The PK (, transliterated as Pulemyot Kalashnikova, or "Kalashnikov's machine gun"), is a belt-fed general-purpose machine gun, chambered for the 7.62×54mmR rimmed cartridge.

Designed in the Soviet Union and currently in production in Russia, the original PK machine gun was introduced in 1961 and the improved PKM variant was introduced in 1969. The PKM was designed to replace the SGM and RP-46 machine guns that were previously in Soviet service.

The weapon remains in use as a front-line infantry and vehicle-mounted weapon with Russia's armed forces and has also been exported extensively and produced in several other countries under license.

History

The Main Artillery Directorate of the Soviet Union (GRAU) adopted specification requirements for a new 7.62 mm general-purpose company and battalion-level machine gun that was to be chambered for a rifle cartridge in 1955.

In 1958 a machine gun prototype, developed by G.I. Nikitin and Yuri M. Sokolov, successfully passed field tests. Based on the results of the tests it was decided in 1960 to manufacture a batch of Nikitin-Sokolov machine guns for service tests and then put the machine gun into production at the Kovrov Mechanical Plant. However, when the Nikitin-Sokolov machine gun was almost completed, a team of Izhevsk Mechanical Plant designers, headed by M.T. Kalashnikov, and further consisting of V.V. Krupin, V.N. Pushchin, A.D. Kryakushin, as well as Startsev, Kamzolov, Koryakovtsev, Yuferev, joined the competition. Their machine gun prototype was based on the well-proven gas-operated rotary-bolt design of the Kalashnikov-pattern arms.

The Kalashnikov and the Nikitin-Sokolov prototypes underwent service tests in the Central Asian, Odessa, and Baltic Military Districts, as well as at the Vystrel officer training courses in late 1960. The Main Missiles and Artillery Directorate and the Ministry of the Defence Industry preferred the Kalashnikov design. The Kalashnikov design was found to be more reliable and cheaper to manufacture than the design of Grigory Nikitin and Yuri Sokolov.

The PK/PKS was put into production at the Kovrov Mechanical Plant and used the tripod mount and an ammunition belt boxes originally designed for the Nikitin-Sokolov prototype machine gun.

Nikitin's and Sokolov's machine gun design was later used in the 12.7 mm NSV heavy machine gun that was put into production in 1971.

Design details
The original PK was a development of Kalashnikov's AKM assault rifle and the accompanying RPK light machine gun design that featured stamped receivers. The PK uses the 7.62×54mmR Eastern Bloc standard cartridge that produces significantly more bolt thrust when compared to the Eastern Bloc 7.62×39mm and 5.45×39mm intermediate cartridges.
With the use of a single spare parts kit and two barrel assemblies the service life of the modernized PKM machine gun series is guaranteed for at least 25,000 rounds.

Operating mechanism

The bolt and carrier design are similar to the AK-47 and other modernised Kalashnikov-pattern weapons, as is the stripping procedure performed to remove those mechanisms from the gun for cleaning. The bolt and bolt carrier are however oriented upside down compared to the AKM, with the piston and gas system being underneath the barrel.

Unlike the AKM and RPK the PK machine gun series is an open bolt design, which improves heat management during automatic fire compared to closed bolt designs and helps avoiding the dangerous phenomenon known as "cook-off", wherein the firing chamber becomes so hot that the propellant contained in a chambered round unintentionally ignites, making the weapon fire until the ammunition is exhausted. Open bolt designs typically operate much cooler than closed bolt designs due to the airflow allowed into the chamber, action and barrel during pauses between bursts, making them more suitable for constant full-automatic weapons such as machine guns. General-purpose machine guns like the PK are further normally issued with several quick change barrels that during prolonged intense use are swapped out allowing one barrel to cool while the machine gun fires with the other.

The rimmed 7.62×54mmR cartridges are set in a metal ammunition belt and are held against the shoulder inside non disintegrating looped links, leaving the rim exposed at the rear. The belt is mounted from the right side into the feed way of the PK machine gun. The PK uses a non-reciprocating charging handle on the right side of the receiver to charge the gun. Since the PK uses a rimmed rifle cartridge and closed-link belts used for feeding, a two-stage feed mechanism with a preliminary extraction of a cartridge from a belt link was preferred over a direct ammunition feed design often used for rimless cartridges.

The PK machine gun is equipped with a lever-type feed mechanism introduced in Louis Stange's MG 39 Rh and copied in the Czechoslovak machine guns like vz. 52 and vz. 59, which is operated by the feed lever. The lever, which is simplified compared to the prior art,  is mounted on the right wall of the receiver and wraps around the bolt carrier with its feed pawl and roller. The rest of the mechanism is mounted either on the receiver cover or on the ammunition feed tray cover hinged under it. The PK feed mechanism pulls the rimmed 7.62×54mmR cartridges out from the back of the ammunition belt and drops the cartridges down into the feed way, allowing the bolt to strip and feed the cartridges into the chamber for firing.

The PK feed mechanism is radically different from that of 7.62×51mm NATO machine guns based on the MG 42 feed mechanism that typically incorporate a much larger (and therefore much heavier) articulated feed cam, lever, and pawl assembly that pushes rimless cartridges out forward from their links directly into the chamber for firing.

The PK fires from the rear sear. The breech is locked by a rotating bolt, with two locking lugs engaging locking recesses in the receiver. The gas piston is hinged to the bolt carrier assembly, and its vertical travel makes it possible to bend the group making machine gun assembly and disassembly for maintenance easier. The protruding rear part of the bolt carrier assembly features spiral shaped cuts, which provide a controlled rotation of the bolt. The mainspring is accommodated in the bolt carrier assembly slide channel. A cartridge extractor with a latch is mounted in the rear part of the bolt carrier assembly. The cocking lever, mounted on the right, is not integral with the bolt carrier and does not reciprocate as the gun fires.

The gas cylinder is mounted under the barrel and fitted with a gas regulator with three fixed positions. The gas regulator opens corresponding holes to change the amount of expanding propellant gases bled off out of the gas cylinder into the atmosphere, thus varying the amount of energy transferred on to the long-stroke piston.

Receiver
The PK general-purpose machine gun U-shaped receiver is stamped from a smooth  sheet of steel that is supported extensively by pins and rivets. For additional rigidity and strength the PK receiver features double walls made from 1.5 mm steel plates that are welded together with the U-shaped stamping. The receiver top cover is also stamped from 1.5 mm sheet metal and hinged on the front of the receiver and locked at the back with a spring-loaded latch.

Barrel
The quick detachable barrel assembly slides into the receiver and attaches by a barrel-lock. On the original PK it was partially fluted to increase rigidity and improve heat dissipation. The barrel-lock also regulates the gap between the breech face and the breech end of the barrel. PK barrels have a folding carry handle/grip that is positioned to the left of the receiver and is used to transport the weapon and quickly and safely change-out barrels to prevent barrel overheating. The bore is chrome-lined and features four right-hand grooves at a 240 mm (1 in 9.45 in) rifling twist rate. The muzzle is threaded for the installation of various muzzle devices such as a flash hider. The muzzle was normally equipped with a conical flash suppressor that added  to the barrel and later a long slotted flash suppressor that added  to the barrel. Later when the PKM variant was introduced the PK series barrel fluting was omitted and the muzzle device was changed to a shorter cylindrical slotted flash suppressor that added  to the barrel. The PKM barrel assembly weighs  and can fire up to 400 rounds in rapid fire scenarios before it has to be replaced for another barrel or allowed to cool down to prevent unacceptable wear of the bore. The sustainable effective rate of fire is about 250 rounds per minute. Whilst, the cyclic rate of fire is around 600–800 rounds per minute.

Sights

Iron sights
The rear sight assembly is riveted onto the receiver cover and consist of a square notched rear tangent iron sight calibrated in  increments from  and includes a "point-blank range" battle zero setting corresponding to a  zero. It is identical in design to the AKM and Mosin–Nagant, except that it is oriented backwards with the notch forward and the hinge behind.  The iron sight line has a  sight radius. Like the RPD rear sight, the PK rear sight also features full windage adjustment in the form of small dials on either side of the notch.

The front sight assembly is mounted near the end of the barrel and consists of a protected open post adjustable for elevation in the field.

Optical sights
PK machine guns that feature a Warsaw Pact side-rail bracket on the left side of the receiver can mount various aiming optics. The standard Russian side rail mounted optical sight was the 4×26 1P29 Universal sight for small arms, an aiming optic similar to the British SUIT and SUSAT and Canadian C79 optical sights. When mounted, the 1P29 sight is positioned centered above the receiver at a height that allows the use of the iron sights. It weighs 0.8 kg, offers 4× magnification with a field of view of 8° and 35 mm eye relief. The 1P29 is issued with a canvas pouch, a lens cleaning cloth, combination tool, two rubber eyecups, two eyecup clamps and three different bullet drop compensation (BDC) cams for the AK-74, RPK-74 and PK machine gun. The 1P29 is intended for quickly engaging point and area targets at various ranges. On the right side of the field of view a stadiametric rangefinder is incorporated that can be used to determine the distance from a  tall object from . The reticle is an inverted aiming post in the top half of the field of view and is tritium-illuminated for low-light condition aiming. A later designed similar optical sight suitable for the PK machine gun series is the 4×24 1Р77.

Trigger
The trigger assembly, mounted inside the receiver, is operated by the mainspring and suitable for automatic fire. It has no single shot mode of fire. The manual rotating type safety locks the sear, which engages the sear notch of the bolt carrier assembly, and the trigger lug does not allow the bolt carrier assembly to go all the way back.

Stock

The skeletonized buttstock, pistol grip and folding carry handle/grip on the barrels were originally manufactured from birch plywood laminates. Such engineered woods are stronger and resist warping better than the conventional one-piece patterns, do not require lengthy maturing, and are cheaper. The wooden furniture was finished with the Russian amber shellac finishing process. Small accessories and an oil-solvent container can be stored inside butt recesses. Later the buttstock was fitted with a hinged butt-rest. More recent PKM machine guns and barrel assemblies are equipped with a new black glass-filled polyamide buttstock, pistol grip and barrel carry handle/grip shaped like the previously used laminated wooden stock and grips.

Feeding

PK machine guns are belt-fed, using non-disintegrating metal belts, which have links that wrap around the cartridge case shoulder all the way around, and are linked by a coiling wire on each side. The links are made of  thick high carbon stamped steel sheet metal that is zinc phosphated and varnished for protection. These belts are preloaded at ammunition factories in 25-round connectable belt lengths and can be linked to any length necessary. Factory connected PK ammunition belts are available in 25, 100, 200 and 250 rounds lengths. Typical of Soviet machine guns, the PK feeds from the right and ejects its spent cases via an ejection port on the left side of the weapon, contrary to the right side ejection port seen in most Western machine guns.

For the light machine gun role, the PK is used as the standard squad automatic weapon of the Russian Army. The PK uses a 100-round non-disintegrating belt contained in a metal box made from an aluminium frame and steel cover that can be attached under the gun's receiver. The 100-round belt "assault" box has a folding lid in its cover for feeding the ammunition belt when the box is attached under the machine gun receiver and weighs  or  for the modernised all aluminium lightweight variant. When the machine gun is fired from a bipod, the 100-round ammunition box is normally attached to the underside of the receiver.

For the medium machine gun role, there is also a 200/250-round ammunition box made from an aluminium frame and steel cover available which can be mounted on the tripods used for the PK machine gun series. A 200/250-round ammunition box containing a 250-round non-disintegrating belt weighs  and containing a 200-round non-disintegrating belt weighs  or  for the modernised all aluminium lightweight variant. Both metal ammunition boxes have canvas carry handles.

All openings on the machine gun, particularly the ejector port on the left and the belt feed entrance on the right, are covered with spring-loaded dust covers so that the openings are only exposed when they need to be.

Accessories
The PK is equipped with a simple detachable bipod mounted to the gas cylinder beneath the barrel and in that light machine gun setup is used as a squad-level support weapon. The right bipod leg accommodates links of a cleaning rod. Other accessories include a sling and storage covers.

The PK machine gun is also suitable for installation on tripod mounts or vehicle mounted medium machine gun setups and can also be used as a light anti-aircraft weapon against slow flying aircraft when it is put on an AA mount.

As with all general-purpose machine guns, tripod and vehicle mountings offer a higher degree of accuracy and control than when used on a less stable bipod. The PK machine gun, firing short bursts from a bipod, as a light machine gun has the following accuracy of fire: a mean deviation of  at a range of ,  at , and  at . The Russian and other European militaries use a circular error probable method that assumes a 50% hit probability (R50).

Variants

PKS
For heavier employment, the PKS (ПК Станковый: "PK Mounted") is based on the Samozhenkov 6T2 tripod mount. The PK and 6T2 tripod weigh .

The 6T2 Samozhenkov general-purpose tripod mount was designed by E. S. Samozhenkov and entered service in 1961 and weighs . The 6T2 Samozhenkov tripod mount was earlier envisioned for the Nikitin-Sokoiov machine gun that was not adopted by the Soviet Union. All types of ammunition belt boxes are carried and mounted separately. The Rakov device is used for loading ammunition belts. The PK machine gun is attached to a cradle on the 6T2 Samozhenkov mount. The cradle is hinged to a plug-in swivel equipped with a rack-and-pinion traversing mechanism, and a rod-and-screw elevation mechanism. The traversing mechanism is fitted with stops to limit the field of fire. For anti-aircraft fire or fire against ground targets from a kneeling position the cradle mounts a collapsible pole with a pivoting bracket. The mount features non-digging-in spades — sliding spades affect the accuracy of fire less than a "jumping" tripod with dug-in spades. There is an extra folding spade on the front leg for slippery and moving ground. Hinged tripod legs allow a gunner to fire the machine gun from a prone, a sitting, or a kneeling position.

The PKS machine gun, firing bursts from its tripod with fixed traversing and elevation mechanisms, as a medium machine gun has the following accuracy of fire: mean deviation of  at a range of ,  cm at , and  at . The Russian and other European militaries use a circular error probable method that assumes a 50% hit probability (R50) and cannot be converted and is not comparable to US military methods for determining small arms accuracy. When the R50 results are doubled the hit probability increases to 93.7%.

PKB
The PKB is a variant of the PK that has been designed for use as a pintle mounted machine gun on combat vehicles. A swivel has been attached to the middle of the PKB. Another configuration of the PKB has the normal stock and trigger mechanism removed and replaced by twin spade grips and a butterfly trigger.

PKT

The PKT (ПК Танковый, "PK Tank") (1968) is a solenoid-fired coaxial version of PK to replace the SGMT Goryunov vehicle-mounted machine gun. Modifications include the removal of the stock, a longer () and heavier barrel that adds  muzzle velocity, a gas regulator and an electric solenoid trigger. The PKT minimum cyclic rate of fire is 100 rounds per minute higher than other PK-series variants and is usually fed from 250-round ammunition boxes. The PKT barrel assembly weighs  and can fire up to 500 rounds in rapid fire scenarios before it has to be replaced for another barrel or allowed to cool down to prevent unacceptable wear of the bore. Some PKTs have been converted to infantry machine guns.

PKM
The PKM (ПК Модернизированный: "Kalashnikov's Machine-gun Modernised"), was adopted into service in 1969. The PKM is a modernised, product-improved version of the PK. The upgrades are primarily aimed at reducing the weight, simplifying production, and facilitating easier operation. The receiver cover became more rigid due to lengthwise ribs. The butt was fitted with a hinged butt-rest. The barrel fluting was omitted and the flash hider was changed. Later on the PKM was equipped with a new black glass-filled polyamide buttstock and pistol grip shaped like the previously used laminated wooden stock and grip.

PKMN
The PKMN (ПКМ Ночной: "PKM Night-Vision") is a variant that can mount a night sight for low-visibility operations. The PKMN-1 can thus mount the multi-model NSPU-3 (1PN51) night vision scope while the PKMN-2 can mount the multi-model NSPUM (1PN58) night vision scope. It can also be fitted with the 1PN93 series passive night sights.

Besides the Shakhin and 1PN116 thermal sights and the 1PN119 anti-sniper special-purpose night vision sight are available for mounting on PK machine guns that like the PKMN model feature a Warsaw Pact side-rail bracket on the left side of the receiver for mounting aiming optics.

PKMS

For heavier employment, the PKMS (ПКМ Станковый: "PKM Mounted") is mounted on the Stepanov 6T5 tripod mount. The PKM and 6T5 tripod weigh .

The tripod mount, designed by L. V. Stepanov for the PKM machine gun entered service in 1969 and weighs . It is a lighter mount for the PK(M) general-purpose machine gun without affecting the accuracy of fire. Besides, the almost entirely from steel stampings made Stepanov mount has 20 fewer components than the preceding Samozhenkov tripod and is 40% less labour-intensive, simplifying and rationalizing production. The Stepanov mount is based on a principle of multi-functional components: the elevation mechanism frame is also used as a pole for kneeled shooting or anti-aircraft fire; the base sleeve also serves as the axis for attaching rear legs of the tripod: the machine gun attachment is combined with the elevation mechanism frame lock for anti-aircraft fire; the fine elevation adjustment mechanism is integrated with the elevation mechanism axis. Each tripod leg can be folded for transport or adjusted for proper height on uneven terrain. The ammunition belt box can be secured to the right rear tripod leg in such a manner that the gun can be moved with the ammunition box still in place and with the gun loaded. This enables one crew member to carry and operate the gun in combat without having to unload the gun before repositioning the gun.

PKMSN
The PKMSN (ПКМС Ночной: "PKMS Night-Vision") is a special model of the tripod-mounted variant (PKMS) that can mount night sights for low-visibility operations, similar to the PKMN.

The PKMSN variant can use NSPU-3 (1PN51) and NSPUM (1PN58) night sights. It can also be fitted with the 1PN93 series passive night sights.

Besides that Shakhin and 1PN116 thermal sights and the 1PN119 anti-sniper special-purpose night vision sight are available for mounting on PK machine guns that like the PKMSN model feature a Warsaw Pact side-rail bracket on the left side of the receiver for mounting aiming optics.

PKTM
Modernised version of the PKT.

PKBM
Modernised version of the PKB.

PKP Pecheneg

 The PKP Pecheneg (6P41) (2001) is a further development and modification of the PKM. It has a heavy fixed barrel encased in a radial cooling sleeve that uses forced-air cooling, much like the Lewis Gun of World War I.
 6P41N Pecheneg-NP version with a rail for mounting nightscopes.
 Pecheneg-SP (6P69) improved modernised version.

Foreign copies

HCP PKM-NATO prototype and UKM-2000 (Poland)
In the early 1990s, as part of the preparations to join NATO, the Polish armed forces were looking for a replacement for the PK-series machine guns then in service. The H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A. Works in Poznań modified the PK/PKS to feed standard 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges and use NATO standard ammunition belts. The new model received the code-name PKM-NATO (or PKM-N). The modifications included a heavier barrel, a larger chamber, and a redesign of the lock, bolt, extractor, and the entire feeding mechanism. The prototype was tested from 1997 to 1999, but was rejected.

The Polish Army adopted the UKM-2000 machine gun instead in 2007, which was also based on the PKM.

Zastava M84/M86/M09/M10 (Yugoslavia/Serbia)
The Zastava M84 is a Yugoslav/Serbian-made licensed copy of the PK/PKS. The Zastava M86 is a copy of the solenoid-triggered PKT. These variants can be easily recognised by their unhollowed stock.

The Zastava M09 is a copy of the PKM with black synthetic furniture, chambered in 5.56x45 NATO ammo. The Zastava M10 is a variant of the M09 with a solid stock.

Norinco Type 80 (People's Republic of China)
The Type 80 is a Chinese-made copy of the PKM/PKMS.

Arsenal MG, MG-M1, MG-M1S, MG-1M, MG-M2, and MG-M2S (Bulgaria)
Arsenal originally produced the MG, modeled after the original Russian PK model. The MG-M1 is a licensed copy of the PKM with a synthetic buttstock and pistol grip. The MG-M1S only differs from the MG-M1 model due to the use of a tripod by the M1S model, where as the M1 model uses the original bi-pod design. The MG-1M, an improved Squad Automatic Weapon variant, has improved features, such as a redesigned barrel that allows for better cooling. The MG-M2 and MG-M2S are the M1 and M1S model that were chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO.

Cugir Mitraliera md. 66 (Romania)
The Mitraliera md. 66 is a Romanian-made copy of the PKM.

Mayak KM-7.62, KT-7.62 and KTM-7.62 (Ukraine)
The Mayak KM-7,62 is a copy of the PKM, made to be lighter and easier to handle. It first appeared in 2011. The KT-7,62 and KTM-7,62 are copies of the PKT, first appearing in 2011.

Production status
The PKM and other variants are in production in Russia and are currently exported to many nations. Additionally, various models are manufactured locally around the globe. Zastava Arms produces the PK under license as the M84 (along with the PKT as the M86), and it remains in use with many of the former Yugoslav successor states. The most recent modification is the Russian PKP Pecheneg, which features a forced air cooling barrel that cannot be removed in the field for quick replacement, unusual for a modern machine gun.

Users

{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|

 : Type 80 variant.

 : PK/PKM copies were produced as the MG-1 & MG-1M.
 : Used by Burundian rebels

 : PK/PKM copies were produced as the Type 80.

 : FARDC
 Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda

 : Designated as 7.62 KK PKM.
 : Phasing out.

 : Used by Front line troops as well as Co-axial weapon on Tanks and APC. Locally manufactured in India at OFB Tiruchirapalli.
 : PKT mounted on BVP-2 and BTR-50PK of the Indonesian Marine Corps.
 :
 : PKS and PKT variants. PKS being called "Be-Ke-Se"

  Transnistria

 : Clones made known as the Type 82.
 : PK/PKM copies were produced.

 : PK/PKM copies were produced as the Mitraliera md. 66.

 : Used on vehicles

 : Made under license as the Zastava M84/M86.

 : Jowhar government of Mohamed Dheere
 : Type 80 variant.

  Known as Biksi or Bixi in Turkish service. MKEK announced production of PKs.

  Lord Resistance Army
  PKT, PKM locally produce as KT-7.62 and KM-7.62 by Mayak.

 : Supplied by the Soviets in the late 1970s. Modernized variant designated as "ĐN7L" is developed and being manufactured by Z111 Factory.

Former users

 : Two issued per squad in the Soviet Army.
 : PKM copies were produced as the Zastava M84.
}}

Conflicts

1970s
Ogaden war (1977-1978)
Vietnam War (1955–1975)
South African Border War (1966–1990)
Cambodian Civil War (1968–1975)
Ethiopian Civil War (1974–1991)
Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990)
Egyptian–Libyan War (1977)
Cambodian–Vietnamese War (1978–1989)
Sino-Vietnamese War (1979)
Salvadoran Civil War (1979–1992)
Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989)

1980s
Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988)
Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (1987–present)
First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994)
Afghan Civil War (1989-1992)

1990s
Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995)
Gulf War (1990–1991)
Somali Civil War (1991–present)
Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001)
Afghan Civil War (1992-1996)
Burundian Civil War (1993–2005)
First Chechen War (1994–1996)
First Congo War (1996–1997)
Afghan Civil War (1996-2001)
Eritrean–Ethiopian War (1998–2000)
Second Congo War (1998–2003)
Second Chechen War (1999–2009)

2000s
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Iraqi conflict (2003–present)
Cambodian–Thai border dispute (2008–2011)
Russo-Georgian War (2008)
Boko Haram insurgency (2009–present)

2010s
First Libyan Civil War (2011)
Syrian Civil War (2011–present)
Mali Civil War (2012–present)
Russo-Ukrainian War
Second Libyan Civil War (2014–2020)
Yemeni Civil War (2014–present)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen (2015–present)
Saudi Arabian–Yemeni border conflict (2015–present)
Ethiopian civil conflict (2018–present)

2020s
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (2020)
Tigray War (2020–2022)
Russian invasion of Ukraine
War in Amhara
Wagner Group rebellion
2023 Israel–Hamas War

See also
 FN MAG
FN Maximi
FN Minimi
IWI Negev
 M60 machine gun
Mk 48 machine gun
 Sumitomo Type 62
Type 67 machine gun
UKM-2000

Notes

External links

 Original producer website
 Modern Firearms
 Modern Firearms—Pecheneg
 http://www.kalashnikov.ru/upload/medialibrary/637/nazvalsya-gruzdem.pdf
 http://www.kalashnikov.ru/upload/medialibrary/32b/ot-PK-kPKM.pdf
 Operator's Manual PK-Series General-Purpose Machinegun
 Technical data, instructional images and diagrams of the PK machine gun

7.62×54mmR machine guns
Cold War firearms of the Soviet Union
Degtyarev Plant products
Gas-operated firearms
General-purpose machine guns
Infantry weapons of the Cold War
Machine guns of the Soviet Union
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1961

PK machine gun


Cool Hand Luke is a novel by Donn Pearce published in 1965. It was adapted into the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke.

The story is told in a first-person narrative from the perspective of a convict in a central Florida prison. He works on a chain gang maintaining the berms of highways. He recounts the story of a "legendary" fellow inmate whose nickname is Cool Hand Luke.

The novel is based on Pearce's personal experiences while incarcerated with a Florida prison road gang.

History
Donn Pearce was busted for burglary and served two years at Raiford State Prison in central Florida, from 1949 to 1951, working hard labor on a road gang. At night, he began writing down some of the stories he saw and heard. He also began reading more seriously, such as Faulkner's Sanctuary. According to Pearce, about a third of Cool Hand Luke is his own story, a third is based on the stories he heard while doing time at Raiford, and another third is pure fiction. In 1959 after gaining freedom, Pearce broke a leg in a motorcycle accident and with time available decided to begin writing the novel based on his prison notes and memories. He wrote and re-wrote it six times over a six-year period. He had trouble finding a publisher, Fawcett Books finally agreed to publish the novel as a 'paperback original', paying Pearce $2,500. Scribners then published it as a hardback.

Style
The writing style is unusual in that although there is dialogue, and all quotes are indented paragraphs, they are not encased in quotation marks as is typical in English-language literature.

The most oft-repeated quote from the film, "What we've got here is ... failure to communicate", never appeared in the novel. Pearce said the guards were "100% redneck" without multi-syllable vocabularies who would have never said such an intellectually astute phrase.

Reviews
A contemporary review in Kirkus Reviews called it "A kind of classic small tall story (in latrine language)".

Adaptations
The novel was adapted to film in 1967, based on a screenplay by Pearce. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Stage and screen actor Mark Hammer performed an audiobook rendition in 1991 for Recorded Books.

A stage adaption by Emma Reeves produced by Andrew Loudon and starring Marc Warren and Richard Brake, based on the novel not the film, premiered at Aldwych Theatre in London in 2011.

References

1965 American novels
American novels adapted into films
Charles Scribner's Sons books
Novels set in Florida
Novels set in prison

Cool Hand Luke (novel)


E. A. Nelson Automobile Company, from 1917 to 1920 known as E. A. Nelson Motor Car Company, was an automobile manufacturer company, based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It operated from 1917 to 1921.

History

Emil A. Nelson was an engineer who worked for Packard, Oldsmobile, and Hupmobile. In 1917, he designed his own car and opened E. A. Nelson Motor Car Company, based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company began manufacturing Nelson 29 HP cars in 1917, with a production capacity of ten vehicles per day. The car was designed along the European style and was equipped with 2.4 liter four-cylinder aero-type engine with overhead cams, and 29 horspower (21.33 kW). Its chassis had a wheelbase of 264 cm (104 in), though some sources also list 289 cm (113.78 in). The car was manufactured in three versions: touring car, roadster, and sedan. In 1919, the touring car version was sold at the price of 1,500 USD, which is an . In 1920, the company introduced the Nelson Model D, with the same specifications as its predecessor.

Beginning the production just before the United States had entered the World War I, and the post-war depression, had caused the E. A. Nelson Automobile Company to have financial issues. In 1919, the planned cooperation with the Gray Company, a Detroit-based engine manufacturer, was unsuccessful. In March 1920, the company filed for bankruptcy for the first time. In September 1920, the company went through restructurization, and its name was changed to E.A. Nelson Automobile Company.

In 1921, the Nelson Model E car was introduced. It had similar specifications to its predecessor, with the only difference being its engine having 30 horsepower (22.37 kW). It was offered in two versions: touring car, and roadster.

A year later, in September 1921, the company had again filed for bankruptcy again and was permanently closed. In total, from 1917 to 1921, the company manufactured 1028 cars. One car had been preserved to the present day.

Gallery

References

Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States
Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan
Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan
Vintage vehicles
1910s cars
1920s cars
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1917
1917 establishments in Michigan
1921 disestablishments in Michigan
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1921
Cars introduced in 1917
American companies established in 1917
American companies disestablished in 1921
Touring cars
Roadsters
Sedans
Car brands

E. A. Nelson Automobile Company


Urban Jarnik (11 May 1784 – 11 June 1844) was a Carinthian Slovene priest, historian,  poet, linguist, author and ethnographer.

He was born in the lower Gail Valley in the Duchy of Carinthia. He served as a parish priest in several villages and towns throughout southern Carinthia, including Klagenfurt and Moosburg, which at the time still had a large Slovene-speaking population. Living among the Slovenian-speaking populations, Jarnik developed an interest in the many Slovenian dialects spoken in the era. He became the first Slovenian dialectologist and ethnographer.

He was co-editor of the bilingual scholarly and cultural journal Carinthia, edited in Klagenfurt. In his numerous articles, he wrote about the customs and rural cultural traditions of the local Slovenes. He also collected and edited several books of Slovenian and Slavic folk songs and tales. He strongly influenced later generations of Slovenian ethnologists, folklore collectors, and philologists who lived or worked in Carinthia, such as Anton Janežič, Matija Majar, Matija Ahacel, and Anton Martin Slomšek.

He died in Moosburg.

See also
Jernej Kopitar

External links
The official page of the Slovenian Ethnographic Institute in Austria

1784 births
1844 deaths
People from Hermagor District
People from the Duchy of Carinthia
Slovenian writers
19th-century Slovenian historians
Slovenian philologists
Slovenian ethnographers
19th-century Slovenian Roman Catholic priests
Carinthian Slovenes

Urban Jarnik


Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mandocello). Joined by singer and double-bassist Miranda Sykes for a tour in 2004, Show of Hands continued to regularly perform as a trio with Sykes, as well as in their original format. In 2019 the line-up was further expanded by the addition of Irish percussionist Cormac Byrne.

Known for their songs with rousing choruses that address contemporary social issues, (notably their "singalong attack on the bankers", Arrogance Ignorance and Greed) these often illustrate current concerns through historical narratives and have earned Knightley the label the 'Gravel voiced spokesman of the rural poor'. Rooted in English traditional music the songs are shot through with diverse influences from music across the world, including the blues, Americana and Latin rhythms. Nominating Knightley as 'songwriter of the '90s' Tom Robinson of BBC Radio 6 noted that the songs spring from "the soil of the West Country," where, as Robin Denselow writes in the Guardian, "Beer and Knightley have become folk heroes".

Widely recognised as pioneers in the folk/roots arena both for their enduring emphasis on stagecraft, and their radical business model, Show of Hands are noted for the high level of professionalism they bring to their performances whether in a small club or the Royal Albert Hall. Their "much vaunted cottage industry," set up Show of Hands as an independent concern before the internet made this common practice. Beer and Knightley with their then manager Gerard O'Farrell built on their close relationship with their growing and "devoted" fanbase to create a completely self-contained way of working.
This included their record label and production company Hands On Music, that gave them control of their consistently 'classy' output.

Show of Hands have received widespread critical acclaim over their 30 album (and continuing) career, and in 2006 were voted "Greatest Devonians Ever" in a poll run by Devon Country Council beating Sir Francis Drake, Agatha Christie and Chris Martin amongst others to the title.

History
1980s: The beginning

Offered a gig at the Wimborne Festival in 1986, Steve Knightley called on his old friends Warwick Downes (double bass) and Martin Bradley (concertina) to join him for that event. They performed as Show of Hands, a name chosen by Knightley who liked its democratic implications. Another of Knightley's old friends, Phil Beer, was in the audience. Impressed by the quality of Knightley's self-penned songs and by Exile in particular, Beer suggested they form a duo and offered to try and get them some gigs.

The pair had first met in the early seventies when both were in their early teens and performing on the thriving Devon folk circuit. Beer was gigging extensively with Colin Wilson (guitar) in their duo 'Odd Folk'. Knightley, in 'Gawain', was working his way through the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, with Paul Downes (Warwick's brother) on guitar and John 'Bat' Evans on fiddle. At this time Knightley began experimenting with writing his own songs.

Relocating to Coventry to study politics and history at Lanchester Polytechnic College, Knightley started a folk club there. Beer and Downes, gigging as a duo were frequent visitors.
Continuing his studies at Sussex University, Knightley formed a duo with Warwick Downes, during which time he penned his narrative folk 'opera' Tall Ships. This he later performed on Richard Digance's Capital Radio show, with his then neighbour, the actor Jim Carter (who plays Mr Carson in Downton Abbey) reading the opening poem, 'The Wrecker's Prayer'.

Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s Beer and Knightley would stand in as needed in each other's bands when they were playing in London. Here Knightley "stormed the indie rock circuit" In four bands The Cheats', 'Total Strangers', 'Short Stories' and 'The West' and Beer gigged with folk legends Johnny Coppin, Ashley Hutchings' The Albion Band, Mike Oldfield and his own 'The Arizona Smoke Revue'.

In 1986, Knightley moved to rural Dorset with his first wife Simone to run the remote 'Catsley House' as a whole-food guest-house. Here, in January 1987, following their fateful Wimborne Festival meeting, Beer and Knightley set up in a studio above the garage to record the songs that as Show of Hands they were now honing live.

Their first release, Show of Hands (on cassette only), sold out over the course of their live shows. Playing every gig on the folk circuit they knew so well from their teenage years, they realised that audiences tend to favour familiarity over novelty. So, the pair initially slipped original songs into a set of folk standards. But by the end of the decade the folk standards barely featured in their shows. This is testimony to Knightley's ability to write original songs that become instant classics. For instance, The Galway Farmer has appeared in at least one list of traditional Irish tunes though Knightley wrote it in 1994.

1990s
1990s: Sowing the seeds of a 'grass-roots' phenomenon

Show of Hands kicked off the 1990s with the release of Tall Ships. Again, on cassette only and recorded at the Catsley House home studio, it featured the recording of Knightley's epic folk-suite that had first aired on Capital Radio. This too sold out at gigs.

Taken on in 1991 by local agent Peter Wilson, he secured bookings for the duo in hundreds of venues up and down the South Coast. Here in the dockers' and bikers' pubs Show of Hands learnt how to successfully compete with the darts and the TV to grow a loyal audience beyond their usual folk crowd.

Knightley's years performing in tough London pubs and bars and Beer's folk/rock experience of venues throughout Europe began to pay off. "We were playing loud and hard. People would still be clapping, and we'd be already counting in the next tune. Sometimes we'd have to tone it down a touch in the folk clubs, but it was great grounding for festival gigs." 'Nailing it' live, Show of Hands were building firm foundations for their famously close relationship with their audience as the 1990s dawned. And in 1991, as their gigging schedule became increasingly hectic, Beer left 'The Albion Band' to concentrate full-time on Show of Hands.

Out for the Count, also on cassette, followed the same year. Recorded at Beer's Old Court Studio in Gloucestershire, it again quickly sold out at gigs. Displaying their trust in the people who came to see them, Show of Hands would simply put the cassettes in a tub and say: "If you'd like one, take one, but bung in a fiver."

Early collaboration

A chance call from Roger Watson from the Southern Arts Development Project (TAPS) in 1992 resulted in Beer and Knightley's collaboration with three exiled Chilean musicians. Together with Dave Townsend on fiddle and concertina, they joined Sergio Avila, Mauricio Venegas and Vladimir Vega to create the band 'Alianza'.

Working with the Chileans on the 'Alianza' tour and album of the same name had a profound impact on Beer and Knightley. Whilst informing their rhythmic language and musical sensibility, it also inspired them to add the cuatro to their repertoire. The Chileans' awareness of music's power to educate and inform (and the risks that they took to perform it), hit home with Beer and Knightley.  "In our society people can make political statements in song and no one will threaten you. But for them, just getting together and playing ordinary folk songs (meant) risking arrest, imprisonment and exile."

First CD releases

Beer and Knightley continued performing as Show of Hands whilst also touring with 'Alianza' and in June 1992 their performance at the Bull's Head in Bridport was recorded live by Mike Trim who'd signed the duo to his RGF record label. Show of Hands Live '92 was their first CD release. It secured them slots on the following year's festival circuit and a 60-date tour support with Ralph McTell.

Where the 'Alianza' tour had introduced Beer and Knightley to arts centre audiences in the South of England, the gigs with McTell took them to large theatre audiences across the country. McTell advised them to "stop doing endless gigs," to group them into coherent touring periods underpinned by a concept – and with a new record to promote!

In January 1994, Show of Hands recorded Beat About the Bush (Isis records 1994, Hands On Music 1999), in Wytherstone Studios, West Dorset, again produced by Mike Trim. Released in February, the album featured a large line-up of guest musicians, including a rhythm section that the prevailing wisdom deemed necessary for a more radio friendly sound.

A new business model

The Beat About The Bush tour took in over a hundred gigs from Land's End to the Scottish Borders.  Halfway through, Australian maverick and musician Gerard O'Farrell joined as sound engineer. Realising that the normal music business practice involving agents, fixed fees and using house PAs at each gig wasn't doing the band or the venues any favours, O'Farrell took up the reins as manager and agent. With Beer and Knightley, he set up a new business model that was to become a template for musicians everywhere.

Show of Hands would book the gigs in-house, turn up with their own PA and lighting system and even provide their own rider. They'd refuse a fee and instead take a percentage of the door. All the venue had to do was sell the tickets.  In taking on the financial risk, Show of Hands avoided possibly antagonistic relationships with the venues and also empowered a host of music-loving amateur promoters, many of whom have built careers booking major artists in large concert venues.

Forming a close-knit expert touring team, they also removed the anxieties of potentially poor sound and inadequate lighting. Show of Hands would take typical folk performances to a new level, ensuring a professional performance scenario that both they and their audiences could rely on.

As the band continued to build up their grass-roots fan base and growing a mailing list that received news of their forthcoming gigs, their 'cottage industry' approach began to pay off.

In 1996, O'Farrell, Beer and Knightley set up the label 'Hands On Music', to take care of Show of Hands' recording, distribution and publishing needs. From the outset, O'Farrell and Hands On Music bucked the trend in usual music business practice by positively applauding music sharing in line with the available technology.

A newsletter went out in 1997 encouraging the copying of albums onto cassette and handing them out to friends. Later, after a crash course to learn all things internet, O'Farrell set up the band's website, made Show of Hands' music and footage freely available and gave downloading a hearty thumbs up.

In 2001 O'Farrell returned with his family to Australia where he continued to run the website. Vaughan Pearce, then in charge of the band's merchandising, took on the role of manager. He would focus on the agency side of the business, whilst his wife Gwen, a former major record company executive, would soon join him to run the Hands On Music label. A deal with Proper in 2001 ensured mainstream distribution for Show of Hands releases.

International gigs

Throughout the 1990s the duo performed in Australia, Hong Kong, the US, Canada, Indonesia and India – experiences that opened their ears to yet more instrumental textures and songwriting themes. Under Vaughan and Gwen's steady stewardship the duo re-focused their attention on their British audiences and their festival and concert profile grew accordingly.

"A formidable partnership"

1994 saw the release of Show of Hands first compilation album. Favourite tracks from the first three cassettes were repackaged on CD: Backlog 1987–1991. (Isis 1994)

Demonstrating their commitment to their audience and to music itself, Show of Hands embarked on their first 'workshop tour' in February 1995. In this they shared their experience of composing, performing and the music business with fans and fellow musicians alike.

In amongst festival gigs, and before performing to 18,000 at Copredy in August, Show of Hands recorded their next studio album Lie of the Land (Isis 1995, Hands On Music 1996). O'Farrell producing, plugged the instruments straight into the desk to capture a pared down 'live' sound. Released in October 1995, the album received 4-stars and a 'startlingly good' from Q, becoming their folk record of the year in '96. Mojo said the album created "a powerful, fresh sounding music with both integrity and widespread appeal" whilst The Telegraph was moved to mention Show of Hands' "formidable partnership".

Lie of the Lands album cover by Rob O'Connor beautifully underpinned the band's connection with their rural roots whilst setting the bar high for the look of the growing Show of Hands 'brand'.  An old friend from Knightley's Coventry days, O'Connor had taken on the duo's various design requirements since producing the artwork for their debut CD Show of Hands Live. O'Connor's graphic design company 'Stylorouge' became world-famous for its award-winning work, and his design aesthetic espouses Show of Hands' reputation for high quality in every aspect of their output.

Selling out the Royal Albert Hall

Despite their increasing critical acclaim and burgeoning fan base, in the mid-1990s Show of Hands were finding gigs in the capital hard to come by. With the help of software designer Richard Patterson and festival organiser Steve Heap their solution was to book the Royal Albert Hall for a gig on 24 March 1996. This secured them mainstream media coverage, including an interview on Richard and Judy's morning TV show and news features on Sky News and BBC TV.

Against the odds, (and the expectations of the RAH management), the show sold out. Show of Hands' fans turned up from all over the country. That year, Sue Morley and friends set up a formal fan club, with an internet forum 'Longdogs' (the name taken from the Show of Hands' song) following in 1998.

As of April 2023 the band has returned six times to the iconic London venue, (including on 8 April 2007, with their third performance there celebrating 15 years together), performing to large crowds on each occasion. Each show at the RAH celebrates the previous five years of musical collaborations and features appearances from musician friends.  Guests have included established names such as Ralph McTell, Johnnie Jones, Tom Robinson, Martyn Joseph and American singer-songwriter, Richard Shindell.

The Albert Hall shows have also given a platform to newcomers such as Jackie Oates, Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin, Jenna Witts and in 2001, making their first major public appearance, Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends. Carlton Television filmed the 2001 show for a live music 'special' and Knightley proposed (to Clare, now his wife) from the stage.

A recording of their debut RAH gig, Live at the Royal Albert Hall swiftly became their best-selling album to that date. It was released on CD in August 1996 on Show of Hands' own Hands On Music.

Paying it forward

As well as carrying on with sharing their music for free, Show of Hands also continue to share their expertise in workshop tours across the world and to give new acts a break by booking them as their supporting artists. By warmly introducing their guest artists themselves at each gig, and including them in a spot in their performance, Show of Hands aim to ensure that new artists are taken to heart by their audiences.

Their Five Days in May tour in 1997 featured Kate Rusby on her first major solo venture. The tour culminated with a show at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Both separately and as Show of Hands Knightley and Beer continue to mentor and give touring opportunities to new artists, including Seth Lakeman, Jenna Witts, Jackie Oates, Megan Henwood, India Electric Company, Jim Causley, and Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin. Knightley has gone on to collaborate with Lakeman and their co-written Haunt You opened Show of Hands 2012 album, Wake the Union.

End of the 1990s

Filming for a full-length feature documentary on Show of Hands began in February 1997. Called Stairway to Devon and directed by Rob O'Connor, it includes Show of Hands' appearance at Glastonbury that year.

The album Dark Fields was recorded in Cornwall and released in December 1997, (Hands On Music) following Show of Hands' first single release Crazy Boy (Hands On Music), earlier in the Autumn. It featured songs by Knightley rooted in the area, including the notable Cornish diaspora anthem Cousin Jack – an 'instant classic' that is now taught in schools throughout the Duchy and remains a popular live number.

Celebrating the music that had inspired them in the first place, Show of Hands released Folk Music (Hands On Music) in 1998, an album of traditional songs and a reworking of Knightley's composition The Train/Blackwater Side in traditional English style. That year also saw the debut of the band's annual Abbotsbury Festival, a day featuring performances by Show of Hands and illustrious guest artists in the Dorset town's lush Sub-Tropical Garden.

2000s

Recognition and mainstream success

As the millennium dawned Show of Hands entered a particularly prolific recording period. First up was ''Covers'' (Hands On Music 2000), an album covering songs they loved from genres other than folk. Tracks from artists as diverse as Thom Yorke, Peter Gabriel, Lowell George and Bob Dylan are given a folk inspired nuance.

Next, ''Cold Frontier'', (Hands On Music) in 2001 shows Knightley's 'deft hand' in confronting contemporary issues through historical narrative. Conveyed in memorable songs, such as ''The Flood'' and the title track itself, his call to our common humanity is particularly effective. Cold Frontierwas the first album to be recorded by Mick Dolan, who took responsibility for the Show of Hands sound after producer/manager Gerard O'Farrell returned to his native Australia. At the Cambridge Folk Festival that year, their CD sales outstripped those of every other artist.

2002's Cold Cuts(Hands On Music) features live performances of overlooked songs from Show of Hands' extensive back catalogue, all given new arrangements. Their fresh approach is also applied to covers, including Leonard Cohen's ''First They Take Manhattan.''

The Path, released in 2003 is Show of Hands' first instrumental album. Celebrating the silver jubilee of The South West Path, all the tracks are inspired by and relate to specific places along the famous coastal trail, creating an atmospheric musical portrait of each location. Country Life (Hands On Music) was released in October that same year.

The gravel-voiced spokesman of the rural poor

Knightley's talent for nailing social issues in song is razor-sharp on ''Country Life'' (Hands On Music 2003). It was not just the title track "an anthem on the bleak realities of rural England" that exposed the harshness of local rural life and the album gained mainstream media acclaim – including from Andrew Marr.  It landed Show of Hands a spot on BBC Five Live and Farming Today with Knightley becoming known as 'The gravel-voiced spokesman of the rural poor'. The seamless blend of folk, Latin, Celtic and subtle blues influences fuelled their tagline, 'world music from the West Country' and was labeled a revelation by Uncut magazine

Double bassist and singer Miranda Sykes joined Show of Hands for the ''Country Life'' tour in the Autumn of 2004, featuring on the live double album this spawned –  As You Were(Hands On Music). Released in 2005 it comprised 22 tracks recorded at various venues during the autumn tour. Knightley and Beer both assert that her outstanding contribution was transformative. They were no longer a 'blokey duo'. Sykes became the unofficial 'third member' of Show of Hands and from now on the band would perform as a trio as well as the original duo.

New musical practice

Due to the demands of the bass, and the sonic possibilities of the third harmony provided by Sykes' "almost ethereal" and "captivating" vocals, Beer and Knightley changed the way they worked. They'd become used to Knightley pitching up with a song and improvising together as they worked on the arrangement during a sound-check. They would then take audience reactions into account as they honed the song during live performances. "

With the bass rooting the chords and more complex vocal harmonies, the arrangements now had to be worked out beforehand. "There had to be," say Beer and Knightley, "less winging it and more structure". Paradoxically both find that the clearly defined structure and the grounding that the bass provides liberates their musical improvisation. Released from having to root a song themselves – and knowing precisely where it's going – frees them to fully explore the musical possibilities in each moment.

As for the songwriting itself, Knightley sees his output as broadly falling into four categories, "the emotional landscape American singer-songwriter approach, the up-tempo Irishy thing, the rural storytelling ballads and the big, angry, shouty sort of songs". In September 2016 he set himself a 'song a week' challenge, writing one of each over the month, which included the new crowd favourite, ''Make The Right Noises.''

Knightley might be inspired by a sound, a phrase, a place, a rhythm or a melody he hears in his head. In true folk tradition he excels in writing songs that are rooted in place yet have universal resonance. Likewise, his historical narratives and folk ballads bring history smack bang into the present with timeless contemporary meaning. Beer's and later Sykes', brilliant musicality bring the themes to life, realising them in an almost filmic way.

Co-writing

Knightley has co-written a number of songs with long-time friend, pianist and producer Matt Clifford. Clifford's close relationship with The Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger in particular led to Beer playing mandolin on the band's Steel Wheels CD and to Knightley playing the guitar and mandocello on Jagger's 2001 solo outing ''Goddess in the Doorway''. Knightley also co-wrote The Dohl Foundation's 2017 single Mother Tongue with Johnny Kalsi (who also recorded with Show of Hands) and writes for folk/reggae band E2 and West Country rock band Willie and the Bandits. Show of Hands also collaborate with the English folk roots and reggae inspired band 'Edward ll.' (Previously known as Edward 2nd. and the Red Hot Polkas).

Awards and nominations

In 2004, Show of Hands won the 'Best Live Act' award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, the only award voted for by the public.

The following year Show of Hands was nominated for 'Best Duo' whilst the title track on Country Life was nominated for 'Best Original Song'. They were also part of the Oysterband Big Session group that won the 'Best Group' award.

Again, nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Best Duo in 2007, Roots (featured on their album Witness – Hands On Music 2006) was also nominated for Best Original song. Show of Hands was also nominated for Best Duo and Best Live Act in 2008.

2009's "Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed" (Hands On Music) won the award for 'Best Song' at the 2010 BBC2 Folk Awards, with Show of Hands winning 'Best Duo'.

Voted 'Greatest Ever Devonians' in a 2006 competition run by Devon County Council, Show of Hands beat Sir Francis Drake, Agatha Christie, Captain Scott, Muse and Chris Martin amongst others to the title.

World music from the West Country

It was at the Folk Awards that Beer and Knightley fell into conversation with musician/producer and Afro Celt Sound System co-founder Simon Emmerson. Emmerson, and fellow Afro Celt Simon 'Mass' Massey subsequently brought their huge Afro Celt sample library into play as they produced Witnessreleased in May 2006 (Hands On Music).

Whilst warmly embracing the sensual African rhythms and the world and ambient music influences of the producers, Show of Hands' sound remains unmistakably their own.  The world in their 'world music from the West Country' just got a little wider. Witness Show of Hands 9th. studio album was released to critical acclaim: Mojo gave the album four out of five stars, ranking Witness at number 10 on their best folk albums of 2006 list. Whilst music journalist Colin Irwin said that "Steve Knightley's songs have developed such an edge that it's hard to deny them any longer".
Becoming the band's best-selling album to date, Witness introduced Show of Hands to a new world music audience. The band went on to play at WOMAD in 2008 and a further 22 festivals that year.  WOMAD founder Peter Gabriel called Show of Hands "one of the great English bands".

Controversy

Featured on Witness, Show of Hands' song Roots, was released as a single in 2008 (Hands On Music). A rousing riposte to Kim Howell's 2001 remark "the idea of listening to three Somerset folk singers sounds like hell"(when Under Secretary of State for Culture and Sport), the song calls for a celebration of British culture in its diversity. However, it was misappropriated by the BNP. Beer and Knightley forced the BNP to stop using the track and helped to launch ''Folk Against Fascism'', giving ''Roots'' to the movement's eponymous 2010 double album. "Roots" also appeared on the compilation album "The Best of British Folk".

Roots (Hands On Music) was also the title of their 2007 double album, the tracks on which were voted for by their fans.

"Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed" and mainstream success

On the title track of 2009's Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed (Hands On Music 2009), Show of Hands gave voice to the public outrage with bankers and the ensuing crisis. "You're on your yacht/we're on our knees/with your arrogance and ignorance and greed." With Megson's Stuart Hanna producing, his pared-down post-punk aesthetic delivered on the raw immediacy of the album's material.

If Country Life had flagged them up as an 'issues' band, AIG carried those colours, slap bang into the mainstream. The accompanying guerrilla-filmed video features huge images of Beer, Knightley and Sykes performing the song projected high onto the edifices of the city's banks whilst monkey-masked graffiti artists work Banksy style below. It 'went viral' on YouTube.

Both the award-winning title track and others from the album received widespread radio airplay, glowing reviews in the mainstream press (including 4 stars in the Financial Times from David Honigman) and landed Show of Hands a slot on the Andrew Marr Show.

Back to basics

Whilst AIG garnered mainstream success, Show of Hands' core fans found they missed the familiar smooth production and the subtle metaphors with contemporary meaning in Knightley's historical narratives. Show of Hands responded with Backlog 2 (Hands On Music) in 2011. The double album featured Show of Hands songs from 1991 to 2003 as voted for by their fans via the Longdogs forum. Recorded as if live, it had the immediacy and warmth of a Show of Hands gig. It followed on from 2010s Covers 2 (Hands On Music) release. The album was credited to Show of Hands with Miranda Sykes, the first time Sykes received a leading album credit. Following the album's release, the band toured with Texan guitarist Rodney Branigan. 2010 also saw previously unreleased Show of Hands compositions mostly before 1987 on Beer's box set, Box Set One.

2014's Centenary (Universal Music), featuring instrumental settings of World War 1 poetry, used instrumentation typical of the Edwardian period. Original commemorative songs by Show of Hands met their audience's continuing demand for Knightley's way with a narrative. Centenary entered the 'UK compilation album charts at no. 13 and received widespread acclaim in the mainstream media.

To mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, Show of Hands played Centenary live in Exeter Cathedral with Jim CarterJim Carter and Imelda Staunton reading the poetry. The evening was recorded and released as Centenary Live at Exeter Cathedral in 2016 (Hands On Music).

The Long Way Home

2016's The Long Way Home, saw a return of Beer and Knightley to their roots. Unlike 2012's American roots inspired 'Wake the Union' described as "where the A303 meets Route 66," The Long Way Home "more Devonian than American", barely detours from the A303. Both albums were produced by the band and long-time Show of Hands fellow traveller, Mark Tucker.

Playing live – and for charity

With the freedom afforded by their business model and a steadfastly loyal following, Show of Hands can and do play anywhere from village halls to festivals and concert hall bastions of culture. For example, in July 2008 Show of Hands played at the first folk proms concert in the Welsh Proms season in St Davids Hall, Cardiff and in the same month at the Evolve 08 festival in Lodmoor Park, Weymouth, along with Miranda Sykes. Knightley returned to the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival in July 2009 without Beer, due to Beer's sailing at the time. He played songs from his then-new solo album Track of Words – Retraced. Show of Hands returned to the festival in July 2010 with both members.
Ships too also feature, from Show of Hands' performance on the upper deck of The Phoenix, a three-masted ship that sailed up to Topsham on the High Spring Tide in 2001, to gigs on a Rhine and Danube River Cruise in 2016 and 2017.

Whether appearing as a duo or a trio, Show of Hands continue to feature guest musicians, many of whom guest on their recorded output, like long-term friend and Rolling Stones' session man, Matt Clifford, (keyboards, accordion) and their great friend and mentor Ralph McTell.

Their flexibility in playing live enables them to respond easily to requests for gigs 'in support of...' and Show of Hands have raised money for local causes, such as keeping a rural post-office open, as well as global issues, including those relating to education and health.

No Secrets

A deluxe, in depth photographic book No Secrets (Flood Gallery 2017) details Show of Hands' extraordinary career and their prolific output. Told in part in their own words, No Secrets features photographs, artwork and stories made public for the first time.

No Secrets is also the title of the single released on 21 April 2017 (Hands On Music). It follows the book's publication to mark Show of Hands fifth triumph at the Royal Albert Hall the week before.

Autumn 2017 saw the band starting work on their latest studio album Joint Venture and continuing to explore new sonic landscapes in their ongoing musical collaborations.

Patron

Show of Hands are patrons of the Sidmouth Folk Festival and St. Ives Festival and are also honorary patrons of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter and Torrington's Plough Arts Centre. Knightley is also patron of the Costa Del Folk festival and, along with Oysterband's John Jones, Shrewsbury Folk Festival.

Discography

Studio albums
Show of Hands (1987)
Tall Ships (1990)
Out for the Count (1991)
Beat about the Bush (1994)
Lie of the Land (1995)
Dark Fields (1997)
Folk Music (1998)
Covers (2000)
Cold Frontier (2001)
The Path (2003)
Country Life (2003)
Witness (2006)
Arrogance Ignorance and Greed (2009) (UK Albums Chart: #170)
Covers 2 (2010)
Backlog 2 (2011)
Wake the Union (2012) (UK Albums Chart: #73)
Centenary: Words & Music of the Great War (2014) (UK Compilation Chart: #13)
The Long Way Home (2016) (UK Albums Chart: #70)
Battlefield Dance Floor (2019) (UK Albums Chart: #48)
Now We Are Four (2020)
Singled Out (2021)

Collaboration album
Alianza (1992)

Live albums
Live '92 (1994)
Live at the Royal Albert Hall (1996)
Cold Cuts (2002)
As You Were (2005)
Live at Exeter Phoenix (2008)

Compilations
Backlog 1987–1991 (1995)
Anglicana (1999)
No Song to Sing (2000)
Show of Hands (2000)
Roots: The Best of Show of Hands (2007)

Singles
Columbus EP (1995)
"Crazy Boy" (1997) (from Dark Fields)
"Are We Alright" / "Crooked Man" (2004) (non-album single)
"Witness" / "If I Needed Someone" (2006) (from Witness)
"Roots" / "Country Life" (2007) (from Witness)  (HMV Download Chart: #4)
"Arrogance Ignorance and Greed" (2010) (from Arrogance Ignorance and Greed)
"Arrogance Ignorance and Greed" / "Evolution" / "The Man I Was" (2010) (from Arrogance Ignorance and Greed)
"Arrogance Ignorance and Greed" / "The Keys of Canterbury" (2010) (from Arrogance Ignorance and Greed)
 "Company Town" / "Now You Know"
 "Aunt Maria" / "King of the World"

Videos and DVDs
Acoustic Workshop (1996)
Stairway To Devon (1998)
The Big Gig (2001)
Show of Hands on Film – The Video Collection (2004)
Tour of Topsham (2007)
Show of Hands with the Urban Soul Orchestra – Live at Shrewsbury Folk Festival + Making the Waking (2013)

References

Further reading

External links
 Show of Hands official website

English folk musical groups
English musical duos
Folk music duos

Show of Hands


The Praga E-45 was a single-engined, single-seat biplane fighter built in Czechoslovakia in the mid-1930s.  It appeared a little too late to compete with the similar Avia B-534 and failed to get a production order.

Design and development

The Praga E-45 single-seat fighter was designed to compete with the Avia B-534, but flew some 17 months later.  Since the two aircraft had very similar performance and the Avia was more heavily armed, it is not surprising that the Avia won a contract for over 400 aircraft and only one E-45 was built.

The E-45 was an equal span, single bay biplane with wings of slight stagger and no sweep.  They were largely of constant chord, but had marked elliptical tips. The wings were wooden with plywood covering and a final sheath of fabric, the upper wings a single piece, connected to and held above the upper fuselage by a pair of outward sloping N form struts.  The lower wings were attached to stubs integral with the lower fuselage.  N-form interplane struts joined the wings, which were wire braced. Aerodynamically balanced ailerons covered almost all the trailing edge of the lower wing.

The fuselage was built around a rectangular steel tube structure. This was aluminium skinned around the engine, upper decking and extreme tail, and fabric covered over plywood elsewhere. The single cockpit was well aft of the wings and could be open or enclosed. The tailplane was wooden and plywood plus fabric covered, but the fin and control surfaces were fabric covered steel frames.  The control surfaces were horn balanced, and the tail plane incidence could be trimmed in flight.  The fin, too, was directionally adjustable, but only on the ground.  The undercarriage was fixed, with semi-cantilever faired legs from the leading edge stubs braced high up the legs and inwards to the fuselage bottom with faired struts.  The optionally spatted wheels were oleo damped and had differential brakes.  There was a sprung tailskid.

The E-45 was powered by a 670 hp (500 kW) Rolls-Royce Kestrel XVI liquid-cooled V-12 engine, far less powerful than the Avia's Hispano-Suiza with 850 hp (625 kW). It drove a two-bladed propeller which had a large chin radiator immediately behind it. There was neither external exhaust piping nor stubs, just six small open ports per side.  Two fixed 7.92 mm (0.312 in)  calibre Type 30 machine guns were mounted in the upper cowling, firing through the propeller.

The E-45 first flew on 8 October 1934, with Smetena at the controls.  By then a large order for the competing Avia 534 had been placed (August 1934) and the E-45 could only act as a reserve in case of production or other problems with the Avia, even though it seems to have flown quite well.  No more were built and the sole example of the Praga E-45 eventually received a civil registration, OK-ERR in April 1938, after which nothing was heard of it.

Specifications (wheel fairings, enclosed cockpit, metal airscrew)

Citations

Cited sources

E-45
1930s Czechoslovakian fighter aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1934

Praga E-45


The Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy (EMSOP) is the pharmacy school of Rutgers University. It was founded in 1892 and merged with Rutgers University in 1927 as the Rutgers College of Pharmacy. In 1971, the school moved to its current location. In 2003, the school was renamed as the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy in recognition of Ernest Mario's contributions to the pharmaceutical industry and the school. As of 2015 it was tied as the 26th ranked pharmacy school in the US.

See also
List of pharmacy schools

References

External links
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy official website

Pharmacy schools in New Jersey
Rutgers University colleges and schools
Educational institutions established in 1892
1892 establishments in New Jersey

Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy


Clostridium difficile is a species of bacteria.  It is often called C. diff (pronounced "see diff").  It is a gram-positive bacteria which belongs to the genus Clostridium.

C. diff can live in the human colon (the large intestine) without causing any problems.  About 2-5% of adults have C. diff living in their colons. However, in some people, C. diff causes serious illness.  In these people, C. diff bacteria grow out of control in the colon.   The bacteria attack the lining of the intestines.  This causes a problem called C. diff colitis.  Colitis is inflammation (swelling) of the colon.

C. diff infection is getting more and more common in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities.    It kills about 14,000 people a year just in the United States.

C. diff infection
The most common symptom of C. diff infection is severe diarrhea.  C. diff infection can also cause fever, belly pain, loss of appetite (not wanting to eat), and nausea.

Some cases of C. diff infection are not very serious.  In other cases, people get very sick and even die. When people experience severe diarrhea from C. diff infection, they may become badly dehydrated (not have enough fluid in their bodies).  This can damage the kidneys leading to renal failure.  C. diff bacteria can also eat a hole in the intestines (perforation), which is very dangerous.

Once a person has C. diff infection, they can spread the infection to other people.  C. diff can live for a long time on surfaces like doorknobs, sheets, and medical equipment.  If a person with C. diff infection does not clean their hands, they can spread the bacteria to other people on their hands.

Who gets C. diff infection?
C. diff infection usually happens in people who are taking antibiotic medicine.   Usually, the intestines are filled with good, healthy bacteria.  These healthy bacteria keep C. diff bacteria under control.  If antibiotic medicines kill the healthy bacteria, C. diff bacteria can grow out of control.

C. diff infection is also more common in:
 People in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities
 People who are 65 years old or older
 People with weak immune systems (in the body, the immune system is in charge of fighting disease)
 People who have just had surgery on their intestines
 People with colon problems, like inflammatory bowel disease or colon cancer
 People who take antacid medicines called proton pump inhibitors.  (These medicines cause the stomach to make less acid.  Normally, stomach acid helps keep bacteria like C. diff under control.)

How is C. diff infection treated?
C. diff infection can be treated with some antibiotic medicines.  However, C. diff is an antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  This means that many antibiotic medicines cannot kill C. diff.  This can make C. diff infection very difficult to treat.  Many people with C. diff infection have relapses (they get better for a while, but then get sick again).  This happens to about one in every five people with C. diff infection.

Usually, doctors try an antibiotic called metronidazole as the first treatment for C. diff infection. About three in every four people with C. diff infection get better after taking metronidazole for ten days.  When metronidazole does not work, doctors give other antibiotics, usually vancomycin or fidoxamacin.

In severe cases of C. diff infection which do not get better with antibiotics, doctors may do surgery to remove parts of the colon.

Fecal transplantation, especially for those with recurrent C. diff infections, has been shown to be more effective than oral vancomycin.

How can C. diff infection be prevented?
Usually, C. diff infection can be prevented.  Hand-washing is one of the best ways to prevent C. diff infection.  If a person has C. diff bacteria on their hands, they can kill the bacteria by washing their hands with soap and water.   C. diff bacteria on surfaces (like doorknobs and medical equipment) can be killed with bleach.  Many hospitals and other health care facilities have special bleach wipes which kill C. diff.  Washing sheets and clothes with bleach and detergent also kills C. diff.

Alcohol does not kill C. diff, so instant hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes will not keep C. diff bacteria from spreading.

Hospitals and other health care facilities can also use "C. diff precautions" to prevent C. diff from spreading.   (Precautions are ways of being careful.)  When a patient has C. diff, health care workers can keep the bacteria from spreading by:
 Using gloves and then washing their hands every time they touch the patient, the patient's things, or anything in the patient's room
 Cleaning medical equipment with special bleach wipes every time they use it
 Cleaning the patient's things and the patient's room with bleach
 Giving patients with C. diff infection private rooms, or putting them only with other patients who have C. diff infection

References

Clostridium

Clostridium difficile


Castel dell'Ovo ("Egg Castle") is a seafront castle in Naples, located on the former island of Megaride, now a peninsula, on the Gulf of Naples in Italy. The castle's name comes from a legend about the Roman poet Virgil, who had a reputation in the Middle Ages as a great sorcerer and predictor of the future. In the legend, Virgil put a magical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications. It remains there along with his bones, and had this egg been broken, the castle would have been destroyed and a series of disastrous events for Naples would have followed. The castle is located between the districts of San Ferdinando and Chiaia, facing Mergellina across the sea.

History during the Roman era

The Castel dell'Ovo is the oldest castle in Naples. The island of Megaride was where Greek colonists of Magna Graecia from Cumae founded the original nucleus of the city in the 6th century BC. Its location offers an excellent view of the Naples waterfront and the surrounding area.

In the 1st century BC, the Roman patrician Lucius Licinius Lucullus built part of the magnificent villa, later called Castellum Lucullanum, on the site.

Fortified by Valentinian III in the mid-5th century, it was the site to which one of the last Western Roman emperors, Romulus Augustulus, was exiled in 476. Eugippius founded a monastery on the site after 492.

History from Norman to Napoleonic conquests

The remains of the Roman-era structures and later fortifications were demolished by local residents in the 9th century to prevent their use by Saracen raiders. The first castle on the site was built by the Normans in the 12th century. Roger the Norman, conquering Naples in 1140, made Castel dell'Ovo his seat. The importance of the Castel dell'Ovo began to decline when king Charles I of Anjou (r. 1266–85) built a new castle, Castel Nuovo, and moved his court there. Castel dell'Ovo became the seat of the Royal Chamber and of the State Treasury. It also served as a prison. In 1191, Empress Constance of the Holy Roman Empire, daughter of Roger, was captured during her struggle with her nephew Tancred, King of Sicily for the crown of Sicily, and Sicilian Chancellor Matthew d'Ajello wrote to Tancred persuading him to lock her in the island Castel dell'Ovo to be better-guarded and secluded from people, and wrote to nobleman Aligerno Cottone in charge of defending Naples ordering him to "ut imperatricem in Castro Salvatoris ad mare benè custodiat" (guard the empress in "Castle of the Savior" (i. e. Castel dell'Ovo) in the sea properly). However, Constance was released the next year and finally became Queen of Sicily. In 1268, King Conradin was imprisoned here before his trial and execution. Also imprisoned here were children of Manfred, King of Sicily after his failure. In 1381, Queen Joanna I of Naples was also imprisoned there for a time after having been forced to surrender to her enemy Charles of Durazzo, the future Charles III of Naples, before her assassination.

The current appearance dates from the Aragonese domination (15th century). It was struck by French and Spanish artillery during the Italian Wars; in the Neapolitan Republic of 1799 its guns were used by rebels to deter the philo-Bourbon population of the city.

After a long period of decay, the site got its current appearance following an extensive renovation project started in 1975.

Present

In the 19th century, a small fishing village called Borgo Marinaro, which is still extant, developed around the castle's eastern wall. It is now known for its marina and restaurants. The castle is rectangular in plan, approximately 200 by 45 metres at its widest, with a high bastion overlooking the causeway that connects it to the shore; the causeway is more than 100 metres long and a popular location for newlyweds to have their wedding photos taken. Several buildings are often used for exhibitions and other special events inside the castle walls. Behind the castle, there is a long promontory once probably used as a docking area. A large round tower stands outside the castle walls to the southeast.

Underwater archaeologists have discovered what appears to be a 2500-year-old harbor associated with the origins of the first Greek settlement of Paleopolis (which preceded the ancient city of Neapolis, now Naples) in the sea next to the castle. Four tunnels, a 10-foot-wide street demonstrating furrows consistent with cart traffic, and a trench likely built as a defensive structure for soldiers were submerged immediately adjacent to the castle. The discovery was announced in March 2018, after the September 2017 identification of the original port of Neapolis.

References

Bibliography

External links

12th-century fortifications
15th-century fortifications
Castles in Naples
Tourist attractions in Naples
Colonies of Magna Graecia
Cumaean colonies
Romulus Augustulus
Archaeological sites in Naples

Castel dell'Ovo


Die Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal ist ein von der National Academy of Sciences der Vereinigten Staaten seit 1952 etwa alle drei Jahre vergebener Wissenschaftspreis auf dem Gebiet der Medizin.

Preisträger

Angegeben ist die Begründung für die Preisvergabe (auf Englisch).

 1952 Alfred N. Richards: For his outstanding contributions to medical science over a period of a one half a century, both as an investigator and as a research executive and administrator.
 1955 Francis Peyton Rous
 1958 Ernest W. Goodpasture: For his outstanding contributions to medical science and for long and continued devotion to the study of his chosen field of pathology.
 1959 Eugene L. Opie: For his outstanding contributions to medical science and for a life of exemplary devotion to medical education and inquiry into the origins of disease.
 1961 Karl F. Meyer: For his outstanding contributions to medical sciences as an investigator, teacher, and administrator over a period of half a century.
 1962 George Hoyt Whipple: For his contributions of many biological discoveries basic for advances in clinical and experimental medicine.
 1966 Rufus Cole: For his notable role in advancing our knowledge of lobar pneumonia and in establishing clinical investigation as a science.
 1967 Karl Paul Link: For his discovery and application of coumarin anticoagulants.
 1970 Thomas Francis, Jr.: For his laboratory and epidemiological researches on virus diseases, including his major role in the program for the evaluation of the polio vaccine and for his imaginative design for long-term studies of the atomic bomb survivors in Japan.
 1973 Seymour S. Kety: For furthering the essential understanding of balance between hereditary and other biological factors, on the one hand, and psychosocial experimental ones, on the other, in the pathogenesis and manifestations of schizophrenia.
 1976 Julius H. Comroe: For his immeasurable contribution to the diagnosis and treatment of human disease during his career, which was devoted to the physiology and chemistry of respiration and the mechanical and chemical properties of the human lung.
 1979 Henry G. Kunkel: For his pioneering and influential studies in basic immunology, immune complex disease, immune deficiency disorders, and lymphocytic membrane markers.
 1985 Oscar D. Ratnoff: For his studies of the Hageman trait, an experiment of nature that improved understanding of such bodily defenses as the formation and dissolution of blood clots, inflammation, and immunity.
 1988 Maclyn McCarty: For the discovery and characterization, with Avery and McLeod, that deoxyribonucleic acid is the chemical substance of heredity, and for his subsequent contributions to our understanding of the biology of streptococci and their role in disease.
 1991 Roscoe O. Brady: For revolutionary accomplishments in human sphingolipid storage disorders, including the discovery of enzymatic defects, the development of genetic counseling procedures, and successful enzyme-replacement therapy.
 1994 Donald Metcalf: For his discovery and purification of the hemotopoietic growth factors and for their introduction into clinical medicine for the control of blood cell formation and resistance to infection.
 1998 Hugh McDevitt: For his landmark discovery and identification of genes that control immune responsiveness, and for his subsequent elucidation of mechanisms of antigen recognition and induction of the immune response.
 2001 Robert Lefkowitz: For his elucidation of the structure, function, and mechanism of regulation of heptahelical receptors, nature's detectors of signals from many hormones, neurotransmitters, and drugs.
 2004 Irving L. Weissman: For his seminal studies that defined the physical properties, purification, and growth regulation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells.
 2007 Jeffrey M. Friedman: For the discovery of leptin and its role in the regulation of appetite, energy expenditure, and the molecular mechanisms underlying obesity.
 2010 Janet Rowley: For her discovery of recurring chromosome translocations that characterize specific hematological malignancies, a landmark event that caused a major shift in the paradigms relating to cancer biology in the 1970s and paved the way for development of specific treatment for two leukemias.
 2013 Stuart H. Orkin: For his discovery of the molecular basis of blood disorders and elucidation of regulatory mechanisms that govern the development of blood stem cells and blood cell lineages.
 2016 Huda Zoghbi: For her pioneering contributions to the fields of neurodegenerative proteinopathies, autism spectrum disorders, epigenetics, and developmental biology by coupling clinical observation and gene discovery with focused, in-depth mechanistic study.
 2018 James P. Allison: For the discovery that antibody blockade of the T cell molecule CTLA-4 unleashes the body's immune response against malignant tumors and develops immune checkpoint blockade as a successful cancer therapy.
 2020 Bert Vogelstein: For his pioneering work in elucidating the fundamental principles of the molecular basis of human cancer and the application of this knowledge to improve the clinical management of patients.
 2022 Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman: For their pioneering work in developing nucleoside-modified mRNA, the foundation for the first two approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Weblinks
 Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal bei der National Academy of Sciences (nasonline.org)

Medizinpreis
Auszeichnung der National Academy of Sciences
Erstverleihung 1952

Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal


Peachcroft, sometimes referred to as the James Wilson Brown House, is located along River Road (Orange County Route 29) between Walden and Montgomery in the Town of Montgomery, New York, United States. It is built in a combination of the Federal and Queen Anne architectural styles.

The former came from Brown, the original builder of the house; the latter from renovations by the Millspaugh family, who moved in in the later 19th century and established many businesses, among them a furniture store still in business Walden. Peachcroft remains the center of a working farm of almost a hundred acres that backs on the Wallkill River. In 1994 it and three outbuildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Property
The house and farm are along the east side of River Road  southwest of Walden. Mature trees surround the house, with the outbuildings to its northeast. The  farm extends to both sides of the road. The surrounding land on either side of the road is fields bounded by woodlots. Its south boundary is the river. Its other boundaries are with neighboring farms, with some houses on nearby small roadside lots being the only other development in the area.

A short unpaved driveway leads from River Road to the house. It is a two-and-a-half-story, three-bay frame house on a raised stone foundation. It is topped by a gabled roof shingled in fish-scale slate. A tower with an octagonal peaked roof and finial rises from the south end, and a brick chimney from the north (the tower has a small brick chimney as well).  Most of the house is sided in clapboard, except for the gable of a projecting extension on the south end of the west (front) facade, done in cedar shake and the front and side, shingled in asbestos.

The front facade has a porch, with a shallow pitched hipped roof supported by turned columns running all the way to the addition. The projecting front bay, two stories in height, has a gabled roof of its own.

The interior follows a side hall plan. Inside trim reflects both the Federal and Victorian eras. From the former are the two keystone arches on either side of the parlor mantel, and the cherry spindles and banister on the second floor and attic. At that level, the ribs of the house's original gambrel roof are still visible inside.

The outbuilding complex is dominated by an old barn, a two-and-a-half-story frame building with an extension of similar height. The original section is faced in wide horizontal siding while the extension is done in novelty siding. A nearby shed and chicken coop are the other two contributing outbuildings.

History
The earliest known owner of the property was Philip Millspaugh, a German Palatine immigrant to the region in the early 18th century. A contemporary map shows him on the property in 1734. An old door still in the attic of Peachcroft may be a remnant of his house.

The oldest portion of the current farmhouse appears to date to around 1800. The Millspaugh family kept the property until 1870, when Catherine Millspaugh sold it to Robert Wilson Brown for $10,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). He had made a fortune in the California gold rush and mainly used the house as an investment property. In 1891 he gave it to his daughter and her new husband as a wedding gift.

Jonathan Hawkins, Brown's son-in-law and grandfather of the present owner, hired a carpenter from Montgomery to renovate the house. At this time the gambrel roof was covered over with the gable and the tower added, so Hawkins could watch over the whole property. The front wing was added as well. Hawkins named the property Peachcroft, since that was one of his initial crops, along with potatoes and sheep.

He died in 1933 and the property passed to his son, Clarence. The son's major change to the property was to split off a small lot on the west and sell it for the construction of two houses. For a long time these were the only ones visible from the farmhouse. Upon his death, it became the property of his wife and son, and finally that of the son, Jonathan Curtis Hawkins, alone when the widow died in 1983.

Prior to the listing on the Register Hawkins restored the house. In the late 20th century the town acquired the development rights as part of its farmland preservation efforts.

See also

National Register of Historic Places listings in Orange County, New York

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
Houses in Orange County, New York
Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, New York
Wallkill River

Peachcroft


Geoffrey Evans,  is a British political scientist and academic. He is Professor of the Sociology of Politics at the University of Oxford and an Official Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford. He is a political scientist who has also held posts in psychology and sociology. An expert in elections, he is long-standing editor of the journal Electoral Studies. In 2013 he was appointed co-director of the British Election Study, the Scottish Referendum Study and the Northern Ireland Election Study. In 2016 he also became director of the EU Referendum Study.

Evans was born in Stoke-on-Trent where he lived until his mid-twenties, having spent periods working on the factory floor in the potteries, before studying for his A levels as a mature student and leaving to take up a place at university. He regularly returns to North Staffordshire, where he maintains close ties with friends and family and is a season ticket holder at Stoke City F.C.

Amongst his research interests is a long-term concern with social inequality and the political representation of the working class, stemming to a large degree from his own background and early working years in Stoke. His other research examines political divisions between classes, religions and ethnic groups in a range of other societies including Northern Ireland and post-communist Eastern Europe. As a psychologist by training he examines the factors that shape how people understand and relate to politics and their place in society.

In July 2019, he was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.

Selected publications
Evans G. The End of Class Politics?  Class Voting in Comparative Context, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Evans G. & De Graaf, N.D. Political Choice Matters: Explaining the strength of class and religious cleavages in cross-national perspective, Oxford University Press, 2013.
Evans G. & Tilley J. The New Politics of Class: The Political Exclusion of the British Working Class, Oxford University Press, 2017.
Evans G & Menon, A. ''Brexit and British Politics', Polity Press, 2017.

References

Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford
Alumni of the University of Oxford
British political scientists
Psephologists
Fellows of the British Academy
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)

Geoff Evans (political scientist)


Avraham Zilberberg (, born 15 December 1915, died 19 June 1980) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment between 1969 and 1977.

Biography
Born in an area that later became Poland, Zilberberg spent World War II in Siberia. He made aliyah to Israel in 1948, and was one of the founders of Beit Elazari, the first moshav founded by new immigrants. He became one of the leaders of the Moshavim Movement, serving as its deputy general secretary, and was also chairman of the moshav constituent of the Labor Party.

In 1969 Zilberberg was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment list (an alliance of the Labor Party and Mapam). He was re-elected in 1973, but lost his seat in the 1977 elections.

He died in 1980 at the age of 64.

References

External links

1915 births
1980 deaths
Polish emigrants to Israel
Alignment (Israel) politicians
Members of the 7th Knesset (1969–1974)
Members of the 8th Knesset (1974–1977)

Avraham Zilberberg


Stellaria crispa is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names curled starwort and crisp starwort. It is native to western North America from Alaska south to California and Wyoming, where it grows in moist, shady habitat such as deep forests and streambanks. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing a mat of prostrate or trailing stems up to about 40 centimeters long. It is lined with opposite pairs of pointed oval leaves each 1 to 2 centimeters long. Single flowers occur in the leaf axils, each borne on a short pedicel. The flower has five pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long. Some flowers have one or more petals, but most lack these.

References

External links
Jepson Manual Treatment
Flora of North America
Photo gallery

crispa
Flora of Subarctic America
Flora of Western Canada
Flora of the Northwestern United States
Flora of the Southwestern United States
Flora without expected TNC conservation status

Stellaria crispa


Worlds of Tomorrow is an anthology of science fiction stories edited by American writer August Derleth.  It was first published by Pellegrini & Cudahy in 1953.  Many of the stories had originally appeared in the magazines Worlds Beyond, Fantastic, Fantasy, The Magazine of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Science Fiction, If, Fantastic Adventures, Future, Startling Stories, Astounding Stories, Weird Tales, The Fantasy Fan and Thrilling Wonder Stories.  Abridged editions were published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1955, Berkley Books in 1958 and Four Square Books in 1963.

Contents

 Introduction, by August Derleth
 "The Tinkler", by Poul Anderson
 "The Smile", by Ray Bradbury
 "The Fires Within", by Arthur C. Clarke
 "Superiority", by Arthur C. Clarke
 "McIlvaine's Star", by August Derleth
 "Brothers Beyond the Void", by Paul W. Fairman
 "Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful!", by Stuart Friedman
 "The Dead Planet", by Edmond Hamilton
 "Like a Bird, Like a Fish", by H. B. Hickey
 "The Gentleman Is an Epwa", by Carl Jacobi
 "The Enchanted Forest", by Fritz Leiber
 "The Great Cold", by Frank Belknap Long
 "From Beyond", by H. P. Lovecraft
 "Line to Tomorrow", by Lewis Padgett
 "The Business, as Usual", by Mack Reynolds
 "The Gardener", by Margaret St. Clair
 "The Martian and the Moron", by Theodore Sturgeon
 "Null-P", by William Tenn
 "Strange Harvest", by Donald Wandrei

References

1953 anthologies
Science fiction anthologies

Worlds of Tomorrow