Lieutenant Christopher Mwamba Luchembe (born 1960) is a former Zambia Army Lieutenant who staged the 1990 Zambian coup d'état attempt during the one-party state era of Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda in 1990. His action came amidst widespread calls for multiparty democracy.

On July 1, 1990 Luchembe announced in the radio studios of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC)  that the Zambia Army had taken over the government and he cited riots of the previous week as reasons for his action; about 27 people had died in the riots, while more than 100 were wounded. Although Lieutenant Luchembe's coup attempt against President Kaunda failed, it weakened Kaunda's political power, which was already shaky after three days of rioting.

Arrest
Lieutenant Mwamba Luchembe was captured by soldiers and was escorted from the Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) radio studios and taken to the outskirts of the capital, Lusaka. "I wanted to take over the government but Kaunda's puppets are stopping me," he said, pointing to the soldiers surrounding him. "These are Kaunda's puppets."

References

20th-century Zambian politicians
1960 births
Living people

Mwamba Luchembe


The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is a department of the government of the state of Washington, United States of America. The WDFW manages over a million acres of land, the bulk of which is generally open to the public, and more than 500 water access sites. Many of the sites are termed "wildlife areas" and permit hunting during the hunting season, typically in the autumn and early winter for birds, but all year round for coyotes.  Due to declining participation, the department has a hunter and angler recruitment, retention and reactivation plan. A Discover Pass is required to park in the wildlife areas.

The department's history starts with the appointment of a fisheries commissioner in 1890 by Governor of Washington Elisha P. Ferry. The department is overseen by a director appointed by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission; Kelly Susewind was appointed to the position in June 2018. Hunting and fishing license sales and income from the Discover Pass recreational access fee make up about one-quarter of the department's budget.

See also
Tarboo Unit

References

External links

Government of Washington (state)
1890 establishments in Washington (state)


Secundino Zuazo Ugalde (1887–1971) was a Spanish architect and city planner.

Born in Bilbao, he graduated from Madrid's architecture school in 1913, and lived there until his death.

Zuazo was a rationalist architect, among the most important of his generation. The best known of his works are the Casa de las Flores and Nuevos Ministerios of Madrid (whose construction he did not direct). In city planning, his plan for the Comarca of Madrid and his project for the extension of the Paseo de la Castellana (also in Madrid) are important.

In his earlier years, Secundino's work was characterized by an inclination toward traditional architecture. A trip that he took to Netherlands and other parts of central Europe left an impression on him of the rationalistic and simple design of the architecture of those areas. Function became his central theme. Upon returning to Spain, he showed a keen interest in collective housing projects, with a view to improving the sanitary conditions prevalent during that time in Spanish cities.

Secundino rose to the august level of state-level planner during the Second Spanish Republic. The ensuing phase was the most productive in his career as an urban planner. Unfortunately, with the breakout of the Civil War, Secundino had to flee to France. Things did not get any better upon his return to Spain, where he was imprisoned.

Before the Civil War had broken out and Secundino had fled to France, he was commissioned by Indalecio Prieto, the minister of Public Works, to design a complex that would house the ministries. The site chosen for the complex was a demolished racetrack. Secundino came up in 1933 with a design that had a big open space in the building center, around which were plazas. The design included several ponds in the vicinity of the various ministries. But war interrupted the work on the complex. After Secundino fled, the building was completed by a group of architects chosen by the Fascist regime. Secundino's were not followed completely, and the buildings were built in a different manner.

There are suspicions that Zuazo shaped the plant as the Communist emblem of the hammer and sickle, since he was a supporter of the Soviet Union.
The reference would not be noticed by the later Francoist architects.

The House of Flowers

Between 1930 and 1932, Secundino worked on another of his iconic buildings, The House of Flowers. The building was an apartment cluster located in the Argüelles Madrid.

Before Secundino started work on this project, Madrid's bourgeois architecture was infamous for its showy facades and excessively ornate corner towers. Hygiene was a problem in them, for the rooms were narrow and the doorways received little light. They were no more than large rectangular blocks, a result of the Madrid widening plan initiated by Castro in 1860.

Secundino endowed his apartments with all that Madrid apartments before The House of Flowers lacked. There were attached toilets. His design allowed abundant light to enter, and ventilation was improved. There were gardens on the  terraces.

Secundino achieved a notable architectural feat in The House of Flowers. Characterized by a clean architectural form, the building was a mesmerizing interplay between volume and void. Portals, windows and terraces created the effect of variety. The straight and boxed corners of these were novel at that time. The House of Flowers was a pioneering work of architecture.

.

References

People from Bilbao
20th-century Spanish architects
1887 births
1971 deaths
Architects from the Basque Country (autonomous community)
Spanish communists
Complutense University of Madrid alumni

Secundino Zuazo


Ahmet Ziya Akbulut (27 June 1869, Constantinople - 17 April 1938, Istanbul) was a Turkish landscape and architectural painter.

Biography
He attended Kuleli Military High School, then went to the Turkish Military Academy and studied art with Osman Nuri Pasha. After graduating, he was assigned to the Ottoman Military College, where he worked until 1894, when he was promoted to captain and transferred to Kuleli.

In addition to the arts, he was well-versed in astronomy and mathematics. He used these skills to introduce more perspective into his work; something which was not a major part of traditional Turkish art. He also wrote a manual on the construction of sundials (Güneş Saatleri Yapım Kılavuzu), which was republished in 2010 by Biryıl Kültür Sanat.

In 1898, he became head of the "Military Printing Office" and, in 1913, was appointed Chairman of the "Ottoman Painter's Association". In 1914, he retired from the military and began teaching at the "Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi" (School of Industry and Fine Arts), where he eventually became the Deputy Director.

In 1937, the "İstanbul Resim ve Heykel Müzesi" (Art and Sculpture Museum) was opened. Atatürk required every painter to contribute two paintings, to maintain their professional status, which prompted Akbulut to produce one of his best-known works, depicting the Sultan Ahmet Mosque.

References

External links

 Ahmet Ziya Akbulut @ Turkish Paintings

1869 births
1938 deaths
Artists from Istanbul
Landscape painters
Turkish Military Academy alumni
Kuleli Military High School alumni
19th-century painters from the Ottoman Empire
20th-century Turkish male artists
20th-century Turkish painters

Ahmet Ziya Akbulut


The Chevrolet Celebrity was a car. It was made from 1982 to 1990. The Celebrity was the best-selling car in 1986 in North America. The vehicle lasted one generation.

The sedan was stopped for 1989. The station wagon was last produced for 1990. Chevrolet replaced the sedan with the Lumina, and the station was succeeded by Chevrolet Lumina APV (a minivan).

The Celebrity is similar to the Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and Pontiac 6000.

Celebrity
1980s automobiles
1990s automobiles

Chevrolet Celebrity


Cuffley is a village in the civil parish of Northaw and Cuffley, in the Welwyn Hatfield district of south-east Hertfordshire located between Cheshunt and Potters Bar. It has a population of just over 4,000 people. and is part of Broxbourne parliamentary constituency.

History

The railway had an important impact on the development of the village. Cuffley was reached by the Great Northern Railway in 1910, as part of the plan to create the Hertford Loop Line, as a strategic alternative to the main line out of King's Cross to the north, by extending the line from Enfield Chase.

The early history of Cuffley is recounted by one of its residents, Molly Hughes, in her autobiographical book A London Family Between the Wars.

On 3 September 1916 the German airship SL 11 was shot down and crashed in Cuffley during an aerial bombardment intended for London. This incident is commemorated by a memorial on East Ridgeway to Lieutenant W. Leefe Robinson, the pilot who shot the airship down; he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
There is also a model of the airship in the village hall. Contrary to many reports of the incident, the SL 11 airship was not a Zeppelin but an army Schütte-Lanz airship. Regardless, the local football team is still nicknamed 'The Zeps' after this event.

In 1939, the Scout Association purchased part of the Tolmers Park Estate that lies within the Parish of Cuffley. Tolmers Scout Camp was opened on Whit Saturday 1940 by Lord Wigram. Today, Tolmers hosts thousands of young people annually from all over the UK and across Europe; not only Scouts and Guides but schools and youth groups as well.

Transport
Cuffley is near the M25 motorway and is part of the London commuter belt. Cuffley railway station provides a commuter service to Moorgate, Finsbury Park and King's Cross, services operated by Great Northern.

Facilities
Cuffley Primary School has occupied its present building since 1938 when it replaced the original Victorian school room.

Preschool education for children aged 2 to 5 years old is available at the youth centre (Cuffley Community Centre Pre-School).

St Andrew's Anglican Church, built in 1965 on the site of the old school, replaced the 'tin church' built in 1911 next to the old village green. The village also has a Baptist church, which in May 2011 changed its name to the Life Church and is associated with the Life Church at Potters Bar. There is also St Martin de Porres Roman Catholic Church.

Notable residents
Its most notable current resident is Sir Terry Leahy, former CEO of Tesco, although this did not prevent locals from objecting vehemently to plans to build a  "Express" store in the village replacing one of only two remaining village pubs. Other famous residents include Premier League footballers Ledley King, Jermain Defoe, Niko Kranjcar, David Bentley, Kyle Walker and Armand Traoré; and also former Sugababes singer Keisha Buchanan and Myleene Klass.

References

External links
Cuffley Online — Village Website

Villages in Hertfordshire
Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England
Welwyn Hatfield

Cuffley


Juan Carlos Marino (born October 23, 1963) is an Argentine Radical Civic Union (UCR) politician. From 2003 to 2021, he sat in the Argentine Senate representing La Pampa Province.

Biography
Born in rural Villa Maza, Buenos Aires Province, Marino grew up in nearby Miguel Riglos, La Pampa Province. A farmer in his youth, he became active in politics in 1983 as a member of the local chapter of the centrist UCR; the party's standard bearer, Raúl Alfonsín, had just been elected President of Argentina after a 7-year dictatorship. He married Daniela García, and they had two daughters.

Marino held several party positions and in 1991 was elected to the City Council. He was elected Mayor of Miguel Riglos in 1995 with 53% of the vote, becoming the town's first UCR figure to be elected to the position; he was re-elected in 1999 with 74% of the vote. Marino was elected to the Argentine Senate for La Pampa in 2003. He was appointed secretary of the UCR caucus in the Senate in 2005.

Marino was nominated as candidate for Governor of La Pampa in 2007 as the top of the FrePam (Frente Pampeano Cívico y Social) ticket, a coalition between the provincial UCR, Socialist Party, FreGen, MID, and dissident members of ARI. He was defeated by Justicialist Party nominee Óscar Jorge by 17%, however.

Marino was re-elected to the Senate in 2009, and in 2010 became 1st Vice-President of the Senate (the body's second-highest post). He ran for governor on the FrePam ticket again in 2011, but was again defeated by Óscar Jorge (the incumbent) by 15%. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2015.

Marino did not run for a fourth term in the Senate in 2021, and his term expired on 10 December 2021.

References

External links
Senate profile
Official website

1963 births
Living people
People from La Pampa Province
Mayors of places in Argentina
Members of the Argentine Senate for La Pampa
Radical Civic Union politicians

Juan Carlos Marino (Argentine politician)


The population index, or r-value, indicates the magnitude distribution of a meteor shower. Values below 2.5 correspond to distributions where bright meteors are more frequent than average, while values above 3.0 mean that the share of faint meteors is larger than usual. Population indices are not solely associated with meteor showers.

References

Meteor showers
Units of measurement in astronomy

Population index


Incident at Oglala is a 1992 American documentary film directed by Michael Apted and narrated by Robert Redford. The film documents the deaths of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on June 26, 1975.  Also killed in the multiple fire was Native American Joe Stuntz, a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), whose death prompted no legal action.

It examines the legal case surrounding the subsequent trials of Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, and later the separate trial of Leonard Peltier, who had to be extradited from Canada.  Robideau and Butler were acquitted at their trial, but Peltier was convicted of murder in 1977. (Peltier's supporters, including the International Indian Treaty Council, maintain that he is innocent of the crimes.) The film also discusses tribal chairman Dick Wilson.

Background
There were many unsolved murders and drive-by shootings on the reservation, caused by a culture clash between traditional and Americanized Sioux. The American Indian Movement (AIM) was invited to the reservation to help assert traditional values. It was headquartered at Calvin Jumping Bull's property on the southern edge of Oglala. The "incident at Oglala" was precipitated by the FBI investigation of a pair of stolen boots. Jimmy Eagle, one of the AIM teenagers, was thought to have taken a pair of boots after a fight, and two FBI agents, wanting to talk to him about it, pursued a vehicle they thought he was driving into the AIM camp, leading to a shootout which left both dead.

Accolades
Apted was nominated for the Critics Award in 1992 for the film.

See also
Thunderheart
Wounded Knee incident

References

External links

 Incident at Oglala at Miramax Films
 Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
 Written Statement from the International Indian Treaty Council to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, January 2002

1992 films
American Indian Movement
Films directed by Michael Apted
Films set in South Dakota
Films shot in South Dakota
Documentary films about Native Americans
Documentary films about indigenous rights
1992 documentary films
Films about activists
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Documentary films about South Dakota
1990s English-language films

Incident at Oglala


The Andrea Bocelli & David Foster Christmas Special, is the PBS Great Performances Christmas special of Andrea Bocelli's first ever Holiday album, My Christmas, produced by multiple Grammy Award winner David Foster. Released on December 8, 2009, it is Bocelli's eighth DVD release.

The concert was filmed, September 15, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, featuring Bocelli and Foster with additional guests including Natalie Cole, Mary J. Blige, Reba McEntire, Katherine Jenkins, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and The Muppets.

It was nominated for outstanding music direction at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, in 2010.

Broadcasting

It first aired on THIRTEEN's Great Performances series, on Thanksgiving night in the United States, and continued to be broadcast in the U.S. and Canada, throughout December 2009. In late November, the program was broadcast in Mexico and in the UK; it later aired, December 15 and 25, on Italia 1, in Italy, December 19, on TVE2 and TROS, in Spain and the Netherlands, and Christmas Eve, on vtm and RTL-TVI, in Belgium and Luxembourg. The DVD of the full program was Internationally released December 8, 2009.

In December 2010, the special was broadcast again by PBS, throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Deluxe CD/DVD Edition
A Deluxe Edition featuring the standard CD and a bonus DVD containing highlights from the concert was released on November 23, 2009. Another Deluxe Edition, containing the same DVD and, "Mi Navidad", the Spanish version of the album, was released December 1, 2009.

References

External links

Andrea Bocelli video albums
2009 live albums
2009 video albums
Live video albums
Live Christmas albums

My Christmas Special


Steven Rea (also known as Steven X. Rea) is an American journalist, film critic, web producer, and writer. He was a film critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1992 through late 2016.

Early life
Rea was born in London, and raised in New York City. He is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York. Rea went to the West Coast for college, earning an undergraduate degree in English and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He attended the Writers Workshop graduate program at the University of Iowa.

Career
Rea has written for multiple publications since 1975, as well as working for major record labels such as Island Records. In 1982, he joined The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he covered pop culture topics including movies, pop music and books. He became one of its film critics in 1992 and left that post in late 2016. Other periodicals for which he has written include: Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Family Fun, Crawdaddy!, Music World, Phonograph Record Magazine, High Fidelity, Folk Scene, Los Angeles, New West, Trouser Press, Oui, Chic, Record World, and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. His film reviews and movie columns have been syndicated.

Rea was an adjunct professor in the Cinema and Television program at the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel University.  He hosts Talk Cinema events. He served on the Narrative Features jury of the 2012 Florida Film Festival and the FIPRESCI jury at the 2014 Palm Springs International Film Festival. He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics (NSFC).

Rea is the author of Hollywood Rides a Bike: Cycling with the Stars (2012), an expansion on his blog featuring photos of stars riding bikes, in which Rea explores his obsession with the details of these images and stARS. It received good reviews from The Telegraph (UK) and the San Francisco Chronicle.<ref>Mick Lasalle (February 19, 2012). "Hollywood Rides a Bike, by Steven Rea: review".  San Francisco Chronicle'. Retrieved December 28, 2012.</ref>  He later published Hollywood Cafe: Coffee With The Stars (2016), which was favorably covered in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Metro US, and numerous other publications and websites.  He is the curator of the Tumblr blog, Rides a Bike . His essay on the British New Wave is published in the book European Cinema (2012).

Additionally, Rea has worked as an editor and written fiction. His poetry has been published in The Paris Review and The New York Quarterly''.

Personal life
Rea lived in Los Angeles at the start of his career, but he and his wife have long resided in Center City, Philadelphia.

Notes

External links
 On Movies

20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American poets
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American bloggers
American columnists
American essayists
American film critics
National Society of Film Critics Members
American male bloggers
Drexel University faculty
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
Living people
San Francisco State University alumni
The Philadelphia Inquirer people
Writers from New York City
Year of birth missing (living people)

Steven Rea


Public and private libraries in Bangladesh, both physical and electronic.

Government libraries

National libraries
 National Archives & National Library of Bangladesh
 National Health Library & Documentation Center Dhaka Bangladesh

Cabinet libraries
Prime Minister's Office Library, Dhaka
Ministry of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Library
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Library
 Ministry of Labour and Employment Library
 Ministry of Education Library
 Ministry of Agriculture Library
 Ministry of Shipping Library
 Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Library
 Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Library
Economic Relations Documentation Centre, Ministry of Finance
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Library

Institutional libraries
 Bangla Academy Library
 Bangladesh Bank Library
 Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies Library
 United Nations Information Centre, Dhaka

Public libraries
 National Library of Bangladesh
 Khulna Government Public Library
 Jessore Institute Public Library
 Mymensingh Government Public Library
 Islamic Foundation Central Library
 Islamic Foundation Library, Mymensingh
 Manirampur Public Library, Manirampur, Jessore
 world of 71 (Public Library & Resource Centre), Manirampur, Jessore
 Madaripur Government Public Library.
 District Govt. Public Library, Natore See Also

Educational institutions

Public university libraries

Dhaka University Central Library
BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONALS LIBRARY

 Rajshahi University Library
BUET Central Library
KUET Central Library
 IBA Library
 MIST Central Library
 CUET Library
DUET Library
 E-Library, Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka
 Islamic University, Bangladesh Central Library
 IUT Library and Documentation Center
 JahangirNagar University Library
 Chittagong University Library
 Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Library
 Khulna University Central Library
 RUET Central Library
 Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Library
 Jessore Science and Technology University Library
 Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Library

Private university libraries
 Americal International University-Bangladesh Library
 BRAC University Ayesha Abed Library
 Eastern University Library
 East West University Library
 Green University of Bangladesh Library
 Independent University Library
 International Islamic University Chittagong
 North Bengal International University E-library
 Northern University Bangladesh Library
 North South University Library
 Stamford University, Bangladesh Library
 Southeast University Library
 State University of Bangladesh Library
 United International University Library
 University of Information Technology and Science
 University Of Liberal Arts Bangladesh
 Uttara University Library
 World University of Bangladesh Library
 Leading University Library
 German University Bangladesh Library

College libraries
 Shahid Khorshed Memorial Library (Mirzapur Cadet College)
 Ideal School and College Library
 Dhaka College Library
 Government Teachers' Training College Library
 Government Women College Library
 SK. Burhanuddin P.G. College Library
 Govt Titumir College library .

Non-government libraries
 Bir Chandra Ganapathagar, kandirpar, Comilla (Established in 1985)
 Book Centre, Chandpur City (the largest library of Bangladesh)
 Friends Library, Kanungopara, Boalkhali, Chittagong (Since-1902)
 Surdhuni Library, Asad Road, Khalilgonj, Kurigram 5600 (Established in December, 2013;)
 Dania Pathagar, South Dania, Dhaka 1236 (Established in 1989)
 Bengal Boi, Dhanmondi, Dhaka 1209 (Established as a bookstore and community space in November 2017)

Public libraries
 Projonmo - A Contemplative Library, Gazipur, Bangladesh
Chandpur Public Library, Chandpur City
 Nayla Begum Memorial Public Library (Est. 2020))
 Bishwo shahitto kendro Library
 Gonokendor- BRAC  Library
 Maruf Sharmeen Smrity Sonstha Library, Zatramura, Rupganj, Narayanganj
 Muslim Institute Library, Mymensingh
 Shudhijon Pathagar, Narayanganj
 Shihipur Public Library, Bogra
 Srisri Pathodyan, 19/50 Rupnagor, Dhaka. Ashraful Alam Siddique. Mob 01711310483
 Killar Andar Islamic Library, Lohagara, Chittagong. Mobile phone- 01835 559712-3
 Woodburn Public Library
 Sylhet Mushtak Chy Public Library
 Durbar Songho Gronthagar, Khalishpur, Khulna
 Surdhuni Library, Asad Road, Khalilgonj, Kurigram 5600 (Government Registered Library, Reg. No. Kuri-48;)
 Bondhon Gronthagar, Mirpur-14,Dhaka-1206.
 MM Hafiz Memorial Public Library, Madaripur 7900.
 District Govt. Public Library, Natore.
 Scientist.Dr. M.A. Wazed Miah Memorial Library, Mohmmadpur Town Hall, Fall market-3rd floor, Dhaka-1207
 Sylhet Mushtak Chy Public Library,
 Shahparan, Sylhet. (Est. 2020) Mobile No. 01761 351000
 Anirban Library (Est. 1990), Mahmudhati, Paikgacha, Khulna
 Nazrul Public Library, Gopalgonj.

Medical libraries
 Apollo Hospital Dhaka Library
 Centre for Medical Education Library
 Library and Information Services Unit (LISU) of the ICDDR,B,Chandpur
 WHO Library of Bangladesh
 Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons
 Bangladesh Health Professions Institute - Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed e-library

Other
 British Council Library, Bangladesh

References

Bangladesh education-related lists
Bangladesh
Libraries

List of libraries in Bangladesh


Antonio Agri (May 5, 1932 – October 17, 1998) was an Argentine violinist, composer and conductor prominent in both the tango and classical music genres.

Life and work
Antonio Agri was born in Rosario, Argentina, in 1932. He was taught music locally by Dermidio Guastavino, and in 1947, he made his professional debut in Córdoba as member of a quartet. Later, in Rosario, he joined orchestras led by Julián Chera, Lincoln Garrot and José Sala. He later joined a quartet, Los poetas del Tango, and eventually led a string quintet, the Quinteto de Arcos Torres/Agri.

He later joined the Rosario Symphony Orchestra, though in 1961, Nito Farace (a violinist in the Aníbal Troilo Orchestra for decades) recommended him to Ástor Piazzolla. Piazzolla invited Agri to take part in the Quinteto Nuevo Tango, and the debut took place in April 1962. Agri later played in the Nuevo Octeto (1963), and played as sideman in well-known orchestras headed by Osvaldo Fresedo, Horacio Salgán, Mariano Mores, Alberto Caracciolo and Roberto Pansera. Piazzolla made Agri the lead violin in his 1968 musical, María de Buenos Aires, and the two continued their association in 1971 as part of the Conjunto 9, recording for RCA Records. Agri toured with the Conjunto internationally, though he left to accept a commission as a company violinist in the prestigious Teatro Colón opera house, in Buenos Aires (Agri later admitted regretting this move).

He formed his own string ensemble (violins, violas, cellos and double bass), in 1973. His Mosalini/Agri Quintet, based in Paris and co-directed by Juan José Mosalini, also featured Agri's son, Pablo, with whom the violinist often performed as a duo. He later co-founded the Nuevo Quinteto Real with pianist Horacio Salgán, bandoneonist Leopoldo Federico (later replaced by Néstor Marconi), guitarist Ubaldo De Lío, and drummers Omar Murtagh and Oscar Giunta. Among their best known albums was the 1975 anthology of the work of bandoneonist Aníbal Troilo, Suite Troileana.

Agri recorded as featured guest soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and in Paris with flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía, during the 1990s. The prolific volume of Agri's performances include solos in Retrato de Alfredo Gobbi, Ciudad triste, Los mareados, Éxtasis, Romance del diablo, Otoño porteño, and probably the best-known, in Piazzolla's intenseMilonga del ángel. He recorded Kokoró Kará ("From the Inside," in Japanese) with José Carli, and a compilation of his works, Antonio Agri: Tango Sinfónico, in 1997. The album included his numbers, Carambón and Sin pretención de nada ("With No Pretense at All").

The diminutive violinist was invited to take part in world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma's dedication to Ástor Piazzolla, Soul of the Tango, in 1997. Following the album's recording, Agri joined the famous cellist on his promotional tour for the album. Agri's health, however, forced him to return to Buenos Aires. He was featured in Carlos Saura's Tango, and shortly after its premiere, Agri lost a battle with cancer on October 17, 1998, at age 66.

Soul of the Tango earned the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album, and Antonio Agri was honored posthumously.

Music critic Julio Nudler of the Buenos Aires daily Pagina/12 reflected that "Connoisseurs enjoy the profound tango flavor that he achieved hitting the violin with his bow, and if they had ever seen him playing, could listen to his records and picture his challenging posture, his chest sticking out and his feet firmly on the dais."

Agri, for his part, summarized his career by his belief that "The violin chose me. Because of that I'm a musician. Besides, as Atahualpa Yupanqui said "there are people who dazzle and there are others who illuminate" –and I don't want to dazzle."

References

1932 births
1998 deaths
Argentine people of Italian descent
Musicians from Rosario, Santa Fe
Argentine tango musicians
Argentine violinists
Argentine composers
Grammy Award winners
Deaths from cancer in Argentina
20th-century violinists
20th-century composers
Label Bleu artists

Antonio Agri


Pinchitos or pinchos morunos is a Moorish-derived food in Spanish cuisine, similar to kebab. The name pinchitos is used in the southern Spanish autonomous communities of Andalusia and Extremadura. They consist of small cubes of meat threaded onto a skewer () which are traditionally cooked over charcoal braziers.

Similar dishes in North Africa or other Muslim majority countries tend to be lamb based, but pork and chicken are the most popular meats for the dish in Spain.

In other countries

Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico they are called pinchos and they are so popular that they are almost considered as a traditional dish. Unlike other countries, pinchos are made throughout the year. Pinchos are sold basically everywhere on the island of Puerto Rico, but mainly in food trucks or markets around the beach and the old town. Pinchos can be made with different kinds of meat (pork being the most famous one); however, they are also made with chicken and shark meat. They are always served with BBQ sauce and bread.

Venezuela
Pinchitos are also popular in Venezuela due to the heavy influence of Spain in Venezuelan cuisine. Pinchitos are one of the main dishes in Venezuelan barbecues, and are eaten almost during all year long. Besides lemon, bread, and wine (or beer, depending on the region), they are usually served with boiled yuca, or, in recent years, cherry tomatoes. Pinchitos are sold in street food carts all around the country, especially during weekends. In some regions, pinchitos are called "Pincho Americano" (American Brochette), but the recipe is the same.

Ingredients and preparation
Pinchitos are usually made of lean diced pork or chicken, marinated with olive oil, and herbs and spices (such as garlic, cumin, thyme, paprika, oregano, turmeric and pepper) and seasoned with salt.

Pinchitos is one of the main meat dishes cooked at Andalusian and Extremaduran barbecues during the summer months. They are normally served with bread, wedges of lemon and wine.

See also

 Anticuchos (Peru)
 Mixed grill
 Satay (Indonesia)
 Yakitori (Japan)
 Chuanr (China)
 Espetada (Portugal)
 Frigărui (Romania)
 Souvlaki (Greece)
 Sosatie (South Africa)
 Suya (Nigeria)
 Khorovats (Armenia)
 List of chicken dishes

References

External links
Andalucian pinchitos recipe

Andalusian cuisine
Chicken dishes
Pork dishes
Puerto Rican cuisine
Grilled skewers
Spanish cuisine
Street food
Tapas
Venezuelan cuisine

Pinchitos


Charles Hope, The Rt Hon. the Lord Granton  FRSE (29 June 1763 – 30 October 1851) was a Scottish politician and judge.

Life
Hope was born on 29 June 1763, the eldest son of Mary Breton, the only daughter of Eliab Breton of Forty Hill, Enfield (a granddaughter of Sir William Wolstenholme) and John Hope, Member of Parliament (MP) for Linlithgowshire, and a grandson of Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun. He was educated at Enfield Grammar School, and later at the Edinburgh High School, where in 1777 he was the Latin dux. After studying law at the University of Edinburgh he was admitted as an advocate on 11 December 1784, and on 25 March 1786 was appointed a Deputy Advocate.

In 1788 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Allan Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank, James Gregory, and the mathematician John Playfair.

Though not conspicuous as a lawyer he was an accomplished public speaker, and in this capacity made himself useful at the Tory political meetings. On 5 June 1792 he became Sheriff of Orkney, and in June 1801 was appointed Lord Advocate in the Addington administration in the room of Robert Dundas of Arniston. Shortly afterwards he was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, together with a piece of plate, for his assistance to the magistrates in obtaining a poor's bill for the city.

At the general election in July 1802, he was returned to the House of Commons for Dumfries district, but resigned his seat when Henry Dundas's elevation to the upper house, and was returned unopposed for the city of Edinburgh (January 1803). During his service as Lord Advocate, Hope conducted through the House of Commons the Scotch Parochial Schoolmasters' Act (43 Geo. 3. c. 54), by means of which authorities building schools were also obliged to erect houses with at least two rooms for the schoolmasters.

The only speech of his reported in the 'Parliamentary Debates' was one delivered in his own defence in the debate on Whitbread's motion for the production of papers relating to Hope's censure of a Banffshire farmer named Morison, who had discharged his servant for attending drills of a volunteer regiment. Hope made an ingenious defence, and gave a lively description of the multitudinous duties of his office but though the case against him was strong, the motion, after a great party debate in which both Pitt and Fox took part, was defeated by 159 to 82.

On 20 November 1804, Hope was appointed an ordinary Lord of Session and Lord Justice Clerk in the place of Sir David Rae, Lord Eskgrove, and assuming the title of Lord Granton took his seat on the bench on 6 December 1804. On 12 November 1811, he succeeded Robert Blair, Lord Avontoun as Lord President of the Court of Session, being succeeded as Lord Justice Clerk by David Boyle, Lord Boyle. In 1820, he presided at the special commission for the trial of high treason at Glasgow, and on 17 August 1822 was admitted to the Privy Council at Holyrood House. On 29 July 1823, Hope was appointed, together with his eldest son John, on the Commission of Inquiry into the forms of process and the course of appeals in Scotland. On the death of James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose, in December 1836, Hope became Lord Justice General, by virtue of the Court of Session Act 1830, by which it was enacted that 'after the termination of the present existing interest' that office should 'devolve upon and remain united with the office of lord president of the court of session.' Hope retired from the bench in the autumn of 1841, and was succeeded as Lord President by David Boyle.

He died at his home on 12 Moray Place, Edinburgh on 30 October 1851, aged 89. He was buried in the mausoleum at Hopetoun House on 4 November 1851.

Assessment
Hope was a man of imposing presence, with a magnificent voice, which, according to Lord Cockburn, 'was surpassed by that of the great Mrs. Siddons alone', and a wonderful gift of declamation.

Though a violent political partisan, and greatly wanting in tact and judgment, 'his integrity, candour, kindness, and gentlemanlike manners and feelings gained him almost unanimous esteem'. His charges to juries were singularly persuasive and impressive. Lockhart gives a graphic account of Hope's majestic bearing on the bench in 'Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk' (1819, ii. 102–8), while recording what he describes 'as without exception the finest piece of judicial eloquence, delivered in the finest possible way by the Lord-president Hope.'

When the volunteer movement began, owing to the French war, Hope enlisted as a private in the first regiment of Royal Edinburgh Volunteers.

He was afterwards appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Corps, and performed the duties of that office with enthusiasm for several years, until the regiment was disbanded for the second time in 1814.

In December 1819, when the 'old blues' were once more summoned together, he made them 'one of the most eloquent addresses that ever was heard', and daily inspected the volunteers on duty at Edinburgh Castle while the regular troops were despatched to the western counties.

Hope's famous regimental orders of 18 October 1803, containing most curious and minute details, are given at length in Cockburn's 'Memorials'.

Family
On 8 August 1793 Hope married his cousin Lady Charlotte Hope, second daughter of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun, by his third wife, Lady Elizabeth Leslie, second daughter of Alexander, fifth earl of Leven and Melville, by whom he had four sons- of whom the eldest, John (1794–1858), was Solicitor General for Scotland from 1822 to 1830- and eight daughters. His daughter Ann Wilhelmina was married to Hercules Robertson, Lord Benholme and his eighth and last daughter, Louisa Octavia Augusta Hope, was a promoter of domestic education.

His wife died at Edinburgh on 22 January 1834, aged 62.

David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, Lord President of the Court of Session from 1989 to 1996, descends from Lord Granton's third son.

References

Attribution

External links

1763 births
1851 deaths
Charles
Granton
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
UK MPs 1802–1806
Lords President of the Court of Session
Lords Justice-General
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Lord Advocates
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Charles Hope, Lord Granton


Mercy Bay is a Canadian Arctic waterway in the Northwest Territories.  It is a southern arm of M'Clure Strait on northeast Banks Island.  The mouth of Castel Bay is less than  to the west.  These bays are a part of Aulavik National Park.

HMS Investigator

In September 1851, Captain Robert McClure's ship,  became ice trapped in Mercy Bay during his search for the Northwest Passage and the lost Sir John Franklin Expedition.  By 1853, it was finally abandoned in the bay.  The crew sledged over ice to Melville Island, where they were rescued.

In July 2010, Parks Canada archeologists looking for HMS Investigator found it fifteen minutes after they started a sonar scan of Banks Island, Mercy Bay, Northwest Territories.  The archaeology crew had no plans to raise the ship. They did a thorough sonar scan of the area, then sent an ROV (a remotely operated vehicle). The Canadian archaeologists found the ship "largely intact", sitting upright in approximately 25 feet of pristine Arctic water. Its masts were missing, probably sheared away by the ice.

References

External links

 Video: Discovery of HMS Investigator

Bays of the Northwest Territories
Banks Island

Mercy Bay


Pyrotechnics is often thought to be synonymous with the manufacture of fireworks, but it also includes items for military and industrial uses.

Items such as safety matches, oxygen candles, explosive bolts and fasteners and the automobile safety airbag all fall under pyrotechnics. Without pyrotechnics, modern aviation and spaceflight would be impracticable.

This is because pyrotechnic devices combine high reliability with very compact and efficient energy storage.

A pyrotechnic show is a pre-planned complex that includes ground and high-altitude fireworks. Sometimes such events are accompanied by the performance of specially trained artists of the original genre with pyrotechnic equipment.

Other websites

 Pyrotechnics FAQ
 The Pyrotechnics Guild International
 A guide on pyrotechics
 A basic Pyrotechnics Site

References

Pyrotechnics


The Montauk Point Light, or  Montauk Point Lighthouse, is a lighthouse located adjacent to Montauk Point State Park, at the easternmost point of Long Island, in the hamlet of Montauk in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York. The lighthouse was the first to be built within the state of New York, and was the first public works project of the new United States. It is the fourth oldest active lighthouse in the United States. Montauk Point Light is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2012, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark for its significance to New York and international shipping in the early Federal period.

The lighthouse, which is located on Turtle Hill at the easternmost tip of Long Island, at 2000 Montauk Highway, is a privately run museum, and is not part of Montauk Point State Park. Entry to the lighthouse costs $15.00 for an adult, $8.00 for seniors and $5.00 per child.

History
Montauk Light was the first lighthouse in New York State, and is the fourth-oldest active lighthouse in the United States. The tower is 110'6" high. The current light, installed in July 2001, equivalent to approximately 290,000 candle power, flashes every 5 seconds and can be seen a distance of .

Construction on the lighthouse was authorized by the Second United States Congress, under President George Washington, on April 12, 1792. Ezra L'Hommedieu, a prominent lawyer, member of the Continental Congress, and a man with scientific interests, consulted with Washington on its construction. He represented the New York City Chamber of Commerce on discussions related to the lighthouse. He made the case that New York City "was first among American ports in the volume of its foreign commerce. By 1797, the harbor was handling a third of the nation's trade with other countries." Due to prevailing winds in winter, shippers approaching from sea needed a lighthouse at the end of Long Island to guide them along the south side into New York harbor.

L'Hommedieu chose the site for the lighthouse and designed it. The project began on June 7, 1796, and was completed on November 5, 1796, the first public works project of the new United States of America. Sometime in early April 1797, keeper Jacob Hand lit the wicks in the lamps in the tower, and the lighthouse began operation. It continued under civilian keepers until World War II, when the US Army took it over.

In 1860, the lighthouse station underwent a massive renovation when two new levels and a larger lantern were added. This increased the height of the tower from its original 80 feet (1796) to its current height of 110' 6". A first-order Fresnel lens—12 feet high, 6 feet in diameter, and weighing about 10,000 pounds—was installed in the new lantern; the current keeper's dwelling was constructed adjacent to the tower, and the original 1796 dwelling was demolished. A steam-powered fog signal was installed in 1873, with a fog signal building in 1897. The tower was originally all white; its single brown stripe was added in 1899. A fourth-order fixed red range-light was added to the watch deck of the tower in 1903 to warn of Shagwong Reef, a navigational hazard about 3 miles northwest of the lighthouse. This light was severely damaged in the hurricane of September 21, 1938 and removed on July 1, 1940 when the lighthouse was electrified. The huge first-order Fresnel lens was replaced in 1903 with a 3 order bivalve Fresnel lens, which served until February 3, 1987, when it was replaced with an airport beacon with a strength of 2.5 million candela.

During World War II, the lighthouse was taken over by the U.S. Army as part of the Eastern Coastal Defense Shield. The last three civilian keepers—Thomas Buckridge, Jack Miller, and George Warrington—departed in the spring of 1943. Adjacent to the lighthouse, Camp Hero, opened by the Army in 1942, had two 16 inch gun batteries of two guns each, and a battery of two six-inch guns. The casemates, gun emplacements and concrete fire control towers (which are also at nearby Shadmoor State Park) are still visible.

In 1946 the United States Coast Guard took over maintenance of the lighthouse and operated it until the station was automated on February 3, 1987. In May of that year, the lighthouse museum opened to the public, operated by the Montauk Historical Society. It leased the property from the US Coast Guard for that purpose. On September 30, 1996 President Bill Clinton signed legislation transferring the lighthouse property to the Montauk Historical Society.

The tower was built on Turtle Hill  from the edge of the cliff; due to the cumulative effects of shoreline erosion, it is now  away from the edge. After World War II, the United States Army Corps of Engineers built a seawall at its base, but the erosion continued. The Coast Guard considered tearing down the lighthouse in 1967 and replacing it with a steel tower further from the edge of the bluff. In the wake of protests over the announced dismantling of the tower, Congressman Michael Forbes proposed a bill to the United States Congress to hand over the Lighthouse to the Montauk Historical Society from the Public so it could be preserved; the bill was passed.

Giorgina Reid (1908–2001), a textile designer, had saved her Rocky Point, New York cottage from collapse by building a simple set of terraces in the gullies of the bluff. She proposed that solution to the Society at Montauk. Reid's concept, Reed-Trench Terracing, called for building the terrace platforms made of various beach debris, notably reeds; the practice (along with further strengthening of the rocks at the bluff toe) appeared to stem the erosion. She patented the process and published an article about it titled "How to Hold up a Bank". Greg Donohue, a Montauk landscaper, worked with Reid at the Point and kept the project moving forward after she retired in 1986. With support from various sources, including the Montauk Historical Society and the State of New York, the Erosion Control Project of Montauk Point was successfully completed in 1998.

However, the recurrence of the erosion threat in ensuing years has prompted further action: In November 2006, the United States Army Corps of Engineers' plan to build another seawall was opposed by a local surfing group, who contended that a seawall would ruin the nearby world-renowned surf break. They proposed moving the lighthouse back from the shore, as was done with the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Complicating such a move is the terrain, which would require the lighthouse to be moved down one hill and up another. Environmental groups have raised concerns that reducing the erosion at Montauk would increase erosion at other Long Island beaches, as there are always related effects to such infrastructure work.

On March 2, 2012 United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar officially designated the lighthouse as a National Historic Landmark; it is the 14th site on Long Island and the 11th lighthouse in the country to be so recognized.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers announced on January 13, 2020 the award of a $30.7 million contract to H&L Contracting of Bayshore, New York, to restore and protect the lighthouse from shoreline erosion. Work is expected to start Spring 2020 and last approximately two years. The approximately 1,000 linear feet stone revetment work consists of removing and reusing existing five- and 10-ton armor stones, placement of new 10- and 15-ton armor stones, and providing slope stabilization with terracing and vegetation above the upper crest of the revetment. The total project is anticipated to cost $30.7 million. Costs are shared by the project's sponsors. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is committing $15.4 million in NY Works funding as the project's non-federal sponsor. The local sponsor, the Montauk Historical Society, will maintain the site after construction is complete.

As of July 2021, the lighthouse has been completely stripped of its paint, with the repainting being projected for June 2023.

Suffolk Transit's 10C bus route serves the lighthouse, connecting it with Montauk Village.

Pirate Captain Kidd was said to have buried treasure at the foot of the lighthouse site around 1699 at two ponds which today are called "Money Ponds."

Gallery

References
Notes

Further reading
Books by Henry Osmers, published by Outskirts Press:
On Eagle's Beak: A History of the Montauk Point Lighthouse, 2008.
Living on the Edge: Life at the Montauk Point Lighthouse 1930–1945, 2009.
They Were All Strangers: the Wreck of the John Milton at Montauk, New York, 2010.
American Gibraltar: Montauk and the Wars of America, 2011.

External links

The Official Montauk Point Lighthouse Web Site
National Park Service List of New York Lighthouses
New York State Parks: Montauk Point State Park

Montauk, New York
Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
National Register of Historic Places in Suffolk County, New York
National Historic Landmarks in New York (state)
National Historic Landmark lighthouses
Museums in Suffolk County, New York
Lighthouse museums in New York (state)
Tourist attractions on Long Island
Lighthouses in Suffolk County, New York
1796 establishments in New York (state)
Lighthouses completed in 1796
New York State Register of Historic Places in Suffolk County

Montauk Point Light


Peter I (9 October 1328 – 17 January 1369) was King of Cyprus and titular King of Jerusalem from his father's abdication on 24 November 1358 until his death in 1369. He was invested as titular Count of Tripoli in 1346. As King of Cyprus, he had some military successes, but he was unable to complete many of his plans due to internal disputes that culminated in his assassination at the hands of three of his knights.

Early life and crowning
Peter was born in Nicosia in 1328, the second son of Hugh IV of Cyprus, the first by his second wife Alice of Ibelin. Hugh's heir apparent was his first born son, Guy, who had married Marie of Bourbon. Guy died before his father, however; and though his son, also named Hugh, demanded the throne, Peter was crowned King of Cyprus by Guy of Ibelin, bishop of Limassol in the Cathedral of Santa Sophia, Nicosia on 24 November 1359.

In 1349 he traveled secretly to Europe with his brother John. This upset their father who sent ships to find his sons and bring them back. When they were brought back, Peter and John were imprisoned for leaving without his permission. Despite Leontios Machairas stating Peter and John were held for three days, William of Machaut states that Peter was imprisoned for two months and nine days.

Peter was crowned as titular King of Jerusalem in Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Famagusta on 5 April 1360, succeeding his father. Upon the fall of Acre in 1291, Cyprus became the last stronghold of Christianity in the Middle East. Peter understood the importance of his kingdom, and believed that his mission was to fight Islam. He had ambitions to retake the Kingdom of Jerusalem to which the house of Lusignan yet pretended.

Marriages
Soon after 28 June 1342 he married Eschiva de Montfort (d. before 1350), only daughter and heiress of Humphrey de Montfort (1305 – 24 June 1326), Constable of Cyprus and titular Lord of Toron, and Eschive d'Ibelin. Eschiva died before 1350 while Peter was still a teenager and the marriage was childless.

In 1353 he married Eleanor of Aragon-Gandia (1333 – 26 December 1416 in Barcelona and buried there), daughter of Pedro, Infante of Aragon, Conde de Ribagorza, Ampurias y Prades, Seneschal of Catalonia, and Jeanne de Foix (died before November 1358). Eleanor was crowned Queen of Cyprus on 24 November 1358 and Queen of Jerusalem on 5 April 1360.

His passion for his second wife was much remarked upon by chroniclers; the chronicle of Machairas tells how Peter always slept with Eleanora's night-dress in his arms:

"[S]o for the love which [King Peter] had promised that, wherever he was, he would take [Queen Eleanora's] shift to lay it at night in his arms when he slept, and he made his chamberlain always bring with him the queen's shift, and had him put it in his bed."

Children

Peter and Eleanor had:
Peter II of Lusignan (c. 1357–1382), succeeded him as King of Cyprus and Jerusalem
Margaret of Lusignan (ca. 1360 – ca. 1397), once engaged to Carlo Visconti and married in 1385 to her cousin James/Jacques de Lusignan (d. 1395/1397), titular Count of Tripoli, son of John of Lusignan and wife Alix d'Ibelin, and had issue
Eschiva of Lusignan (d. before 1369), died young

As Peter II of Cyprus remained heirless, the crown of Cyprus was passed to his uncle James I of Cyprus, son of Hugh IV of Cyprus and Alix of Ibelin.

Wars against the Turks

Neighboring Muslim powers were potentially a great threat to Cyprus, the last Christian Crusader stronghold on the mainland of the Near East having been wiped out with the Fall of Acre in 1291. At the moment a new Islamic power had recently come to the fore, but the expanding Ottomans had their eye fixed on what remained of the Byzantine Empire. In addition, they were primarily a land power, and for the moment the remaining Latin Christian entities in the region could hold their own on the seas. Along with the Knights of Saint John (the Hospitallers) the kings of Cyprus were the main inheritors of the Crusading tradition. Peter founded the chivalric Order of the Sword in 1347, which was dedicated to the recovery of Jerusalem.

The royal family were the titular kings of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, who had fled to the island just off the coast of the Levant. Reduced as they were, this Crusader heritage continued in the form of sea-borne raids, and were remarkably successful given their limited resources.

Unlike his father, Peter decided to embrace this tradition and began with in a raid on Korikos, a fortified harbour in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. His primary focus of activity was along the coast of Asia Minor, since the Christian Armenians in Cilicia had strong relations with the Kingdom of Cyprus via marriage ties. In January 1360, the residents of Korikos sent their representatives to Cyprus to ask for protection, since their city was threatened by the Turks. Peter sent some of his men led by the knight Roberto de Luisignan. The Turks were unable to break the Cypriot siege of Korikos.

The siege of Korikos was seen as a threat by Muslim leaders of Asia Minor and they allied against Peter, planning to attack him on his home island. They attacked Cyprus with many ships but Peter obtained aid from the Knights of Saint John from Rhodes. Other help came from the Pope and from pirates. In July 1361, Peter mustered a fleet of 120 ships. With his force, Peter attacked Asia Minor, continuing his policy of preemptive attacks. On 23 August 1361, Cypriot forces landed in Antalya and Peter conquered the city after a siege on 24 August 1361. After this victory, the remaining emirs of the region offered Peter an annual tribute. Peter accepted the offer and sent his flags, coats of arms and symbols to be raised in many cities of Asia Minor. He stayed in Antalya until 8 September 1361. He went to other cities, some of whose emirs knelt to him, gave him presents, keys to castles and other gifts. He returned with his trophies to Cyprus on 22 September 1361.

The emir of Antalya, Teke, after he lost his city, took a large army and after many attacks tried to occupy his city. After hard fighting, Cypriots managed to keep the city and also to siege the guard in the region of Myrres.

Tour of Europe

Meanwhile, Peter faced a serious problem of his recognition as holder of the throne of Cyprus, since his nephew Hugh went to the Pope to ask for the throne with the support of the King of France. Since Peter had sent nobles as his representatives to the Pope to support him without result, he resolved to visit the Pope himself. At the end of October 1362, he left from Paphos via Rhodes to Venice and he was accepted there with honour. He went to Avignon and visited the Pope together with the claimant of the throne of Cyprus. Peter was recognised as King and Hugh agreed a high annual benefit, solving the problem.

Taking advantage of his trip in Europe, he tried to convince powerful rulers to strengthen him by organizing a crusade to liberate the Holy Land and the Kingdom of Jerusalem which belonged to him. That issue was discussed with the newly elected Pope, after the death of the previous incumbent. For the same reason he travelled to England, Germany, and France. During his visit in England the historical Banquet of the Five Kings took place.

He visited some powerful cities like Genoa, Venice, Prague, and Kraków, where he participated in a gathering of monarchs where guests of the Polish king were Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, King Louis I of Hungary, King Valdemar IV of Denmark, Siemowit III of Masovia, Bolko II of Świdnica, Władysław Opolczyk, Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Bogislaw V, Duke of Pomerania, Casimir IV, Duke of Pomerania, Otto V, Duke of Bavaria, and Louis VI the Roman. During the festivities in Kraków King Peter achieved a feat of chivalry - he won the royal Tournament (medieval). Also travelled on, meeting several monarchs in London, at the meeting of kings of England, Scotland, France and Denmark. He did not manage to persuade those monarchs to compete in a new Pan-European and Pan-Christian crusade in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Cyprus was governed by Prince John, brother of Peter who remained as vice-King, and faced many problems, such as the epidemics of 1363, which killed many residents of Cyprus (one of them was Eschiva, Peter's sister). The Turks who heard that the Cypriot people were dying, began new raids and pillages on the island. At the same time an episode between Cypriots and Genoese navies in Famagusta became a political issue and resulted in fights and killings. Peter who happened to be in Genoa, negotiated and signed a treaty with the Genoese declaring what rights the Genoese colonists of Cyprus could have.

Alexandria Crusade

His father Hugh had attempted to stop his desire to lead a new crusade and retake Jerusalem, but upon his death Peter began his plans in earnest. He travelled through Europe attempting to garner support for his expeditions and on 11 October 1365 he led a mixed Cypriot and Western force of Crusaders on 70 ships to sack Alexandria (see Alexandrian Crusade). However, the European knights refused to follow him to attack Cairo, and he was obliged to return to Cyprus, the only permanent result of his expedition being the enmity of the Sultan of Egypt. Reprisals followed against Christian merchants in Syria and Egypt, and Pope Urban V advised Peter to make peace with the Sultan after unsuccessfully attempting to raise support among the European monarchs.

Attacks on Lebanon and Syria

Peter continued his crusade, this time aiming to attack Beirut. However his military operations ended after intervention of the Venetians willing to offer Peter high compensations for his military preparations, in order to not attack Damascus. He raided Tripoli in January 1366, before the terms of service of his European reinforcements could expire. He attempted to again raise a force in Europe in 1368, but was unsuccessful. Urban V again counseled peace, and Peter was compelled to join the Pope and the Venetians in making a peace treaty with Egypt.

The commerce with Middle East benefited Cyprus and because of Peter, Famagusta was one of the richest cities in the Mediterranean during his time. Some financier friends of Peter were rich tradesmen from Famagusta, who could influence him. The Sultan could no longer tolerate the insult of the capture of Alexandria and could not accept a friendly arrangement with Peter. The attack against Tripoli was a clear message to the Sultan; either he agreed a peace and could begin to trade, or he would suffer continued attacks. The sultan wanted to create a movement of distraction, so he strengthened the emirs of Asia Minor and assembled an army to attack Korikos. Peter reinforced the garrison in Korikos with new troops and they repulsed the Turkish attack. In May 1367, the garrison in Antalya revolted because of the delayed payment of their wages. Peter sailed there and imposed order, decapitating the ring leaders of the revolt.

After it was agreed to make peace with the Sultan of Cairo, although it proved impossible to be signed. In late September 1367, there were other attacks on the Syrian coast, recapture and pillaging of Tripoli and other cities across the Syrian coast including Tartus and Baniyas. However, the invading forces could not land at Latakia, due to a storm, then they moved north to attack Ayas, but opted not to storm the nearby castle, before returning to Famagusta, to raid Sidon and capture three merchantman ships and another vessel on the way back to Cyprus afterwards. As Leontios Makhairas writes, the reason that Peter could not keep Tripoli was because the city did not have walls.

Finances

For his trips around Europe and of the wars, he needed money. Despite the high state income he needed to gain more money, thus he gave to Cypriot serfs the right to buy their freedoms. By this rule, many Cypriots benefited. Another source of income were his raids on the Islamic Levant.

Death

While in Rome, he received an appeal from the barons of Armenia, nominating him as king and imploring him to deliver their country. He returned to Cyprus, but was rapidly plunged into domestic troubles. Queen Eleanor had been unfaithful during his long absences in Europe, and he retaliated by tyrannizing her favorite nobles, alienating his brothers. On 17 January 1369 he was assassinated by three of his knights, in his bed at the Palace of La Cava, Nicosia.

Despite the harshness that brought a premature end to his life, his knight-errantry and crusading zeal led him to be regarded as the epitome of chivalry. He was buried in the church of St. Dominic's of Nicosia, the traditional burial place of the Kings of Cyprus. He was succeeded by his son Peter II.

References

Sources

Kings of Cyprus
14th-century monarchs in Europe
Christians of the Alexandrine Crusade
1328 births
1369 deaths
14th-century Cypriot people
14th-century murdered monarchs
Assassinated Cypriot people
People murdered in Cyprus
People from Nicosia
Claimant kings of Jerusalem
House of Poitiers-Lusignan
Burials in Cyprus

Peter I of Cyprus


Den svenska sångboken ("The Swedish Song book") is a 1997 Swedish book with 331 songs (in 2003 a new version with 365 songs was published), written by Anders Palm and Johan Stenström. It was followed by the 1999 book Barnens svenska sångbok ("Children's Swedish Song book").

The book includes the most famous Swedish songs from earlier time until present, and the songwriters are among Carl Michael Bellman, Birger Sjöberg, Evert Taube, Lars Forssell, Olle Adolphson, Ulf Lundell, Mikael Wiehe, Lasse Berghagen, Benny Andersson, Eva Dahlgren, Lisa Ekdahl, Lasse Dahlquist and Åsa Jinder. In the end of the books there are comments and references to the songs.

References

Song books
1997 books
Swedish books
1997 in music
Swedish songs

Den svenska sångboken


The German Bundesrat (commonly referred to as Bundesrat) is part of the parliament of Germany.

The cabinets of the 16 states of Germany appoint the delegations that represent them in the Bundesrat. They can remove them at any time. Normally, a state delegation is headed by the head of government. The delegation is made up of members of the state government.

Thirteen of the states of Germany (in German: Bundesländer) have a Minister-Präsident (Prime Minister), the other 3 are city-states which have a Mayor. These prime ministers or mayors each act as chairman of the Bundesrat for one year at a time.

Germany does not have a vice president. Instead if the Bundespräsident (Federal President) cannot do his job the President of the Bundesrat can act in his place if necessary.

Building
Although it is a part of the German Parliament, the Bundesrat does not meet in the same building as the Bundestag. Instead new offices and a modern meeting chamber were built inside the old Prussian House of Lords building.

Number of members
There are 58 members of the Bundesrat. How many delegates a land (state) has depends on its population. The smallest state, Bremen, has three members. North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous (has the most people) land. It sends six members to the Bundesrat.

The Bundesrat decides most things by absolute majority (at least half of the number of members). That is 35 votes. Some important decisions need two-thirds of all of the possible votes. That is 46 votes.

Each land votes as a block. This means that Berlin, for example, can only cast four yes votes or four no votes. Its delegates cannot choose to vote in different ways. If a land decided to send only one person to the Bundesrat, that person would still have all of the land's votes. Usually the Minister President casts all of his land's votes, even if the other members are there.

If a land has a coalition government (that is, a government of two or more political parties) then all parties must agree how to vote in the Bundesrat. In 2002 Brandenburg did not agree how to vote about the Immigration bill. The Federal Constitutional Court said that the bill was not law because Brandenburg's vote could not be included in the total. This meant that the bill did not get a majority in the Bundesrat.

States
Situation as of December 2017.<br/ >
The Minister-President's party is the biggest party of a state's government, and often also the biggest party in a state's parliament.<br/ >
All of the votes of a state must be cast as a block. If the parties in a coalition do not agree how to vote then the Bundesrat can ignore that state's vote.

Related pages
 President of the German Bundesrat
 List of presidents of the German Bundesrat

References

Other websites
 Bundesrat (Germany)
 Members of the Bundesrat (German Wikipedia)

Politics of Germany
Parliaments

German Bundesrat


The Ministry of Science and Technology is the fifth-ranked executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, which coordinates science and technology activities in the country. The office is located in Xicheng District, Beijing.

The ministry is responsible for formulating guidelines and related policies for science and technology in China development and promoting basic and special research on science and technology.

History
The predecessor of MOST was the National Technical Committee established at the 28th Plenary Session of the State Council in 1956. It merged with the Scientific Planning Commission to form the State Science and Technology Commission in 1958.

The commission was abolished in 1970, but was re-established in March 1978. The commission was renamed to the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China at the 9th National People's Congress in 1998.

In 2018, the Ministry of Science and Technology was approved for restructuring at the National People's Congress, where 15 ministries were be merged, reorganized, or abolished. The most significant departmental adjustment was the merger of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) into the Ministry of Science and Technology. The NSFC is a semi-autonomous research funding agency that provided about $4.7 billion in funding to 120,000 research projects in 2017. In addition, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) was also merged into the Ministry of Science and Technology. The merger of this department reflected China's intention to invest more in global research cooperation.

In 2023, the Ministry was further reformed, with several responsibilities transferred to other departments. The Ministry would no longer take part in evaluating and managing specific research projects, instead playing a mainly supervisory and guiding role, as well as overseeing the implementation of scientific research projects and evaluating their results. Additionally, several organizations under the Ministry were transferred to other departments; the SAFEA was transferred to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the China Rural Technology Development Center was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the China Biotechnology Development Center was transferred to the National Health Commission, and the China Agenda 21 Management Center and the High Technology Research and Development Center were placed under the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

List of ministers

Cooperation

The United Nations (UN)
In December 2017, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) reached an agreement with the goal of strengthening knowledge sharing, capacity building and cooperation in sustainable development among countries. In addition, Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that DESA and MOST signed a memorandum of understanding to encourage developing countries to conduct joint research in the field of green technology.

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)
In July 2019, TWAS Executive Director Romain Murenzi held talks with Wang Zhigang, Minister of MOST, to discuss issues such as jointly advancing scientific development in the global South. Murenzi said that the cooperative relationship between China and TWAS began 35 years ago at the beginning of TWAS establishment, and proposed to strengthen more scientific exchanges and cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in the future.

European Union (EU)
In 2009, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology established a scientific cooperation program with the European Commission (CE), with the goal of conducting joint projects in scientific research areas of mutual interest. On December 16, 2015, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China launched a call for proposals. MOST will provide 200 million RMB annually to support the cooperation between China and European partners in various fields. The main supported scientific research fields are food, agriculture, biotechnology, information technology, aerospace, energy, health, etc.

Australian Government

The Australia-China Science and Research Fund (ACSRF)
This fund is jointly managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Australian government, and mainly supports strategic scientific and technological cooperation between Australia and China. The priority research fields supported by ACSRF are the fields of food and agriculture, health technology, and renewable energy. ACSRF will also fund the establishment of joint research centers, hold special scientific lectures and conduct exchange programs for young scientists.

Queensland Government
The Queensland government was the first state in Australia to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, originally signed in 2008 and renewed in 2014. It covers cooperation in the fields of renewable energy technology, environment, advanced materials, nanotechnology, agriculture, etc.

The National Research Council Canada
In February 2016, representatives from the National Research Council of Canada and MOST signed a letter of intent to support collaboration and funding in scientific and technological innovation. Vice President of the Industrial Research Assistance Program at the National Research Council of Canada Mr. Bogdan Ciobanu said that this agreement provides channels for Canadian Small and medium-sized enterprises to cooperate, fund, and promote with their Chinese counterparts and explain that this partnership will increase the global presence of Canadian companies.

Innovation Fund Denmark
In 2020, MOST and Innovation Fund Denmark carried out bilateral cooperation on sustainable city development solutions. In this project, Innovation Fund Denmark will allocate 15 million Danish krone, and MOST will allocate 20 million RMB to support four to five joint innovation research projects. The background of this cooperation is that both parties want to contribute to sustainable urban development, and the priority areas for funding are energy storage and smart city.

Supported projects

Chronic kidney disease survey
The survey is a nationwide public health survey supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and a total of 50,500 adults were invited to conduct the survey. The background of this survey is that the prevalence of chronic kidney disease in developing countries is relatively high, but there is no such related survey in China. To specifically analyse the factors related to chronic kidney disease, this survey uses logistic regression.

The survey concluded that the estimated prevalence of chronic kidney disease in China is similar to that in developed countries such as the United States and Norway. However, the prevalence of stage 3 and stage 4 chronic kidney disease is lower than the prevalence in the United States and Norway.

Researchers speculate that the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes in China has increased rapidly in the past 20 years. Therefore, the prevalence of stage 3 and stage 4 chronic kidney disease will gradually increase in the next decade. The final result shows that chronic kidney disease has become one of the most important public health problems in China, and it needs more attention in rural areas with the poor economy.

Plasma Surface Metallurgy project
The MOST  has corresponding support in material research in2018.The main research direction of this project is the plasma surface metallurgy technique. The research has developed an alloy material that can withstand the requirements of industrial applications above 800 °C and has oxidation resistance. This alloy material will contribute to China's aerospace industry and automotive industry.

Coal energy development

Since 2005, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has formulated the main development direction of China's medium and long-term national energy is the new coal chemical industry, to reduce environmental pollution and dependence on imported crude oil.

Before 2005
Most of China's energy was produced by burning coal. This method of coal utilization would produce a lot of harmful gases, which directly led to the world's top ten polluted cities all in China, and huge economic losses. Since 2005, under the strategy of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the energy consumption and industrial scale of the coal chemical industry have increased year by year. This strategy is expected to reduce China's air pollution and efficient utilization of coal and other issues.

After 2010

An article published in Renewable & sustainable energy reviews in 2015 pointed out that China's energy consumption and production in 2010 were greater than the early forecasts of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. China's energy consumption has grown rapidly from 6% to 20% of the world's energy consumption in 30 years. In addition, carbon dioxide emissions have risen from 8 percent of the world's total to 24 percent in 30 years.
These facts prove that the new coal chemical industry promoted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in 2005 has not freed China from problems such as excessive energy consumption and air pollution. The main reason for the wrong direction of the national energy development strategy is that the Ministry of Science and Technology of China incorrectly estimated the modern per capita living energy consumption. In the context of high tech development, China's per capita living energy consumption is on average 50% higher than a decade ago.

Future
It is speculated that the future energy development strategy formulated by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China will consist of three parts, namely improving energy efficiency, using more non-coal energy, and promoting national energy conservation. As for the specific energy development strategy, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has not officially issued a statement.

See also
Hydrogen energy vision and technology roadmap
Science and Technology Daily

References

External links

Science and technology
Science and technology in the People's Republic of China
China
China, Science and technology
1998 establishments in China

Ministry of Science and Technology (China)


The metric system is a number of different systems of measurement with length based on the metre, mass on the gram, and volume on the litre. This system is used around the world. It was developed in France and first introduced there in 1795, 2 years after the execution of Louis XVI. The metric units are based on decimal groups (multiples of ten). At first the metric system was based on two quantities: length and weight. The basic units were called the metre and the gramme.

In 1866, the United States started to use the metric system, and is widely used except by the public. By 1875, many countries in Europe and in Latin America had changed to using the metric system. In 1875, seventeen countries signed the Metre Convention agreeing to share responsibility for defining and managing the metre and kilogram standards. The prototype copies of the metre and of the kilogram were called the "international prototype metre" and "international prototype kilogram". A new organization called the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) was set up. The international prototype metre and kilogram were kept at the BIPM headquarters. In 1960, the rules for the metric system were revised. The revised system was called the "International System of Units" (which is often called  for short). The definition of SI also included rules for writing SI quantities. These rules are the same for all countries. In the 1970s, many people in the United Kingdom and the rest of the Commonwealth started using the metric system in their places of work.

Description

The metric system is a decimal-based system of measurement. The system has units of measure for each quantity. The names of most units of measure in the metric system have two parts. One part is the unit name and the other part is the prefix. For example, in the name "centimetre", the word "centi" is the prefix and the word "metre" is the unit name. Sometimes, as with metre, litre and gram, there is no prefix.

In the metric system, all units have a "symbol". Symbols are a shorthand way of writing the names of units. All the countries in the world use the same symbol for a unit, even though they might have different ways of writing out the unit name in full. For example
People write "kilometre" in the United Kingdom.
People write "kilometer" in the United States.
People write "quilómetro" in Portugal.
People write "một kí lô mét" in Vietnam.
People write "کیلومیتر" in Saudi Arabia.
People write "χιλιόμετρα" in Greece.
People write "километр" in Russia.
People write "公里", "千米", or "粁" in China.
People write "キロ" or "㌔" in Japan.
People write "킬로미터" in South Korea.
Everybody uses the symbol "km" for "kilometre".

Unit names
The metric system was first developed in France during the French Revolution. A French law passed in 1795 defined five units of measure. Three of these names are still in use today. They are the metre which is the unit of length, the gram which is the unit of mass and the litre which is the unit of volume. Since then many other units of measure have been developed and many definitions changed. The metric system now has units of measurement for energy, power, force, electric current, radioactivity and many others.  The most commonly used units of measure in the metric system are listed below.

Length
In the metric system, length is measured in metres. The symbol for the metre is the letter "m". The metre was originally defined as being  of the distance between the North Pole and the Equator on the meridian that passed through Paris. In 1799, a platinum bar that was equal to this length was made and became the "prototype metre"

Volume
In the metric system, volume is measured in litres. The symbol for the litre is "L". In 1795 the French Government defined one litre as being the same volume as the volume of a cube which had sides that were .

Mass
In the metric system, mass is measured in grams.  The symbol for the gram is the letter "g". In 1795 the French Government defined the gram as the mass of one cubic centimetre of water at the freezing point of ice. This was difficult to measure, so in 1799 the French Government made a "prototype kilogram" () mass.

Temperature
In the metric system, temperature is measured in degrees Celsius.  The symbol for degrees Celsius is "°C". Water freezes at "" and boils at "".

Time
In the metric system, the unit of time is the seconds. The second was first used as part of the metric system by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1832.

The definitions of the units are often being changed. In 1960 the definition of the metre was changed. Since then it has been defined in terms of the speed of light. In 2019, the kilogram is redefined in terms of the Planck constant.

Prefixes
If the numbers are too big or too small, the metric system uses prefixes to make it easier to understand the numbers.

milli
The prefix milli is used to show that a measurement is  (or 0.001) of the base measurement:
There are 1000 milligrams (mg) in a gram.
There are 1000 millimetres (mm) in a metre.
There are 1000 millilitres (mL) in a litre.

centi
The prefix centi is used to show that a measurement is  (or 0.01) of the base measurement:
There are 100 centimetres (cm) in a metre.
There are 100 centilitres (cL) in a litre.

kilo
The prefix kilo is used to show that a measurement is 1000 times as large of the base measurement:
There are 1000 grams in a kilogram (kg).
There are 1000 metres in a kilometre (km).

There are a lot of other prefixes. Some of them are:
micro which means one millionth (). The symbol for "micro" is the Greek letter μ (called "mu").
deci which means one tenth (). The symbol for "deci" is "d".
mega which means one million (1,000,000). The symbol for "mega" is "M". Care must be taken not to get "m" (for "milli") and "M" (for "mega") mixed up.

How big

These tables will help one to estimate the size of different lengths or masses in the metric system. In these tables:
The word "Imperial" is short for Imperial units which are the units of measure that have traditionally been used in the United Kingdom.
The word "Customary" is short for U.S. customary units which are units of measure that have traditionally been used in the United States.

Length

Mass

British and American spelling
Some names in the metric system are spelt differently in British English and in American English and Philippine English.
The word metre is used in British English while the word meter is used in American English.
The word litre is used in British English while the word liter is used in American English.
The word gram is used in both British English and in American English. The word gramme can also be used in British English, but many British people think that this is old-fashioned.

Administering the metric system

The Metre Convention

In 1875 representatives from the governments of twenty different countries met in Paris to discuss weights and measures. Seventeen of the countries signed a treaty about weights and measures. The treaty was called "The Convention of the Metre". The countries that signed were: Argentine Confederation, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, United States and Venezuela. They agreed:
 To set up an inter-governmental organisation to administer the treaty. This organization was called the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).
 France was to have responsibility for acquiring suitable premises for the BIPM. These premises would become neutral territory. The BIPM offices and laboratories would be located on the site.
 To make 40 identical copies of the kilogram. One was chosen as the prototype (or primary) copy. This copy was known as the "International Prototype Kilogram". It replaced the Kilogramme des archives as the world's primary copy of the kilogram. The Kilogramme des archives would be kept at the BIPM premises.
 To make 30 identical copies of the metre. One was chosen as the prototype (or primary) copy. This copy was known as the "International Prototype Metre". It replaced the Metre des archives as the world's primary copy of the metre. The Metre des archives would be kept at the BIPM premises.
 To give one copy of the metre and one copy of the kilogram to each country. These would be called "national prototype metres" and "national prototype kilograms".
 To compare the national prototype metres and kilograms against the international prototypes at regular intervals.
 To promote the use of the metric system.

The United Kingdom and the Netherlands went to the conference but did not sign the treaty at that time. After further consideration, the United Kingdom did sign the treaty in 1884 and the Netherlands became a member in 1929.

In 1889 the copies of the kilogram and the metre were ready to be given to the different countries that signed the treaty.

The United States Congress ratified the treaty in 1878. The United Kingdom signed the treaty 1884. Neither country passed laws making it compulsory to use the metric system.

In 1921 the Metre Convention was extended to include all physical measurements including time, electricity and temperature.

In 1960 the BIPM published the "International System of Units" (or SI). SI clarified a number of areas of the metric system, particularly in science and in engineering. The BIPM also standardized the way in which SI was written making it the same for all languages.

History

There are 16 US fluid ounces in a US pint but there are 20 imperial [UK] fluid ounces in an imperial pint. The US fluid ounce is larger than the imperial fluid ounce, but the imperial pint is larger than the US pint.  In the 1700's this type situation was common across Europe. Each country  measured length, weight/mass and volume in its own way. Sometimes different countries or cities used the same name for different measurements.   Sometimes different cities in the same country had different ways of measuring things. In 1789 there were a quarter of a million different units of weight and measure in France.

French Revolution
During the French Revolution, French scientists decided that it would be better to have a new system of weights and measures. The system would be the same in all French provinces and cities. They also decided that it would be easier if the new system used 10's instead of 12's, 16's or 20's, because people normally count in 10's. The new system became the official system of measurement in France in 1799. One of the French leaders, the Marquis de Condorcet declared that  "[the metric system] is for all people for all time".

They decided that the new system would be for everybody on Earth and that the new unit of length would be called a "metre". They decided there would be  between the North Pole and the equator. Between 1791 and 1798 two surveyors, Pierre Méchain and Jean-Baptiste Delambre, measured the distance between the cities of Dunkirk to Barcelona using old French units, and used the stars to measure their latitudes. They used this information to work out that the length of the metre should be 443.296 lignes. In 1798 the French scientists made a bar of platinum that was exactly one metre long.  They stored this bar in the French archives. It was called the metre des archives. People who made one metre rulers were able to check that their rulers were the same length as the metre des archives. Other scientists made a kilogram weight from platinum which was also put in the archives. This weight was called the kilogram des archives.

First attempt to metricate France
In 1799 the metric system was made compulsory, meaning people were made to use it by law, in the region around Paris. This caused a lot of confusion because the police enforced the new measures but customers preferred the old ones. So shopkeepers had to have both. People became worried the new measures were used to cheat them. Politicians tried to educate and convince people to use metric, but the people rejected the metric system. In 1800 the government tried to make the system acceptable by changing the names of the units back to the simpler names used before metrication. For example, the decimetre, centimetre, and millimetre were renamed to palme (hand), doigt (finger) and trait (trace).

In 1799 Napoleon became the leader of France. By 1812 he had conquered most of Europe. He introduced the metric system to the countries that he conquered. In 1815 he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. After Napoleon was defeated, most of the countries started using their old systems of measurement again.

During this time, the metric system was still the official system of measurement in France. And it still had simplified unit names. But the French people continued to use the measures they were used to. The French government tried to persuade the people to convert. They mass-produced metric rulers. They tried to teach the people to use metric measures, and commanded the police to punish people who would not cooperate. Eventually the government stopped trying and withdrew the metric system.

France abandon the metric system
On 12 February 1812, France stopped using the metric system and started using a new system called mesures usuelles. The new system was based on many of the old pre-metric units. The old units were redefined to be round numbers or fractions of the withdrawn metric units. For example the livre (pound) was reintroduced and changed from 489 grams to 500 grams. The toise was redefined as 2 metres. The toise contained 6 pied (feet), changed from 324.8 mm to  of a metre (333.33 mm). The pied had 12 pouces (inches) and the pouce had 12 lignes.

Second attempt to metricate France
In 1837 the metrication laws were revived by the July Monarchy in France and in 1840 the system became compulsory throughout France, almost 50 years after it was first introduced.

Wider adoption of the metric system
During the nineteenth century many small countries started cooperating with each other. In 1815 the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed from seventeen small states. Each state had its own system of measurement. In 1820 they decided that it would be better if everybody used the metric system.

In 1815 the German Confederation was formed. It was an association of 39 different states. Each state had its own system of measurements. In 1834 the German Confederation formed a customs union called the Zollverein. In 1851 the Zollverein decided to use metric units for trade between the various states. In 1871, most of the states in the German Confederation were joined together to form the German Empire. The German Empire continued to use the metric system.

In the same year, Italy was also formed from a large number of small states. Italy also decided to use the metric system rather than choosing one of the old systems of measurement.

By 1875  many European and Latin American counties were already using the metric system. These countries included France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Columbia. Between 1875 and 1914 many more countries including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Paraguay, Philippines and Vietnam started to use the metric system. In 1917, during the Bolshevik Revolution, the USSR (now Russia) adopted the metric system.  By the start of the Second World War most non-English speaking countries had adopted the metric system.

United States
In 1866, after most of the South American countries started to use the metric system, the United States passed a law that allowed people to use either the metric system or United States customary units for trade. Before 1893 the yard was defined as the length of the "standard yard" which was kept by the United States Treasury. The pound was defined as being the mass of the "standard pound". In 1893 the United States Congress passed the Mendenhall Order. This order defined the yard as being exactly  metres and the pound as being exactly 0.4535924277 kilogram. The order only changed the definitions of the pound and the yard. It had no other effect on people's lives.

In 1975 the Metric Conversion Act started a formal metrication process.  Metrication was to be voluntary. It was to be coordinated by the U.S. Metric Board. In 1988 the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act said that metric units had to be used for all federal projects.  The Act did not apply to state projects. Some states demanded that metric units be used but other states did not. Some industries changed to using metric units but others did not.  Soft drinks are sold in metric quantities. Milk is sold in customary units.  Metric units are widely used in the design of motor cars.  Aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were designed using mainly customary units.

Some people in the United States want to complete the change-over to the metric system. They say that it will make things easier for everybody. Other people say that it will cost too much money.
Some people want to use the metric system because it will make it easier to export goods. Other people say that metrication can only work if all fifty states metricate at the same time. This will not happen unless the Federal Government takes the lead.

However, in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and Guam, the metric system is already officially used and is dominant. The metric system was introduced to both territories, when they were Spanish colonies, and has remained official and dominant after they became U.S. territories.

United Kingdom
In 1897 the United Kingdom passed a law allowing people to use either the metric system or Imperial units for trade. By the late 1960s three quarters of British exports were to countries that used the metric system. However people in the United Kingdom still used imperial units. The Metrication Board was set up in 1969 to help Britain change to the metric system. Each company had to pay their own expenses. Some companies saved a lot of money by changing to the metric system because they could make the same goods for export as they made for sales in the United Kingdom. For example, almost all motor cars use metric-sized nuts and bolts.  Other companies lost money because they had to make many changes but did not have any benefit from the changes.

When the Metrication Board was closed down in 1981 most of government and industry had changed to the metric system but a lot of everyday things like road signs had not been changed. A survey taken in 2013 showed that metric units and imperial units were both widely used by British people in their private lives.

Related pages
 Conversion of units
 International System of Units, describes more advanced aspects of the metric system

Notes

References

Measurement
Systems

Metric system