The Stroh violin or  Stroviol is a type of stringed musical instrument that is mechanically amplified by a metal resonator and horn attached to its body. The name Stroviol refers to a violin, but other instruments have been modified with the amplification device, including the viola, cello, double bass, ukulele, mandolin, and guitar. Johannes Matthias Augustus Stroh, an electrical engineer from Frankfurt, invented the instrument in London in 1899.

Description

The Stroh violin has a horn at the end of the fingerboard to project the sound to an audience or recording horn, and often a smaller monitoring horn that the performer placed at their ear to hear what was being played more distinctly.

The Stroh violin is much louder than a standard wooden violin, and its directional projection of sound made it particularly useful in the early days of phonographic recording. Wooden violins recorded poorly with the early acoustic-mechanical recording method, and the Stroh violin improved this by producing a fuller, louder sound.

Stroh violins were common in recording studios, but became rarer after record companies switched to the new electric microphone recording technology in the second half of the 1920s.

Invention

On 4 May 1899, Stroh applied for a UK patent, GB9418 titled Improvements in Violins and other Stringed Instruments which was accepted on 24 March 1900. This described the use of a flat metal (other materials are also mentioned) diaphragm in the voice-box (reproducer) of a violin to mechanically amplify the sound. On 16 February 1901 he applied for a second UK patent, GB3393 titled Improvements in the Diaphragms of Phonographs, Musical Instruments, and analogous Sound-producing, Recording and Transmitting Contrivances which was accepted on 14 December 1901. This effectively extended the first concept to now use a conical resonator with corrugations at its edge, allowing a more 'rigid' diaphragm. His failure to register his inventions in the USA allowed John Dopyera and Geo Beauchamp to subsequently obtain US patents for the tricone and single cone designs used in National brand instruments.

Usage

The Stroh violin was an expensive instrument: in 1911 it was offered by the London dealers Barnes & Mullins for nine guineas (£9.45, then equal to $37.80) or twelve guineas (£12.60/$50.40) at a time when a reasonable factory violin could be had for two guineas. It was listed as being especially suitable for use in small theaters and music-halls.

In 1920s Buenos Aires, Julio de Caro, a renowned Tango orchestra director and violinist, used the Stroh violin in his live performances, and was called violín-corneta (cornet violin) by the locals.

A number of musicians, including Tom Waits, Carla Kihlstedt, Thomas Newman, Bat for Lashes, A Hawk and a Hacksaw and Eric Gorfain continue to use the Stroh violin for its distinctive sound. Shakira featured a Stroh violin on her 2010/11 The Sun Comes Out World Tour, with multi-instrumentalist Una Palliser playing it on some songs. Palliser also played Stroh violin on a Tom Hickox album and live with Bitter Ruin. Pinky Weitzman plays the Stroh violin for various New York experimental ensembles, including her own project (Not Waving but Drowning), as well as Flare, LD & the New Criticism, and as part of the onstage ensemble for Stephin Merritt's My Life as a Fairy Tale. A Stroh violin is regularly played by Andy Stein of Vince Giordano's Nighthawks Orchestra. They Might Be Giants used a Stroh violin in their song "I Can Hear You", recorded on a wax cylinder at the Edison Laboratory.

The composer Mauricio Kagel uses reconstructed Stroh violin, viola, cello and double-bass in his work 1898 composed 1972-1973. Kagel found a photograph dated 1910 of a small instrumental group in a recording studio which includes three Stroh violins. Intrigued by the instrument he set out to find an example. He made a copy of the pictured instrument in collaboration with the Darmstadt violin maker, Franz-Ernst Peschke adapting the pick-up system so that the bodies of existing violins could be used as a base. In 1973 he was given a Stroh cello by Karl Schlamminger which he had bought from a Baghdad music dealer in 1920. Other conventional instruments are used in the work as well as a choir of children's voices.

Similar designs
Other makers created similar designs, such as Howson, which made brass-horned phono instruments including single-stringed phonofiddles and four-stringed phono ukuleles. The violinophone was made in Prague in the early 20th century. This instrument has a diaphragm mounted vertically in a violin body under the bridge. The sound is carried through a tube to the horn which protrudes from the violin to a long horn which wraps around the shoulder.  —a violin that amplifies its sound through a metal resonator and metal horns rather than a wooden sound box as on a standard violin.

Willy Tiebel in Markneukirchen, Germany made Stroh violin copies in the 1920s.

The Stroh violin is closely related to other horned violins using a mica sheet-resonating diaphragm, known as phonofiddles.

In the present day, many types of horn-violin exist, especially in the Balkans.

Romanian horn-violin
The Romanian horn-violin is similar to the Stroh violin. It was built through the 20th century. It has the same length as the Stroh violin, but its horn is narrower and yields a more directional sound. The structure of the instrument is based on the tungsten element of a gramophone. Amateurs or small workshops could easily build it and, perhaps for that reason, many variants exist in Eastern Europe.

The vibrations of the strings and bridge are transmitted by a thin rod to the membrane of the gramophone-element. The membrane transforms these vibrations into sound waves, which are amplified by the horn or beaker.
The horn-violin is harder to play than a normal violin because the reaction of the bow on the strings is less flexible, and the instrument's weight is less evenly distributed. This causes an imbalance on the shoulder.

The instrument is still used in Romanian folk-music for playing horas and doinas, and mixes well with the characteristic sound of the pan-flute. It is generally used sparsely due to its tone. Instruments like the Stroh violin and other types of horn-violin remain a curiosity; they are quite rare in the orchestra.

The horn-violin is especially used in folk music of the Bihor region of Romania. Famous practitioners of this music style include fiddler Gheorghe Rada, singers Florica Bradu, Florica Ungur, Florica Duma, Leontin Ciucur, Cornel Borza, Vasile Iova, Maria Haiduc, Viorica Flintașu, and renowned folk ensembles Crișana or Rapsozii Zarandului.

See also
 Fiddle
 Hardanger fiddle
 Kontra
 Låtfiol
 Phonofiddle
 Rabeca

References

External links

 Delta Violin—Article considering the context of Stroh and other related Horn Violins
 YouTube Video—Louise played on the Stroh Fiddle (Violin) by Corwin Zekley
 Video Siperkov plays the horn-violin
 Historic Vitaphone Recording—Jazzmania Quintet, with Georgie Stoll on Stroh violin, playing "I Ain't Got Nobody"
 The violinophone is one of the interesting Instruments of Amazonas
 Recording of Piazolla's Tango "Oblivion" using both a violinophone in combination with ordinary stringed instruments.
 Antique Stroh violin Nr. 722 by Armin Sternberg, Budapest, approx. 1910
 Mauricio Kagel – 1898 (1973, Vinyl) A recording of 1898 by Mauricio Kagel which uses a Stroh violin, viola, cello and double-bass specially built and adapted in collaboration with the composer by violin maker, Franz-Ernest Peschke.
 Pamela's Music. Photographs of period instruments.

Articles containing video clips
Romanian musical instruments
Violins

Stroh violin


Sir William Woods KH FSA (17 August 1785 - 25 July 1842) was an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.  Woods was a bastard of unknown paternity. He used the name and arms of George Woods, a London tailor, but was said to be the son of the Duke of Norfolk. George IV was a close friend. In 1815 Woods was appointed Secretary to the Knights-Commander and Companions of the Order of the Bath, and registrar of the Guelphic Order, and in 1819 he became Bluemantle Pursuivant at the College of Arms (to this was added the position of Norfolk Herald in 1825). He was appointed Clarenceux King of Arms in 1831, and promoted to Garter in 1838.

Woods had two mistresses and at least six children. One of his sons, Albert William, went on to become Garter in 1869. He died at Lauriestone Lodge, his home in Hampstead, and was buried in Hampstead Church.

Arms

References

1785 births
1842 deaths
English officers of arms
Knights Bachelor
Garter Principal Kings of Arms

William Woods (officer of arms)


Allen University is a private historically black university in Columbia, South Carolina. It has more than 600 students and still serves a predominantly Black constituency. The campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Allen University Historic District.

History
Allen University was founded in Cokesbury in 1870 as Payne Institute by ministers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, including John M. Brown. Its initial mission was to provide education to freedmen, former African American slaves and their children.

In 1880, it was moved to Columbia and renamed Allen University in honor of Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The university remains connected to the denomination, which is related to other Methodist churches. As one of two black colleges located in Columbia, Allen has a very strong presence in the African-American community.  Allen University initially focused on training ministers and teachers, who were considered critical to the progress of African Americans. Over the years, it has enlarged its scope to produce graduates in other academic areas.

In 1885, Joseph W. Morris became president of the university. By 1898, the university reported having a total of 9 faculty, 304 students, and 208 graduates.

Academics
The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to offer Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. These degrees are awarded in the following divisions and departments:

 Division of Humanities
 Department of English
 Department of Music
Division of Social Sciences
 Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
 Department of Biology
 Department of Chemistry
 Department of Mathematics
 Division of Business Administration
 Division of Religion

In 2010, Washington Monthly reported in its annual College Guide edition that the school had a six percent graduation rate. In 2018, Allen University launched its first graduate program, the Dickerson-Green Theological Seminary. Under the seminary's founding dean, Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, Dickerson-Green Theological Seminary gained member status with the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada to offer the Master of Arts in Religion and Master of Divinity degrees.

Campus

Buildings such as Arnett Hall, the Chappelle Administration Building, Coppin Hall, the Joseph Simon Flippen Library, and the Canteen Building are included in what is designated as the Allen University Historic District, listed in 1975 on the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to its National Register of Historic Places status, Allen University Historic District falls within the boundaries of Waverly Protection Area, a Preservation District within the City of Columbia Urban Design and Historic Preservation District system. This Preservation District is an expansion of Waverly Historic District.

Several of the district's buildings were restored, using $2.9 million in funds obtained through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Historic Building Restoration and Preservation Act. Chappelle Auditorium's seating capacity of 700 has made it the site of countless organizations' and community events.

The auditorium was the site of the meeting of educators and lawyers to initiate efforts that led to the landmark US Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education (1954) on school integration. Nationally known musicians and artists, including Leontyne Price, Brook Benton and Langston Hughes, have performed in the auditorium. Notable speakers include: Mary McCleod Bethune, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Reverend Jesse Jackson, George Elmore, John H. McCray, and Senator Strom Thurmond. The auditorium was named in honor of Bishop William D. Chappelle, an Allen University President.  On April 14, 1975, Chappelle Administration Building was recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Chappelle Administration Building was designed by John Anderson Lankford (1874-1946), who is known as the "Dean of Black Architects". It is a National Historic Landmark. Lankford also served as the official architect of the AME Church.

Adams Gymnatorium
Arnett Hall
Cafeteria
Chappelle Administration Building (a National Historic Landmark)
Coppin Hall
Counseling Center
Dickerson-Green Theological Seminary House
Flipper Library
Higgins Hall
Mance House
Reid Hall
Richard Allen Apartments
Williams Living and Learning Complex

Student life
Allen University is the home of more than 15 on-campus student organizations.

National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations
Allen University has eight of the nine national black fraternities and sororities of the National Pan-Hellenic Council present on campus.

Athletics
The Allen athletic teams are called the Yellow Jackets. The university is a member of the NCAA Division II ranks, primarily competing in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) as a provisional member since the 2020–21 academic year (achieving D-II full member status in 2022–23); which they were a member on a previous stint from 1947–48 to 1968–69. The Yellow Jackets previously competed in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 2016–17 to 2019–20; as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) from 2005–06 to 2015–16; and in the defunct Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (EIAC) from 1983–84 to 2004–05.

Allen competes in 11 intercollegiate varsity sports. Men's sports include basketball, cross country, football, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, track & field, volleyball, and wrestling. The university also fields a co-ed competitive cheerleading team.

Move to NCAA Division II
Beginning in the 2020–21 academic year, the Yellow Jackets will compete as a provisional member of Division II of the NCAA. They will compete alongside their next-door rival, the Benedict Tigers, in the SIAC. The Yellow Jackets will complete the reclassification process and be considered full members of Division II in 2023.

Marching band
Following the reinstatement of the football program in 2018, the marching band, known as the Band of Gold, was reinstated under the direction of former Marching 101 director Eddie Ellis.

Notable alumni

References

External links

 Official website
 Official athletics website

University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina
Private universities and colleges in South Carolina
Historically black universities and colleges in the United States
Universities and colleges affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church
Education in Columbia, South Carolina
Universities and colleges established in 1870
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
African-American history of South Carolina
Buildings and structures in Columbia, South Carolina
National Register of Historic Places in Columbia, South Carolina
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina
1870 establishments in South Carolina

Allen University


Great North Road is a science fiction novel by Peter F. Hamilton. It was first published in 2012 by Macmillan. Jonathan Wright of SFX magazine said, "Peter F Hamilton's latest novel may be a standalone tale (although there's plenty of scope for sequels), but it's a thuddingly imposing 1,100 pages in length. Not that it seems that way when you're reading it. Balancing a multi-stranded plot, different exotic locales and a huge cast of characters, Hamilton plunges us straight into a murder mystery set in a near-future Newcastle, a city now adjacent to a portal to another world, the tropical St Libra."

Synopsis
In AD 2142, where portal technology allows instantaneous travel to other planets, Newcastle police detective Sidney Hurst heads a high-tech investigation of the disturbing murder of a clone of the wealthy North family.  Hurst has the added challenge of the politics and media associated with the high profile murder, as well as the opaque mystery itself. The body shows the same wounds as that of Bartram North, murdered twenty years ago on the tropical planet St Libra. The bio-fuel that flows from St Libra is a mainstay of Earth's economy and so powerful vested interests are watching over Hurst's shoulder.

Angela Tramelo was convicted and jailed for that murder but it seems that her story of an alien attack might be true.  Tramelo, who has not aged in her twenty years in prison, is released into the custody of the Human Defence Alliance and taken on an expedition via the Newcastle gateway to St Libra.

Criticism and reviews
 SFX review : "Great North Road builds confidently towards a conclusion that's arguably a little too neat, but that doesn't lessen the achievement here"
 Guardian review : "Great North Road is vast ... the author controls a cast numbering more than 50, multiple complex plot-lines, ... and arrives at a dénouement that is far more than just the resolution of a murder mystery."
 Upcoming4.me review : "Beautiful and complex story by grandmaster of intelligent science fiction."

References

External links
 Great North Road at Macmillan

2012 British novels
Novels by Peter F. Hamilton
2012 science fiction novels
Novels set in Newcastle upon Tyne
Novels set in the 2140s
Macmillan Publishers books

Great North Road (novel)


Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston PC (24 September 1648 – 22 December 1695) was an English diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1675 and 1689. He became a Jacobite conspirator, but his reputation in the Jacobite community suffered when he gave evidence against his co-conspirators in exchange for a pardon.

Origins and education
Graham was born at Netherby, Cumberland, on 24 September 1648, the eldest son of Sir George Graham, 2nd Baronet (d. 1658), of Netherby, son and heir of Sir Richard Graham, 1st Baronet (d. 1654). His mother was Lady Mary Johnstone, second daughter of James Johnstone, 1st Earl of Hartfell. He was educated at Westminster School under Dr Busby, although not on the foundation. He proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford, about 1664. On 4 February 1666 he graduated Master of Arts.

Rise to prominence
Graham was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Cockermouth, Cumberland, on 8 June 1675, in the place of John Clarke, deceased, and continued to represent that borough in the parliaments of 1678–9, 1679, and 1680–1. Though a Protestant he zealously advocated the right of James, Duke of York, to the succession. Supported by other high Tories he moved in the Commons on behalf of the Duke against the Exclusion Bill, 2 November 1680. His exertions were rewarded by his being created a peer of Scotland by the title of Viscount Preston in the county of Haddington, and Baron Graham of Eske. The patent, which is dated at Windsor Castle on 12 May 1681, recites that Charles I in 1635 had given the warrant to Sir Richard Graham, the patentee's grandfather, and that it had afterwards been burnt by the rebels. In July 1681 Preston was in attendance on the Duke of York at Edinburgh; on 1 August he took his place in the Parliament of Scotland; and on 26 August was with the duke at Leith, where he made a speech about the succession.

Diplomatic career
In May 1682 he succeeded Henry Savile as envoy extraordinary to the court of France. His instructions included many relating to Orange and Luxembourg, and to the proposal to Charles II to be the mediator of a peace between France and Spain, and relating to French excesses in the Netherlands. In August he gave notice that a plot for a descent upon Ireland was being concocted in France against Charles, and he employed spies to collect information on the subject. The king was not much disturbed, and ordered one of Preston's spies out of his presence as a liar. In September Preston presented a strongly worded memorial to the French king 'touching his seizing upon the city of Orange, looking on it as done to himself'. In October 1683 the Earl of Sunderland by the king's commands gave Preston directions to let the ministers in France know 'what a very ill man Dr. Burnet was.' Preston obeyed these orders, but declined to receive a visit from Burnet. He was ordered to endeavour to trace out Bomeny, the valet to the Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, who was suspected of being privy to that nobleman's death in the Tower of London. For his attention to the privileges in France of the Scottish people, he gained the thanks of the Scottish royal boroughs. At the beginning of 1684, he heard reports that he was to be recalled, but the king disavowed any such intention in a very cordial letter.

Political career under James II
Preston returned home at the accession of James II, settling in Soho Square, and on 2 April 1685 was elected M.P. for Cumberland. He hoped to have been raised to the English peerage as Baron Liddell in Cumberland, but was disappointed on account of his adherence to his religion. In conjunction with Lord Middleton he was entrusted by James with the management of the House of Commons which met on 19 May, was sworn a member of the privy council on 21 October, and five days later became chancellor to the queen-dowager. In 1687 he was made Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland and Westmorland. At the end of October 1688 he was made northern Secretary and chosen Lord President of the Council in succession to the Earl of Sunderland, and was one of the council of five appointed by the king to represent him in London during his absence at Salisbury in November 1688. He vainly endeavoured to impress upon James the necessity of moderation.

Jacobite conspirator
After the revolution Preston, who was in high favour with Louis XIV, was entrusted by the French government with considerable sums of money for political purposes. In a gesture, which was also intended to be a test case, James II, created him, by letters patent dated at St. Germain-en-Laye 21 January 1689 Baron of Esk, in the Peerage of England, which title was not recognised subsequently by the House of Lords. In March 1689 he was reported to be in the north of England concerting measures for the restoration of the king. In May he was arrested, brought up to London, committed to the Tower, and not admitted to bail until 25 October. Meanwhile, the Earl of Montagu had commenced an action against him to recover the profits of the office of wardrobe, for which he held a life patent for the place. Preston thereupon appeared before the House of Lords on 11 November, claiming the privilege of a peer of the realm in respect of the action at law. He stated that he had received a patent to be an English Peer from James II before the vote of abdication passed. The house thereupon sent him to the Tower, and instructed the attorney-general to prosecute him for a high misdemeanour. He was, however, released on making a humble apology and withdrawing his claim, on 27 November. On the following day, he obtained a discharge from his recognisances in the court of king's bench, no further notice being taken of his conduct in the north. On 28 June 1690 Lord Montagu won his action, being awarded £1,300 damages. Preston carried on his plots, and was still regarded by his party as a man of courage and honour. He retained the seals of his office, and was still considered by the Jacobites as the real secretary of state. The lord president, Carmarthen, caused a watch to be set on his movements. In December 1690 a meeting of the leading Protestant Jacobites was held, at which it was determined that Preston should carry to St. Germain the resolutions of the conspirators.

Arrest, trial and pardon

Soon after midnight on 1 January 1691 Preston, Major Edmund Elliott, and John Ashton were seized as they lay concealed in the hatches of a smack making for Calais or Dunkirk. A packet of treasonable papers, tied together and weighted in order to be sunk in case of surprise, was dropped by Preston with his official seals, and seized upon the person of Ashton, who had tried to conceal it. The prisoners vainly attempted to bribe their captors. On 3 January Preston was sent to the Tower, and on the 16th was indicted at the Old Bailey in the name of Sir Richard Graham for high treason. He pleaded that as a peer of England he was not within the jurisdiction of the court, but this plea being overruled, he was on 17 January found guilty, and condemned to death two days afterwards. His estate and title of baronet were forfeited to the crown. Some months passed before his fate was decided. Lady Preston, on petitioning the queen for her husband's life, received an intimation that he could save himself by making a full discovery of the plot. During some time he regularly wrote, it is said, a confession every forenoon, and burned it every night when he had dined. At last he confessed his guilt, and named Clarendon, Dartmouth, Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely, and William Penn as his accomplices. He added a long list of persons against whom he could not himself give evidence, but who, if he could trust to Penn's assurances, were friendly to King James. After several respites, the government, convinced that he could tell even more, again fixed a day for his execution. At length, on 1 May, he made a further confession, and gained thereby another reprieve of three weeks, 'which, 'tis believed,' writes Luttrell, 'will end in a pardon'. A patent was passed for his pardon soon afterwards, and on 13 June he obtained his release. His estate was, however, still retained by the crown as security for his good behaviour, a supposed equivalent being granted him from the exchequer. Subsequently, in September 1693, the queen granted £600 a year from the forfeited estate to Lady Preston and her children. The attainder could not affect his Scottish peerage, as no act of forfeiture against him passed in Scotland. Early in August 1691, Preston was recommitted to Newgate Prison for refusing to give evidence against some 'criminals,' but was soon bailed out. Thereafter he was permitted to retire to Nunnington Hall in Yorkshire, which he had inherited from his great-uncle, pursued by the execrations of his party.

Translator of Boethius
Preston employed the remainder of his life in revising for the press a translation with notes of Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae which he had made in 1680. It was published after his death in London in 1695-1696, and is remarkable on account of the allusions with which the preface is filled. In figurative language, the translator complained that his judges had been more lenient than the friends who had sneered at him for giving way under trials which they had never undergone.

Death and posterity
Preston died at Nunnington Hall on 22 December 1695, and was buried in the chancel of the church. He married, on 2 August 1670, Lady Anne Howard, second daughter of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, by whom he had with other issue a son, Edward (1679–1709), who succeeded him as second Viscount Preston. He also had two daughters, Catherine (1677–1757), who married William Widdrington, 4th Baron Widdrington, and Mary (died unmarried in 1753). They inherited the Nunnington estate in 1739 on the death of their nephew Charles (1706–1739), the third Viscount Preston, who had died without offspring.

References

1648 births
1695 deaths
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
British Secretaries of State
English Jacobites
Lord-Lieutenants of Cumberland
Lord-Lieutenants of Westmorland
Lord Presidents of the Council
Members of the Privy Council of England
People educated at Westminster School, London
Peers created by James II (1689–1701)
Viscounts in the Peerage of Scotland
Peers of Scotland created by Charles II
English MPs 1661–1679
English MPs 1679
English MPs 1680–1681
English MPs 1681
English MPs 1685–1687
17th-century English diplomats
Prisoners in the Tower of London

Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston


Mariya Ivanovna Konovalova (; born Mariya Pantyukhova on 14 August 1974 in Angarsk) is a Russian long-distance runner. She has represented Russia in both track running and cross country running and was the silver medallist at the 2006 European Cross Country Championships. She has competed at the World Championships in Athletics on four occasions, and ran for Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Konovalova began competing in marathon races in 2010, making her debut at the 2010 London Marathon, but her result there and at all subsequent marathons in her career were annulled following her two-year ban for doping issued in 2015.

Career
Born in Angarsk, Konovalova began her athletics career as a 5000 metres track runner. She made her first major appearance over the distance at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. There, she finished in sixth place in the final with a time of 15:01.23. She had also run over 3000 metres at the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships, where she was twelfth overall. She was fifth in that event the following year at the 1996 European Athletics Indoor Championships and won the bronze medal at the 1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final. Fourth in the 5000 m at the 1999 European Cup was followed by a seventh-place finish in the final of the event at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics.

Konovalova progressed into cross country running in the middle of her career. A tenth-place finish at the 2005 European Cross Country Championships was enough to help her Russian teammates (led by Inga Abitova) to the team gold medal. She reached the individual podium the following year at the 2006 European Cross Country Championships, taking the silver medal, although Russia finished fourth in the national team rankings.

Konovalova returned to the competition for a third time at the 2007 European Cross Country Championships but finished in fourth place. Konovalova won at the 2008 Fukuoka International Cross Country meeting in a fast time of 18:54, and she took another circuit win that year at the Almond Blossom Cross Country.

Competing on the track, Konovalova finished eleventh in the 5000 metres at the 2007 World Championships and fifth in the 10,000 metres final at the 2008 Olympic Games, the latter in a new personal best time of 30:35.84 minutes. She returned to the world stage at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics but could only manage eleventh place in the 10,000 m final.

Konovalova opened the 2010 season with a new Russian record in the 2000 metres event at the Yalamov Memorial Meeting. Konovalova made her debut in the marathon at the 2010 London Marathon in April and finished in sixteenth place overall, a result that was later annulled following her 2015 suspension for doping violations. The 2010 European Athletics Championships saw her represent Russia over 5000 m, and she finished in fifth place behind the Ethiopian and Portuguese duos. At the 2010 Chicago Marathon, she reached her first major marathon podium, taking third place with a time of 2:23:50 as her compatriot Liliya Shobukhova won with a national record. This result was also later annulled following her 2015 suspension for doping. She ran at the 2011 London Marathon but could manage only tenth in the fast race, another result that was later annulled following her 2015 suspension for doping.

In 2015, at age 40, Konovalova set a masters marathon world record, running a new marathon personal best as she placed second at the Nagoya Women's Marathon in Japan in 2:22:27. This result was later annulled following her 2015 suspension for doping. She broke the previous world masters standard of 2:24:54, set by Germany's Irina Mikitenko at the 2013 Berlin Marathon, but the result was later annulled following her 2015 suspension for doping.

Doping
In November 2015 Konovalova received a two-year competition ban from the Russia Athletic Federation due to irregularities with her biological passport. All of her performances dating back to August 2009 have been annulled. She became eligible to compete again after 26 October 2017.

Personal bests
400 metres — 54.53
2000 metres — 5:38.98 (2010)
3000 metres — 8:30.18 (1999)
5000 metres — 14:38.09 (2008)
10,000 metres — 30:31.03 (2009)
Marathon — no valid mark

References

External links

1974 births
Living people
People from Angarsk
Russian female long-distance runners
Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes for Russia
Russian female marathon runners
Doping cases in athletics
Russian sportspeople in doping cases
Sportspeople from Irkutsk Oblast
20th-century Russian women
21st-century Russian women

Mariya Konovalova


Mittenaar () is a municipality in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany.

Geography
Mittenaar lies in the Lahn-Dill Highland. On Mittenaar's  live more than 5,000 people. About 45 km of roads connect the various centres. More than half the municipal area is wooded.

Mittenaar borders in the north on the community of Siegbach, in the northeast on the community of Bischoffen, in the east on the community of Hohenahr, in the southeast on the town of Aßlar, in the south on the community of Ehringshausen, in the southwest on the community of Sinn, and in the west on the town of Herborn (all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).

The community consists of the centres of Ballersbach, Bellersdorf, Bicken (administrative seat) and Offenbach.

History

Mittenaar
The community of Mittenaar came into being on 1 January 1972 with the merger of the formerly independent municipalities of Ballersbach, Bicken and Offenbach. Bellersdorf was amalgamated on 1 April 1972.

Ballersbach
Ballersbach had its first documentary mention in 1270. The Ballersbach Church (Capelle zu Ballersbach) was also most likely built in this time. That the chapel had some special importance can clearly be seen in the much bigger village of Seelbach being placed under it.

Ballersbach grew together over time from two centres, one around the Baalerstaa (Balder- or Baldurstein; "Baldur Stone") and the other to the south.

About 1500, the church was painted with wonderful frescoes that eventually disappeared over time.

In the Thirty Years' War, the village was stricken with the then incurable Plague, which took 165 lives. In this dreadful time, only 85 villagers survived. It was more than one hundred years before Ballersbach recovered from this catastrophe.

In 1912 the church was heavily damaged when it was struck by lightning. As the church was being renovated, however, the frescoes came back to light. The pictures show, symbolically, mankind's history and Christianity's beginnings in a series of individual pictures.

In 1993, there was an extensive renovation of these artworks to ensure their continued existence for posterity.

Bellersdorf
Bellersdorf had its first documentary mention in 1294. For unknown reasons, the village was abandoned for about 200 years (about 1500-1699). It can only be assumed that the Plague struck here, too, or that war forced the villagers to flee.

Only in 1699 did some families settle in Bellersdorf again, with Count Ludwig von Hohensolms's permission.

Only after the Second World War, when improved transport connections eliminated the village's remote location as a problem did a great upswing begin. By participating in the contest "Unser Dorf soll schöner werden" ("Our village should become nicer"), Bellersdorf became known nationally. The advantageous location, the quiet and the lack of through traffic have made Bellersdorf into the constituent community with the highest quality of living.

Bicken

Bicken had its first documentary mention in a Cologne document in 1218. The village is, however, likely much older, as a castle from Frankish times reportedly once stood in Bicken.

The nobles of Bicken and Dernbach were subject to the Count of Nassau in the struggle for ascendancy in the Herborner Mark. As a result, various rights and estates had to be sold to the Nassauers.

Bicken's advantageous location (with connections to several long-distance roads) had both an upside and a downside in earlier times, leading time and again to uninvited visits by soldiers in the Thirty Years' War, whereby many lost belongings and even lives. In Napoleonic times, Bicken was made the hub of the Ballersbach-Bicken-Offenbach-Herbornseelbach area.

During both world wars, Bicken suffered great losses. In the First World War, 27 soldiers from Bicken died, and in the Second World War, 78.

Bicken's coat of arms
The village of Bicken bore no coat of arms in earlier times, and used no seal. The community was granted leave to bear a coat of arms in 1952. It might heraldically be described thus: In sable two bars argent. It is based on the old noble family's arms, who owned the village as vassals of the Counts of Nassau from 1327 to 1732. The arms have become part of Mittenaar's civic coat of arms.

Offenbach
Offenbach had its first documentary mention in one of Johann von Dernbach's documents.

In the dreadful years of the Thirty Years' War, Imperial General Philipp von Mansfeld's hordes overran the villages in the Aar Valley setting houses ablaze. In Offenbach, 60 burnt down, in Bicken 53 and in Ballersbach 18 buildings.

Also unforgotten is a grim chapter in this great war, the persecution of witches. In 1629 and 1630, thirty men and women (6 from Offenbach, 18 from Bicken and 6 from Ballersbach) were burnt at the stake by their own fellow villagers.

As for the oldest cultural monument, the tower at the Offenbach Church houses a bell from the year 1452, which has been in use uninterruptedly since then. The burgeoning population in 1955-1956 made church nave expansion necessary.

Coat of arms
Mittenaar's civic coat of arms might heraldically be described thus: In sable a bend wavy sinister Or, above, a trefoil Or, below, two bars argent.

The arms show besides a wavy fess as a symbol for the Aar, which flows through the community, two charges of former noble families who held sway in what is now the municipal area: the cloverleaf for the Lords of Dernbach and, as mentioned earlier, the two bars of the Lords of Bicken.

Culture

Music
The youth choir "Young Voices Mittenaar" was brought together in January 2000 on an initiative by 3 choirs: MGV 1861 Ballersbach, GV Sängervereinigung 1860 Bicken and GV Eintracht Offenbach.

The repertoire includes spirituals, gospels, evergreens and modern pieces (for example Dancing Queen, Y.M.C.A, Wade in the water, Bridge over troubled water, and so on).

Regular events
 Haahepper (Friday and Saturday in July)

Notable people
 Johann Heinrich Alsted (born mid-March 1588 in Ballersbach, died 9 November 1638 in Weißenburg (nowadays Alba Iulia), Romania), was a reformed theologian and polymath.

Literature
 Helmut Groos (editor): Mittenaar – Ein Heimatbuch. Mittenaar, 1988
 Helmut Groos (editor): Heimat und Geschichte. Mittenaar – Ein Heimatbuch,  Band II. Mittenaar, 2004

References

External links

Lahn-Dill-Kreis

Mittenaar


Platostoma palustre, commonly known as Chinese mesona, is a species of plant belonging to the genus Platostoma of the mint family. The species grows extensively in East Asia such as south east China, Japan and Taiwan preferring ravines, grassy, dry, and sandy areas. The plants are from 15 to 100 cm high with hairy stems and leaves. The leaves are tear-drop shaped and serrated.

The plants are referred to as xiān cǎo (仙草), xiānrén cǎo (仙人草), xiān cǎo jiù (仙草舅) or liángfěn cǎo (涼粉草) in Mandarin Chinese, sian-chháu (仙草) in Taiwanese, lèuhng fán chou (涼粉草) in Cantonese, sương sáo in Vietnamese, and ya chaokuai (หญ้าเฉาก๊วย) in Thai.

Use, cultivation and processing

Mesona is primarily used in making grass jelly.  The leaves and stems of the plant are dried and oxidized, much like tea, then processed into a jelly. The plant extracts of the black variant of grass jelly (Mesona palustris) have been reported to induce anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and anti-diarrhea effects in pre-clinical research, all of which are possible due to the strong antioxidant nature of the extracts.

P. palustre is cultivated on flat ground or areas with a slight slope. In Taiwan, this plant is often grown under fruit trees in fruit orchards as a secondary crop. The plant is processed by harvesting all the aerial portions above the root. The portions are then partially dried and piled up in order to allow them to oxidize until they have darkened. After the oxidation, they are then thoroughly dried for sale.

References

External links
 Asian grass jelly
 Indonesia Black Jelly Instant Powder

Lamiaceae
Flora of China
 Flora of Japan
Flora of Taiwan
Plants described in 1997

Platostoma palustre


The 1897–98 season was Blackpool F.C.'s second consecutive season in the Football League. They competed in the sixteen-team Division Two, then the second tier of English football, finishing eleventh.

New signings for the season included Jack Cox from South Shore, Jack Leadbetter, Frank Wilson, and McHardie. Out had gone Fred Thompson (after making only six appearances the previous season), Tom Bradshaw, and John Clarke.

Cox was the club's top scorer, with twelve goals in seventeen appearances. Goalkeeper William Douglas was ever-present throughout the club's 30 league games for the second consecutive season.

Season review
The season commenced with a trip to local rivals Burnley. The hosts won 5–1, and even Blackpool's goal was scored by a Clarets player.

Seven days later, the fixture was reversed. Jimmy Martin, Blackpool's second-top scorer the previous season, scored the home side's goal in a 1–1 draw.

Three consecutive defeats followed: 2–0 at home to Manchester City, 1–0 at Newton Heath, and 4–1 at Gainsborough Trinity. Laurence Halsall scored Blackpool's goal in the latter game.

On 9 October, Blackpool recorded their first win of the season, 2–1 at home to Burton Swifts. Jack Cox, in only his second start for the club since his arrival from South Shore, scored both Blackpool goals.

Cox scored another brace in the following game, a 4–1 victory over Small Heath at Stanley Park's Athletic Grounds. John Clarkin and Bob Birkett netted the other goals for the home side.

On 23 October, Blackpool travelled to Newcastle United and returned empty-handed after a 2–0 defeat.

November proved to be a fruitless month, with defeats at Leicester Fosse (4–1), Darwen (3–1), Woolwich Arsenal (2–1) and Luton Town (3–1). Martin scored Blackpool's goals in the first three losses, and Clarkin in the final one.

After a three-week break, Blackpool beat Gainsborough Trinity 5–0 at the Athletic Grounds. Cox, Harry Stirzaker and Jack Parkinson scored, alongside two own-goals by the visitors.

Cox scored two more in the following game a week later, a 3–2 home defeat by Newcastle.

1897 was closed out with a 6–0 defeat at Walsall.

Blackpool began the New Year with a 3–3 draw at home to Woolwich Arsenal. Cox netted twice, with Birkett also scoring.

On 8 January, Parkinson and Martin combined to lift Blackpool to a 2–1 victory over Leicester Fosse.

Continuing their inconsistent season, the Seasiders lost the following game, their third consecutive home match, 4–0 to Newton Heath.

At the end of the month, Blackpool travelled to Small Heath and recorded a 3–2 victory. Parkinson, Martin and Cox were the scorers.

February began with a defeat, 3–2 at Lincoln City; however, Blackpool exacted revenge six days later in the return match: two goals apiece from Birkett and Cox, plus one more from Parkinson, gave them a 5–0 victory. This was Cox's final appearance for Blackpool before he was sold to Liverpool, but his twelve goals remained unbeaten in the remaining nine games.

Birkett scored in the following game, at Burton Swifts on 26 February, but he could not carry them to victory, Swifts winning 2–1.

Blackpool didn't play again until 19 March, when they travelled to Grimsby Town. The home side won 3–0.

Seven days later, Blackpool hosted Loughborough. Goals from Birkett and Jack Leadbetter, his first of the season, gave Blackpool a 2–0 victory.

March ended with a 3–3 draw at Manchester City, featuring two goals from Parkinson and one from Clarkin.

Another draw followed, this time 1–1 with Walsall, in the first of five consecutive home games for Blackpool. Martin scored his seventh of the season.

On 8 April, Clarkin scored the only goal of the game as Blackpool beat Darwen.

Eight days later, Leadbetter scored his second goal of the season in a 1–1 draw with Grimsby.

Leadbetter was also one of the scorers as Blackpool completed a double over Loughborough. Parkinson (two) and Birkett scored the other goals of the 4–0 victory. Blackpool started the match a man short.

The season ended with a single-goal victory over Luton, Clarkin scoring his fifth of the campaign.

Table

Player statistics

Appearances
William Douglas – 30
Jimmy Martin – 29
Henry Parr – 28
John Clarkin – 26
Harry Stirzaker – 25
D. McHardie – 24
Jack Parkinson – 24
Bob Norris – 23
Frank Wilson – 23
Jack Cox – 17
Jack Leadbetter – 17
Bill Keech – 16
Bob Birkett – 14
Alex Stuart – 10
Tommy Bowman – 8
G. Cardwell – 6
Laurence Halsall – 5
John Scarr – 3
James Banks – 1

Players used: 19

Goals
Jack Cox – 12
Bob Birkett – 8
Jack Parkinson – 8
Jimmy Martin – 7
John Clarkin – 5
Jack Leadbetter – 3
Harry Stirzaker – 1
Frank Wilson – 1
Laurence Halsall – 1

Total goals scored: 46 (plus three own-goals)

Transfers

In

Out
The following players left after the final game of the previous season:

Notes

References

Blackpool
Blackpool F.C. seasons

1897–98 Blackpool F.C. season


A Kashmir rug is a hand-knotted oriental rug from Kashmir valley in India, which is associated with Kashmiri handicrafts. Kashmir rugs or carpets have intricate designs that are primarily oriental, floral style in a range of colors, sizes and quality.

The Kashmiri( /kaʃˈmɪəri/ ) word denotes a native or inhabitant of Kashmir. It also refers to the language of Kashmir. Rug ( /rʌɡ/ ) word is recognised with the floor covering of thick woven material ("an oriental rug").

Kashmir carpets are handmade, hand-knotted, and are primarily made using pure wool, pure silk and occasionally wool and silk blends. These are available in wide-ranging colors, designs and sizes.

Kashmir rugs are primarily made in the vicinity of Srinagar, Kashmir in North India and neighboring villages in rural parts of Kashmir. Kashmir rugs are one of the most sought-after artworks by connoisseurs around the world owing to their exceptional workmanship.

Kashmir rugs are available in a range of standard sizes, such as 3'x2', 4'x2'6", 5'x3', 6'x4', 7'x5', 10'x8', 12'x9', 14'x10', 15'x12' and 18'x12'. Larger sizes than these dimensions are mostly custom-made.

Kashmir rugs are renowned to have bright, jewel-like color tones such as sapphire blue, ruby red, emerald green, aquamarine, amethyst, and ivory. Rugs from Kashmir are traditionally made in oriental, floral designs that typically involve significant and culturally important motifs such as the paisley, chinar tree, (the oriental plane) and tree-of-life. Most of these designs are rooted in the Kashmiri way of life and are a symbolic representation of the age-old Kashmir tradition of hospitality, warmth, and love.

It is often said in Kashmir folklore that a home is incomplete without a soul - a Kashmir carpet. The ethos of Kashmir culture is often represented in the motifs of a Kashmir rug. Although, the art of making these gorgeous rugs is not native to Kashmir and was first introduced nearly 400 years back by the Mughal rulers in India. Yet the indigenous brilliance of the local crafts-persons has made Kashmir carpets one of the most sought after works of art in the world.

Rugs of Kashmir have always found more appeal due to their quaint designs and an interesting blend of classic colors inspired by the cultural microcosm of Kashmir and at times the colors were contemporary in nature that made carpets of Kashmir widely popular across North America, South Asia and Europe.

References

Rugs and carpets
Pakistani rugs and carpets
Kashmiri culture
Indian rugs and carpets

Kashmiri rug


Ramesh Vishwanath Katti (born 21 October 1964) is an Indian politician. He was a member of the Indian Parliament from 2009 to 2014, representing Chikkodi (Lok Sabha constituency).
He is rendering services to other Cooperative Institutions including:
 President, The Belgaum District Central Coop. Bank Ltd., Belgaum
 Ex-Chairman, Shri Hiranyakeshi Sahakari Sakkare Karkhane Niyamit
 Sankeshwar (Dist. Belgaum)
 Vice President, National Heavy Engineering Coop. Ltd., Pune
 President, Mahanteshwar Vidya Sansthe
 Bellad Bagewad, Ex-Chairman and Director : The Bellad Bagewadi Urban Souhard Sahakari Bank Niyamit, B. Bagewadi
 Founder : Rahul Katti Sports & Social Club, B.Bagewadi
 Director : Karnataka State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd., Bangalore, Director :
 Krishi Seva Sahakari Bank Ltd., Bellad-Bagewadi, Director :
 Karnataka Ranga Bhoomi Abhivruddhi & Uttejan Sahakari Sangh, Belgaum
 Director : Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Belgaum
 Member Murusavir Vidhyavardhak Sangh Residential School, Shirdhan
 Ex-Director: National Federation of Coop. Sugar Factories Ltd., Delhi
Ramesh Katti received many awards and honours including "Bharatiya Udyog Ratna Award -96″, "Rashtriya Udyog Ratna Award","National Industrial Excellence Award", "Udyog Vikas Ratna Award", " S. V. Parthasarathy Award " with " Gold Medal " in appreciation of the better adoption of Water Recycling Unit and " Shrestha Sahakari" Award – 2007.

Due to Centenary in Co-operative movement in Karnataka, received the "Shrestha Sahakari "award as young co-operative leader & honoured at Mysore by Hon'ble Chief Minister of Karnataka.

He visited South Africa, Switzerland, Mauritius, Italy, France, Sri Lanka, U.A.E. and other countries for higher study in co-operative sector.

References

1964 births
Living people
India MPs 2009–2014
Lok Sabha members from Karnataka
National Democratic Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election
Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka

Ramesh Vishwanath Katti


The South Devon Railway engine houses were built in Devon, England, to power the atmospheric trains on the South Devon Railway between Exeter St Davids and Plymouth Millbay railway stations. They contained boilers that provided the power to pumps that created the partial vacuum to move the trains. Three of them still stand largely intact alongside the line.

History

The South Devon Railway was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel who proposed moving the trains by atmospheric power. Brunel and other engineers travelled to Dalkey in Ireland in 1843 to view such a system undergoing tests on the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. There, Brunel's engineer of locomotives for the GWR, Daniel Gooch, calculated that conventional locomotives could work the proposed line at lower cost, but Brunel's concerns about the heavy grades led him to try the system regardless. The South Devon Railway directors agreed on 28 August 1844 to Brunel's proposal to use atmospheric power on their line. Brunel estimated that by reducing the double-track locomotive worked line to a single track atmospheric line a saving of £8,000 per year could be made. Double track lines were favoured at that time even for lightly worked lines as this reduced the chances of a collision between trains, but the atmospheric system precludes the possibility of two trains travelling in opposite directions on the same section of track.

The pipes were ordered from George Hennet, an engineering contractor who worked on many of Brunel's lines. He established a factory at Bridgwater, Somerset, to make them.

The line opened with conventional steam locomotives to Teignmouth on 30 May 1846 and was extended to Newton on 30 December 1846. The first piston carriage (which connected the train to the pipe) was delivered on 25 February 1847 and experimental running with atmospheric power started immediately. Public services were run to Teignmouth from 13 September 1847 and extended to Newton from 10 January 1848. At this time some trains were still worked by locomotives, but from 23 February 1848 all scheduled trains were powered by the atmospheric system.

The leather valve along the top of the pipe tended to dry out and air could then leak in, but this was mitigated slightly by the passing trains spraying water on the leather. The harsh environment of the line, which runs adjacent to the sea for much of its length and is often soaked with salt spray, presented difficulties in maintaining the leather flaps provided to seal the vacuum pipes, which had to be kept supple by being greased with tallow; even so, air leaked in, reducing the pressure difference.

Many trains arrived at Exeter from the Bristol and Exeter Railway very late. Because the South Devon line was only equipped with a telegraph that linked the stations, the engines had to start pumping for when the timetable said that the trains were due to enter their section and then keep pumping until the train eventually passed. This meant that the engines pumped for twice as long as was necessary and meant that much more coke was consumed than would have been the case if pumping had only been undertaken when the train was actually ready to be run. The engine houses were connected to the telegraph system on 2 August 1848 but a lack of trained staff meant that it was not fully used.

The railway company had set up a committee to investigate the efficiency of atmospheric working on 23 May 1848. In August Brunel gave a lengthy report on the system, and discussions with Joseph Samuda were held with a view to making repairs to the valve and guaranteeing its operation. On 29 August 1848 the directors, following Brunel's advice, recommended to the shareholders the suspension of atmospheric working. Atmospheric-powered service thus lasted less than a year, to 9 September 1848; the last engine pumping was at Exeter, where an up goods train arrived in the early hours of 10 September. The engines and buildings were sold to other users, and most of the pipes were sold back to George Hennet for scrap. The atmospheric had cost the railway over £433,000 and about £81,000 was raised from the sales of redundant materials.

Despite the building of engine houses on towards Plymouth and on the Torquay branch the system never expanded beyond Newton. Similarly, the proposal to use the same system on Brunel's Cornwall Railway between Plymouth, Falmouth and Padstow was not pursued.

Three of the engine houses (Starcross, Torquay and Totnes) are still standing and the location of two others (Turf and Dawlish) are clearly visible. A section of the pipe, without the leather covers, is preserved at Didcot Railway Centre mounted on a short section of track which is inclined to show the gradient of the line from Newton to Dainton.

Technical details

The system was designed and patented by the Samuda Brothers. The pipe was laid in  sections between the  broad gauge rails with a continuous slot along the top that was sealed by a leather valve.

The buildings that housed the boilers and engines were built in a decorative Italianate style with square chimneys and spaced at around  intervals. The 1845 contract for 24 engines comprised sixteen of 33 inch cylinder diameter (approx 45HP), and eight of 12HP, and was split between Boulton and Watt and 'Messrs Rennie', probably J. and G. Rennie. The engine that pumped each section was the one towards which the train was travelling, for example a train leaving Exeter was powered by the Countess Wear engine creating a partial vacuum in the pipe in front of the train which was then propelled forward by the normal atmospheric pressure in the pipe behind the train's piston. Pumping started up to eight minutes before the scheduled departure of the train so as to build up a sufficient vacuum.

At stations a smaller pipe was laid alongside the track and a piston in this was connected to the train by a rope to start it moving. On arrival at the next station it was up to the driver to bring the train to a stop using its brakes. Engine houses were situated at every station except Exeter St Thomas where the driver had to hold the train against the atmospheric pressure with the brakes.

The level portions used  pipes but the steeper gradients west of Newton were to have used pipes. It is not clear how the change between the two pipe sizes would have been achieved unless the piston carriages were changed at Newton. It is also unclear how the level crossing at Turf was operated as the pipe projected some way above the rails.

Speeds of up to 70 mph (112 km/h) were achieved, but service speeds were usually around 40 mph (64 km/h). The timetable allowed 55 minutes for the  journey, but records show that 36% of trains arrived more than five minutes early, some by more than ten minutes.

Engine house remains

Turf
The remains of Turf engine house can be seen on the river side of the line just where the railway comes alongside the River Exe near Turf Lock, the entrance to the Exeter Canal.

The square pond surrounded by trees on the river side of the line was the main water reservoir. Just to the south of this, the foundations of some buildings can be seen. This was where the engine house itself was built, although some of the foundations are from later alterations. The building was demolished about 1860 and the stone used in a nearby farm.

Starcross

The most familiar engine house, and the most intact one which actually saw service, is situated on the landward side of the line at the south end of Starcross railway station. The chimney, reduced in height for safety many years ago, had for a while a new pitched roof, but it has since been removed. Unlike the other engine houses this one is built of Heavitree stone from Exeter, a coarse red sandstone that has not weathered well. The accompanying photograph from 2007 shows the original wall along the narrow street called The Strand, but within the next decade it had to be rebuilt with a concrete surface painted to resemble stones.

After the engines ceased work, the boiler house was used by coal merchants until 1981. The engine area was used as a Wesleyan Church from 1867 to 1958, after which it was used as a youth club for a few years. The whole building was sold and reopened as a museum for the atmospheric railway in 1982. This has since closed and the building was developed internally for use by the local Starcross Fishing and Cruising Club.

Dawlish
Although largely demolished in 1873, part of the engine house wall can be seen at the back of Dawlish railway station car park.

Torquay

By the time the railway opened to Torquay the decision had already been made to abandon atmospheric working, so this engine house was never used. However it was completed and is the surviving example with the least amount of exterior modification. It is also the one least easy to see from trains; it is about  on the  side of  (on the right hand side of the line approaching from Newton Abbot) but is on a higher level above the line. It can be more easily viewed from a supermarket car park in Newton Road. The location so far from the terminal but uphill from it shows that southbound trains were intended to run the last mile by gravity.

Totnes

The engine house adjacent to Totnes railway station was never brought into use. It was converted for use as a milk processing plant for Dairy Crest but this has since closed. The original chimney, still present in a photograph of 1925, was removed many years ago.

References

Further reading
 Records of the South Devon Railway can be consulted at The National Archives
 A series of detailed watercolors by W Dawson showing the line with atmospheric pipes installed are in the collection of the Institution of Civil Engineers

External links
 Totnes On Line – Brunel engine house photographs

Engine houses
Rail transport in Devon
Buildings and structures in Devon
Works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Industrial archaeological sites in Devon

South Devon Railway engine houses


Dave McMurray is an American jazz musician. His primary instrument is saxophone.

Early life and career
McMurray grew up on the eastside of Detroit. The son of a working-class family, he received a scholarship through Horizons Upward Bound to attend high school at Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

After graduating from Wayne State University with a degree in Urban Studies and Psychology, McMurray began working as a mental health professional.

Professional career
McMurray's first real road gig was with Blues Master Albert King. Upon returning he started his own group 'Midnight Sky' and also was a member of the avant-garde jazz ensemble, Griot Galaxy. McMurray joined the pop rock group Was (Not Was) at its inception, and subsequently contributed to all of their albums.

McMurray has had an extensive career as a session musician. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he played on albums for many classic rock and blues acts, ranging from The Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan.

His first solo album, The Secret Life, was released on Timeless Records in 1989. He then was signed to Warner Bros. Records for his follow up album, 1996's The David McMurray Show. In 2018, McMurray released Music Is Life, his Blue Note Records debut, a collection of original compositions and recognizable covers.

In 2019, McMurray performed with Bob Weir at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, the first time he was exposed to the music of the Grateful Dead. He then recorded Grateful Deadication, an album of jazz interpretations of the band's songbook. It features appearances by Bob Weir, Bettye Lavette, and Herschel Boone. McMurray is backed on the album by bassist Ibrahim Jones, drummer Jeff Canady, guitarist Wayne Gerard, and keyboardist Maurice O'Neal. Blue Note released Grateful Deadication in July 2021.

McMurray released Grateful Deadication 2, "the follow-up to his 2021 tribute album," on May 19, 2023.  The album features his own Detroit-based band and special guests Jamey Johnson, Oteil Burbridge, Bob James, and Don Was.

Personal life
McMurray lives in Detroit with his wife, Garzelle. They have one daughter.

Discography

As leader
 The Secret Life (Timeless, 1989)
 The Dave McMurray Show (Warner Bros., 1996)
 Peace of Mind (Hip Bop, 1999)
 Soul Searching (Hip Bop, 2001)
 Nu Life Stories (Hip Bop, 2003)
 Music Is Life (Blue Note, 2018)
 Grateful Deadication (Blue Note, 2021)
 Grateful Deadication 2 (Blue Note, 2023)

With Griot Galaxy
 Kins (Black & White, 1982)
 Live at the D.I.A. (Entropy, 2003)

With Was (Not Was)
 Was (Not Was) (Island/ZE, 1981)
 Born to Laugh at Tornadoes (Geffen, 1983)
 What Up, Dog? (Fontana, 1988)
 Are You Okay? (Chrysalis, 1990)
 Hello, Dad...I'm in Jail (Fontana, 1992)
 Boo! (Rykodisc, 2008)

As sideman
With Bob James
 Joy Ride (Warner Bros., 1999)
 Morning, Noon & Night (Warner Bros., 2002)
 Urban Flamingo (Koch, 2006)

With Kem
 Kemistry (Motown, 2003)
 Album II (Motown, 2005)
 Intimacy Universal (Motown, 2010)
 What Christmas Means (Motown, 2013)

With Kid Rock
 Kid Rock (Atlantic/Lava/Top Dog, 2003)
 Rock n Roll Jesus (Atlantic/Top Dog, 2007)
 Rebel Soul (Atlantic/Top Dog, 2012)
 First Kiss (Warner Bros., 2015)

With Millie Scott
 Ev'ry Little Bit (4th & Broadway, 1987)
 Love Me Right (4th & Broadway, 1987)
 I Can Make It Good for You (4th & Broadway, 1988)

With others
 Geri Allen, Open On All Sides in the Middle (Minor Music, 1987)
 Geri Allen, Grand River Crossings (Motema, 2013)
 Gerald Alston, 1st Class Only (Street Life/Scotti Bros. 1994)
 Sweet Pea Atkinson, Don't Walk Away (Island/ZE, 1982)
 The B-52's, Good Stuff (Reprise, 1992)
 Bobby Barth, Two Hearts One Beat (Atco, 1986)
 Big Chief, Mack Avenue Skullgame (Sub Pop, 1993)
 Big Chief, One Born Every Minute (Sub Pop, 1993)
 Tim Bowman, Paradise (Insync Music, 1998)
 Tim Bowman, Smile (Trippin 'n' Rhythm, 2008)
 Johnny Bristol, Come to Me (Bushka, 1994)
 Felix Cavaliere, Dreams in Motion (MCA, 1994)
 Bootsy Collins, Ultra Wave (Warner Bros., 1980)
 Commissioned, Will You Be Ready? (Light, 1988)
 Randy Crawford, Through the Eyes of Love (Warner Bros., 1992)
 Cristina, Sleep It Off (P-Vine, 2004)
 Thornetta Davis, Shout Out (Sub Pop, 1994)
 Gene Dunlap, Party in Me (Capitol, 1981)
 Gene Dunlap, It's Just the Way I Feel (Capitol, 2011)
 Bob Dylan, Under the Red Sky (Columbia, 1990)
 Floy Joy, Into the Hot (Virgin, 1984)
 Floy Joy, Weak in the Presence of Beauty (Virgin, 1986)
 Godmoma, Here (Elektra, 1981)
 Randy Hall, Robert Irving III, Adam Holzman, ESP 2: A Tribute to Miles (TDK, 2001)
 Ofra Haza, Kirya (EastWest, 1992)
 Jennifer Holliday, I'm On Your Side (Arista, 1991)
 Iggy Pop, Brick by Brick (Virgin, 1990)
 Jose James, Lean On Me (Blue Note, 2018)
 B.B. King, King of the Blues (MCA, 1992)
 Gladys Knight, Good Woman (MCA, 1991)
 Wayne Kramer, Dangerous Madness (Epitaph, 1996)
 David Lasley, Raindance (EMI, 1984)
 Larry McCray, Ambition (Virgin, 1990)
 Tina Moore, Tina Moore Attic (SBD, 1995)
 Darrell Nulisch, Bluesoul (Higher Plane, 1996)
 One Be Lo, The R.E.B.I.R.T.H. (Subterraneous, 2007)
 Orquestra Was, Forever's a Long, Long Time (Verve Forecast, 1997)
 David Peaston, Introducing... (Geffen, 1989)
 David Peaston, Mixed Emotions (MCA, 1991)
 Louis Price, Louis Price (Motown, 1991)
 R. J.'s Latest Arrival, Tangled in Love (EMI, 1989)
 R. J.'s Latest Arrival, Truly Yours (EMI, 1988)
 The Rolling Stones, Voodoo Lounge (Virgin, 1994)
 Mitch Ryder, Like a Rolling Stone (Personal, 1985)
 John Sinclair, Mobile Homeland (Amazon.com, 2017)
 Keith Staten, From the Heart (FIXIT, 1990)
 The Temptations, Awesome (Motown, 2001)
 Helen Terry, Blue Notes (Virgin, 1986)
 Don Was, Backbeat (Virgin, 1994)
 Thomas Whitfield, Alive and Satisfied (Benson Music, 1992)
 Brian Wilson, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times (MCA, 1995)
 Nancy Wilson, If I Had My Way (Columbia, 1997)
 The Winans, All Out (Qwest/Warner Bros., 1993)

References

External links
 Blue Note Records
 Freedom Ain't Free

1955 births
Living people
20th-century American composers
20th-century jazz composers
21st-century American composers
21st-century jazz composers
African-American jazz composers
African-American jazz musicians
American jazz bandleaders
Blue Note Records artists
American male jazz composers
American jazz composers
Post-bop jazz musicians
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians
20th-century African-American musicians
21st-century African-American musicians

Dave McMurray


Donald Arthur David Reeve (1923–1994) was a British civil engineer.

Reeve was born in 1923 in Long Buckby, Northamptonshire. He became Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of the Severn Trent Water Authority by 1985 when he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Reeve was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the November 1985 to November 1986 session. On 22 May 1986, he officially named a British Rail Class 47 locomotive (no. 47366) as The Institution of Civil Engineers at Liverpool Lime Street railway station. Locomotive 47366 was scrapped in 1999 but the name had been officially transferred to locomotive number 47969, another British Rail Class 47, on 2 September 1991. This unit (renumbered 47540) was withdrawn from service in 2003 and is currently located at the Wensleydale Railway, a heritage railway line. Reeve himself died in 1994 in the West Midlands.

References

Bibliography

1923 births
1994 deaths
British civil engineers
Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers
People from Long Buckby

Donald Reeve


Katsuhiko Oku (奥 克彦 Oku Katsuhiko, 3 January 1958 – 29 November 2003) was a Japanese diplomat who played rugby for Oxford and Waseda University. In Britain he was known as "Katsu".

Character and life
A very popular and dynamic personality, he later became a diplomat and was sent from the Japanese embassy in London to Iraq where he was killed by unknown assailants with his colleague Masamori Inoue and their Iraqi driver when their car was ambushed on 29 November 2003. He was promoted posthumously to ambassador in recognition of his work by the Japanese foreign ministry (Gaimusho).

Oku made a point of visiting many countries and finding out what the local people wanted. He saw it as the first duty of a diplomat.

Since 2004 an Oku Memorial Trophy has been contested annually in Richmond, London by the Kew Occasionals club (founded by Katsu Oku's good friend Reg Clark), London Japanese RFC and some Japanese teams. (See RFU's official newspaper Touchline, February 2007 issue).

Charitable fund
A charitable fund has been set up in his name for the children of Iraq and a collection at the 2004 Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Match went towards that fund. Proceeds from the recent game in Japan between Waseda and Oxford (which Waseda won for the first time ever) also went to the fund, and the game was called the Katsuhiko Oku Memorial match. It was played on 20 September 2004 and Waseda won 25-9. The average weight of the forwards was Oxford 107 kg, Waseda 99 kg. The record now stands at one win, one draw and ten losses.

Katsuyuki Kiyomiya, the coach of Waseda's highly successful rugby team 2001–2006, was a friend of Mr. Oku, and is a trustee of his memorial fund in Japan. Together they invented a slogan "ULTIMATE CRUSH".

See also
 Anglo-Japanese relations
 Japan Rugby Football Union
 List of unsolved murders
 Waseda University Rugby Football Club

References
 ULTIMATE CRUSH: Waseda University Rugby, Leadership and Building the Strongest Winning Team in Japan by Katsuyuki Kiyomiya, translated into English by Ian Ruxton (September 2006).

References

External links
 The Oku-Inoue fund for the children of Iraq (English version)
 Waseda University Rugby Football Club (in Japanese)
 Oxford University Rugby Football Club
 London Japanese Rugby Football Club

1958 births
2003 deaths
2003 murders in Iraq
Japanese diplomats
Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom
Japanese people murdered abroad
Japanese people of the Iraq War
Male murder victims
People murdered in Iraq
Unsolved murders in Iraq
Waseda University alumni
Waseda University Rugby Football Club players

Katsuhiko Oku


Across the Tracks is a 1991 American independent drama movie. This movie is about two brothers who have gone different ways in the past. They are learning to deal with each other again. Joe is played by Brad Pitt. Carrie Snodgress plays Rosemary Maloney.

Plot
Joe Maloney (Brad Pitt) is a straight A student vying for an athletic scholarship to Stanford. He lives with his mother (Carrie Snodgress) in a trailer park in Gardena, CA. His well laid plans for the future are thrown into turmoil when his troubled younger brother Billy (Rick Schroder) is released from Juvenile Detention following his arrest for stealing a car and comes to live with them back home.

Other websites

1990s drama movies
1991 movies
American drama movies
American independent movies

Across the Tracks


Yuri Ivanovich Bosco () (24 September 1930 – 4 February 2019) was a Russian artist, an Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1963) and People's Artist of the Russian Federation (2006).

Early life
Bosco was born on 24 September 1930 in Samarkand. His mother, Catherine (né Klimushkin) was born in Samara, his father (whose name was originally Bosc before he lengthened it to Bosco) was born in St. Petersburg. Yuri Bosco's father died when Yuri was a child, and his mother moved them to Samara (called Kuybyshev at that time). With the German invasion of Russia in 1941, Bosco's mother sent him to live with her sister in Samarkand. There his early drawings showed talent and his aunt enrolled him in art school.

Education
Later he studied in Tashkent and Moscow. In 1956 he was graduated from the Leningrad Art and Industry Academy (named, at that time, in honor of Worker and Kolkhoz Woman sculptor Vera Mukhina, and thus often called the Mukhina Academy during this time) with degrees in Monuments and Decorative Painting.

Bosco was admitted to the Union of Russian Artists and was elected chairman of the Volgograd organization, and was elected to the boards of the Union of Russian Artists and the Union of Soviet Artists. Despite this recognition he elected not to move to the capital but to remain on the Volga, living and working in Volgograd, Samara, and Tolyatti, where he executed his most famous works, although he did finally move to Moscow to work and teach in 1978.

Works
Bosco painted many realistic works, some that were widely reproduced in the USSR, including "Workday Life at the Volga Hydroelectric Station", "Above the Volga", "The Volzanka", and "The Common People".

Bosco's monumental works include:

Prometheus, a large bas-relief sculpture on the side of the Palace of Culture in Tolyatti. Dating to 1975, it measures  by . Bosco executed this design with assistance of the sculptor Fetisov.
A mosaic in Lenin Memorial Center in Ulyanovsk.
The composition Energy for the People in the Volga Hydroelectric Station.
The painting Labor Hall of Fame in the Volga Automobile Plant in Tolyatti.
And other paintings, mosaics, and stained glass works in Volgograd, Uralsk, Samara, Tolyatti, and other cities.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bosco turned more to portrait painting. Among his works are portraits of the architects Levitan and Pryadihina, the artists Egidisa and Nazarova, a series of portraits of scientists, geologists, and faculty of Moscow State University, and the painting "O Days of Harsh Sacred Memory", a portrait of frontline medical orderly Mary Rokhlina executed for the 60th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Yuri Bosco participated in various art exhibitions. Bosco's paintings hang in museums and art galleries in Moscow (including the Tretyakov Gallery), St. Petersburg, Samara, Tolyatti, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, and abroad. His work has been presented to the public in Germany, Poland, the United States, Britain, France, Japan, China, and Bulgaria as well as many Russian cities. In 2006, the Central House of Artists in Moscow hosted a joint exhibition of works by Bosco and his daughter, Anna Bosco.

In 1978, Bosco was appointed a professor of drawing at Moscow Architectural Institute.

In 2005, Natalia Dolinskaya published a coffee table book retrospective of Bosco's works.

References

1930 births
2019 deaths
People from Samarkand
People from Tolyatti
20th-century Russian painters
Russian male painters
Russian stained glass artists and manufacturers
Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design alumni
People's Artists of Russia
Honored Artists of the RSFSR
20th-century Russian male artists

Yuri Bosco


St Paul's Church is a Church of England church in Broadoak, Dorset, England. It was designed by Thomas Talbot Bury and built in 1865–66. The church has been a Grade II listed building since 1984.

History
St Paul's was built as a chapel of ease to the parish church of St John the Baptist in Symondsbury. It was the second chapel of ease to be built in the parish, following St Peter's at Eype, which opened in 1865. Owing to the many outlying settlements and neighbourhoods which were a considerable distance from St John's, the rector of the parish, Rev. Henry Rawlinson, sought to improve church accommodation in the parish. The area of Broakoak was approximately three miles from the parish church, with the nearest church being at Salwayash.

Plans for the church were drawn up by Thomas Talbot Bury of London and a plot of land purchased by Rev. Rawlinson from the trustees of the Bridport Charity. In addition to Broadoak, the church was sited to serve the hamlets of Henwood, Mowerbury, Dinhay, Atram and Hogboar. In addition to donations and subscriptions, a grant of £20 was also received by the Salisbury Diocesan Church Building Society towards its construction.

The foundation stone was laid by Mrs. Sarah Anne Rawlinson, wife of the rector, on 23 March 1865, in the presence of a large number of local clergy and residents. The stone was to have been laid by Mrs. Fooks of Mowerbury, but illness prevented her attendance, and her chosen replacement, Miss Legg of Allington was also unable to attend due to the death of a relative. Mr. William Gibbs of Bradpole was hired as the builder, with Mr. Richard Cornick of Bridport as the contractor, and Mr. W. K. Brown of Bridport handling the plumbing, glazing and woodwork. The completed church was consecrated on 25 April 1866 by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Rev. Walter Kerr Hamilton.

Architecture
St Paul's is built of local red sandstone sourced from Stoke Knapp, near Beaminster, with Hamstone used for the quoins and dressings, and slate on the roof. It was designed in the Early English style to accommodate 120 persons, and is made up of a nave and chancel. The west end contains the entrance, an oak door with ornamental ironwork, and a bell turret with a decorated cross finial. The arched braces of the open roof rest on corbels of Hamstone, and the chancel arch is also of the same material. The pulpit, lectern and reading desk are of oak, and the open seats of stained deal.

The north and south sides of the building each have four lancet windows, filled with tinted cathedral glass. The east end has a three-lancet window, with three small circular windows above, and a single lancet window on each side of the chancel. The west end has a two-lancet window with circular and trefoil windows above. The east and west windows, and those on either side of the chancel, were gifted and painted by Mrs. Rawlinson.

References

External links
 Symondsbury Parish website

Church of England church buildings in Dorset
1866 establishments in England
Grade II listed churches in Dorset

St Paul's Church, Broadoak


Mats Roland Willner (born 24 April 1968) is a Swedish journalist, author and Arsenal supporter. He currently works as sports editor at the Norrköpings Tidningar where he has been a long-standing sports journalist. He is famous for supporting Arsenal FC and visits about 8 games per year. He is co-founder and former chairman of Arsenal Sweden.

In April 2007 he gained popularity in his article series 'Willners Week', which includes his reviews of the Stadium's sausages.

References

1968 births
Living people
Swedish sports journalists

Mats Willner


John Wesley Hardt (14 July 1921 – 18 June 2017) was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1980.  He also distinguished himself as a preacher and a pastor of Methodist Churches, as a district superintendent, and as an author and biographer.

Birth and family
Hardt was born in San Antonio, Texas, a son of the Rev. and Mrs. W.W. Hardt.  On 13 September 1943 he married Martha Carson of Malakoff, Henderson County, Texas.  They had four children:  Betty (Mrs. Ed Lesko), William C., John S. and James J. (known as Joe).  The Hardts also had eight grandchildren.

Education

Hardt attended Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, and then earned the B.A. degree from Southern Methodist University in 1942.  He earned the Bachelor of Divinity degree from Perkins School of Theology (at S.M.U.) in 1946.  He also did graduate work at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Union Theological Seminary in New York City.  He also holds honorary doctorates from Southwestern University and from Oklahoma City University.

Ordained ministry

During college Hardt served as a supply pastor.  Bishop A. Frank Smith ordained him a deacon in 1943 and an elder in 1944 in the Texas Annual Conference.  In 1943 Hardt relieved his father as pastor at Malakoff.  Following the death of his father, Hardt served there another year.

Hardt served four other pastorates in the Texas Conference, each one involving a major building program.  In 1977, after serving the First U.M.C., Beaumont, Texas for eighteen years, he was appointed superintendent of the Houston East District until elected to the episcopacy in 1980.  Hardt was a delegate to all U.M. General Conferences from 1960 until 1980, during which time he was also active on general and conference agencies.

Episcopal ministry

Upon his election, Bishop Hardt was assigned to the Oklahoma episcopal area.  He served Oklahoma until his retirement in 1988.  He then became Bishop-in-Residence at Perkins School of Theology, later becoming Bishop-in-Residence Emeritus.

Bishop Hardt served as a Trustee of St. Paul School of Theology, Lon Morris College, Southern Methodist University and Oklahoma City University.  He was active in Rotary International and traveled extensively.

Selected writings

Not the Ashes, but the Fire, 1977 (a book of sermons).
Lakeview, A Story of Inspiring Unity, 1992.
Cecil Peeples, Giant of the 20th Century, 1999.
Forward in Faith, 1999 (a history of Marvin United Church, Tyler, TX).

See also
 List of bishops of the United Methodist Church

References

InfoServ, the official information service of The United Methodist Church.
The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church

External links
Photo of Bishop Hardt

1921 births
2017 deaths
People from San Antonio
Perkins School of Theology alumni
Vanderbilt University alumni
Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni
Methodist writers
American biographers
American male biographers
American sermon writers
Lon Morris College alumni
American United Methodist bishops

John Wesley Hardt


Elisabeth of Oettingen also known as Elizabeth of Leuchtenberg (born: ; died: 9 July 1406) was a member of the House of Oettingen-Wallerstein by birth.  She was a Landgravine of Leuchtenberg by marriage and a lady in waiting for the Elector Palatine and King of Germany, Rupert.

Life
Elisabeth of Oettingen was the daughter of Count Louis X of Oettingen (referred to as Louis XI by some authors) (died: 1 May 1370) and his wife Imagina of Schaunberg (died: 1377).  Around 1376, Elisabeth married Landgrave Albert of Leuchtenberg (died: ).

Little is known about her life.  She served as a lady in waiting at the Palatine court.  Irmengard of Oettingen, the cousin of her grandfather, Frederick I of Oettingen, was married to Elector Palatine Adolf and was the grandmother of Rupert, the Elector Palatine and King of Germany, so Elisabeth was a third cousin of King Rupert.  She may have received her position at the Palatine court on the recommendation of her elderly great-aunt Irmengard, the elector's grandmother, who at the time lived as a Dominican nun in the Liebenau monastery at Worms.

Elisabeth donated a valuable collection of 52 relics in two silver containers to the collegiate church in Neustadt and der Haardt (now called Neustadt an der Weinstrasse).  The relics were lost during the Reformation.  Members of the House of Wittelsbach were buried in the choir of this church, and so was Elisabeth, who was a relative of the Wittelsbach family.  Her damaged grave stone was found in 1907 in the church floor, near the northern entrance into the Catholic part of the church and is now part of the west wall of the south choir chapel.  The church has an "eternal" tradition of celebrating mass in Elisabeth's memory; a contemporary record in the Seelbuch mentions the donation in connection with this mass.

Elisabeth's son Landgrave Leopold of Leuchtenberg (d. 1463) was a Palatinate governor of Amberg and was later raised to Prince of Leuchtenberg.  This, too, may be due to his remote family connection with the king, or to the reputation of his mother.  Leopold was buried in the parish church of Pfreimd in the Upper Palatinate.  His grave is marked with a well-preserved magnificent marble epitaph with a portrait of Leopold as a knight.  The portrait can be seen in the header of the parish's official website.

Elizabeth's brother, Frederick IV of Oettingen was bishop of Eichstätt.  He was considered one of the most pious and most active German prelates of his time.

Her other brother, Louis XI "the Bearded" (he is called "Louis XII" by authors who call her father "Louis XI") served king of Sigismund for many years as Hofmeister and confidant.  At the time, the Hofmeister was the highest official in the Emprire.  He also represented the Emperor at the Council of Constance.

References
 Alban Haas: "Aus der Nüwenstat; vom Werden und Leben des mittelalterlichen Neustadt an der Weinstrasse", Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt, Neustadt, 1950 and 1964, pp. 61–62 and 275-276

External links
 Official website of the Princely House of Oettingen

Footnotes

1360s births
1406 deaths
People from the Electoral Palatinate
House of Oettingen
Countesses in Germany
14th-century German nobility
14th-century German women
15th-century German women
German ladies-in-waiting
15th-century German nobility

Elisabeth of Oettingen


Dennis McDermott  (November 3, 1922 – February 13, 2003) was a Canadian trade unionist who served as Canadian Director of the United Auto Workers from 1968 to 1978 and president of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1978 to 1986.

Born in Portsmouth, England, McDermott immigrated to Canada in 1948 and settled in Toronto where he worked as an assembler and welder at the Massey-Harris plant.  He became a full-time organizer for the United Auto Workers in Canada (UAW) in 1954. He was elected Canadian Director of the UAW in 1968 and became an international vice-president of the union in 1970.

As leader of the Canadian UAW he also became a vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress.  He left the UAW in 1978 to become president of the CLC.

McDermott was a social activist and civil liberties advocate and joined the Joint Labour Committee to Combat Racial Intolerance soon after arriving in Canada working with the committee to lobby for the enactment of Ontario's first Human Rights Code.  He would later serve on the executive of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. He led the Canadian UAW to support the California grape boycott in the 1960s and 1970s.

As UAW Canadian Director, McDermott led a campaign against wage controls being implemented by the government of Pierre Trudeau in 1975.  Under McDermott, the CLC organized a 100,000 person protest against the federal Liberal government's economic policies in 1981.

Following his term as CLC president, McDermott was appointed Canada's ambassador to Ireland in 1986 and served in that position until 1989.

McDermott was strong supporter of the New Democratic Party and organized the CLC to operate a political action program in support of the NDP in the 1979 federal election.

References

English emigrants to Canada
Trade unionists from Ontario
United Auto Workers people
Members of the Order of Ontario
1922 births
2003 deaths
Presidents of the Canadian Labour Congress
Ambassadors of Canada to Ireland
Canadian Auto Workers people

Dennis McDermott


Fredericksburg is a village in Salt Creek Township, Wayne County, Ohio, United States. The population was 409 at the 2020 census.

Fredericksburg was platted in 1824 by Jacob Frederick, and named for him.

Geography
Fredericksburg is located at  (40.677129, -81.870131).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all of it land.

Demographics

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 423 people, 177 households, and 116 families living in the village. The population density was . There were 192 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 99.3% White, 0.5% Asian, and 0.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.2% of the population.

There were 177 households, of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.2% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.5% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.97.

The median age in the village was 33.8 years. 24.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.8% were from 25 to 44; 22.9% were from 45 to 64; and 15.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 49.4% male and 50.6% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 487 people, 184 households, and 128 families living in the village. The population density was . There were 189 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.95% White, and 2.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.21% of the population.

There were 184 households, out of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.1% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.21.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 28.7% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $32,500, and the median income for a family was $40,156. Males had a median income of $30,179 versus $19,861 for females. The per capita income for the village was $11,690. About 4.8% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.1% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Fredericksburg is home to two large factories, Mrs. Miller's Homemade Noodles and Robin Industries. Mrs. Miller's Homemade Noodles specializes in various kinds of pasta as well as jams and jellies distributed throughout the United States. Robin Industries makes rubber and plastic parts for automobiles under contract of General Motors.  Fredericksburg is also home to a national hardware store and bank, two restaurants, construction company, carpet store, library, three churches, and many more smaller businesses.  Local residents are served by the South Central Fire District's volunteer fire department.

Education
Fredericksburg is part of the Southeast Local School District, which includes the villages of Apple Creek and Mount Eaton in Wayne County, and the village of Holmesville in Holmes County.

Fredericksburg students attend Fredericksburg Elementary from K to 6, and join their counterparts from the aforementioned villages at John R. Lea Middle School for grades 7 to 8, and finish up their curriculum at Waynedale High School for grades 9 to 12.

The current schoolhouse was built in 1891 at a cost of $20,000, and served as the primary high school for the Salt Creek Local School District until the consolidation with Paint Local, and East Union Local School Districts in Wayne County, and Prairie Local School District in Holmes County combined to form the present day Southeast Local School District in 1955 upon completion of Waynedale High School. Fredericksburg High athletic teams were known as the "Freddies," and won multiple championships in basketball and baseball in the now defunct Wayne County "B" League, despite being one of the smallest school's competing.

The current building has been added onto multiple times: In 1923 a gym, auditorium and classroom space were added, in 1941 a Farm Shop was added to the west side of the building, in 1967 two rooms were added, and in 1989 with the addition of three more classrooms and two restrooms.

Notable residents
 Brand Blanshard, American philosopher
 Paul Blanshard, American author, lawyer, socialist, secular humanist, and assistant editor of ''The Nation magazine
 Isaac Singer, inventor, lived about a year in Fredericksburg making wooden type for printers, and improved a type-making machine. Later he founded the Singer Sewing Machine Company.

Further reading

References

Villages in Wayne County, Ohio
Villages in Ohio
Populated places established in 1824
Amish in Ohio

Fredericksburg, Ohio


John Bonnycastle (baptized 29 December 1751 in Hardwick or Whitchurch, England – 15 May 1821 in Woolwich, England) was an English teacher of mathematics and author.

Life
John Bonnycastle was born in Buckinghamshire, in about 1750.
Nothing is known of his family or early life, but he went to London where he established an Academy.
He became a tutor to the two sons of the Earl of Pontefract at Easton in  Northumberland.
Between 1782 and 1785, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where he remained until his death on 15 May 1821.

He was a prolific writer, and wrote for the early volumes of Rees's Cyclopædia, about algebra, analysis and astronomy.

Family
At the age of 19, he married a Miss Rolt, but she died young. On Oct.7th, 1786 he married Brigette Newell with whom he had six children Charlotte, William, Mary, Sir Richard (Royal Engineer/Author), Humphrey and Charles.

His son Richard Henry Bonnycastle settled in Canada, where the family became quite well known in Winnipeg and Calgary.

His son, Charles Bonnycastle  (1796-1840) became Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia.

Writings

The Scholar's guide to Arithmetic, 1780
Introduction to Algebra, 1782
Introduction to Astronomy, 1786 (7th edition 1816)
Euclid's 'Elements'  with notes, 1789
A Treatise on Plane and Spherical Geometry, 1806
A Treatise of Algebra, 1813

Notes

References

Gentleman's Magazine, 1821, i, 472, 482

John Bonnycastle
1750s births
1821 deaths
Academics of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
British textbook writers
English mathematicians
Schoolteachers from Buckinghamshire
Mathematics educators

John Bonnycastle


The Sydney Explorer was an Australian open top bus tourist sightseeing service operating in the Sydney central business district and Eastern Suburbs. Nowadays the company is owned by Big Bus Tours and trades as Big Bus Sydney.

History
On 23 November 1980, the Urban Transit Authority commenced operating the Sydney Explorer looping the Sydney central business district. It was operated with Mercedes-Benz O305 and O405 buses that apart from being painted in red Sydney Explorer livery and having a public address system, were identical to those used in normal service. In 1990, a fleet of six (later increased to eight) Pressed Metal Corporation bodied Mercedes-Benz O405 coaches were introduced.

In September 1998, the Bondi & Bay Explorer was introduced operating from Circular Quay to the Eastern Suburbs. It was operated by four Ansair bodied Scania L113CRLs painted in a blue livery.

In November 2010, both services were sold to City Sightseeing who had been operating open top bus tours in Sydney since the early 2000s.

No buses were included in the sale, with City Sightseeing continuing to operate its existing routes only with its fleet of MCW Metrobuses. From May 2012 new Anhui Ankai buses were introduced on these routes. Operations initially operated under the City Sightseeing brand, before the Big Bus Sydney name was introduced in 2016.

When Ensignbus sold the City Sightseeing business in 2011, it retained ownership of the Sydney operation. In 2016, Sydney Explorer relinquished its City Sightseeing franchise and became a Big Bus Tours affiliate.

Tickets
Big Bus Sydney offers 4 tickets:

- Discover: valid for 24hrs

- Essential: valid for 48hrs

- Explore: 48hr ticket + 24hr Fantasea Harbour Hopper cruise

Big Bus Sydney now stops at 34 different locations in the Sydney City and Bondi & Bays tours. Hop-On, Hop-Off City Tour

References

Further reading
"Sydney Pass good way to explore city; can't inherit frequent-flier miles" Daily Breeze 2 October 2005 page B7
"For a fun thing to do, see Sydney Explorer" The Mosman Daily 20 September 2007 page 27

Bus companies of New South Wales
Bus transport in Sydney
Tourism in Sydney
1980 establishments in Australia
City Sightseeing

Big Bus Sydney