A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight. They launch explosive shells (technically called bombs) in high-arching ballistic trajectories. Mortars are typically used as indirect fire weapons for close fire support with a variety of ammunition.

History
Mortars have been used for hundreds of years.  The earliest mortars were used in Korea in a 1413 naval battle when Korean gunsmiths developed the wan'gu (gourd-shaped mortar) (완구, 碗口). The earliest version of the wan'gu dates back to 1407. Choi Hae-san (최해산, 崔海山) (1380–1443), the son of Choe Mu-seon (최무선, 崔茂宣) (1325–1395), is generally credited with inventing the wan'gu. In the Ming dynasty, general Qi Jiguang recorded the use of a mini cannon called the hu dun pao that was similar to the mortar.

The first use in siege warfare was at the 1453 siege of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror. An Italian account of the 1456 siege of Belgrade by Giovanni da Tagliacozzo states that the Ottoman Turks used seven mortars that fired "stone shots one Italian mile high". The time of flight of these was apparently long enough that casualties could be avoided by posting observers to give warning of their trajectories.

Early mortars, such as the Pumhart von Steyr, were large and heavy and could not be easily transported. Simply made, these weapons were no more than iron bowls reminiscent of the kitchen and apothecary mortars whence they drew their name. An early transportable mortar was invented by Baron Menno van Coehoorn in 1701. This mortar fired an exploding shell, which had a fuse that was lit by the hot gases when fired. The Coehorn mortar gained quick popularity, necessitating a new form of naval ship, the bomb vessel. Mortars played a significant role in the Venetian conquest of Morea, and in the course of this campaign an ammunition depot in the Parthenon was blown up. An early use of these more mobile mortars as field artillery (rather than siege artillery) was by British forces in the suppression of the Jacobite rising of 1719 at the Battle of Glen Shiel. High angle trajectory mortars held a great advantage over standard field guns in the rough terrain of the West Highlands of Scotland.

The mortar had fallen out of general use in Europe by the Napoleonic era, although Manby Mortars were widely used on the coast to launch lines to ships in distress, and interest in their use as a weapon was not revived until the beginning of the 20th century. Mortars were heavily used by both sides during the American Civil War. At the Siege of Vicksburg, General Ulysses S. Grant reported making mortars "by taking logs of the toughest wood that could be found, boring them out for six- or twelve-pound shells and binding them with strong iron bands. These answered as Coehorns, and shells were successfully thrown from them into the trenches of the enemy".

During the Russo-Japanese War, Lieutenant General Leonid Gobyato of the Imperial Russian Army applied the principles of indirect fire from closed firing positions in the field and, with the collaboration of General Roman Kondratenko, he designed the first mortar that fired navy shells.

The German Army studied the Siege of Port Arthur, where heavy artillery had been unable to destroy defensive structures like barbed wire and bunkers. As a result, they developed a short-barrelled rifled muzzle-loading mortar called the Minenwerfer. Heavily used during World War I, they were made in three sizes: ,  and .

Types

Stokes mortar

It was not until the Stokes mortar was devised by Sir Wilfred Stokes in 1915 during the First World War that the modern mortar transportable by one person was born. In the conditions of trench warfare, there was a great need for a versatile and easily portable weapon that could be manned by troops under cover in the trenches. Stokes' design was initially rejected in June 1915 because it was unable to use existing stocks of British mortar ammunition, and it took the intervention of David Lloyd George (at that time Minister of Munitions) and Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Matheson of the Trench Warfare Supply Department (who reported to Lloyd George) to expedite manufacture of the Stokes mortar. The weapon proved to be extremely useful in the muddy trenches of the Western Front, as a mortar round could be aimed to fall directly into trenches, where artillery shells, because of their low angle of flight, could not possibly go.

The Stokes mortar was a simple muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smoothbore metal tube fixed to a base plate (to absorb recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount. When a mortar bomb was dropped into the tube, an impact sensitive primer in the base of the bomb would make contact with a firing pin at the base of the tube, and detonate, firing the bomb towards the target. The Stokes mortar could fire as many as 25 bombs per minute and had a maximum range of , firing the original cylindrical unstabilised projectile.

A modified version of the mortar, which fired a modern fin-stabilised streamlined projectile and had a booster charge for longer range, was developed after World War I; this was in effect a new weapon. By World War II, it could fire as many as 30 bombs per minute and had a range of over  with some shell types. The French developed an improved version of the Stokes mortar as the Brandt Mle 27, further refined as the Brandt Mle 31; this design was widely copied with and without license. These weapons were the prototypes for all subsequent light mortar developments around the world.

Mortar carrier

Mortar carriers are vehicles which carry a mortar as a primary weapon. Numerous vehicles have been used to mount mortars, from improvised civilian trucks used by insurgents, to modified Infantry fighting vehicles, such as variants of the M3 half-track and M113 armored personnel carrier, to vehicles specifically intended to carry a mortar. Simpler vehicles carry a standard infantry mortar while in more complex vehicles the mortar is fully integrated into the vehicle and cannot be dismounted from the vehicle. Mortar carriers cannot be fired while on the move, and some must be dismounted to fire.

There are numerous armoured fighting vehicles and even main battle tanks that can be equipped with a mortar, either outside or inside of the cabin. The Israeli Merkava tank uses a 60 mm mortar as a secondary armament. The Russian army uses the 2S4 Tyulpan self-propelled 240 mm heavy mortar which is one of the largest mortars in current use.

Gun-mortars

Gun-mortars are breech-loaded mortars usually equipped with a hydraulic recoil mechanism, and sometimes equipped with an autoloader. They are usually mounted on an armoured vehicle and are capable of direct fire. The archetypes are the Brandt Mle CM60A1 and Brandt 60 mm LR, which combine features of modern infantry mortars together with those of modern cannon. Such weapons are most commonly smoothbore, firing fin-stabilised rounds, using relatively small propellant charges in comparison to projectile weight. They have short barrels in comparison to guns and are much more lightly built than guns of a similar calibre – all characteristics of infantry mortars. This produces a hybrid weapon capable of engaging area targets with indirect high-angle fire, and also specific targets such as vehicles and bunkers with direct fire. Such hybrids are much heavier and more complicated than infantry mortars, superior to rocket-propelled grenades in the anti-armour and bunker-busting role, but have a reduced range compared to modern gun-howitzers and inferior anti-tank capability compared to modern anti-tank guided weapons. However, they do have a niche in, for example, providing a multi-role anti-personnel, anti-armour capability in light mobile formations. Such systems, like the Soviet 120 mm 2S9 Nona, are mostly self-propelled (although a towed variant exists). The AMOS (Advanced Mortar System) is an example of an even more advanced gun mortar system. It uses a 120 mm automatic twin-barrelled, breech-loaded mortar turret, which can be mounted on a variety of armoured vehicles and attack boats. A modern example of a gun-mortar is the 2B9 Vasilek.

Spigot mortar

A spigot mortar consists mainly of a solid rod or spigot, onto which a hollow tube in the projectile fits—inverting the normal tube-mortar arrangement. At the top of the tube in the projectile, a cavity contains propellant, such as cordite. There is usually a trigger mechanism built into the base of the spigot, with a long firing pin running up the length of the spigot activating a primer inside the projectile and firing the propellant charge. The advantage of a spigot mortar is that the firing unit (baseplate and spigot) is smaller and lighter than a conventional tube mortar of equivalent payload and range. It is also somewhat simpler to manufacture. Further, most spigot mortars have no barrel in the conventional sense, which means ammunition of almost any weight and diameter can be fired from the same mortar.

The disadvantage is that while most mortar bombs have a streamlined shape towards the back that fits a spigot mortar application well, using that space for the spigot mortar tube takes volume and mass away from the payload of the projectile. If a soldier is carrying only a few projectiles, the projectile weight disadvantage is not significant. However, the weight of a large quantity of the heavier and more complex spigot projectiles offsets the weight saved.

A near-silent mortar can operate using the spigot principle. Each round has a close-fitting sliding plug in the tube that fits over the spigot. When the round is fired, the projectile is pushed off the spigot, but before the plug clears the spigot it is caught by a constriction at the base of the tube. This traps the gases from the propelling charge and hence the sound of the firing. After World War II the Belgium Fly-K silent spigot mortar was accepted into French service as the TN-8111.

Spigot mortars are generally out of favour in modern usage, replaced by small conventional mortars. Military applications of spigot mortars include:
 The 230 mm petard mortar used on the Churchill AVRE by Britain in World War II.
 The 320 mm Type 98 mortar used by Japan in World War II to some psychological effect in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa
 The Blacker Bombard and PIAT anti-tank launchers used by Britain in World War II.
 The Hedgehog launcher, used from the deck of a ship, used 24 spigot mortars which fired a diamond pattern of anti-submarine projectiles into the sea ahead of the ship. A sinking projectile detonated if it struck a submarine, and the pattern was such that any submarine partly in the landing zone of the projectiles would be struck one or more times.

Non-military applications include the use of small-calibre spigot mortars to launch lightweight, low-velocity foam dummy targets used for training retriever dogs for bird hunting. Simple launchers use a separate small primer cap as the sole propellant (similar or identical to the cartridges used in industrial nail guns).

Improvised

Insurgent groups often use improvised, or "homemade" mortars to attack fortified military installations or terrorise civilians. They are usually constructed from heavy steel piping mounted on a steel frame. These weapons may fire standard mortar rounds, purpose-made shells, repurposed gas cylinders filled with explosives and shrapnel, or any other type of improvised explosive, incendiary or chemical munitions. These were called "barrack busters" by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).

Syrian civil war
Improvised mortars used in the Syrian civil war are known as  hell cannons. Observers have noted that they are "wildly inaccurate" and responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths.

Sri Lankan civil war
Improvised mortars used in the Sri Lankan civil war by the rebel Tamil Tigers are known as "Pasilan 2000", also known as a "rocket mortar" or "Arti-mortar" like the 122 mm cannon, successor to the Baba mortar used by the LTTE for ground operations since the 1980s. As Baba mortar rounds contained tar, they caused a fire when they hit the ground. The Baba, the prototype mortar, was crude. But with time the weapon has improved.

The Pasilan 2000, the improved version, has been developed with characteristics similar to a rocket launcher. The Pasilan 2000 was a heavy mortar fired from a mobile launcher mounted on a tractor. The shell does not emit constant muzzle flares like Artillery or MBRL. This is ideal for LTTE's camouflage and conceals attacking style. Once a round is fired, forward observers/spies/civilian spotters can correct the fire. The way the tube is installed is similar to the positioning of rocket pods. The length and calibre of the barrel indicate Pasilan 2000 system has common features to the Chinese made Type 82 130 mm 30-tube MLRS (introduced by the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA) in the early 1980s) rather than rail-guided Katyusha variants such as the Qassam Rocket. The warhead weight is 70 kg and it is filled with TNT. It had a range of 15–25 km. The rocket has since then undergone some modifications. The Pasilan 2000 was more lethal than Baba mortar. But it was not heavily used for ground attacks during the Eelam War IV.

Modern

Design

Most modern mortar systems consist of four main components: a barrel, a base plate, a bipod and a sight. Modern mortars normally range in calibre from 60 mm (2.36 in) to 120 mm (4.72 in). However, both larger and smaller mortars have been produced. The modern mortar is a muzzle-loaded weapon and relatively simple to operate. It consists of a barrel into which the gunners drop a mortar round. When the round reaches the base of the barrel it hits a fixed firing pin that fires the round. The barrel is generally set at an angle of between 45 and 85 degrees (800 to 1500 mils), with the higher angle producing a shorter horizontal trajectory. Some mortars have a moving firing pin, operated by a lanyard or trigger mechanism.

Ammunition

Ammunition for mortars generally comes in two main varieties: fin-stabilised and spin-stabilised. Examples of the former have short fins on their posterior portion, which control the path of the bomb in flight. Spin-stabilised mortar bombs rotate as they travel along and leave the mortar tube, which stabilises them in much the same way as a rifle bullet. Both types of rounds can be either illumination (infrared or visible illumination), smoke, high explosive, and training rounds. Mortar bombs are often referred to, incorrectly, as "mortars".

Operators may fire spin-stabilised rounds from either a smoothbore or a rifled barrel. Rifled mortars are more accurate but slower to load. Since mortars are generally muzzle-loaded, mortar bombs for rifled barrels usually have a pre-engraved band, called an obturator, that engages with the rifling of the barrel. Exceptions to this were the U.S. M2 4.2-inch mortar and M30 mortar, whose ammunition had a sub-calibre expandable ring that enlarged when fired. This allows the projectile to slide down the barrel freely but grip the rifling when fired. The system resembles the Minié ball for muzzle-loading rifles. For extra range, propellant rings (augmentation charges) are attached to the bomb's fins. The rings are usually easy to remove, because they have a major influence on the speed and thus the range of the bomb. Some mortar rounds can be fired without any augmentation charges, e.g., the 81 mm L16 mortar.

Precision guided

The XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM) is a 120 mm guided mortar round developed by Alliant Techsystems. Based on Orbital ATK's Precision Guidance Kit for 155 mm artillery projectiles, XM395 combines GPS guidance and directional control surfaces into a package that replaces standard fuses, transforming existing 120 mm mortar bodies into precision-guided munitions. The XM395 munition consists of a GPS-guided kit fitted to standard 120 mm smoothbore mortar rounds that includes the fitting of a nose and tail subsystem containing the maneuvering parts.

The Strix mortar round is a Swedish endphase-guided projectile fired from a 120 mm mortar currently manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics. STRIX is fired like a conventional mortar round. The round contains an infrared imaging sensor that it uses to guide itself onto any tank or armoured fighting vehicle in the vicinity where it lands. The seeker is designed to ignore targets that are already burning. Launched from any 120 mm mortar, STRIX has a normal range of up to 4.5 km. The addition of a special sustainer motor increases the range to 7.5 km.

The GMM 120 (Guided Mortar Munition 120; known as Patzmi; also referred to as Morty) is a GPS and/or laser-guided mortar munition, which was developed by Israel Military Industries. Another Israeli guided mortar is Iron Sting, developed by Elbit. The Russian KM-8 Gran is also laser-guided.

Compared to long range artillery

Modern mortars and their ammunition are generally much smaller and lighter than long range artillery such as guns and howitzers, which allows light and medium (typically, 60 mm and 81 mm/82 mm) mortars to be considered light weapons; i.e. capable of transport by personnel without vehicle assistance.

Mortars are short-range weapons and often more effective than long range artillery for many purposes within their shorter range. In particular, because of its high, parabolic trajectory with a near vertical descent, the mortar can land bombs on nearby targets, including those behind obstacles or in fortifications, such as light vehicles behind hills or structures, or infantry in trenches or spider holes. This also makes it possible to launch attacks from positions lower than the target of the attack. (For example, long-range artillery could not shell a target 1 km away and 30 metres (100 ft) higher, a target easily accessible to a mortar.)

In trench warfare, mortars can use plunging fire directly into the enemy trenches, which is very hard or impossible to accomplish with long range artillery because of its much flatter trajectory. Mortars are also highly effective when used from concealed positions, such as the natural escarpments on hillsides or from woods, especially if forward observers are being employed in strategic positions to direct fire, an arrangement where the mortar is in relatively close proximity both to its forward observer and its target, allowing for fire to be quickly and accurately delivered with lethal effect. Mortars suffer from instability when used on snow or soft ground, because the recoil pushes them into the ground or snow unevenly. A Raschen bag addresses this problem.

Fin-stabilised mortar bombs do not have to withstand the rotational forces placed upon them by rifling or greater pressures, and can therefore carry a higher payload in a thinner skin than rifled artillery ammunition. Because of the difference in available volume, a smooth-bore mortar of a given diameter will have a greater explosive yield than a similarly sized artillery shell of a gun or howitzer. For example, a 120 mm mortar bomb has approximately the same explosive capability as a 152 mm/155 mm artillery shell. Also, fin-stabilised munitions fired from a smooth-bore, which do not rely on the spin imparted by a rifled bore for greater accuracy, do not have the drawback of veering in the direction of the spin.

Largest mortars

From the 17th to the mid 20th century, very heavy, relatively immobile siege mortars were used, of up to one metre calibre, often made of cast iron and with an outside barrel diameter many times that of the bore diameter. An early example was Roaring Meg, with a 15.5-inch (390 mm) barrel diameter and firing a 220 lb (100 kg) hollow ball filled with gunpowder and used during the English Civil War in 1646.

The largest mortars ever developed were the Belgian "Monster Mortar" (24 inches; 610 mm; developed by Henri-Joseph Paixhans in 1832), Mallet's Mortar (36 inches; 914.4 mm; developed by Robert Mallet in 1857), and the "Little David" (36 inches; 914.4 mm; developed in the United States for use in World War II). Although the latter two had a calibre of 36 inches, only the "Monster Mortar" was used in combat (at the Battle of Antwerp in 1832). The World War II German Karl-Gerät was a 60 cm (23.6 inch) mortar and the largest to see combat in modern warfare.

See also
 Carcass (projectile), used in mortars before the modern age
 Chemical mortar battalion
 Coehorn a lightweight mortar, sometimes improvised
 Eprouvette, a mortar used to test the strength of gunpowder
 List of heavy mortars
 List of infantry mortars
 Livens Projector

References

External links

 A Guide to Modern Mortar Systems

 Mallet's Mortar, the largest British mortar ever made
 Defense Update: Modern mobile 120 mm mortars
 Defense Update: Advanced mortar munitions
 How does a mortar work? – video
 Mortars during World War I
 The Karl Morser, WW II-era German 60 cm self-propelled mortar
 Video (streaming wmv)

Korean inventions

Mortar (weapon)


A raise borer is a machine used in underground mining, to excavate a circular hole between two levels of a mine without the use of explosives.

The raise borer is set up on the upper level of the two levels to be connected, on an evenly laid platform (typically a concrete pad). A small-diameter hole (pilot hole) is drilled to the level required; the diameter of this hole is typically 230mm - 445mm (9" - 17.5"), large enough to accommodate the drill string. Once the drill has broken into the opening on the target level, the bit is removed and a reamer head, of the required diameter of the excavation, is attached to the drill string and raised back towards the machine. The drill cuttings from the reamer head fall to the floor of the lower level.  The finished raise has smooth walls and may not require rock bolting or other forms of ground support. One impressive use of raise boring is the 7.1 m diameter shafts for Sasol's Middelbult and Bosjesspruit Mines in South Africa.

The boxhole borer (or machine roger) is a variant of a raise borer that is used when there is not enough space on the higher of the two levels to be connected. The boxhole borer is set up on the lower level, drills a pilot hole as a guide, then drives the reamer bit along the pilot hole from the lower level to the upper. Precautions have to be taken to redirect falling drill cuttings away from the machine, and to reinforce the drill string.

See also
 2010 Copiapó mining accident - Rescue

References

External links
 Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms
Mining equipment
Underground mining

Raise borer


"Faithless Heart" is a 1988 single by Christian music singer Amy Grant. It was released as the sixth and final single from Grant's very successful Lead Me On album. Unlike some of Grant's previous singles, this song made a sales and airplay impact on Christian radio but not on pop or "mainstream" radio.

"Faithless Heart" is a downtempo song that caused eyebrows to raise when it was released in the late 1980s. The music adopts a haunting sound with Hammond organ music, whispering, and ominous background vocals. The very personal lyrics detail Grant's doubts about her marriage with then-husband Gary Chapman. In the song, she discusses her temptation to walk out on her husband but her defiant choice to resist temptation and "choose the man that waits for me with a heart that's true". Such messages of doubt had been a central theme of Grant's music up to the point and since, but the lyrics that some perceived as hinting at divorce or adultery made some in the Christian community uneasy. Nevertheless, the song was successful on Christian radio.

The song has received widespread critical praise and is today often heralded as a brave masterpiece. In a 2002 Lifetime documentary on Grant's career, the artist's managers singled out "Faithless Heart" as a classic song that made them very proud of Grant's career, despite the controversy they faced when the song released to radio.

Background

The first two singles from Lead Me On cracked the mainstream pop charts in addition to topping the U.S. Christian charts. The album's four remaining singles, however, charted only on Christian radio. The release of "Faithless Heart" came at a time when Grant was at what seemed to be the height of her career, having recently become one of the first Contemporary Christian music artists to achieve success on pop radio (though she would later achieve far greater success in the 1990s). It also came at a time when Grant and her husband at the time, Gary Chapman, were facing ongoing marital problems. Chapman had battled drug addiction in the 1980s but it was "Faithless Heart" that first clued the public into the problems that Grant faced at home. Grant and Chapman divorced ten years later.

The Lead Me On album is widely considered one of the greatest and most successful Christian albums ever recorded and was named the greatest of all time by CCM Magazine.

Chart Success

"Faithless Heart" peaked at #12 on the Christian music charts in the United States. Though still a Top 15 hit, the single had the weakest chart performance of any single from Lead Me On. That may be partly due to the song's position as the sixth Lead Me On single. Chart success often declines for singles released toward the end of an album's radio promotion. The controversial lyrics, however, may also account for the lower chart performance. The song did not crack the pop or mainstream charts.

20th Anniversary Edition

In 2007, Grant had left Word Records and A&M Records, the two labels which had overseen the original release of Lead Me On. That year, her new record label, EMI Records, reissued a new digitally remastered edition of Lead Me On. In 2008, EMI again reissued the album, this time as a double-disc 20th Anniversary Edition. The second disc of that re-release featured a new recording of "Faithless Heart" by Amy Grant with Michael W. Smith on the electric piano. Grant described the new recording as "a songwriter's version", with the music stripped down to further emphasize the lyrics. The disc also featured a new introduction track with Grant and Smith discussing how to arrange the song. In promoting the re-release, Grant performed the new acoustic version during various media appearances.

Charts

Faithless Heart
Faithless Heart
Songs written by Amy Grant
Songs written by Michael W. Smith
1988 songs
Word Records singles
A&M Records singles
EMI Records singles
Song recordings produced by Brown Bannister

Faithless Heart


Ghora is a village located near Tarutta in Pakistan Azad Jummah Kashmir. It is one of the oldest villages in Dadyal.

Large numbers of Ghora's residents are from the UK, and have in recent years invested and spent much money into the region. As a result the area has developed amenities such as large villas and shopping centres.

References

Populated places in Mirpur District

Ghora


Tõdu is a village in Kanepi Parish, Põlva County in southeastern Estonia. It has a population of 43 (as of 1 August 2007).

Inside the Governorate of Livonia Tõdu belonged to historical Põlva Parish which was then part of Võru County. Tõdu knight manor (Tödwenshof) was located in the village.

References

Villages in Põlva County

Tõdu


Aleš Čerin (born 18 July 1949) is a Slovenian businessman and a politician. In 1973, he graduated from law at the University of Ljubljana. He was the Secretary-General of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia since 1986 till 1992, during the Slovenian proclamation of independence in 1991. Since 1992, he worked in the retail company Mercator, and was since 1997 till 2005 member of its executive board. He was elected to the city council of the City Municipality of Ljubljana in October 2006 as a member of the Zoran Janković List and was named by Janković a deputy mayor of the municipality.

On 22 December midnight, he replaced Zoran Janković as the leader of the municipality, as Janković was elected to the National Assembly and retained his mayoral post only till 21 December 2011, midnight. The replacement was made according to the law, but Čerin's leading position was only compatible with the statute of the municipality until the beginning of January 2012, when a tender for the by-election was opened. The election was held on 25 March 2012.

Čerin is also a keen bicycler and was the president of the Cycling Federation of Slovenia from 1997 till 2005.

References

1949 births
Living people
University of Ljubljana alumni
Businesspeople from Ljubljana
Secretary-Generals of the Government of Slovenia
Slovenian sports executives and administrators
People from the City Municipality of Ljubljana
Secretaries-general

Aleš Čerin


Alexander James Shepherd (born October 13, 1946) was a Canadian member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1993 to 2004.

Shepherd was a Chartered Accountant based in Port Perry, Ontario, when he became the Liberal party candidate for Durham electoral district in the 1993 general election. He won the riding and was re-elected there in the 1997 and 2000 general elections, serving in the 35th, 36th and 37th Canadian Parliaments respectively.  He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Revenue, on the Finance Committee, Chair of Economics Committee for the Liberal Party, on GTA Caucus, Rural Caucus, Ontario Caucus.

Shepherd did not campaign again for the Durham riding and therefore left federal politics in 2004.

He is married to Carol Shepherd (née Bishop) since 1969. They have three children, Mark, Andrew, and Jill.

External links

1946 births
Living people
Canadian accountants
Liberal Party of Canada MPs
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
People from Scugog
Politicians from Toronto
21st-century Canadian politicians

Alex Shepherd


Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their heyday (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engraved on the outside surface, which can be reproduced when they are played on a mechanical cylinder phonograph. In the 1910s, the competing disc record system triumphed in the marketplace to become the dominant commercial audio medium.

Early development
In December 1877, Thomas Edison and his team invented the phonograph using a thin sheet of tin foil wrapped around a hand-cranked, grooved metal cylinder. Tin foil was not a practical recording medium for either commercial or artistic purposes, and the crude hand-cranked phonograph was only marketed as a novelty, to little or no profit. Edison moved on to developing a practical incandescent electric light, and the next improvements to sound recording technology were made by others.

Following seven years of research and experimentation at their Volta Laboratory, Charles Sumner Tainter, Alexander Graham Bell, and Chichester Bell introduced wax as the recording medium, and engraving, rather than indenting, as the recording method. In 1887, their "Graphophone" system was being put to the test of practical use by official reporters of the US Congress, with commercial units later being produced by the Dictaphone Corporation. After this system was demonstrated to Edison's representatives, Edison quickly resumed work on the phonograph. He settled on a thicker all-wax cylinder, the surface of which could be repeatedly shaved down for reuse. Both the Graphophone and Edison's "Perfected Phonograph" were commercialized in 1888. Eventually, a patent-sharing agreement was signed, and the wax-coated cardboard tubes were abandoned in favor of Edison's all-wax cylinders as an interchangeable standard format.

Beginning in 1889, prerecorded wax cylinders were marketed. These have professionally made recordings of songs, instrumental music or humorous monologues in their grooves. At first, the only customers for them were proprietors of nickelodeons—the first jukeboxes—installed in arcades and taverns, but within a few years, private owners of phonographs were increasingly buying them for home use. Unlike later, shorter-playing high-speed cylinders, early cylinder recordings were usually cut at a speed of about 120 rpm and can play for as long as three minutes. They were made of a relatively soft wax formulation and would wear out after they were played a few dozen times. The buyer could then use a mechanism which left their surfaces shaved smooth so new recordings could be made on them.

Cylinder machines of the late 1880s and the 1890s were usually sold with recording attachments. The ability to record as well as play back sound was an advantage of cylinder phonographs over the competition from cheaper disc record phonographs, which began to be mass-marketed at the end of the 1890s, as the disc system machines could be used only to play back prerecorded sound.

In the earliest stages of phonograph manufacturing, various incompatible, competing types of cylinder recordings were made. A standard system was decided upon by Edison Records, Columbia Phonograph, and other companies in the late 1880s. The standard cylinders are about  long,  in diameter, and play about two minutes of recorded material.

Originally, all cylinders sold needed to be recorded live on the softer brown wax, which wore out after as few as 20 plays. Later cylinders were reproduced either mechanically or by linking phonographs together with rubber tubes.

Over the years, the type of wax used in cylinders was improved and hardened, so that cylinders could be played with good quality over 100 times. In 1902, Edison Records launched a line of improved, hard wax cylinders marketed as "Edison Gold Moulded Records". The major development of this line of cylinders is that Edison had developed a process that allowed a mold to be made from a master cylinder, which then permitted the production of several hundred cylinders to be made from the mold. The process was labeled "Gold Moulded" because of the gold vapor that was given off by gold electrodes used in the process.

Commercial packaging

The earliest soft wax cylinders were sold wrapped in thick cotton batting. Later, molded hard-wax cylinders were sold in boxes with a cotton lining. Celluloid cylinders were sold in unlined boxes. These protective boxes were normally kept and used to house the cylinders after purchase. Their general appearance allowed bandleader John Philip Sousa to deride their contents as "canned music", an epithet he borrowed from Mark Twain.

Hard plastic cylinders

On March 20, 1900, Thomas B. Lambert was granted a US patent (645,920) that described a process for mass-producing cylinders made from celluloid, an early hard plastic. ( of France was producing celluloid cylinders as early as 1893, but they were individually recorded rather than molded.) That same year, the Lambert Company of Chicago began selling cylinder records made of the material. They would not break if dropped and could be played thousands of times without wearing out. The color was changed to black in 1903, but brown and blue cylinders were also produced. The coloring was purportedly because the dyes reduced surface noise. Unlike wax, the hard, inflexible material could not be shaved and recorded over, but it had the advantage of being nearly permanent.

This superior technology was licensed by the Indestructible Record Company in 1906 and Columbia Phonograph Company in 1908. The Edison Bell company in Europe had separately licensed the technology and were able to market Edison's titles in both wax (popular series) and celluloid (indestructible series).

In late 1908, Edison had introduced wax cylinders that played for nominally 4 minutes (instead of the usual 2) under the Amberol brand. They were made from a harder (and more fragile) form of wax to withstand the smaller stylus used to play them. The longer playing time was achieved by reducing the groove size and placing them half as far apart. In 1912, the Edison company eventually acquired Lambert's patents to the celluloid technology, and almost immediately started production under a variation of their existing Amberol brand as Edison Blue Amberol Records.

Edison designed several phonograph types, both with internal and external horns for playing these improved cylinder records. The internal horn models were called Amberolas. Edison marketed its "Fireside" model phonograph with a gearshift and a 'model K' reproducer with two different styli, which allowed it to play both two-minute and four-minute cylinders.

Decline
Cylinder records continued to compete with the growing disc record market into the 1910s, when discs won the commercial battle. In 1912, Columbia Records, which had been selling both discs and cylinders, dropped the cylinder format, while Edison introduced his  Diamond Disc format, played with a diamond stylus. Beginning in 1915, new Edison cylinder issues consisted of re-recordings from Edison discs; they therefore had lower audio quality than the disc originals. Although his cylinders continued to be sold in steadily dwindling and eventually minuscule quantities, Edison continued to support the owners of cylinder phonographs by making new titles available in that format until the company ceased manufacturing all records and phonographs in November 1929.

Later applications
Cylinder phonograph technology continued to be used for Dictaphone and Ediphone recordings for office use for decades.

In 1947, Dictaphone replaced wax cylinders with their Dictabelt technology, which cut a mechanical groove into a plastic belt instead of into a wax cylinder. This was later replaced by magnetic tape recording. However, cylinders for older style dictating machines continued to be available for some years, and it was not unusual to encounter cylinder dictating machines into the 1950s.

In the late 20th and early 21st century, new recordings have been made on cylinders for the novelty effect of using obsolete technology. Probably the most famous of these are by They Might Be Giants, who in 1996 recorded "I Can Hear You" and three other songs, performed without electricity, on an 1898 Edison wax recording studio phonograph at the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey. This song was released on Factory Showroom in 1996 and re-released on the 2002 compilation Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants. The other songs recorded were "James K. Polk", "Maybe I Know", and "The Edison Museum", the last a song about the site of the recording. These recordings were officially released online as MP3 files in 2001.

Small numbers of cylinders have been manufactured in the 21st century out of modern long-lasting materials. Two companies engaged in such enterprise are the Vulcan Cylinder Record Company of Sheffield, England, and the Wizard Cylinder Records Company in Baldwin, New York.

In 2010 the British steampunk band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing released the track "Sewer", from their debut album, Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 on a wax cylinder in a limited edition of 40, of which only 30 were put on sale. The box set came with instructions on how to make your own cylinder player for less than £20. The BBC covered the release on Television on BBC Click, on BBC Online, and on Radio 5 Live.

In June 2017 the Cthulhu Breakfast Club podcast released a special limited wax cylinder edition of a show.

In April 2019, the podcast Hello Internet released ten limited edition wax cylinder recordings.

In May 2023, Needlejuice Records released wax cylinder singles for Lemon Demon songs Touch-Tone Telephone and The Oldest Man On MySpace, from albums Spirit Phone and Dinosaurchestra, respectively.

Preservation of cylinder recordings

Because of the nature of the recording medium, playback of many cylinders can cause degradation of the recording. The replay of cylinders diminishes their fidelity and degrades their recorded signals. Additionally, when exposed to humidity, mold can penetrate a cylinder's surface and cause the recording to have surface noise. Currently, the only professional machines manufactured for the playback of cylinder recordings are the Archéophone player, designed by Henri Chamoux and the "Endpoint Cylinder and Dictabelt Machine" by Nicholas Bergh. The Archéophone is used by the Edison National Historic Site, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Ohio), The Department of Special Collections, Donald C Davidson Library at The University of California, Santa Barbara, and many other libraries and archives, including the Endpoint by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

In an attempt to preserve the historic content of the recordings, cylinders can be read with a confocal microscope and converted to a digital audio format. The resulting sound clip in most cases sounds better than stylus playback from the original cylinder. Having an electronic version of the original recordings enables archivists to open access to the recordings to a wider audience. This technique also has the potential to allow for reconstruction of damaged or broken cylinders.

Gallery

See also
 Archéophone
 Audio format
 Audio storage
 Cylinder Audio Archive
 Mapleson Cylinders
 Telediphone
 Volta Laboratory and Bureau

References

General references

Inline citations

Further reading

External links

 Tinfoil.com – History of phonograph cylinders; listen to many examples dating from 1878 through 1912
 UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive, University of California, Santa Barbara: Streaming and downloadable versions of over 10,000 cylinders.
 Vulcan Cylinder Record Company
 Ethnographic wax cylinders from the British Library

Audio storage
Audiovisual introductions in 1877
Audiovisual introductions in 1888
Thomas Edison
Alexander Graham Bell
American inventions
History of sound recording
Obsolete technologies

Phonograph cylinder


Arnemuiden is a railway station in Arnemuiden, The Netherlands. The station was opened on 1 March 1872 and is on the Roosendaal–Vlissingen railway. The station is operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen. When built, the station was on the northern side of the village. The village has now grown further north so the station is now in the centre.

Arnemuiden was basically furnished and consisted only of a station and a small goods shed. In 1877 the yard was extended with a freight siding. The cargo consisted mainly of outgoing fish, shrimp and sugar beet, and receiving coal and food. Until the 1960s, little changed in the yard. In the sixties the sidings gradually fell into disuse. In 1969 they were decommissioned. Since the end of the 1970s, the village has also expanded to the other side of the railway.

As with many small stations on the Zeeland Line, the two platforms do not lie opposite each other, but are on either side of a level crossing.

There are bicycle lockers and two unguarded bicycle parking facilities. There is parking for cars.

Future
In early 2006 NS announced it wanted to remove Arnemuiden, Kapelle-Biezelinge and Krabbendijke from the 2007 timetable. After protests a joint agreement was made for a completely new timetable for Zeeland, calling twice an hour from all stations on the Zeeland line.

Train service
The following services currently call at Arnemuiden:
2x per hour intercity service Amsterdam - Haarlem - Leiden - The Hague - Rotterdam - Dordrecht - Roosendaal - Vlissingen

Gallery

External links
NS website
Dutch Public Transport journey planner

Railway stations opened in 1872
Railway stations on the Staatslijn F
Railway stations in Middelburg, Zeeland
Rijksmonuments in Middelburg, Zeeland
Railway stations in the Netherlands opened in the 1870s

Arnemuiden railway station


Orcombe Point is a coastal feature near Exmouth, Devon, on the south coast of England. It lies about  south of the city of Exeter,  southeast of Exmouth town centre and about  southwest of Sidmouth.

Directly to the west lies Exmouth Beach and to the east is Sandy Bay, a holiday beach, that can be reached either along the coastal path or through the large caravan park. The two beaches are part of a long strip of sand and are connected to each other below Orcombe Point at low tide.

Sited high upon the hill, Orcombe Point is marked by the "Geoneedle", which was unveiled by Prince Charles, in 2002, at the inauguration. The artist whose conceived and designed the "Geoneedle" sculpture was Michael Fairfax.  He also conceived and designed the "Exeter Riddle" in Exeter. The Geoneedle is constructed from a variety of different stones, representing both the major building stones to be found on the Jurassic Coast and the sequence of rocks that form this part of the coastline.

Geology
The rocks dip gently to the east. Due to this tilting and erosion the oldest exposed rocks are found here in the west, with progressively younger rocks forming the cliffs further east. The coastal exposures along the coastline provide a continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock formations spanning approximately 185 million years of the Earth's history. The localities along the Jurassic Coast includes a large range of important fossil zones.

Orcombe Point is the western end of the Jurassic Coast and the South West Coast Path includes the entire length of the site.

The ascent to Orcombe Point shows the successive layers of different sedimentary rocks, which were deposited under varying geological conditions. At the base are cross-bedded sandstones. Towards the top, the rock types are those deposited by quieter, slower-flowing waters (i.e. siltstones and mudstones). The sediments are markedly red and this indicates that they were formed in a desert. These formations belong to the Aylesbeare Mudstone Group and date from the Triassic period 250 million years ago.

References

Headlands of Devon
Jurassic Coast
Geology of Devon
Exmouth

Orcombe Point


The Lower Mainland Ecoregion is the biogeoclimatic region that surrounds Vancouver, British Columbia, comprising the eastern edge of the Georgia Depression and extending from  Powell River, British Columbia on the Sunshine Coast to Hope at the eastern end of the Fraser Valley. It thus corresponds, for the most part, with the popular usage of the term "Lower Mainland." The Lower Mainland Ecoregion is a part of the Pacific Maritime Ecozone.

The ecoregion is bounded by the Coast and Cascade Mountains and traversed by the Fraser River. It has a unique climate, flora and fauna, geology and land use.  The following description is adapted from Environment Canada's Ecological Framework of Canada.

Description
The ecoregion extends west from the Skagit Range of the Cascade Mountains at Chilliwack to the Fraser river delta at Richmond and north to include a portion of the Georgia Lowland along the Sunshine Coast.

Climate
The mean annual temperature in the Lower Mainland is 9 °C with a summer mean of 15 °C and a winter mean of 3.5 °C. Annual precipitation ranges from an annual mean of 850 mm in the west end to 2000 mm in the eastern end of the Fraser Valley and at higher elevations. Maximum precipitation occurs as rain in winter. Less than ten percent falls as snow at sea level but the amount of snowfall increases significantly with elevation.

Flora and fauna
Forests of Coast Douglas-fir, with an understory of salal, Oregon-grape and moss, are typical of the mature native vegetation found throughout the ecoregion. Mixed stands of Coast Douglas-fir and Western Hemlock are common, with some dogwood and arbutus occurring on drier sites. Red alder is a common pioneer species where sites have been disturbed. Wet sites support Coast Douglas-fir, Western Hemlock, and Western Redcedar. Wildlife includes black-tailed deer, coyote, raccoon, shorebirds, and waterfowl.

Geology
The ecoregion is underlain by unconsolidated glaciofluvial deposits, silty alluvium, silty and clayey marine sediments and glacial till. Bedrock outcrops of Mesozoic and Palaeozoic origin form rolling hills up to about 310 metres above sea level. The Fraser River dominates this lowland. Gleysols, Mesisols, and Humisols are the dominant wetland soils in the region, while Eutric and Dystric Brunisols and some Podzols have developed on sandy to loamy outwash and glacial till in the uplands.

Land use
The region includes a mix of urban settlement and agricultural land, comprising both the largest population centre  and some of the most fertile farmland in British Columbia. Intensive agriculture occurs on the rich bottomland of the Fraser Valley where it competes with urban development. Forestry takes place on the slopes of the mountains. Coastal salt marshes provide important wildlife habitat in the Fraser delta and Boundary Bay. There are about 870 square kilometres of productive farmland in the ecoregion.

There is rapid urban and suburban growth in the Vancouver area and communities in the Fraser Valley and Sunshine Coast. The main population centre in this ecoregion is Greater Vancouver.  Other centres include North Vancouver (city and district), Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and Mission.

Profile of land use
Agricultural land area remained relatively stable between 1971 and 2006, declining by less than 3%. While the number of cattle declined by 12% during this period, poultry inventories increased significantly, rising by 129%. The region accounted for 13% of Canada's poultry production in 2006. The ecoregion's population increased 102% between 1971 and 2006 as compared to Canada's population growth of 47%. With 473 persons per square kilometre in 2006, the ecoregion was Canada's most densely populated. The population of the ecoregion in 2006 was approximately 2.4 million people, which represents 7.6% of Canada's population.

Notes

References

Temperate coniferous forests
Ecozones and ecoregions of British Columbia
Forests of British Columbia
Lower Mainland
Sunshine Coast (British Columbia)
Nearctic ecoregions

Lower Mainland Ecoregion


Marie Byrd Land is a part of Antarctica. It is between the Unclaimed Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the north. It goes towards the east to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast. It stretches between 158°W and 103°24'W. The area between the Rockefeller Plateau and Eights Coast is included. This is because Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd had an important role in its exploration. Admiral Byrd named the territory in 1929. It was in honour of his wife. He applied the name to the territory that was explored in that year.

The area is very remote, even for Antarctica. Because of this, most of it (the east part of 150°W) has not been claimed by any country. The territory is not a nation itself. Because of this, it is the largest single unclaimed territory on Earth. Together with Eights Coast, immediately to the east of Marie Byrd Land, it has an area of 1,610,000 km².

In 1939, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt told members of an Antarctic expedition to claim some Antarctic territory. Members of this expedition and later ones seemed to do so, but no official claims were made before 1959, when the Antarctic Treaty System was set up. Some maps in the United States have shown this as US territory. The Defense Department of the US Government has also said that there was a solid basis for a claim for the territory. This was because of the activities there before 1959.

The portion west of 150°W is part of Ross Dependency.

There are five areas, which are listed from west to east:

Occupation
Marie Byrd Land hosted the Operation Deep Freeze base Byrd Station (NBY; 80°S, 119°W). This began in 1957, in the hinterland of Bakutis Coast. Byrd Station was the only big base in the interior of West Antarctica for many years. In 1968, the first ice core to fully go through the Antarctic Ice Sheet was drilled here. The year-round station was left in 1972. Between 1972 and 2008, the station was only occupied during the summer months. It was named again as Byrd Surface Camp. Byrd Station was opened again in 2009-2010. This was to support operations in northern West Antarctica.

Byrd Station provided a template for the doomed Antarctic base in the horror movie John Carpenter's The Thing.

In 1998 and 1999, a camp was operated at the Ford Ranges (FRD) in western Marie Byrd Land. The camp supported a part of an US Antarctic Program (USAP) airborne survey. The survey was started by UCSB. It was supported by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

In 2004-05, a large camp, Thwaites (THW), was made by the USAP 150 km north of NBY. This was in order to support a large airborne geophysical survey of eastern Marie Byrd Land by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

In 2006, an important encampment, WAIS Divide (WSD) was made on the divide between the Ross Sea Embayment and the Amundsen Sea Embayment. This was in easternmost Marie Byrd Land. This was made in order to drill a high resolution ice core over the next three years.

On Ruppert Coast of Marie Byrd Land is the Russian station Russkaya. It was occupied 1980-1990. It is also used as a summer-only station.

References

Geography of Antarctica

Marie Byrd Land


The Courtyard Crisis () was a constitutional conflict between the Swedish king and prime minister and significant event in Swedish 20th-century history, marking the last time the Monarch of Sweden directly intervened in a controversial partisan political issue, as was done by the King Gustaf V through the Courtyard Speech at the Royal Palace in Stockholm () on 6 February 1914, in front of 32 000 assembled farmers from all over the country, in which he argued for higher military spending.

In early 1914, tensions ran high in Sweden over the issue of defence spending, with World War I looming over Europe. On 6 February 1914, Conservative opponents of the Liberal government of Prime Minister Karl Staaff summoned a 32 000-person demonstration of farmers demanding higher defence spending. Gustaf V, who was in continual conflict with his government, declared to the crowd gathered in the courtyard of Stockholm Palace that he shared their concerns.

When Prime Minister Staaff reminded the King that a parliamentary system meant the latter's exclusion from partisan politics, the King refused and said he would "not give up the right to communicate freely with the Swedish people". The government promptly resigned, and 136 Liberal members from both chambers of the Riksdag issued a statement saying the form of government was in jeopardy, and urging the Swedish people to defend its right to rule itself. Their opponents, the Conservatives and the Farmers' League, in turn accused them of putting parliamentarism over national security, and called on the people to put every effort into solving the defence issue.

The King appointed a conservative government of high-ranking civil servants and businessmen led by Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, but tensions continued in the debate on spending. The second chamber of the Riksdag was dissolved and new elections called for.

The conflict abruptly ended that June with the imminent breakout of war in Europe, which in effect decided the argument in favour of the Conservatives; however, some reforms and budget amendments were implemented to appease the Liberals. In the end, only the Social Democrats voted against the defence programme, although 24 Liberal parliamentarians discarded their votes in protest.

References

1914 in Sweden
Government crises
Constitutional crises
1910s in Stockholm

Courtyard Crisis


The Franklin Mineral Museum in Franklin, New Jersey is a mineral, geology, and mining museum at the former Franklin Mine.  It is located in Sussex County, New Jersey.

History
The mine was active from 1898 until the mid-1950s.

The mine site became an open-air museum in 1964.

Features
The Franklin Mineral Museum has a large mineral collection, a simulated mine tunnel, and Native American artifacts.  Visitors are allowed to collect mineral specimens in several areas of the former mine's tailings.

Local minerals room – here you can find collections with more than 5,000 mineral specimens on display. It is one of the biggest and most diverse collections of minerals in the world. It includes important ore minerals, pegmatite, volcanic rocks, and others.

Fluorescent minerals room – here you can explore the surreal display of fluorescent minerals. The main display is 32 feet long and it is unsurpassed in the world for the variety of its colors.

Indian room – there are numerous Native American artifacts, including the collection of stone tools made by the Lenni Lenape Indians, the earliest inhabitants of what later became New Jersey. The collection contains artifacts from all over the United States and Mexico, and includes tools such as axes, spear heads, knives, as well as some pottery and baskets.

Fossil room – contains a wide variety of fossils from dinosaurs and different animals.

Life-size mine replica – it contains underground mine passages where people can explore the mines, experience and see first-hand the mining methods that were used.

References

External links

Mindat.org: entry for Franklin Mineral Museum

Museums in Sussex County, New Jersey
Mineralogy museums
Mining museums in New Jersey
Geology museums in New Jersey
Industry museums in New Jersey
Mines in New Jersey
Underground mines in the United States
Franklin, New Jersey
Museums established in 1964
1964 establishments in New Jersey

Franklin Mineral Museum


Red shift is a method astronomers use to tell the speed of any object that is very far away in the Universe. The red shift is one example of the Doppler effect.

The easiest way to experience the Doppler effect is to listen to a moving train. As the train moves towards a person, the sound it makes as it comes towards them sounds like it has a higher tone, since the frequency of the sound is squeezed together a little bit. As the train speeds away, the sound gets stretched out, and sounds lower in tone. This is also the same as filling a water bottle under a tap. As you fill, the sound of the filling gets higher and higher, for the same reason that the noise the train makes gets higher as it gets closer to you. The same happens with light when an object that emits light moves very fast. An object, like a star or a galaxy that is far away and moving toward us, will look more blue than it normally does.  This is called blue shift.  A star or galaxy moving away from us will look more red than it would if the source were not moving in our frame of reference. This is where red shift got its name, since the colours are shifted towards the red end of the spectrum.

The reason astronomers can tell how far the light gets shifted is because chemical elements, like hydrogen and oxygen, have unique fingerprints of light that no other element has. Astronomers use spectroscopy to analyse the light from an object (galaxy or star). Once they know that, they check to see the difference between where the spectral lines are compared to where they normally are. From that, they can tell whether it is moving toward us or away from us, and also how fast it is going. The faster it goes, the farther the spectral lines are from their normal position in the spectrum.

Other websites

Ned Wright's Cosmology tutorial
Article on redshift from SPACE.com
Cosmic reference guide entry on redshift
Mike Luciuk's Astronomical Redshift tutorial
Animated GIF of Cosmological Redshift by Wayne Hu

Astronomical phenomena
Cosmology

Red shift


Brewton–Parker College is a private Baptist college in Mount Vernon, Georgia. Brewton–Parker was founded in 1904 and is affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention.

History
In 1904, Reverend John Carter Brewton, pastor of the McRae Baptist Church, and Charles Benton Parker, a prominent businessman in McRae, resolved to establish a private boarding school to serve elementary and high school students from Montgomery County and the surrounding area. As there were no public high schools at that time, the school played an important role in furthering the education of the area's youth. The Telfair and Daniell Baptist associations were enthusiastic supporters. The school was placed between Mount Vernon and Ailey, as working together the town bid more support than any either community. The Union Baptist Institute, chartered April 28, 1904, joined with other Baptist associations, with Rev. Brewton as elected president of its board of trustees.

The co-ed Union Baptist Institute formally opened on September 12, 1905 with a four-building campus, serving 160 students in grades one through eleven. The school's first year was very successful and as word spread, enrollment more than doubled to 365. In 1912 the school was renamed to Brewton–Parker Institute; it was accredited in 1918 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Brewton–Parker Institute became a junior college after college freshmen and sophomore classes were added in 1923 and 1927. Elementary classes were removed in 1929. In 1948, high school classes were also removed. The school was renamed Brewton–Parker Junior College and transferred to the governance of the Georgia Baptist Convention. By the early 1980s, public two-year community colleges had been established throughout the state. At the same time, there was a greater demand for graduates of four-year colleges. In mind of these changes, the school evolved on December 9, 1986 into a four-year institution, Brewton–Parker College.

Financial aid fraud
Scandal hit the college in the late 1990s over fraud in the school's financial aid department. A lawsuit against the school was brought about by Martha Faw, then the assistant director of financial aid. An investigation begun by the United States Department of Education confirmed that Pell Grants had been given to ineligible students, payments had been made to non-U.S. citizens, and guidelines for work-study programs were not followed. In 1998, Brewton–Parker College agreed to repay the government $4 million in what was said to be the largest qui tam recovery in Georgia history. College president Y. Lynn Holmes resigned.

Dr. David R. Smith became college president in 1998, and at his first graduation address, Smith stated: "To any and all who recognized inept policies and errant behavior, and who continued to speak out against such things even in the face of opposition from those who preferred not to hear it, you should be applauded, not ridiculed."
The college briefly outsourced the administration of their financial aid program until a new college policy and procedures manual was established in the Fall of 2000. A new position, Director of Financial Aid Compliance was established.

Campus
The main college campus is in Mount Vernon on  and includes forty-six buildings, outdoor athletic properties, and a  lake.

Organization and administration
Brewton–Parker is affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention. Its endowment was $13.3 million in 2007.

Academic profile
BPC now offers undergraduate degrees in seven academic departments with 19 majors. Most of its programs have internships, offering practical, hands-on experience as well as academic content. Further, in applicable areas, undergraduates are encouraged to participate with faculty in performing research and presenting papers.

As the only independent college in rural southeast Georgia, BPC plays an important educational role in one of the state's poorest areas. It serves many first generation college students and provides learning assistance to other, non-traditional students seeking to improve their knowledge and skills. Among private colleges, Brewton-Parker enrolls three times as many minority students as the national average.

There is a 2:1 female–male student ratio and a 15:1 student-faculty ratio. The student body is 73.2% Caucasian, 24% African American, 2% Hispanic, 0.5% Asian American or Pacific Islander and 0.3% Native American.

2012 regional accreditation issues
In June 2012, the college's regional accreditor placed the college on probation.  Two years later, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) voted to remove Brewton–Parker College from membership. The college appealed the decision and retained its accreditation during the process. In late 2014, the college successfully presented evidence compliance SACS standards; its accreditation was reaffirmed and its probation status lifted.

Student life
Intramural sports include basketball, softball, table tennis, tennis, ultimate Frisbee, and volleyball. Student groups at the school include a concert choir, Voices of Truth, a concert band, Student Activities Council, Rotaract, Circle K, Alpha Omega Campus Ministry, Student Government Association, a Baptist Campus Ministry (Baptist Collegiate Ministries, a.k.a. BCM), campus-based Greek Life organizations, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).

Athletics
The Brewton–Parker athletic teams are called the Barons. The college is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC; formerly known as Georgia–Alabama–Carolina Conference (GACC) until after the 2003–04 school year) since the 1999–2000 academic year.

Brewton–Parker competes in 18 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, track & field, volleyball and wrestling; and co-ed sports include bass fishing, competition cheer, eSports and Olympic weightlifting.

Baseball
The men's baseball team won the NAIA championship in 1997. The Brewton–Parker College Barons baseball team was declared co-champions of the SSAC Championship on May 3, 2010 and the Barons ranked as high as 15 nationally in that year. The Barons shared the title with then-No. 4-ranked Lee University Flames. The Barons won four straight games before losing to the Flames 8-0. They defeated Lee (46-11) in earlier rounds. The co-championship was declared when the deciding game was canceled due to inclement weather. Coach Greg "Boo" Mullins led the 2010 Barons Baseball team as head coach, and was named 2010 Coach of the Year by the Georgia Dugout Club.

Track and field
The Brewton–Parker College men's track & field team won the 2022 Indoor Conference Championship in the SSAC. In indoor track & field, Brandon Schultz won back to back National Championships in the 60 Meter Hurdles in 2021 and 2022 for the Barons.

Notable people

Kadisha Martina, Curacao national team player
Wallace Moses, member of the Georgia Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dennis Holmberg, 1969, professional baseball player and manager with the Toronto Blue Jays organization

References

External links

 Official athletics website

Buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Georgia
Education in Montgomery County, Georgia
Universities and colleges established in 1904
Southern States Athletic Conference
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Private universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state)
1904 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)

Brewton–Parker College


The term status quo ante bellum is a Latin phrase meaning "the situation as it existed before the war".
The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no side gains or loses any territorial, economic, or political rights. This contrasts with uti possidetis, where each side retains whatever territory and other property it holds at the end of the war. The term white peace has the same meaning.

Historical examples
An early example is the treaty that ended the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 between the Eastern Roman and the Sasanian Persian Empires. The Persians had occupied Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt. After a successful Roman counteroffensive in Mesopotamia finally ended the war, the integrity of Rome's eastern frontier as it was prior to 602 was fully restored. Both empires were exhausted after this war, and neither was ready to defend itself when the armies of Islam emerged from Arabia in 632.

Another example is the sixteenth-century Abyssinian–Adal war between the Muslim Adal Sultanate and Christian Ethiopian Empire, which ended in a stalemate. Both empires were exhausted after this war, and neither was ready to defend itself against the Oromo Migrations.

Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War lasted from 1756 to 1763 and concluded in status quo ante bellum. During the war, Austria had tried to regain the region of Silesia from Prussia, which had been lost in the War of the Austrian Succession eight years earlier. Silesia ultimately remained in Prussian hands.

War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and the United Kingdom, which was concluded with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. During negotiations, British diplomats had suggested ending the war uti possidetis. While American diplomats demanded cession from Canada and British officials also pressed for a pro-British Indian barrier state in the Midwest and keeping parts of Maine they captured (i.e., New Ireland) during the war, the final treaty left neither gains nor losses in land for the United States or the United Kingdom's Canadian colonies.

Korean DMZ Conflict
The Korean War began with the Korean Peninsula split along the 38th parallel, with North Korea under Kim Il Sung being supported by the USSR and China while South Korea under Syngman Rhee being supported by the United States. After fighting ended with a cease-fire, the current border between North Korea and South Korea remained roughly along the 38th parallel, similar to the 1948 partition.

The Korean DMZ Conflict, also referred to as the Second Korean War by some, was a series of low-level armed clashes between North Korean forces and the forces of South Korea and the United States, largely occurring between 1966 and 1969 at the Korean DMZ.

Football War
The Football War, also known as the Soccer War or 100 Hour War, was a brief war fought between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. It ended in a ceasefire and status quo ante bellum due to intervention by the Organization of American States.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule. This war concluded in a stalemate with no permanent territorial changes (see Tashkent Declaration).

Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. "The war left the borders unchanged. Three years later, as war with the Western powers loomed, Saddam Hussein recognized Iranian rights over the eastern half of the Shatt al-Arab, a reversion to the status quo ante bellum that he had repudiated a decade earlier." In exchange, Iran gave a promise not to invade Iraq while the latter was busy in Kuwait.

Kargil War
The Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place in 1999 between 3 May and 26 July of the Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). The war started with the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and armed insurgents into positions on the Indian side of the LoC. After two months of fighting, the Indian military regained most of its positions on the Indian side, and the Pakistani forces withdrew to their peacetime positions. The war ended with no territorial changes on either side.

References

Latin words and phrases

Status quo ante bellum


Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad is a short story collection written by Nigerian author and actress Damilare Kuku. It was first published by Masobe Books in 2021. The twelve short stories describe various women and their experiences with men and relationships. The stories in this book are set in Lagos, Nigeria. This book depicts the hazards of attempting to find enduring love and friendship in Africa's wildest metropolis with humour, wisdom, and empathy that will prove universal and informative.

References

2021 short story collections
Nigerian short story collections
Works set in Lagos

Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad


Assam separatist movements refers to a series of multiple insurgent and separatist movements that are or have been operating the in Northeast Indian state of Assam.
The conflict started in the 1970s following tension between the native indigenous Assamese people and the Indian government over alleged neglect, political, social, cultural, economic issues and increased levels of illegal immigration from Bangladesh. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of 12,000 United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) militants and 18,000 others.

Several organisations contribute to the insurgency including the ULFA, the Adivasi National Liberation Army, Karbi Longri N.C. Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) with ULFA perhaps the largest of these groups, and one of the oldest, having been founded in 1979. The ULFA has attacked Hindi-speaking migrant workers and a movement exists favouring secession from the Republic of India. The alleged neglect and economic, social, cultural and political exploitation by the Indian state are the main reasons behind the growth of this secessionist movement.

The ULFA seeks to establish a sovereign Assam via armed struggle. MULTA (Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam), on the other hand, seeks to establish an Islamic state in India via the jihadist struggle of Muslims of both indigenous and migrant origin. The Government of India banned the ULFA in 1990 and classifies it as a terrorist group, while the US State Department lists it under "other groups of concern".

Founded at Rang Ghar, a historic structure dating to the Ahom kingdom on April7, 1979, the ULFA has been the subject of military operations by the Indian Army since 1990, which have continued into the present. In the past two decades some 30,000 people have died in the clash between the rebels and the government.
Though separatist sentiment is considered strong, it is disputed if the secessionist movement continues to enjoy popular support. Conversely, assertions of Assamese nationalism are found in Assamese literature and culture. The neglect and exploitation by the Indian state are common refrains in the Assamese-language media with some reports casting the ULFA leaders as saviors.

Internationally acclaimed Assamese novelist Indira Goswami has tried to broker peace for several years between the rebels and the government. In a recent development Hiren Gohain, a public intellectual, has stepped in to expedite the process.

Notable incidents
In June 7 in 2007, Rajar Agarwal, an Indian businessman and his were kidnapped by four suspected Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA). In December of the same year, an improvised explosive device planted in a train compartment on its way from Dibrugarh to Delhi, India, blast killing 5 civilians and wounded five more. The ANLA claimed the attack to the media asking for more rights and recognition for the community in the state.

In December 23, 2008, armed militants of the ANLA shot dead the Deputy Manager Gautom Kotoky a senior tea executive in Carramore tea estate (owned by McLeod & Russell Group) along the India-Bhutan border under Harisinga Police Station in Odalguri, Assam. In the next day, a bomb blasts on railway tracks between Khatkhati and Bokajan. The attack left only material damage, and were attributed to the ANLA.

In July 10 of 2011, an explosion was registered in the Guwahati-Puri Express train. Four of the train's coaches were derailed and over 100 people were wounded, and the attack caused an unknown amount of property damage to the tracks and train. Authorities said the bomb was placed on the track with wires and other trigger materials, which were found after the bombing. The Adivasi People's Army (APA) claimed responsibility for the attack through an email, and the police suspected that National Democratic Front of Bodoland for the bombing. Suspected APA militants attacked and wound Zakir Hussain, leader in the Assam Minorities Students' Union (AMSU); he held the position of Kamandanga unit assistant secretary. The attack took place in Kokrajhar district, Assam. The APA carried out other similar attacks in train tracks.

In December 21, the businessman Ratan Saha was kidnapped by members of the Adivasi Cobra Militants of Assam (ACMA) in Kokrajhar, Assam. In response, locals violently protested the kidnapping and demanded that Saha be released in one day. There were no reports of the outcome of the kidnapping.

During 2012, all Adivasi militants including those of Adivasi Cobra Force surrendered. In December of the same year, armed militants of the ANLA kidnapped Gobin Goswami, the headmaster of Kuwoni Lower Primary School in Golaghat, the motive of the abduction and the outcome of the kidnapping is unknown.

Suspect members of the ANLA abducted a grocery store owner and his employee in Majuli area, Sonitpur. The attackes claimed the kidnapping because they had failed to make ransom payments.

On 15 May 2019, twelve people were injured after a grenade exploded in front of a shopping mall in Guwahati. Days later the United Liberation Front of Assam claimed responsibility for the attack, and the authorities arrested the main suspects.

In 2020 and 2021, all Bodo, Karbi, Kuki and Dimasa militants surrendered to the government of India.

In 2022, Gorkha and Tiwa Militants also surrendered.

See also
Operation All Clear
2008 Assam bombings
Bhimajuli Massacre
2009 Guwahati bombings
2009 Assam serial blasts
Insurgency in North-East India
Separatist movements of India

References

1990s in Assam
2000s in Assam
2010s in Assam
2020s in Assam

Separatism in India
Assamese nationalism
Politics of Assam
Insurgencies in Asia
Ethnic conflicts
Rebellions in India

Assam separatist movements


Robert Pemberton Milnes (28 May 1784 – 9 November 1858), was a British landowner and politician.

Early life
Robert Pemberton Milnes was born on 28 May 1784. He was the eldest son of Richard Slater Milnes, of Fryston Hall, Yorkshire by Rachael, daughter of Hans Busk (1718–1792) whose brother was Sir Wadsworth Busk. He was educated at Hackney and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He inherited Fryston Hall, Castleford on the death of his father in 1804. He also inherited Bawtry House near Doncaster, Yorkshire on the death of Bridget, the daughter of Pemberton Milnes, who had built the house in 1795.

Career
Milnes sat as Member of Parliament for Pontefract between 1806 and 1818.

Personal life and death
Milnes had married the Honourable Henrietta Maria, daughter of Robert Monckton-Arundell, 4th Viscount Galway, in 1808. Their son Richard became a prominent literary figure and was created Baron Houghton in 1863. Henrietta Mary died in May 1847. Milnes remained a widower until his death in November 1858, aged 74.

References

External links

1784 births
1858 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
UK MPs 1806–1807
UK MPs 1807–1812
UK MPs 1812–1818
Politicians from Castleford

Robert Pemberton Milnes


The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) is an accrediting organization in the United States.  It accredits private and public colleges that provide students two-year education programs and confer the associate degree. Formerly one of the nation's seven regional accreditors, the commission accredits colleges in California, Hawaii, and American territories and protectorates in the Pacific Ocean.

ACCJC was formed in 1962 when several accrediting agencies joined to create the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). In 2012 and 2013, the three commissions of WASC separated into independent organizations. ACCJC is not a governmental entity but an independent organization of educators and others representing the public interest.  In concept, colleges apply to become members of the ACCJC and volunteer to participate in the accreditation process.

ACCJC has sanctioned colleges at a rate vastly higher than the other accrediting bodies in the United States. At a forum on the City College of San Francisco campus, California State Senator James Beall and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano described legislation which would undo the monopoly the ACCJC holds on accreditation of California Community Colleges.

The accreditation process
The accreditation process is premised on the idea that ACCJC and the colleges together shape the values and best practices of the educational community into the policies, requirements, and standards by which colleges are evaluated. The commission's intent is that ACCJC and its member institutions share this right and responsibility.

ACCJC requires member colleges to carry out a self-study, compose a report, and undergo peer review every six years. In short, ACCJC process consists of two elements: the college's evaluation of itself and ACCJC's evaluation of the college.  These evaluations determine the extent to which the college is meeting ACCJC's policies, requirements, and standards, and their purpose is to help the school improve itself.  However, while ACCJC and its representatives are considered peers of the college they are evaluating, ultimately it is ACCJC, not the college, that will decide the college's accreditation status and any subsequent steps the college must take to better this status.

The self-study
The self-study is an extensive research project by which the college examines itself and makes plans for improvement in the context of ACCJC's policies, eligibility requirements, and standards.  ACCJC maintains dozens of policies, including "Review of Commission Actions."  There are twenty-one eligibility requirements, ranging from ""Authority (to Operate as an Educational Institution)" to "Relations with the Accrediting Commission."  There are four areas of standards: "Institutional Mission and Effectiveness," "Student Learning Programs and Services," "Resources," and "Leadership and Guidance." The standards state the practices of an "effective institution." The ACCJC considers an institution effective when it "ensures that its resources and processes support student learning, continually assesses that learning, and pursues institutional excellence and improvement." ACCJC emphasizes that this self-study must have the widespread involvement of faculty, staff, administration, students, and trustees to ensure that its conclusions are accurate and authoritative, reflecting the college as it is and projecting the college it wants to become.

The self-study report
The college composes and organizes the self-study report, which typically runs several hundred pages or more, along the lines of ACCJC's policies, requirements, and standards. The bulk of the report is the college's discussion of its adherence to the standards. Here the college must provide a summary of current processes and products, an analysis of the extent to which the college meets the standards, and evidence to support the summary and analysis. When pertinent, the college also adds "planning agendas" to guide its self-improvement. It then submits this report to ACCJC in preparation for ACCJC sending a "visiting" team to the site to "validate" the college's account of itself. Participants on the visiting team are volunteers drawn from other ACCJC member colleges.

The site visit
The visiting team examines evidence, conducts interviews, and attends meetings of college committees and councils. When the team is done with its work, it delivers a preliminary oral exit report to the college. Subsequently, the team composes the written team report, which it delivers in draft form both to ACCJC and to the college. This draft includes the visiting team's commendations and recommendations for addressing deficiencies. The college has the opportunity to correct factual errors in this report before it is considered a final draft.

Commission action
On the basis of the college's self-study report, the site team's visit, the site team's report, documents from previous evaluations, and evidence of student learning and achievement, the nineteen-member Commission determines the accreditation status of the college. It announces this status to the college in an action letter and to the public through ACCJC announcements.  This action letter also lists the Commission's "official" recommendations. For a college seeking reaffirmation, there are in general two possibilities.  ACCJC can reaffirm the college's accreditation, or it can sanction the college.  The sanctions are of three kinds: Warning, Probation, and Show Cause.  If sanctioned, the college maintains its accreditation, but ACCJC withholds reaffirmation until the college addresses the matters that led to sanction. ACCJC will also require the sanctioned college to provide one or more follow-up reports to confirm that it is in fact fulfilling the Commission's recommendations.  Often the ACCJC will also require follow-up site visits. Very rarely does ACCJC terminate a college's accreditation.

ACCJC generated 89% of all sanctions issued nationwide between 2003 and 2008.
From June 2011 to June 2012, ACCJC issued 64% of the seventy-five sanctions issued
nationwide.

A grant for $450,000 from the Lumina Foundation to "explore the usefulness of the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP)" was received by ACCJC.

Additional reports
In between these comprehensive self-studies, which occur every six years, the college provides ACCJC a midterm report, in which the college describes and analyzes its progress on each of the commission's recommendations, its self-identified planning agendas, and any proposed "substantive changes."

Colleges also submit to ACCJC annual reports on student learning and achievement and on fiscal matters.

Relationship with California Community College system

On July 2, 2012, the ACCJC gave the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) eight months to prove it should remain accredited and ordered it to "make preparations for closure". As summarized by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2015, "the commission has never found wrongdoing or substandard instruction, but has said the college should lose accreditation because of tangled governance structures, poor fiscal controls and insufficient self-evaluation and reporting." In September 2012, the state chancellor's office warned that a special trustee would be appointed to oversee the institution's finances if the college did not voluntarily invite one; the board of trustees voted to invite a special trustee, despite student protests and objection. A report issued by California's Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance team in September 2012 found the institution to be in a "perilous financial position" caused largely by "poor decisions and a lack of accountability.

In July 2013, the ACCJC elected to take action to terminate the college's accreditation, subject to a one-year review and appeal period. The decision was based on a variety of deficiencies in standards. A Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team report was expected to be released by the end of July 2013. San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera filed two legal challenges to stop the ACCJC from revoking City College of San Francisco's accreditation alleging conflicts of interest, a faulty evaluation process, and a politically motivated decision-making process. The California Federation of Teachers (CFT), the union representing CCSF faculty, also submitted a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). On August 13, 2013, the DOE sided with the union in four of its complaints, finding ACCJC in violation of federal regulations concerning its accreditation process.

In January 2015, with the legal conflict still ongoing, the ACCJC said that CCSF remained out of compliance with standards in 32 areas but granted the college a two-year extension for resolving these issues and avoiding a shutdown.

In August 2015, a task force convened by the state chancellor issued a report declaring that its system and colleges "have lost confidence in the ACCJC." Chancellor Brice Harris proposed a change to the California Code of Regulations that would remove the ACCJC as the sole accrediting commission for California community colleges. On November 16, 2015, the California community college system Board of Governors voted 14-0, with one abstention, to direct Chancellor Harris to create a plan to replace ACCJC as the accreditor for the system.

In 2017, the ACCJC reaffirmed CCSF's accreditation for seven years. By California regulation as of October 1, 2021, the ACCJC remains the sole accreditor for California community colleges.

References

External links
 Official website

School accreditors


Ethan Van der Ryn (born October 21, 1962) is an American sound editor and sound designer.

He won 2 Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers  and King Kong. He earned further Academy Awards nominations for Transformers (2007), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), Argo (2012), and A Quiet Place (2018). He is an alumnus of San Francisco State University.

References

External links

1962 births
Living people
People from Alameda, California
American sound editors
Best Sound Editing Academy Award winners
San Francisco State University alumni

Ethan Van der Ryn


J-type asteroids are asteroids  with spectra similar to that of diogenite meteorites and so, presumably, to the deeper layers of the crust of 4 Vesta.

Their spectra are rather similar to that of the V-type asteroids but have a particularly strong 1 μm absorption band.

Examples are 2442 Corbett, 3869 Norton, 4005 Dyagilev, and 4215 Kamo.

See also
Asteroid spectral types

References

Asteroid spectral classes

J-type asteroid


is a Japanese female professional ten-pin bowler. She is a member of the Japan Professional Bowling Association, license no. 372.

Biography
As a 13-year-old, Itakura was into swimming. She was good enough to participate in the Junior Olympics. After retiring from swimming, she took up bowling upon the recommendation of her mother. She was coached by Yoshikazu Nishida. While in school, she captured three high school tournaments, including the 1993 17th All-Japan High School Championship.

After graduating from high school, Itakura planned on working in the bowling business, starting off as an office lady at a bowling center. In 1997, at the age of 22 years, she gave up her job when she was selected as a member of the Japan national team. Between 1999 and 2000, Itakura competed in various professional and amateur tournaments. She competed in the NHK Cup Japan All-Star Championships. And, she became the first and only Japanese to win the AMF World Cup (2001).

Itakura became a professional in 2003, becoming the first bowler to enter the JPBA under a waiver, based on her success as an amateur, thereby bypassing the qualifying stages (usually, a bowler has to qualify via a series of difficult tests, which for many bowlers takes multiple years before they are successful.)

In 2011, Itakura-pro finished the JPBA season 24th in points (980), 19th in scoring average (206.21), and 24th in money with 784,000 yen.

Major accomplishments
Amateur
 1993 - 17th All-Japan High School Championship (winner)
 1999 - 33rd Japan Invitational Bowling Championships (winner)
 1999 - 12th All-Japan Ladies Tournament, Youth Division (winner)
 2000 - 34th Japan Invitational Bowling Championships (winner)
 2001 - 37th AMF World Cup (winner)

Professional
 2003 - 35th All Japan Women's Pro Bowling Championship (winner)
 2004 - 36th All Japan Women's Pro Bowling Championship (winner)
 2005 - 27th Kansai Women's Open (winner)
 2005 - Pro Bowling Ladies 新人戦 (winner)
 2007 - BIGBOX Higashi Yamato Cup (winner)
 2010 - 26th Rokko Queens (winner)

DHC
 2006 DHC Ladies Bowling Tour 2005/2006 - 5th-leg (winner)

P★League
 Tournament 4 - 2nd place

External links
P★League
Official site
Star Lanes (her home lanes)

1975 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Osaka Prefecture
Japanese ten-pin bowling players
Asian Games medalists in bowling
Bowlers at the 1998 Asian Games
Bowlers at the 2002 Asian Games
Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan
Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games

Nachimi Itakura


Brian Cassar (21 March 1936 – 25 December 2022) was a British singer and guitarist known as Casey Jones.  He led the first notable beat group in Liverpool, Cass and the Cassanovas, who were early rivals of The Beatles in the city.  He later led another group, Casey Jones and the Engineers, which was one of Eric Clapton's first bands, and then, as leader of Casey Jones and the Governors, became successful in Germany, where he became based for much of his life.  His surname is sometimes misspelled as Casser.

Life and career

Early life
Cassar was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and raised in Liverpool. In the 1950s, he worked in the Merchant Navy.

Cass & the Cassanovas
As a singer and rhythm guitarist, Cassar formed a trio, Cass & the Cassanovas, in May 1959, with singer and guitarist Adrian Barber (born 13 November 1938, Ilkley, Yorkshire), and drummer and singer Brian J. Hudson (born Brian James Hudson, 21 April 1938, Cleveland, Yorkshire).  After a few months, Hudson left and was replaced by Johnny Hutchinson (born 18 July 1940, Malta), known as Johnny Hutch.  In need of a bass guitarist, Hutchinson then brought in Johnny Gustafson (born 8 August 1942, Liverpool) in December 1959. At that time Gustafson did not have a proper bass guitar so Barber converted an acoustic for him.  The group became popular playing a wide range of music, from Latin American music to rock and roll, in dance halls in the Liverpool area. Cassar also started his own music club in Liverpool, the Casanova Club, whose guest groups included one known at the time as the "Silver Beetles"; according to some reports, Cassar had suggested that they change their name from the earlier spelling of "Beatals" which Cassar found "ridiculous". In May 1960 Cass & the Cassanovas took part in auditions in front of leading manager Larry Parnes who was looking for backing bands for his stable of pop singers.  The group secured a place as backing group for singer Duffy Power and toured with him.<ref name=repertoire>[http://www.repertoirerecords.com/cgibin/blog/?p=196  Repertoire Records, Coming Round The Bend: Casey Jones] </ref> By this time, Cassar had begun using the stage names of "Casey Jones" and "Casey Valence".

Casey Jones
In December 1960, Gustafson, Hutchinson and Barber left the band, and formed themselves into a new trio, The Big Three.  Cassar moved to London around 1962, and managed the Blue Gardenia club in Soho.  He also briefly formed a group called the Nightsounds, which featured Albert Lee on guitar.  The following year, he won a recording contract with the Columbia label, and recorded a single, "One Way Ticket", using the name Casey Jones.  With drummer Ray Stock, he recruited two former members of R&B group the Roosters, guitarist Eric Clapton and bassist Tom McGuinness, and briefly toured as Casey Jones & the Engineers.  Clapton and McGuinness left after a few performances, shortly followed by Stock. Casey Jones and The Engineers at Where'sEric.com

Cassar then formed a new group with David Coleman (lead guitar), Roger Cook (rhythm guitar), Jim Redford (bass) and Peter Richards (drums).  They played at the Star-Club in Hamburg and became popular in Germany, releasing two singles, "Tall Girl" and "Don't Ha Ha" on the Bellaphon label, before changing their name to Casey Jones & the Governors, apparently in an attempt to stress their British origins.  The record label reissued "Don't Ha Ha" – which in fact was a version of the 1958 Huey Smith and the Clowns song "Don't You Just Know It" – under the new band name and it rose to # 2 on the German pop chart.  Casey Jones and the Governors continued to tour and record successfully in Germany for a few years, achieving six top 40 singles and releasing two albums on the Gold 12 label, Casey Jones and the Governors (1965) and Don't Ha Ha (1966).

In the 1970s, Cassar, still using the name Casey Jones, worked as a disc jockey in Löhnberg, and recorded a solo album, Casey's Rock 'n' Roll Show''. In the 1990s, he formed a new version of Casey Jones and the Governors to play the oldies circuit in Germany, and in 2006 was reported to be living in Unna near Dortmund.

Personal life and death
Cassar died on 25 December 2022, at the age of 86.

References

External links

1936 births
2022 deaths
Musicians from Liverpool
English pop singers
English pop guitarists
English male singers
British expatriates in Germany
Beat musicians

Brian Cassar