Li Renda () (died 947), also known by the names of Li Hongyi () (945–946), Li Hongda () (946), Li Da () (946–947), and Li Ruyun () (947), was a warlord of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period.  He was initially an officer for the state of Min.  In Min's last years, he rebelled against its last emperor Wang Yanzheng and seized control of the Fu Prefecture (福州, in modern Fuzhou, Fujian) region, initially in nominal allegiance to both Southern Tang and Later Jin.  When Southern Tang's emperor Li Jing tried to force to yield actual control to the Southern Tang imperial government, however, he turned his allegiance to Wuyue and fought off the Southern Tang attack with Wuyue aid.  When his relationship with the Wuyue general Bao Xiurang () eventually broke down, he considered killing Bao and resubmitting to Southern Tang, but Bao discovered this and killed him first, allowing Wuyue to take actual control over the region.

Background and rebellion against Min
It is not known when Li Renda was born.  He was said to be "of Guang Prefecture" (光州, in modern Xinyang, Henan)—but that probably did not denote that he was born there, but rather that his ancestors were from there, as the original Guang Prefectures immigrants to the Fujian region were led by Wang Chao, the brother of Min's founder Wang Shenzhi (Prince Zhongyi), in deciding to remain, in 885—six decades before Li Renda's coming of power.

Li Renda himself at some point became an officer—the commander of the Yuancong Corps ()—for Min, but after reaching that position, did not receive another promotion for 15 years.  During the time that Wang Shenzhi's son Wang Xi (Emperor Jingzong) (with his capital at Min's traditional capital Fu Prefecture) and his younger brother Wang Yanzheng (with his headquarters at Jian Prefecture (建州, in modern Nanping, Fujian) and who would later claim the title of emperor of a new branch state of Yin) were engaged in civil war, Li defected from Wang Xi's imperial regime to Wang Yanzheng, who made Li one of his generals.  However, when the general Zhu Wenjin assassinated Wang Xi in 944 and claimed the throne himself, Li redefected to Zhu and offered strategies to capture Jian.  Zhu, disliking Li for his treacherousness, refused to give him any commissions and forced him into retirement at Fuqing (福清, in modern Fuzhou).

In late 944, Zhu had in turn been assassinated by the officer Lin Renhan (), who then submitted Fu to Wang Yanzheng's control.  Wang Yanzheng reclaimed the title of Emperor of Min, but decided not to move the capital back from Jian to Fu, believing that he needed to remain at Jian to resist an incoming Southern Tang invasion.  Instead, he commissioned his nephew Wang Jichang to oversee Fu, which he made the southern capital.  He sent the general Huang Renfeng () to assist Wang Jichang.

With Fu under Wang Yanzheng's control, Li was concerned what would happen to him.  Similarly concerned was one Chen Jixun (), who had defected from Wang Yanzheng to Wang Xi.  They decided to approach Huang, arguing to him that Wang Yanzheng himself was in a precarious position due to the Southern Tang attack, and that Huang should rebel against him and seize Fu.  Huang agreed.  These co-conspirators then led the soldiers and attacked the headquarters, killing Wang Jichang and another general Wang Yanzheng left to assist Wang Jichang, Wu Chengyi ().

Under the Zhuo Yanming regime
It was said that Li Renda considered immediately taking power himself, but did not believe that the soldiers would be ready to follow him.  Therefore, knowing that Zhuo Yanming, a monk at Xuefeng Temple (), had long been respected by the people, and therefore proclaimed, "This monk has multiple pupils, and has arms reaching below his knees.  These are signs of a true Son of Heaven."  He proclaimed Zhuo emperor and put imperial robes on him — yet simultaneously, having the regime use the era name of Later Jin and sending emissaries to Later Jin to pledge loyalty.

When Wang Yanzheng heard this, he slaughtered Huang Renfeng's family and sent the general Zhang Hanzhen () to rendezvous with troops from Zhang (漳州, in modern Zhangzhou, Fujian) and Quan (泉州, in modern Quanzhou, Fujian), which had recently submitted to him, to attack the new Zhuo regime.  When Zhang's army arrived at Fu, however, Huang, having received news that his family had been slaughtered, fought with great ferocity, and he defeated and captured Zhang, who was then executed.

Li put himself in command of Zhuo's imperial guards, and had Huang defend Fu's west gate and Chen Jixun defend its north gate.  However, one day, Huang lamented to Chen his regrets in rebelling against Wang Yanzheng, stating:

Chen warned him that lamenting in this way would bring disaster, but Huang apparently continued to do so.  When Li became aware, he had others falsely accuse Huang and Chen of treason, and had them arrested and executed.  After their death, Li consolidated the command in his own hands.  Not long after, he held a grand review of the troops and had Zhuo attend to view them.  At the review, he had a soldier assassinate Zhuo.  (Zhuo's father, whom Zhuo had honored as retired emperor, was also put to death.)  Soldiers that Li had pre-conspired with placed him on Zhuo's throne.  Li, however, did not claim imperial title, but rather only claimed the title of acting military governor of Weiwu Circuit (威武, traditionally headquartered at Fu).  He started using Southern Tang's Baoda era name, yet at the same time also sent emissaries to pledge allegiance to Later Jin and to establish friendly relations with Wuyue.  Southern Tang's emperor Li Jing made Li Renda the military governor of Weiwu and honorary chancellor (同中書門下平章事, Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi), and added him to the roll of imperial clan members (as he shared the surname of Li with the Southern Tang emperors).  Li Jing also gave him a new name of Li Hongyi.

Under dual allegiance to Southern Tang and Later Jin
In fall 945, Jian Prefecture fell to the sieging Southern Tang troops commanded by the general Cha Wenhui ().  Wang Yanzheng surrendered, ending Min, and subsequently, all of the former Min realm (at least nominally) submitted to Southern Tang.  Subsequently, a member of the Min imperial clan, Wang Jixun (), who was then the prefect of Quan, wrote to Li Renda, offering to establish friendly relations, but Li Renda took offense, as traditionally, Quan was part of and subordinate to the military governor of Weiwu; he thus sent his younger brother Li Hongtong () to attack Quan in late-spring 946. Wang Jixun's officer Liu Congxiao used this as an opportunity to depose Wang and take over Quan, and then repelled Li Hongtong's attack.

Previously, when Cha captured Jian, there were suggestions made to the Southern Tang court that the army advance and take over Fu as well.  Li Jing declined ordering so, and his chief of staff Chen Jue offered to go on a diplomatic mission to Fu, to try to persuade Li Hongyi to give up his de facto self-governing status and report to the Southern Tang capital Jinling.  To try to show good grace to Li Hongyi, before Chen's mission, Li Jing bestowed lady titles on Li Hongyi's mother and wife, and granted offices to his four younger brothers.  Further, Chen arrived at Fu with gold and silk to be awarded to Li Hongyi.  However, Li Hongyi, knowing what Chen was there to do, treated Chen with coldness and disrespect.  Fearful, Chen left Fu without even bringing up the matter of summoning him to Jinling.

As Chen was on the way back to Jinling, when he reached Jian Prefecture (劍州, in modern Nanping, note different location than the former Min capital), he issued edicts in Li Jing's name (without Li Jing's approval) ordering Li Hongyi to report to Jinling.  The false edict also named Chen the acting overseer at Fu and launched troops from Ting (汀州, in modern Longyan, Fujian), Jian (the former Min capital), Fǔ (撫州, in modern Fuzhou, Jiangxi, note different location), and Xin (信州, in modern Shangrao, Jiangxi) Prefectures, under the command of the Jian army monitor Feng Yanlu, to head toward Fu to pressure Li Hongyi.  When Feng wrote Li Hongyi to try to persuade him to give up his control of Fu, however, Li Hongyi responded and challenged him to a battle.  While Feng initially defeated Li Hongyi's general Yang Chongbao (), they were defeated at Fu when engaging Li Hongyi himself.  Li Jing, initially angry that Chen had forged his edict, decided to try to reinforce his and Feng's army to try to defeat Li Hongyi, and therefore put the senior general Wang Chongwen () in command of an army to further siege Fu.  The outer city quickly fell, but Li Hongyi was able to hold the defense of the inner city, and the Southern Tang attack bogged down.

Break with Southern Tang and allegiance to Wuyue
Li Hongyi changed his name to Li Hongda, apparently to show a break with Southern Tang, and submitted a petition to submit to Later Jin.  Later Jin's emperor Shi Chonggui commissioned him the military governor of Weiwu and the overseer of the state of Min.

Li Hongda then again changed his name to Li Da (apparently in naming taboo for Wuyue's king Qian Hongzuo), and sought aid from Wuyue, offering to submit as a subject.  An initial Wuyue attachment quickly arrived at Fu and helped him defend the city, but was unable to break the Southern Tang siege, which became tighter and tighter.  However, the Southern Tang army was hampered by discord — as while Wang Chongwen was the overall commander of the army, the officials Chen Jue, Feng Yanlu, and Wei Cen () all tried to give orders as well, while Liu Congxiao and Wang Jianfeng () were also not obedient of Wang Chongwen's orders.  When another Wuyue detachment, commanded by the general Yu An () arrived, Feng, taking it lightly, advocated allowing it to land so that it could be destroyed on land.  Instead, once the Wuyue forces landed, it coalesced fiercely and crushed the Southern Tang forces, forcing them to withdraw.  Yu entered the city and took up position there with a Wuyue garrison.  Yu subsequently returned to the Wuyue capital Qiantang, and Qian sent the general Bao Xiurang () to command the Wuyue garrison at Fu.

In July 947, Qian Hongzuo died and was succeeded by his brother Qian Hongzong.  Li Da, leaving his brother Li Tong (i.e., Li Hongtong, who apparently also changed his name at the time that Li Da changed his) at Fu as the acting military governor, went to Qiantang to pay homage to the new king.  Qian Hongzong bestowed on him the greater honorary chancellor title Shizhong () and gave him a new name of Li Ruyun.  Li Ruyun soon became apprehensive that Qian Hongzong might keep him at Qiantang, and, using 20 gold bamboo shoots, bribed the powerful general Hu Jinsi, requesting to be allowed to return to Fu.  Hu thus spoke on Li's behalf, and Qian allowed Li to return to Fu.

Death
At some point, however, Li Ruyun developed a discord with Bao Xiurang, and therefore considered assassinating Bao and resubmitting to Southern Tang.  When Bao realized this, he acted first and attacked Li's mansion, killing him and slaughtering his family, including his brother Li Tong.  Bao delivered Li Ruyun's head to Qiantang, and Qian Hongzong subsequently sent the chancellor Wu Cheng to take over as the military governor of Weiwu.

Notes and references

 Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, vol. 98.
 Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 284, 285, 286, 287.

|- style="text-align: center;

947 deaths
Min Kingdom generals
Southern Tang jiedushi
Later Jin (Five Dynasties) jiedushi
Weiwu jiedushi
Wuyue jiedushi
Assassinated Chinese people

Li Renda


Al Avila (born August 2, 1958) is a Cuban baseball executive. He was the  executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Early life
Avila was born in Cuba. His family defected from Cuba to the United States when he was a child.

Career

St. Thomas University
Avila was the assistant baseball coach to Paul Mainieri at St. Thomas University, his alma mater, in 1988. The following season he was promoted to coach when Mainieri left for the Air Force Academy. Avila remained in that position, and also served as the school's athletics director, until he joined the expansion Florida Marlins' front office in 1992.

Florida Marlins
In June 1992, Avila joined the Florida Marlins as the assistant director of Latin American operations. After two seasons with the Marlins, he was promoted to director of Latin American operations. Under Avila's guidance, the Marlins signed 1997 NLCS and World Series MVP Liván Hernández, during Florida's World Series run.

Avila was named director of scouting for the Marlins in July 1998, where he was responsible for all of the Marlins scouting efforts on both the national and international levels and he oversaw the development of those players in the baseball academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Avila helped sign 16-year-old Miguel Cabrera in 1999, who debuted in the major leagues in 2003 and hit four home runs during Florida's second World Series run.

Avila served as the interim general manager for the Marlins during the 2001 off-season following Dave Dombrowski's departure to the Detroit Tigers. He was named the Marlins vice president and assistant general manager in July 2001.

Pittsburgh Pirates
On January 23, 2002, Avila was hired as a special assistant to Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield.

Detroit Tigers
On April 15, 2002, Avila was named the assistant general manager and vice president of the Detroit Tigers.

On August 4, 2015, Avila was promoted to general manager and executive vice president of baseball operations, after Dombrowski was released by the Tigers. Avila became the first Cuban-born general manager in baseball history. On July 5, 2019, the Tigers announced they signed Avila to a multi-year contract extension.

On August 10, 2022, the Tigers fired Avila. At the time of his firing, Avila was the only general manager of Latin American descent in Major League Baseball.

Personal
His father, Ralph Avila, was the vice president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and was the senior scouting advisor for the Dodgers. His son, Alex Avila, was a catcher for various teams the major leagues and is now an analyst for MLB Network.

References

External links

1958 births
Living people
Detroit Tigers executives
Major League Baseball general managers
Miami Marlins scouts
People from Havana
St. Thomas University (Florida) alumni
St. Thomas Bobcats baseball coaches
St. Thomas Bobcats athletic directors

Al Avila


The Philippine Red Cross (PRC; ) is a non-profit humanitarian organization and a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

The PRC was established in 1947, with roots in the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. It was initially involved only in the provision of blood and short-term palliatives as well as participation in disaster-related activities but they now focus on a wider array of humanitarian services.

At present, the PRC provides six major services: National Blood Services, Disaster Management Services, Safety Services, Health Services, Welfare Services and Red Cross Youth. The National Headquarters of the PRC is located at 37 EDSA corner Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila.

History
Apolinario Mabini encouraged the Malolos Republic to form a national Red Cross organization. On February 17, 1899, the Malolos Republic approved the Constitution of the National Association of the Red Cross. The government appointed Hilaria del Rosario de Aguinaldo – the consort of President Emilio Aguinaldo – as the first head of the association.

Filipino diplomat Felipe Agoncillo, met with Gustave Moynier, an original member of the Committee of Five and International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (ICRC) president on August 29, 1900. He sought recognition of the Filipino Red Cross Society as well as the application of the First Geneva Convention during the Philippine–American War.

On August 30, 1905, the American Red Cross (ARC) formed a Philippine Branch with Filipino and American leaders at the Ayuntamiento. After several years of continuous effort, the ANRC officially recognized it as a chapter on December 4, 1917.

In 1934, President Manuel L. Quezon established an independent Philippine Red Cross (PRC). However, because the Philippines was a territory and later a Commonwealth under United States sovereignty, it could not sign the Geneva Conventions and therefore it could not be recognized by the ICRC. In 1942, during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, the Japanese created a Philippine Red Cross that they controlled to care for internees. Once Manila was liberated by combined American and Filipino forces in 1945, local Red Cross officials and the ANRC re-established an independent Red Cross.

The Philippines gained independence from the United States on July 4, 1946. Dr. J. Horacio Yanzon was appointed the first Filipino Red Cross manager in December 1946, with thirty-six Red Cross chapters initially set up in the country. On February 14, 1947, President Manuel A. Roxas signed the Treaty of Geneva and the Prisoners of War Convention. On March 22, 1947, President Roxas signed Republic Act 95, the PRC charter.

The ICRC approved the recognition of the PRC, and telegraphed First Lady Aurora Aragon Quezon, the first PRC chairman, on March 29, 1947. The PRC had an inaugural ceremony on April 15, 1947.

The PRC was admitted as a bona fide member of the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on September 17, 1947.

Since 2004, the chairman of the PRC Board of Governors is Senator Richard J. Gordon. Since 1965, actress Rosa Rosal has sat on the Board of Governors. Rosal was awarded in 1999 the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service for her activities with the PRC.

The Philippine Red Cross Act of 2009
In 2009, Republic Act No. 10072 or the Philippine Red Cross Act of 2009, was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The law is an affirmation of the country's "conformity with the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional protocols, and the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement", as well as a confirmation of the PRC's stand as a "voluntary, independent and autonomous nongovernmental society auxiliary to the authorities of the Republic of the Philippines in the humanitarian field".

Apart from the apparent change in the organization's name from "Philippine National Red Cross" to "Philippine Red Cross", included in the act's new provisions is the organizations' exemption from real property taxes, direct and indirect taxes, duties and fees that will emerge from its operations and its exclusive importations and purchases.

Equipment

Paramedical response vehicle
A list of vehicles presently used.

Firefighting appliances

Disaster response equipment

References

External links

Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies
Medical and health organizations based in the Philippines
Organizations established in 1917
1917 establishments in the Philippines

Philippine Red Cross


Anna Marina Schiptjenko (born July 27, 1965, in Malmö, Sweden) is the only female member of the Swedish electronic pop group Bodies Without Organs (now known as BWO). Her mother is Swedish and her father was a Ukrainian refugee from the Soviet Union, thus her Ukrainian surname.

She started her music career in the eighties, joining the synthpop band Page. The group stopped producing material in the nineties. She was asked  by Alexander Bard to join Vacuum. But since this band had little success, she quit the band, shortly after Alexander left. In 2004, she joined Alexander's new project, BWO. The band is a success in Scandinavia and through Eastern Europe.

In 2010, Marina, and fellow Page bandmate Eddie Bengtsson produced and released a new album entitled "Nu" after an entire decade of the band being in hiatus. It reached number 34 in the Swedish album charts.

Besides her musical career Marina has an art gallery in Stockholm with Ciléne Andréhn since 1991. She also lives in Stockholm with her husband. She starred in the 2017 film The Square.

External links
Galerie Andréhn-Schiptjenko

1965 births
Living people
Swedish women singers
Swedish keyboardists
Swedish people of Ukrainian descent
Singers from Malmö
Swedish women in electronic music
Melodifestivalen contestants of 2009
Melodifestivalen contestants of 2008
Melodifestivalen contestants of 2005

Marina Schiptjenko


Germs Nerawareta Machi (ジャーム~狙われた街~) which translates to "Germs: the Targeted Town" is a first-person open world, survival-horror adventure game developed by KAJ for the PlayStation in 1999.

Plot
The protagonist is a newspaper reporter who upon returning to his hometown investigates mysterious occurrences of strange mutants appearing in the city.

The game has an unsettling mix of science-fiction, body-horror and surrealism. Possible influences could come from the films of David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Shin'ya Tsukamoto as well as some of the 1950's and 1960's American science-fiction flicks for the setting and the story.

Gameplay
The player can navigate the open world by walking, driving a car, or taking public transport. The gameplay consists of exploring, gathering information and engaging in combat. If the players loses to a mutant, they don't die, but rather end up infected. The player can cure their infection by going to the hospital. Information can be gained from reading emails on the office computer, talking with people in the city, and reading the text you see upon defeating enemies.

Progression occurs when defeating the mutants in an invaded building. As time goes on, more areas become affected. The game ends when stopping the mutants at their source in the abandoned coal mine. However, the player can still explore the world after the ending scene.

References

PlayStation-only games
PlayStation games
1999 video games
Horror video games
Adventure games
Single-player video games
Japan exclusive video games

Germs Nerawareta Machi


Pseudobolodon was a relatively early member of the also extinct order of mammals, Multituberculata. It lived in Portugal during the Upper Jurassic, part of the "age of the dinosaurs." It lies within the suborder "Plagiaulacida" and family Paulchoffatiidae.

The genus Pseudobolodon ("false Bolodon") was named by Hahn G. in 1977 based on two species. A third one-time species, P. robustus (Hahn, 1978), seems to have transformed into Meketibolodon robustus (Hahn G. 1978).

The species Pseudobolodon krebsi was named by Hahn G. & Hahn R. in 1994. Fossil remains consisting of two upper jaws have been found in the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic)-age strata of Guimarota, Portugal. As for the septomaxilla mentioned in the title of the reference: "A small, triangular bone is placed between the premaxilla and the maxilla; this bone is interpreted as a septomaxilla. This is a bone that is typical for lower tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles), but is usually absent in mammals", (Hahn & Hahn 2000, p. 98). The premaxilla is the front bit of your upper jaw, while the maxilla is the side of it. Like other existing mammals, humans don't have this septomaxilla.

The species Pseudobolodon oreas was named by Hahn G. in 1977. Remains consisting of seven upper jaws have been found in Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic)-age strata of Guimarota, Portugal.

References
 Hahn, G. & Hahn, R. (2000), "Multituberculates from the Guimarota mine", p. 97-107 in Martin T & Krebs B (eds), Guimarota - A Jurassic Ecosystem, Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München.
 Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. & Hurum, J.H. (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals", Paleontology 44, p. 389-429.
 Hahn & Hahn (1994), Nachweis des Septomaxillare bei Pseudobolodon krebsi n.sp. (Multituberculata) aus dem Malm Portugals, p. 9-29, in Miscellanea Palaeontologica 3. - 531 p., 67 pl., Berl. Geowiss. Abh. Vol 13, editors Kohring R & Martin T. (Evidence of the septomaxilla in Pseudobolodon krebsi n.sp. (Multituberculata) from the Malm of Portugal.)
 Much of this information has been derived from  Multituberculata Cope, 1884.

Multituberculates
Late Jurassic mammals
Fossils of Portugal
Prehistoric mammal genera

Pseudobolodon


The Frederick W. Schumacher mansion was a historic house on East Broad Street in Columbus, Ohio. The mansion was built for Mary L. Frisbie, and was constructed from 1886 to 1889. Frisbie lived in the house for several years before selling it in 1901 to Frederick W. Schumacher, a prominent businessman and philanthropist. Schumacher lived there with his wife and children until the couple separated and divorced in 1917. From then until his death in 1957, Schumacher lived in the house only with servants, and frequently invited guests. In years leading up to, and just after Schumacher's death, the mansion was included in tours of historic houses of Columbus. In 1961, the mansion was demolished, and a hotel was proposed for the site. In 1987, a medical office building was finally constructed on the site; the structure was replaced with an apartment building in the 2020s.

The Schumacher house was designed by prominent Columbus architect Herbert A. Linthwaite in the Romanesque Revival style. It was massive in size, with  and three stories, with a  carriage house to the rear. The home's interior was elaborately decorated, featuring Schumacher's collections of paintings, sculptures, sketches, and artistic furnishings. Many of these works were on permanent loan to the Columbus Museum of Art, helping establish the museum's initial collection. Upon Schumacher's death, the 138-piece Schumacher Collection was donated to the museum.

The mansion's elaborate fencing, installed surrounding the mansion around 1905, is today in use at a private home in Chillicothe.

History

The house was built in from 1886 to 1888 for Mary L. Frisbie, widow of a prominent grocer. Her husband, Charles Harrison Frisbie, had lived his life modestly, though she decided to make use of their earnings after his death. Frisbie had the house built for her and her ten children, and lived there for years (at least until 1893), before moving to New York City. In 1899, when John R. McLean ran for Ohio Governor, he requested leasing the Frisbie mansion in order to maintain a presence in Ohio's capital city. It was rumored that the Alfred Kelley mansion was available for lease, and that its owner would be pleased to have McLean as a tenant. After several days of no success locating and contacting Frisbie, she sent a letter to McLean issuing her rental terms.

In 1901, Frisbie sold the house to Frederick W. Schumacher, who was an immigrant who made a fortune as the head of advertising for the Peruna Drug Manufacturing Company. Schumacher and founder Samuel B. Hartman (his father-in-law) were the most impactful in the company; Schumacher's advertising efforts made the drug remarkably popular and a household name. Schumacher also became a prominent Columbus patron of the arts, and served as president of the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts from 1904 to 1923. The sale went through on March 8, 1901; the announcement in The Columbus Dispatch on the following day clarified that the sale was to Schumacher, and not to Hartman, as the paper had previously announced. Schumcher had lived in Waco, Texas for much of his early life, and had married Hartman's daughter, Maribel Hartman, in 1895, at the Hartman home. In 1897, the couple moved from Waco to Columbus, taking up temporary residence in the Hartman home, and later, at 71 Winner Avenue. In 1901 the couple moved to 750 East Broad Street, what would become known as the Schumacher mansion. The couple remodeled the house, adding an iron fence as well as a porch with polished pink marble columns. Schumacher also purchased adjacent lots, so that the house's grounds would be bounded by four streets.

In March 1917, Maribel and Frederick Schumacher separated; Maribel moved with their three children to the Hartman home at that time. In September of that year, Maribel filed for divorce, alleging that he failed to financially support her and their children for clothing travel expenses, and furnishings for their home. She also alleged Schumacher would humiliate her with accusations related to infidelity and by following her while traveling. A Columbus Dispatch biography surmised that the relationship failed due to differences in interests and personality, exacerbated by the twelve-year difference in their ages. Maribel later remarried, while Schumacher lived out the rest of his life relatively alone. In 1949, Schumacher's home was included in a Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts tour of historic and architecturally interesting houses in the city; the home and its artworks were noted as a "distinguished addition" to that year's tour. In 1951, the Franklin County Historical Society offered an event, leading members through the Schumacher house and the Grace B. Kelton house. In 1956, Schumacher's mansion was again set to be included in the Columbus Gallery's annual home tour, though it was withdrawn one day before the tour date due to "unforeseen circumstances".

After about a year of illness, Schumacher died at his house on June 4, 1957. In July 1957, Columbus City Council suggested perserving the house and making it into a memorial to Schumacher; the council approved a resolution asking Schumacher's heirs to consider the possibility. The council wrote that unless the house was to be preserved, it would eventually give way to increasing commercialization in the area and would be destroyed.

The house was opened to the public for a short period, letting hundreds of curious visitors look at Schumacher's art collections. One of these tours was on September 27, 1957, organized by the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. For the occasion, 18 paintings Schumacher had willed to the museum were returned and rehung in their usual places, allowing the public to see the house as Schumacher had when he lived there. By September 30, 1957, it was reported that the house may be razed, and its contents would likely be auctioned. In October of that year, following the "extreme popularity" of the gallery's tour of the house (drawing 3,228 guests), another tour date was organized for October 6, 1957. In 1958, the Huntington National Bank organized a public auction of the home's contents.

By 1961, the decision was made to demolish the mansion. The owner's reasoning is unknown to modern historians, as there is no evidence an heir requested the building's demolition, nor was there a known pending project on the site. The demolition may have simply been a call by the bank in closing out Schumacher's estate to fund the charities as requested in his will. The house was demolished by the S.G. Loewendick & Sons company, noted for tearing down many other landmark buildings in Columbus. The firm began the process of taking down the house in April 9, 1961. The house was to be replaced with a luxury motor hotel: plans released on April 14, 1961 detailed a 12-story, 200-room luxury hotel, with the Skilken Co. as the designer and contractor for the project. On April 26, 1961, the City Planning Commission approved rezoning for the $3 million hotel. The plan was never realized, and thus the land remained empty until the 1980s, when a medical building was constructed on the site. Plans for the medical building were approved in April 1987. In the 2020s, the medical building was replaced with an apartment building named the Frisbie, after Mary Frisbie.

Schumacher, as a patron of the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, was instrumental in the museum's construction, and permanently loaned many of his works to help establish the organization's collection. Upon his death, the remainder of his collection was willed to the museum. The 138-piece Schumacher Collection was researched and exhibited in full in 1976, along with a complete catalog of the works. By the time of his death, some of his collection was already housed in a room inside the museum that bore his name. The most valuable painting in the collection was Portrait of a Little Girl by Thomas Gainsborough. It was not part of Schumacher's estate, as it was donated to the museum before his death.

Attributes

The Frederick W. Schumacher house was located at the corner of Broad Street and Hamilton Park, and had a side entrance on Garfield Avenue. It was surrounded by tall old maple trees. The home, described as "massive" and "castle-like", was considered a Columbus landmark by 1950.

The house was designed by prominent Columbus architect Herbert A. Linthwaite. It had three stories and about  of space, with a carriage house measuring . The home's exterior was primarily made up of green-colored stone, which included a high percent of soapstone. The stone was reportedly mined either in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, or at the Marble Cliff Quarry in Columbus. Mary L. Frisbie named the house the "Greenstone Mansion" due to the materials used, and neighborhood children were told the tale that Schumacher had so much money that the stones of his house turned green. The only other building in the city made with the stone was the Broad Street United Methodist Church, located several blocks west of the house. The house was one of the most elaborate in Columbus at the time, and was built at a time when the wealthy enjoyed elaborate French, Italian, and Gothic architecture, and thus the building and its coach house displayed many features popular at the time. These included a square tower at the front of the building, with a smaller tower corbeled onto its corner. Other towers, false facades, chimneys, and peaked roofs added to a "skyline" of sharp finials. The house has been varyingly described as following either the Victorian, Jacobean, or Richardsonian Romanesque styles.

By 1950, Schumacher had two servants employed and regularly invited opera stars, bishops, and governors as guests, though he otherwise lived alone. William "Frank" Hartigan served as his chauffeur for over 50 years.

The house's fence carried a rumor, that Schumacher had seen a beautiful iron fence in Germany and hired an architect to duplicate the design, and then sent the plans to the contractor who had created the original fence. According to the rumor, Schumacher then paid a high price to ship it to Columbus, only to find a stamp in the fence reading "Made in Ohio, U.S.A.". Schumacher himself refuted the legend in 1950, stating that he had the fence made for him in Munich 45 years earlier. The fence was sold to Mrs. A. H. Mahrt in 1961, and still stands at the house she owned at 144 W. 5th Street in Chillicothe. An article published six years after Schumacher's death called the rumor "never-disputed", and claimed that Schumacher was said to have repeated the story many times.

Interior

The interior of the house featured intricate artworks Schumacher collected in Europe, including statues, busts, and paintings. There were works by Tintoretto, Andrea del Sarto, Lembach, and Houdon, etchings by Rembrandt, as well as Egyptian and Greek curios, and German, Bohemian, and Venetian glass. These works also included a bronze statue called The Crusader; an 8-by-12-foot painting called Salome Before Herod, of Salome bringing the head of John the Baptist to Herod; Thomas Gainsborough's Girl in Blue and Gray, and sterling silver chandeliers from France.

The front entrance of the house led into a formal reception hall with red velvet brocade draperies around its windows and tiles and Persian rugs on the floor. It was also decorated with a panel from a Hapsburg hunting lodge. The long hall featured the house's grand stairway, made of rosewood; beyond this was a second stairway rising from the house's side entrance. The reception hall was "heavily ornate", with a hand-carved pillar supporting an entranceway arch, an Empire chest, and decorations reportedly a mixture of "the Oriental, the Medieval and the baroque".

To the left of the front door were double parlors; the front parlor was Schumacher's living room; the second was his music room. The living or drawing room was considered the most elegant room in the house. It resembled an Italian villa, and had aquatint walls the color of antique yellow marble, with panels and scrolls outlined in muted blues. Its windows had brocade draperies heavily threaded in gold, noted as reminiscent of Florentine textiles of the Renaissance. The room had a decorated high ceiling, furniture in the Louis XV style (including gilded sodas and chairs upholstered with silk), wall lights with tiny beaded shades, valuable paintings, and Persian rugs. The room also included Louis XV-style curio cabinets, filled with objects from Schumacher's trips abroad.

The music room had similar decor to the living room, though it was less formal. It held a Knabe player piano with an array of photographs atop it, depicting Schumacher's family and lifelong friends. Next to the piano was a large stack of classical rolls. The room also featured a portrait of Schumacher, white-haired, regal in appearance, and wearing a fur-lined coat, denoting wealth and status.

The house's library was where Schumacher spent most of his time; he had a favorite red leather chair situated there, with his favorite books within easy reach. On the far right wall was one of his most valuable paintings, Gainsborough's Girl in White. Next to the work hung a portrait of actress Marguerite Georges, painted by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and between them was a bust of Schumacher's mother. The room also featured more intimate photographs of his family and friends, and a photograph of Theodore Roosevelt, inscribed to Schumacher in 1904.

Beyond the second entrance hall was a dining room with heavy oak woodwork including carved oak chairs, a table, and a built-in sideboard. The room was described as "almost oppressive" to the taste of visitors of the 1950s, despite featuring dozens of crystal, ruby, and gold tall-stemmed wine glasses, lining the shelves of the room's china cabinet. The house's nearby kitchen had tall windows and marble wainscoting.

The second floor included Schumacher's personal suite, including another library at the front of the house.

See also
 List of demolished buildings and structures in Columbus, Ohio

References

External links

 Photograph by Kojo Kamau, 1960
 Schumacher Collection, Columbus Museum of Art

Houses in Columbus, Ohio
Demolished buildings and structures in Columbus, Ohio
Broad Street (Columbus, Ohio)
1961 disestablishments in Ohio
Buildings and structures demolished in 1961
King-Lincoln Bronzeville
1888 establishments in Ohio
Houses completed in 1888
Stone houses in Ohio

Frederick W. Schumacher mansion


Keith "Lew" Lewis (1955 – 16 April 2021) was an English harmonica player and vocalist, who was a member of Eddie and the Hot Rods before forming his own bands.  Influenced in style by Little Walter, he also guested on albums by The Stranglers, The Clash and others.

Career
Lewis was born in Hammersmith, London, England, and moved to Canvey Island when he was thirteen.
He soon became friends with Lee Brilleaux, who taught Lewis to play harmonica. Lewis' first performances were as a member of the Southside Jug Band on Canvey Island, which included future Dr Feelgood members Brilleaux and John B Sparks, together with Chris White. Guitarist Dave Higgs joined and they renamed themselves the Fix.

Higgs later invited Lewis to become a member of Eddie and the Hot Rods, where Lewis performed on their first two singles "Writing on the Wall" and "Wooly Bully".  He was known as a wild frontman, but left "after falling out with the management".

He then released a solo single for Stiff Records, their fifth single "Boogie on the Street" / "Caravan Man", backed by a thinly disguised Dr Feelgood; the B side of the single later appearing on Hits Greatest Stiffs. Briefly moving to United Artists Records he released "Out for a Lark" / "Watch Yourself", which could credit Brilleaux and Sparks, as they were on UA.  He returned to Stiff for his next single "Lucky Seven" / "Night Talk" (1978) his most successful single, which led to his appearing on Top of the Pops, and which was covered by Dr Feelgood on their album Sneakin' Suspicion and also appears in the film, Oil City Confidential.

His album Save the Wail (1979) produced by Paul Riley, featured Buzz Barwell (ex Dr. Feelgood) and Bob Clouter (Ex Mickey Jupp's The Orioles) on drums, Rick Taylor and Pete Zear on guitars and Johnny Squirrel on bass, collectively known as Lew Lewis Reformer, they were, stylistically, "between pub rock and blues-rock". They toured Europe, being particularly popular in France and appeared on Musikladen in 1979. Also in 1979 Lewis, Dr Feelgood and Jools Holland performing as 'The Oil City Sheiks', issued a single "Don't Take but a Few Minutes" / "Blues Jam".

Lewis was also a guest on several albums, including The Stranglers' Black and White (1978), Jean-Jacques Burnel's Euroman Cometh (1979), The Clash's Sandinista! (1980), Kirsty MacColl's Desperate Character (1981), Sniff 'n' the Tears Ride Blue Divide (1982) and Wilko Johnson's Bottle Up and Go! (1983).

In 1987, Lewis was given a seven-year jail sentence for armed robbery, after holding up a post office with a fake pistol, stealing £5,000 and trying to escape on a shopping bike.

On his release, he issued a single "Shame, Shame, Shame" whilst Boogie on the Street Again!, a live album recorded in June 1977 and July 1979, was released in Japan in 1999.
The 2002 CD reissue of Save the Wail, also included the Stiff singles, "Boogie on the Street" and "1–30, 2–30, 3–35", as well as live recordings from 1977 and 1979.

Despite his prison sentence, Lewis had undiagnosed "bipolar and psychotic episodes", and a drug addiction. In November 2009, he announced that having had "mental health issues" and "a breakdown", and been in and out of hospital "for the past eight years", he was finally drug-free, and only taking prescribed medication.

Lewis performed with a new band Spooky Blues but, as of December 2010, he was performing as the Lew Lewis band, with Dave Deville (guitar and backing vocals) and Emma May (bass and backing vocals), and  was looking for a new drummer to perform on their forthcoming European tours, and a Japanese tour in March 2011.

His death was announced by the CanveyIsland.org website on 17 April 2021.

Discography
With Eddie and the Hot Rods
"Writing on the Wall" / "Cruisin' (in the Lincoln)" (1976)
"Wooly Bully" / "Horseplay (Weary of the Schmaltz)" (1976)

As Lew Lewis and his Band
"Boogie on the Street" / "Caravan Man"	(1976) Stiff (BUY 5)
"Out for a Lark" / "Watch Yourself" (1977) United Artists

As Lew Lewis Reformer
"Lucky Seven" / "Night Talk" (1978) Stiff (LEW1)
"Win Or Lose" / "Photo-Finish" (1979) Stiff (BUY 48)
Save the Wail (1979) Stiff (SEEZ 16), re-released with bonus tracks in 2002 on Hux 033
"1–30, 2–30, 3–35" / "The Mood I'm In" (1980) Stiff (BUY 68)

As Lew Lewis
Boogie on the Street Again! (1999) CD (Vinyl Japan 82)
"Shame, Shame, Shame" / "Louie Louie" (1987) (Waterfront Records WTF 35)

As The Oil City Sheiks
"Don't Take but a Few Minutes" / "Blues Jam" (1979)
As Wilko Johnson & Lew Lewis Band
" I Wanna Be Your Lover"/"Caravan Man" (1983)(Magnum Force Records,Carrere Distribution;13188/1 & 13188/2)

Compilations
Hits Greatest Stiffs (1977) Stiff
Last Compilation Stiff
Motorway Cassette Stiff – unclear if ever issued
Live and Rare – Eddie and the Hot Rods (1993) Receiver
Best of Sniff 'n' the Tears – Sniff 'n' the Tears (2000) Chiswick
Do Anything You Wanna Do – Eddie and the Hot Rods (2000) Spectrum
Stiff, Stiffer, Stiffest: A Stiff Records Collection (2001)
The UA Singles '77–'79 – The Stranglers (2001) EMI

References

1955 births
2021 deaths
British rhythm and blues musicians
Music in Southend-on-Sea
People from Canvey Island
Protopunk musicians
British harmonica players
English rock singers
Eddie and the Hot Rods members

Lew Lewis


Ebenezer Floppen Slopper's Wonderful Water Slides is an abandoned waterpark located on a hill near the intersection of Illinois Route 38 (Roosevelt Road) and Route 83 in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.

Site history
The site opened in 1951 as a gravel pit and landfill under a local businessman named Clayburn Robinette until the late 1970s. By the 1960s the site was known as "Mt Trashmore".

When the landfill reached ground level, it was covered with concrete, brick and an eight-foot clay cap. The site was a large hill that became overgrown. Mark Collor was driving past the site and took interest due to the potential for water slides.

"Try to find a hill in Chicago, it's a little hard," Collor told the Chicago Tribune in 2009. "My friend and I saw that hill with that sign on top of it for The Flame restaurant, and I said, 'There's a hill!'"

Collor signed an agreement with the Robinette family to build two water slides and a few small buildings on the property.

The park's tongue-twister name came about because Collor had been amused by a story his brother-in-law had told about meeting a man in Joplin, Missouri, named Ebenezer Floppen.

Operation history
When the park first opened on July 5, 1980, it had only two simple, 800-foot concrete water slides. People slid down on rubber mats in groups of up to eight at a time. The mats were colour-coded to manage the flow of crowds through the slides: for instance, patrons carrying red mats entered the slides at noon and came out at 12:30, while those with blue mats entered at 12:30 and left at 1pm.

The water park had paid for its installation costs by 5 August 1980, and became a major summer attraction for residents of surrounding towns and communities as people lined up for rides down the large winding slides. After two years, Collor sold the park to a businessman he knew from Oak Park and River Forest High School.

During the 1980s, the park added five additional slides. The new slides included: two flat racer slides in which people slid down head-first on folded rubber mats; two semi-enclosed tube body slides; and a smaller slide in which patrons rode inner tubes into a nearby wading pool.

The slides were also unique in that they were lined with a blue rubber foam material which would prevent injuries from contacts with the slide walls.  Due to the design of the two main large concrete slides, especially with the V-shaped configuration of their side walls, people could also slide quite high up the walls of the slides, especially when hitting a turn at high speeds.

Around 1987, the large concrete slides were resurfaced with flat bottoms with humps and bumps. Patrons rode the slides solo on inner tubes, getting bumped up and down and sideways as they went down the renovated slides. To fit the new rides, the park was renamed "Doc River's Roaring Rapids Water Park."

Closure and rumors
The park closed for good at the end of the 1989 season for undisclosed reasons. Neglected and abandoned since, the slides and wading pool have fallen into ruin. The site has become popular with urban explorers, and the mystery surrounding its closure has given rise to online speculation that park patrons had been injured or killed.

As a ruin
The site is still owned by the Robinette family, which operates a nearby demolition business. There are security cameras, signs warning against trespassing, a roadblock on a road that leads to the park, and a permanent chain-link fence has been erected around the site. None of this has deterred curious explorers.

By July 2009, the two large concrete slides had numerous cracks and splits in the concrete that had sprouted saplings six to eight feet tall. At that time, the rubber foam lining had peeled off the slide walls and lay jumbled in the slides, the slide walls were covered with graffiti, and the slides were also filled with tree branches and dirt, especially about 150 feet above the plunge pool, where a retaining wall had recently collapsed and filled one of the slides to its rim with dirt and weeds. Both racers were cracked and peeled badly: surfacing was missing in a few spots filled with more weeds and overgrowth, the body slides were choked with leaves and branches, the smaller inner tube slide had numerous saplings sprouting from its base and was also badly split and cracked, and the wading pool was also cracked and full of weeds. Other retaining walls elsewhere in the park that once held elevated gardens continued to sag severely in July 2009. As of April 2019, the only remnants of the water park that can be seen from Route 83 are some lights that illuminated the water park. A big red billboard that says "Advertise Here" can be seen at the top the hill.

References

External links
 Images of the park in operation at the Oakbrook Terrace Historical Society
 Photographs taken at the derelict park in June 2006
 Video exploring the park in February 2010

Water parks in Illinois
Defunct amusement parks in Illinois
Buildings and structures in DuPage County, Illinois
Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois
1980 establishments in Illinois
Modern ruins


Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse (also referred to as DCC) is a method of spam email detection.

The basic logic in DCC is that most spam mails are sent to many recipients. The same message body appearing many times is therefore bulk email. DCC identifies bulk email by calculating a fuzzy checksum on it and sending that to a DCC server. The server responds with the number of times it has received that checksum. An individual email will create a score of 1 each time it is processed. Bulk mail can be identified because the response number is high. The content is not examined. DCC works over the UDP protocol and uses little bandwidth.

DCC is resistant to hashbusters because "the main DCC checksums are fuzzy and ignore aspects of messages. The fuzzy checksums are changed as spam evolves" DCC is likely to identify mailing lists as bulk email unless they are white listed. Likewise, repeatedly sending the same email to a server increases its number in the server, and, therefore, the likelihood of it being treated as spam by others.

History

According to the official DCC website:
The DCC is based on an idea of Paul Vixie and on fuzzy body matching to reject spam on a corporate firewall operated by Vernon Schryver starting in 1997. The DCC was designed and written at Rhyolite Software starting in 2000. It has been used in production since the winter of 2000/2001.

References

External links

Spam filtering

Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse


John Rea (born 1967) is an American playwright/lyricist/composer and Artistic Director of MacGuffin Theatre & Film Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA since 1998.

Rea earned a BA in music from Temple University and a MA in theater from Villanova University.

He was the director of Discovery Division for youth at the Walnut Street Theatre from 1995 to 1999. He was the Literary Manager/Dramaturg for Philadelphia Theatre Company from 1997 to 1999. He has directed or produced all MacGuffin productions and teaches a variety of classes there, as well. He has directed several film projects for MacGuffin including: Clueless, After Midnight Scream for Monty Python's Ghostbusting Brother, Getting Out and Chasing the MacGuffin (documentary), Happy Birthday and A Real Kiss. He has composed music to many shows including Romeo and Juliet, Arcadia, and The Women of Argos. As a playwright/composer/lyricist he has written Dodger, The Skeleton Woman, Mak and the Shepherds, Cinderella Story, More Than Anything, The Three Trees, As I Do (Playwriting Award, Cleveland Public Theatre), The Lost, The Cruel Sister, A Place Called Up, The Tale of Orpheus, Mischief Manor, Dodger, The Tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, The Fiery Furnace and Jonah and the Big Fish and Vito. He has taught music and drama in the Philadelphia School District and the Delaware County School District.

References

1967 births
Living people
Temple University alumni
Villanova University alumni
American musical theatre composers
American theatre directors
Artistic directors

John Rea (artistic director)


Giorgio Carta (16 January 1938 – 28 October 2020) was an Italian doctor and politician. He was born in Jerzu, Italy. He was a member of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party. from 1992 to 1994 and again from 2006 to 2008, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies.

Cart died on 28 October 2020 in Cagliari, Italy at the age of 82.

References

1938 births
2020 deaths
Italian politicians
Italian physicians

Giorgio Carta


The Apollo Lyceus (, Apollōn Lukeios) type, also known as Lycean Apollo, originating with Praxiteles and known from many full-size statue and figurine copies as well as from 1st century BCE Athenian coinage, is a statue type of Apollo showing the god resting on a support (a tree trunk or tripod), his right forearm touching the top of his head and his hair fixed in braids on the top of a head in a haircut typical of childhood.  It is called "Lycean" not after Lycia itself, but after its identification with a lost work described, though not attributed to a sculptor, by Lucian as being on show in the Lyceum, one of the gymnasia of Athens.  According to Lucian, the god leaning on a support with his bow in his left hand and his right resting on his head is shown "as if resting after long effort." Its main exemplar is the Apollino in Florence or Apollo Medici, in the Uffizi, Florence.

The attribution, based on the type's "elongated proportions, elegant pose and somewhat effeminate anatomy", as Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway characterised it,  is traditionally supported on the grounds of the type's similarity to Praxiteles's Hermes from Olympia - one replica of the Lycian Apollo even passed as a copy of the Hermes for a time.  The comparison essentially rests on the Apollino, whose head has proportions similar to those of the Aphrodite of Cnidus and whose pronounced sfumato confirms the long-held idea that it is Praxitelean in style, in spite of the many differences among the extant examples.

Nevertheless, most exemplars of this type exhibit a pronounced musculature which does not resemble masculine types normally attributed to Praxiteles - it has further been proposed that it is a work of his contemporary Euphranor, or of a 2nd-century BCE work The Apollino, for its part, would thus be an eclectic creation from the Roman era, mixing several styles from the "second classicism" (i.e. from the 4th century BC).

The famous pose with the arm resting on the head was so thoroughly identified with Apollo that it was used for the Hadrianic sculpture of Antinous as Apollo at Leptis Magna. With the Hellenistic and Roman depictions of a youthful Dionysus typologically not always distinguishable from Apollo, the pose seems to have been inherited by Dionysus, as in the 2nd century CE Ludovisi Dionysus, a Roman sculpture. The pose is also used in the Amazon statue types, and its long-established conventional expression of lassitude identified Sleeping Ariadne as well.

References

External links

Sculptures of Apollo
Sculptures by Praxiteles
Epithets of Apollo

Lyceus


Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a 2007 superhero movie, and sequel to the 2005 movie Fantastic Four. Both movies are based on the comic book of the same name. The movie was directed by Tim Story, who also directed the original. Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon and Kerry Washington reprised their roles from the first movie.

It was released June 15, 2007, in North America, and was released onto high-def Blu-ray Disc and DVD on October 2, 2007.

Cast
Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic
Jessica Alba as Susan Richards / Invisible Woman
Chris Evans as Johnny Storm / Human Torch
Michael Chiklis as Benjamin Grimm / The Thing
Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom / Doctor Doom
Doug Jones as Norrin Radd / Silver Surfer
Laurence Fishburne as Silver Surfer's voice
Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters
Stan Lee as himself

Release Dates

Rating
Unlike the first Fantastic Four film (which was rated PG-13), the film was rated PG by the MPAA for sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo. This is Marvel's first film to be rated PG by the MPAA.

Crazy credits
 After the 20th Century Fox fanfare animation is completed, the logo disappears and slide away via a comic strip to proceed into the Marvel logo before the opening credits.

2007 movies
English-language movies
20th Century Fox movies
Fantastic Four (movie series)

Movies composed by John Ottman
Movies directed by Tim Story
Movies produced by Avi Arad
Silver Surfer
Superhero comedy movies
2000s apocalyptic movies
American superhero movies


Kolesovsky Island () is an island in the East Siberian Sea. It is located close to the coast in Kolyma Bay (Kolymskaya Guba), south of the Konechnaya Channel and 13 km east of the mouths of the Indigirka River.

Kolesovsky Island is 3 km long. This island is only 0.7 km across and it is located 4 km to the northwest of Kolesovskaya Otmel, very close to a coastal headland.

Kolyma Bay, where the Kolesovsky Island lies, is a desolate place in the long winters, when it remains frozen to depths of several metres for about 250 days each year. It becomes free of ice only in early June and the thaw lasts typically until October. The area surrounding Kolesovsky Island comes to life during the summer when there is commercial fishing in the surrounding waters.

Administratively Kolesovsky Island belongs to the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) of the Russian Federation.
This island is named after Kolesovo , the nearest town.

References

Islands of the East Siberian Sea
Islands of the Sakha Republic

Kolesovsky Island


Shu Yuanyu (; died December 17, 835) was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Wenzong.  During Emperor Wenzong's reign, he became involved in a major power struggle between imperial officials and eunuchs known as the Ganlu Incident, and he was killed by the eunuchs (via waist chop) along with three other chancellors, Li Xun, Wang Ya, and Jia Su.

Background
It is not known when Shu Yuanyu was born, but it is known that he was from Wu Prefecture (婺州, in modern Jinhua, Zhejiang), from a part that was said to be so poor that the gentry avoided it.  His father Shu Heng (舒恆) served as an officer at Wuchang Circuit (武昌, headquartered in modern Wuhan, Hubei).  Shu Yuanyu had at least three younger brothers — Shu Yuangong (舒元肱), Shu Yuanjiong (舒元迥), and Shu Yuanbao (舒元褒), each of whom (like he) would eventually pass the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class.

It was said that when Shu Yuanyu began his studies, he became known for his alertness and ability to understand.  He later went to live in Jiangxia (江夏, i.e., Wuchang's capital), and the military governor (Jiedushi) Chi Shimei (郗士美) came to be impressed by his talent and often praised him.

In 813, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong, Shu passed the imperial examinations and was made the sheriff of Hu County (鄠縣, in modern Xi'an, Shaanxi); he was to be talented and to have gained a good reputation.  When the former chancellor Pei Du served as the military governor of Shannan West Circuit (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), he invited Shu to serve as his scribe, and it was said that the declarations that Shu drafted for him were written so well that Shu's reputation for good writing became well-known.

During Emperor Wenzong's reign

Early in the Taihe (827-835) era of Emperor Xianzong's grandson Emperor Wenzong, Shu Yuanyu was recalled to the capital Chang'an to serve as an imperial censor, initially with the low title of Jiancha Yushi (監察御史), later with the higher title of Shi Yushi (侍御史).  While serving as a censor, it was said that he was fearless in accusing officials he considered corrupt.

As Shu considered himself highly talented, he was ambitious in seeking higher officer.  In 831, he submitted a petition to Emperor Wenzong in which he attached his writing and compared himself to the earlier chancellors Ma Zhou and Zhang Jiazhen, as well as to the Han Dynasty officials Zhufu Yan (主父偃), Xu Yue (徐樂), and Yan An (嚴安).  Emperor Wenzong was impressed with his writing and showed the petition to the chancellors.  The chancellor Li Zongmin, however, considered Shu frivolous and overly ambitious, and he made Shu Zhuzuolang (著作郎), a writer at the Palace Library, and sent Shu to the eastern capital Luoyang.

While Shu was at Luoyang, he became friendly with Li Zhongyan, who was then there observing a mourning period for his mother.  Eventually, when Li Zhongyan (whose name was then changed to Li Xun) became a close associate of Emperor Wenzong's, Shu was recalled to Chang'an to serve as Zuosi Langzhong (左司郎中), a supervisory official at the executive bureau of government (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng).  When Li Guyan served as the chief imperial censor, he requested that Shu oversee the miscellaneous matters at the Office of the Imperial Censors (御史臺).  Subsequently, when Li Guyan became chancellor, at his request, Shu was made acting deputy chief imperial censor (御史中丞).  It was said that Shu impressed Emperor Wenzong by ruling on criminal cases quickly, such that the backlog dissipated within three months, and thereafter was made deputy minister of justice (刑部侍郎, Xingbu Shilang).  However, he associated closely with Li Xun and another close associate of Emperor Wenzong's, Zheng Zhu, and it was said that he used the law as a tool against those Li Xun and Zheng disfavored.  For example, when Zheng accused relatives of the mayor of Jingzhao (京兆, i.e., the Chang'an region), Yang Yuqing (楊虞卿), of spreading rumors that Zheng was using infant hearts and livers to make immortality pills for Emperor Wenzong, Shu, following Zheng's lead, had Yang quickly found guilty.  Soon thereafter, both Li Xun and Shu were made chancellors with the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事).  It was said that while serving as chancellors, Li Xun and Shu often machinated together on how they could seize more power, including in the plot that Li Xun, Zheng, and Emperor Wenzong were forming against the powerful eunuchs.  However, it was also said that Li Xun and Shu, in order to gain good reputation, honored senior officials who had been squeezed out by prior chancellors, including Pei Du, Linghu Chu, and Zheng Tan.

With Shu's knowledge, but the knowledge of no other chancellor, Li Xun launched his plot (later known as the Ganlu Incident) on December 14, 835,  The plot quickly failed, however, as the eunuchs seized Emperor Wenzong, and Li Xun's troops collapsed.  Li Xun fled out of Chang'an, while Shu and fellow chancellors Wang Ya and Jia Su returned to the Office of the Chancellors, believing that Emperor Wenzong would soon summon them to deal with the aftermaths, and they ordered the imperial officials under them to continue working normally. Soon thereafter, however, the eunuch-commanded Shence Army (神策軍) soldiers began attacking the governmental buildings, as the eunuchs believed the officials to be complicit with the plot.  As the chancellors were about to have lunch, this was reported to them, and they fled.  Shu changed into civilian clothes and rode out of Anhua Gate (安化門), but was chased down by Shence Army soldiers and arrested.  Meanwhile, the eunuchs submitted a confession that Wang Ya wrote after being tortured, in which he claimed that he and the other imperial officials had intended to overthrow Emperor Wenzong and replace him with Zheng, and Emperor Wenzong subsequently accepted the confession as true.

On December 17, the Shence Army soldiers escorted Shu, along with Wang Ya, Wang Fan (王璠), Luo Liyan (羅立言), Guo Xingyu (郭行餘), Jia, and Li Xiaoben (李孝本), along with Li Xun's head, to the imperial ancestral shrine, to be presented like sacrifices. They then were escorted to the execution field and executed by being cut in halves at the waist. Their families were slaughtered.  His brothers Shu Yuangong and Shu Yuanjiong were also killed.  Shu had written an ode to peonies that was considered well written, and after Shu's death, there was an occasion when Emperor Wenzong viewed peonies and recited the ode; he wept and mourned Shu.

Notes and references

 Old Book of Tang, vol. 169.
 New Book of Tang, vol. 179.
 Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 245.

8th-century births
835 deaths
Chancellors under Emperor Wenzong of Tang
Tang dynasty poets
Writers from Jinhua
Politicians from Jinhua
Executed Tang dynasty people
People executed by the Tang dynasty
Executed people from Zhejiang
People executed by cutting in half
9th-century Chinese poets
Poets from Zhejiang

Shu Yuanyu


The Samoyed is a dog breed that are usually white in color but they can be grey or cream too. They can get between 2-3 feet in height. The Samoyed breed is known for having a curled tail, much like a Husky. They have a thick coat of fur to protect them from the cold because they were used to drag sleighs in the cold. Samoyeds are really friendly, so they will not make good guard dogs because they are too cute and fluffy and are really friendly.

Dog breeds originating in Russia
FCI breeds

Samoyed dog


The Lincoln Covered Bridge is a historic covered bridge, just south of U.S. Route 4 in West Woodstock, Vermont. Built in 1877, it is one of the only known examples of a wooden Pratt truss bridge in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Description and history
The Lincoln Covered Bridge spans the Ottauquechee River, a short way west of the village of West Woodstock.  It is just south of US 4, connecting that road to Bridges Road and Fletcher Hill Road on the south side of the river.  It is a single span,  in length, resting on concrete and stone abutments, and is  wide with a roadway width of  (one lane).  The bridge is supported by two arch trusses, which are sheltered by a post-and-beam structure finished with a metal standing seam roof and vertical board siding.  The trusses are a variant of the Pratt truss, with laminated arches supporting the deck by a combination of wooden and iron verticals, with iron cross bracing. In 1989, the bridge was rehabilitated and strengthened by the Vermont Agency of Transportation. The purpose of the project was to restore the structure to its original condition and increase its load-carrying capacity to safely carry emergency vehicles. Restoration focused primarily on rebuilding the ends of the top and bottom chords of the trusses that had deteriorated over the previous century. All of the restoration work was performed using materials and details as close to the original as possible. The increase in strength was accomplished by post-tensioning the two trusses below the bottom wooden chords with high-strength coated steel rods. These rods, as well as other structural steel upgrades required to increase the strength are hidden from view by the wooden siding to maintain the historic look of the bridge. The two Pratt trusses are still the fully functioning main structural supports for the bridge. In addition, skylights were added to the metal roof to allow natural light into the structure due to its long span. These skylights are made from translucent corrugated (to match the contour of the existing roofing)polyvinyl material. Existing braided steel cables anchoring the upstream ends of the bridge to the shore were also removed at this time. The cables were previously installed to protect the bridge from washing away in a flood or ice flow. However, this method proved to cause the destruction of these covered wooden bridges at other locations in the country during one of these events. It was determined at the time that letting the structure move and float with the flowing water/ice would cause the least amount of damage. After one of these events, the structure could then be reset with heavy equipment and/or cranes, repaired, and put back in service in a much shorter timespan and significantly lower cost.

The bridge was built in 1877 by R.W. Pinney and B.H. Pinney (of Bridgewater and Woodstock, respectively), about thirty years after the Pratt truss was patented.  According to covered bridge history Richard S. Allen, it is the only known surviving use of the Pratt truss in wood; this form is seen much more widely in metal bridges built later.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Windsor County, Vermont
List of Vermont covered bridges
List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont

References

Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Windsor County, Vermont
Bridges completed in 1877
Bridges in Windsor County, Vermont
Buildings and structures in Woodstock, Vermont
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Wooden bridges in Vermont
Pratt truss bridges in the United States
1877 establishments in Vermont

Lincoln Covered Bridge


Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi  (; born 29 July 1949) is a Pakistani politician currently serving as the 13th President of Pakistan, in office since 9 September 2018. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from August to September 2018. A founding member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Alvi was elected as President of Pakistan on 4 September 2018 following the 2018 Pakistani presidential election.

Alvi was a dentist before entering politics in 1979, when he joined Jamaat-e-Islami (Pakistan) but he later on resigned from the party and founded the PTI with former Pakistan cricket team captain and cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan in 1996.

Alvi was elected to the National Assembly, from NA-250 Karachi-XII in 2013 and was re-elected in 2018 from NA-247 Karachi South-II. He was later nominated as the PTI's candidate for the presidential election. He was elected as the 13th President of Pakistan after defeating Fazal-ur-Rehman and Aitzaz Ahsan, after which he resigned from the National Assembly and was sworn into office on 9 September 2018, succeeding Mamnoon Hussain.

Personal life and education

Alvi was born on 29 July 1949 in Karachi, Pakistan.

His father, Habib-ur-Rehman Elahi Alvi, was a dentist in British India who migrated to Karachi after the establishment of Pakistan, and opened a dental clinic in Saddar Town. His father became politically affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. According to the website of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Alvi's father was a dentist of Jawaharlal Nehru.

After his father started a campaign against compulsory Bible classes, he was expelled from Karachi Grammar School. He completed his early education in Karachi, and moved to Lahore in 1967 for education in dentistry. Alvi received a Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from De'Montmorency College of Dentistry. He completed his master's degree in prosthodontics from the University of Michigan in 1975. Alvi received a master's degree in orthodontics in 1984 from the University of the Pacific in San Francisco, California. After returning to Pakistan, he started practicing dentistry and set up Alvi Dental Hospital.

Alvi is married to Samina Alvi. The couple has four married children.

In March 2021, he tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after having received the first dose of a vaccine, which was later confirmed to have been a vaccine from Sinopharm. In January 2022, he contracted Covid-19 again amidst the Omicron wave.

Professional career

In 1981, Alvi was Chairman of the first Pakistan International Dental Conference. In 1987, he became Chairman of the Third Pakistan International Dental Conference. He became Patron of the Fifth Pakistan International Dental Conference. In 1997, Alvi became a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. He prepared the constitution of the Pakistan Dental Association and went on to become its president. He also served as Chairman of the 28th Asia Pacific Dental Congress.

He served as Dean of the Faculty of Orthodontics of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. In 2006, he was elected as the President of Asia Pacific Dental Federation. The next year, he was elected as a Councillor of the FDI World Dental Federation.

Political career

Alvi began his political career as a polling agent, and joined a religious party.

While studying at De'Montmorency College of Dentistry, he became an active member of the student unions. He became politically affiliated with Islami Jamiat Talaba, a student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) and went on to become president of the student union. During his early days, he was a critic of the Ayub Khan regime and was shot twice while participating in a protest in 1969 at The Mall, Lahore; a bullet still remains lodged in his body.

He became politically active after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced the 1977 Pakistani general election.

He ran for a seat on the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of the JI from a constituency in Karachi in 1979 but was unsuccessful. In 1988, he quit JI and left politics. According to Alvi, he left the party because he had become disillusioned with their narrow focus on politics and had "always felt honest leadership is the real solution to Pakistan's problems".

After getting inspired by Imran Khan, he joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 1996 and became one of the founding members of the party. He participated in preparing the party constitution of PTI.

He remained a member of the PTI central executive council for a year before becoming president of PTI's Sindh chapter in 1997.

Alvi ran for the seat of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of PTI from Constituency PS-89 (Karachi South-V) in the 1997 Pakistani general election, but was unsuccessful. He came in third receiving 2,200 votes and lost the seat to Saleem Zia.

In 2001, he became the vice president of PTI.

He ran for the seat of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of PTI from Constituency PS-90 (Karachi-II) in the 2002 Pakistani general election, but was unsuccessful. He came in at sixth place securing 1,276 votes and lost the seat to Umer Sadiq, a candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

In 2006, he became secretary general of PTI, a position he served in until 2013.

He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-250 (Karachi-XII) in the 2013 Pakistani general election. He received 77,659 votes and defeated Khushbakht Shujaat. Upon his successful election, he became the only PTI member to win a National Assembly seat from Sindh in the 2013 general elections.

In 2016, he was made president of the PTI Sindh chapter.

He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-247 (Karachi South-II) in the 2018 Pakistani general election. He received 91,020 votes and defeated Syed Zaman Ali Jaffery, a candidate of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan.

On 18 August 2018, he was nominated by PTI as its candidate for the office of President of Pakistan. On 4 September 2018, he was elected as 13th President of Pakistan in the 2018 Pakistani presidential election. He received 352 electoral votes and defeated Fazal-ur-Rehman and Aitzaz Ahsan who secured 184 and 124 votes, respectively. Upon getting elected as the President, Alvi thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the government coalition for their support. He is the third President of Pakistan whose family migrated to Pakistan from India after the Partition of India. On 5 September 2018, he relinquished his National Assembly seat. On 9 September, he replaced Mamnoon Hussain and was sworn in as 13th President of Pakistan. On 17 September, he addressed the National Assembly for the first time in his capacity as president.
President Arif Alvi's term as President of Pakistan is scheduled to end on September 9, 2023, as his tenure lasts for a period of five years. However, he shall stay in office until he is replaced by a successor, a new elected President, after a new General Elections as mentioned in Article 44 of the Constitution. He can only resign if he wills, and can not be impeached on any grounds as per article 47 of the constitution as the parliament does not exist. There is no caretaker President of Pakistan in the Constitution.

On 3 April 2022, he dissolved the National Assembly of Pakistan on the advice of Prime Minister Imran Khan, in order to prevent the moving of the scheduled no-confidence motion that intended to remove Khan from the office of PM. The dissolution was appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which declared the move as unconstitutional and restored the National Assembly on 7 April, which then proceeded to carry out the no-confidence motion on the night of 9 April. The motion was successful after 174 MNAs voted in its favour (172 were needed), thus ending Imran Khan's term as Prime Minister.

Presidential initiatives
In 2018, he started the Presidential Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Computing (PIAIC).

The privately funded not-for-profit educational initiative is launched to help promote education, research and business opportunities in Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Cloud Native computing and Internet of Things. He believes that the world is on the verge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) that would change the overall outlook of the industrial working.

The initiative is being run with the help of public-private partnerships with non-profit and for-profit organizations.

The program has an initial target to enroll as many as 100,000 students within a year.

The program has been launched in the city of Karachi where as many as 12,000 students are enrolled in the 4 disciplines being offered and registration is underway to offer it in Islamabad, and Faisalabad. The program is expected to expand to Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta in the near future.

Women's Inclusion in Technology

One of the most important goals of the PIAIC was to provide a conduit for women to seek and find quality and affordable high tech training in most cities of Pakistan.  This has resulted in the creation of "Women's Inclusion in Technology", a women's empowerment division in the PIAIC.  The division is led by Hira Khan, who is also the COO of Panacloud (Pvt.), Ltd. and a well-seasoned IT trainer and software engineer. She has championed women's empowerment and especially their economic empowerment in Pakistan.

First visit to a Federal Ministry

Alvi's first ever visit to a federal ministry as president was in June 2020 when he visited the headquarters of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs. Alvi launched the Ministry's official website on the occasion of World Oceans Day and was briefed by Maritime Minister Ali Haider Zaidi and Federal Secretary Rizwan Ahmed about the ministry's role and achievements.

References

1949 births
Living people
Pakistani Muslims
Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan politicians
Muhajir people
Alids
Orthodontists
Pakistani expatriates in the United States
Pakistani dentists
Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018
Pakistani people of Arab descent
Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNAs
Politicians from Karachi
Presidents of Pakistan
University of Michigan School of Dentistry alumni
University of the Pacific (United States) alumni

Arif Alvi


Bittacomorpha clavipes, known as the phantom crane fly (though this name can also apply to any member of Ptychopteridae), is a species of fly in the family Ptychopteridae. It is found in the eastern United States west to the Rocky Mountains.

It flies upright with its legs spread apart. The female lays hundreds of eggs by dipping its abdomen in the water.

References

Ptychopteridae
Insects described in 1781

Bittacomorpha clavipes


The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England is a 1914 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Vivian Martin. Based on the 1910 play of the same name by Owen Davis that ran on Broadway starring Marguerite Clark, the film was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey by the World Film Corporation.

The film was thought to have been lost but a 16mm print of the film was rediscovered by film historian Kevin Brownlow in England. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Cast
Vivian Martin - Sally, The parson's daughter
Alec B. Francis - The Earl of Bateson
Chester Barnett - The Earl's Son Giles
Gyp Williams - The Orphan
Simeon Wiltsie - The Parson
Walter Morton - Mr. Annesley
Johnny Hines - Jolly Boy (billed as John Hines)
Rose Melville - Sis Hopkins
Frederick Truesdell
Holbrook Blinn
James Young

Plot

Giles is the rowdy son of the respected Earl of Bateson, and he routinely sends his father letters while he is away at school, assuring his father that he is achieving good marks in his classes. However, despite these assurances, Giles is kicked out of school for "Gross Misconduct", and he returns home to his father in disgrace.

Giles is given a tutor, but when the tutor falls asleep, Giles sneaks out to visit his Godfather, Mr. Annesley. Annesley has been having troubles himself with someone stealing his roses, and as he is about to leave town, he asks Giles to watch his rose garden for him while he is away. Giles soon learns that Sally, the parson's daughter, has been taking the roses, but when he confronts her about it, he realizes that her motives were pure, and she soon wins him over. Sally thinks he is simply a gardener, and she takes him to meet her father as the two become better acquainted.

One day, Giles pays some Gypsies to give Sally a silver ring, which they call a "Wishing ring" that will grant the wish of whoever wears it, and later, he sneaks behind Sally and kisses her after she wishes for "A kiss from her true love". After a few days, Giles receives word that Annesley is coming back, and he asks Giles to invite all of the neighbors to a lawn party to welcome him home. However, when Giles tells Sally, she realizes that she does not have the proper clothes for a fancy party. Undeterred, Giles goes out to buy her a new dress and shoes, and sneaks it into her home without her noticing, writing "From the Wishing Ring" on the box.

Before the party, Giles receives a letter from his father, telling him that he knows where he is, and that he does not wish to see him until he can earn a half-crown to prove his diligence. Later, at the party, the letter falls out of Giles pocket, and Sally and her father find the note and read it, unbeknownst to Giles. Sally, with her pure heart, takes it upon herself to reconcile the relationship between father and son, and she goes to the home of the Earl, quickly befriending him as they play chess together. In fact, Sally visits him every day, and she becomes very sad for him as he is pained by a serious case of Gout. She decides to ask the Gypsies about a cure for the Earl, and they tell her to visit the "Devils Cliff" at midnight, by the light of the moon, where she will find a magic herb that cures all disease.

That night, Sally leaves her house in the middle of the night at travels to Devils cliff, but the next morning, she is found seriously injured, having fallen off the cliff in the dark. As Sally is taken to her home, word spreads quickly that she has been injured, and the Earl immediately runs out of his house (with his gout) to make his way to her. Along the way though, his horse goes lame and he stops to borrow another horse, paying the man he borrows it from a half-crown. However, the horse actually belongs to Giles, and the man gives Giles the half crown while simultaneously telling him about Sally's fall.

Much like his father, Giles immediately runs to Sally, getting there just before his father, and the two briefly chat before the Earl arrives. Giles at first hides as his father comes in to check on Sally, but soon Giles comes out, angering his father. However, Sally tells the Earl that he must forgive his son, as he has fulfilled his conditions and earned a half-crown. The two smile and embrace each other, and all is well.

The film ends with a celebratory feast at the wedding of Sally and Giles.

References

External links
The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England essay  by Kyle Westphal at National Film Registry

1914 films
1914 comedy-drama films
1910s English-language films
American silent feature films
American black-and-white films
American films based on plays
Films directed by Maurice Tourneur
Films shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey
United States National Film Registry films
Films set in England
World Film Company films
1910s rediscovered films
Rediscovered American films
1910s American films
Silent American comedy-drama films


A messer (German for "knife") is a single-edged sword of the 15th and 16th century, characterised by knife-like hilt construction methods.

While the various names are often used synonymously, messers can be divided into several principal groups:

Bauernwehr ("Peasant's knife" or "Peasant's sidearm"), Also sometimes called Hauswehr ("Home / Household knives") are single-handed knives, used for utility and defence. Most blade lengths range from  lengths up to around , but smaller and larger examples exist.

Messer, Lange Messer,  and Großes Messer ("Knife", "Long knife", and "Great knife" respectively) are usually single-handed swords used for self-defence. These blade lengths ranged from about  to . Hilts are normally suited to single handed use, but the larger examples may feature extended grips suitable for a second hand-hold.

Kriegsmesser ("war knife") are the largest examples of messer-hilted weapons, ranging from around  long with approximately  blade, up to around  long with blades up to  in length. Designed to be used with both hands, such messers were dedicated military arms, normally wielded by professional soldiers during the 15th and 16th century, such as the Landsknecht.

These names are subjective, and there are no known texts which clearly codify the differences between groups. As such, A large Bauernwehr might well have also been called a Messer, or a large Großes Messer might have been called a Kriegsmesser.

Typology
To combat the inherent uncertainties in using the period terms like "Messer", "langes Messer", and "Großes Messer" which are sometimes interchangeable, there is a typology created by James G. Elmslie for European single-edged arms, which classifies messer and falchion forms, similar to the Oakeshott typology used for double-edged arming swords. For more information see Elmslie Typology.

Origin and Geography
Messer appear to have emerged in the region of Southern Germany, Switzerland, or Northern Austria in the first few years of the 15th century, as small Bauernwehr and Hauswehr civilian knives of low social status. As such their exact date of origin is uncertain, the earliest known depiction being from around 1430.  Those knives grow steadily larger, and depictions of sword-sized messer are found by the end of the 1440's in fechtbuch.

While the name messer is German, messer hilted arms have been found in multiple European nations, with local or regional names. Examples of messer are found in the Netherlands and Northern France, Iceland, Sweden, and the Baltic Nations, in the central European nations of Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Romania, and to the south of Germany in Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and northern parts of the Balkan nations.

The geographical spread of messers can be traced from known centres of manufacture in areas like Passau and Solingen, through medieval river trade routes, and the shipping networks of the Hansa League.  As such, It is most likely that very similar messer hilts found in for example, Iceland, Northern Germany, and Northern Poland are evidence of export of Passau blades during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, rather than examples of indigenous manufacture.

Construction

Messer are characterized by single-edged blades mounted on knife-like hilts. The lengths and shape of blades can vary greatly, with straight or curved profiles, broad or narrow blades, and presence or absence of fullers. Extant examples of langes messer seem to have an overall length of  with a  blade, and a weight between .

The principal feature of the messer is its hilt construction, which is usually different to that of contemporary European swords.  Most messer are assembled with the hilt consisting of a slab tang sandwiched between two wooden grip plates which are pinned or riveted into place.

Messer usually feature a Nagel: a nail-like protrusion which projects out from the right side of the cross-guard perpendicular to the flat of the blade, which protects the knuckles of the wielder's hand from injury. On the smallest messers and most bauernwehr the nagel is usually driven through the wooden grips of the hilt. On larger messer, a steel cross-guard is normally found, and the nagel is slotted through a hole in the centre of the cross-guard. The length of the hilt is normally proportionate to the length of the blade, with longer blades featuring hilts long enough to enable gripping with both hands.

While the majority of messer hilts are constructed of wood, a small proportion of extant examples exhibit hilts of other materials - horn, bone, or leather-covered wood. A smaller section yet display highly complex hilt construction techniques, using metal frame construction containing organic panels, such as exotic wood and mother-of pearl, or chequerboard patterns constructed from bone and dark horn.

Messer do not normally feature pommels like contemporary two-edged swords. Instead, those which have a metal pommel tend to feature asymmetrical profiles which curve down towards the edged side of the blade - a feature which is sometimes called a "Hat shape", or a "bird's beak" pommel. Some examples terminate in ovoid metal caps which form a flat face, and some have no metal terminal at all, instead being plain wood, or leather-covered wood.

Messer hilt construction techniques develop over time, and in the 16th century, sometimes begin to match contemporary two-edged sword construction methods, to the point that it is difficult to differentiate between the two groups.

Fighting with the messer

The messer was part of the curriculum of several Fechtbücher (fighting manuals) of the 14th and 15th centuries, including that of Johannes Lecküchner (dealing with the langes messer), the Codex Wallerstein, Hans Talhoffer, Paulus Kal and Albrecht Dürer.

See also
Johannes Lecküchner
Falchion
Machete
Nodachi
Swiss degen
Zhanmadao

References

External links
Video interpretation of Four Sources on Messer Combat
Video interpretation of several of Lecküchner's Messer Plays
James Elmslie's Research
The Elmslie Typology

European swords
European weapons
Medieval European swords
Medieval blade weapons
Renaissance-era swords
Renaissance-era weapons
Single-edged swords

Messer (sword)


The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) () was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages.

Etymology

The term accolade entered English by 1591, when Thomas Lodge used it in a historical romance about Robert the Devil: "He had with all solemnitie the accolade, and was commanded to kneele downe to receiue the order of Knighthoode." It derives from the Middle French accolee, meaning an embrace or the bestowal of knighthood thereby, which in turn descends from the Latin collum, meaning "neck".

History

Ceremony

Accolade ceremonies have taken a variety of forms, including the tapping of the flat side of a knighting sword on the shoulders of a candidate (who is himself sometimes referred to as an accolade during the ceremony) or an embrace about the neck.

The earliest reference to the knighting as a formal ceremony in Germany is in the Annals of Aachen under the year 1184, when the Emperor Frederick I's sons, Henry VI and Frederick VI, "were made knights" (facti sunt milites).

An early Germanic coming-of-age ceremony, of presenting a youth with a weapon that was buckled on him, was elaborated in the 10th and 11th centuries as a sign that the minor had come of age. A panel in the Bayeux Tapestry shows the knighting of Harold by William of Normandy, but the specific gesture is not clearly represented.

In medieval France, early ceremonies of the adoubement were purely secular and indicated a young noble coming of age. Around 1200, these ceremonies began to include elements of Christian ritual (such as a night spent in prayers, prior to the rite ).

The increasingly impressive ceremonies surrounding adoubement figured largely in the Romance literature, both in French and in Middle English, particularly those set in the Trojan War or around the legendary personage of Alexander the Great.

Accolade in the 21st century

France
Newly inducted military Knights of the Legion of Honour are struck on both shoulders with a sword (Army and Navy) or a dirk (Air Force), if the ceremony is presided over by a military authority. Civilian members and all members of lesser orders (Merit, Arts and Letters...) are not dubbed with a bladed weapon. They receive only the accolade, which has kept in French its ancient meaning of "embrace".

Officers in the French Armed Forces also receive the accolade, but a different version. When they graduate, during the ceremony a senior officer hovers their sword on the kneeling graduate's shoulders as if he were knighting the young officer. This part is called the "adoubement", which has a different meaning than accolade. Adoubement involves the sword, accolade is a movement of the hands which varies in different countries. In France, it can be akin to a hug or a hand on the shoulder.

Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the knights in the exclusive Military Order of William (the Dutch "Victoria Cross") are struck on the left shoulder with the palm of the hand, first by the Dutch monarch (if present) then by the other knights. The new knight does not kneel.

United Kingdom

All newly created knights in the UK are dubbed on both shoulders with a sword by the monarch or the prince delegated by them. In the first example, the "knight-elect" kneels in front of the monarch on a knighting-stool.  First, the monarch lays the side of the sword's blade onto the accolade's right shoulder. The monarch then raises the sword just up over the apprentice's head, flips it counterclockwise so that the same side of the blade will come in contact with the knight's body, and places it on his left shoulder. The new knight then stands up, and the king or queen presents him with the insignia of his new order. Contrary to popular belief, the phrase "Arise, Sir ..." is not used. There are currently eleven different knighthoods being bestowed: Knights Bachelor, Knights Commanders and Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, Royal Victorian Order, Order of Saint Michael and Saint George and Order of the Bath, Knights Companions of the Order of the Thistle and the Order of the Garter.

Women who are awarded damehoods do not receive the accolade.

Clergy receiving a knighthood are not dubbed. The use of a sword in this kind of a ceremony is believed to be inappropriate.

Vatican
Knights of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an Order of chivalry under the protection of the Holy See, are dubbed in the head and on both shoulders during the investiture ceremony. The accolade is given during Holy Mass, by the officiating Prelate.

Central Europe
The accolade is also performed today with the unrecognized Habsburg Order of St. George during the investiture with a sword on both shoulders. The ceremony including the oath is performed by Karl von Habsburg or Georg von Habsburg. The knights kneel and the sword touches both shoulders.

See also
Feudalism
Vigil

References

Bloch, Marc: Feudal Society, tr. Manyon. London: Routledge, Keagn Paul (1965)
Boulton, D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre. The Knights of the Crown: the Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe, 1325-1520. 2d revised ed. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2000.
Keen, Maurice; Chivalry, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984,
Robards, Brooks; The Medieval Knight at War, UK: Tiger Books, 1997,

Feudalism
Chivalry
Warfare of the Middle Ages
Rites of passage

Accolade