Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhenjiang to the northwest, Wuxi to the east, and the province of Zhejiang to the south. Changzhou is located in the highly developed Yangtze Delta region of China extending from Shanghai going northwest. The population of the Changzhou Municipality was 5,278,121 at the 2020 census. The city is the birthplace of Zhou Youguang who created the pinyin romanization system.

History
The ruins of Yancheng () have been unearthed in Changzhou's Wujin District, a walled settlement founded near the beginning of the Zhou dynasty around 1000BC.

Changzhou proper is first attested as a commandery (jun) established near the beginning of the Qin in 221 BC. Changzhou got its present nameChinese for "ordinary district"in 589 under the Sui. Following the completion of the Grand Canal in 609, Changzhou prospered as a stop along its course. During the interregnum between the Sui and Tang, the city of Piling () was the capital of Shen Faxing's short-lived Liang Kingdom (AD 619 to 620).

Changzhou served as a prefectural seat (fu) of Ming Nanzhili and the Qing provinces of Jiangnan and Jiangsu. In the 1850s and 1860s, the Taiping Rebellion held the area. One of five palaces housing the leaders of Taiping was constructed in Changzhou. Today the ruins of the "King's Palace" can be found near the People's No. 1 Hospital.

In the 1920s, Changzhou started to attract cotton mills. The cotton industry got a boost in the late 1930s when businesses began relocating outside of Shanghai due to its Japanese occupation. On January 1, 1953, Changzhou was set as a provincially administered municipality.

In 1958, Zhenjiang Prefecture was renamed as Changzhou Prefecture, and the administration office was moved from Zhenjiang to Changzhou. Changzhou was incorporated by Changzhou Prefecture. In 1959, Changzhou Prefecture was changed into Zhenjiang Prefecture, and the administration office was moved from Changzhou to Zhenjiang. Changzhou was incorporated by Zhenjiang Prefecture. In 1960, Wujin County of Zhenjiang Prefecture was incorporated into Changzhou. In 1962, Changzhou was changed into a provincially administered municipality and Wujin County was incorporated into Zhenjiang Prefecture. Unlike many Chinese cities, Changzhou continued to prosper even during the upheavals of the 1966–76 Cultural Revolution. In 1983, when the municipally affiliated county system was carried out, Wujin County, Jintan County and Liyang County of Zhenjiang were incorporated into Changzhou. The urban area was divided into five municipally administered districts, Guanghua, Tianning, Zhonglou, Qishuyan and Jiaoqu. At that time, Changzhou administered three counties and five districts. From September 1986, as approved by State Council, Guanghua District was revoked and the previous administrative area was incorporated into Zhonglou District and Tianning Districrt. Liyang County was changed into Liyang City (county level). At that time, Changzhou administered one city, two counties and four districts. In 1993, Jintan County was changed into Jintan City. In 1995, Longhutang Town, Xinqiao Town, Baizhang Town and Weitang Town of Wujin County were incorporated into Jiaoqu District. As approved by State Council on June 8 of 1995, Wujin County was promoted to Wujin City, with the government set in Hutang Town. In 1999, as approved by the provincial government, Taixiang Town of Jiaoqu District was revoked and incorporated into Xueyan Town of Wujin City. Today, Changzhou is an industrial center for textiles, food processing, machinery such as diesel engines, generators, and transformers, and high technology. The rural counties surrounding it are noted for the production of rice, fish, tea, silk, bamboo, and fruit.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Changzhou administers seven county-level divisions, including five districts and one county-level city.

Demographics
Its total population was 5,278,121 inhabitants at the 2020 census, a 1.4% annual increase since the previous census.

Education
Changzhou is an educational hub and is home to several universities, including Changzhou University, Hohai University (Changzhou campus), Jiangsu Teachers' University of Science and Technology, Jiangsu Teachers' University of Technology, and Changzhou Institute of Technology. The city also has a number of prominent secondary schools, including the Changzhou Senior High School of Jiangsu Province.

As the first education park taking higher vocational education as its distinguishing feature in China, Changzhou Higher Vocational Education Base was called the "cradle of silver-collar workers". Every year, it cultivated 20,000 technological talents to the Yangtze River Delta area. 100% of the graduates signed employment contracts and the one-off employment rate was higher than 98%. There are 5 higher vocational colleges and an undergraduate college in the park, which have realized the cross-school study, common credit and resource sharing. A large number of highly qualified vocational talents were cultivated here. Based on this, Changzhou Scientific Education Town was founded. It cooperates with foreign universities in America, Canada, Britain and Germany, etc., domestic universities like Nanjing University, scientific institutes and hi-tech enterprises in constructing nearly 100 laboratory, practice, training, and technological R&D centers. Presently, it is marching towards the national sample vocational education area, experimental area of production, teaching and research, and the cluster area of scientific innovation. Many central leaders such as Hu Jintao, Jia Qinglin and Luo Gan have paid inspection visits here and spoke highly of it.

Economy
Changzhou's traditional role has been that of a commercial center and in particular a distribution center for agricultural produce, which was shipped by canal to the north and later, to Shanghai. The city began to develop a cotton textile industry in the 1920s, and cotton mills were established in the late 1930s, when Japanese attacks drove many Chinese businesses to invest outside Shanghai.

The city has remained a textile center and the most important location in Jiangsu Province for weaving. It also has large food-processing plants as well as flour-milling, rice-polishing, and oil-pressing industries. After 1949 it also developed as a centre of the engineering industry. Qishuyan, some  southeast of Changzhou, has one of the largest locomotive and rolling stock plants in China. Other engineering works in Changzhou produce diesel engines, generators, transformers along with agricultural and textile machinery. At the time of the Great Leap Forward in 1958 a steel plant was also built to provide raw material for heavy industry.

Since 1908, Changzhou has been linked by rail with Shanghai and Nanjing (see below for transportation).

Up until now, Changzhou has remained one of the most developed cities in Jiangsu, ranked third after Suzhou and Wuxi. The city's 2009 GDP per capita of ¥70,103 in 2009, less than that of Suzhou and Wuxi but more than the capital city Nanjing, ranked the city third in Jiangsu.

Changzhou is also one of the top business cities in China. According to Forbes ranking, Changzhou was the 9th best business city in mainland China in 2008. Changzhou data was reported at 662.228 RMB bn in Dec 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 577.386 RMB bn for Dec 2016. China's CN: GDP: Jiangsu: Changzhou data is updated yearly, averaging 130.818 RMB bn from Dec 1991 to 2017, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 662.228 RMB bn in 2017 and a record low of 10.545 RMB bn in 1991. China's CN: GDP: Jiangsu: Changzhou data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database's National Accounts – Table CN.AE: Gross Domestic Product: Prefecture Level City.

Industrial zones

Changzhou Export Processing Zone
Approval for the establishment of Changzhou Export Processing Zone was given in June 2005 with a planned area of . Near to Shanghai and Nanjing via convenient transportation links, the zone began operation in October 2006. Investors enjoy a series of preferential policies whilst all handle export procedures are handled inside the export processing zone. The zone focuses on electronic information, electromechanical integration and new materials.

Changzhou National Hi-Tech District
Changzhou National Hi-Tech District (CND) is a state-level high-tech industrial development zone. It is located in the northern part of Changzhou city. With a population of 500,000 and an area of 439 square km, the district is  from Shanghai to the east and  from Nanjing to the west. The district represents the highest-level and most sophisticated industrial park in Changzhou. More than 1,300 foreign companies and over 5,000 local industrial enterprises have been registered within the district of which around 40% are from European and American countries. Industries encouraged include engineering machinery, transformer & transmission equipment, automotive, locomotive & locomotive components, parts, precision machinery, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, photo-voltaic (PV) and new materials, chemicals, garment and textiles production, computer software and research & development. Some major investors include Terex, Komatsu, Ashland Chemical, Johnson, Caltex Oil Corp., Disa, +GF+, Rieter and General Electronics.

Changzhou used to be one of the birthplaces of the national modern industry in China. Sheng Xuanhuai, who was honored as the "Father of China's Industry", bent all his efforts in the modern factory and mine communications. He created 11 "No.1" in China, including the first telecommunication enterprise. In the end of Qing Dynasty and the early days of the Republic of China, the textile, mechanical and food industries of Changzhou were rapidly developing. In 1906, the first capitalist manufacturing factory, Jinyu Textile Factory appeared. In 1932, the famous industrialist, Liu Guojun, founded the integration mode of spinning, weaving and dyeing. It had a pioneer meaning in the 1930s. During the 1980s, Changzhou became the star industrial city that was famous all over China, and created the "South Jiangsu Mode" with the characteristics of the times, the developed town industry. As the traditional and advantageous industry of Changzhou, the equipment manufacturing industry has been developing in recent years. Changzhou has formed 6 great national characterized industrial bases, that is, agricultural implement and machinery manufacturing, power transmission and transforming manufacturing, automobile and accessories manufacturing, new textile, track traffic and new coating. Presently, the power transmission and transforming manufacturing industry is the first in China, and the track traffic vehicle and accessories manufacturing base is famous in East China and all over the country. The engineering machinery and vehicle industry has shown its strong growth momentum. By the end of 2010, Changzhou has had 26 national famous brands, 175 provincial famous brands and 327 municipal brands. The number of national famous brands is the third in Jiangsu. The good pattern of multi-level development and echelon improvement, which takes the national brand as the orienting role, the provincial brand as the body and the municipal brand as the reserve, has been initially formed.
Changzhou is becoming a modern equipment manufacturing city with prominent domestic advantages and large potential.

Climate
The climate is Humid Subtropical Cfa, with cool winters and hot and humid summers. Changzhou has a wide range of temperature differences throughout the year.

Transportation

Metro

The Line 1 of the Changzhou Metro opened on 21 September 2019.
The Line 2 opened on 28 June 2021.

Railway
Located just south of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River), Changzhou station is situated on the original Beijing–Shanghai railway. Changzhou North station was completed in 2011 and is located in the north of Changzhou in the Xinbei district on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway. Changzhou is also one of the main stops on the busy Shanghai–Nanjing intercity railway, with two stations located in Changzhou (Changzhou station and Qishuyan station).

Air travel
Changzhou Benniu International Airport in Xinbei District is approximately  from the city center. There are domestic flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang, Kunming, Harbin and Dalian, and international flights to Macau, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan.

Highways and Expressways
China National Highway 312
Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway (part of G42 Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway) (Shanghai-Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Zhenjiang-Nanjing)
Yanjiang Expressway (part of G4221 Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway, formerly Jiangsu S38 Changshu-Hefei Expressway)
Jiangsu S58 Shanghai-Changzhou Expressway
Jiangsu S39 Jiangyi Expressway
G4011 Yangzhou-Liyang Expressway (Jintan and Liyang only)
G4012 Liyang-Ningde Expressway (Liyang only) (Liyang section)
G25 Changchun-Shenzhen Expressway (Liyang only) (Rizhao-Hangzhou section)
Jiangsu S48 Shanghai-Yixing Expressway (Wuxi-Yixing section)

Bus rapid transport(BRT) system
Use of the BRT System costs one yuan and provides access throughout Changzhou. The BRT-only stations and road sections have the following specifications: separate bus lanes or bus-only roadways, a vast network of routes and corridors, high capacity buses operating both outside and inside these corridors, greater passenger volume as compared to that in mixed traffic lanes (about 3000 pphpd), enhanced station environments (not just simple bus shelters), pre-boarding fare collection and fare verification, electric buses, centralized system controls, real-time next bus information app, segregated bike lanes along main corridor(s) as well as station access for disabled persons. The following cities also have BRT systems: Beijing, Chongqing, Dalian,  Guangzhou, Jinan, Hangzhou, Hefei, Kunming, Xiamen, Zhengzhou and Ürümqi.

Elevated freeways
Changzhou has a network of four elevated freeways: the Longcheng Avenue in the north, the Longjiang road in the west, the Qingyang road in the east, and the Changhong road/Jinwu (Jintan-Wujin) Freeway in the south.
Together, these four roads make up the "Outer Ring Elevated Road" system.

Culture and folklore
The Changzhou dialect is a member of the Wu Chinese language family.

Other famous handicrafts of Changzhou are silk embroidery in a "crisscross" style and carvings made from green bamboo.

Noted snacks made in Changzhou include pickled radish, sesame candy, sweet glutinous rice flour dumpling with fermented glutinous rice, and silver thread noodles (also known as dragon's beard noodles).

Since 2004, Changzhou has successfully hosted China (Changzhou) International Cartoon and Digital Art Festival (CICDAF) for three times successively. With the 3-year efforts, CICDAF has basically reached the level of an international cartoon and movie festival, having vast and active influence on both the foreign and domestic cartoon industry. It has become one of the most professional and authoritative international cartoon events at the highest level. It gives new connotation to the cultural development in Changzhou, and Changzhou has ranked as the only municipal city among the first 9 "national animation and cartoon industrial bases" in China. Up to now, there are 3 incubator parks in the base with nearly 60 enterprises registered and the registered capital of nearly RMB 3 million. This year, the number of cartoons produced in the base and set by the National Bureau of Broadcasting and Television has reached 70, that is, 4,500 volumes and 50,000 minutes. A group of distinguished works have been up and coming, including the Peach Blossom Fan, which has gained many rewards both oversea and domestically. On December 12, 2006, Changzhou National Cartoon Industrial Base was awarded as "Top Ten Innovative Base with the Largest Investment Value of 2006".

Tourism

Amusement parks
Changzhou is the home of the China Dinosaurs Park located in the Xinbei District of the city. The 5A rated Dinosaur Park has a collection of dinosaur bones and fossils from all over China. The park has 50 various fossils and more than 30 amusement programs including the Brontosaurus Roller Coaster and the Whirling Dinosaur Carriage. The fossils are located in a museum housed in a single building and the amusement rides are spread throughout the park which is categorized into six themed areas. Besides fossils and family oriented rides, Dinosaur Park is home to a giant panda and sea lions.

In 2011, a new amusement park called CC Joyland () opened in Taihuwan near Taihu lake in Wujin District in the south of Changzhou.

As a National 4-A Tourist Resort of Changzhou, China Dinosaur Park is the sample base of the national science popularization education and the Chinese cultural industry. It is also a National 4-A Class Amusement Park that perfectly combines museum, hi-tech acoustic, optic and electric technology, special video effects and multimedia network and that integrates exhibition, science popularization, entertainment, leisure and participatory performances. Its central building and the core of the park is China Dinosaur Museum, which was the cooperative project of Changzhou Municipal government and the Ministry of Land and Resources (the former Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources). It presents to the society with the most precious geological minerals through the advanced supporting facilities. The park is Pided into several parts, including China Dinosaur Museum, On-lake lawn, biological performance of the dinosaur mountain, leisure area for foreign investors and aggressive project area, etc. These parts let people feel the mysterious atmosphere of the ancient years, to see the appearance of dinosaurs, and to enjoy the modern travel atmosphere full of surprise and risks. As one of the cards of Changzhou, China Dinosaur Park, together with other scenic spots, is featuring Changzhou into a new tourist landmark in east China.

Tianning Temple and Hongmei Park
The city is also home to the Tianning Temple—one of the largest Zen Buddhist temple and monasteries in China. The city recently rebuilt the Tianning pagoda in the temple grounds, which is adjacent to Hongmei Park. The pagoda, called the Tianning Baota, was first built during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 - 907). Since that time it has been destroyed and rebuilt five times. The current reconstruction is built to the height specification of . This makes it the tallest pagoda in China and perhaps also the world. Both the Hongmei Park and Tianning Temple are located just to the east of the city centre.

There is the Hong Mei Park, which includes a small children's amusement park, a zoo, a rose garden and many scenic waterways. Of historical interest in the park is a historical pavilion with exhibits related to the Changzhou comb industry. In addition, there is another pavilion which displays locally produced root carvings. The park attracts large numbers of people during holidays and is often dotted with a variety of vendors.
However, the Hongmei Park has been criticized for animal abuse and overpricing in its aquarium.
Tianning Temple and Hongmei Park are served by the Hongmei Park station on Line 2 (Changzhou Metro).

As Changzhou is noted for its combs, the city has reconstructed its Fine Comb Lane area with contemporary architecture. Changzhou combs can be purchased in most places in the city.

Other sites include Changzhou's sunken city and area of archaeological ruins from the Spring and Autumn period.

Dongpo Park is located in the east part of downtown of Changzhou city, and its original name is Dongjiao Park. It covers 2.667 hectares, and is a typical Jiangnan Garden composed of cultural sites and natural landscape. During the time of south Song dynasty, the civilians of Changzhou established Yizhou Pavilion to commemorate, Su Dongpo, who was the great literature master and used to come to Changzhou. During the time of Qing dynasty, Kangxi and Qianlong, two emperors southwardly visited, they ordered to build up the temporary palace here and reconstructed this pavilion.

Changzhou also has attractive gardens such as the Wei Yuan. The Old Museum of Wisteria is also located in the city.

Sister cities
  Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
  Hurstville, New South Wales, Australia
  Torrington, Connecticut, United States of America
  Solihull, England, United Kingdom
  Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  Prato, Italy
  Buffalo, New York, United States of America
  Rockford, Illinois, United States of America
  Arad, Romania
  Netanya, Israel
  Wyndham, Australia
  Curitiba, Brazil
  Minden, Germany
  Essen, Germany
  La Serena, Chile
  Niagara Falls, Canada
  Johor Bahru, Malaysia
  Tilburg, Netherlands
  Satakunta, Finland
  Jelenia Gora, Poland
  Lommel, Belgium
  Randers, Denmark
  Tomsk, Russia
  Stavropol, Russia
  Tokorozawa, Japan
  Namyangju, South Korea
  Chuncheon, South Korea
  Eskişehir, Turkey
  Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, Mauritius

Notable people
Su Dongpo (Su Shi; 1036–1101), poet and essayist.
Sheng Xuanhuai (1844–1916), late Qing Dynasty bureaucrat and reformer.
Lü Simian (1884–1957), historian and member of the Doubting Antiquity School
Zhao Yuanren (1892–1982), prominent linguist.
Hong Shen (1894–1955), pioneering dramatist and filmmaker was born here.
Yun Daiying (1895–1931), revolutionary and pioneer of early Communist Youth activities.
Liu Haisu (1896–1994), prominent artist.
Zhang Tailei (1898–1927), one of the founders of Chinese Communist Party (CCP), first Chinese ever working in Communist International.
Qu Qiubai (1899–1935), former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and prominent Marxist thinker and writer. Named "Changzhou San Jie" together with Yun Daiying and Zhang Tailei.

Zhou Youguang (1906–2017), linguist often credited as the "father of Hanyu Pinyin"
Hua Luogeng (1910–1985), prominent mathematician.
Xie Zhiliu (1910–1997), prominent painter.
Tang Jun (1962–), former President of Microsoft in China.
Lu Lan (1987–), Olympic athlete and badminton player. Won the woman's championship at the 2009 BWF World Championships.
Bai Lu (1994-), actress, model and singer.

See also
 Changzhou sesame candy
 List of twin towns and sister cities in China

References

External links

Cities in Jiangsu

Changzhou


Torraca is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy.

History

The LED city
In 2007, the town spent 280,000 euro to convert all its 700 street lamps to LED technology - a first in Europe - and thereby reduced its energy and maintenance costs by 70%. Because of this, the town was awarded the Kyoto 2007 prize. Newspapers referred to Torraca as "LED city".

Geography
The town is situated in the south of Cilento, a few kilometers from Sapri and Maratea and close to the borders of Campania with Basilicata. The surrounding municipalities are Casaletto Spartano, Sapri, Tortorella and Vibonati.

References

External links

 Municipal website of Torraca

Cities and towns in Campania
Localities of Cilento

Torraca


Pradyut Ghosh (born 17 February 1970) is an Indian inorganic chemist and a professor at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. He is known for his studies on chemical sensing of anions, interlocked molecules and self-assembly and is a recipient of the Swarnajayanthi Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology and the Bronze Medal of the Chemical Research Society of India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2015, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Biography

Born on 17 February 1970 in a farmers' family in the village of Birsingha in Medinipur District of the Indian state of West Bengal, Pradyut Ghosh graduated in chemistry in 1990 and followed it up with a master's degree in 1992 from the Rajabazar Science College, Calcutta University. Enrolling for his doctoral studies under the guidance of Parimal K. Bharadwaj at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, he secured a PhD in 1998 and moved to the US to pursue his post-doctoral studies under Richard M. Crooks. Returning to India in 2000, he joined Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) as a scientist and in 2001, he received an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship which enabled him to continue his professional studies with Fritz Vögtle and Christoph Schalley at Kekulé Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of University of Bonn. He resumed his duties at CSMCRI in 2002 as a C-Grade Scientist, a post he held till 2007 during which time he had a second spell at Bonn University from April to October 2003. In 2007, he joined Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science as an assistant professor where he served as the head of the department of inorganic chemistry from 2012 to 2015 and is a professor there.

Legacy
Ghosh is reported to have done extensive researches on Anion recognition, molecular capsules, chemical sensing of Ions, inorganic salt extraction, supramolecular aggregations and interlocking molecules. He has developed several ligands with varying anion recognition elements as well as methodologies for selective sensing of phosphates, separation of hydrated metal sulphates/potassium bromide and bromide removal using halogen bonding. The development of Gypsum chalk replacing the calcium carbonate-made chalk which was in use traditionally was one of his notable contributions. His researches have been documented by way of a number of peer-reviewed articles; ResearchGate, an online article repository of scientific articles, has listed 112 of them respectively. He holds a patent for the process developed by him viz. Process for the recovery of palladium from spent silica. He sat in the national organizing committee of inaugural Frontiers of Organometallic Chemistry, a biennial symposium on Organometallics held at Thiruvananthapuram in December 2016 and has delivered several invited and plenary addresses. He has also mentored several scholars in their doctoral and post-doctoral studies and has been involved in a number of projects for agencies such as Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, The World Academy of Sciences, Department of Science and Technology of India and Science and Engineering Research Board.

Awards and honors
Ghosh received the Young Scientist Award of the Indian Science Congress Association in 1998, and the Young Scientist Award of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 2004. The B. M. Birla Science Prize in Chemical Sciences reached him in 2009 the same year as he received the Swarnajayanthi Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology. This was followed by the Bronze Medal of the Chemical Research Society of India in 2012. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research honored him again with the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2015.

See also
 Halogen bond

References

External links

Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Chemical Science
1970 births
Indian scientific authors
Scientists from West Bengal
Living people
Bengali scientists
Indian inorganic chemists
University of Calcutta alumni
IIT Kanpur alumni
University of Bonn alumni
20th-century Indian inventors
People from Midnapore
21st-century Indian inventors

Pradyut Ghosh


Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is an organization that works in Africa to teach people to farm. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation pay for it.  The governments of the United Kingdom, United States and Germany also gave money.  AGRA started in 2006 with one billion U.S. dollars.

According to one study, AGRA actually made things worse for farmers in Africa.  AGRA gave loans to farmers so they could buy fertilizer, but the farmers could not pay back the loans.  AGRA also told people to grow corn (maize), which meant fewer farmers grew traditional African crops.  The African crops were stronger against times with less rain than usual.  AGRA also asked African governments to pass laws that made things easier for corporations and seed producers, which were bad for small farmers.

Goals

 doubling the income of 20 million small farmers.
 reducing how hard it is to find food by 50% in 20 countries.
 ensuring that at least 15 countries are on a path toward sustainable and climate-friendly green agriculture.

References

Agricultural organizations
2006 establishments in Africa
Non-profit organizations of Africa
Organizations based in Kenya


Elizabeth Jeanette Powell  (born 4 February 1949) is a British-born Australian politician. She was a National Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 2002 to 2014, representing the electorate of Shepparton. She was previously a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1996 to 2002, representing North Eastern Province.

Powell was born in Prescot, Lancashire, England and emigrated to Australia as a child.  After a short time in the Melbourne suburb of Preston, the family moved to Shepparton in regional Victoria. Prior to entering parliament, Powell held a variety of occupations including film processor, television presenter, singer, marketing and sales, office manager and director of the family auto-electrics business. She was a Shire of Shepparton councillor from 1990 to 1994, and was the shire president from 1993 to 1994. After the 1994 council amalgamations, Powell was appointed as a commissioner with the Shire of Campaspe from 1994 to 1996.

Powell was elected to the Legislative Council seat of North-Eastern Province at the 1996 state election, becoming the first woman to represent the National Party in Victoria. In 2002, she shifted to the Legislative Assembly, successfully retaining the seat of Shepparton for the National Party upon the retirement of long-serving MP Don Kilgour. She was appointed state Minister for Local Government and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs following the Liberal-National Coalition's victory at the 2010 election, and served in those roles under both Premiers Ted Baillieu and Denis Napthine.

In February 2014 Powell announced that she would not be a candidate at the forthcoming 2014 Victorian State Election, and in a reshuffle of the Coalition ministry in March 2014, her portfolios were allocated to Tim Bull.

In 2022, Powell was appointed Member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours for "significant service to the people and Parliament of Victoria, and to the community".

Powell is married with two sons.

References

External links
 Official website

1949 births
Living people
Members of the Order of Australia
Members of the Victorian Legislative Council
Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria
British emigrants to Australia
21st-century Australian politicians
21st-century Australian women politicians
Women members of the Victorian Legislative Council
Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Victoria (state) local councillors
People from Shepparton

Jeanette Powell


"Oh What a World" is a song written and performed by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. It was released as the second single from Wainwright's third studio album, Want One (2003), released digitally via iTunes and 7digital in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2004. Promotional copies were also distributed to radio stations in an attempt to increase awareness of the song and album. The song includes several arrangements from Maurice Ravel's Boléro.

"Oh What a World" also appears on Rufus Wainwright: Live at the Fillmore, the bonus DVD that accompanies Want Two (2004), the repackaged double album released in the UK simply titled Want, and the 2005 compilation album Acoustic 05.

The song contains an interpolation of Maurice Ravel's Boléro, which premiered in 1928.

Track listing
UK digital single
"Oh What a World"

UK promotional CD
"Oh What a World" (album version)
"Oh What a World" (radio edit)

Personnel

 Rufus Wainwright – voice, orchestral arrangements
 Marius de Vries – piano, programming, orchestral arrangements
 Joy Smith – harp
 Nick Hitchens – tuba
 Isobel Griffiths – orchestra contractor
 Gavyn Wright – orchestra leader
 Alexis Smith – programming
 Simon C Clarke – alto sax, baritone sax, flute, alto flute, piccolo
 Tim Sanders – tenor sax
 Roddy Lorimer – trumpet
 Paul Spong – trumpet
 Annie Whitehead – trombone
 Dave Stewart – bass trombone
 Maxim Moston – orchestral arrangements
 Chris Elliott – orchestral arrangements

Television performances
The Frank Skinner Show - November 4, 2004

Live performances
Nobel Banquet - December 10, 2022

References

2003 songs
2004 singles
DreamWorks Records singles
Popular songs based on classical music
Rufus Wainwright songs
Song recordings produced by Marius de Vries
Songs written by Rufus Wainwright

Oh What a World (song)


Femi Hamzat (was born September 19, 1964) is a Nigerian politician who currently serves as the Deputy Governor of Lagos State.

Early life
Hamzat was born in Lagos, Nigeria into the family of Late Oba Mufutau Olatunji Hamzat and Late Alhaja Kehinde Hamzat from Iga Egbe, Lagos state. His father, Late Oba Mufutau Olatunji Hamzat served as a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly and as a Commissioner for Transportation in the state before becoming the Vice-Chairman SW of then Alliance for Democracy(AD).

Career
Hamzat worked at RTP Consulting Services, Columbia University, Merrill Lynch Inc, Morgan Stanley and Oando Plc where he served as the Chief Information Officer.

Education
Hamzat graduated from the University of Ibadan in with a degree in Agricultural Engineering in and a master's in Agricultural Engineering in. He also obtained his PhD in System Process Engineering at Cranfield University, United Kingdom.

References

1964 births
Living people
Nigerian politicians
People from Lagos

Femi Hamzat


Dendrochronology is tree-ring dating. It is a method of dating which uses the patterns of growth rings in trees. In many types of wood, the time rings were formed can be dated to the exact calendar year.

Dendrochronology has three main uses:
radiocarbon dating, where it is used to calibrate radiocarbon ages.
archaeology, where it is used to date old buildings, etc.
palaeoecology, where it is used to determine certain aspects of past climates

In some parts of the world, it is possible to date wood back a few thousand years, or even many thousands. The maximum for "fully anchored chronologies" is a little over 11,000 years from present. The term "fully anchored chronology" means the dates are absolutely certain.

History
Dendrochronology (word derived from Greek , dendron, "tree limb"; , khronos, "time"; and , -logia) was developed during the first half of the 20th century originally by the astronomer A.E. Douglass, who founded the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona. Douglass researched sunspot activity. He expected changes in solar activity would affect climate patterns on Earth. The climate would be recorded by tree-ring growth patterns.

The phenomenon of tree rings and their relationship with wet and dry years had been noticed before Douglass. There is a brief note in one of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, and Charles Babbage in 1837 came up with the same idea.

How it works
Many trees in temperate zones make one growth ring each year, with the newest adjacent to the bark. Through a tree's life, a year-by-year ring pattern is formed which reflects the climatic conditions in which the tree grew. Adequate moisture and a long growing season result in a wide ring. A drought year may result in a very narrow one.

Alternating poor and favorable conditions, such as mid summer droughts, can result in several rings forming in a given year. Problems like this are fixed by comparing one part of the world with another. Missing rings are rare in oak and elm trees: the only recorded instance of a missing ring in oak trees occurred in the year 1816, also known as the Year without a Summer.

Trees from the same region will tend to develop the same patterns of ring widths for a given period. These patterns can be compared and matched ring for ring with trees growing in the same geographical zone and under similar climatic conditions. Following these tree-ring patterns from living trees back through time, chronologies can be built up, both for entire regions, and for sub-regions of the world. Thus wood from ancient structures can be matched to known chronologies (a technique called cross-dating) and the age of the wood determined precisely.

The tree-ring dates can be extended back to 26,000 BP by using other methods. Those other methods use marine sediment layers and growth rings in corals.

References

Trees
Dating methods

Dendrochronology


Robotic control is the system that contributes to the movement of robots. This involves the mechanical aspects and programmable systems that makes it possible to control robots. Robotics can be controlled by various means including manual, wireless, semi-autonomous (a mix of fully automatic and wireless control), and fully autonomous (using artificial intelligence).

Modern robots (2000-present)

Medical and surgical

In the medical field, robots are used to make precise movements that are difficult for humans. Robotic surgery involves the use of less-invasive surgical methods, which are "procedures performed through tiny incisions". Robots use the da Vinci surgical method, which involves the robotic arm (which holds onto surgical instruments) and a camera. The surgeon sits on a console where he controls the robot wirelessly. The feed from the camera is projected on a monitor, allowing the surgeon to see the incisions. The system is built to mimic the movement of the surgeon's hands and has the ability to filter slight hand tremors. But despite the visual feedback, there is no physical feedback. In other words, as the surgeon applies force on the console, the surgeon won't be able to feel how much pressure he or she is applying to the tissue.

Military
The earliest robots used in the military dates back to the 19th century, where automatic weapons were on the rise due to developments in mass production. The first automated weapons were used in World War I, including radio-controlled, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Since the invention, the technology of ground and aerial robotic weapons continues to develop, it transitioned to become part of modern warfare. In the transition phase of the development, the robots were semi-automatic, being able to be controlled remotely by a human controller. The advancements made in sensors and processors lead to advancements in capabilities of military robots. Since the mid-20th century, the technology of artificial intelligence (A.I.) began to develop and in the 21st century, the technology transferred to warfare, and the weapons that were semi-automatous is developing to become lethal autonomous weapons systems, LAWS for short.

Impact
As the weapons are being developed to become fully autonomous, there is an ambiguous line of what is the line that separates an enemy to a civilian. There is currently a debate of whether or not artificial intelligence is able to differentiate these enemies and the question of what is morally and humanely right (for example, a child unknowingly working for the enemies).

Space exploration
Space missions involve sending robots into space in the goal of discovering more of the unknown. The robots used in space exploration have been controlled semi-autonomously. The robots that are sent to space have the ability to maneuver itself, and are self-sustaining. To allow for data collection and a controlled research, the robot is always in communications with scientists and engineers on Earth. For the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Curiosity rover, which is part of their Mars exploration program, the communication between the rover and the operators are made possible by "an international network of antennas that…permits constant observation of spacecraft as the Earth rotates on its own axis".

Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is used in robotic control to make it able to process and adapt to its surroundings. It is able to be programmed to do a certain task, for instance, walk up a hill. The technology is relatively new, and is being experimented in several fields, such as the military.

Boston Dynamics' robots
Boston Dynamic's "Spot" is an autonomous robot that uses four sensors and allows the robot to map where it is relative to its surroundings. The navigational method is called simultaneous localization and mapping, or "SLAM" for short. Spot has several operating modes and depending on the obstacles in front of the robot, it has the ability to override the manual mode of the robot and perform actions successfully. This is similar to other robots made by Boston Dynamics, like the "Atlas", which also has similar methods of control. When the "Atlas" is being controlled, the control software doesn't explicitly tell the robot how to move its joints, but rather it employs mathematical models of the underlying physics of the robot's body and how it interacts with the environment". Instead of inputting data into every single joint of the robot, the engineers programmed the robot as a whole, which makes it more capable to adapt to its environment. The information in this source is dissimilar to other sources, except the second source, because robots vary so much depending on the situation.

See also
 Synthetic Neural Modeling
 Control theory
 Cybernetics
 Remote-control vehicle
 Mobile robot navigation
 Robot kinematics
 Simultaneous localization and mapping
 Robot locomotion
 Motion planning
 Robot learning
 Vision Based Robot Control

References

[Robot study]

Robot control


Rafael Jiménez Inclán (born February 22, 1941) is a Mexican actor. He stars on movies, telenovelas (Spanish soap operas), and stage works. He was known for his role in La Red and on Mujeres Asesinas. His career began in 1969.

Inclán was born in Mérida, Yucatán, México.

References

Other websites

1941 births
Living people
Mexican movie actors
Mexican television actors
Mexican stage actors
People from Yucatán (state)

Rafael Inclán


The National Academy of Music "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov" (, Natsionalna muzikalna akademia "Pancho Vladigerov"), also known under its former name, the Bulgarian State Conservatoire (Българска държавна консерватория, Balgarska darzhavna konservatoria), is a university of music in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

Founded in 1921 through a royal decree of Tsar Boris III, it is named after influential Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov (1899–1978).

Two buildings house the academy. It offers 30 programmes divided into three faculties: the Faculty of Theory, Composition and Conducting; the Instrumental Faculty; and the Vocal Faculty.

Notable graduates
Albert Cohen
Ghena Dimitrova
Yulia Gurkovska
Milen E. Ivanov
Raina Kabaivanska
Ramiz Kovaçi
Kiril Manolov
Alexander Raichev
Stefan Remenkov
Alexander Yossifov
Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean
Victor Chuchkov
Grigor Palikarov
Slavi Trifonov

External links
 Official website

Universities and colleges in Sofia
Universities and colleges established in 1921
Music schools in Bulgaria
1921 establishments in Bulgaria
Arts organizations established in 1921

National Academy of Music (Bulgaria)


Live at Last is a live album by the British folk rock band Steeleye Span.  It is the first live album the band issued, after eight years of performing and releasing 10 studio albums.  It was originally intended to be a farewell album. "This then is our eleventh and final album. Steeleye Span amicably disbanded five days after making this recording for reasons that are irrelevant here."

It is one of only two albums the band issued on which John Kirkpatrick played (not counting a later live reunion album, The Journey), making it one of only two albums to employ an accordion as a primary instrument.  The album is also notable because only two of the tracks ("Saucy Sailor/Black Freighter" and "False Knight on the Road") were songs that the band had recorded before, so that most of the material on the album is essentially new material.  The band went on to release a second live version of "The Maid and the Palmer" on The Journey.

The departure of Bob Johnson and Peter Knight and their replacement by Martin Carthy and Kirkpatrick for this album (and Storm Force Ten) had taken the band away from its heavily amplified rock sound of the mid-1970s, and back to the cutting edge British folk rock approach reminiscent of the band's origins.

"The Maid and the Palmer" tells the story of a palmer (a pilgrim returning home from Jerusalem with a palm branch) who meets a woman washing clothes. He asks her for a cup of water, but she refuses.  He comments that she would certainly give her lover a cup of water, and when she denies having a lover, he tells her that she is lying, and that she has borne nine children, all of whom she has killed and hidden.  He condemns her to seven years as a stepping-stone, seven years as a clapper in a bell, and seven years of running as "an ape through Hell".  Given the Palmer's supernatural powers, he may be Christ in disguise.

"Hunting the Wren" is a version of the Cutty Wren tradition.  On Please to See the King, the band explored this tradition with "The King", and on Time, the band recorded "The Cutty Wren", another song about this tradition.

The version of "The False Knight on the Road" presented in this concert is notably different from the version recorded on Please to See the King (1971).  The Live at Last version is much expanded and features the use of odd (but effective) contrasting time signatures.

Track listing

Personnel
Steeleye Span
Maddy Prior 		- vocals
Tim Hart 		- vocals, guitar
Martin Carthy 		- vocals, guitar
Rick Kemp 		- bass guitar, vocals
John Kirkpatrick 	- vocals, accordion
Nigel Pegrum 		- drums

Technical
Mike Thompson - engineer
Scott "Colac" Thompson - concert sound engineer
Mike Thompson, Tim Hart - mixing

References

Steeleye Span albums
1978 live albums
Chrysalis Records live albums

Live at Last (Steeleye Span album)


Thomas Johannessen Heftye, also known as Tho Joh Heftye (29 October 1822 – 4 October 1886) was a Norwegian businessman, politician and philanthropist.

Personal life
He was born in Christiania as the son of merchant Johannes Thomassen Heftye (1792–1856) Tina Haslef (1798–1862). He was a nephew of Henrik Heftye.

In October 1846 he married Marie Jacobine Meyer (1826–1895), a daughter of Jacob Peter Meyer and sister of Thorvald Meyer. Their son Thomas Heftye became a notable politician. Through his daughter Ingeborg Marie he was a father-in-law of Frits Hansen and grandfather of Eilif Fougner.

Career
His grandfather migrated to Norway from Switzerland in the late eighteenth century, and founded the family company Thos. Joh. Heftye & Søn. Heftye grew up at Filipstad. He took his secondary education at Oslo Cathedral School and his higher education mainly in Leipzig. He entered the family company in 1848.

Heftye was heavily involved in the organizational life of the time. He co-founded the Norwegian Trekking Association in 1868. He owned the rural areas Sarabråten, Frognerseteren and Tryvannshøyden. Already in his lifetime these were opened as recreational areas; the two latter areas later became publicly owned. He was also a member of the board of Akers Sparebank from 1873 to his death, and also of Norges Forsvarsforening, Christiania Theatre, the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments and Christiania Kunstforening. He was a known patron of the arts, and financed the publication of the diaries of Claus Pavels. He also financed writers and artists such as Aasmund Olavson Vinje, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Hans Gude and P. A. Munch.

He was also involved in politics. He was a member of Christiania city council from 1855 to 1856 and 1879 to 1886, and of Aker municipal council from 1869 to 1877. During the term 1880–1882 he served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament. The reason why he changed from Aker to Christiania after 1877 was that Frogner, where he lived, was incorporated into the city in 1878. His villa is now used as the embassy of the United Kingdom.

Heftye was decorated as a Knight of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star in 1860, the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1864, the Danish Order of the Dannebrog in 1866 and the French Légion d'honneur in 1867. He was also a Commander of the Austrian Order of Franz Joseph from 1867 and of the Swedish Order of Vasa in 1877. He died in October 1886 in Kristiania. A memorial stone was raised for him at Midtstuen, and the road Thomas Heftyes gate in Frogner, Oslo has been named after him.

References

1822 births
1886 deaths
Norwegian bankers
Norwegian philanthropists
Politicians from Oslo
Politicians from Aker
Deputy members of the Storting
Norwegian people of Swiss descent
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Commanders of the Order of Vasa
Recipients of the Order of Franz Joseph
Knights of the Order of the Polar Star
Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog
19th-century philanthropists

Thomas Johannessen Heftye


Pidhaitsi (; ; ) is a small city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located approximately  south of Berezhany,  from Ternopil, and  south-east of Lviv. In 1939, Pidhaitsi obtained the formal status of a city. It hosts the administration of Pidhaitsi urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population:

Many of the current residents have the surname Koropetskyi/Koropetska, likely attributable to city's proximity to the Koropets River.

History

According to the sources, Pidhaitsi is one of the oldest settlements in the area. It was established in 1445. The first written records of the town date to 1436, when a Catholic church was built by the regional governor, a member of the Potocki noble family. In 1698, the Battle of Podhajce took place near the town. Because of the Tatar invasions and its precarious location on Poland's main route to the south, the city was surrounded by series of ramparts and rows with water. Most of the key monuments (churches, synagogue) were all built in impressive defensive style. In its early years, the town was governed according to Ruthenian and Polish law. In 1539 it was granted the right to use Magdeburg law. Here was fought the Battle of Podhajce (1667).

In modern period, Pidhaitsi was among the most important urban centers in western part of Podolia. Its population was almost entirely Jews and Poles. In 1897 an obelisk was erected adjacent to the (Polish) Catholic church to celebrate the 100th birthday of Polish writer Adam Mickiewicz. While the monument is still extant, the church is in desolate condition. In one of Pidhaitsi houses resided famous Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. After the Second World War, Pidhaitsi, along with most of eastern Galicia, was separated from Poland and annexed to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union. Since that time, the population has been almost entirely ethnically Ukrainian.

During Soviet rule (1945–1991) Pidhaitsi was part of Berezhany Raion. After Ukrainian independence, a separated Pidhaitsi Raion was established.
Until 18 July 2020, Pidhaitsi was the administrative center of Pidhaitsi Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three. The area of Pidhaitsi Raion was merged into Ternopil Raion.

Jewish community
Prior to the Second World War, Pidhaitsi had a significant Jewish community. The population census of 1765 lists 1,370 Jews in the kahal district of Pidhaitsi and 1,079 Jews lived in Pidhaitsi itself. A century late town's Jewish population significantly increased and numbered ca. 6,000 Jews in Pidhaitsi and 8,212 Jews in Pidhaitsi district (9.33% of whole population in the area). In the 20th century Pidahytsi's importance declined and the number of the Jews decreased to 2,827 according to the census of 1931. Pidhaitsi Synagogue (between 1621 and 1648), and the local Catholic parish church (1634) are the oldest buildings in the city. The synagogue is closed and in ruined condition. In the post war years, the synagogue territory was turned into a market by the communists.

With the break of the Second World War there was a large influx of Jewish refugees from the west and the number of the Jews in the town at the time of Nazi annihilation was higher than 3,000. Pidhaitsi Judenrat was headed by Leibish Lilienfeld. Due to the refugee and hygienic problems, in the winter of 1941–42 many of town Jews died of hunger and typhus epidemic. In 1942, on September 21 (Yom Kippur – Jewish most revered holiday, the day of atonement from sin) over 1,000 Jews were sent to the Belzec extermination camp and on October 30, 1,500 more Jews were deported to face death in Belzec extermination camp.  Hundreds more were murdered in Pidhaitsi and its environs by Germans and Ukrainian police.

The above memories of his experiences during the liquidation of the ghetto in Pidhaitsi has described by Genia Schwartz.

Population

Notable people
 Julian Bilecki, Righteous Among the Nations
 Ignacy Potocki, Polish count
 Tadeusz Łomnicki, Polish actor
 Jan Łomnicki, Polish film director and screenwriter
 Stanisław Rewera Potocki, Polish magnate and military leader
 Jerzy Choróbski, Polish neurosurgeon
 Leonard Rettel, Polish poet and writer
 Mikołaj Wolski, Polish military leader
 Arthur Murray, American dancer
 Abraham Weiss, professor of Talmud

Gallery

See also
 Podhajcer Shul, New York City

References

External links

 Website about Pidhaitsi
 Photos of Pidhaitsi (70 digital images from 2004)
 Nature at Pidhaytsi — Photos
 Pidhaitsi Jewish history
 American Jewish couple visits Pidhaitsi (2001)
 Pidhaytsi Jewish history — article in word
 Pidhaitsi info, history and photos

Cities in Ternopil Oblast
Pidhaitsi urban hromada
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Tarnopol Voivodeship
Historic Jewish communities in Ukraine
Towns of district significance in Ukraine
Holocaust locations in Ukraine

Pidhaitsi


Harold Michael Gray (October 26, 1935 – April 30, 2013) was an American writer, screenwriter, cinematographer, film producer and director.

Career

Film and TV

In 1965, Mike Gray and Jim Dennett co-founded The Film Group, a Chicago film production company.  In 1968, the pair along with editor Howard Alk, produced the award-winning  documentary American Revolution 2 (1969), followed by the trio's The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971). The Film Group was also behind the seven part educational series, "Urban Crisis and the New Militants", consisting primarily of footage shot during the production of American Revolution 2 but also includes footage of Chicago Black Panthers members (including future Congressman Bobby Rush) and a 1966 Civil Rights march in  Cicero, Illinois. This series can be streamed on Chicago Film Archives' website and .

After moving to California, Gray shot The Gift (1973), a documentary about the life and art of Marc Chagall then co-wrote, with T. S. Cook and James Bridges, the screenplay for the nuclear thriller The China Syndrome (1979), which film became notable for opening 12 days before the Three Mile Island accident  (nuclear reactor meltdown).  He also wrote and directed Wavelength (1983), an independent science fiction film starring  Robert Carradine, Cherie Currie, and Keenan Wynn, with a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.

Gray next co-created the television series Starman (1986–87). Following Starman, he became series writer/producer for the 1988–89 season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Gray was a second unit director on The Fugitive (1993) and acted as Swizlard in Chain Reaction (1996). Gray scripted The Zone and Forget About Yesterday in 2008, and was working with director Andy Davis and legendary filmmaker, Haskell Wexler on an as yet untitled documentary.

Bibliography
The Warning (1982), about the accident at Three Mile Island
Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out (1998)
Angle of Attack (1992), a biography of Harrison Storms which also details America's race to the moon
The Death Game: The Luck of the Draw (2003)
Busted (2004), a book about the USA's drug war

Personal life
Gray grew up in Indiana and graduated from Purdue University with a degree in engineering. He later lived in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Carol, a reporter for public radio.  His son, Lucas, is a storyboard artist for The Simpsons.

Death
Gray died at his desk April 30, 2013.

References

External links

 Mike Gray (official website)
 Drug Crazy (official website)
 Film Group Collection, 1966-1969

American political writers
American male non-fiction writers
1935 births
2013 deaths
Writers Guild of America Award winners

Mike Gray


Visselhövede () is a town in the district of Rotenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. Nearby towns include the district capital Rotenburg, Walsrode and Verden. Larger cities within a 100 km radius are Bremen, Hanover and Hamburg.

Visselhövede belonged to the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, established in 1180. In 1648 the Prince-Bishopric was transformed into the Principality of Verden, which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish Crown - interrupted by a Danish occupation (1712–1715) - and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. The Kingdom of Hanover incorporated the Principality in a real union and the Princely territory, including Visselhövede, became part of the new Stade Region, established in 1823.

See also
 Visselhövede station

References

Rotenburg (district)

Visselhövede


Donald Kirsch (September 29, 1920 – May 7, 1970) was a college baseball coach at the University of Oregon for 23 years.

Early life and playing career
Kirsch was born in Portland, Oregon in 1920. He attended Jefferson High School where he played basketball and baseball. He played on three Portland Interscholastic League championship baseball teams and was all-PIL in both baseball and basketball.

After graduating from high school, Kirsch attended the University of Oregon, where he played baseball and basketball for Howard Hobson, who was coach of both teams. Kirsch was a three-year letterman in both sports.

Coaching career
In 1948, Hobson left Oregon to coach basketball at Yale, and Kirsch was named to succeed him as the Ducks' baseball coach. In his 23 years as head coach, Kirsch never had a losing season. Under his leadership, the Ducks won five Northern Division titles, and in
1954, led the Ducks to the 1954 College World Series. Though the team was eliminated in two straight games, this marked Oregon's only appearance in the College World Series. Kirsch was named District VIII coach of the year in 1963.

Illness and death
In 1967, Kirsch was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He continued to coach the Ducks until 1970, when he stepped down as coach to pursue experimental medical treatment at Stanford University Medical Center. On May 7, 1970, Kirsch fell from a second-story balcony at Stanford Hospital into a courtyard, and died soon afterwards from massive head injuries.

Legacy
Kirsch was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1972, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, the University of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, and the Portland Interscholastic League Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

References

Oregon Ducks baseball players
Oregon Ducks baseball coaches
Accidental deaths from falls
1920 births
1970 deaths
Accidental deaths in California
Jefferson High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni
Baseball players from Portland, Oregon

Don Kirsch


Brian Tesler   (born 19 February 1929) is a British television producer and executive. His career encompassed British television's post-war evolution from a single-channel BBC to the beginning of today's multitude of cable and satellite channels. He worked as a producer for Independent Television, as well as the BBC.

Tesler joined BBC Television as a trainee Light Entertainment producer in 1952 and was put in charge of the Department's output of panel games, both finding and producing them, which he proceeded to do by introducing Guess My Story, Find the Link, The Tall Story Club and The Name's the Same. He devised the Billy Cotton Band Show, inventing Billy Cotton's "Wakey! Wakey!" catchphrase, and worked with The Television Toppers who were the dancers on the early series of the show. He devised British Television's first request show Ask Pickles with Wilfred Pickles. He worked with stage and screen  stars such as Gracie Fields, Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Bob Hope and Mario Lanza. As a technician, he worked with The Leslie Roberts Dancers which became The Leslie Roberts Silhouettes after technology on which he had been working.

With fellow ex-trainee Ernest Maxin he co-produced and directed the first television comedy series by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, And So to Bentley, starring Dick Bentley, Peter Sellers and Bill Fraser. He produced series with Bob Monkhouse, Petula Clark, and Bathnight with Braden, starring Bernard Braden and written by Muir and Norden, which was BBC Television's first weekly comedy series, such shows until then only being broadcast fortnightly.

At ATV from 1957 to 1960, Tesler took over Sunday Night at the London Palladium, with Bruce Forsyth as host. He produced specials built round such international artistes as Rosemary Clooney and Johnnie Ray, devised and produced series of Val Parnell's Saturday Spectaculars with Max Bygraves, Dickie Henderson, Arthur Askey, Harry Secombe and Dave King, and devised and produced New Look, a revue with a team of new performers including Roy Castle, whose television career the series began. In 1957, he received BAFTA's first award for Light Entertainment Production when the Academy was still the Society of Film and Television Arts. His last production was Sammy Davis Jr's first show for British TV in 1960.

As Director of Programmes at ABC-TV and Thames Television during the 1960s and 1970s, he oversaw the first British television shows of Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Peggy Lee and Bing Crosby. He introduced ITV's first weekly series dedicated to the arts with Tempo; British television's first late night chat show with Eamonn Andrews Live from London and its first hidden camera show Candid Camera (based on the American original) with Bob Monkhouse. Programmes he commissioned included Thank Your Lucky Stars, Callan, The Benny Hill Show, Public Eye and The World at War.

Tesler was a founder-director of both Thames Television and Channel 4; managing director and then chairman and managing director of London Weekend Television; and the founder-chairman of ITV's first venture into satellite broadcasting with SuperChannel. During his career, he worked for four superiors: Ronnie Waldman, Lew Grade, Howard Thomas and John Freeman; and when he became a broadcasting boss himself he appointed four future significant figures: Jeremy Isaacs as his Controller of Features at Thames; Michael Grade, John Birt and Greg Dyke successively as his Directors of Programmes at LWT.

Tesler retired in 1994, and has written two books about his life and career. The first, Before I Forget, published in 2006, described his family life, growing up in London's East End Jewish community before and during the Second World War. The second, The Best Of Times, published in 2016, is an in-depth account of his professional career as a producer of light entertainment in the 1950s and 1960s and then as a senior executive in independent television from the 1970s until 1994.

In December 2019 he was presented by Lord Michael Grade with the Television and Radio Industries Club's Special Award for his contribution to British television.

Bibliography
 Before I Forget: A Personal Memoir
 The Best Of Times: A Personal History of British Television 1952-1994

References

 https://web.archive.org/web/20150415181640/http://www.tric.org.uk/membership/brian_tesler.html
 http://www.somethingjewish.co.uk/articles/2496_brian_tesler_intervi.htm
 http://www.78rpm.co.uk/atv.htm#bb7
 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30333533
 https://web.archive.org/web/20150415180311/http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/billy_cotton.htm
 Turned Out Nice Again: The Story Of British Light Entertainment
 The Making of Channel Four
 Armchair Theatre: The Lost Years
 The World At War

External links

1929 births
Living people
BBC television producers
Channel 4 people
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
English Jews
Place of birth missing (living people)

Brian Tesler


Maria Nirmala Joshi (23 July 1934 – 23 June 2015) was an Indian religious sister who succeeded Nobel laureate Mother Teresa as the head of the Missionaries of Charity and expanded the movement overseas. After taking over the charity following Mother Teresa's death in 1997, Nirmala expanded the organisation's reach to 134 countries by opening centres in nations such as Afghanistan and Thailand.

Biography
Joshi, née Kusum, was born on 23 July 1934 in a Brahmin family as the eldest of the ten children at in Ranchi, Bihar and Orissa Province in the British Indian Empire (now the capital of the Indian State of Jharkhand). Her parents were from Nepal and her father was an officer of the British Indian Army until the nation's independence in 1947. Although the family was Hindu, she was educated by Christian missionaries in Mount Carmel, Hazaribagh, India. At that time, she learned of Mother Teresa's work and wanted to share in that service. She soon converted to Catholicism and joined the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa. Joshi completed a master's degree in political science and then went on to secure a doctorate degree in law from the University of Calcutta. She was one of the first Sisters of the institute to head a foreign mission when she went to Panama. In 1976, Joshi started the contemplative branch of the Missionaries of Charity and remained at its head until 1997, when she was elected to succeed Mother Teresa as Superior General of the institute.

The government of India bestowed the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, on Sister Joshi on Republic Day (26 January) 2009 for her services to the nation. Her term as Superior General ended on 25 March 2009, and she was succeeded by German born Sister Mary Prema Pierick.

Death
Joshi died on 25 June 2015 in Kolkata from a heart ailment. Many leaders of India expressed their condolences in media, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

References

External links
 Archived from the original source.
CWS interview with Mother Teresa's successor
Indian-born nun to succeed Mother Teresa
Sr. Nirmala: The Guiding Light

1934 births
People from Ranchi
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Hinduism
Indian people of Nepalese descent
20th-century Indian Roman Catholic nuns
Indian anti-poverty advocates
Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in social work
Superiors general
University of Calcutta alumni
2015 deaths
20th-century Indian educators
20th-century Indian women educators
21st-century Indian Roman Catholic nuns
21st-century Indian educators
21st-century Indian women educators
Women educators from West Bengal
Educators from West Bengal
People from Kolkata
Social workers from West Bengal
People from Syangja District

Nirmala Joshi


The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses) is a national park in Maranhão, northeastern Brazil.

It is an area with low, flat, occasionally flooded land, between large sand dunes. It is about . Despite abundant rain, it has almost no vegetation.

With large, white, sweeping dunes, Lençóis Maranhenses looks like a typical desert, but in fact it is not one. Being just outside the Amazon Basin, the region gets a regular rainy season in first half of the year. When it rains, fresh water collects in the valleys between sand dunes. The water is prevented from sinking down by a layer of rock underneath the sand. This results in blue, green and black lagoons surrounded by the desert-like sand. The lagoons are at their fullest their fullest between July and September.

When the lagoons are full, they are interconnected to rivers such as the Rio Negro. From the river, large numbers of fish arrive. One species of fish, however, is resident. The wolf fish or tiger fish (Hoplias malabaricus) stays dormant in the mud and moist areas after most of the water has evaporated, re-emerging during the next rainy season.

References

National parks in South America
Habitats

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park


The Mondrians are a four-piece indie rock band from Switzerland. The band formed in the summer of 2005 after recording their first four-track home-made demo, including the songs "Pearl Of The Lake" and "The Shout."

Before recording an album, the Mondrians spent three years on the road, touring Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom. They played in the Paléo and Eurockéennes festivals, among others, and opened for The Kooks in Zurich. In 2007, they recorded a high-quality demo in Bavois. In summer 2008, The Mondrians recorded their first album in Spain with producer Gordon Raphael. The Mondrians' album was released on November 5, 2009, and included the songs Reason to live, Fresh Music and Llew the kid.

In early 2010, Cedric left the band for his solo project, Buvette, and Laurent came on as the new drummer. In that summer, they played at the Café of the Montreux Jazz Festival. At this time, The Mondrians decided to stop playing live shows before recording new materials and 11 new songs were written for an up-coming album. In November 2011, the band released To The Happy Few only in Switzerland, with no label. The album was produced by Swiss producer and sound engineer Benjamin Bard, who had already been working with the band for several years as their live sound engineer. The album received generally good reviews from critics. Pat V from Überreel realised two short videos to announce the album and one for the promo of the song Rainbow.

In August 2014, the band is back in studio in Leysin to record new stuff with Benjamin Bard who produced the previous album, "To The Happy Few". The Mondrians finally mixed the tapes with Patrick Matthey who recorded their first home demo, "Reason To Live" in Bavois in 2007. New titled album "Avalanche" is released in October 2015 for the first time in vinyl and digital.

Members
Maxime – guitar, vocals
Alric – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Laurent – drums, keyboards, vocals
Louis – bass, vocals

Old member:
Cedric – drums, vocals (2004-2010 drummer)

Discography

Demo recordings
 Pearl of the Lake (2005)
 Reason to Live (2006)
 Extra-time Monotony (2006)
 Bavois (2007)

Albums
 The Mondrians (2009)
 To the Happy Few (2011)
 Avalanche (2015)

References

External links
Official website
Lords of Rock first album review
Rainbow promo video by Pat V

Swiss indie rock groups

The Mondrians


Rock music of West Bengal originated in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The first Bengali rock band in West Bengal and India was Moheener Ghoraguli. In modern times, in this type of music distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, and drums are used, sometimes accompanied with pianos and keyboards. In early times the instruments used in modern times were also accompanied by saxophone, flute, violin and bass violin.

History

Origin (1960s–1970s)

Bengali rock in Kolkata originated when the first band Moheener Ghoraguli was formed in 1975 and played in many concerts. The band was inspired by Bob Dylan and many other western artists. Their music was a mixture of a wide variety of influences, including the Baul and folk traditions of Bengali and rock.

Along with them, the Kolkata based English Rock Band called High (formed 1974) consisting of Late Dilip Balakrishnan (who was also part of the Great Bear rock band), Nondon Bagchi, Lew Hilt, Subhendu Chatterjee and Adi Irani started composing and performing Original Songs.A collection of the band's recordings were released on the Saregama label in 2009.

Emergence (1990s)

Most of the Bengali rock bands in Kolkata were formed after the 1990s. The bands in this era started using many types of effects like distortion, wah wah, flanger, phaser, and delay in their music.

Krosswindz, a Bengali rock band based in Kolkata, India, was formed in 1990, and have played all over India and abroad, helping to urbanize and popularize the rock music of Bengal. Krosswindz have recorded ten albums, the highest number ever recorded by a Kolkatan rock band. The legendary Bengali rock band Abhilasha was also formed during this period. Their first album, a mixture of delightful rock and melody, was released by the original band members in 1997. Many bands like Bhoomi, Cactus, Parash Pathar, Chandrabindoo, Hip Pocket, Kalpurush, Fossils, and Lakkhichhara were formed later in this era. Fossils and Cactus have also brought Bengali metal into this era. Both Fossils and Cactus are regarded as the best Bengali hard rock bands, and they have toured all over India and abroad. All their albums and singles have been successful. This era also saw emergence of new bands like Udaan, Agantuk and others.

In 1994, the opening of Someplace Else (a pub which also hosts live music) changed the rock scene in Kolkata. Now it hosts live music for approximately nine hours every night.

New millennium (2000s)
Many bands formed in the 2000s were influenced by guitar-heavy music. As metal became popular in the 2000s, many bands like Insomnia and Underground Authority started playing heavy metal and alternative music.

Chronic Xorn was the first band from Kolkata to record a heavy metal album. Death Destruction Sermon is their latest album, released in 2010, it consists of six tracks, and the full-length version of the album is 25 minutes 45 seconds.

As computer technology became more accessible and music software advanced in the 2000s, it became possible to create high quality music using little more than a single laptop computer. This resulted in a massive increase in the amount of home-produced electronic music available to the general public via the expanding internet. Many underground metal bands like Nitric Dreams and Crystal and the Witches from Kolkata also started recording and releasing singles on their blogs.

To encourage the Bengali rock scene, the Bangla Rock Magazine was started on 3 July 2013, covering exclusively Bengali rock.

See also

 Bangladeshi rock
 Indian rock

References

Further reading

20th-century music genres
21st-century music genres
Bengali music
Indian music
Rock music genres
Music of Bengal

Rock music of West Bengal


William Ricketts (1898–1993) was an Australian potter and sculptor of the arts and crafts movement.

Born in Richmond, Victoria, in 1898, William settled permanently in Mount Dandenong, Victoria, in 1934. Although not trained as a potter and never technically superior (his works, large and small, frequently exhibit cracking), the power of his vision of a modern Australia that embraces Aboriginal spirituality and respect for the natural world was his general message throughout his artworks.

His major works include the "Dromana" in the Seawinds Garden, Arthurs Seat, Victoria, and "Gun Brute" at the William Ricketts Sanctuary, Mount Dandenong, Victoria. Many smaller works are in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Photographic records of his sculptures, particularly those from the sanctuaries of Pitchi Richi and Mount Dandenong, which have been vandalised, are held in the archives of Australia's libraries. Ricketts, never rich, supported himself through commissioned sales of his art and made pieces as gifts. These signed original small pieces are increasingly sought after for private collections.

From 1949 to 1960 he made frequent trips into Central Australia to live with Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte Aboriginal Australians, whose traditions and culture inspired his sculpture. He was not an Aboriginal by blood but considered himself adopted by the Pitjantjatjara nation. He left many of his central Australian works at Pitchi Richi near Alice Springs – a bird sanctuary run by his friend Leo Corbet – as he considered the landscape integral to these sculptures.

From 1912 to 1920 Ricketts developed skills in playing violin, crafting jewellery, and clay modelling. In 1934 he started his major artistic work, creating the sculpture park now named William Ricketts Sanctuary. He worked on this project until his death in 1993. In the 1970s, he spent two years in India, mostly at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram spiritual centre in Puducherry, developing spiritual empathy with Indian people and knowledge of their philosophy.

To many, including academics such as Marcia Langton, Bruno David and Mitchell Rolls, Ricketts is considered a controversial figure with his beliefs and his sculptures steeped in racism, exploitation and primitivism. Ricketts is viewed to have a white saviour complex and is quoted as believing he had been 'called to the defence of the aborigines and the continent' and that 'my creator worked through the Australian aborigine to get hold of me'. Ricketts compares his own personal distress over the environment to the suffering of the Aboriginal People. His trips to central Australia were viewed as controversial and filled with misunderstanding and tensions with Ricketts having incorrect preconceived notions of the roles of the Anangu people.

William Ricketts Sanctuary

Ricketts' major work is in the sculpture park that he named Potter's sanctuary, but which is now known as William Ricketts Sanctuary. In the 1960s the Victoria State Government bought the Sanctuary from Ricketts, and made it a public park. Ricketts lived there until his death in 1993.

Storm damage
On 9 June 2021, a severe storm in the Dandenong Ranges caused extensive damage to William Ricketts Sanctuary. Many buildings and sculptures were damaged by fallen trees and branches. It is expected that the Sanctuary will remain closed at least until 2024.

References
Ricketts' Writings
Parks Victoria Sanctuary Notes and Brochure
Text about his Philosophy

Further reading

1898 births
1993 deaths
20th-century Australian sculptors
Artists from Melbourne
People from Richmond, Victoria
People from Yarra Ranges
Australian potters

William Ricketts


Mexican food or Mexican cuisine is the cuisine of the state of Mexico. Maize, different kinds of beans, chili peppers, fruit , and certain other vegetables play an important role. Mexico was ruled by the Spanish for a long time, this also influenced cuisine. In the north, Spanish influence is bigger. In the South, pre-Columbian recipes play a bigger role.

Common dishes

 Tacos

Tacos are another popular Mexican dish that is easy to make at home. They're made with tortillas filled with your favorite fillings, such as meat, beans, vegetables, or seafood. To make tacos, simply heat a tortilla in a skillet over medium heat. Add your favorite fillings and top with your favorite toppings, such as salsa, sour cream, or guacamole.

 Enchilada

Enchiladas are a Mexican dish made of corn tortillas that are filled with a variety of ingredients, such as meat, cheese, beans, or vegetables. The tortillas are then rolled up and covered in a sauce, typically a chili-based sauce. Enchiladas can be baked, fried, or cooked on a griddle.

 Guacamole

Guacamole is a delicious and versatile dip that is made with avocados, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. It's a great way to add some flavor to your favorite Mexican dishes. To make guacamole, simply mash avocados in a bowl. Add tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and your favorite seasonings. Mix well and enjoy!

Mexican food

Mexican food