Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series Reno 911!

Lennon is an accomplished screenwriter of several major studio comedies with writing partner Robert Ben Garant. They wrote the Night at the Museum films, The Pacifier, Balls of Fury, and Baywatch.

Early life
Lennon was born on August 9, 1970  in Oak Park, Illinois. Of Irish and Scottish descent, he is the son of Kathleen (née McSheehy) and Timothy Lennon. He graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1988.

At the age of 16, he met friend and future co-star Kerri Kenney at Theatre Camp at Northwestern University. The two later attended NYU, where they joined a comedy troupe called The New Group.

Career

Acting and performing
While Lennon was a member of The New Group, the comedy troupe changed its name to The State. As they performed their material at theaters and clubs in New York City, they worked on the MTV show You Wrote It, You Watch It. This led to the self-titled series The State (1993–95), which was nominated for a 1995 Cable Ace Award for Best Comedy Series. That same year, they created a special for CBS called The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special.

Following the departure of The State from MTV, and failed long-term deals with both ABC and CBS, Lennon, along with Kenney, Robert Ben Garant and Michael Ian Black, went on to create and star in the Comedy Central program Viva Variety (1997–99). The show was based on a sketch that Lennon had written for the final season of The State, called "The Mr. and Former Mrs. Laupin Variety Programme." Viva Variety received a 1997 Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Comedy Series. After Viva Variety, Lennon, Kenney and Garant created and starred in Reno 911! (2003–09). The series was initially slated for Fox, but the channel rejected it for being too risque, and the program eventually ended up on Comedy Central.

Lennon has appeared as a guest star in dozens of TV shows, including The League, Childrens Hospital, Party Down, New Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Comedy Bang Bang, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. One of his notable guest starring roles was as Joey Tribbiani's blackjack-dealing "identical hand twin" on the Friends fifth-season finale ("The One In Vegas", Pts. I and II). Additionally, he has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, The Daily Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and at 31, had the second-highest number of appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

In 2008, Lennon started doing stand-up comedy, occasionally playing guitar and incorporating music. He has appeared on The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show, The Jeselnik Offensive, and The Benson Interruption. He was the guest on the first episode of Chris Hardwick's The Nerdist Podcast, which was recorded in Lennon's garage.

In 2010, Lennon and Garant created and starred in a sitcom pilot for NBC called The Strip. In May that year it was announced that NBC had decided not to produce it as a series.

In November and December 2011, Lennon filled in as guest voice for the robot sidekick Geoff Peterson on the CBS show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Lennon has also appeared in numerous films, including Bad Teacher, Memento, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and I Love You, Man, for which he and co-star Paul Rudd were nominated for a 2009 MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. In both Christopher Nolan's film Memento (2000) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Lennon played the role of a doctor.

Lennon's voice acting work includes Kim Possible, Bob's Burgers, Archer and Planet Sheen, in which he played the character of Pinter. He played Scribble in Secret of the Wings and Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast. He supplied the voice of Eddie the Shipboard Computer in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and plays the voice of Fearless Leader in the 2014 DreamWorks short film version of Rocky and Bullwinkle. He is also the voice of Munk on Dawn of the Croods and the voice of Chief O'Hara in the Warner Brothers animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.

Lennon was a producer of the 2013-17 late-night panel game show, @midnight, hosted by Hardwick, and appeared 17 times on the show as a panelist/contestant. He won the show seven times.

Lennon played Felix Unger in the 2015-17 television series reboot of The Odd Couple opposite Matthew Perry, who played Oscar Madison. In 2016, he co-starred as a scientist in Paramount Animation's Monster Trucks and began a recurring role on the Fox action sitcom Lethal Weapon as Leo Getz, a character previously portrayed on film by Joe Pesci. At the 2016 People's Choice Awards ceremony, he participated in an on-stage sketch parodying the recent gaffe by Steve Harvey at the Miss Universe 2015 pageant.

In 2020 and 2021, he recurred in Supergirls fifth and sixth seasons as Mr. Mxyzptlk, taking over from Peter Gadiot.

In 2020, Lennon reprised his role as Lieutenant Jim Dangle in the seventh season of Reno 911! which aired on Quibi. He also appeared in the 2021 film Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon. The eighth season of the series, now titled Reno 911! Defunded, premiered on The Roku Channel in February 2022.

In 2023, Lennon was cast in the Zoey 101 reboot, Zoey 102. The film was released on July 27, 2023, on Paramount+.

Screenwriting
Lennon is a successful screenwriter and script doctor. Most of Lennon's screenplays are written in collaboration with writing partner Robert Ben Garant. Their films have earned over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.

Among Garant and Lennon's credits are the Night at the Museum films, the 2005 Disney comedy The Pacifier and the 2006 prison comedy Let's Go to Prison.

In 2010, FX Network ordered a pilot episode for a Garant/Lennon science fiction television comedy called USS Alabama, set 1000 years in the future, aboard a United Nations Peacekeeping spaceship, the U.S.S. Alabama. Garant and Lennon released a book about writing for film called Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can Too! in 2011.

Garant and Lennon wrote, directed and starred in the 2013 film Hell Baby starring Rob Corddry and Leslie Bibb. The film was produced by Darko Entertainment, and shot on location in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hell Baby premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Garant and Lennon are credited as story co-writers on the film version of Baywatch (2017).

Lennon is also the author of four of IFC's "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time".

Novels and stage
Lennon has written three young adult novels titled Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles, Ronan Boyle and the Swamp of Certain Death, and Ronan Boyle into the Strangeplace. Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list. He wrote the book for the theatrical production of "Trading Places: The Musical!" which debuted at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in June 2022.

Personal life
Lennon lives in Los Angeles and Wisconsin with his wife, actress Jenny Robertson, and their son Oliver (b. 2009). He is a fan of The Smiths and Morrissey, occasionally performing live with the tribute band Sweet and Tender Hooligans as a guitarist.

On June 28, 2023, Tom appeared as a guest on The George Lucas Talk Show where he revealed that he had never heard of the 2015 computer animated jukebox musical fantasy film Strange Magic, and later in the episode announced that he did not like Norman Rockwell.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

References

External links

|-

1970 births
Living people
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
Actors from Oak Park, Illinois
American male comedians
American male film actors
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American male television writers
American male voice actors
American sketch comedians
American television directors
American television writers
American people of Irish descent
American people of Scottish descent
Comedians from Illinois
Male actors from Illinois
New York University alumni
Screenwriters from Illinois
Showrunners
Television producers from Illinois
Writers from Oak Park, Illinois

Thomas Lennon


KCWI-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Ames, Iowa, United States, serving as the CW affiliate for the Des Moines area. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside ABC affiliate WOI-DT (channel 5), also licensed to Ames. Both stations share studios on Westown Parkway in West Des Moines, while KCWI-TV's transmitter is located in Alleman, Iowa.

History

As a WB affiliate
Channel 23 first signed on the air on January 20, 2001, under the callsign KPWB-TV. The station originally maintained a primary affiliation with The WB and a secondary affiliation with UPN, and was owned by Pappas Telecasting. (This was the second Pappas-owned WB affiliate to use the KPWB-TV call sign; the company previously owned what is now KMAX-TV in Sacramento, California, from 1995 to 1998.) KPWB dropped UPN programming in 2003. Prior to the station's launch, this area had been without programming from The WB; from 1995 to 1999, The WB programming was available on Des Moines–Ames cable systems via the former superstation feed of WGN-TV in Chicago,
and from 1999 to 2001, via Iowa City affiliated KWKB.

As a CW affiliate
On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced the shutdowns of The WB and UPN effective that September. In place of these networks, both companies decided to form The CW, a new service that combined the most popular programming from both UPN and The WB with new series produced specifically for the network. Just over one month later on February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced that it would start up MyNetworkTV, a sister network to Fox, which would be operated as a joint venture between Fox Television Stations and Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB-affiliated stations that were not selected to join The CW another option besides becoming an independent station.

It seemed very likely that KPWB would become The CW's Des Moines affiliate, as NBC affiliate WHO-TV (channel 13) had a secondary affiliation with UPN. On March 16, 2006, Pappas Telecasting signed an affiliation agreement to make KPWB the market's CW affiliate. A few months later, MyNetworkTV announced that it would affiliate with a new station also owned by Pappas, KDMI (then on channel 56), which began broadcasting that network on September 5, 2006. On September 18, 2006, the date that The CW officially launched, KPWB changed its call letters to KCWI-TV to reflect its new affiliation. In 2013, the station's logo switched from the generic version that The CW had used since its inception to a version utilizing the station's call letters.

After MyNetworkTV converted to a programming service in September 2009, KDMI dropped the affiliation in favor of joining This TV. WWE SmackDown, which aired on MyNetworkTV at the time, moved to KCWI airing in a Saturday prime time slot; the station stopped airing the show on September 11, 2010, three weeks before SmackDown itself moved from MyNetworkTV to Syfy that October. As a result of KDMI dropping the MyNetworkTV affiliation, Des Moines was the largest Nielsen media market without an over-the-air affiliate of the service until KDMI rejoined MyNetworkTV on October 3, 2011, though that station began carrying the service's programming four hours later than most MyNetworkTV affiliates upon rejoining the service (Nexstar Broadcasting Group–owned WLMT in Memphis also aired SmackDown in a manner very similar to KCWI after MyNetworkTV's original Memphis affiliate WPXX-TV dropped the programming service; WLMT's second digital subchannel eventually affiliated with the service after SmackDown moved to Syfy).

On October 24, 2014, Pappas reached a deal to sell KCWI-TV to Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $3.5 million. The deal separated the station from KDMI, but created a new duopoly with ABC affiliate WOI-DT (channel 5), by coincidence also licensed to Ames. Shortly after the sale was announced, Harry and Stella Pappas sued to block the deal, arguing that the price undervalued KCWI. The deal was approved by the FCC on December 19, 2014, but the completion of the deal was placed on hold due to the lawsuit. The sale was formally completed on March 14, 2016, with Nexstar announcing shortly after that KCWI would leave its downtown Des Moines studios and consolidate operations with WOI at that station's West Des Moines facilities as of April 1.

On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Chicago-based Tribune Media—which had owned NBC affiliate WHO-DT (channel 13) since December 2013—for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. The merger required a divestiture in Des Moines, as FCC regulations prohibit common ownership of more than two stations in the same media market, or two or more of the four highest-rated stations in the market.

On March 20, 2019, McLean, Virginia–based Tegna Inc. announced it would purchase WOI and KCWI from Nexstar upon consummation of the merger, as part of the company's sale of nineteen Nexstar- and Tribune-operated stations to Tegna and the E. W. Scripps Company in separate deals worth $1.32 billion; the WOI–KCWI duopoly, along with Moline, Illinois, sister station WQAD-TV (which had been owned by Tribune), would mark Tegna's first television properties to serve Iowa. The sale was completed on September 19, 2019.

Programming
Since KCWI is a sister station to WOI, it is responsible for airing ABC programming when WOI is unable to or otherwise chooses not to air a program due to weather/emergency updates or local specials.

On August 24, 2016, KCWI launched an affiliation with Escape on its DT2 subchannel and Bounce on its DT3 subchannel.

During its time as KPWB, the station carried St. Louis Cardinals baseball games syndicated from KPLR-TV. It also aired select Chicago Cubs baseball games which were carried by WGN beginning in the 2016 season.

Newscasts

KCWI presently broadcasts a total of  hours of local newscasts each week (a three-hour local weekday morning newscast from 7 to 10 a.m. and a nightly half hour newscast at 9 p.m.). KCWI did not broadcast any news programming until April 2012, when the station debuted a three-hour morning news and interview show called Great Day on KCWI, now airing four hours each weekday from 6 to 10 a.m. since September 2013. In addition to news, weather, sports and traffic reports, Great Day features guest interviews, animal segments, comedians, music and various videos. The station did not previously offer a prime time newscast following CW network programming, with syndicated sitcom reruns airing instead during the 9 p.m. timeslot. When Nexstar completed its sale of the station, the show's name was changed to The KCWI23-HD Morning Show.

On April 11, 2016, KCWI's morning show was changed once again, this time to CW Iowa Live airing from 7 to 10 a.m. with the 6 a.m. hour now being occupied by infomercials to avoid competition with WOI-DT's morning show. The newly revamped show retained Michelle Brown and Lou Sipolt, but meteorologist Jason Parkin was let go as a result of the changes made; the show also retains the variety show feel of Great Day with some local segments by WOI's news team. The following week, on April 18, KCWI began airing a nightly half-hour 9 p.m. newscast also produced by WOI and also competes against the WHO-DT produced newscast on Fox affiliate KDSM-TV and KCCI's half-hour newscast that it airs on its MeTV subchannel.

Technical information

Subchannels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

In February 2020, a fifth subchannel of KCWI-TV was launched as a UHF simulcast of WOI-DT in order to alleviate reception issues with WOI's channel 5 VHF signal.

Analog-to-digital conversion
KCWI-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 23, on June 12, 2009, and "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation UHF channel 23. Because it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Due to this abnormality, the station's digital signal was carried as a subchannel of now former sister station KDMI.

References

External links
WeAreIowa.com - WOI-DT/KCWI-TV official website

The CW affiliates
Bounce TV affiliates
Quest (American TV network) affiliates
Get (TV network) affiliates
2001 establishments in Iowa
Television channels and stations established in 2001
Television stations in Des Moines, Iowa
Tegna Inc.

KCWI-TV


J. J. Kelly High School was a former public high school in Wise, Virginia. The school was opened in 1953. It was part of the Wise County Public Schools system. It was named after a former county school board superintendent, Dr. J. J. Kelly, Jr.  The enrollment in 2005 was 504 students and employed 41 teachers. The mascot for J. J. Kelly High School was the Indian. The school's colors were red and white.  The Indians competed in the Virginia High School League's Single A Lonesome Pine District with five other schools from around Southwest Virginia.  J. J. Kelly High School was merged with Pound High School in 2011 to form Central High School, which is now located in a new facility outside of Wise.

Athletics

State Championships (won)
Baseball - 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2008
Basketball (Girls) - 2002
Cross County (Boys) - 1988
Football - 1981
Golf - 2003
Tennis (Girls) - 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
Theatre - 2007
Wrestling - 1983, 1988

Records
J. J. Kelly still holds the Virginia High School League record for most state championships won by any school in baseball and girls tennis.  The girls tennis program also holds the record for most consecutive state titles, having won seven, and consecutive team matches won, with a record of 128–0. The state record for most consecutive baseball championships is also held by the Indians, as they won four from 1981 to 1984.

Notable alumni
Carroll Dale - Former Green Bay Packers receiver and a Virginia Sports Hall of Fame inductee

References

Public high schools in Virginia
Schools in Wise County, Virginia
Educational institutions established in 1953
Wise, Virginia
Schools accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
1953 establishments in Virginia
Educational institutions disestablished in 2011
2011 disestablishments in Virginia

J. J. Kelly High School


Skinner Reservoir, also known as Lake Skinner, is a reservoir in western Riverside County, California, located at the foot of Bachelor Mountain in the Auld Valley, approximately  northeast of Temecula.  It was created in 1973 by the construction of the Skinner Clearwell Dam (expanded 1991) on Tucalota Creek, and currently has a capacity of .
Located north of Rancho California Road near the Temecula Valley Wine Country, The address of the reservoir is:
37701 Warren Road,
Temecula, CA 92592.

Lake Skinner is operated by the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District (RivCo Parks), under lease by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. It is supplied by the Colorado River Aqueduct and the State Water Project, and feeds the Robert A. Skinner filtration plant, which provides treated water to 2.5 million people in Riverside and San Diego Counties. It is named after Robert A. Skinner, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District from 1962 to 1967, who was instrumental in negotiating Metropolitan's contract with the California Department of Water Resources for delivery of water from Northern California.

Lake Skinner is a popular recreation area, featuring sailing, fishing, swimming (in an off-reservoir swimming area), horseback riding and hiking. The Lake Skinner recreational area includes 1,400 acres (5.7 km²) of surface water and 300 acres (1.2 km²) of lakeside parkland, features 158 RV sites and 300 developed campsites, and is the site of the annual Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival and the Solar Cup competition.

The reservoir was formed by construction of a dam on Tucalota Creek, along with two minor creeks named Middle Creek and Schoolhouse Creek. Tucalota Creek below the reservoir flows to Santa Gertrudis Creek, then Murrieta Creek, then to the Santa Margarita River and ultimately to the Pacific Ocean.

Ecology
The reservoir and nearby Southwestern Riverside County Multi-Species Reserve host endangered species such as Least Bell's vireo (Vireo bellii pusillis) and Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus), dependent on riparian willow habitat that is created and maintained by North American beaver (Castor canadensis).

See also
 List of dams and reservoirs in California
 List of lakes in California

References

Further reading

Skinner, Lake
Skinner, Lake
Skinner Clearwell
Skinner Clearwell
Reservoirs in California
Reservoirs in Southern California

Skinner Reservoir


John Doget (c. 1435–1501) was an English diplomat, scholar and Renaissance humanist. He was the nephew of Cardinal Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was born in Sherborne, Dorset, and was probably educated in Bourchier's household before being admitted to Eton College as a king's scholar about 1447. From Eton he passed to King's College, Cambridge, in 1451, and became a fellow there in 1454.

In 1460 Doget was ordained, and gained his Master of Theology in 1464. In the same year he left Cambridge and went to Bologna, where he studied Canon law and earned his doctorate in 1469. He returned to Cambridge in 1463.

Doget was sent to Rome to help arrange a peace between Pope Sixtus IV and Florence in 1479, dealing also with the princes of Sicily and Hungary. He was then appointed to an embassy to Christian I of Denmark. He was appointed domestic chaplain to Richard III in 1483.

At some time between 1473 and 1486, he presented his Examinatorium in Phaedonem Platonis, the first philosophical work by an English humanist, to Cardinal Bourchier. The text of the Phaedo on which Doget comments is the translation of Leonardo Bruni. As Roberto Weiss has pointed out in the commentary, "his aim appears to have been an interpretation of some of Plato's passages as Christian maxims. Because of this he deals principally with an explanation of obscure passages in the Phaedo, which are presented so as to emphasize their common points with Christian doctrine" (Weiss, p. 166). The neoplatonic texts cited by Doget, which include Marsilio Ficino's Latin version of the Pimander, or Poemander, of Hermes Trismegistus, are seen through the prism of Christian apologetics, and the Phaedo was no doubt chosen in the first place as a vehicle for his commentary because it could be presented as a mythologized version of Christian doctrine. Doget's manuscript was later purchased by another humanist, Robert Sherborn, Bishop of Chichester.

Henry VII presented him to the provostship of King's College in 1499. In 1500 he managed to obtain a licence from the King to impress men and boys into the King's College Choir, a much-needed privilege due to the complexity of polyphonic music at the time - skilled choir members were in high demand, Lady Margaret Beaufort having seized three clerks and a chorister from King's the year before Doget's appointment.

His will is dated 4 March 1501 and bequeathed all his books on canon law and theology to King's College. He died the following month, and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral.

References

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Roberto Weiss, Humanism in England during the fifteenth century, third edition, 1967.

15th-century births
1501 deaths
Doget, John
Doget, John
Doget, John
Doget, John
Provosts of King's College, Cambridge
Doget, John
Doget, John
15th-century English Roman Catholic priests
Burials at Salisbury Cathedral

John Doget


Ceratosaurs are a group of theropod dinosaurs. They are defined as "all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestry with Ceratosaurus than with birds".

Ceratosauria includes the Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous theropods Ceratosaurus, Elaphrosaurus, and Abelisaurus, found mainly in the southern hemisphere.

The earlies known Ceratosaur is from the Middle Jurassic of Patagonia, Eoabelisaurus. This predates the oldest certainly known known member of the lineage by more than 40 million years. The almost complete skeleton of Eoabelisaurus shows the earliest evolutionary stages of the distinctive  abelisaurid modification of the forelimb.

Originally, Ceratosauria included the above dinosaurs plus the Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic  Coelophysis and Dilophosaurus. This implied a much earlier divergence of ceratosaurs from other theropods. However, recent studies have shown that coelophysoids and dilophosaurids do not form a natural group with other ceratosaurs, and so they are excluded from this group.

References

Ceratosauria


Finnish-Swedish ice class is an ice class assigned to a vessel operating in first-year ice in the Baltic Sea and calling at Finnish or Swedish ports. Ships are divided into six ice classes based on requirements for hull structural design, engine output and performance in ice according to the regulations issued by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) and the Swedish Maritime Administration.

Purpose

During the winter months, Finnish and Swedish authorities may declare traffic restrictions in the Northern Baltic Sea in order to ensure that ships operating in the region are capable of navigating in ice-covered waters safely and efficiently. These restrictions, for example "ice class 1A, 2000 DWT", declare the minimum ice class and other requirements for ships that may be provided with icebreaker assistance. The Finnish fairway dues, a system of fees charged for using sea lanes to cover the costs of management and icebreaker assistance, also depend on the vessels' ice class. Since ships of lower ice classes generally require more assistance during the winter months, their fairway dues are considerably higher than those of ships of the highest ice classes. For this reason the majority of ships regularly calling Finnish ports are built to the highest ice classes. In the beginning of 2008, 47% of the Finnish tonnage were of ice class 1A Super.

Many international classification societies have incorporated the Finnish-Swedish ice class rules into their rulebooks and offer ice class notations recognized by the Finnish and Swedish authorities. These ice classes are, in turn, used by countries such as Estonia and Latvia to assign traffic restrictions. Since the ice class rules have been revised and amended several times over the years, a list of equivalent ice class notations is used to assign the correct official ice class for older vessels when they visit Finnish and Swedish ports. Although mainly used in the Baltic Sea, the Finnish-Swedish ice classes and the equivalent ice class notations from classification societies are sometimes used when discussing ships operating in other freezing seas of the world.

While the Finnish-Swedish ice classes can be assigned to icebreakers to collect fairway fees, the rules are intended primarily for merchant ships operating under icebreaker escort. Because the engine output and the level of ice-strengthening in ships designed to operate independently in ice-infested waters, especially in the presence of multi-year ice, usually exceeds the requirements of the Finnish-Swedish ice class rules, the classification societies use different ice class notations, such as the IACS Polar Class, for icebreakers. The two highest Finnish-Swedish ice classes, 1A and 1A Super, are somewhat equivalent to the two lowest Polar Classes, PC 7 and PC 6, respectively.

Definition and requirements

Ships of the highest Finnish-Swedish ice class, 1A Super, are designed to operate in difficult ice conditions mainly without icebreaker assistance while ships of lower ice classes 1A, 1B and 1C are assumed to rely on icebreaker assistance. However, even ships of the highest ice class are assumed to require icebreaker assistance from time to time. In addition there are ice class 2 for self-propelled steel-hulled ships with no ice strengthening that are capable of operating independently in very light ice conditions and ice class 3 for vessels that do not belong to any other class such as unpropelled barges and ships built of wood. The Finnish-Swedish ice classes are usually spelled with Roman numerals, e.g. IA, in official context and legislation.

Ships must fulfill certain design requirements in order to obtain the ice class from the Finnish and Swedish authorities. The design requirement for ice class 1A Super is a minimum speed of 5 knots in a broken brash ice channel with a thickness of  in the middle and a consolidated (refrozen) ice layer of . Ice classes 1A, 1B and 1C have lower design requirements corresponding to non-consolidated ice channels with a thickness of  in the middle, respectively. While the ice class rules provide equations to calculate the minimum engine power based on the ship's main dimensions and hull shape, more exact calculations or ice model tests resulting in lower minimum engine power can also be approved, but in such case the ice class can be revoked if the experience of the ship's performance in practice motivates this.

In addition, the strength of the ship's hull, propulsion system and steering gear must be adequate to allow safe operation in the presence of ice, and the rules provide tables and formulas to determine minimum scantlings and other design criteria for each ice class. The thickness of ice used as the basis of these calculations is sometimes mistaken for the minimum icebreaking capability requirement for the ice-classed vessel.

1A Super+
Since even ships of ice class 1A Super are assumed to rely on icebreaker assistance from time to time, a research was conducted about introducing a new ice class exceeding all existing ice classes, 1A Super+, for ships capable of independent operation in all ice conditions and therefore reducing the need of icebreaker assistance in some ports. These ships could also be granted "icebreaker status" and their higher operating costs could be partially covered by government subsidies from the same funds that are used to cover the cost of icebreaker assistance.  the new ice class has not been implemented in the Finnish-Swedish ice class rules.

History

Finnish ice class rules (1890–1971)

The first Finnish statutory regulation for ships navigating in ice was given on 27 March 1890. It was primarily intended to increase the safety and set a number of requirements for passenger ships operating regularly in winter conditions. These included double bottom in way of the engines and boilers, construction according to the rules of Lloyd's Register or Bureau Veritas, at least five transverse watertight bulkheads, and sufficient damage stability to survive the flooding of two compartments without sinking. The last requirement is interesting because it was not included in the latter ice class rules and did not become mandatory again for ships partaking in international traffic until 1960.

The first Finnish ice class rules that included the fairway fees were published in 1920. According to the rules the ships were to pay "ice fees" according to their net register tonnage, classification and strengthening for navigation in ice during the winter season, which began on 1 December and ended on 16 April in the Gulf of Finland and in the Bothnian Sea, and from 1 November until 1 May in the northern parts of the Gulf of Bothnia. In 1923 a circular about the classification of ice-strengthened ships was sent to the largest classification societies. The ice strengthening of the hull was defined as a percentage that was added to the minimum requirements set by the classification societies, such as 45% increase in shell plating thickness.

The Finnish ice class rules published in 1932 introduced the ice classes 1A, 1B and 1C for ships strengthened for navigation in ice, ice class 2 for ships classified for unrestricted service but not strengthened for navigation in ice and ice class 3 for other vessels. Ice class 2 was further divided to two subclasses, 2A and 2B, and vessels were eligible for the former if they had a radio. Detailed minimum requirements, again as an additional percentage of the open water requirement, were given for the stem, shell plating at the waterline, stiffeners, rudder and rudder bearings, and the propulsion machinery. In the lowest ice class, 1C, the requirements were limited to the bow of the vessel.

The Finnish ice class rules of 1960 included only minor modifications to the existing rules. The subdivision of ice class 2 was abolished as radios had become more common.

In the 1960s the expansion of the Finnish icebreaker fleet allowed navigation in more severe ice conditions, and the Finnish ice class rules published in 1965 introduced a new ice class, 1A Super, which was considerably stronger than the existing classes. Since ice class 1A was already exempted from the ice fees, the 50% reduction to lighthouse fees was given to ships of the new ice class. However, the additional requirements of the highest ice class were deemed excessive and only three such ships were built.

Finnish-Swedish ice class rules (1971–)

In 1970 a workgroup consisting of the Finnish Maritime Administration, Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard and the association of the Finnish shipowners began working on the new ice class rules in close co-operation with major classification societies. Shortly after the work started the Swedish Maritime Administration joined and the new regulations, published in 1971, became known as the Finnish-Swedish ice class rules. According to the new rules the requirements for a ship with ice class 1A, deadweight tonnage of 3,500 tons and engine output of 1,500 hp were kept largely the same, but the requirements for ships of the lowest ice class, 1C, were increased considerably as in the past such ships had been essentially open-water vessels with a strengthened bow. The minimum requirements for the highest ice class, 1A Super, were lowered to make the ships more attractive to shipowners and the requirements for ships with deadweight tonnage below 3,500 tons were increased in all classes to steer shipowners towards bigger vessels that were deemed better for navigation in ice.

However, the biggest change to the previous Finnish ice class rules was the way the structural requirements were determined. Instead of percentages and experience the minimum requirements were based on plastic deformation theory and pressure loads determined from observations of past ice damages in the Baltic Sea. The ships were divided into three areas (bow, midship, aft) and the pressure loads were calculated for each area as a function of the ship's displacement and engine output. The rules regarding rudders, engines and the propulsion system were also changed accordingly, and the propulsion system was to be designed so that its strength increased towards the engine. This minimized the repair costs as the parts most likely to break, the propeller blades, were also the easiest and cheapest to replace. Furthermore, a minimum power requirement was given so that the ice-strengthened ships would be powerful enough to follow the icebreakers and not slow down the traffic.

The Finnish-Swedish ice class rules of 1985 introduced changes to the hull dimensioning. The plastic deformation theory used in the previous rules was changed to elastic, and the load height was changed to more realistic. The minimum engine power requirements were changed in 2002 to correspond to the resistance of the ship in a brash ice channel, calculated as a function of ship size and hull geometry. The rules were revised also in 2002, 2008, 2010, and 2017.

The current Finnish-Swedish ice class rules were issued in 2021 and are applicable to ships contracted for construction on or after 5 July 2021. Older ships are generally required to follow either 1971, 1985, 2002, 2008, 2010, or 2017 ice class regulations depending on their contracting or keel laying date. However, minimum requirement for engine power will become retroactively applicable to ships of ice classes 1A and 1A Super laid down before 1 September 2003 latest at the beginning of the year when 20 years have passed from the delivery of the vessel and ships failing to meet the requirements will have their ice class downgraded.

See also
 Polar Class, a separate set of ice classes maintained by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS)

References

External links
 2010 Ice Class Regulations, Finnish Transport Safety Agency (TraFi), issued on 23 November 2010

Shipbuilding
Sea ice
Baltic Sea
Finland–Sweden relations

Finnish-Swedish ice class


Haddekuche is a traditional pastry made in Frankfurt, Hesse; Rhenish Hesse; and other parts of South Hessen, Germany. It closesly resembles a diamond-shaped gingerbread with a diamond-themed pattern imprinted on the pastry itself. The word "Haddekuche" is Hessian dialect for Standard German harter Kuchen meaning "hard cake". This is most likely because it tends to dry relatively quickly and then become very hard.

Haddekuche has often been made and produced in Frankfurt by pretzel vendors that roam the Apfelwein bars in the city (primarily in Sachsenhausen, Heddernheim, and Niederursel) and other parts of the region, but availability of the pastry has diminished considerably over the years and some claim the pastry has almost gone extinct. One of the few bakeries left selling the pastry claims they only sell 30 of them a month across two branches, mostly to tourists. The diamond pattern on the pastry closely resembles the pattern of another item strongly associated with Hessen—the Geripptes drinking glass for Apfelwein. Owing to the baking process and the need to protect the pastry from damage during transport, the edges of the pastry are rounded.

The pastry is also featured in the popular 1980s song  ("the Hessians are coming!") by the Rodgau Monotones, in which they jokingly compare many Hessian delicacies such as Handkäse with more typical German cuisine.

Another use for the pastry is as a form of thickening agent in sauces with dishes such as Sauerbraten.

Literature

 Rita Hens: Frankfurt: Reisen mit Insider-Tipps. Marco Lolo Verlag, Lonely Planet 2014.

References

Hessian cuisine
German pastries
Culture in Frankfurt

Haddekuche


Croup (or laryngotracheobronchitis) is caused by a virus and leads to swelling inside the throat. This swelling causes problems with normal breathing. People with croup can have a "barking"cough, stridor (a high-pitched wheezing sound), and hoarseness. Croup symptoms often get worse at night. Taking steroids by mouth can treat the condition. Sometimes epinephrine is used in more severe cases. Hospitalization is rarely required.

Doctors decide if a person has croup after they have eliminated other possibilities (for example, an airway foreign body). Blood tests, X-rays, and cultures are not needed. Croup is common. About 15% of children between 6 months and 5–6 years old get croup. Teenagers and adults rarely get croup.

Signs and symptoms

Croup symptoms include a "barking" cough, stridor ( a high pitched sound typically when breathing in), hoarseness, and difficult breathing that are worse at night.  The "barking" cough can sound like a seal or sea lion.  Crying can make the wheezing worse; wheezing can mean that the airways are narrowed. As croup gets worse, the wheezing can decrease.

Other symptoms are fever, symptoms typical of the common cold), and the skin between the ribs pulling in when the child breathes. Drooling or a sick appearance can mean a different illness. The virus infection leads to swelling in the throat and air passages that can make breathing difficult.

Causes
Most croup is caused by a virus infection. Some people call severe laryngotracheitis croup. This disease is caused by a milder virus. Croup also can be laryngeal diphtheria, bacterial tracheitis, laryngotracheobronchitis, and laryngotracheobronchopneumonitis. These diseases are caused by bacteria and are more severe.

Virus
In 75% of cases, the parainfluenza virus, mainly types 1 and 2, causes croup. Other viruses that can cause croup include influenza A and B, measles, adenovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Spasmodic croup (croup with barking) does not have the usual signs of infection, such as fever, sore throat, and increased white blood cell count).  Treating spasmodic croup is the same as treating regular croup.

Bacterial
Bacterial croup includes laryngeal diphtheria, bacterial tracheitis, laryngotracheobronchitis, and laryngotracheobronchopneumonitis. Corynebacterium diphtheriae causes laryngeal diphtheria; bacterial tracheitis, laryngotracheobronchitis, and laryngotracheobronchopneumonitis come from a virus infection, followed by a bacteria infection. The most common bacteria that cause croup areStaphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Hemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis.

Diagnosis

Croup is diagnosed based on signs and symptoms.  The first step is to make sure it is not another condition that can block the upper airway, especially epiglottitis (an inflammation of the tissue that covers the trachea or windpipe) , something in the airway, subglottic stenosis (narrowing of the airway below the vocal cords), angioedema (swelling underneath the skin), retropharyngeal abscess (pus in the back of the throat), and bacterial tracheitis (bacterial infection in the trachea).

An X-ray of the neck is not routine, but if it is done, it can show a narrowing of the trachea, called the steeple sign, because the narrow shape looks like a church steeple. The steeple sign does not appear in half of cases.

Blood tests and viral cultures (tests for the virus) can cause irritate the airway. Cultures of the virus, obtained by nasopharyngeal aspiration (using a tube to suck mucus out of the nose), are used to confirm the exact cause. These cultures are restricted to people doing research.  If a person does not improve with standard treatment, further tests can be done to check for bacteria.

Severity

The most common system for describing the severity of croup is the Westley score. This test is used for research, but does not help the person with croup. Points are given for five factors: level of consciousness, cyanosis (blue skin coloring), stridor (wheezing), air entry, and retractions (skin on the chest pulling in). The table to the right lists the points given for each factor; the final score ranges from 0 to 17.

 A total score of ≤ 2 points indicates mild croup. The person can have barking cough and hoarseness, but there is no stridor (wheezing) when the person is resting.
 A total score of 3–5 is moderate croup — the person has wheezing, with few other signs.
 A total score of 6–11 is severe croup. The patient has obvious wheezing and the skin on the chest wall indraws or pulls in.
 A total score of ≥ 12 means respiratory failure is possible. The barking cough and wheezing does not always happen at this stage.

85% of children going to the emergency department have mild disease. Severe croup is rare–less than 1% of cases.

Prevention
Immunization (vaccines) for influenza and diphtheria can prevent croup.

Treatment
It is important to keep children with croup as calm as possible. Children often are given steroids, but epinephrine is used in severe cases. If the amount of blood oxygen is under 92%, the child needs oxygen. People with  severe croup can be hospitalized for observation. If oxygen is needed, "blow-by" administration (holding an oxygen source near the face of the child) is better than an oxygen mask, because it is less likely to upset a child than an oxygen mask is. With treatment, less than 0.2% of people need endotracheal intubation(a tube placed into the airway).

Steroids
Corticosteroids, such as dexamethasone and budesonide, can be used to treat croup.  People begin to improve a lot within six hours after taking steroids.  Steroids work when given by mouth, injection, or inhalation (breathing them in), but taking them by mouth is best.  Most of the time, a single dose is enough. Dexamethasone at doses of  0.15, 0.3 and 0.6 mg/kg appear to be all equally good.

Epinephrine
Moderate to severe croup can be helped with nebulized epinephrine(an inhaled solution that widens the airway). While epinephrine reduces croup severity within 10–30 minutes, the benefits last for only about 2 hours. If symptoms improve for 2–4 hours after treatment and no other complications happen, the child typically can leave the hospital.

Other
There is not enough evidence that other treatments for croup are helpful. Clinical studies do not show that breathing hot steam or humidified air is helpful and currently it rarely is used. Medical professionals do not want people to use cough medicines, which containdextromethorphan and/or guiafenesin. Clinical studies also do not support inhaling heliox (a mixture of helium and oxygen) to make it easier to breath.  Since most cases of croup is are diseases, antibiotics are not used unless bacteria are also suspected. The antibiotics vancomycin and cefotaxime are recommended for bacterial infections. In severe cases associated with influenza A or B, theanti neuraminidase inhibitors can be given.

Likely outcome
Most of the time, croup caused by a virus is a short-term disease. Croup rarely causes death from respiratory failure and/or cardiac arrest.  Symptoms improve within two days, but can last for up to seven days. Other uncommon complications include bacterial tracheitis (infection of the trachea), pneumonia (lung infection), and pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs).

Epidemiology
About 15% of children between the ages of 6 months and 5–6 years will get croup. Croup accounts for about 5% of hospital admissions for this age group. In rare cases, children as young as 3 months and as old as 15 years have croup. Males are affected 50% more frequently than are females; croup is more common in autumn (fall).

History
The word croup comes from the Early Modern English verb croup, meaning "to cry hoarsely"; the name was first used for the disease in Scotland. Diphtheritic croup has been known since the time of Homer's Ancient Greece.  In 1826, Bretonneau distinguished croup from a virus and croup due to diphtheria.  The French called croup from a virus "faux-croup," using "croup" for a disease caused by the diphtheria bacteria.  Croup due to diphtheria has become nearly unknown since most people are immunized.

References

Diseases caused by viruses
Breathing problems

Croup


A mousetrap car is a small vehicle whose only source of motive power is a mousetrap. Variations include the use of multiple traps, or very big rat traps, for added power.

Mousetrap cars are often used in physics or other physical science classes to help students build problem-solving skills, develop spatial awareness, learn to budget time, and practice cooperative behavior.

Design

The general style for a mousetrap car varies. A number of commercial vendors offer plans, kits and complete cars for sale. In addition to mousetrap cars, contests have been created for mousetrap boats. and mousetrap airplanes.

Spring power

A mousetrap is powered by a helical torsion spring. Torsion springs obey an angular form of Hooke's law:

where  is the torque exerted by the spring in newton-meters, and  is the angle of twist from its equilibrium position in radians.  is a constant with units of newton-meters / radian, variously called the spring's torsion coefficient, torsion elastic modulus, or just spring constant, equal to the torque required to twist the spring through an angle of 1 radian. It is analogous to the spring constant of a linear spring.

The energy of U, in joules, stored in a torsion spring is:

When a mousetrap is assembled, the spring is initially twisted beyond its equilibrium position so that it applies significant torque to the bar when the trap is closed.

Power transmission to axle

This motion must be used to turn the car's axle or wheels. The most common solution is to attach a string to the mouse trap's arm and then wrap it around an axle. As the bar is released, it pulls on the string, causing the axle (and wheels) to turn.

Tying the string directly to the mousetrap's bar, however, will not make good use of the energy stored in the spring. The distance between the opened and closed positions of the bar of a mousetrap is typically 10 cm, so this is how much string would be pulled. Wrapped around even a small diameter axle, this amount of string will not create enough revolutions to move the car as far as it might go.

To get around this problem, most mousetrap cars add a lever to the bar so that the lever will pull a much greater length of string and cause the axle to turn many more revolutions.

Friction of wheels

Another reason to add a lever to the mousetrap bar is to reduce the amount of torque applied to the wheels. If too much torque is applied to the wheels, the force between the wheels and the ground will exceed the maximum frictional force due to the coefficient of friction between the wheel and ground surfaces. When this happens, the wheels slip and energy stored in the spring is wasted. Using a long lever on the mousetrap bar reduces the tension in the string due to the spring's torque, and thus reduces the torque applied to the car's wheels.

In addition to reducing the torque applied to the wheels, the coefficient of friction may be improved by using higher friction materials.

Distance car

Making this type of car revolves around having the most force from the spring transferred to the lever arm and making the drive axle rotate. In order to get the most distance out of your car, you must make the lever arm long. This allows the car to get more rotation out of the wheels because of the longer string that will come along with a longer lever arm. Then make the drive wheels larger because the higher the diameter of the wheel the more ground it covers. Along with this make sure to have the axles smaller than the wheel so there can be more pulling distance. Reduce the most friction you can because the more friction the more energy is lost in propelling the car. Mass should also be taken into account, the more the car weighs the more energy from the mousetrap spring will be used so it'll be best to make the car light weight.

Speed car

Making a speed mouse trap car involves extracting the most energy you can from the mousetrap spring in a short distance. The lever arm needs to be shorter than the distance car's because the shorter the arm is, the quicker the spring will snap, and thus more torque gets extracted from the spring. Most of the car's weight is distributed to the back, where the drive axle is located. Built this way, the car will not have much drag in the front, slowing it down. The wheels don't need to be too large but the axle should be larger in relation to the wheel. The wheels need good traction because without the right amount of friction the wheels attached to the drive axle will slip and not push the car forwards because of all the added torque.

References

External links
Mousetrap Car Demonstration of a mousetrap powered car

Physics experiments

Mousetrap car


Alice Smith (born November 30, 1977) is an American singer and songwriter, her style anchored in rock, R&B, blues, jazz and soul.

Life and career
Raised between Washington, D.C., and a farm in Georgia, she sang in Moomtez and Black Rock Coalition while studying History at Fordham University. In 2006, on the release her first album, Rolling Stone said of her, "Smith could easily be lumped in with expressive chanteuses like Norah Jones and Alicia Keys, but she has a broader palette than either." The magazine listed her as one of the 10 Artists to Watch in 2006.

Her debut album, For Lovers, Dreamers & Me, was a collection of songs spanning genres from country to rock to funk. The title was borrowed from the Paul Williams song Rainbow Connection, from The Muppet Movie. "We were just trying to think of a title, because I haven't thought of a name after it was all done," she said in an interview with Hiphoprnbsoul.com. "We were thinking about the music and we were throwing ideas around. We were thinking about The Beatles and The Wizard of Oz and whatever else made us think of. Then something made me think of The Muppets. I don't even know. It wasn't something in the forefront of my mind. I just thought of it and it came to me like that."

The song "Dream" was featured on an episode of Entourage (season four) during the closing credits. "Dream" was also featured in the final act of episode four, season five, of the Showtime series The L Word ("Let's Get This Party Started"). In 2007, she was nominated for a Grammy Award under the Best Urban/Alternative category. However, the fall-out from pressure of the success of her debut release meant that future recordings were shelved. Becoming a mother, Smith relocated from New York to Los Angeles, California.

In 2011, she collaborated with Aloe Blacc to contribute the track "Baby" to the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album Red Hot + Rio 2. The album is a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot + Rio. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.

Her second album, She was released in March 2013.

In 2013 Alice performed the song "Cry" with Doyle Bramhall II at Madison Square Gardens as part of the Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival.

In 2014, Prince released an interpretation of her song Another Love on his album with 3rdeyegirl, Plectrumelectrum. She also performed "Fool For You", "The One", "She", and "Don't Get Me Wrong", and "Dreams" at AfroPunk 2014.

In 2015, Smith's cover of "I Put a Spell on You" was featured on Nina Revisited... A Tribute to Nina Simone.

In 2018, Smith's song "Fool For You" was featured in the Season 4 episode One of My Three Soups of the TV series Gotham, which chronicles the events leading up to Batman's arrival.

She released Mystery, her third album, comprising seven songs, in October 2019.

Personal life
Smith has one daughter, and is married to recording artist Citizen Cope.

Discography

Studio albums

Awards and nominations

|-
|2008
|"Dream"
|Best Urban/Alternative Performance
|
|}

References

Reviews
Giant Step - For Lovers, Dreamers & Me / Alice Smith
Sound Generator - For Lovers, Dreamers & Me / Alice Smith
Rainbow Network - For Lovers, Dreamers & Me / Alice Smith
Music Emissions - For Lovers, Dreamers & Me / Alice Smith

External links
 Alice Smith Official site

1977 births
Living people
American soul musicians
Singers from New York City
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School alumni
American women rock singers
African-American women singer-songwriters
American soul singers
American contemporary R&B singers
21st-century African-American women singers
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Singer-songwriters from Washington, D.C.

Alice Smith


Built in 1833, the Arulmigu Sri Mahamariamman Temple in George Town is the oldest Hindu temple in Penang, Malaysia, and features sculptures of gods and goddesses over its main entrance and facade. It is located at Queen Street, George Town.

It is also known as Mariamman Temple or Queen Street Indian Temple. Throughout the years, the Sri Mahamariamman temple has also been known by several names: Sri Muthu Mariamman Temple, Sri Arulmigu Mahamariamman Temple, Sri Mariamman Temple. All these names refer to the same temple. The temple is open daily from 6.30 am - 12.00 noon and 4.30 pm - 9.00 pm. It became a place of worship as early as 1801 and became a temple in 1833. It has stood at the same place for more than 200 years.

Temple site
The temple is in central Georgetown on Lebuh Queen (Queen Street) and the back entrance is on Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling (Pitt Street), in between Lebuh Pasar and Lebuh Chulia. Located in Penang's Little India, in the capital city of Georgetown, the Sri Maha Mariamman temple reflects the city's rich cultural heritage.

Visitation to this temple is limited to morning and evening. Temple opens starts from morning 6 am till 12 pm and evening from 5 pm till 9 pm. The temples closes after the prayers are performed at 12 pm and 9 pm respectively. Daily there will be Pujas (prayers), mornings 7.30 am and evening 6.30 pm. Prayers are usually conducted by the temple priests in these times and visitors may observe these prayer sessions taking place. If you wish to enter the Sri Mahamariamman temple, it would be polite to ask permission from any of the priests and please remember to remove your shoes before entering the temple grounds.

Daily Poojas
Darshan (meaning open to the public) hours are from 6 am to 9 pm. Temple is closed from 12:15 pm and reopened at 4:30 pm and closed at 9:15 pm.

The temple priests perform the puja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. Abishegam or Thirumanjanam is anointment of the idol with oils, sandalwood paste, milk, unguents and the like and then bathing it with water in an act of ritual purification. The most prominent abishegams are conducted at the ceremonies to mark the hours of the day. These are four in number - the Kaala Santhi, early in the morning, the Ucchikālam, in the afternoon, the Sāyaratchai, in the evening and the Ardha Jāmam, at night, immediately prior to the temple being closed for the day.

Each ritual comprises four steps: abishegam (sacred bath), alangaram (decoration), naivethanam (food offering) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) all the deities. After the abishegam, it is the practice to dress the idols of the deities, in an act called alangaram, in one of several guises. The worship is held with religious instructions in the Vedas (Sanskrit sacred texts) and Thirumurai (Tamil sacred texts) read by priests. These hours are marked by the tolling of the bell of the temple amidst music with nadaswaram (pipe instrument) and thavil (percussion instrument).

Devotees are able to perform archanai by the priest thereafter.

 Abishegam (6 am)
 Kaala Santhi (7.30 am)
 Abishegam (11.45 am)
 Utchikkalam Pooja (12 pm)
 Abishegam (5.30 am)
 Sāyaratchai (6.30 pm)
 Abishegam (8.45 am)
 Ardha Jāmam (9 pm)

 Please note that on festivals and special occasions, Abishegam and Poojas start earlier than the scheduled time

History

The tropical island of Penang lies in the Indian Ocean, just off the north-west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Penang's rapid growth as a trading hub in the early 19th century, especially in commodities such as nutmegs, cloves, and pepper, attracted traders from Europe, America, Arabia, India as well as China. Each then established communities and adopted lifestyles similar to their homeland. It was during that time that the Tamil Indians arrived in the island's bustling harbour, and established their own 'Little India' community in the city. The early Indian settlers, who came to this island to toil and trade, established an abode for mother, so that her presence could be felt as their guardian deity and guide in their times of trials and tribulations.

Dating back as early as 1801, the Sri Mahamariamman Temple is recognised as an elaborate and spiritual place of worship. Like most Indian temples in Penang, the Penang Sri Mahamariamman began as a small and simple shrine. Not much is known about the early days of the temple or of the persons who founded it. The land was granted in 1801 by the British to Betty Lingam Chetty, who was then the Kapitan (Headman, Kepala or Community Leader) of the Tamils and South Indians. This is confirmed by another grant written in 1831. But, as to how the temple came to be built on this land or who founded it, there is no information.

Caption James Low confirms the existence of a temple in Georgetown in 1835. That the Mariamman temple was founded in 1833 is first mentioned in a notice of 'Kumbabishegam' (consecration ceremony) held one hundred years later in 1933. But except for the date, not much else has been said about its founding in that document.

Built originally as a shrine, it was later that the Indian community found a need for a proper temple ground for worshipping, to accommodate the ever-increasing Indian community presence on the island. This was done to ensure that the Indian community, which includes the merchants, labourers and sepoys, are settled in one particular area, for ease of managing the group. The majority of the people who lived around the temple were waterfront workers who were the backbone of the Penang port. These Indian stevedores were organised in groups called kootam – a member of a kootam is a kootakadai, and heading each kootam is a thandal. Together, the Indian community numbered about 2000 workers and they inhabited the area bounded by Lebuh Queen, Lebuh King, Lebuh Penang, Lebuh Pasar and Lebuh Gereja, an area collectively known as Ellammuchanthi in Tamil, or Simpang Lelong in Malay.

The Sri Mahamariamman shrine was enlarged into a temple in 1833. Since this was when it became a proper temple, 1833 is taken as the year that it was founded. At the time of its founding, it was known as the Sri Muthu Mariamman Temple. It was only in 1980 that it became known by its present name, Sri Arulmigu Mahamariamman Temple, although the name is often written as Sri Mariamman Temple, Mahamariamman Temple and so on.

From its inception, the temple provided an important place of worship for early Indian immigrants and is now an important cultural and national heritage.  In those days, it was done to ensure the Indian community, which includes the early working settlers like merchants and labourers are settled in one area to ease managing them. By 1833, the shrine through the efforts of the Indian settlers, turned to a temple and was renovated to its present form a hundred years later.

According to a document of civil suit brought before the courts in 1904, the names of five trustees who looked after the temple from 1892 till 1904 are Veerasamy, Murugan Chettiyar, Govindasamy Pillai, Veleritta Taver and Meyappah. The temple came under The Mohamedan and Hindu Endowments Board in 1906. From then onwards the temple has been administrated by the management committee appointed by the Endowment Board. It appears that from the beginning of the Endowments Board's administration, a few temples and other institutions have been clustered and left under the care of this management committee: Arulmigu Sri Balathandayuthapani Temple in Waterfall (Hilltop), the Arulmigu Sri Ganesha Temple in Waterfall, the Arulmigu Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Queen Street, Hindu Cemetery and Cremation Ground in Batu Lanchang and a Hindu Funeral Rites Ground in Jalan Air Itam. From 1967 onwards, the board is known as the Hindu Endowments Board, which is currently managing this temple.

Hindu Mahajana Sangam
The Hindu Mahajana Sangam () which was formed in 1935, has had close association with this temple and other temples under the care of the same management. Before 1935, it was known as Kootakkadai (). Many members have served in both institutions. They have also been associated with the temple's formation, renovation and maintenance. The festivals conducted by the Hindu Mahajana Sangam such as Chitraparuvam, Vijayadhsami and Aatakavadi during Thaipoosam is associated with this temple.

First Kumbabishegam (1933)
It was in 1933 that the temple acquired the present form and structure. In that year the temple was extensively renovated. According to the notice of the consecration ceremony, the foundation stone for the new structure was laid by Mr. V. Natesam Pillay, JP. The Sri Muthu Mariamman temple having become too small and too decayed, the Hindu gentlemen of Penang, with their initiative and perseverance, have bought up two buildings to the north of the temple, expanded the presence space and formed a temple in accordance with the Siva agamas a sanctum, Arthamandapam (antechamber), Mahamandapam (hall), prakaram (circumambient), vimanam (dome), surrounding walls and Rajagopuram (entrance tower). These renovations were carried out by a management committee consisting of S. Ekamparam Pillai, C. Subbaraya Pillay, S. P. Natesam Pillay, P. Kalimuthu Vandayar, K. V. Karuppiah Thandal and M. R. Raju.

The consecration ceremony was held on Sunday, 12 June 1933.

Second Kumbabishegam (1958)
It is also known that further repairs were done in 1958 and a consecration ceremony, albeit on a small scale was carried out under the leadership of Mr. Doraisamy Thevar JP PJK who was the chairman of the temple management committee.

Third Kumbabishegam (1980)
Since 1958, no repairs or renovations were done to the temple. This caused some serious decay to the structures and sculptures. From 1978 till 1980, extensive renovation was done. A sculptor from the Academy of Sculptors in Mahapalipuram, Chennai and two assistant sculptors were brought from India to restore the structure. Although the basic form of the 1933 structure had been retained, many new areas have been added. A new hall 31 feet × 27 feet, suitable for small religious functions, has been added and over this, another story has been added for administrative offices.

While most of the sculptures have been preserved, some new ones have also been added, the statues of the nine forms of Sakthi now surround the outer walls of the sanctum. The inner walls of the sanctum, antechamber and the flooring of the whole temple have been changed. The entire temple has been repainted. The smaller shrines of Visvanathar, Visalatchi, Chandikeswarar and Bairavar have domes of their own which have been gold plated. Within the sanctum, a new statue of Mahamariamman, towering over the main deity, has been formed. At the feet of the main deity, a Sri Chakram has also been erected. A Vishnu Dhurga idol was newly installed.

The temple's name which was known as Sri Muthu Mariamman Temple till then was changed to Arulmigu Sri Mahamariamman Temple.

The consecration ceremony was held on Sunday, 14 December 1980.

Fourth Kumbabishegam (1998)
The present renovation was begun in mid-1997. While basically preserving the existing temple structure, some minor modifications were made such as replacing of tiles in the sanctum and the whole temple flooring, replacing the peedam in the sanctum, replacing the Komugi, a new Ganesha, Visveswarar, Rahu and Kethu icons, new Navagraha peedam, new flag post with concrete base, statues of Bala Ganesha and Bala Murugan, Ashta Lakshmi 8 statues and two lion statues on the left and right of the temple main entrance. The Bairavar shrine is moved to the north-east corner, facing south.

The consecration ceremony was held on Thursday, 3 September 1998.

Fifth Kumbabishegam (2016)
The present renovation was begun in end of 2013. The ceremony took place from 14th till 15 November 2013, involved the removing of the deities from the main shrines to a temporary site (balaalayam) within the temple and was the beginning of the many rituals to prepare for the consecration ceremony. The process was divided into five stages. After procuring connection of all necessary services to the site, the first stage of the project, breaking the wall and floor tiles commenced. This was followed by the reinforced concrete work to the foundations, slabs, columns and so forth. Construction activities continued with the erection of roof steel frames. Electrical and plumbing conduits. A team of artisans arrived from India and commenced work on the shrines. Another batch of additional artisans arrived from India to accelerate the pace of construction in order to meet the consecration ceremony deadline.

While basically preserving the existing temple structure, the inner walls of the sanctum, antechamber and the flooring of the whole temple have been changed. The entire temple has been repainted. New icons replacing the older ones are Thatchinamoorthy, Visalatchi, Chandikeswarar, Bairavar and Navagraham are installed. Nandhi and bali peedam icons installed facing east towards Visveswarar shrine are added. A gold plated new flag post with granite concrete base is added along with Kodimara Pillayar icon facing east are installed. Statues of Ganesha and Murugan statues on the left and right of the outer wall of temple main entrance. The wooden framework on the century-old ceiling known as 'Raasi Kattam' (the 12 zodiac signs planets carved on the wood) is also restored. The Bairavar shrine is moved back to its original location on the left-hand side of the main entrance, facing west.

The consecration ceremony was held on Sunday, 10 July 2016.

Architecture

Built in the south Indian Dravidian style, the temple most outstanding feature is the impressive gopuram (tower). Rising above the entrance, it features Hindu deities, soldiers and floral decorations.

On the entrance of Penang Sri Mariamman Temple, you get to see a 23.5 feet tall sculptured tower or Gopuram. Also, the 38 statues of Gods and Goddesses and 4 swans featuring the Hindu Goddess Mahamariamman in Her many incarnations such as Meenatchi, Kamatchi, Visalatchi, Bhuvaneswari surrounds the colourful four-tiered crown. It is topped with five small kalasams.

With subsequent renovations carried out over the years by Hindus artisans and sculptors from India and locals, from makeshift huts to heavily ornate and brightly shining with diamonds and precious stones, Penang Sri Mahariamman Temple is a sight to behold.

The interiors of the temples are heavily sculptured with deities of Lord Ganesha is in the left pillar and Lord Muruga, his brother, is on the right pillar. The eight female figures adorning the pillars inside the temple are of Ashta Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth). On the left wall there are sculptures of the Nadaraja and Sivakami in dancing posture of the cosmic dance. Nine statues of goddesses (9 types of Sakthi) can be seen on the walls surrounding the inner shrine of Penang Sri Mahamariamman Temple.

The primary deity Goddess Mahamariamman is seated at the moolastanam (sanctum) of the karuvarai (sanctum sanctorum). The temple has an artha mandapam (antechamber), mukha mandapam, mahamandapam (hall), prakaram (circumambient), vasantha mandapam (festive hall) and kodi maram (flag post). The signs of the zodiac are carved in wood on the ceiling.

The dome or vimanam of the temple is on a base 12.5 feet square and has a height of 27.25 feet. This is in three sections and contains 20 statues of gods and goddesses and 12 lions. Its kalasam is 3.5 feet and is gold plated.

The back entrance tower is 10.5 feet high and contains 13 statues of gods and goddesses and 4 lions and a swan with partially human form.

Once every 12 years, in keeping with Hindu tradition, the temple is reconsecrated. Previous consecrations are in 1933, 1958, 1980, 1998 and 2016.

The Deity
Mariamman is popularly worshipped by overseas Indians, especially Tamils because she is looked upon as their protector. She is the Goddess of disease, rain and protection and is associated with enormous powers in the physical realm, particularly destructive, and protects her devotees from unholy or demonic events.

Historians claimed that the worship of Mariamman or Korravai/Kotravai started as a tribal religion of the Dravidians. Mariamman is a manifestation of the goddess - Parvati, an incarnation embodying Mother Earth with all her terrifying force.

In the Hindu pantheon, however, the original mother form of the Maha Sakthi is the Primal Source of All Energy - from where everything - all matter and energy comes.  The Sakthi is credited with the creation of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, the three main gods of creation, sustenance and destruction.

The word Mariamman comes from two words: Mari meaning power and amman meaning mother. Maha stands for great. So this Mahamariamman temple tells you, it houses the great powerful mother. And some Indians considers Sri Mariamman to be the mother of Lord Ganesha and Lord Muruga. So to many locals, when asks which temple they are going, some simply said "Amman Temple".

Mahamariamman, the primary deity is seated at the moolastanam (sanctum) of the karuvarai (sanctum sanctorum) facing east. Ganesha and Subramaniyaswami are installed at the artha mandapam (antechamber) facing east. There is a surrounding circumambulatory path. At the mukha mandapam we may find the vahana (mythical mount/vehicle) of the Goddess which is lion, the bali peedam (sacrificial altar) and the kodi maram (flag post) is also found facing west towards Mahamariamman. Stone carvings of the cosmic dance of Lord Nadaraja and His consort Goddess Sivakami are found at the wall facing south at the vasantha mandapam (festive hall).

Shrines for sub deities facing east are Lord Visveswarar and Goddess Visalatchi are installed at the left and right side of the sanctum sanctorum respectively. The shrine of Lord Chandikeswarar is facing south towards the sanctum sanctorum. The shrine of Lord Bairavar is found at the northeast corner facing west. Lord Thatchinamoorthy facing south and Vishnu Dhurga facing north are installed at the outer wall of the sanctum sanctorum. The Navagraham (nine planets) are found at the northeast corner of the temple.

Housed within its ornately decorated interior is the priceless panchaloha (an alloy of five metals: gold, silver, copper, zinc and tin) statue of Lord Ganesha, Lord Subramaniyaswami and Mahamariamman embellished with gold, silver, diamonds and emeralds.

The priceless Goddess Mahamariamman's statue is paraded on a wooden chariot during the Vijayadashami day on the end of the Navarathiri festival.

The priceless Lord Subramaniaswamy's statue figures prominently in the annual Chithra Pournami festival when it is borne on a wooden chariot through the city streets to the Arulmigu Sri Balathandayuthapani Hilltop temple in Waterfall, Penang.

Festivals
The temple is particularly packed on Navarathiri, Chithra Pournami, Deepavali and Thaipusam with thousands of devotees eager to offer their prayers on the holy days.

In the year 2008, there was a big celebration commemorating the temple's 175th anniversary.

Navarathiri
The most auspicious event for the temple is the Navarathiri festival. The festival begins with the lion flag-raising ceremony and ends with a procession where the Panchaloha () deity of Mahamariamman is paraded in a decorated wooden chariot through the streets of Little India. Navarathiri is nine nights vegetarian festival. According to the Hindu Puranas, the festival is held to commemorate the victory of Goddess Adi Parashakti over the demon king Mahishasuran. It was stated that the evil king ill-treated the people that they turned to the goddess, who is the consort of Lord Shiva, to save them. Goddess Adi Parasakthi fought a battle for nine days and ultimately destroyed him on the 10th day, which is known as Vijayadashami.

Various Indian organisations and communities would sponsor the prayers for each nights. On the Final tenth day of the celebration, Vijayadashami is celebrated by Hindu Mahajana Sangam. The sangam organised the chariot procession for many years from Queen Street, Sri Mahamariamman Temple to Dhoby Ghaut. The festival celebration is concluded after shooting of arrows from the chariot in the evening in the Dhoby Ghaut. The chariot returns to the temple at about midnight the same day. Since the late 1970s, the organisation of the chariot procession had been taken over from the sangam by the Temple committee and the Hindu Endowments Board. The chariot procession is now confined to Fort Cornwallis area, nearby the Kedah Pier Muneeswarar Temple in the Esplanade. However, the sangam still continues to celebrate the annual Navarathiri festival's final tenth day Vijayadashami Ubayam every year without fail.

Chithra Pournami (Chitraparuvam)

The Hindu Mahajana Sangam, with notable among the festivals, the annual Chitraparuvam Festival which is celebrated in the Tamil month of Chithirai (April/May) every year, is organised with a chariot procession of the panchaloha deity of Lord Subramaniyaswami from Queen Street Sri Mahamariamman Temple. It is the day of the first full moon of the first Tamil month. In early years, the festival starts with special pooja and ubayam for the Hindu Mahajana Sangam "Koota Kadai" in Queen Street Mahamariamman Temple, the chariot procession commences in the early morning 7.00 am and reached Waterfall Dewan Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhiji Ashram) in the afternoon, the deity then carried and placed in the ashram until the return journey of the chariot to Queen Street Sri Mahamariamman temple in the evening of the same day.

Since the early 1970s this festival is celebrated for three days. The deity of Lord Subramaiyaswami is brought in procession from the Queen Street Sri Mahamariamman temple passing through many street and roads before reaching the Waterfall Arulmigu Sri Ganesha temple. The deity is carried up to the Hilltop Arulmigu Sri Balathadayuthapani Temple. On the second day is the Chitraparuvam Festival where the deity is taken in procession around the hilltop temple compound in the evening. On the third day evening, the deity is carried down and placed on the chariot procession journey back to the Queen Street Sri Mahamariamman temple. In 1992, the Hindu Mahajana Sangam imported a new chariot from India, for the annual Chitraparuvam Festival celebration to replace the old chariot which was found to be not road worthy and in a decaying condition.

On the first day, the chariot passes through Queen Street, Chulia Street, Chulia Street Ghaut, Victoria Street, Prangin Road Ghaut, C. Y. Choy Road, Magazine Road, Dato Keramat Road, Western Road and Waterfall Road before reaching the Ganesar Temple. The chariot stops at Kamatchi Amman Temple, Sivan Temple and Muneeswarar Temple along the way. Then the Lord Subramaniyaswami is carried up to the Sri Balathandayuthapani Temple at the hilltop.

On the return journey, the Lord Subramaniyaswami is carried down and the chariot passes through Waterfall Road, Gottlieb Road, Tunku Abdul Rahman Road, Macalister Road, Anson Road, Burma Road, Transfer Road, Sri Bahari Road, Penang Road, Kimberley Street, Carnarvon Street, Chulia Street, Pitt Street, Church Street, Queen Street, China Street, King Street, Light Street, Penang Street, Chulia Street, King Street, China Street, Beach Street, Market Street and Queen Street before reaching the Sri Mahamariamman Temple. The chariot stops at Balathandayuthapani Temple, Meenatchi Sundaraeswarar Temple, ISKCON Centre, Muneeswarar Temple and Kunj Bihari Temple along the way.

Thaipusam
Celebrated on the Tamil month of Thai (January/February). Although it is celebrated in the Waterfall Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple, Penang, Sri Mahamriamman temple is not left behind as there are religious activities associated with this festival.

Atta Kavadi
The Hindu Mahajana Sangam members carry a traditional kavadi weighing approximately 80 kilos known as Atta Kavadi since 1927 from Queen Street Sri Mahamariamman temple in the evening to Dewan Mahatma Gandhi in the Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple, Penang compound with traditional Nadhaswaram accompanying the Atta Kavadi. A late-night dinner is served in the Dewan Mahatma Gandhi after the arrival of the Atta Kavadi. In the early years, the arrival of the Atta Kavadi signified the conclusion of the annual Thaipusam festival celebration for the day and devotees are not expected to carry any kavadi after the Atta Kavadi reaches the Waterfall temple compound.

Kuthirai Vahanam
The Penang Nattukottai Chettiar community hold prayers in this temple prior to the Thaipusam festival. This function is called the Kuthirai Vahanam (Horse Car) held on in the Tamil month of Markazhi (December/January). The prayers would start 10 days earlier where there would be ubayams on these days. On the tenth day, the decorated panchaloha deity of the Mahamariamman which carries a Vel would be placed on the Horse Car. The procession begins from Queen Street at the evening, displaying the Vel passing through various streets and roads and end up at Queen Street Sri Mahamariamman temple around midnight.

Golden Chariot
A RM3mil golden chariot hit the streets on the eve of Thaipusam on 8 February 2017. The 1.6-tonne golden chariot measuring 4.3m-high and 4m-wide will feature two golden horses in the front with several statues adorning the kalasam (tower). The chariot bearing Lord Muruga's vel (spear) will move on rubberised wheels pulled by devotees. The inner frame of the chariot was made in Karaikudi and shipped to Penang, where it was assembled.

The golden chariot's journey will be from the Arulmigu Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Queen Street to the Arulmigu Sri Ganesha Temple in Jalan Kebun Bunga. The chariot would be placed at the Sri Ganesha Temple for two days, on Thaipusam eve and on Thaipusam day.

An 18-day pooja (special prayers) session will be conducted for The 0.9m-tall golden vel at Queen Street Maha Mariamman Temple. This depicts the story goes that the vel was created by Lord Shiva's consort Parasakthi who is also Lord Murugan's mother. Parasakthi appeared in 18 forms before merging into a single indestructible vel which was handed to Lord Murugan during the Poosa natchathiram on Pournami Day (full moon) in the month of Thai (January to February). After receiving a blessing from the Lord's mother, the vel will be sent back to Lord Murugan on the golden chariot on Thaipusam eve.

The golden chariot successfully completed its first trial run for Thaipusam in on 2 February 2017 about two hours through George Town in the presence of a large throng of devotees seeing it for the first time. The chariot went 3 km along Jalan Kebun Bunga, Lorong Air Terjun, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Macalister, Jalan Residensi and Jalan Utama before returning to the temple.

Maha Sivarathri
The Maha Shivaratri is dedicated to the Lord Visveswarar where the devotees would observe the prayers, all-day fasting and an all night long vigil. Celebrated every year on the 13th night/14th day in the Krishna Paksha (waning moon) of the Tamil month of Maasi (February/March) that is, the night before and day of the new moon. Abishegam (ceremonial bath) is conducted at 10 pm, 12 midnight, 2 am and 4 am respectively. Pujas would commence at 11 pm, 1 am, 3 am and 5 am respectively. Throughout the night devotes would chant and hymns of the devotional songs.

Pournami
Monthly full moon of every month is observed where prayers are done for Lord Visvanathar. Special abishegam, prayers and puja would be conducted at 12 pm followed by vegetarian lunch that would be served.

Durga Puja
Weekly Rahukaalam puja is conducted on every Tuesdays between 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm for Vishnu Dhurga amman. Abishekam (ceremonial bath) is conducted by the temple priest for the goddess. Devotees which mainly consists of ladies, would sing hymns and chant praise of the goddess. The goddess would be decorated with flowers and mainly with garlands of limes. Lighting lamps made of limes is a major ritual in these prayers.

On these special days, devotees will be vegetarians for the day. Young ladies wanting to marry will come to offer prayers asking from the "mother" for a good husband. Married ladies will pray for a successful marriage.

Pradhosham
Pradhosham is a bimonthly occasion on the thirteenth day of every fortnight in Hindu calendar. The auspicious 3 hour period, 1.5 hours before and after the sunset is one of the optimum time for worship of Lord Shiva. The fast or vow performed during the period is called Pradhosam Nonbu. It is done during the evening twilight or sandhya kala on the Thrayodashi of both lunar fortnights (Shukla and Krishna Paksha). These are the 13th tithi, or lunar days, from the New Moon (Amavasya) and Full Moon (Poornima).

Special abishekam (ritual bathing) for Lord Visveswarar, Lord Visalatchi and Nandi is done and then decorated with Rudraksha, Vibhuti and vilva leaves.

Aadi Puja
The Tamil month of Aadi (July/August) is considered an auspicious one for prayers for Amman. Sangabishegam (conch ceremonial bath) is done in the evenings on every Friday for Mahamariamman and every Tuesday for Vishnu Durga.

Aaadi Pooram is also celebrated. Ladies would carry pots containing turmeric powder diluted with water as an offering for the abishegam of Mahamariamman.

Bhairavar Pooja
On every Thei Pirai Ashtami which is the 8th day of the fading moon (waning moon), special poojas and homam are conducted for Lord Bhairavar. The rituals begin in the evening with the Maha Kala Bhairavar Homam. It is believed that participation in this homam will protect us from evil and black deeds. The homam or the yagna is followed by special abishekam (ritual bathing) for Lord Bhairava. Punuku () or Civetone a kind of natural scent is offered to the deity. You can also find deities offering eleven Ellu Deepam () or Seseme light, considered sacred to Lord Bhairavar. At the end, Bitter gourd Rice and Vadai is given as Prasadham.

See also
 Hindu Mahajana Sangam
 List of Hindu temples in Malaysia

References

External links

Mariamman temples
Hindu temples in Malaysia
Religious buildings and structures in Penang
Tourist attractions in George Town, Penang

Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Penang


Mischa Levitzki (also spelled Levitski;  (); May 25, 1898 – January 2, 1941) was a Russian-born U.S.-based concert pianist and composer.

Levitzki was born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire), to Jewish parents who were naturalised American citizens on a return trip to Ukraine. He was playing the violin at the age of three, but soon developed an interest in the piano, which he studied in Warsaw with Aleksander Michałowski before making his debut in Antwerp in 1906.

In New York, his father brought him to the attention of Walter Damrosch, who obtained a scholarship for him at the Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School) as a pupil of Zygmunt Stojowski, with whom he studied from 1907 to 1911. In 1913 Levitzki entered the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, where he became the youngest student of Ernst von Dohnányi and was awarded the Mendelssohn Prize in 1915. By this time he had performed throughout Europe and Scandinavia.  He made his American debut in New York on October 17, 1916, at Aeolian Hall, and soon made his permanent home in the United States, later becoming an American citizen.  Levitzki concertized worldwide up until the time of his death. He toured in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Asia, making a reputation with his performances of the Romantic repertory. He was elected an honorary member of the Alpha chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity at the New England Conservatory in 1917.

He transcribed numerous pieces for piano, prepared a cadenza for Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto, and wrote small pieces for the piano.  Among his most popular compositions for piano were The Enchanted Nymph, Valse in A, Valse tzigane, and a gavotte.

He also recorded extensively for the AMPICO Piano Roll Company during the 1920s.

Levitzki died of a heart attack aged 42, in 1941, at his home in Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey. Levitski's papers are conserved at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Compositions (selective list)

Piano solo
 Valse de concert, Op.1 (1924)
 Valse, Op. 2 (1921)
 Gavotte, Op. 3 (1923)
 Ah, Thou Beloved One, Op. 4 (1929)
 Arabesque valsante, Op. 6 (1934)
 Valse Tzigane, Op.7 (1935)
 Dance of the Doll, Op. 8 (1937)
 Do You Remember?, Op. 9 (1940)
 The Enchanted Nymph (1928)

References

Sources
David Ewen, Encyclopedia of Concert Music.  New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.

External links

 Mischa Levitzki papers in the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
 Naxos

 The Enchanted Nymph, Composed and Played by Mischa Levitzki.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage at www.box.net

1898 births
1941 deaths
Russian classical pianists
American classical pianists
American male classical pianists
Ukrainian classical pianists
Russian male classical composers
American male classical composers
Ukrainian classical composers
Mendelssohn Prize winners
Ukrainian Jews
20th-century American composers
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century American pianists
People from Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey
20th-century American male musicians

Mischa Levitzki


Royston/Roystonhill is a district in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It was previously known as The Garngad and is still known as such by residents with a familial link to the area. It is notable for its large population of immigrants, mostly of Irish Catholic descent, with an annual St Patrick's Day Festival.

The district is situated north of the River Clyde and north-east of Glasgow city centre, with its boundaries defined by infrastructure: the neighbourhoods of Sighthill (once the site of the St Rollox Chemical Works) and Townhead are to the west on the opposite side of the A803 road, a dual carriageway urban bypass; Springburn is to the north beyond the sidings and buildings of the former St Rollox railway works and a supermarket built on part of its good depot; Germiston and the Blochairn industrial area are situated to the east on the other side of the North Clyde Line (Springburn branch) railway line; and Dennistoun is to the south on the opposite side of the M8 motorway. Pedestrian footpaths provide access over the roads to Dennistoun and Sighthill, and under their meeting point at the Townhead Interchange towards Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The railway lines once included stations named St Rollox to the north and Garngad to the east, but there are now none serving the area.

There are few vestiges of the old Roystonhill in evidence these days other than a few street names, some streets having succumbed to development. The church steeple (a listed building, formerly Townhead-Blochairn Church) has been converted into a tower monument and the church hall carries on its service as a local community centre. The former convent has been relocated in the Robroyston area further north. The previous stigma of deprivation earned in its slum years has largely been shed with a recent program of newbuild housing and renovations to social housing (three 1960s tower blocks at Rosemount Street have been demolished, with five others at Charles Street renovated).

The local football team, denominational primary school and secondary school are all named after Saint Roch.

A former Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Michael Martin, was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2000 to 2009. During his tenure, the UK parliamentary expenses scandal occurred.

The social club for Catholic community was traditionally known as the 'Hibs Hall'. The Hall was sold by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in 1969 to St. Roch's RC Parish before being sold to a local private concern and renamed "The Huddle Club". The club was burnt down in a fire in the early 21st century.

Royston was the venue for street parties celebrating Celtic F.C. League wins in 1998 and 2001. The first street party was a semi-planned, semi-impromptu gathering along the Royston Road which became the inspiration for the second street party. The street party of 2001 was much more professionally planned and included a stage with live music as well as murals being painted and a video produced to mark the event. There was controversy surrounding this event as the council has never arranged or permitted any such event for Celtic's rivals, Rangers F.C. from across the River Clyde.

Notable residents
Stevie Chalmers, footballer
Louie Deadlife, rapper
Jim Forrest, footballer
George Gallacher, singer
Jimmy McGrory, footballer
Kevin Rutkiewicz, footballer

See also
 Glasgow tower blocks

References

External links
 Royston Road Project
 Spire View Housing Association
Royston Community Social Networking Site
 Life Link Glasgow (Formerly Royston Stress Centre)

Areas of Glasgow
Irish diaspora in Scotland
Springburn

Royston, Glasgow


In golf, a gimme is a shot that the other players agree can count automatically without being played.

When a player has only a very short putt left to play, other players may grant a gimme (i.e., one stroke is counted), but the ball is not played. A gimme is a time-saving convention under the tacit assumption that the putt would not have been missed, e.g., when the ball is within a few inches of the hole.

Gimmes are not allowed by the rules in stroke play, though the practice is common in casual matches. However, in match play, either player may formally concede a stroke, a hole, or the entire match at any time, and this may not be refused or withdrawn. A player in match play will generally concede a tap-in or other short putt by his or her opponent.

The word is a colloquial contraction of the phrase "give me".

See also
 Mulligan, informal permission to replay a stroke that went wrong
 Glossary of golf

References

Carroll, Timothy J. "The 'gimme' still remains in play at Ryder Cup", The Wall Street Journal, September 21, 2006.

Golf terminology

Gimme (golf)


Colm Felix Connolly (born October 18, 1964) is the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. He formerly served as United States Attorney for the District of Delaware.

Biography and career

Connolly was born on October 18, 1964, in Wilmington, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors. The following year, he earned a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics. After spending a year as a special assistant to the Delaware Secretary of Finance, Connolly attended Duke University School of Law, where he was an editor of Law and Contemporary Problems and served on the moot court board. He graduated in 1991 with a Juris Doctor with honors.

After graduating from law school, Connolly clerked for Judge Walter King Stapleton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and then spent seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Delaware. In 1994 and 1995, Connolly prosecuted the first federal criminal civil rights case in Delaware history.  One of the defendants, Mark Hobbs, ultimately pled guilty to a civil rights conspiracy charge.  The other defendant, Robert Hanulik, pled guilty to civil rights and firearms charges and was sentenced as an armed career criminal to 15 years imprisonment.

Connolly later became known for leading the 18-month investigation into the 1996 disappearance of Anne Marie Fahey, the secretary to Delaware's governor, Tom Carper.   Connolly worked alongside Wilmington Police Officer Robert Donovan and FBI Special Agent Eric Alpert.  The investigation resulted in a first-degree murder charge against Thomas Capano. Connolly and Ferris Wharton prosecuted the case against Capano.  The three-month trial began in November 1998, and despite the fact that the prosecution presented no evidence of a body or weapon and no witness to the killing, the jury returned a guilty verdict and recommended the death penalty.
Connolly's cross-examination of Capano at trial culminated in a frustrated Capano standing up and shouting at Connolly, "You heartless, gutless, soulless disgrace of a human being!" and then being ejected from the courtroom by Judge William Swain Lee.

The Capano case spawned four books and the made-for-television movie, And Never Let Her Go (2001), directed by Peter Levin.  Connolly was portrayed by Steven Eckholdt and made a cameo appearance in the movie.  Mark Harmon portrayed Capano.

Connolly left the U.S. Attorney's Office to become a partner at Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell in 1999.  He then became the United States Attorney for the District of Delaware in 2001 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. In 2009, Connolly left the United States Department of Justice to become a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where he worked until becoming a judge. At the U.S. Attorney's office, Connolly was succeeded by Charles M. Oberly III, with David C. Weiss serving as acting United States Attorney in the interim.

Connolly is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the American Law Institute.

Federal judicial service

Expired district court nomination under George W. Bush

On February 26, 2008, Connolly was nominated by George W. Bush to fill the United States District Court for the District of Delaware seat vacated by Kent A. Jordan in 2006, who was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Although Connolly received a unanimous well qualified rating from the American Bar Association, the Senate Judiciary Committee did not afford him a hearing and therefore his nomination to the federal bench expired at the conclusion of the Senate's session in 2008. Senator Tom Carper returned his blue slip in support of Connolly, but then-Senator Joe Biden did not.

Renomination to district court under Trump

In 2017, Senators Chris Coons and Tom Carper recommended that the White House nominate Connolly to the seat vacated by Sue Lewis Robinson, who assumed senior status on February 3, 2017.  On December 20, 2017, Connolly's renomination was announced and sent to the Senate. On February 14, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On March 15, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 20–1 vote. On August 1, 2018, his nomination was confirmed by voice vote. He received his judicial commission on August 3, 2018. He became Chief Judge on July 1, 2021.

References

External links

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1964 births
Living people
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Assistant United States Attorneys
Duke University School of Law alumni
George W. Bush administration personnel
Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware
Lawyers from Wilmington, Delaware
United States Attorneys for the District of Delaware
United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump
University of Notre Dame alumni

Colm Connolly