps and a stretched netting which keeps the metal frame off the user's back. External frame packs have a fabric "sack" part which is usually smaller than the sack of internal frame packs. Nevertheless, they have exposed frame portions above and below the sack to make it easier to hold larger items. In addition, the sack can often be removed entirely. This lets the user change the arrangement of his load, or to move an unusual load. Military packs are often external frame designs because they can carry loads of different shapes, sizes and weights.

Internal frame packs
The internal frame backpack is a recent creation, invented in 1967 by Greg Lowe. An internal-frame pack has a large fabric part around an internal frame. The frame is made with strips of aluminum, titanium or plastic. A number of straps work with the frame to balance the weight and hold it in place. The internal frame lets the pack fit closely to the wearer's back, which is good when the wearer is doing something that involves upper-body movement.  However, the tight fit makes it hard for the skin to breathe, so the user's back often becomes sweaty.  The internal design also makes a large storage compartment.  Lash points are few, and since the frame is integrated, it is hard to securely attach larger and heavier items to the outside.  Internal frame packs originally had smaller load carrying ability and less comfortable fit during walking, but 21st century ones are better.  In addition, because of their fit, the better internal frame models have replaced external frame backpacks for many activities.

Materials
Nylon, canvas and oxford cloth are the most common materials used in backpacks.  Nylon, a type of plastic, is favored for its durability, light weight, and water resistance.  The plastic can be melted down and processed into fibers that are then woven into backpacks.  Oxford, a synthetic material made from nylon or polyester, is cheaper but still durable enough for everyday use.  However, it may lose wear resistance over time if overloaded.  Canvas is also a common material used in backpacks for its strength and durability. Made from cotton or a blend of cotton and polyester, canvas backpacks are favored by those looking for a more rugged style. While not as lightweight or water-resistant as nylon, canvas backpacks are known for their sturdiness and long-lasting durability. Ultimately, the choice of backpack material depends on the intended use.

References

Containers

Backpack


Paolo Gavanelli (born 1959) is an Italian operatic baritone, born in Monselice in the Province of Padua. He studied law before turning to singing. He made his debut as Leporello in Don Giovanni in 1985 at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo. He is particularly known in the latter part of his career for his interpretations of Verdian baritone roles, and he has sung in the major opera houses of Europe and North America, including La Scala, the Paris Opera House, Covent Garden in London and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Awards
2008 Grammy Awards Nomination in the category "Best Opera Recording"  for La traviata

References

External links

McHugh, Dominic (3 November 2007). "Paolo Gavanelli: 'I want people to be able to say "he was very professional".'". Musical Criticism (lengthy interview)

Italian operatic baritones
1959 births
Living people

Paolo Gavanelli