In Islam, Taqiya or  Taqiyya ( , literally "prudence, fear") is a precautionary dissimulation or denial of religious belief and practice. Generally, taqiya is the action of committing a sinful act (such as feigning unbelief) for a pious goal.

Hiding one's beliefs has been a feature of Islam since its earliest days, and is acknowledged by Muslims of virtually all persuasions. However, the use of Taqiyyah varies, especially between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Sunni Muslims gained political supremacy over time and therefore only occasionally found the need to practice Taqiyyah. On the other hand, the minority Shiah community developed taqiyyah as an instinctive method of self-preservation and protection in hostile environments.

A related term is Kitmān (lit. "action of covering, dissimulation"), which has a more specific meaning of dissimulation by silence or omission.

This practice is emphasized in Shi'ism whereby adherents are permitted to conceal their religion when under threat of persecution or compulsion.

Taqiyya was initially practiced under duress by some of Muhammad's companions. Later, it became particularly important for Shias due to their experience as a persecuted religious minority. According to Shia doctrine, taqiyya is permissible in situations where there is overwhelming danger of loss of life or property and where no danger to religion would occur thereby. Taqiyya has also been politically legitimised, particularly among Twelver Shias, in order to maintain unity among Muslims and fraternity among the Shia clerics.

Yarden Mariuma, sociologist at Columbia University, writes: "Taqiyya is an Islamic juridical term whose shifting meaning relates to when a Muslim is allowed, under Sharia law, to lie. A concept whose meaning has varied significantly among Islamic sects, scholars, countries, and political regimes."

Etymology and related terms

Taqiyya
The term taqiyya ( /) is derived from the Arabic triliteral root wāw-qāf-yā, literally denoting "caution, fear", "prudence, guarding against (a danger)", "carefulness, wariness". In the sense of "prudence, fear" it can be used synonymously with the terms tuqa(n), tuqāt, taqwā and ittiqāʾ, derived from the same root. These terms also have other meanings. For example, the term taqwa generally means "piety" (lit. "fear [of God]") in an Islamic context.

Kitmān
A related term is kitmān ()– the "action of covering, dissimulation". While the terms taqiyya and kitmān may be used synonymously, kitmān refers specifically to the concealment of one's convictions by silence or omission. Kitman derives from the Arabic word 'katama', which is defined as, 'to conceal, to hide'. The Ibadi Muslims used kitmān to conceal their Muslim beliefs in the face of persecution by their enemies.

Quranic basis
The technical meaning of the term taqiyya is thought to be derived from the Quranic reference to religious dissimulation in Sura 3:28:

The two words tattaqū ("you fear") and tuqāt "in fear" are derived from the same root as taqiya, and use of the abstract noun taqiya in reference to the general principle described in this passage is first recorded in a Qur'anic gloss by Al-Bukhari (9th century).

Regarding 3:28, Ibn Kathir writes, "meaning, except those believers who in some areas or times fear for their safety from the disbelievers. In this case, such believers are allowed to show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly." He quotes Muhammad's companion, Abu Ad-Darda', who said "we smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them," and Al-Hasan who said "the Tuqyah is acceptable till the Day of Resurrection."

A similar instance of the Qur'an permitting dissimulation under compulsion is found in
Sunni and Shia commentators alike observe that verse 16:106 refers to the case of 'Ammar b. Yasir, who was forced to renounce his beliefs under physical duress and torture.

Sunni Islam view

The basic principle of taqiyya is agreed upon by scholars, though they tend to restrict it to dealing with non-Muslims and when under compulsion (ikrāh), while Shia jurists also allow it in interactions with Muslims and in all necessary matters (ḍarūriyāt). In Sunni jurisprudence protecting one's belief during extreme or exigent circumstances is called idtirar (), which translates to "being forced" or "being coerced", and this word is not specific to concealing the faith; for example, under the jurisprudence of idtirar one is allowed to consume prohibited food (e.g. pork) to avoid starving to death. Additionally, denying one's faith under duress is "only at most permitted and not under all circumstances obligatory". Al-Tabari comments on sura XVI, verse 106 (Tafsir, Bulak 1323, xxiv, 122): "If any one is compelled and professes unbelief with his tongue, while his heart contradicts him, in order to escape his enemies, no blame falls on him, because God takes his servants as their hearts believe." This verse was recorded after Ammar Yasir was forced by the idolaters of Mecca to recant his faith and denounce the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Al-Tabari explains that concealing one's faith is only justified if the person is in mortal danger, and even then martyrdom is considered a noble alternative. If threatened, it would be preferable for a Muslim to migrate to a more peaceful place where a person may practice their faith openly, "since God's earth is wide." In Hadith, in the Sunni commentary of Sahih al-Bukhari, known as the Fath al-Bari, it is stated that:
Which translates to:

Al-Ghazali wrote in his The Revival of the Religious Sciences:

Ibn Sa'd, in his book al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, narrates on the authority of Ibn Sirin:

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, in his book al-Ashbah Wa al-Naza'ir, affirms that:

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, in his book al-Durr al-Manthoor Fi al-Tafsir al- Ma'athoor, narrates that:

The practice of taqiyyah is not limited to any one sect within Islam. It is observed and referenced in Sunni texts of law, hadith collections, and Quranic exegesis. Although historically more extensively practiced and referenced by Shii Muslims, taqiyyah is doctrinally available to Sunni Muslims as well. This challenges the negative notion that taqiyyah is exclusively associated with one community or confined to a specific group.

Niyya
In Sunni Islamic law, as in Islamic law in general, the concept of intention (niyya) holds great importance. Merely performing an act without the right intention is considered insufficient. A fatwa issued by Ibn Abi Juma highlights the significance of one's inner state and intention in determining their identity as a Muslim. According to this fatwa, if taqiyyah is practiced with the right intention, it is not considered sinful but rather a pious act. The fatwa emphasizes that God values the intention of believers over their outward actions, and taqiyyah can be seen as a form of outward expression aligned with the correct intention.

Examples

When Mamun became caliph (813 AD), he tried to impose his religious views on the status of the Qur'an over all his subjects, in an ordeal called the mihna, or "inquisition". His views were disputed, and many of those who refused to follow his views were imprisoned, tortured, or threatened with the sword. Some Sunni scholars chose to affirm Mamun's view that the Qur'an was created, in spite of their beliefs, though a notable exception to this was scholar and theologian Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who chose to endure torture rather than to lie.

Following the end of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, Muslims were persecuted by the Catholic Monarchs and forced to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. The principle of taqiyya became very important for Muslims during the Inquisition in 16th-century Spain, as it allowed them to convert to Christianity while remaining crypto-Muslims, practicing Islam in secret. In 1504, Ubayd Allah al-Wahrani, a Maliki mufti in Oran, issued a fatwā allowing Muslims to make extensive use of concealment to maintain their faith. This is seen as an exceptional case, since Islamic law prohibits conversion except in cases of mortal danger, and even then requires recantation as quickly as possible, and al-Wahrani's reasoning diverged from that of the majority of earlier Maliki Faqīhs such as Al-Wansharisi.

Shia Islam view
Minority Shi'a communities, since the earliest days of Islam, were often forced to practice pious circumspection (taqiyya) as an instinctive method of self-preservation and protection, an obligatory practice in the lands which became known as the realm of pious circumspection (dār al-taqiyya). Therefore, the recurring theme is that during times of danger feigning disbelief is allowed.

Two primary aspects of circumspection became central for the Shi'a: not disclosing their association with the Imams when this could put them in danger and protecting the esoteric teachings of the Imams from those who are unprepared to receive them. While in most instances, minority Shi'a communities employed taqiyya using the façade of Sunnism in Sunni-dominated societies, the principle also allows for circumspection as other faiths. For instance, Gupti Ismaili Shi'a communities in the Indian subcontinent circumspect as Hindus to avoid caste persecution. In many cases, the practice of taqiyya became deeply ingrained into practitioners' psyche. If a believer wished, he/she could adopt this practice at moments of danger, or as a lifelong process.

Prudential Taqiyyah
Kohlberg has coined the expression "prudential taqiyyah" to describe caution due to fear of external enemies. It can be further categorized into two distinct forms: concealment and dissimulation.

For instance, historical accounts narrate how some Imams concealed their identities as a protective measure. In one story, the Imam Jafar al-Sadiq commended the behavior of a follower who chose to avoid direct interaction with the Imam, even though he recognized him on the street, rather than exposing him, and even cursed those who would call him by his name.

Kohlberg identifies the second type of prudential taqiyyah as dissimulation, characterized by using deceptive words or actions intended to mislead opponents. It is typically employed by individuals possessing secret information. It is not solely confined to Imami Shi'ism but has been observed among various Muslim individuals or groups with minority views. During times of danger, the recurring theme is that taqiyyah permits individuals to utter words of disbelief as a means of self-preservation. Prudential taqiyyah is considered essential for safeguarding the faith and may be lifted when the political climate no longer poses a threat. Therefore, one way to discern the motivation behind a specific type of taqiyyah is to determine whether it ceases once the danger has subsided.

Non-Prudential Taqiyyah
Kohlberg coined the expression "non-prudential taqiyyah" for when there is a need to conceal secret doctrines from the uninitiated. Non-prudential taqiyyah is employed by believers when they possess secret knowledge and are obligated to conceal it from those who have not attained the same level of initiation. This hidden knowledge encompasses diverse aspects, including profound insights into specific Quranic verses, interpretations of the Imam's teachings, and specific religious obligations. The obligation to conceal arises when individuals acquire such exclusive knowledge emphasizing the importance of preserving its secrecy within the initiated community.

Twelver Shia view
The doctrine of taqiyya was developed at the time of Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 148 AH/765 AD), the sixth Imamiya Imam. It served to protect Shias when Al-Mansur (r. 754–775), the Abbasid caliph, conducted a brutal and oppressive campaign against Alids and their supporters. Religious dissimulation or Taqiyya while maintaining mental reservation is considered lawful in Shi'ism "in situations where there is overwhelming danger of loss of life or property and where no danger to religion would occur thereby". Shi'is lived mostly as a minority among a frequently-hostile Sunni majority until the rise of Safavid dynasty. This condition made taqiyya doctrine important to Shias.

Taqiyya holds a central place in Twelver Shia Islam. This is sometimes explained by the minority position Shias had under the political dominance of Sunni Muslims, requiring them to protect themselves through concealment and dissimulation. In Shia legal literature, there is a range of situations in which taqiyya may be used or even required. For Shia Muslims, taqiyya is to conceal their association with their faith when revealing it would result in danger. Taqiyya is done for reasons of safety. For example, a person may fear that he might be killed or harmed if he does not observe taqiyya. In this case, taqiyya is allowed. However, in some circumstances taqiyya may lead to the death of an innocent person; if so, it is not permissible; it is haraam (forbidden) to kill a human being to save one's own life. Some Shias, though, advance taqiyya as a form of jihad, a sort of fighting against their adversaries.

Others relate it to the esoteric nature of early Shia Islam. The knowledge ('Ilm) given to the Imams by God had to be protected and the truth would have to be hidden before the uninitiated or their adversaries until the coming of the Twelfth Imam, when this knowledge and ultimate meaning can become known to everyone.

Religious rulings of the Shia Imams were also influenced by taqiyya. Some of the traditions from the Imams make taqiyya a central element of Shiism: "He who has no taqiyya has no faith"; "he who forsakes taqiyya is like him who forsakes prayer"; "taqiyya is the believers shield, but for taqiyya, God would not have been worshipped". It is unclear whether those traditions only refer to taqiyya under risk or also taqiyya to conceal the esoteric doctrines of Shiism. Many Shias today deny that taqiyya has any significance in their religion.

Ismaili Shia view

For the Ismailis in the aftermath of the Mongol onslaught of the Alamut state in 1256 CE, the need to practice taqiyya became necessary, not only for the protection of the community itself, which was now stateless, but also for safeguarding the line of the Nizari Ismaili Imamate during this period of unrest. Accordingly, the Shia Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq stated "Taqiyya is my religion and the religion of my ancestors", a tradition recorded in various sources including Kitāb al-Maḥāsin of Aḥmad b. Muhammad al-Barqī and the Da'ā'im al-Islām of al-Qāḍī al-Nu'mān. Such periods in which the Imams are concealed are known as satr, however the term may also refer to times when the Imams were not physically hidden from view but rather when the community was required to practice precautionary dissimulation. During satr the Imam could only be accessed by his community and in extremely dangerous circumstances, would be accessible only to the highest-ranking members of the Ismaili hierarchy (ḥudūd), whose function it was to transmit the teachings of the Imam to the community. Shi'a Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq is reputed to have said, "Our teaching is the truth, the truth of the truth; it is the exoteric and the esoteric, and the esoteric of the esoteric; it is the secret and the secret of a secret, a protected secret, hidden by a secret." The Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Hakim expresses the sentiment of taqiyya when he confides to his followers that "if any religion is stronger than you, follow it, but keep me in your hearts."

According to Shia scholar Muhammad Husain Javari Sabinal, Shiism would not have spread at all if not for taqiyya, referring to instances where Shia have been ruthlessly persecuted by the Sunni political elite during the Umayyad and Abbasid empires. Indeed, for the Ismailis, the persistence and prosperity of the community today owes largely to the careful safeguarding of the beliefs and teachings of the Imams during the Ilkhanate, the Safawid dynasty, and other periods of persecution.  The 16th century Ismaili author Khwāja Muḥammad Riḍā b. Sulṭān Ḥusayn, also known as Khayrkhvah-i Harati, referring to the Anjudan period, writes about the end of an era of taqiyya. He explains that thus far "a veil was drawn over the visage of truth," but now the Imam "allowed the veil to be lifted". Since the Imam had allowed written correspondence with his followers, he had effectively ended the era of taqiyya.

The Gupti community viewed the Aga Khan III as their spiritual leader and Imam, but concealed these beliefs to protect themselves. However, the Guptis used a unique form of taqiyya, they did not appear as Sunni, Sufi, or Ithna ashari, which were the more common identities to take on. Rather they identified as Hindus, and this  became a significant aspect of who they were. The Guptis view their taqiyya as a fulfillment and culmination of their outwardly professed faith, rather than contrary to it. The name 'Gupta' in Sanskrit, means secret or hidden, which perfectly embodies the concealment of their faith and true identity.

Alawite view
Alawites beliefs have never been confirmed by their modern religious authorities. Alawites tend to conceal their beliefs (taqiyya) due to historical persecution. Some tenets of the faith are secret, known only to a select few; therefore, they have been described as a mystical sect. Alawites celebrate Islamic festivals but consider the most important one to be Eid al-Ghadir.

Druze view
Because of the Druze's Ismaili Shia origin, they have also been associated with taqiyya. When the Druze were a minority being persecuted they took the appearance of another religion externally, usually the ruling religion in the area, and for the most part adhered to Muslim customs by this practice.

Contemporary debate
In the early 21st century, taqiyya has become the subject of debate. According to S. Jonathon O'Donnell, some theories posit "the idea that Muslims have a religious duty to deceive non-Muslims if it furthers the cause" of Islam. He argues the "claim rests on a misreading of the concept of taqiyya, by which believers may conceal their faith if under threat of violence. This misreading is widely deployed in Islamophobic writings." The term has been used by writers and counter-jihadists such as Patrick Sookhdeo, who posit that Muslims use the doctrine as a key strategy in the Islamization of Western countries by hiding their true violent intents.

In 2008 Raymond Ibrahim published in Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst an article titled "Islam's doctrines of deception". Ibrahim presented his own translation of part of Lebanese Druze scholar Sami Makarem's monograph Al Taqiyya Fi Al Islam ("Dissimulation in Islam"). Ibrahim quoted:

Michael Ryan, also in Jane's, characterized Ibrahim's article as "well-researched, factual in places but ... ultimately misleading". Ibrahim responded in 2009 with "Taqiyya Revisited: A Response to the Critics", on his blog and on the Middle East Forum website. Ibrahim was again criticised for his view on Taqiya in 2019, by Islamic scholar Usama Hasan in the Jewish Chronicle.  Ibrahim also responded to Hasan in a FrontPage Magazine article titled "Taqiyya Sunset: Exposing the Darkness Shrouding Islamic Deceit."

Stefan Wimmer argues that taqiyya is not a tool to deceive non-Muslims and spread Islam, but instead a defensive mechanism to save one's life when it is in great danger (giving the example of the Reconquista). Similar views are shown by Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen from the University of Copenhagen.

See also

 Criticism of Twelver Shia Islam
 Crypto-Christianity
 Crypto-Islam
 Crypto-Judaism
 Denial of Peter
 Doctrine of mental reservation
 Islamic schools and branches
 Religious views on truth
 Mental reservation
 Munafiq
 Self-sacrifice in Jewish law

References

Further reading
Bar-Asher, Me'ir Mikha'el (1999). Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imami Shiism. Brill Academic Publishers.
Cook, Michael (2003). Early Muslim Dogma: A Source-Critical Study. Cambridge University Press.
Daftary, Farhad (1992). The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge University Press.
Goldziher, I., Das Prinzip der takijja im Islam, ZMLG 60 (1906), 213–226.
Emadi, Hafizullah (1998). The end of taqiyya: reaffirming the religious identity of Ismailis in Shughnan, Badakhshan – political implications for Afghanistan. Middle Eastern Studies. 34(3): 103–120.
Emadi, Hafizullah (2000). Praxis of taqiyya: perseverance of Pashaye Ismaili enclave, Nangarhar, Afghanistan. Central Asian Survey. 19(2): 253–264.
Firro, Kais (1999). The Druzes in the Jewish State: A Brief History. Brill Academic Publishers.
Gleave, Robert (2000). Inevitable Doubt. Two Theories of Shi'i Jurisprudence. Brill Academic Publishers.

Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib al- (1997). The Reliance of the Traveler, translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Amana Publications.
Makarem, Sami (2004). Al-Taqiyya Fi Al-Islam (Dissimulation in Islam), Druze Heritage Foundation.  (in Arabic)

External links

"al-Taqiyya/Dissimulation" (Part I, Part II, Part III), A Shi'ite Encyclopedia

Arabic words and phrases
Arabic words and phrases in Sharia
Counter-jihad
Crypto-Islam
Islam-related controversies
Ismaili theology
Sharia legal terminology
Shia theology

Taqiya


The Volkswagen Virtus is a subcompact sedan (B-segment) manufactured by the German automaker Volkswagen since 2018. It is based on the Polo Mk6 with an extended wheelbase and the same Volkswagen Group MQB A0 platform, which it also closely shares with the Taigo/Nivus and T-Cross/Taigun.

It was first introduced in Brazil in November 2017, with sales starting in January 2018. From Brazil, the vehicle has been exported throughout Latin America. In March 2022, the vehicle was introduced in India to replace the Vento and uses the MQB A0 IN platform adapted for India.

The Virtus is also marketed as the Volkswagen Polo Sedan in South Africa since September 2022, and as the Volkswagen Lavida XR in China since June 2023. A redesigned version has been sold as the Škoda Slavia in India, which was introduced in November 2021 and went on sale in February 2022.

Markets

Brazil
The Virtus was introduced in Brazil on 16 November 2017 as a sedan counterpart to the Polo, and slots between the smaller Voyage and the larger Jetta in VW Brazil sedan line-up. It uses the same front fascia as the Polo, including the modifications that were made to the Polo for the South American market such as redesigned bumper. It also features a longer wheelbase which stood at ,  longer than the Polo. The trunk has a capacity of 521 litre, an increase of 200 litre from the Polo.

In Brazil, all Virtus versions are sold as flex-fuel vehicles (petrol and ethanol). The base 1.6-litre MSI four-cylinder engine generates  with petrol and  with ethanol. The rest of the options are all equipped with the TSI engines, with 1.0-litre ( gasoline,  ethanol), and 1.4-litre ( with both fuels), the latter only available for the GTS version.

In February 2023, Virtus sold in Brazil received a restyling, which brought updates to the model. The GTS version was discontinued, being replaced by a version called Exclusive which is powered with the 1.4-litre TSI engine ( with both fuels). In addition, the basic versions are powered by the 170 TSI 1.0-litre engine ( gasoline,  ethanol) which replaced the base 1.6-litre MSI four-cylinder engine. The mid-range versions, Comfortline and Highline retains the 200 TSI 1.0 litre engine, with 1.0-litre ( gasoline,  ethanol).

Powertrain

Argentina
The Virtus was released in Argentina in February 2018 with a sole 1.6-litre MSI engine with 6-speed automatic transmission.

Mexico
In Mexico, the Virtus was launched in August 2019, equipped with a 1.6-litre MSI four-cylinder with . During its initial release, the model was imported from Brazil and placed between the Indian-made Vento and the Jetta.

In September 2022, the updated Virtus was released for the 2023 model year. It is imported from India, while the Vento was discontinued. An optional 1.0-litre TSI engine was introduced alongside the older 1.6-litre engine.

India
The Virtus was introduced in India on 8 March 2022 as a replacement to the Vento and the sister model of the Škoda Slavia. It was launched with the facelifted appearance, differentiated with the Polo and with a revised dashboard design. The Indian version is localized with up to 95% of its parts. As with the Taigun, Škoda Kushaq and Škoda Slavia, it uses the MQB A0 IN platform, and will be exported to 25 countries.

Available models are the Dynamic Line with the locally produced three-cylinder 1.0 TSI engine producing  and Performance Line equipped with the four-cylinder 1.5-liter TSI engine featuring cylinder deactivation technology with .

The Virtus GT is the range-topping model which features cosmetic upgrades as compared to the Dynamic line such as dual-tone roof along with sunroof, red accents, red brake calipers and aluminum pedals similar to GTI models. Equipment list included ventilated front seats, wireless smartphone charging, an eight-inch digital instrument cluster, sunroof, and ambient lighting. Sales started in June 2022.

Powertrain

China
The vehicle was introduced in June 2023 in China as the Lavida XR, sharing the nameplate with the larger and more advanced Lavida sedan while targeting younger customers. It is mostly identical to the Virtus, with few changes such as different grille pattern, chrome on the air intake on the front bumpers, and dark-tinted tail lights. It is powered by a 1.5-litre MPI engine producing  and  with a 6-speed automatic transmission. It replaced the second-generation Lavida and the Santana.

Safety

Latin America
The made-in-Brazil Volkswagen Virtus was sold in Latin America with a standard safety specification of four airbags including two frontal airbags and two seat-mounted side combination torso-head airbags, i-Size approved ISOFIX anchorages, three-point seatbelts in all seats, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners. Electronic Stability Control and post-collision braking were sold in volumes high enough for Latin NCAP's five star rating.

The Virtus was tested by the New Car Assessment Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean (Latin NCAP) in 2017 and achieved five stars for both adult and child protection, performing well across all areas of assessment including the ESC test and side, front and pole impacts (the last two were carried over from the Polo based on technical evidence supplied by Volkswagen). The Virtus also received an award from Latin NCAP Advanced for its pedestrian protection.

In 2020, Latin NCAP introduced a geometric evaluation for head protection airbags for rear occupants; the updated Virtus for Latin America is equipped with curtain airbags instead of the older seat-mounted combination torso-head airbags, and is fitted with rear-seat belt reminders. Higher trim levels are also sold with Autonomous Emergency Braking, which is part of Latin NCAP's 2020 assessment protocols. Latin NCAP reassessed the facelifted Virtus against their new protocols in 2022, and it achieved the maximum five star safety rating.

India
The Virtus is sold in India with a standard safety specification of two frontal airbags, i-Size compatible ISOFIX anchorages, Electronic Stability Control, three-point seatbelts for all seats, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, post-collision braking and a tyre pressure monitor. Higher trim levels are fitted with front-seat side torso airbags, and front and rear head-protecting curtains.

In April 2023, the Virtus was awarded five stars for adult and child occupant protection by the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) under its Safer Cars for India project after testing performed at Škoda's expense. In the frontal offset impact of the Virtus' corporate twin, the Škoda Slavia, against a deformable aluminium honeycomb at 64km/h, dummy readings indicated low or limited risk of serious injury to all critical body regions, the passenger compartment remained stable and Škoda demonstrated that the car's dual retractor-lap pretensioning system would protect the knees of occupants of different sizes or seating positions from impact with hard points in the fascia. However, moderate rearward intrusion of the brake pedal into the footwell resulted in protection of the driver's feet being rated marginal.

In the side mobile barrier impact, performed on a Virtus unit, deceleration of the driver's head indicated there was hard contact with the roof liner, and protection was downrated to adequate despite dummy readings of HIC not indicating a high enough risk of serious injury. Dummy readings of deflection of the driver's ribs and forces in his pubic symphysis indicated a limited risk of serious thoracic and abdominal injury. In the side pole test, dummy readings of rib deflection indicated a moderate risk of serious fracture, but the optional curtain airbags fitted to the test unit worked well to produce head injury readings well within the tolerances allowed.

Using the Britax Dualfix child restraints selected by Volkswagen and installed rearward-facing using i-Size anchorages, both the child dummies achieved maximum points for dynamics, but the Virtus lost points in the vehicle-based portion of the assessment because it does not offer a means to disconnect the front passenger airbag, should the need to install a rearward-facing child restraint on that seat arise. The Virtus met minimum European regulatory requirements for electronic stability control performance and pedestrian protection.

The rating for the Virtus has not yet been extended to Global NCAP's Safer Cars for Africa project. In South Africa, where the Virtus is sold as the Polo Sedan, side thorax or head (curtain) airbags are not available on any variant, so the Polo Sedan will not be eligible for the side pole test required for a rating of four stars or better.

Sales

References

External links

 Official website (India)

Virtus
Cars introduced in 2017
2020s cars
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Subcompact cars
Sedans
Latin NCAP superminis
Global NCAP superminis
Cars of Brazil

Volkswagen Virtus


The word ain't is a contraction of is not, have not, are not and has not in English vernacular.

The development for ain't happened independently and at different times. The usage of ain't for the forms of to be not was established during the 18th century, and to have not by the early 19th century.

The using of ain't is a major subject of controversy in English. The word is used by many speakers in oral and informal settings. But its use is often with stigma.

Ain't is found all across the English-speaking world in many regions and classes. The word is of a nonstandard nature.

Ain't is used all over the United Kingdom. Its geographical distribution has increased over time. It is also found all over the United States, including in the South, New England, the Mid-Atlantic States, the Appalachia and the Upper Midwest. But ain't can also be used in the Great Plains and other Midwestern States.

In England, ain't is generally considered to be a nonstandard or illiterate usage. That's because it is used by people of a lower socio-economic class and by educated people with an informal manner.

Ain't is also used in Australia and New Zealand.

References

Slang

Ain't


Yvonne Page, known professionally as Jill Day (5 December 1930 – 16 November 1990) was an English pop singer and actress in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Career
She was born in Brighton, Sussex, England, and found fame in film, radio and television. By 1954, as the former lead singer for Geraldo's Orchestra, she had topped the bill at the London Palladium, and co-starred in the West End production of The Talk of the Town. A Jill Day comic strip drawn by Denis Gifford was published in Star Comics (1954), edited by Gifford and Bob Monkhouse. Day also appeared in the 1955 comedy film, All for Mary. She also sang on the soundtrack of The Good Companions and Doctor at Sea. In 1957, she competed in the heats of the contest to represent the United Kingdom in the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest, eventually losing out to Patricia Bredin. Day was known for her long slim dresses with stiff petticoat under the below-the-knee hem which she wore in numerous television appearances.

In the early 1960s, Day had her own comedy sketch show on BBC Television, The Jill Day Show. She also appeared on Dee Time.

She faded from public view as public taste for pop music changed through the late 1950s and 1960s, eventually retiring from show business to reside in London. She later owned racehorses and had a number of business ventures including a theatrical agency and a baby clothes company.

She died from cancer in November 1990 in Kingston-Upon-Thames, Surrey, England, at the age of 59.

Discography
In March 2003, a compilation album of her best-known songs was released, The Very Best of Jill Day:
 "Sincerely"
 "Happiness Street"
 "I'm Old Fashioned"
 "Holiday Affair"
 "Quiet Man"
 "Mangos"
 "Tear Fell"
 "Little Johnny Rainbow"
 "I Dreamed"
 "Cinco Robles"
 "Give Her My Love When You Meet Her"
 "I'll Think About You"
 "I Hear You Knocking"
 "Hold Me In Your Arms"
 "Wherever You May Be"
 "Far Away From Everybody"
 "Snowy Snowy Mountain"
 "Somewhere In The Great Beyond"
 "Oh Daddy Can I Be Your Dolly Forever"
 "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"
 "Ding Dong"
 "Lonely Nightingale"
 "Promises"
 "Way Of Love"
 "Chee Chee Oo Chee"
 "Whistlin' Willie"

References

External links

1930 births
1990 deaths
Traditional pop music singers
Musicians from Brighton
20th-century English singers

Jill Day


Hilkka Terttu Hilda Toivola (20 June 1909 – 19 September 2002) was a Finnish artist who created many stained-glass works, particularly for churches.

Biography
Toivola's parents were train engine driver Herman Frederick Toivola and Hilda Emilia Tammi. Both her mother and her older brother had also studied art in Turku.
She studied at the Turku Art Academy (Turun piirustuskoulu) from 1932 to 1935, graduating with honours. Toivola also studied with glass painters Giovanni Toller in Florence (1938) and Pierre Gaudin in Paris (1951). At the Turku Art Academy she was a drawing instructor (1942–1945, 1964–1969) and later its rector (1969–1973).

Toivola married the painter Otso Karpakka (1914-2005); both were involved in Ryhmä 9, a Turku-based artists' collective that functioned from 1951 to 1959. The couple were unusual in having worked alongside each other as artists for some 60 years, cooperating in the creation of several large frescoes and stained-glass pieces. Nevertheless, they each had separate artistic careers. The Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art mounted a large exhibition featuring 600 Toivola and Karpakka works (2006–2007), and published a bilingual Finnish-Swedish book on the artist couple's lives and work.

In 1943, she received a 10,000-mark prize in a mural competition sponsored by Helsinki art dealer Ivar Hörhammer. In 1970 Toivola was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal.

See also
 Langinkoski Church

References

2002 deaths
1909 births
20th-century Finnish women artists
Finnish women artists
Women glass artists

Hilkka Toivola


Kotlassia (meaning "of Kotlas") extinct genus of kotlassiine seymouriamorph from the Late Permian of Russia. The type, and currently only, species is K. prima.

Discovery and naming
During the 1890s, Russian paleontologist Vladimir Amalitsky discovered freshwater sediments dating from the Upper Permian in Northern Dvina, Arkhangelsk Oblast, northern European Russia. The locality, known as PIN 2005, consists of a creek with sandstone and lens-shaped exposures in a bank escarpment, containing many particularly well-preserved fossil skeletons, including the holotypes of Inostrancevia and Kotlassia.

Vladimir Amalitzky named and described Kotlassia prima in 1921 on the basis of the holotype specimen, an entire skeleton, and one additional skull; the additional skull has been described ad over-prepared by Bulanov (2003). It is often incorrectly assumed that Kotlassia prima was described by Amalitzky in 1898.

A second species, K. secunda, was also named by Amalitsky (1921), but it has since been placed within the genus Karpinskiosaurus as K. secundus.

In 1935, Aleksandra Paulinovna Anna Hartmann-Weinberg falsely identified several ribs and osteoderms she found in Amalitsky's collection, to Kotlassia prima. Later, these would actually be confirmed to be the first chroniosuchian remains. However, because of Hartmann-Weinberg's false attribution previously attributing the ribs and osteoderms to Kotlassia, subsequent osteoderms and vertebral columns discovered later – originally belonging to chroniosuchids – would be ascribed to Kotlassia, before the corrections would be made.

Classification
Kotlassia has been allied with the family Kotlassiidae, which is within the order Seymouriamorpha. It has been highly debated where exactly the Kotlassia falls into, within a phylogenetic tree, but recent analyses have chosen Kotlassia to be a basal member of Seymouriamorpha.

Description

Kotlassia grew up to around  in length, and possessed many amphibian-like characteristics.

Similar to other reptiles, Kotlassia had 2 sacral vertebrae present, however their limbs were generally smaller with a more 'salamander-like frame', which was indicated by its longer torso and shorter legs, hinting towards an aquatic lifestyle.

Also, the skull of Kotlassia was small, possessing a shorter rostrum, slender stapes, and more dorsally directed orbits. Additionally, while the adult form was terrestrial, it has been hypothesized that the Kotlassia had an aquatic larval stage, similar to Discosauriscus and Seymouria.

Skull
Many seymouriamorphs had sharp, slightly curved, conical teeth and palatal fangs, suggestive of a predatory lifestyle. They also had labyrinthine marginal teeth, with Kotlassia having a small row of labyrinthine teeth on the palatine and transverse bones, forming an S-shaped row on each side. The tooth size decreases gradually from the internal naris farther away. Delving into their tooth structure, Kotlassia had the same kind of folds in the dentinal walls of their teeth as the typical labyrinthodont – such as Benthosuchus sushkini. Both Kotlassia and Benthosuchus had the same number of folds, and it is assumed that due to their vastly similar tooth structures that Kotlassia had the same order of change of their teeth as B. sushkini.

The teeth of the Kotlassia are rather small, and they do not have any large tusks on the palatal bones of the skull or the lower jaw. The skull of the Kotlassia is generally short and wide, with the length of the skull being an average of 7.5 to 12.5 cm, and the width being 8.5 to 14 cm. The dermal bones which form the skull roof are similar to typical labyrinthodonts and are covered by a round-celled structure, with the round cells on some bones taking the shape of long furrows (parietal, jugal, quadratojugal, squamosal). The orbits are also quite far apart on the skull and are surrounded by 5 bones (ithe lacrimal, pre- and postfrontal, postorbital, and jugal, with the jugal being distinctly larger than the other 4), while the external naris is on the most anterior portion of the skull. There is also a large pineal opening. Additionally, the otic notch is so deep that it penetrates so far into the skull roof that there is no contact between the squamosal and tabular. The stapes of Kotlassia was a relatively small ossicle with a slightly thickened summit – which was directed towards the otic notch, assumingly united to a tympanic membrane—and wide base that is pierced by a small canal. The base of the stapes does not stay within the edges of the fenestra ovalis either, indicating that the interval between the edge of the paroccipital and stapes was covered by a cartilaginous operculum, similar to modern salamanders and frogs.

Vertebrae and appendicular skeleton
Like Seymouria, Kotlassia has a long dorsal transverse process, deep on the anterior vertebrae and shorter posteriously. The body of the vertebra is amphicoelus (doubly concave) and a narrow canal for the notochord can be seen in the center. Additionally, the neural arches are completely fused with the centrum, with the neural spine being weakly developed.

In Kotlassia, the clavicle has a large prescapular process and is strongly expanded; the external surface where the prescapular process goes off is covered with the same round cellular sculptures as the dermal bones of the skull. After passing the ventral surface of the clavicle, the round cells gradually become transformed into elongated grooves. There is also a well-developed cleithrum behind the prescapular process. As for the ilium, ischium, and pubis of Kotlassia, they are completely ossified and entirely fused with each other. The tibia and femur of Kotlassia are relatively large and long, respectively, and since the metatarsal bones have not been preserved well, it is hard to accurately determine how many phalanges it had – but it has been hypothesized to be about 4.

References

Seymouriamorphs
Permian tetrapods
Fossils of Russia
Fossil taxa described in 1898

Kotlassia


Back to Childhood (Arabic: الرجوع الي الطفولة) is a biography of Moroccan writer Layla Abu Zeid about a woman who has been in Moroccan society for a long time, excluded and silent, as well as exposing herself to her privacy.

"When I wrote my first article in the late 1960s, I didn't even dare to sign it in my real name," the author says in the introduction about herself. When I wrote my first novel, I left the heroine's town unnamed, because it was my town. In other words, I had to wait many years before I dared write my autobiography. Even when I did so, I did not do it on my own, but because Professor Elizabeth Verna, a well-known American expert on Middle East affairs, asked me, in addition to being directed to a foreign audience, to allow me to correct possible preconceptions about Islam and Muslim women. "

The meaning of the novel
The true significance of the novel is that the author lived through a period in which the feminist side was suppressed in the literary sphere and wanted to break that barrier, highlight its side and achieve equality. Another reason is to motivate aspirants who have been prevented by obstacles and problems from achieving their goals. Laila Abu Zeid lived through her childhood in the colonial and post-independence period, which was difficult for the Moroccan people, yet she continued to progress to what it is now. The reason she chose the title of the novel "Back to Childhood" was because she wanted to remember the mother's element she had in her childhood and lost in her eldest.

Summary
The novel's summary consists of four sequential and integrated chapters, each of which presents part of the journey back In one chapter, Leila tells about her childhood and about her father's imprisonment in Rabat for leaking information from the French Department of Patriots, using his job as an interpreter in the French administration. After that, to talk about her mother Fatima's suffering and move her between Safro and Rabat weekly to visit her husband, The author presents the attitudes faced by the mother in which she portrays the control of Moroccan women's customs and traditions at the time, as illustrated by the unfolding scenes she experienced from her husband's family s property, which she had finally returned to her on the pretext of her husband And Leila moves in a class to take up her entry stage to French school and talks about her friends, Her games, her memories at Grandma's House, her grit, her endless songs and tales She also speaks of the persecution she suffered in preventing her from fasting by the supervisor and other situations, Leyla tells of her transition to the White People, her father's release and his rejoining of the patriots and about her mother's help to him with news and arms before he was remanded in prison, Then, after the return of Mohammed V and the independence of the country, Pasha appointed him to the city of Bani Melal, And about his return to prison life after being caught at a liberation meeting And his wife and daughters found out about his mistress at a court hearing, which invited them to miss him for a few hearings, He was surprised after the expiration of his sentence and his departure from prison that his daughter Leila had held one of the positions of the opposite State in her approach to his principles. The house became an unfinished arena of discussion between the two parties, and Ahmed Abu Zeid dies without answering Layla's questions. to make the real events told by the author from Lila a powerful woman who has been able to overcome the past by stepping out of her experience and resorting to writing to empty her interior.

References

Biographies (books)
Arabic literature
Moroccan culture

Back to childhood


Porto Alexandre, occasionally known in English as Port Alexander, is a bay in Angola. It is located in the Namibe Province.

Geography
Porto Alexandre is a very well-sheltered bay of the South Atlantic Ocean. The bay is facing east, with  high sandstone cliffs rising from the Ponta do Porto, the promontory guarding the eastern end of the harbour located at the end of the protecting landspit. Saco da Baleia is a bay located west of the western end of the spit.

The town of Tômbua is located on the southern shore of the bay. It was formerly a whaling port, but currently it is an important harbor for oil production and fishing in the area. The port has refrigeration facilities installed with European Union assistance at the Tombwa canning factory.

See also
 List of lighthouses in Angola
 Geography of Angola

References

Bays of the Atlantic Ocean
Bays of Angola

Porto Alexandre, Angola


Miguel Blesa de la Parra (8 August 1947 – 19 July 2017) was a Spanish banker, the chairman of the Spanish bank Caja Madrid from 1996 to 2009.

In February 2017, Blesa was sentenced to a six-year jail term in connection with the widespread misuse of company credit cards during his long tenure as chairman of Caja Madrid, but remained at liberty pending the outcome of an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Blesa was found dead on a private hunting estate in the province of Córdoba on 19 July 2017, with a shotgun wound to the chest. The autopsy on 20 July confirmed that he killed himself.
As the death of Rita Barberá and the others from Gürtel (Francisco Yáñez, María del Mar Rodríguez  and Isidro Cuberos) Blesa's heirs are liable for damages to the harmed.

He received a Golden Medal from the Real Academia de la Historia, and was awarded as Mejor Presidente de Entidad Financiera 2005 by Banca 15.

References

1947 births
2017 suicides
2017 deaths
Spanish bankers
People named in the Panama Papers
Suicides by firearm in Spain
Spanish fraudsters
University of Granada alumni
People from Linares, Jaén

Miguel Blesa


Destry Allyn Spielberg (born December 1, 1996) is an American film director and actress. She is the daughter of director Steven Spielberg and actress Kate Capshaw.

Life
Spielberg was born in Los Angeles and is the youngest biological child of Steven Spielberg and his second wife, Kate Capshaw. She has three sisters: Sasha Spielberg, Mikaela Spielberg and half-sister Jessica Capshaw, as well as three brothers: Sawyer Spielberg, Theo Spielberg, and half-brother Max Spielberg. While pursuing a career in equestrianism, she suffered an accident and she transitioned to film. At 19, she was a model for DT Model Management. In 2020, she got engaged to actor Genc Legrand, but they've since broken off the engagement. As of 2023, she's dating Jake Herskowitz.

Career
Spielberg played minor roles in I Know This Much Is True and the critically acclaimed Licorice Pizza and has done production assistant and props work on her father's films. Finding limited success with acting, she produced, directed and starred in her own short film, Rosie, in 2019, which screened at the Soho International Film Festival.

In 2022, she directed the short film Let Me Go (The Right Way), starring Brian d'Arcy James, which premiered at Tribeca and won Best Thriller at City of Angels Women's Film Festival. The short, which starred Sean Penn's son, Hopper Penn, and was written by Stephen King's son Owen King, attracted criticism from Franklin Leonard and sparked accusations of nepotism. Spielberg denied this, acknowledging her privileges, and citing her struggles but later deleted the tweet. The short was viewed by Basil Iwanyk, who offered her her first movie. In December 2022, it was announced she would direct Four Assassins (And A Funeral) for Thunder Road Films.

In May 2023, it was announced she would make her feature film directorial debut with Please Don't Feed the Children, starring Michelle Dockery.

References

External links

1996 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Los Angeles
American child actresses
American film actresses
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Steven Spielberg family
Jewish American actresses

Destry Spielberg


Southern Cross Telco, also known as Southern Cross Mobile or Southern Cross Telco & Mobile, is an Australian communications company, offering landline phone, mobile phone and internet services.  They are based in Hobart, Tasmania.

Their phone services use the Telstra GSM and CDMA networks and they resell Telstra ADSL.

They were formerly a subsidiary of Australian company Orion Telecommunications, which bought the European former parent company NewTel in 2004, but now operate as a subsidiary of M2 Group.

External links
Southern Cross Telco
Orion Telecommunications

Companies based in Hobart
Mobile phone companies of Australia
M2 Group

Southern Cross Telco


Orlando Jordan (born April 21, 1974) is an American professional wrestler who is currently working in the independent circuit.

Jordan has worked for WWE from 2003 to 2006. During his time in WWE, he won the WWE United States Championship one time when he defeated John Cena on the March 3, 2005 edition of SmackDown! with help from John "Bradshaw" Layfield. He was fired from the WWE on May 26, 2006 because he was travelling with someone that was not authorized by WWE to travel with him.

He worked in the independent circuit from 2006 to 2010 before debuting for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on January 4, 2010. During his time in TNA, he formed a tag team with Eric Young. Jordan was released from his TNA contract on July 11, 2011.

Jordan is openly bisexual.

Championships
All Action Wrestling (Australia)
AAW World Heavyweight Championship (one time)
High Risk Pro Wrestling (Australia)
HRPW World Heavyweight Championship (one time, Current)
Maryland Championship Wrestling
MCW Heavyweight Championship (one time)
Nu-Wrestling Evolution
NWE Heavyweight Championship (one time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
He was ranked #82 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2011.
World Wrestling Entertainment
WWE United States Championship (one time)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
Worst Gimmick in 2010.

References

1974 births
African-American wrestlers
American professional wrestlers
Bisexual people
Former WWE wrestlers
Impact Wrestling alumni
LGBT African Americans
LGBT people from New Jersey
LGBT sportspeople
Living people
Sportspeople from Miami
Sportspeople from Virginia

Orlando Jordan


Maitreyi () ("Wise one") was an Indian philosopher who lived during the later Vedic period in ancient India. She is mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as one of two wives of the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya; she is estimated to have lived around the 8th century BCE. In the Hindu epic Mahabharata and the Gṛhyasūtras, however, Maitreyi is described as an Advaita philosopher who never married.  In ancient Sanskrit literature, she is known as a brahmavadini (an expounder of the Veda).

Maitreyi appears in ancient Indian texts, such as in a dialogue where she explores the Hindu concept of Atman (soul or self) in a dialogue with Yajnavalkya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. According to this dialogue, love is driven by a person's soul, and Maitreyi discusses the nature of Atman and Brahman and their unity, the core of Advaita philosophy. This Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue is the topic of Sureshvara's varttika, a commentary.

Maitreyi is cited as an example of the educational opportunities available to women in Vedic India, and their philosophical achievements. She is considered a symbol of Indian intellectual women, and an institution is named in her honour in New Delhi.

Early life

In the Asvalayana Gṛhyasūtra, the daughter of the sage Maitri is referred to as Sulabha Maitreyi and is mentioned in the Gṛhyasūtras with several other women scholars of the Vedic era. Her father, who lived in the Kingdom of the Videhas, Mithila, was a minister in the court of King Janaka.

Although Maitreyi of ancient India, described as an Advaita philosopher, is said to be a wife of the sage Yajnavalkya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in the time of Janaka, the Hindu epic Mahabharata states Sulabha Maitreyi is a young beauty who never marries. In the latter, Maitreyi explains Advaita philosophy (monism) to Janaka and is described as a lifelong ascetic. She is called as a brahmavadini (a female expounder of the Veda) in ancient Sanskrit literature. Maitreyi and Yajnavalkya are estimated to have lived around the 8th century BCE.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Maitreyi is described as Yajnavalkya's scholarly wife; his other wife, Katyayani, was a housewife. While Yajnavalkya and Katyayani lived in contented domesticity, Maitreyi studied metaphysics and engaged in theological dialogues with her husband in addition to "making self-inquiries of introspection".

Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue
In the Rigveda about ten hymns are attributed to Maitreyi. She explores the Hindu concept of Atman (soul or self) in a dialogue contained in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The dialogue, also called the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue, states that love is driven by a person's soul, and it discusses the nature of Atman and Brahman and their unity, the core of Advaita philosophy.

This dialogue appears in several Hindu texts; the earliest is in chapter 2.4 – and modified in chapter 4.5 – of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, one of the principal and oldest Upanishads, dating from approximately 700 BCE. The Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue has survived in two manuscript recensions from the Madhyamdina and Kanva Vedic schools; although they have significant literary differences, they share the same philosophical theme.

After Yajnavalkya achieved success in the first three stages of his life – brahmacharya (as a student), grihastha (with his family) and vanaprastha (in retirement) – he wished to become a sannyasi (a renunciant) in his old age. He asked Maitreyi for permission, telling her that he wanted to divide his assets between her and Katyayani. Maitreyi said that she was not interested in wealth, since it would not make her "immortal", but wanted to learn about immortality:

In the dialogue which follows, Yajnavalkya explains his views on immortality in Atman (soul), Brahman (ultimate reality) and their equivalence. Maitreyi objects to parts of Yajnavalkya's explanation, and requests clarification.

Scholars have differing views on whether this dialogue is evidence that in ancient Vedic tradition women were accepted as active participants in spiritual discussions and as scholars of Brahman. Wendy Doniger, an Indologist and a professor of History of Religions, states that in this dialogue Maitreyi is not portrayed as an author, but is part of an Upanishadic story of a Brahmin with two wives who are distinguished by their intellect. Karen Pechelis, another American Indologist and a professor of Comparative Religion, in contrast, states that Maitreyi is portrayed as theologically minded, as she challenges Yajnavalkya in this dialogue and asks the right questions.

First-millennium Indian scholars, such as Sureshvara (Suresvaracharya, c. 750 CE), have viewed this male-female dialogue as profound on both sides; Maitreyi refuses wealth, wishing to share her husband's spiritual knowledge, and in the four known versions of the Upanishadic story she challenges Yajnavalkya's theory of Atman. Yajnavalkya acknowledges her motivations, and that her questions are evidence she is a seeker of ultimate knowledge and a lover of the Atman.

The Maitreyi dialogue in the Upanishad is significant beyond being a gage of gender relations. Adi Shankara, a scholar of the influential Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, wrote in his Brihadaranyakopanishad bhashya that the purpose of the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue in chapter 2.4 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is to highlight the importance of the knowledge of Atman and Brahman, and to understand their oneness. According to Shankara, the dialogue suggests renunciation is prescribed in the Sruti (vedic texts of Hinduism), as a means to knowledge of the Brahman and Atman. He adds, that the pursuit of self-knowledge is considered important in the Sruti because the Maitreyi dialogue is repeated in chapter 4.5 as a "logical finale" to the discussion of Brahman in the Upanishad.

Nature of love
The Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue includes a discussion of love and the essence of whom one loves, suggesting that love is a connection of the soul and the universal self (related to an individual):

According to theological author and editor Robert Van De Weyer, this asserts that all love is a reflection of one's own soul: parents' love of their children, a love of religion or of the entire world. German Indologist and Oxford University professor Max Müller says that the love described in the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad extends to all aspects of one's life and beyond; in verse 2.4.5, "The Devas (gods) are not dear to one out of love for gods, but because one may love the Self (Atman) that the gods are dear". In the dialogue "the Brahman-class, the Kshatra-class, these worlds, these gods, these beings, everything that is what this Soul is", and when "we see, hear, perceive and know the Self, then all is known".

Concluding his dialogue on the "inner self", or soul, Yajnavalkaya tells Maitreyi:

After Yajnavalkya leaves and becomes a sannyasi, Maitreyi becomes a sannyassini – she too wanders and leads a renunciate's life.

Legacy

Maitreyi, who is also mentioned in a number of Puranas, "is regarded as one of the most learned and virtuous women of ancient India" and symbolizes intellectual women in India. A college in New Delhi is named after her, as is the Matreyi Vedic Village, a retreat location in Tamil Nadu.

References

Bibliography

External links
Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya Dialogue, 1st set Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4, Max Muller (Translator)
Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya Dialogue, 2nd set Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5, Max Muller (Translator)
The conversation of Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi on the absolute self, 1st set, Swami Krishnananda (Translator)

Ancient Indian philosophers
Ancient Indian writers
Hindu philosophers and theologians
Rigveda
Indian women philosophers
Ancient Indian women writers
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Women mystics
8th-century BC Hindus
8th-century BC women
8th-century BC Indian philosophers
Ancient Mithila University

Maitreyi


Fishers Gap is a wind gap of the Blue Ridge Mountains located on the border of Madison County and Page County in Virginia in the Shenandoah National Park.  Both Skyline Drive and the Appalachian Trail pass across the gap.

Geography
The gap is approximately  above the surrounding countryside. The gap is nearly  below Hawksbill Mountain, the tallest in the park, to the north and  below Big Meadows and Stony Man Mountain to the south.  The Rose River flows down the hollow on the gap's east face and Little Hawksbill creek does the same down its west face.

History
Fishers Gap is named for a Stephen Fisher who received a Northern Neck Land Grant for 216 acres at the gap on 4 August 1778. His grant reads: "....do give, grant and confirm unto Stephen Fisher of Culpeper County a certain Tract of Waste & ungranted land near Milam's Pass on the Blue Ridge in Culpeper and Shenandoah Counties bounded as by Survey thereof made by Richard Young."   Deeds recording subsequent sales of this 216 acres can be traced to Isaac N. Long's sale to the Virginia State Commission on Conservation on 8 July 1931. The National Park Service then acquired the land for the Shenandoah National Park which labeled it: Madison County, Tract I. N. Long 141. The 1932 U. S. Geological Survey for the park shows that Madison County Tract 141 is exactly at their labeled Fisher's Gap.

The reference to "Milam's Pass" in Fisher's original Grant is also found in Fisher's 1770 land survey as well as in all later deeds including Isaac Long's 1894 purchase deed: "....to wit: The tract of 216 acres more or less of land lying in the counties of Madison & Page near what is known as Milam's pass or Milam's gap on the Blue Ridge Mountains being the same land adjoining what is known as the Meadows Tract...." The phrase is again found in Capt. Thomas Bohannon's 1805 land Grant: "....nigh a path called Milan's pass, on the North side of Double Top {Mountain}...." These references are to an early settler on Double Top Mountain named Thomas Milam who lived just east of Bohannon's land from the 1740s to 1760 and who most probably first discovered this path or pass across the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Shenandoah Valley which for so long bore his name.

Fisher's Gap doesn't appear on any map of the area until after the Gordonsville New Market Turnpike was completed in the Spring of 1853. It was constructed by the Blue Ridge Turnpike Company which was incorporated in 1848. Jedediah Hotchkiss, topographic engineer to General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, described the turnpike and his ride across Fisher's Gap in a letter to his wife in early November 1862: ".....Monday was a fine day, and I had a nice ride across the Blue Ridge, by the crookedest road I have ever seen -- 19 miles across -- but the road is a fine one -- I stopped for the night at the foot of the Mountain. Tuesday I came on to New Market...."  Two weeks later, during the American Civil War, Confederate General Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson led most of his army across the Gordonsville New Market Turnpike en route to Fredericksburg, where he played a significant role in the Battle of Fredericksburg a month later.

The sad end of the Gordonsville Newmarket Turnpike was recounted in the Blue Ridge Turnpike Company records of June, 1867: "....the road was used by both armies....whole organization was broken down and the {toll} Gates discontinued...." And on 5 June 1867: "....owing to the late war the Blue Ridge Turnpike Company has been disorganized...." Within the Shenandoah National Park, the 105 mile long Skyline Drive was constructed between 1933 and 1939. Just north of the Big Meadows rest center - near mile marker 50 - there is the Fisher's Gap Overlook (3140 Feet Altitude). The remnants of the Gordonsville New Market Turnpike survive today as the Rose River and Redgate fire roads within the park.

References

External links
Detailed history of Fisher's Gap/Milam's Gap
Guide to the SNP

Wind gaps of Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains
Landforms of Page County, Virginia
Landforms of Madison County, Virginia

Fishers Gap


James Haywood Southgate (July 12, 1859 – September 29, 1916), was an American spokesman for prohibition. He served as the vice presidential candidate of a faction of the Prohibition Party which broke away from the main party in 1896, running with Charles Eugene Bentley.

Biography
Southgate was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on 12 July 1859, the son of James and Delia (née Haywood) Southgate, and was a descendant of John Southgate of England. He moved with his parents to North Carolina in 1861; there, he attended local academies, and the University of North Carolina (1876–78). He was engaged in the banking and insurance business in Durham, North Carolina, after 1882. That year, he married Katherine "Kate" Fuller, the daughter of Bartholomew and Wilhelmena (née Haldane) Fuller. They had two sons before her sudden death in 1893.

He was a Democrat and became president of the YMCA of North Carolina, as well as treasurer of the State Sunday School Association. He later joined the Prohibition Party and became a member of the platform committee, which held hearings at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1892.

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1896, he voted with a breakaway faction of the party that attempted to broaden the party's appeal beyond the issue of prohibition. Styled as the "National Prohibition Party," "The Liberty Party," or the "Silver Prohibitionists" (after their desire to have the dollar based on the value of silver rather than gold), this party nominated Charles Eugene Bentley of Nebraska for President and Southgate for Vice President. Although many of their supporters abandoned the ticket for Democrat William Jennings Bryan, Bentley and Southgate campaigned without anger or recrimination. The ticket garnered 19,363 votes out of a total of 14 million total votes cast that year, far below the 1892 showing for the party.

A civic leader in Durham, Southgate became a trustee of both Trinity College and Duke University in that city. Southgate died at his home, "Southgate Cabin," in Durham on 29 September 1916 at the age of 57. He was laid to rest in the Maplewood Cemetery in that city.

References
Colvin, David Leigh, "Prohibition in the United States: A History of the Prohibition Party, and of the Prohibition Movement" (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1926), 256-57.

Russell, Mattie U., "Southgate, James Haywood" in William S. Powell, ed., "Dictionary of North Carolina Biography" (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press; six volumes, 1979–96), V:401-02.

"[Obituary:] Jas. H. Southgate, Prohibitionist," The New York Times, 30 September 1916, 11.

External links

1859 births
1916 deaths
Prohibition Party (United States) vice presidential nominees
1896 United States vice-presidential candidates
North Carolina Democrats
Politicians from Norfolk, Virginia
American people of English descent
University of North Carolina alumni
Politicians from Durham, North Carolina
North Carolina Prohibitionists
Activists from North Carolina

James H. Southgate


Larry Grenadier (born February 6, 1966 in San Francisco) is an American jazz double bassist.

Early life
Grenadier's father was a trumpet player in World War II army bands and later in Europe, but stopped playing professionally before his children were born. Grenadier began on trumpet when he was in fifth grade, before beginning to play the bass the following year. Grenadier's brothers played trumpet and guitar. Grenadier's father helped introduce him to the instruments and music theory. Larry's older brother Phil began listening to jazz around this time, influencing his sibling's musical interests. Grenadier began listening to several jazz bassists including Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Richard Davis, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware and Oscar Pettiford, among others.

At age 12 Grenadier began formal study of the acoustic bass, learning from local jazz bass players Chris Poehlor, Paul Breslin, and Frank Tusa and later classical bassists Michael Burr and Stephen Tramontozzi. At 16, Grenadier had a busy career playing in the San Francisco Bay Area with both local musicians and those traveling through town in need of a bass player. These musicians included Harvey Wainapel, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Larry Vuckovitch, Eddie Henderson, Bruce Forman, Eddie Marshall, Vince Lateano, George Cables and Donald Bailey, Toots Thielmans, Johnny Griffin, Charles McPherson and Frank Morgan, among others.

Grenadier studied at Stanford University and graduated in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in English Literature. At Stanford, he met Stan Getz, with whom he toured.

Career

After graduating from Stanford, Grenadier moved to Boston to play with vibraphonist Gary Burton. In 1991, he moved to New York. He continued to collaborate with some of the musicians he had met during his time in Boston, such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joshua Redman, Mark Turner, Jorge Rossy, and Chris Cheek. Others he met for the first time in New York include Bill Stewart, Kevin Hays, Renee Rosnes, Ralph Moore, Billy Drummond, Danilo Perez, David Sánchez, Tom Harrell and Billy Hart. Grenadier continued his association with Joe Henderson, touring with his band which at times included Al Foster, Renee Rosnes and Larry Willis. He also spent a few months during his earlier years in New York playing in Betty Carter's band.

In the early 1990s, Grenadier first met and played with pianist Brad Mehldau. He joined Mehldau's Trio with drummer Jorge Rossy; together they toured and recorded for more than ten years. Rossy was replaced by drummer Jeff Ballard in 2004.

Grenadier has worked with guitarist Pat Metheny, with whom he toured as a trio along with drummer Bill Stewart. He credits his experiences touring with Metheny's trio as a significant learning experience.

Grenadier has also played with John Scofield, Hudson (a collaborative project with Jack DeJohnette, John Medeski and John Scofield),  Charles Lloyd, Chris Potter, Billy Higgins, Michael Brecker, and Paul Motian, among many others.

Grenadier is a member of FLY, a trio which includes drummer Jeff Ballard and tenor saxophonist Mark Turner. They have recorded three critically acclaimed albums. He also tours and records with his wife, singer-songwriter Rebecca Martin. A landmark solo bass album The Gleaners was issued by the ECM label in 2019.

Grenadier lives with Rebecca and their son Charlie James in the Hudson Valley, north of New York City.

Gallery

Selected discography

As leader
 The Gleaners (ECM, 2019)
With BeatleJazz
 With a Little Help From Our Friends (Lightyear, 2005)
 All You Need is Love (Lightyear, 2007)
With Peter Beets
 New York Trio – Page Two (Criss Cross, 2002)
With Peter Bernstein
 Heart's Content (Criss Cross, 2002)
 Stranger in Paradise (Venus, 2004)
With Seamus Blake
 The Call (Criss Cross, 1993)
 Four Track Mind (Criss Cross, 1994)
With Chris Cheek
 Blues Cruise (Fresh Sound, 2005)
With George Colligan
 The Endless Mysteries (Origin, 2013)
With Fly
 Fly (Savory, 2004)
 Sky & Country (ECM, 2009)
 Year of the Snake (ECM, 2012)
With Jon Gordon
 Ask Me Now (Criss Cross, 1994)
 Currents (Double-Time, 1998)
With Phil Grenadier
 Sweet Transients (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2000)
 Playful Intentions (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2002)
With Kevin Hays
 Ugly Beauty (SteepleChase, 1991)
With Hudson (Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, John Medeski, and Larry Grenadier)
 Hudson (Motéma, 2013)
With Ethan Iverson
 Costumes Are Mandatory (HighNote, 2013)
 Every Note Is True (Blue Note, 2022)
With David Kikoski
 Details (Criss Cross, 2003)
 Limits (Criss Cross, 2005)
With Jonathan Kreisberg
 Nine Stories Wide (Criss Cross, 2003)
With Charles Lloyd
 The Water Is Wide (ECM, 1999)
 Hyperion with Higgins (ECM, 1999)
 Lift Every Voice (ECM, 2002)
With Herbie Mann
 America/Brasil (Lightyear, 1995)
 Celebration (Lightyear, 1995)
With Brad Mehldau
 Introducing Brad Mehldau (Warner Bros., 1995)
 The Art of the Trio Volume One (Warner Bros., 1997)
 Live at the Village Vanguard: The Art of the Trio Volume Two (Warner Bros., 1998)
 Songs: The Art of the Trio Volume Three (Warner Bros., 1998)
 Art of the Trio 4: Back at the Vanguard (Warner Bros., 1999)
 Places (Warner Bros., 2000)
 Progression: The Art of the Trio, Vol. 5 (Warner Bros., 2001)
 Largo (Warner Bros., 2002)
 Anything Goes (Warner Bros., 2004)
 Day Is Done (Nonesuch, 2005)
 House on Hill (Nonesuch, 2006)
 Brad Mehldau Trio Live (Nonesuch, 2008)
 Highway Rider (Nonesuch, 2009)
 Ode (Nonesuch, 2012)
 Where Do You Start (Nonesuch, 2012)
 Blues and Ballads (Nonesuch, 2016)
 Seymour Reads the Constitution! (Nonesuch, 2018)
With Pat Metheny
 Trio 99 → 00 (Warner Bros., 2000)
 Trio → Live (Warner Bros., 2000)
 Metheny/Mehldau (Nonesuch, 2006)
 Metheny/Mehldau Quartet (Nonesuch, 2007)
With Paul Motian
 Trio 2000 + One (Winter & Winter 1997)
 On Broadway Vol. 4 or The Paradox of Continuity (Winter & Winter, 2005)
 Live at the Village Vanguard (Winter & Winter, 2006)
 Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. II (Winter & Winter, 2006)
 Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. III (Winter & Winter, 2006)
With Rebecca Martin
 Thoroughfare (Sunnyside, 1998)
 Middlehope (Fresh Sound, 2000)
 The Growing Season (Sunnyside, 2008)
 When I Was Long Ago (Sunnyside, 2010)
 Twain (Sunnyside, 2013)
The Upstate Project (Sunnyside, 2017)
With MTB
 Consenting Adults (Criss Cross, 1994)
With Wolfgang Muthspiel
 Rising Grace (ECM, 2016)
 Where the River Goes (ECM, 2018)
With Chris Potter
 Pure (Concord, 1994)
 Moving In (Concord, 1996)
 The Sirens (ECM, 2013) with Craig Taborn, David Virelles and Eric Harland
With Enrico Rava
 New York Days (ECM, 2008)
With Joshua Redman
 Timeless Tales (Warner Bros., 1998)
 Back East (Nonesuch, 2007)
 Compass (Nonesuch, 2009)
 Walking Shadows (Nonesuch, 2013)
With Kurt Rosenwinkel
 Deep Song (Verve, 2005)
With Jamie Saft
 Borscht Belt Studies (Tzadik, 2011)
 Fight Against Babylon (Veal, 2011) New Zion Trio
With David Sánchez
 Sketches of Dreams (Columbia, 1994)
With Stan Sulzmann
 The Jigsaw (Basho, 2004)
With Mark Turner
Two Tenor Ballads (Criss Cross Jazz, 1994 [2000]) with Tad Shull
 Yam Yam (Criss Cross, 1994)
 In This World (Warner Bros., 1998)
With Scott Wendholt
 From Now On (Criss Cross, 1995)
With Steve Wilson
 Four for Time (Criss Cross, 1994)
With Frank Wess and Johnny Coles
Two at the Top (Uptown, 1988 [2012])
With Chihiro Yamanaka
 When October Goes (Atelier Sawano, 2002)
 Madrigal (Atelier Sawano, 2004)
 Lach Doch Mal (Verve, 2006)
 Reminiscence (Verve, 2011)

References

1966 births
Living people
American jazz double-bassists
Male double-bassists
21st-century double-bassists
21st-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
Vital Information members
Fly (band) members
Motéma Music artists
ECM Records artists

Larry Grenadier


A bile canaliculus (plural:bile canaliculi; also called bile capillaries) is a thin tube that collects bile secreted by hepatocytes. The bile canaliculi empty into a series of progressively larger bile ductules and ducts, which eventually become common hepatic duct. The bile canaliculi empty directly into the canals of Hering.

Hepatocytes are polyhedral in shape, therefore having no set shape or design, although they are made of cuboidal epithelial cells. They have surfaces facing the sinusoids (called sinusoidal faces) and surfaces which contact other hepatocytes (called lateral faces). Bile canaliculi are formed by grooves on some of the lateral faces of these hepatocytes.

Microvilli are present in the canaliculi.

External links

Hepatology

Bile canaliculus


The Northern Territory Electoral Commission (NTEC) is an independent government  agency of the Government of the Northern Territory with responsibility for the conduct of elections for the unicameral NT Legislative Assembly, referendums and local government (Council) elections. It also determines electoral boundaries for the NT and provides electoral advice and services to government and on-government agencies. It is also responsible for electoral research, registration of political parties and tracking of their finances, and promoting public awareness of elections. The NTEC was established on 15 March 2004, by the Electoral Act 2004.

Structure and Staffing
The NT Electoral Commission consists of a small number of full-time staff, including the Electoral Commissioner, Iain Loganathan. The commission hires casual workers around election times, when work levels grow.

See also

 Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
 Electoral divisions of the Northern Territory
 Electoral systems of the Australian states and territories
 Parliaments of the Australian states and territories

References

External links

Elections in the Northern Territory
Electoral commissions in Australia
Government agencies of the Northern Territory

Northern Territory Electoral Commission


The mesosphere (; ) is the third layer of the atmosphere, directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. In the mesosphere, temperature decreases as altitude increases. This characteristic is used to define limits: it begins at the top of the stratosphere (sometimes called the stratopause), and ends at the mesopause, which is the coldest part of Earth's atmosphere, with temperatures below . The exact upper and lower boundaries of the mesosphere vary with latitude and with season (higher in winter and at the tropics, lower in summer and at the poles), but the lower boundary is usually located at altitudes from  above sea level, and the upper boundary (the mesopause) is usually from .

The stratosphere and mesosphere are sometimes collectively referred to as the "middle atmosphere", which spans altitudes approximately between  above Earth's surface. The mesopause, at an altitude of , separates the mesosphere from the thermosphere—the second-outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere. On Earth, the mesopause nearly co-incides with the turbopause, below which different chemical species are well-mixed due to turbulent eddies. Above this level the atmosphere becomes non-uniform because the scale heights of different chemical species differ according to their molecular masses.

The term near space is also sometimes used to refer to altitudes within the mesosphere. This term does not have a technical definition, but typically refers to the region roughly between the Armstrong limit (about 62,000 ft or 19 km, above which humans require a pressure suit in order to survive) and the Kármán line (where astrodynamics must take over from aerodynamics in order to achieve flight); or, by another definition, to the space between the highest altitude commercial airliners fly at (about 40,000 ft (12.2 km)) and the lowest perigee of satellites being able to orbit the Earth (about 45 mi (73 km)). Some sources distinguish between the terms "near space" and "upper atmosphere", so that only the layers closest to the Kármán line are described as "near space".

Temperature
Within the mesosphere, temperature decreases with increasing height. This is a result of decreasing absorption of solar radiation by the rarefied atmosphere having a diminishing relative ozone concentration as altitude increases (ozone being the main absorber in the UV wavelengths that survived absorption by the thermosphere). Additionally, this is also a result of increasing cooling by CO2 radiative emission. The top of the mesosphere, called the mesopause, is the coldest part of Earth's atmosphere. Temperatures in the upper mesosphere fall as low as about , varying according to latitude and season.

Dynamic features

The main most important features in this region are strong zonal (East-West) winds, atmospheric tides, internal atmospheric gravity waves (commonly called "gravity waves"), and planetary waves. Most of these tides and waves start in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, and propagate to the mesosphere. In the mesosphere, gravity-wave amplitudes can become so large that the waves become unstable and dissipate. This dissipation deposits momentum into the mesosphere and largely drives global circulation.

Noctilucent clouds are located in the mesosphere. The upper mesosphere is also the region of the ionosphere known as the D layer, which is only present during the day when some ionization occurs with nitric oxide being ionized by Lyman series-alpha hydrogen radiation. The ionization is so weak that when night falls, and the source of ionization is removed, the free electron and ion form back into a neutral molecule.

A  deep sodium layer is located between . Made of unbound, non-ionized atoms of sodium, the sodium layer radiates weakly to contribute to the airglow. The sodium has an average concentration of 400,000 atoms per cubic centimetre. This band is regularly replenished by sodium sublimating from incoming meteors. Astronomers have begun utilizing this sodium band to create "guide stars" as part of the adaptive optical correction process used to produce ultra-sharp ground-based observations. Other metal layers, e.g. iron and potassium, exist in the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere region as well.

Beginning in October 2018, a distinct type of aurora has been identified, originating in the mesosphere. Often referred to as 'dunes' due to their resemblance to sandy ripples on a beach, the green undulating lights extend toward the equator. They have been identified as originating about  above the surface. Since auroras are caused by ultra-high-speed solar particles interacting with atmospheric molecules, the green color of these dunes has tentatively been explained by the interaction of those solar particles with oxygen molecules. The dunes therefore occur where mesospheric oxygen is more concentrated.

Millions of meteors enter the Earth's atmosphere, averaging 40,000 tons per year. The ablated material, called meteoric smoke, is thought to serve as condensation nuclei for noctilucent clouds.

Exploration
The mesosphere lies above altitude records for aircraft, while only the lowest few kilometers are accessible to balloons, for which the altitude record is . Meanwhile, the mesosphere is below the minimum altitude for orbital spacecraft due to high atmospheric drag. It has only been accessed through the use of sounding rockets, which are only capable of taking mesospheric measurements for a few minutes per mission. As a result, it is the least-understood part of the atmosphere, resulting in the humorous moniker ignorosphere. The presence of red sprites and blue jets (electrical discharges or lightning within the lower mesosphere), noctilucent clouds, and density shears within this poorly understood layer are of current scientific interest.

On February 1, 2003,  broke up on reentry at about  altitude, in the lower mesosphere, killing all seven crew members.

Phenomena in mesosphere and near space

 Airglow
 Atmospheric tides
 Ionosphere
 Meteors
 Noctilucent clouds
 Polar aurora
 Sprite (lightning)
 Upper atmospheric lightning (Transient luminous event)

See also
 Aeronomy
 Amateur radio high-altitude ballooning
 Geospace
 High altitude

References

External links
 Description with links to other atmospheric topics
 Students And Teachers In Near Space
 Near Space Systems
 Space Data Corporation
 The B.H.A.L.D.I. Project

Atmosphere
Atmosphere of Earth

Mesosphere


The mizwad (mezoued, mizwid) (Algerian Arabic / Tunisian Arabic : مِزْود; plural مَزاود mazāwid, literally "sack," "bag," or "food pouch") is a  type of bagpipes played in Tunisia and Algeria, . The instrument consists of a skin bag made from ewe's leather, with a joined double-chanter, terminating in two cow horns, similar to a hornpipe (instrument).This instrument is played with a single-reed.

The ethnomusicologist Anthony Baines stated that the term "zukra" is also used for this instrument, however, bagpipe enthusiast, Oliver Seeler, states that this connection is incorrect. While the Zukra may be similar, it is not the same, It is instead a wind instrument in Libya, which is similar to the mizwad though not the same.

Mizwad is a popular type of traditional music in Tunisia and Algeria which incorporates a type of North African drum called the Darbouka as well as the Mizwad. This music was originally considered the music of the countryside and the working class. It is often played at weddings and formal parties, and it also has its own traditional dances which are said to make people enter a trance-like state.

Mizwad is one of the most popular in tunisia played along with the drum, and one of the most popular musical genres in east Algeria .

See also
Habbān
Mijwiz
Erke

References

Bagpipes
North African musical instruments
Algerian musical instruments
Tunisian musical instruments
Arabic musical instruments

Mizwad


Lami José Lutzenberger Biological Reserve () is a municipal biological reserve near Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Formation

The Lami José Lutzenberger Biological Reserve was established in 1975 in the Lami neighborhood of the city of Porto Alegre, and named after the local agronomist and environmentalist José Lutzenberger. It was the first municipal reserve in Brazil.
The reserve covers .
The park reopened in April 2002 after being closed for more than ten years to allow its ecosystems to recover.
The reserve conserves nature and supports research and environmental education.

Environment

The conservation area includes riparian forests, wetlands, reeds, salt marshes, and fields, which support a wide variety of species of flora and wildlife.
More than 300 native plant species have been identified and over 200 species of native birds, including local and migratory species.
The reeds provides nurseries for fish, amphibians and molluscs, and turtles and lizards lay their eggs in the sandy elevations.
Small groups of the semi-aquatic capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) can be found in the riparian forests.
Other species include the broad-snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris) and neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis).
Endangered plant species include Ficus cestrifolia, Erythrina crista-galli and Butia capitata.

Notes

Sources

1975 establishments in Brazil
Biological reserves of Brazil
Protected areas of Rio Grande do Sul


The Tokugawa Garden (徳川園 Tokugawa-en) is a Japanese garden in the city of Nagoya, central Japan. It is located next to the Tokugawa Art Museum.

History
In the early Edo period (1603-1867), Tokugawa Mitsutomo (1625-1700), the second lord of the Owari branch of the Tokugawa clan, established a vast residence called the Ōzone Shimoyashiki. After his death, the property was passed on to the families of his three retainers Naruse, Ishiko, and Watanabe, until the Meiji Restoration of 1867, when ownership was returned to the Owari Tokugawa.

In 1931, Tokugawa Yoshichika (1886-1976), the 19th head of the Tokugawa family, decided that "the time had come to present the property to the community", and donated the land of 23,000 m2 and buildings to the City of Nagoya. Included in the donation were family treasures and the establishment of the Owari Tokugawa Reimeikai Foundation. The City opened the garden in 1932, and the foundation opened the art museum in 1935. The garden however was destroyed during World War II, leaving only the main gate intact.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the art museum in 1985, nationwide fundraising led by local economic organisations made possible extensive renovations and expansion of the museum. In 2004, aiming to unite many historical inheritances found in the region, the garden, a sanctuary of modern samurai culture representing Japan was built, along with a stroll-style pond to complete its atmosphere.

To the south of the garden, the Hōsa Library houses historical materials and documents connected with the Owari Tokugawa family.

Access by public transport is by Morishita Station by the Seto line or Ōzone Station by the subway Meijo line.

Layout
Access to the complex is through the main gate, called Kuro-mon (Black Gate). The gate, which survived the destruction of World War II, is made out of wood and has a gable roof.

The garden has a large pond in the middle. Surrounding it are waterfalls, promenades, various tea houses, and bridges. Seasonal blooms of the flowers include Japanese Apricot (ume), peony (botan), iris (hanashobu), and maple (momiji). Flowers include winter camellia, camellia, Japanese witch-hazel, Shan Zhu Zu, Japanese apricot, apricot, Japanese pachysandra, Lily of the Valley bush, peach trees, azalea, fringed iris, rhododendron, calanthe, Satsuki azalea, tea of heaven, iris, gardenia, lilyturf, cluster amaryllis, Japanese silver leaf, Reineckea, and sasanqua.

Gallery

External links

Parks and gardens in Nagoya
Owari Tokugawa family
Gardens in Aichi Prefecture

Tokugawa Garden


Firepower (aka  Fire Power) is a 1979 British thriller film directed by Michael Winner and starring Sophia Loren, James Coburn, O. J. Simpson and Eli Wallach. It was the final film in the career of actor Victor Mature. The film was poorly reviewed by critics who objected to its convoluted plot, though the lead performances and filming locations were generally praised.

Plot
In New York City, Adele Tasca (Sophia Loren) is present when her husband is murdered by a letter bomb. She suspects the reclusive billionaire Karl Stegner (George Touliatos), his former employer, of committing the assassination. She learns that her husband, who worked as a chemist, discovered that his employer had made a contaminated drug that resulted in patients contracting cancer. The US government would like to be able to find and bring charges against this mysterious Stegner, who hides his face from the world and his income from the tax department.

FBI agent Frank Hull (Vincent Gardenia) is assigned to the case but does not know how to find Stegner. He decides to use a former secret agent, Sal Hyman (Eli Wallach), to help him. The latter hires Jerry Fannon (James Coburn), a former mafia hitman, for a million dollars, and sends him to Antigua. Sal thinks Jerry is the only man likely to infiltrate the network that protects Stegner.

His right-hand man, Catlett (O. J. Simpson) is killed by Leo Gelhorn (George Grizzard) on the island, but with the help of the beautiful Adele, who wants revenge, Jerry succeeds in tracking down Stegner, before realizing that he actually captured Stegner's double, who was the victim of an attack by Stegner's men. Jerry returns to the island where Stegner is hiding. The mysterious Dr. Felix (Anthony Franciosa) is really Stegner.

After disposing of the vehicles and the helicopter of Dr. Felix, Jerry enters the house with a bulldozer. He takes Felix prisoner and leaves with him and Adele, pursued by Stegner's bodyguards. As they prepare to leave the island by seaplane, Adele turns a gun on Jerry. Felix takes his weapon, but when he fires at Jerry, Adele turns away. Jerry finally takes off with Dr. Felix to be brought to justice.

A little later, Adele is introduced to Harold Everett (Victor Mature), another billionaire who she sets her eyes on, as her next conquest.

Cast

 Sophia Loren as Adele Tasca
 James Coburn as Jerry Fanon/Eddie
 O. J. Simpson as Catlett
 Eli Wallach as Sal Hyman
 Anthony Franciosa as Dr. Charles Felix
 George Grizzard as Leo Gelhorn
 Vincent Gardenia as Frank Hull
 Victor Mature as Harold Everett
 Jake LaMotta as Nickel Sam
 Hank Garrett as Oscar Bailey
 George Touliatos as Karl Stegner
 Conrad Roberts as Lestor Wallace
 Billy Barty as Dominic Carbone
 Vincent Beck as Trilling
 Dominic Chianese as Orlov
 Andrew Duncan as Del Cooper
 Paul D'Amato as Tagua

Production
Firepower started as a Dirty Harry film written by Bill Kerby. It was considerably rewritten. In 1977 O. J. Simpson mentioned one of his upcoming projects was Fire Power for producer Carlo Ponti with Terence Hill.

Sophia Loren was cast at a reported fee of $1 million.

According to director Michael Winner, producer Lew Grade had fully expected Charles Bronson to co-star with Loren. With much of the pre-production crew already on location in the Caribbean (Saint Lucia), Grade wanted to shut down the production when Bronson pulled out. Realizing how much money he had already sunk into a film that had not properly secured its star actors, Grade saved face by moving ahead and using James Coburn as a replacement for Bronson.

Coburn said "I did it for the money, the locations (the Caribbean islands) and
to work with Sophia Loren. The director was Michael Winner. He's probably one of the weirdest guys I've ever met. Yet, I thought he was a good guy when I first met him. But when he got on the set, he was almost like a total dictator. I found it hard to
work for that way. The most fun I had was when I got to drive a bulldozer through a
house in the islands (laughs)."

Winner says the millionaire character was based on Howard Hughes and Robert Vesco.

Firepower was filmed in Curaçao, Saint Lucia, Antigua, Brooklyn, New Jersey, New York, Miami, Florida, and Key Largo, Florida. Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Victor Mature makes a cameo at the request of director Michael Winner, who wanted someone instantly recognisable for the role of the one of the richest people in the world. "I worked for eight hours on one scene," he laughed.

Winner says he "resented" having O. J. Simpson imposed on him but "now I am happy he was given to me because what he lacks in experience he makes up with in charisma." Simpson said "there were times on this movie, I didn't feel comfortable. I needed a little more attention from the director to establish my character."

Reception
Firepower was an early release from AFD, a new distribution company set up by Lew Grade in association with EMI to distribute their films in the US.

Critical
Firepower was negatively received by most critics due to a convoluted plot, though the locations and chemistry between the leading players was generally appreciated. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Winner directs movies the way others toss salads, which means that "Firepower" is best appreciated at a kind of mental half‐mast. A lot happens. None of it makes sense". She further added: "Some of the performances Mr. Winner gets from his supporting players are rip‐roaringly awful, as is Gato Barbieri's loud and schlocky score. However, there's a nice chemistry in the teaming of Miss Loren, Mr. Coburn and Mr. Simpson, each of whom has an unusually physical presence on the screen."

Author John Howard Reid concurred that the plot was too convoluted, stating that the film has "enough plot twists and action sequences for a dozen movies". He approved of the performances, but expressed disappointment that Victor Mature barely had any screen time and was not central to the plot and that Coburn's double role wasn't used to better effect.

The review in Variety noted: "If the story becomes too tough or tiresome to follow, or the action grows tepid and repetitive, there's always the beautiful scenery of the glamorous Caribbean locales."

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

 Halliwell, Leslie. Leslie Halliwell's Film Guide. New York: Harper & Roe, 1989. .
 Reid, John Howard. Classic Movies: The Best and the Worst Pictures to see! Films to avoid! Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu.com. (Reid Books), 2015. .
 Winner, Michael. Winner Takes All: A Life of Sorts. London: Robson Books, 2004. .

External links

Firepower at Letterbox DVD

1979 films
1970s action thriller films
1970s heist films
British aviation films
British action thriller films
British heist films
Films about kidnapping
Films directed by Michael Winner
Films set in the Caribbean
Films shot in Connecticut
Films shot in Curaçao
Films shot in Miami
Films shot in New Jersey
Films shot in New York City
Films shot in Saint Lucia
ITC Entertainment films
Cockfighting in film
Films with screenplays by Michael Winner
Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Films produced by Michael Winner
1970s English-language films
1970s American films
1970s British films

Firepower (film)


A Double Periodic Variable (DPV) is a type of binary star. As the name implies, the systems vary in brightness not only due to eclipses of one star by the other, but also on a cycle of roughly 33 times longer than the orbit. The star gaining mass from the other has a thick disk of material surrounding it, and the systems apparently lose mass cyclically into the interstellar medium over time. The cause for the secondary longer variability still is not established, but it has been proposed to be linked to a magnetic dynamo in the donor (mass transferring) star. A famous example is β Lyrae. The stars are rare, with 21 systems found in the Galaxy and more than 170 in the Magellanic Clouds (Abril 2016).

List
Catalogues of Double Periodic Variables are given by Mennickent, Otero and Kołaczkowski (2016), Pawlak et al. (2013) and Poleski et al. (2010). Some few examples are given below.
The following list contains selected double periodic variables that are of interest to amateur or professional astronomy. Unless otherwise noted, the given magnitudes are in the V-band.

References
 Mennickent, R.E., 2017, Long Photometric Cycles in Hot Algols, Serbian Astronomical Journal 194, 1
Schleicher, D., Mennickent, R.E., 2017, A dynamo mechanism as the potential origin of the long cycle in double periodic variables, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 602, A109.
Mennickent, R.E., Otero, S., Kolaczkowski, Z., 2016, Interacting binaries W Serpentids and double periodic variables, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 455, Issue 2, p. 1728-1745.
 Otero, S.A., Watson, C., Wils, P., Variable Star Type Designations in the VSX. AAVSO Website. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
 Pawlak, M., et al. 2013, Eclipsing Binary Stars in the OGLE-III Fields of the Small Magellanic Cloud, Acta Astronomica, vol 63, no 3, p. 323-338.
 Poleski, R. et al. 2010, The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars. X. Enigmatic Class of Double Periodic Variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud, Acta Astronomica, vol 60, no 3, p. 179-196.
 Mennickent, R.E., Pietrzynski, G., Diaz, M, Gieren, W., 2003, Double-periodic blue variables in the Magellanic Clouds, Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.399, p. L47-L50. (Discovery paper).

Eclipsing binaries
Eruptive variables

Double periodic variable