{{Infobox book|
| name              = The Hundred and One Dalmatians
| title_orig        = The Great Dog Robbery
| translator        =
| image             = File:Dodie Smith 101 Dalmatians book cover.jpg
| caption           = First edition cover
| author            = Dodie Smith
| illustrator       = Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone
| cover_artist      =
| country           = United Kingdom
| language          = English
| series            =
| genre             = Children's novel
| publisher         = Heinemann (United States)
| release_date      = 1956
| english_release_date =
| media_type        = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages             = 199
| oclc              = 1111487296
| preceded_by       =
| followed_by       = The Starlight Barking (1967)
}}The Hundred and One Dalmatians is a 1956 children's novel by Dodie Smith about the kidnapping of a family of Dalmatian puppies. It was originally serialized in Woman's Day as The Great Dog Robbery, and details the adventures of two dalmatians named Pongo and Missis as they rescue their puppies from a fur farm. A 1967 sequel, The Starlight Barking, continues from the end of the novel.

Plot
Dalmatians Pongo and Missis live with the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Dearly and their two nannies, Nanny Cook and Nanny Butler. Mr. Dearly is a "financial wizard" who has been granted lifelong tax exemption and lent a house on the Outer Circle in Regent's Park in return for wiping out the government debt. The dogs consider the humans their pets but allow them to think that they are the owners.

One day, while walking Pongo and Missis, Mr. and Mrs. Dearly have a chance meeting with an old schoolmate of Mrs. Dearly: Cruella de Vil, a wealthy woman so fixated on fur clothing that she married a furrier and forces him to keep his collection in their home so she can wear the pieces whenever she likes. She admires the two dogs and expresses a desire to have a Dalmatian-skin coat. Later, Missis gives birth to a litter of 15 puppies. Concerned that Missis will not be able to feed them all, the humans join in to help. As Mrs. Dearly looks for a canine wet nurse, she finds an exhausted liver-spotted Dalmatian in the middle of the road in the rain. She has the dog, who has recently given birth, treated by a vet and names her Perdita (meaning "lost"). Perdita helps to nurse the pups and becomes a member of the family. She tells Pongo about her lost love Prince and the resulting litter of puppies, which were sold by her neglectful owner. She had run away looking for those puppies.

Cruella happened to be in the house when the puppies started to arrive, and had expressed a desire to buy them, which was rebuffed. After she pays a second visit to the house and is told again that the Dearlys have no intention of putting the puppies up for sale, she hires thieves to steal them for her. The humans fail to trace the pups, but through the "Twilight Barking", a forum of communication in which dogs can relay messages to each other across the country, Pongo and Missis track them down to "Hell Hall", the ancestral home of the de Vil family in Suffolk. Pongo and Missis try to tell their owners the word "Suffolk", but they cannot make the "S" sound. The dogs decide to find the puppies themselves, leaving Perdita to look after the Dearlys. After a journey across the English countryside, with food and accommodation along the way arranged by dogs through the Barking Network, they meet the Colonel, an Old English Sheepdog. They get inside the mansion and discover that there are 97 puppies there, including Pongo and Missis' own 15.

Fearing police investigation, Cruella arrives and tells the Baddun brothers, whom she left in charge of Hell Hall, that they soon must slaughter and skin the dogs. Pongo and Missis realize they must rescue all of the puppies, who escape the night before Christmas Eve. One puppy, Cadpig, is a runt and too weak to walk the distance from Suffolk to London, so Tommy, the Colonel's two-year-old owner, lends her a toy farm cart. One litter of eight puppies is just the right age for two of its members to fit its shaft, so they pull it in shifts.

The Dalmatians are nearly captured by Romani people, and one of the Barking Network dogs points out how conspicuous they are and helps them break into a chimney sweep's establishment, where they roll in soot to disguise themselves. They travel across the fields and spend part of an evening in a cathedral; Cruella nearly overtakes them when they are forced to return to the road, but they hide in an empty removal van at the invitation of a Staffordshire terrier whose "pets" own the van and are returning to London that night.

Once the dogs arrive in London, Cruella's Persian cat, who has been longing to avenge her many litters of kittens (all of which Cruella drowned), sees an opportunity and lets the dogs into Cruella's house, where they destroy her whole stock of unpaid-for furs. The Dalmatians then return to the Dearlys' house. Pongo and Missis bark until Mr. Dearly opens the door, whereupon the whole mass of puppies streams inside and rolls on the carpet to remove the soot from their coats. The Dearlys recognize them and send out for steaks to feed them. The litter that pulled Cadpig's cart are proven to be Perdita's litter by Prince. Mr. Dearly finds out where the puppies had been when he discovers a label on the toy cart, which contains Tommy's name and address. The Dearlys also place advertisements seeking the owners of the other puppies, but it turns out that they had all been bought, rather than stolen as the Dearlys' were. Perdita's former owner, who never really cared for her, is happy to sell her to the Dearlys upon hearing the story.

Cruella's now-homeless cat drops by (and is invited to stay) with the news that the destruction of her husband's fur business has forced Cruella to leave the country and put Hell Hall up for sale. When the Dearlys visit Suffolk to return Tommy's cart, they realize that, with 97 puppies and three adult Dalmatians, a larger home would be a good idea, so Mr. Dearly buys the hall with money he has been given by the government for sorting out another tax problem. He proposes to use it to start a "dynasty of Dalmatians" (and a "dynasty of Dearlys" to take care of them). Finally, Perdita's lost love, Prince, turns up. His owners see his love for Perdita, and allow him to stay with the Dearlys and become their "one hundred and oneth" Dalmatian.

Adaptations

Disney adapted the novel into an animated film, released to cinemas on 25 January 1961 as One Hundred and One Dalmatians. It became the tenth highest-grossing film of 1961, and one of the studio's most popular films of the decade. It was re-issued to cinemas four times, in 1969, 1979, 1985 and 1991. The 1991 reissue was the twentieth highest earning film of the year for domestic earnings. It was remade into a live action movie in 1996.

In both the live-action and animated adaptations, there is only one nanny, Missis and Perdita were combined into one character, and other characters, such as many of the other dogs, Prince, Tommy, Cruella's cat, and Cruella's husband, were omitted. In the animated film, Pongo and Missis' owners' last names were changed to "Radcliffe" from "Dearly", and in the live-action film, Cruella (portrayed by Glenn Close) appears as the spoiled magnate of an haute couture fashion house, "House of DeVil". Disney kept the book's characters Horace and Jasper Baddun in both versions, but represented them as the thieves hired by Cruella to steal Pongo and Missis' puppies. In the novel, Horace is named Saul, and they are merely caretakers, the puppies having been stolen by hired professional thieves some days before.

Disney later created an animated television series starring three of the puppies (Lucky, Rolly and Cadpig), and a second series that stars mostly descendants of Pongo and Perdita. Disney also released a sequel film for each of their film versions (One Hundred and One Dalmatians II and 102 Dalmatians). However, both were largely criticized for poor story and lack of originality. In 2021, Disney released a live-action spin-off prequel, titled Cruella'', which revolves around the origin of the title character and her partnership with Jasper and Horace.

The novel has been adapted for the stage by Debbie Isitt for the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in 2000 (followed by productions at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton in 2007 and Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 2017), by Bryony Lavery for the Chichester Youth Theatre in 2014 and was devised by the company (directed by Sally Cookson) for Tobacco Factory Theatres in 2014. The novel was also adapted into a 2009 musical which opened in Minneapolis prior to a US tour. Another stage musical adaptation was due to open at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 2020, before being postponed twice to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1996, the BBC adapted Dodie Smith's novel into a full-cast musical audio dramatization, starring Patricia Hodge as Cruella. This version is very faithful to the source material, in that it has all the characters. However, events are slightly changed - Cruella's husband argues with her more than in the novel, and they do not leave London after the destruction of the fur stocks, nor do the Dearlys ever find out she was the mastermind. Furthermore, Perdita and Prince's story is greatly abridged, Mrs. Willow helps the Colonel attack the Badduns to prevent them following the Dalmatians, and the White Cat does not join the family until after the move to Suffolk. Amazon Audible later released this production as an Audiobook, available for streaming online or through the app.

Reception

The book gained a positive response from critics.

The British writer Siobhan Dowd has cited the thieving Romani characters in the book as one example of a long history of anti-Romani stereotypes in English literature.

References

101 Dalmatians
1956 British novels
British children's novels
English novels
Novels by Dodie Smith
Novels set in Suffolk
Heinemann (publisher) books
British novels adapted into films
Children's novels about dogs
1956 children's books
Children's books set in Suffolk
Children's books set in London

The Hundred and One Dalmatians


Caer y Twr (meaning 'fort of the pile/heap') is an Iron Age hillfort atop the summit of the Holyhead Mountain in Anglesey, Wales.

The hillfort, which is situated among rocky outcrops, is ideally placed for defence and likely served as a watchtower and possibly as a signal tower.  Some have speculated that it was built to alert a small fort in the modern town of Holyhead in the case of raiders coming in from the Irish Sea, while others have suggested that it may have been a lighthouse.

The hillfort is now mostly rubble, but its walls can still be made out, including a large stone rampart on the north and east sides which reaches 3 metres at points. The entrance to the fort was through a rocky gully.  The footings of a tower were discovered when the site was excavated; its stones are believed to date from the 2nd to the 4th centuries.

Nestled below Caer y Twr is a group of several enclosed huts, named Cytiau Tŷ Mawr (the Holyhead Mountain Hut Circles), that also date from the 3rd to the 4th centuries, some of which still contain the accoutrements of life, such as hearths and shelves.

See also

List of hillforts in Wales

References

External links

Caer y Twr , BBC
Caer y Twr, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
Roman Remains on Anglesey , BBC

Trearddur
Scheduled monuments in Anglesey
Roman fortifications in Anglesey
Hillforts in Anglesey
Roman legionary fortresses in Wales

Caer y Twr


A racetrack problem is a specific instance of a type of race condition. A racetrack problem is a flaw in a system or process whereby the output and/or result of the process is unexpectedly and critically dependent on the sequence or timing of other events that run in a circular pattern. This problem is semantically different from a race condition because of the circular nature of the problem.

The term originates with the idea of two signals racing each other in a circular motion to influence the output first. Racetrack problems can occur in electronics systems, especially logic circuits, and in computer software, especially multithreaded or distributed programs.

See also
Concurrency control
Deadlock
Synchronization
Therac-25

External links
Starvation and Critical Race Analyzers for Ada
Paper "Algorithms for the Optimal State Assignment of Asynchronous State Machines" by Robert M. Fuhrer, Bill Lin and Steven M. Nowick
Paper "A Novel Framework for Solving the State Assignment Problem for Event-Based Specifications" by Luciano Lavagno, Cho W. Moon, Robert K. Brayton and Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli
Article "Secure programmer: Prevent race conditions—Resource contention can be used against you" by David A. Wheeler
Chapter "Avoid Race Conditions" (Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO)
Race conditions, security, and immutability in Java, with sample source code and comparison to C code, by Chiral Software

Computer security exploits
Concurrency (computer science)
Software bugs
Logic gates
Logic in computer science

Racetrack problem


Vadouvan (occasionally spelled vaudouvan), or French curry, is a ready-to-use blend of spices that is a French derivative of a masala known as vadavam, vadagam, or vadakam. It is a curry blend with added aromatics such as shallots and garlic. The spice blend is thought to have originated from French colonial influence in the Puducherry region of India.

Indian recipes for vadouvan blends vary but, at a minimum, must contain pounded onion, garlic, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and fenugreek. The mixture is dried in the sun and then crushed, mixed with castor oil, which has preservative properties, and rolled into balls, which are then dried for several more days.

Similarly, Western recipes for vadouvan use onions, garlic, spices and oil, but the drying is done using an oven.

References

See also
List of herbs and spices
Seasoning

Herb and spice mixtures
French cuisine
Culture of Puducherry

Vadouvan


Wilsele is a part of the city of Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium.

The Canal Leuven-Dijle which runs from Leuven to Mechelen passes through Wilsele and separates this part of Leuven into two parts: Wilsele-Dorp (Wilsele-Village) and Wilsele-Putkapel. Due to the physical separation, both parts have gone their own way for many years. Only recently Leuven has opened a bridge over the canal.

The central area of Wisele is situated between Wilsele-Dorp and Wilsele-Putkapel. There is a partial town hall, subsidiary site of the city library and police, as well as a sports and cultural centre. Also the presence of the Centrumstraat (Centre Street) opposite to the town hall is a witness of the past of this part as the village centre.

Part of Wilsele is located on the Keizersberg ("Emperor's Hill") or Boellenberg. The Keizersberg is the site of a beautiful abbey. The abbey houses many students from Leuven.

References

External links

Sub-municipalities of Leuven
Populated places in Flemish Brabant

Wilsele


The Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) (formerly Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA)) is a statutory waste disposal authority that manages the municipal solid waste produced in Merseyside, England. MWDA was established in 1986 following the abolition of Merseyside County Council, to undertake the waste disposal for local authorities across Merseyside—Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral and St Helens. MWDA takes a lead in advocating waste minimisation, recycling and the safe and effective disposal of waste for Merseyside's residents and operates 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres. Veolia Environmental Services is the current contractor for the authority's major waste services contract.

The authority's revenue budget for 2010/2011 was set at £70.9m and is funded by way of a levy on each of the Merseyside District Councils which is apportioned on a waste tonnage basis.

The authority is also responsible for the aftercare of a number of closed landfill sites, which historically had been operated by the authority or its predecessors. These include the former landfill sites at Bidston Moss and Sefton Meadows.

MWDA is made up of nine elected members representing the five constituent district councils in the Merseyside area and consists of five Labour councillors, three Liberal Democrat councillors and one Conservative councillor.

As of 7 December 2011, the MWDA was renamed the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority  and a new corporate logo with slogan "Merseyside ... A place where nothing is wasted" was introduced to replace the former corporate MWDA logo.

See also
Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority

External links
Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority website

References

Waste disposal authorities
Waste organizations
Organisations based in Merseyside


1st Battalion 12th Marines (1/12) was an artillery battalion comprising three firing batteries and a Headquarters Battery. The battalion was stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and fell under the 12th Marine Regiment and the 3rd Marine Division. It was deactivated on 26 May 2023.

Mission
Provide direct support of the 3rd Marine Regiment in time of conflict. That support may come in the traditional fashion of artillery support to maneuver forces, or by providing batteries to serve as provisional rifle companies. They also have the secondary mission of being the primary providers of civil-military operations (CMO). CMO is defined as the activities of the commander that establish, maintain, influence, or exploit relations between military organizations, Government and civilian organizations and the civilian populace.

Units
 Headquarters Battery
 Battery A (Alpha Battery)
 Battery B (Bravo Battery)
 Battery C (Charlie Battery)

History

World War II
1st Battalion 12th Marines came into existence during World War II. The battalion was activated 1 September 1942, at San Diego, California as the 4th Battalion 12th Marines and assigned to the 3rd Marine Division.

During October 1942, the Battalion relocated to Camp Dunlap, California. They were deployed to Auckland, New Zealand during March 1943, then redeployed during July 1943 to Guadalcanal. During this period, the Battalion was heavily involved in numerous campaigns including the Battle of Bougainville, Battle of Guam and the Battle of Iwo Jima.

After being re-designated on 5 April 1945 as 1st Battalion 12th Marines, the Battalion was relocated during December 1945 to Camp Pendleton, California and as deactivated on 8 January 1946.

1950s through the 1980s

Five years later, the Battalion was reactivated on 20 June 1951 at Camp Pendleton, California and was assigned to the 3rd Marine Division. In August 1953, 1st Battalion 12th Marines deployed to Camp Mcnair, Japan and redeployed to South Camp Fuji, Japan during March 1956. During March and April 1965, the battalion was called upon to deploy to the Republic of Vietnam. They participated in the Vietnam War from April 1965 to September 1969, operating from Phu Bai, Danang, Cam Lộ, Khe Sanh and Camp Carroll. The battalion after the Vietnam war was reduced to cadre status.

During October 1969, the battalion was re-established at Camp Pendleton, California and assigned to the 5th Marine Division. One year later, in November 1969, they were reassigned to the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

In April 1971, the 1/12 was reassigned to the 1st Marine Division. The battalion deployed in June 1971 to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii and was later reassigned to the 1st Marine Brigade. During the 1970s and 1980s, the unit participated in numerous training exercises to remain combat ready. 1st Marine Brigade re-designated on 30 August 1985 as the 1st Marine Amphibious Brigade. In the years that followed, 1st Marine Amphibious Brigade was re-designated as the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

1990s & the Global War on Terrorism

1st Battalion 12th Marines participated in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in Southwest Asia during September 1990 to April 1991. In September 1994, the Battalion was reassigned to 3rd Marine Division as part of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, Hawaii.

From July 2004 through April 2005, Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion 12th Marines, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. They were attached to 1st Battalion 3rd Marines and deployed to Fallujah, Iraq participating in Operation Phantom Fury.

From March 2007 through October 2007 and September 2008 through April 2009, 1st Battalion 12th Marines conducted the provisional mission of Task Force MP operating in the Al Anbar province of Iraq.

In April 2011, Charlie, Alpha and Headquarters and Service Battery of 1/12 deployed to Helmand Province, with Echo Battery of 2/12 deployed to Outpost Shrine in Kajaki, Afghanistan to replace 1st Battalion, 10th Marines as the main artillery unit in the area. Bravo Battery remained in garrison for live fire during training exercises.

2nd Battalion 12th Marines was deactivated following Operation: Desert Storm due to defense cut-backs and the relocation of 12th Marine Regiment from Camp Foster to Camp Hansen, both in Okinawa. 3rd Battalion maintains its headquarters at Camp Hansen and sources the Unit Deployment Program as the headquarters element for deployed artillery batteries drawn from across the Corps. 3/12's permanent firing batteries have been reassigned to other units: Battery K to 2nd Battalion 11th Marines, Battery L to 3rd Battalion 11th Marines, and Battery I to 1st Battalion 11th Marines.

The battalion was deactivated at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on 26 May 2023.

See also

List of United States Marine Corps battalions
Organization of the United States Marine Corps

Notes

References

Web

 1/12's official website
 1/12 Association
 U.S. Marines in Battle of Al-Khafji

Artillery battalions of the United States Marine Corps

1st Battalion, 12th Marines


Rosalind Ayres (born 7 December 1946) is an English actress, director and producer.  Active since 1970, Ayres is well known for her role in the 1997 film Titanic, in which she played Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. Her husband, Martin Jarvis, played Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon in the film.

Biography
Ayres has appeared in numerous films and television series, including regular performances in Armchair Thriller, Penmarric, Play for Today, The Bounder, Father's Day and Trevor's World of Sport. She has acted in and directed numerous audio plays for L.A. Theatre Works and Hollywood Theater of the Ear.

Ayres appeared on the BBC One semi-improvised sitcom Outnumbered as Gran in series 3 (2010) for the episodes "The Family Outing" and "The Internet". She returned as Gran in the first episode of series four (2011) named "The Funeral". Ayres also appeared in the Christmas special in 2012.

In addition to her film and television work, in 2011, Ayres provided voice and motion capture work for Katherine Marlowe, the main antagonist of the video game Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, opposite Nolan North, Richard McGonagle and Graham McTavish. Together with her husband, Ayres runs the radio production company "Jarvis & Ayres Productions", producing and directing plays and serials for BBC Radio 4.

Ayres also played the character of Iris in the comedy sitcom Kate & Koji as a customer in the café who regularly consulted the doctor on various ailments. It aired in April 2020 and she appeared in three episodes. In September 2022, Ayres appeared alongside her husband in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors as Ellie Chilton.

TV and filmography

References

External links

1946 births
Living people
Alumni of Loughborough University
English film actresses
English stage actresses
English television actresses
English voice actresses
English video game actresses
Actresses from Birmingham, West Midlands

Rosalind Ayres


The Byzantine–Seljuk wars were a series of conflicts in the Middle Ages between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire. They shifted the balance of power in Asia Minor and Syria from the Byzantines to the Seljuk dynasty. Riding from the steppes of Central Asia, the Seljuks replicated tactics practiced by the Huns hundreds of years earlier against a similar Roman opponent but now combining it with new-found Islamic zeal. In many ways, the Seljuk resumed the conquests of the Muslims in the Byzantine–Arab Wars initiated by the Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates in the Levant, North Africa and Asia Minor.

The Battle of Manzikert of 1071 is widely regarded as the turning point against the Byzantines in their war against the Seljuks. The battle opened up Anatolia for further Turkish migrations and settlements. The Byzantine military was of questionable quality before 1071 with regular Turkish incursions overrunning the failing theme system. Even after Manzikert, Byzantine rule over Asia Minor did not end immediately, nor were any heavy concessions levied by the Turks on their opponents – it took another 20 years before the Turks were in control of the entire Anatolian peninsula and not for long either.

During the course of the war, the Seljuk Turks and their allies attacked the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, capturing Jerusalem and catalyzing the call for the First Crusade. Crusader assistance to the Byzantine Empire was mixed with treachery and looting, although substantial gains were made in the First Crusade. Within a hundred years of Manzikert, the Byzantines had successfully driven back the Seljuk Turks from the coasts of Asia Minor and extended their influence right down to Palestine and even Egypt. Later, the Byzantines were unable to extract any more assistance, and the Fourth Crusade even led to the sack of Constantinople in 1204. Before the conflict ended, the Seljuks managed to take more territory from the weakened Empire of Nicaea until the sultanate itself was taken over by the Mongols, leading to the rise of the ghazi and the conclusive Byzantine–Ottoman wars.

Origins

The decades after the death of the Byzantine emperor Basil II () saw a long series of crises and a severe weakening of imperial authority and military power. This included a succession crisis and a series of weak Emperors under the increasing influence of bureaucrats in Constantinople. At the same time the efforts to restrain the ambitious provincial aristocrats kept at bay during Basil II reign failed. With the successes of the previous century, the Byzantine state had acquired more land and wealth. The spoils of war saw the enrichment of the military aristocracy. More and more land owned by free peasants came under the control of the dynatoi class by varying means from purchase to intimidation to outright robbery. One major consequence of this was the reduction in available manpower to serve in the imperial armies. Added to this were the internal rivalry between the bureaucrats and military aristocracy. Bureaucrats sought to reduce the power and likelihood of the aristocrats to launch rebellions by freeing the yeomanry of military duty in place of providing tax revenue. This further put strain on the manpower needed to defend imperial territory. The factions increasingly relied on mercenaries, but these highly ambitious soldiers were unreliable and lawless.

For the twenty years preceding 1070, in almost every year there saw at least one major rebellion, including a large revolt of Armenians. This caused thematic armies to be drawn west or east depending on the rebellion and opened the borders to incursions by raiders whether the Normans of Sicily or Turkic horsemen from Central Asia or indeed the mercenaries roaming within the state. In addition, a combination of competition, rivalry and treachery between pretenders to the imperial throne saw the state paralysed to deal with the many issues facing the state.

By 1070 during the march on Manzikert, the Byzantine state was in a very precarious position largely of its own making, even on the verge of collapse and failed to secure the Empire against external threats. The biggest threat to the Empire since the Arab invasions were the Turks. The Turks were much like the Byzantines former enemies, the Huns. Combining their excellent riding skills with Islamic zeal, the Turks were to become a formidable enemy to a Christian state in decline.

As the Byzantines were making headway against the Arabs in the 10th century, Persia was being ruled by the Ghaznavids, another Turkic people. The migration of Seljuk Turks into Persia in the 10th century led to the Ghaznavids being overthrown. There they settled and adopted Persian language and customs. The first encounter with the Byzantine Empire was in the Battle of Kapetron in 1048, in which the combined Byzantine-Georgian army won a tactical victory. Nevertheless, the Seljuks established a powerful domain and captured Baghdad in 1055 from the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids were henceforth a mere figurehead in the Islamic world. The Seljuk Turks, spurred on by their previous success, now launched an attack on the Levant and against Fatimid Egypt, which lost Jerusalem in 1071.

When the Seljuk Turks did encounter the Byzantines, they had chosen a good time to attack. Byzantium was faced with weak rule, Norman conquests and the schism whilst the Abbasid Caliphate had recently been seriously weakened with its wars against the Fatimid dynasty.

Initial conflicts: 1064–1071

Ever since early in the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks from central Asia had been expanding westward, defeating various Arab factions and occupying the Abbasid caliphate's power base in Baghdad. At the same time, the Byzantine empire was making a few gains in Edessa and Syria. In 1067 the Seljuk Turks invaded Asia Minor attacking Caesarea and, in 1069, Iconium. A Byzantine counterattack in 1069 drove the Seljuk Turks back from these lands. Further offensives by the Byzantine army drove the Turks back across the Euphrates.

Despite this, the Seljuk Turks continued their incursions into Asia Minor, capturing Manzikert. The Byzantine Emperor Romanus Diogenes led an army in an attempt to score a decisive blow against the Seljuks and add some military justification to his rule (which had seen the Norman conquest of southern Italy). During the march, Alp Arslan, the leader of the Seljuk Turks withdrew from Manzikert. His tactical withdrawal allowed his army to ambush the Byzantines, winning the decisive Battle of Manzikert on 26 August 1071. The victory itself led to few gains at the time for the Seljuk Turks, but the civil chaos that resulted in the Byzantine Empire allowed the Seljuks and various other Turkic allies to swarm into Asia Minor.

Turkic conquests: 1071–1096

After Manzikert, the Seljuk Turks concentrated on their eastern territorial gains which were threatened by the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt although Alp Arslan encouraged other allied Turks and vassals to establish Beyliks in Asia Minor. Many Byzantines at the time did not see the victory as a total disaster and when the Turks began occupying the countryside in Anatolia they began to garrison the Byzantine cities as well, not as foreign conquerors but as mercenaries requested by various Byzantine factions – one Byzantine Emperor even gave the city of Nicaea's defense to the invading Turks in 1078.

The result of the civil war meant that pretenders to the Byzantine throne sought Turkic aid by conceding Byzantine territory. The loss of these cities such as Nicaea and another defeat in Anatolia led to a prolongation of the war. The civil conflict finally ended when Alexius I Komnenos, who had been leading Imperial armies to defeat revolts in Asia Minor became a rebel himself and seized the Byzantine throne in 1081. Despite emergency reforms implemented by Alexius, Antioch and Smyrna were lost by 1084. However, between 1078 and 1084 Antioch had been in the hands of Philaretos Brachamios, an Armenian renegade. By 1091, the few remaining Byzantine towns in Asia Minor inherited by Alexius were lost as well. However, all was not to end in defeat for Byzantium; in 1091, a combined Seljuk/Pecheneg invasion and siege of Constantinople was thoroughly defeated whilst the Norman invasions had been held back as well allowing the Empire to focus its energies against the Turks. The Byzantines were thus able to recover the Aegean islands from Tzachas and destroy his fleet, and even regain the southern littoral of the Marmara Sea in 1094.

In 1094, Alexius Comnenus sent a message to Pope Urban II asking for weapons, supplies and skilled troops. At the Council of Clermont in 1095, the Pope preached a Crusade to be undertaken in order to capture Jerusalem and, in the process, assist the Byzantine Empire which could no longer guard Christendom in the East from Islamic aggression. Though the Crusades would assist the Byzantine Empire in reconquering many vital Anatolian towns, it also led to the dissolution of the Empire in 1204 during which time the Byzantines struggled to hold on to their territories.

Byzantium survives: 1096–1118

The first Crusaders arrived in 1096 following Alexius' appeal to the West. The agreement between the Byzantines and the Crusaders was that any Byzantine cities re-captured from the Turks would be handed over to the Empire.

This was beneficial for the Crusaders as it meant that they did not have to garrison captured towns and lose troop strength whilst maintaining their supply lines. The Byzantines, in return, would supply the Crusaders with food in a hostile territory and Alexius' troops would act as a reserve to reinforce them in any dangerous situations. The Crusaders first set about attacking Nicaea on 6 May 1097. Kilij Arslan I was unable to assist the Turks there due to the immense size of the Crusader armies; another small defeat on 16 May convinced Kilij Arslan to withdraw and abandon the city, which surrendered to the Byzantines on 19 June. After this, a decisive victory at Dorylaeum gave the Crusaders an Asia Minor that was open to attack: Sozopolis, Philomelium, Iconium, Antioch in Pisidia, Heraclea and Caesarea all fell to the Crusaders and they reached as far as Cilicia where they allied with Cilician Armenia.

Unfortunately for Alexius Comnenus, the Byzantines were unable to fully capitalize on these conquests with Caesarea returning to the Seljuks as a part of the Sultanate of Rum along with several other cities such as Iconium, the future capital of the Seljuk Turks. However, in a campaign in 1097 John Doukas, the megas doux (Alexios' brother-in-law), led both land and sea forces which re-established firm Byzantine control of the Aegean coastline and many inland districts of western Anatolia, taking the cities of Smyrna, Ephesus, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea and Choma from the demoralised Turks.

Following their victories, the Crusaders went on to lay siege to Antioch a city under Seljuk occupation. The siege marked the end of Crusader assistance to the Byzantines due to the simulations of Stephen of Blois. Kerbogha the Seljuk governor of Mosul, had a huge army of 75,000 troops sent to relieve Antioch; his unsuccessful siege of Edessa (a city that had recently fallen to the Crusaders) allowed the Crusaders time to capture Antioch on 3 June 1098, a day before Kerbogah's arrival. Despite this, Kerbogah's troops were able to breach the citadel where vicious and desperate fighting allowed the Crusaders to repulse his offensive. At this point, one of the Crusaders present, Stephen of Blois deserted and reaching Alexius Comnenus warned him that the Crusaders were destroyed and the Byzantine Emperor was forced to turn back.

As a result of this apparent desertion of Alexius I, the Crusaders refused to hand back Antioch when they managed to defeat Kerbogah's scattered army. With this resentment, the Crusaders largely abandoned assisting the Byzantines against the Seljuks and their allies. The follow-on Crusade of 1101 ended in total defeat and the consolidation of Seljuk power in Asia Minor with Iconium (modern day Konya) being established as the capital of the Sultanate of Rûm.

Byzantine counter-attack: 1118–1180

The death of Alexius I brought John II Comnenus to power. By now, the Seljuk Turks had fractured and became loosely allied to each other. During this time the Sultanate of Rum was busy fighting off their former allies, the Danishmends. John Comnenus was able to use this to his advantage as he undertook a series of campaigns in Anatolia and Syria. John successfully captured the southern coast of Anatolia as far as Antioch, defeated an attempt by the Gabras family to form a breakaway state in Trebizond, and recaptured the ancestral home of the Comnenus family at Kastamonu. Despite this, Turkish resistance was strong and John did not capture the Seljuk capital at Iconium, nor were all of his conquests held – the city of Gangra, captured by John in the 1130s, was lost again as the emperor had left it with a garrison of just 2,000 men.

John spent considerable time and effort on a series of campaigns in Syria, which emphasised his dominance over the local Crusader kingdoms, especially Edessa and Antioch, but resulted in no long-term territorial gains for the Byzantine Empire. The emperor did strengthen the Byzantine army by recruiting new divisions and establishing new castles, fortifications and training camps in Byzantine territory. However, the scale of resources poured into his campaigns in Syria was far greater than in Anatolia, suggesting that John viewed prestige as more important than long-term conquest. In 1143, a fatal hunting accident to the emperor John robbed the Byzantines of the opportunity to achieve further progress.

John II died in 1143, leaving the Byzantine Empire a strong army, significant reserves of cash, and improved prestige. However, the new emperor, Manuel Comnenus, directed much of his attention to Hungary, Italy, Serbia and the Crusader states rather than Anatolia. While Manuel was largely successful in defeating attacks on the empire and holding the Balkans, his policy in Italy was a failure and the lavish expenditure of his rule has been criticised, most notably by the Byzantine historian Choniates. During this period, the Seljuk Turks were able to subdue their enemies, the Danishmends, under Kilij Arslan II. This resulted in a powerful centralised Turkish state based at Iconium, leaving the Byzantines arguably in a worse position than they had been under John II.

For the time being, Manuel's policy was not without merit as the emperor established peaceful co-existence with the Sultan and initiated measures such as allowing Turkmen to pay for pasture on Byzantine land, which were clearly meant to deter raiding. The establishment of the theme of Neokastra on the northern part of the Aegean coast near Pergamon was also praised by Choniates. However, when Kilij Arslan refused to hand over the city of Sebastea, which he was bound to do under an earlier agreement with Manuel, the emperor declared war in 1176 and led a very large army estimated at around 30,000 men into Seljuk territory with the intent of taking its capital Iconium. However, the Byzantine force was ambushed in a mountain pass with consequent heavy losses to both sides. This battle, the Battle of Myriokephalon, resulted in the Byzantine campaign of conquest being abandoned.

The battle was tactically indecisive with both leaders keen to seek peace. Following this Manuel's army continued to skirmish with the Turks in Anatolia, defeating them in a smaller but indecisive battle in the Meander Valley. Regardless of this small respite, Myriokephalon had far more decisive implications than the casualties would suggest – there was no more Byzantine reconquest in Asia Minor after 1176, leaving the process begun by Alexios incomplete at best. For the Seljuks, the acquisition of Danishmend territory gave them a victory though once again the Seljuks had to contend with neighbouring disputes leading to the peace treaty as requested by both leaders. By the terms of the treaty, Manuel was obliged to remove the armies and fortifications posted at Dorylaeum and Sublaeum.

However, Manuel Comnenus refused and when Kilij Arslan tried to enforce this treaty, a Turkish army invaded Byzantine territory and sacked a string of Byzantine cities as far as the Aegean coast, damaging the heartland of Byzantine control in the region. Nevertheless, John Vatatzes, who was sent by the Emperor to repel the Turkish invasion scored an ambush victory over the Turks at the Battle of Hyelion and Leimocheir in the Meander valley. The Turkish commander and many of his troops were killed while attempting to flee, and much of the plunder was recovered, an event that has been seen by historians as a sign that the Byzantine army remained strong and that the defensive program of western Asia Minor was still successful. After the victory on the Meander, Manuel himself advanced with a small army to drive the Turks from Panasium and Lacerium, south of Cotyaeum. However, in 1178 a Byzantine army retreated after encountering a Turkish force at Charax, allowing the Turks to capture many livestock. The city of Claudiopolis in Bithynia was besieged by the Turks in 1179, forcing Manuel to lead a small cavalry force to save the city and then, even as late as 1180, the Byzantines succeeded in scoring a victory over the Turks.

However, the continuous warfare did have a serious effect upon Manuel's vitality; he declined in health and in 1180 succumbed to a slow fever. Furthermore, like Manzikert, the balance between the two powers began to gradually shift – after Manuel's death, they began to move further and further west, deeper into Byzantine territory.

Seljuk Empire collapse: 1194–1260
In 1194, Togrul of the Seljuk empire was defeated by Takash (In Batul), the Shah of Khwarezmid Empire, and the Seljuk Empire finally collapsed. Of the former Seljuk Empire, only the Sultanate of Rûm in Anatolia remained. As the dynasty declined in the middle of the thirteenth century, the Mongols invaded Anatolia in the 1260s and divided it into smaller principalities called the Anatolian beyliks.

Summary
Though Anatolia had been under Roman rule for almost 1000 years, the Seljuks rapidly consolidated their holdings. This allowed them to hold on to their lands and made it all the more difficult for the Byzantines during the Komnenian restoration to re-conquer. The result was that even when the Byzantine empire was not riddled with civil disputes, it could not defeat the Seljuk Turks, who rarely allowed the Byzantines to engage them, hence the slow campaigning of John Komnenus.

The old Roman state was in a constant state of war due to the numerous enemies on its borders; Muslims to the South and East, Slavs to the North and Franks to the West. The Byzantine Empire had to face Normans, Pechenegs and Turks within a few decades of each other at a time when the army was torn in civil conflict.

The Middle East had been dominated for centuries by the power of the Fatimid Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire; by the end of the 13th century, neither of the two were in a position to project power; the Fatimids having been toppled by the Kurdish-influenced Ayyubids, whilst the Byzantines severely weakened by the Seljuks. Power shifted to the Mamluks by the 14th century and then back to the Turks in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Never again would a Christian Kingdom wield so much military and political power in the Middle East. As the Turks steadily gained ground in Anatolia, the local population converted to Islam through Sufi activities, further reducing any chances of a successful reconquest.

The war also gave Western Christendom the opportunity to launch expeditions/pilgrimages to visit/liberate the Holy Land from Muslim Rule. In time, these Crusaders would establish their own fiefs in the Holy Land, ruling with interests coinciding, but more often in conflict with, the Byzantine Empire, ultimately leading to a weakening of both the Crusader states and the Byzantine Empire.

For the Turks, it was the beginning of a new era of power. Despite further invasions and attacks by Crusaders from the west and the Mongols and Turkic tribes from the east, the Turks slowly emerged as a superpower under the Ottomans. The rise of the Ottomans was parallel to the fall of the Sultanate of Rum and the carving up of the Byzantine Empire. The power vacuum left in Anatolia was easily exploited by one of the sultanate's nobles, Osman I. Matters were made worse for the Byzantine Empire due to the Latin presence in the Peloponnese and the rising power of the Bulgarians who continued to press hard against the borders of Byzantium. In time, the Byzantines would be forced to call on the aid of the Ottomans to head to the European mainland and fight the Bulgarians, giving the Ottoman Turks a firm grip on Europe. The close proximity of Osman's Beylik ensured that confrontation between the Byzantines and the Ottomans would be inevitable. The Byzantines were a match for the Ottomans but events west of Constantinople coupled with civil war and incompetent leadership in the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars led to the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

See also
 Arab–Byzantine wars
 Byzantine military
 Byzantine–Ottoman wars
 Decline of the Byzantine Empire
 Komnenian army

References

Further reading

11th-century conflicts
12th-century conflicts
13th-century conflicts

11th century in the Byzantine Empire
12th century in the Byzantine Empire
13th century in the Byzantine Empire
Sultanate of Rum

Byzantine–Seljuk wars


Darwin's Radio is a 1999 science fiction novel by Greg Bear. It won the Nebula Award in 2000 for Best Novel and the 2000 Endeavour Award. It was also nominated for the Hugo Award, Locus and Campbell Awards the same year.

The novel's original tagline was "The next great war will be inside us." It was followed by a sequel, Darwin's Children, in 2003.

Plot summary
In the novel, a new form of endogenous retrovirus has emerged, SHEVA. It controls human evolution by rapidly evolving the next generation while it is in the womb, leading to speciation.

The novel follows several characters as the "plague" is discovered as well as the panicked reaction of the public and the US government to the disease.

Built into the human genome are non-coding sequences of DNA called introns. Certain portions of those "non-sense" sequences, remnants of prehistoric retroviruses, have been activated and are translating numerous LPCs (large protein complexes). The activation of SHEVA and its consequential sudden speciation was postulated to be controlled by a complex genetic network that perceives a need for modification or to be a human adaptive response to overcrowding. The disease, or rather, gene activation, is passed on laterally from male to female as per an STD. If impregnated, a woman in her first trimester who has contracted SHEVA will miscarry a deformed female fetus made of little more than two ovaries. This "first stage fetus" leaves behind a fertilized egg with 52 chromosomes, rather than the typical 46 characteristic of Homo sapiens sapiens.

During the third trimester of the second stage pregnancy, both parents go into a pre-speciation puberty to prepare them for the needs of their novel child. Facial pigmentation changes underneath the old skin which begins sloughing off like a mask. Vocal organs and olfactory glands alter and sensitize respectively, to adapt for a new form of communication. For over a year after the first SHEVA outbreak in the United States, no second stage fetus was recorded to have been born alive. The new human species was highly sensitive to all varieties of herpes and could not be viably born to a mother who had ever been infected with any of the virus' many forms, including Epstein-Barr and the chickenpox, thus eliminating 95% of the female population. Anesthetics and pitocin administered during childbirth were also lethal. So while many women would contract activated SHEVA that few would manage to give birth, making the transition from Homo sapiens sapiens to the new human species very gradual.

The international response to the threat of SHEVA was to form a special task force that would work alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to find a vaccine. Because the "disease", called "Herod's Flu", was already in the genome of every person on Earth, the only two options were to inhibit the activation of the SHEVA gene by discovering the signal it used or to abort the second-stage fetus. Due to the rapid mutation rate of the missing-link signal molecule, preventing the activation of the gene was infeasible.

The second option, abortion, was already a controversial issue and the proposal of handing out free RU 486 was met with social upheaval, adding to the already-chaotic social scene. The general public believed that the government was not placing due importance on the death of countless fetuses or that it already had a cure and refused to release it. In response, government research facilities were forced to test prospective treatments prematurely and could not pursue explanations for SHEVA outside of the "disease" category because of the potential reactions from the masses. It was not until viable second-stage fetuses were born that the idea of SHEVA being a part of evolution rather than a disease began to grow from a few isolated sources.

References

External links

1999 American novels
1999 science fiction novels
American science fiction novels
Endeavour Award-winning works
Nebula Award for Best Novel-winning works
Novels by Greg Bear
Del Rey books
Biopunk novels
Evolution in popular culture
Fiction about neanderthals
Novels about viral outbreaks

Darwin's Radio


Archibald Campbell Mzolisa "A.C." Jordan (30 October 1906 – 20 October 1968) was a novelist, literary historian and intellectual pioneer of African studies in South Africa.

Early life
He was born at the Mbokothwane Mission in the Tsolo district, Pondoland (later Transkei), the son of an Anglican church minister. Jordan trained as a teacher at St John's College, Mthatha, completed his junior certificate at Lovedale College, Alice, and then won a scholarship to Fort Hare University College. His literary and linguistic training consisted in a BA Degree (1934), followed by a Master's thesis, submitted to the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1942, entitled "Some features of the phonetic and grammatical structure of Baca" (Bhaca), which was an important early contribution to the study of non-standard Nguni languages, specifically, of a Tekela Nguni language. This was followed in 1957 by a doctoral degree dissertation "A Phonological and Grammatical Study of Literary Xhosa.

Writing career
While teaching in Kroonstad (in the then Orange Free State Province) between 1934 and 1944 Jordan mastered Sotho, became president of the African Teachers' Association, and started his writing career with the publication of poetry in the newspaper Imvo Zabantsundu. He also started work on his classic Xhosa novel, Ingqumbo Yezinyanya (1940), later translated by the author and his wife, Phyllis Ntantala-Jordan, into English as The Wrath of the Ancestors (1980). This novel, considered as one of the masterpieces of Xhosa writing and South African literature, was translated into Afrikaans as Die Toorn van die Voorvaders, published in 1990, and a Dutch translation, De Wraak van het Voorgeslacht, appearing in the classic African Writers Series in the Netherlands in 1999. The novel tells a gripping epic-tragic tale of the conflicting forces of Western education and Xhosa traditional beliefs amongst the "School people" and the "Ochre people" of the Mpondomise people.

After a brief stint as senior lecturer in Bantu languages at the Fort Hare University College, beginning 1944, Jordan was appointed senior lecturer in African languages at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1946. He worked in that capacity until September 1961.

While at UCT he began a new method of teaching Xhosa to non-mother tongue speakers, which he published as A Practical Course in Xhosa (1966).

Exile
In 1961 Jordan was offered a Carnegie bursary to do research in the United States, but was refused a passport by the South African government. As a result of political pressure, Jordan was forced to leave South Africa on an exit permit. He settled in America where he was appointed professor in African Languages and Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, and later moved, in similar capacity, to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  In 1968, Jordan died in Madison, after a long illness.

One eminent South African scholar who studied Xhosa under Jordan's guidance was the writer and academic, Vernon February. Decades later he still testified to the enormous influence Jordan had on those students, and the inspiring and vital knowledge he imparted about Xhosa culture and language. Similarly, Carol Eastman recounted, in Johannesburg, at the "Sociolinguistics in Africa" conference organised by Bob Herbert, her inspiration for African culture and language instilled by Jordan when he taught her Xhosa at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the 1960s. She said there was a "quiet sadness" about Jordan, living as he was in exile, very far from home.

Jordan's other important publications include a book of short stories entitled Kwezo Mpindo zeTsitsa, published in 1973 as Tales from Southern Africa, and an important pioneering critical study, entitled Towards an African Literature: The Emergence of Literary Form in Xhosa (1972).

Legacy
For his creative works, his pioneering research and his sustained efforts at preserving and recording in his writing the culture and history of the Xhosa people of the Eastern Cape, the University of Port Elizabeth currently known as Nelson Mandela University (NMU) posthumously bestowed on Jordan an honorary doctorate in literature, on 24 April 2004.

He was awarded posthumously the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold in 2005.

In 2015 the University of Cape Town renamed the Arts Block after Jordan in recognition of his work.

References

People from the Eastern Cape
Xhosa people
South African male novelists
Academic staff of the University of Cape Town
University of Fort Hare alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
1906 births
1968 deaths
20th-century South African novelists
20th-century South African male writers

Archibald Campbell Jordan


Servant of God is a title given to individuals by different religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a saint. In the Eastern Orthodox churches, this term is used to refer to any Eastern Orthodox Christian.

The Arabic name Abdullah عبد الله, the Hebrew name Obadiah עובדיה and the German name Gottschalk literally mean "servant of God".

Roman Catholicism
"Servant of God" is the title given to a deceased person of the Catholic Church whose life and works are being investigated in consideration for official recognition by the Pope and the Catholic Church as a saint in Heaven.
The process for canonization is under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The title "Servant of God" () should not be confused with Servus Servorum Dei (Servant of the Servants of God), one of the titles of the Pope.

Receiving  the title Servant of God is the first of the four steps in the canonization process. The next step is being declared Venerable, upon a decree of heroicity or martyrdom by the honored. This is followed by beatification, with the title of Blessed, after the confirmation of miracles attributed to the honored.  The final step is canonization, where the honored would receive the title of Saint.

References

Roman Catholicism

Servant of God


François Blanchet (April 3, 1776 – June 24, 1830) was a physician, businessman, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.

He was born in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud in 1776 and studied at the Petit Séminaire of Quebec. He went on to study medicine with James Fisher and then at Columbia College where he received a Bachelor of Medicine. In 1801, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society. Later that year, he returned to Lower Canada and passed an exam to allow him to practice as a physician and surgeon. He married Catherine-Henriette, the daughter of seigneur Antoine Juchereau Duchesnay, in 1802 and set up practice in Quebec City. He was named as a surgeon for the militia in 1805. In 1806, he was one of the founders of Le Canadien; because this newspaper was often critical of the authorities, Blanchet was removed from his post in the militia in 1808.

In 1809, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Hertford County. Governor James Henry Craig jailed him for sedition in 1810. However, Blanchet was reelected in that year and continued to hold a seat in the assembly until he was defeated in March 1816; Blanchet was reelected in a subsequent by-election and served until his death in Quebec City in 1830. He was a supporter and spokesperson for the parti Canadien in the assembly. He was named as a justice of the peace for Quebec district in 1815.

During the War of 1812, Blanchet served as superintendent for military hospitals in Lower Canada. He served on the medical staff and helped manage the Emigrant Hospital. He was a contributor to Quebec Medical Journal/Journal de médecine de Québec, the first medical journal published in Canada and promoted the development of medical education in the province, both as a physician and as a member of the legislative assembly. In 1830, he was named to the board of medical examiners for Quebec district.

Blanchet had inherited property when his father-in-law died; he also was able to purchase additional property from the other heirs and had acquired other land on his own.

His nephew, Jean Blanchet, was also a doctor involved in politics, and his grandson, William Henry Chaffers, served in the Canadian Senate.

References

External links

1776 births
1830 deaths
Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni

François Blanchet (physician)


Carex saxatilis is a species of sedge known by the common names rock sedge and russet sedge.

Distribution
It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout the northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. It occurs in Alaska, throughout most all of Canada to Greenland and in Eurasia. In North America it occurs at high elevations as far south as Utah and Colorado.

Description
This sedge is variable in appearance. In general, it forms a tuft of grasslike stems and leaves up to 80 or 90 centimeters tall. The inflorescence has staminate spikes above spikes of pistillate flowers.

Ecology
This sedge is a dominant or codominant species in several types of wetlands among other sedges. In more southerly regions it occurs near streams and lakes. It may not compete successfully with other vegetation in southern regions, and it may be found growing in only the wettest habitat where other plants will not grow. It grows in water or saturated substrates, but sometimes in drier sites like meadows. It may be associated with bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis), tufted hairgrass (Deschamsia caespitosa), variableleaf pondweed (Potamogeton gramineus), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides).

References

External links
The Nature Conservancy

saxatilis
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Carex saxatilis


Brigadier Wilfrid Chapman FIE (16 May 1891 – 6 May 1955) was an engineer, soldier and botanist after whom Eucalyptus chapmaniana was named.

Early years
Born 16 May 1891 at Wandsworth, London, son of Frederick Chapman, a geologist's assistant, and his wife Helen Mary, née Dancer. In 1902 the family came to Australia where Frederick took up his appointment as paleontologist at the National Museum, Melbourne, and served as the first Australian Commonwealth Palaeontologist 1927–1935.

First World War
 Enlisted 7 June 1915
 Egypt & France
 Commissioned 29 September 1917
 France
 Discharged 31 July 1919

Post war
 At the Collins Street Independent Church, Melbourne, on 13 December 1919 he married Marea Feori Anastasia Maniachi with Congregational forms.
Re-employed by the railway construction branch
University of Melbourne (B.C.E., 1923; M.C.E., 1925).
made his name as a pioneer in the use of electric arc welding for structural purposes
1931 Chapman joined E.M.F. Electric Co. Pty Ltd as engineer in charge of research and development

Second World War
Called up for part-time duty on 1 January 1940
lieutenant colonel, he commanded the 2nd/2nd Army Field Workshop which he took to Palestine
colonel, chief ordnance mechanical engineer at A.I.F. Headquarters
He made some important innovations in the design of mobile workshops and was mentioned in dispatches
In January 1943 he was made chief superintendent of design. Promoted temporary brigadier in August
In November 1945 he transferred to the Reserve of Officers as an honorary brigadier

Post war
1946 joined the Commonwealth Department of Transport as director of civil engineering in the railway standardisation division
From 1946 he had been vice-chairman of the Australian Standards Association
1949 Chapman was one of three distinguished engineers upon whom the University of Western Australia conferred a doctorate of engineering honoris causa – a distinction in which he took such pride that he thereafter styled himself Dr Chapman.

Death
6 May 1955 at Mount St Evin's hospital, Fitzroy; survived by his wife and son, Wilfrid Alexander Maniarchi Chapman.

References

1891 births
1955 deaths
Military personnel from London
People from Wandsworth
Australian brigadiers
20th-century Australian botanists
Australian paleontologists
English emigrants to Australia
Australian military personnel of World War I
20th-century Australian engineers
Australian Army personnel of World War II

Wilfrid Chapman


USS Hawaii (CB-3) was intended to be the third member of the  large cruisers. It was the first United States Navy ship to be named after the then-Territory of Hawaii. Because Hawaiis construction was delayed by higher-priority ships like aircraft carriers, her keel was not laid until December 1943, about two years after her sister ship .

Hawaii was launched in late 1945, but post-war budget cutbacks necessitated her cancellation in 1947. The Alaska-class large cruisers were seen as requiring a crew almost as large as a  or , while the armor and protection of the capital ship-sized Hawaii was no better than a  and this was particularly significant as the underwater protection designed into Hawaii was poor. In a famous Proceedings article in January 1949, Frank Uhlig dismissed the performance of the class in 1944–1945 and concluded the battlecruiser had no place in the postwar USN. For a time, the US Navy planned to convert the ship into the US' first guided missile cruiser, but this did not come to fruition. A conversion to a large command ship was later contemplated and planning went far enough that money was allocated in the 1952 budget for this purpose. However, with one command ship already completed, , and a second already chosen, , no work was started upon Hawaii. Having been laid up for twelve years, the still incomplete ship was towed to breakers to be scrapped in 1959.

Design and description

The initial impetus for the design of the Alaska class came from the commerce-raiding abilities of German and Japanese ships; the three s, the two s and Japan's large force of both heavy and light cruisers. By the time that they were built, their role had expanded to protect carrier groups. It was thought that the class's bigger guns, greater size and higher speed would give them a marked advantage in this role over heavy cruisers and they would also provide insurance against reports that Japan was building "super cruisers" more powerful than American cruisers limited by the London Naval Treaty.

Hawaii was  long overall and had a beam of  and a draft of . She displaced  as designed and up to  at deep load. The ship was powered by four General Electric geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller and eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at  and a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of  at a speed of . She carried four floatplanes, housed in two hangars, with a pair of aircraft catapults mounted amidships.

The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 12 inch (305 mm) L/50 Mark 8 guns in three triple-gun turrets, two in a superfiring pair forward and one aft of the superstructure. The secondary battery consisted of twelve 5-inch (127 mm) L/38 dual-purpose guns in six twin turrets. Two were placed on the centerline superfiring over the main battery turrets, fore and aft; the remaining four turrets were placed on the corners of the superstructure. The light anti-aircraft battery consisted of 56 quad-mounted  Bofors guns and 34 single-mounted  Oerlikon guns. A pair of Mk 34 gun directors aided gunlaying for the main battery, while two Mk 37 directors controlled the 5-inch guns and a Mk 57 director aided the 40 mm guns. The main armored belt was  thick, while the gun turrets had  thick faces. The main armored deck was  thick.

Construction, conversion proposals and eventual fate
Along with the five s and the final three Alaska-class cruisers, the construction of Hawaii was suspended in May 1942 before work began. This freed materials and facilities so that they could be used to build additional ships which could be completed faster and were needed in the war zones, like anti-submarine escorts. Over  of steel plates and shapes which had been destined for Hawaii was redirected to other ships in July 1942. However, Hawaii was added back onto the construction queue on 25 May 1943, unlike CB-4 through CB-6, which were cancelled on 24 June 1943. Her keel was laid on 20 December 1943, and she was finally launched on 3 November 1945, about two years after Guam. The ship was sponsored by Mary P. Farrington, the wife of the delegate from the Territory of Hawaii to the United States House of Representatives, Joseph Farrington. After her launch, little, if any, work was done before construction was halted in either February or April 1947 due to the reduction in defense expenditures after World War II; the ship was 82.4% complete when work was halted. The turrets for the main battery had been fitted and the superstructure was mostly finished, although the former were removed when the ship was moved into the reserve fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

Aircraft carrier conversion
Hawaii was considered under project SCB 26 for a conversion to an aircraft carrier, with an aircraft crane and twin aircraft catapults to be added on the stern of the ship. The conversion, as envisioned, would have looked similar to a completed . The ship would have also been able to launch the JB-2 "Loon" cruise missile from a hydraulic catapult installed on her forward flight deck. The conversion was authorized in the same year (1948) and was scheduled to be completed in 1950; the ship's classification was changed to CBG-3 to reflect the planned overhaul. However, the conversion was canceled in 1949, along with any other plans for surface ships equipped with ballistic missiles, due to the volatility of the rocket fuels and the shortcomings with guidance systems that were available.

Guided-missile cruiser designs
Similar to the unfinished battleship , Hawaii was considered for a conversion to be a test platform for the development of guided missiles in September 1946. Designated CB(SW), the cruisers' gun armament would have consisted of sixteen 3-inch (76 mm) L70 guns in eight dual mounts. Most missiles would have been mounted toward the bow, while two "missile launching pits" would be located near the stern. For this task, no armor would have been needed and previously installed armor was to be taken off the ship when required. These plans never came to fruition, so Hawaii remained in the Reserve Fleet, still incomplete.

Two years later, in 1948, a similar conversion plan was put forth. This plan, designated project SCB 26A, proposed that Hawaii be converted into a Ballistic Guided Missile Ship. This plan called for Hawaii to be completed with 12 vertical launchers for U.S.-made V-2 short-range ballistic missiles and 6 launchers for the SSM-N-2 Triton surface-to-surface cruise missile. Triton was an attempt to give the Navy a reliable cruise missile that it could launch off of its ships. The design process began with an approval from the U.S. Navy in September 1946. After "formulating performance objectives and possible design baselines", the designers settled on attempting to fit a  ramjet-powered cruiser missile onto solid-fuel rocket boosters that could carry the missile  at Mach 1.6–2.5 in 1950. After lowering the ambitious goals to more realistic levels in 1955, a fully operational version was expected by 1965, but with tests for the SSM-N-9/RGM-15 Regulus II planned for that year and the up-and-coming UGM-27 Polaris submarine-launched cruise missile, the project was terminated in 1957. One source has a variation of this scheme, with the developmental XPM (Experimental Prototype Missile) from Operation Bumblebee replacing the Triton launchers. XPM eventually led to the RIM-8 Talos surface-to-air missile.

Large command ship

Yet another conversion of Hawaii, this time to a "large command ship", was contemplated under project SCB 83 from August 1951. In this role, she would have been similar to , but larger. This conversion would have boasted expansive flag facilities and fully capable radar and communication systems for commanding carrier task forces, though there would have been no facilities for amphibious operations. Armament would have consisted of sixteen 5"/54 caliber guns in single mounts; this gun size was specified because 3-inch/50-caliber guns were believed to be too light. Two radars would have been mounted: an AN/SPS-2 on top of a forward tower and an AN/SPS-8 on the aft superstructure. In addition, an SC-2 was to be mounted on top of a short tower aft of the stack (though forward of the SPS-8); this would have been used for "tropospheric scatter communications".

Two Mk37/25 fire-control directors were planned, both fore and aft of the superstructure. The conversion plans were authorized, and her classification was changed to CBC-1 to reflect this on 26 February 1952. Money to begin the project was included in the 1952 budget, but the only work done on the ship was the removal of the 12" turrets, as it was intended that experience from Northampton should be analyzed before a full conversion. However, when it was seen that a smaller and cheaper ship—like the light carrier —could do the same duty, the Hawaii project was cancelled in 1953. She reverted to her original designation of CB-3 on 9 September 1954.

Polaris study
In February 1957, a study entitled "Polaris Study–CB-3" was published, proposing that Hawaii be stripped of all her guns in favor of twenty Polaris missiles, mounted in the hull vertically in roughly the same location as the third main turret would have been located, two Talos surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers, one each fore and aft, two Tartar SAMs mounted on either side of the superstructure and a single ASROC anti-submarine weapon mounted where the second main turret would have been placed. Nothing further was done with the study.

Disposal
On 9 June 1958, Hawaii was struck from the Naval Vessel Register and the ship was sold to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore on 15 April 1959. The still-incomplete Hawaii was towed to Baltimore, arriving there on 6 January 1960 and was subsequently broken up for scrap.

Notes

References

Sources

External links

 Navy photographs of Hawaii (CB-3)

Alaska-class cruisers
Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Cancelled ships of the United States Navy
1945 ships

USS Hawaii (CB-3)


Pamid is an old grape variety used for red wine. It has been cultivated in Bulgaria since the times of the ancient Thracians. In the past, it was the most widely spread Bulgarian variety, but today its plantations are highly limited. Pamid is also cultivated in North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Turkey, Greece, Hungary and Romania. The bunch is medium-sized (10–16 cm), and the grape is small (14–15 mm) and juicy. The skin is thin, red or sometimes dark red. It has excellent fertility, and its vintage is around the middle of September. Its yield is about 4–5 kg. It does not need any particular kind of soil, but the grapes with best quality are cultivated in hilly areas with light drained soils.

This grape accumulates sufficient sugar – from 18 to 24% – but its acidity is low: 4–5 g/dm3. The wines are red, light table wines for mass consumption. They have low acidity and low extract and that is why they are not appropriate for maturing and should be consumed young, right after fermentation and clarification.

References

Red wine grape varieties
Bulgarian wine
Grape varieties of Bulgaria

Pamid


The proofing of armour is testing armour for its defensive ability, most commonly the historical testing of plate armour and mail (armour). In the early Middle Ages, armour would be classified by the blows it could withstand, being certified as proof against swords, axes, and arrows. As firearms emerged as battlefield weapons, armour would be tested against them, as well, from which came the modern term "bulletproof".

In Japan the testing of armor by arrow or a musket ball is called tameshi with the tested armor being called tameshi gusoku. Helmet and chest armors were tested and many examples of these armors showing the bullet test marks still exist. In the 14th century, Japanese individual scale armor pieces were said to have been tested by arrows before being assembled into an armor.

References

Western plate armour
Medieval armour

Proofing (armour)


Christopher Clarke, known professionally as Chris Goldfinger, is a former BBC Radio 1 disc jockey who presented the station's reggae dancehall show from 1996 to September 2009.

His programme was produced by Tim Westwood's production company Justice Productions, and Goldfinger frequently appears at club nights DJing alongside Westwood. He grew up in Jamaica and attended the high school Jamaica College. He has interviewed many artists over the years at Radio 1 including Damian Marley, Beenie Man, Chaka Demus and Pliers, Capleton, and Barrington Levy.

Current ventures
In the latter part of 2009, Goldfinger departed from the reggae dancehall show, a post he held for 13 years. Since his departure, he has appeared on the 1Xtra Dancehall Mix show (filling in for Young Lion). He stated that he will be "passing through 1Xtra more, once he has the time." He was scheduled to open a new club in Croydon simply called 'The Club,' and to have a show on Flava TV channel.

In 2012, Goldfinger joined OnTop FM.

Goldfinger is the owner of the party venue in Croydon called Tabú Lounge.  He tours extensively in places such as Zimbabwe, Gambia, and Jamaica.

Goldfinger contributes the intro and mid-show drop on the 'Original Flavaz mixshow with B-Eazy & Dubsoulvibe' on TrunkOfunk Radio available on Mixcloud every last Sunday of the month. Goldfinger and B-Eazy hosted an 'Original Flavaz' mix show special which was broadcast on 26 February 2017.

Goldfinger's Reggae Dancehall show became popular and was subsequently broadcast on 17 different media outlets worldwide; Ontop FM, Stingdem FM, TGM Radio, Vibes 106.1 (Gambia), Urban FM, ABCi Radio (Scotland), Fresh FM, Passion Radio (UK), Sandwell Radio, Slam Radio, Brum City Radio, Skyline Radio, Peoples 104.5FM, Juice FM, Vibez FM (Birmingham), Roc Solid Radio and Riddim One Radio (Jamaica). A further 5 more stations has been added to the list, making it 22 stations globally the Chris GOLDFINGER Reggae Dancehall show is played out on.

His soul music show, the Sunday Soul Serenade Show on Ontop FM, Riddim One Radio, Silk Radio, and Outtadabox Radio and Koffee Radio is broadcast every Sunday which features soul classics from the 1950s to the '80s.

References

External links
Chris Goldfinger BBC Page
Chris Goldfinger HIRE FM Profile

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Black British radio presenters
Black British DJs

Chris Goldfinger


Alexander van Gaelen (1670-1728), who was born at Amsterdam, was the scholar of Jan van Huchtenburgh, and, like his master, painted battles and subjects of the chase, which he treated with great fire and spirit. Whilst he was a pupil of Huchtenburgh, he had an opportunity of improving his touch by copying the works of Wouwerman, Berchem, and other eminent masters, as his instructor was a dealer in pictures as well as a painter; and he was perhaps more indebted to this circumstance, than to the lessons of Huchtenburgh. He soon found himself able to dispense with further instruction, and, resolving on visiting other countries in search of improvement, went to Germany, where he passed some time at Cologne, in the employment of the Elector. After a few years passed in Germany he returned to Holland, where, not meeting with the encouragement he expected, he did not long remain, but determined to visit England, whither some of his pictures had preceded him. He accordingly came to this country in the reign of Queen Anne, and is said to have painted a picture of Her Majesty in a coach drawn by eight horses, and attended by several of the nobility. He also painted three pictures, representing two of the principal battles between the Royal Army and that of the Commonwealth in the time of Charles I, and the Battle of the Boyne. No mention, however, is made of Van Gaelen in Walpole's Anecdotes. He died in 1728.

References

1670 births
1728 deaths
18th-century Dutch painters
18th-century Dutch male artists
Dutch male painters
Painters from Amsterdam

Alexander van Gaelen


Cobb Hill is an intentional community in Hartland, Vermont in the United States. Its design borrows from other community, agricultural, and environmental action models: cohousing, ecovillages, sustainable communities, community-supported agriculture (CSA), agricultural collectives, sustainability research and action organizations.

Green Construction
23 households live in tightly clustered houses on  that include a working, partly horse-powered, farm and forest. Another member lives in an 1800s farmhouse on the property. The new homes and common house were built using green building principles: buildings oriented to maximize solar hot water and passive solar heating, very good insulation and windows, composting toilets, two Garn brand wood gasifying furnaces to heat all units, certified and local building materials, and Energy Star appliances.

Agriculture at Cobb Hill
Agricultural enterprises include a vegetable CSA (Community-supported agriculture) and dairy called Cedar Mountain Farm, Cobb Hill Cheese, Cobb Hill Frozen Yogurt, Cobb Hill Maple Syrup, Cobb Hill Icelandic Sheep, Cobb Hill Mushrooms, beekeeping/honey, poultry, egg production, hay, and forestry. Each enterprise is structured as a partnership of an interested and invested subset of community members. While the enterprises all use mostly organic methods they have chosen not to seek organic certification. Sustainable agriculture and production for local and regional markets are emphasized. Some of the residents bring in a significant part of their household income from the agricultural enterprises.

Community

Cobb Hill members seek a sustainable lifestyle. Beyond green houses and producing food locally there is shared intention to explore other forms of local and global education and action. This plays out in many ways and at varied levels of commitment and time for different members. Members participate in the many activities that keep the community functioning socially and physically - shared meals twice a week, monthly work days and community meetings, standing and ad hoc committees, social events. Over time deep friendships have developed. Conflicts also happen. The community has shown resilience and tenacity in exploring how to move collectively from wide-ranging personal interest to common ground.

Donella Meadows Institute (formerly Sustainability Institute)
Some Cobb Hill members worked in the initial years at the Sustainability Institute, which was adjacent to the cohousing village and farm. Dana Meadows, a founding member of Cobb Hill also founded the Institute before her death in 2001. In 2011 the Sustainability Institute was renamed as the Donella Meadows Institute and moved its offices to nearby Norwich, Vermont.

References

External links
Cobb Hill
Cedar Mountain Farm CSA
Cobb Hill Cheese
Garn Wood Gasifying Furnaces

Ecovillages
Agriculture in Vermont

Cobb Hill


Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite (a calcium aluminium hydroxyl sorosilicate), caused by small amounts of vanadium. Tanzanite belongs to the epidote mineral group. Tanzanite is only found in Simanjiro District of Manyara Region in Tanzania, in a very small mining area approximately  long and  wide near the Mererani Hills.

Tanzanite is noted for its remarkably strong trichroism, appearing alternately blue, violet and burgundy depending on crystal orientation. Tanzanite can also appear differently when viewed under different lighting conditions. The blues appear more evident when subjected to fluorescent light and the violet hues can be seen readily when viewed under incandescent illumination. In its rough state tanzanite is colored a reddish brown to clear, and it requires heat treatment to remove the brownish "veil" and bring out the blue violet of the stone.

The gemstone was given the name 'tanzanite' by Tiffany & Co. after Tanzania, the country in which it was discovered. The scientific name of "blue-violet zoisite" was not thought to be sufficiently consumer friendly by Tiffany's marketing department, who introduced it to the market in 1968. In 2002, the American Gem Trade Association chose tanzanite as a December birthstone, the first change to their birthstone list since 1912.

Geology
Tanzanite was formed around 585 million years ago during the mid-Ediacaran Period by massive plate tectonic activity and intense heat in the area that would later become Mount Kilimanjaro. The mineral is located in a relatively complex geological environment. Deposits are typically found in the "hinge" of isoclinal folds.

Discovery
There are many accounts of the discovery of tanzanite, but only one recognised by the government of Tanzania. In January 1967, Jumanne Mhero Ngoma (originally from Same District, Kilimanjaro) stumbled upon the sparkling blue stones at the Mererani hills in the Kiteto district of the then Arusha Region (presently Manyara Region). He was issued with a certificate of recognition three years later by the then President Julius Nyerere and a financial reward of Tsh 50,000 for his efforts. In 1984, he was issued with a certificate for scientific discovery by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology.

Commercial history

In July 1967, Manuel de Souza, a Goan tailor and part-time gold prospector living in Arusha (Tanzania), found transparent fragments of blue and blue-purple gem crystals on a ridge near Mererani, some  southeast of Arusha. He assumed that the mineral was olivine (peridot) but, after soon realizing it was not, he concluded it was "dumortierite" (a blue non-gem mineral). Shortly thereafter, the stones were shown to John Saul, a Nairobi-based consulting geologist and gemstone wholesaler who was then mining aquamarine in the region around Mount Kenya. Saul, who later discovered the famous ruby deposits in the Tsavo area of Kenya, eliminated dumortierite and cordierite as possibilities, and sent samples to his father, Hyman Saul, vice president at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. Hyman Saul brought the samples across the street to the Gemological Institute of America which correctly identified the new gem as a variety of the mineral zoisite. Correct identification was also made by mineralogists at Harvard University, the British Museum, and Heidelberg University, but the very first person to get the identification right was Ian McCloud, a Tanzanian government geologist based in Dodoma.

Scientifically called "blue zoisite", the gemstone was renamed as tanzanite by Tiffany & Co., who wanted to capitalize on the rarity and single location of the gem, and thought that "blue zoisite" (which might be pronounced like "blue suicide") would not sell well. Tiffany's original campaign advertised that tanzanite could now be found in two places: "in Tanzania and at Tiffany's".

From 1967, an estimated two million carats of tanzanite were mined in Tanzania before the mines were nationalized by the Tanzanian government in 1971.

Tanzanite mining developments
In 1990, the Tanzanian government split the tanzanite mines into four sections: Blocks A, B, C and D. Blocks A and C were awarded to large operators, while Blocks B and D were reserved for the local miners. In 2005 the government renewed the lease of Block C mine to TanzaniteOne, who paid US$40 million for their lease and mining license.

In June 2003, the Tanzanian government introduced legislation banning the export of unprocessed tanzanite to India. (Like many gemstones, most tanzanite is cut in Jaipur.) The reason for the ban is to attempt to spur development of local processing facilities, thereby boosting the economy and recouping profits. This ban was phased in over a two-year period, until which time only stones over 0.5 grams were affected. In 2010, the government of Tanzania banned the export of rough stones weighing more than one gram.

TanzaniteOne Mining Ltd is owned by Richland Resources, but a 2010 law in Tanzania required them to cede 50% ownership of their mining license to the Tanzanian State Mining Company (Stamico). Production in 2011 amounted to , earning them $24 million.

Following the construction of a  perimeter wall around the mines, to improve security and prevent smuggling, production rose from  in 2018 to a record  in 2019.

On 24 June 2020, a new record for the world's largest rough tanzanite was set after a small-scale miner, Mr. Saniniu Laizer, mined two stones of  and  and sold them to the Government of Tanzania through Ministry of Mining for TSh 7.74 billion (US$3.35 million) surpassing a record of  stone mined by TanzaniteOne in 2005.

Total reserves of tanzanite are estimated at , according to a report published in 2018. Block C, by far the largest site, has been estimated at  with a Life of Mine (LOM) expected to last until the 2040s.

Factors affecting value: grading
There is no universally accepted method of grading colored gemstones. TanzaniteOne, a major commercial player in the tanzanite market, through its non-profit subsidiary, the Tanzanite Foundation, has introduced its own color-grading system. The new system's color-grading scales divide tanzanite colors into a range of hues, between bluish-violet, indigo and violetish-blue.

The normal primary and secondary hues in tanzanite are blue and violet. Untreated tanzanite is a trichroic gemstone, meaning that light that enters this anisotropic crystal gets refracted on different paths, with different color absorption on each of the three optical axes. As a result of this phenomenon, a multitude of colors have been observed in various specimens: shades of purple, violet, indigo, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, red and brown. After heating, tanzanite becomes dichroic. The dichroic colors range from violet through bluish-violet to indigo and violetish-blue to blue.

Clarity grading in colored gemstones is based on the eye-clean standard, that is, a gem is considered flawless if no inclusions are visible with the unaided eye (assuming 20/20 vision). The Gemological Institute of America classifies tanzanite as a Type I gemstone, meaning it is normally eye-clean. Gems with eye-visible inclusions will be traded at deep discounts.

Heat treatment

Tanzanite forms as a brownish crystal and is trichroic, which means it shows three colors – brown, blue and violet – concurrently.  Heating, either underground naturally by metamorphic processes, or artificially, removes the brown or burgundy color component to produce a stronger violet-blue color and makes the stone "dichroic", which means it only reflects blue and violet. Rarely, gem-quality tanzanite will heat to a green primary hue, almost always accompanied by a blue or violet secondary hue.  These green tanzanite have some meaningful value in the collector market, but are seldom of interest to commercial buyers.

Heat-treating in a furnace is usually carried out at between  for 30 minutes. The stones should not have any cracks or bubbles, as they could shatter or the cracks/ bubble could increase in size during furnace heating.

Some stones found close to the surface in the early days of the discovery (in an area now called D block) were gem-quality blue without the need for heat treatment – probably the result of a wildfire in the area which heated the stones underground. This gave rise to the idea that "D block" stones were more desirable than tanzanite found in other areas of the small tanzanite mining area.

Since heat treatment is universal, it has no effect on price, and finished gems are assumed to be heat-treated. Gemological Institute of America states that the source of heating is gemologically undetectable, but is assumed because of its prevalence.

Tanzanite may be subjected to other forms of treatment as well. Recently, coated tanzanites were discovered and tested by the AGTA and AGL laboratories. A thin layer containing cobalt, determined by X-ray fluorescence, had been applied to improve the color. It was noted that "coatings in particular are not considered permanent", and in the United States are required to be disclosed at the point of sale.

Pleochroism in Tanzanite

Pleochroism has a physical property in which the gemstone will appear to have multiple colors based on the angle of the light hitting the stone. Tanzanite is a pleochroic gemstone. Most Tanzanite are blue when viewed from one direction but can vary from violet to red when seeing from a different angle.

The physical characters can make cutting process difficult due to the problem of selecting the perfect color. The finished color of the gemstone will vary depending on how the table cut reflects the light.

Imitation and cobalt-coated tanzanite
, tanzanite has never been successfully synthesized in a laboratory, so all genuine tanzanite is naturally occurring. However, because of its rarity and market demand, tanzanite has been imitated in several ways. Among the materials used for this are cubic zirconia, synthetic spinel, yttrium aluminium garnet, and colored glass. A test of the stone with a dichroscope can easily distinguish these from genuine tanzanite, as only tanzanite will appear doubly refractive: the two viewing windows of the dichroscope will display different colors (one window blue, the other violet) when viewing genuine tanzanite, while the imitation stones are all singly refractive and will cause both windows to appear the same color (violet).

Synthetic forsterite (, the magnesium-rich end-member of olivine) has also been sold as tanzanite, and presents a similar appearance. It can be distinguished from tanzanite in three ways. The first is by using a refractometer: forsterite will show a refractive index of between 1.63 and 1.67, while tanzanite will show a higher index of 1.685 to 1.707. The second way is by using a Hanneman filter: through it, genuine tanzanite will appear orange-pink, while forsterite will appear green. The third way is by examining a cut stone through its crown facets and viewing the pavilion cuts at the back of the stone using a standard jeweler's loupe: forsterite will show birefringence, making the pavilion cuts appear "doubled up", while the much lower birefringence of tanzanite will not have this characteristic.

Lower grades of tanzanite are occasionally enhanced using a layer of cobalt, as cobalt imparts a deeper shade of blue. The cobalt layer does not adhere well to these stones, and tends to rub off over time, resulting in a much less intensely colored stone. Though still tanzanite, the practice of cobalt coating is considered deceptive unless well-advertised.

See also
 Manyara Region
 Arusha Region

References

External links

Epidote group
Gemstones
Orthorhombic minerals
Minerals in space group 62

Tanzanite