About the House is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1965 by Random House (first published in England by Faber & Faber in 1966).

The book is in two unnumbered parts, "Thanksgiving for a Habitat", a sequence of poems about Auden's house in Kirchstetten, Austria, and a miscellaneous group of poems headed "In and Out". Almost all the poems were written between 1960 and 1964.

The "Thanksgiving for a Habitat" sequence includes 15 poems in different forms, some followed by a "Postscript" generally in haiku form. The sequence includes, among other poems, "The Cave of Making", "The Geography of the House", "Tonight at Seven-Thirty", "The Cave of Nakedness", and "The Common Life". One poem in the sequence, "Grub First, Then Ethics", was written in 1958 and was published in Auden's previous book Homage to Clio under the title "On Installing an American Kitchen in Lower Austria".

The poems in the "In and Out" section include "A Change of Air", "You", "Et in Arcadia Ego", "On the Circuit", "After Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics", and "Whitsunday in Kirchstetten".

This was the first of Auden's books to include the haiku form, which he used in many poems for the rest of his career.

The book is dedicated to Edmund and Elena Wilson.

References

John Fuller, W. H. Auden: A Commentary (1999)
Edward Mendelson, Later Auden (1999)

1965 poetry books
Books by W. H. Auden
Poetry by W. H. Auden
Random House books

About the House


Hamlet Habetnaki Mkhitaryan (, 14 September 1962 – 6 May 1996) was a Soviet and Armenian football player who played as a striker for the Armenia national team and played most of his club career for Armenian Premier League club Ararat Yerevan and CFA 2 club ASOA Valence.

Mkhitaryan was one of the best players of the Soviet Top League during the 1980s, scoring 46 goals for the club, and played for ASOA Valence during the peak of the team in Ligue 2. He is the father of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, a current Armenian international footballer who plays for Italian club Inter Milan.

Club career
Hamlet Mkhitaryan started playing for Ararat Yerevan in 1980. At this time, the club had few players who had played for it back in the 1970s, when the team has achieved a number of successes, including winning the 1973 Soviet Top League. Thus, the 1980s were a new era for Ararat Yerevan. Mkhitaryan was a team regular and one of the leaders of the club's attack. In the 1984 Soviet Top League, Mkhitaryan scored 18 goals. The only player who scored more than him was Sergey Andreyev, who scored 19 goals. Editors of the magazine Soviet Warrior awarded Mkhitaryan their newly established prize, Knight of Attack. This award was presented to the football player who had scored most often (per season) three or more goals in a single league match. Mkhitaryan made three hat-tricks and one poker in the 1984 Top League.

In 1988, he moved to Kotayk Abovyan, where he spent half of the season. In July 1989, he went to France, where he later played for ASOA Valence, a club founded by French Armenians. Mkhitaryan is considered one of the first official foreign players from Armenia who went to play in the western, non-Soviet affiliated world (and not emigrated). Abraham Hayrapetyan, who lived in France and was mainly working on arranging tours of Soviet players to Europe, helped him to move to Valence. After Mkhitaryan came to the club, he helped Valence go up from the Championnat National third division to the Ligue 2 second division. Mkhitaryan later joined ASA Issy, another club formed by Armenians in France, which he played on for only six months. He could not continue his career as a football player because of a brain tumor. Knowing he was dying, Hamlet went back to Yerevan, wanting to die at home. After three operations performed within one year, his life could not be saved and he died at the age of 33 on 6 May 1996.

International career
Mkhitaryan debuted for the Armenia national team on 7 September 1994 in a UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying match against Belgium at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels, which Armenia lost 2–0. He played his last game next in another UEFA Euro 1996 qualifier against Cyprus on 8 October 1994 at the Hrazdan Stadium in Yerevan. The match ended 0–0.

Personal life
Hamlet was married to Marina Taschyan. They had two children, a daughter named Monica and a son named Henrikh, who is a professional footballer for Inter Milan and the Armenia national team. The Mkhitaryans lived in the Kentron district of Yerevan. His wife was the head of the national teams department in the Armenian Football Federation and their daughter works at the UEFA headquarters. His son followed in his footsteps and became a football player, currently being the captain of the Armenia national football team. Those who saw both Hamlet and Henrikh play say that their styles resemble each other very much.

References

External links
 Career summary by KLISF

 Armfootball.tripod.com

1962 births
1996 deaths
Deaths from brain tumor
Deaths from cancer in Armenia
Footballers from Yerevan
Men's association football forwards
Soviet men's footballers
Soviet expatriate men's footballers
Armenian men's footballers
Armenian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in France
Soviet expatriate sportspeople in France
Armenian expatriate sportspeople in France
Soviet Armenians
Soviet Top League players
Ligue 2 players
Armenia men's international footballers
FC Ararat Yerevan players
ASOA Valence players
ASA Issy players

Hamlet Mkhitaryan (footballer, born 1962)


Offensive proficiency rating or offensive  productive efficiency is a statistic used in basketball to measure either a team's offensive performance or an individual player's efficiency at producing points for the offense. It was created by author and statistician Dean Oliver.

For teams, the formula is: Offensive Team Rating = (Players Points*Total FG%) + Opponents Differential= 1/5 of possessions - Times Fouled+ FTM* FT% * OAPOW (Official Adjusted Players Offensive Withstand). This stat can't be influenced by the defense of a player's teammates.

For players, the formula is: Offensive Production Rating = (Points Produced / Individual Possessions) x OAPOW × PPG + FTM/FT * 3pt% + FG%

Points can be produced through field goals, free throws, assists, and offensive rebounds. Individual possessions are the sum of a player's scoring possessions (field goals, free throws, plus partial credit for assists), missed field goals and free throws that the defense rebounds, and turnovers.

The 2019-2020 Dallas Mavericks had an offensive rating of 116.70, which was the highest in NBA history.

References

Basketball statistics

Offensive rating


Capt. The Hon. John Hamilton (2 March 1714 – 18 December 1755) was a British naval officer, the second son of James Hamilton, 7th Earl of Abercorn and Anne Plumer.

Biography
Hamilton chose a career in the Royal Navy and served in Guinea and the West Indies from 1737 to 1740. He was promoted to captain the next year and served throughout the War of the Austrian Succession, mostly in escorting convoys. In 1742, he was given command of HMS Kinsale, and captured a privateer off Dieppe on 7 September. He took command of HMS Augusta in 1744. His portrait by Joshua Reynolds in 1746 brought the artist his initial fame.

In 1749, Hamilton married Harriet Eliot, the daughter of James Craggs and widow of Richard Eliot of Port Eliot (d. 1748). He remained on active service for a few years after the close of the war in 1748, but went on half-pay from 1751 to 1755. He was called back into service as commander of HMS Lancaster, and accidentally drowned while in Portsmouth harbour. He left three children:

John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn (1756–1818)
Lady Anne Hamilton ( – 4 November 1764)

References
Hamilton Papers
18th Century Ships of the Royal Navy

Deaths by drowning in the United Kingdom
Royal Navy officers
Younger sons of earls
1714 births
1755 deaths
Accidental deaths in England
Royal Navy personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession

John Hamilton (Royal Navy officer)


Henry Holden (1596 – March 1662) was an English Roman Catholic priest, known as a theologian.

Life
Henry Holden was the second son of Commodore Holden, of Chaigley, Lancashire, and Shelby Eleanor, his wife. He entered the English College at Douai under the name of Johnson, 18 September 1618. There he studied till 15 July 1623, when he proceeded to Paris, took his degree as Doctor of Divinity, and was made a professor at the Sorbonne. He also became penitentiary at Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet and one of the grand vicars of the Archbishop of Paris.

When Bishop Richard Smith fled from England in 1631, there arose a difference of opinion between the Jesuits and the other religious orders, who on the one hand thought the presence of a bishop in England was not advisable at the time, and the secular clergy, who took the opposite view. Holden was sent to Rome to represent the seculars and to avert the dissolution of the chapter. In 1655, on the death of Bishop Smith, the question again arose, and Holden's friend and brother-priest, Thomas White, alias Blackloe, wrote a book, "The Grounds of Obedience and Government", which gave offence to his opponents, and led to some of his other works being censured by the Holy See. Holden, who thought Blackloe had been hardly treated, undertook his defence, and thus the "Blackloist Controversy" was begun.

Holden, however, did not approve of all Blackloe's opinions and persuaded him to submit and retract the teaching which had been condemned. Blackloe did this, though without satisfying his adversaries, who were also unsparing in their denunciations of Holden, whom they described as an unlearned and rash man.

In the later years of his life he took a keen interest in the famous community known as the "Blue Nuns" at Paris. The sisters were originally Franciscans, but when Cardinal de Retz, Archbishop of Paris, refused to allow Franciscans to dwell in his diocese, they obtained leave from the Holy See to change their rule to that of the Immaculate Conception of our Lady, and Dr. Holden was appointed their superior in 1661.

In the heat of controversy his opponents accused him of Jansenism as well as of Blackloism. His own statement survives, that he condemned the five key propositions of Jansen from the first, and that "in the same sense in which they were condemned by him" (the pope). He also signed the Sorbonne's censure of Antoine Arnauld's letter to  Roger du Plessis, duc de Liancourt.

Works
His principal works are:

"Divinæ Fidei Analysis, cum Appendice de Schismate" (Paris, 1652; English translation by W. G. [William Graunt], Paris, 1658). This work led to a long controversy between Holden and John Serjeant on the Catholic side against the Anglicans John Bramhall and Henry Hammond;
"Tractatus de Usura", published in the second edition of the above (1655);
"Letters to Arnauld and Feret", also published in later editions of the "Analysis";
"Answer to Dr. Laney's Queries concerning certain Points of Controversy";
"Dr. Holden's Letter to a Friend of his, upon the occasion of Mr. Blacklow (or rather T. White's) submitting his Writings to the See of Rome" (Paris, 1657);
"Novum Testamentum brevibus annotationibus illustratum" (Paris, 1660); "Henrici Holden Epistola ad D.D.N.N. Anglum in qua de 22 propositionibus ex libris Thomæ Angli ex Albiis excerptis et a facultate theologica Duacena damnatis, sententiam suam dicit" (Paris, 1661);
"A Letter to Mr. Graunt concerning Mr. White's Treatise de Medio Animarum Statu" (Paris, 1661);
"A Check; or enquiry into the late act of the Roman Inquisition, busily and pressingly dispersed over all England by the Jesuits" (Paris, 1662);
several letters were printed in Robert Pugh, "Blackloe's Cabal" (1680).

References

Attribution
 The entry cites:
Dodd, Charles, Church History (Brussels, 1737–42), III, 297
Berington, Joseph, Memoirs of Panzani (Birmingham, 1793)
Plowden, Charles, Remarks on Berington's Panzani (Liège, 1794)
Butler, Charles, Hist. Memoirs of Eng. Cath. (London, 1822), II, 416, 426-9, IV, 426
Gillow, Joseph, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s. v.

Gillow, Joseph, ed., The Annals of the Blue Nuns, Paris, manuscript, for the Catholic Record Society

External links

1596 births
1662 deaths
Academic staff of the University of Paris
17th-century English Roman Catholic priests
English theologians
English male non-fiction writers

Henry Holden


Emily Bastel Glaser (born August 6, 1980), née Emily Bastel, is an American college golf coach and a former professional golfer.  She played on the Futures Tour and LPGA Tour and is currently the head coach of the Florida Gators women's golf team of the University of Florida.

Early life
Bastel was born in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.  The Bastel family had owned and operated a golf course since the 1930s, and her father worked as the resident pro and the course superintendent.  She attended Upper Sandusky High School, where she was a three-time all-state selection for the Upper Sandusky Rams girls' golf team.  She graduated from Upper Sandusky in 1998.

College and amateur career
Bastel received an athletic scholarship to attend Michigan State University, and played for the Michigan State Spartans women's golf team from 1998 to 2002.  She was a member of the Spartans' Big Ten Conference championship team as a junior in 2001, an All-Big Ten selection for four consecutive years, and an All-American as a senior in 2002.  Bastel also earned All-Big Ten Academic honors for three years.  She graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 2002, and was inducted into the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

She played on the U.S. teams in the Curtis Cup and Espirito Santo Trophy in 2002.  Bastel was a semifinalist at the 2001 U.S. Women's Amateur, played in three U.S. Women's Opens (2002, 2004, 2005), and won the Ohio State Women's Amateur three times (1999, 2001, 2003).

Professional career
Turning pro, Bastel alternated between playing on the Futures Tour (2004, 2007, 2009) and the LPGA Tour (2005, 2006, 2008), and competed as a touring pro for six years.

After failing to qualify for the LPGA Tour at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament in 2003, Bastel played on the Futures Tour in 2004. She finished 6th on the money list, just missing an automatic LPGA Tour card for the 2005 season. But at the 2004 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, she finished tied for 4th to earn her LPGA Tour card.

On the LPGA Tour in 2005, Bastel made the cut in 13 of 21 events, earning $106,491 to finish 79th on the money list. Her best finishes were T-9th at the Wendy's Championship for Children and 10th at the BMO Financial Group Canadian Women's Open, in what would be her only career top-10 LPGA Tour finishes. In 2006, she made the cut in only 3 of 22 events, earning only $19,126 to finish 145th on the money list, losing her LPGA Tour card.

After failing to regain her LPGA Tour card at qualifying school, Bastell was back on the Futures Tour in 2007. She won two events, the Jalapeno Golf Classic and the Michelob ULTRA Duramed Futures Players Championship, and was the leading money winner and Player of the Year.  Thus she earned her LPGA Tour card for 2008.

On the LPGA Tour in 2008, Bastel made the cut in 8 of 24 events, earning $50,672 and finishing 135th on the money list to again lose her LPGA Tour card. Her best finish was a 15th-place tie at the LPGA Corning Classic. In the 2008 LPGA Championship, she shot an opening round 66, her career low, to tie for the lead despite not feeling well. She shot 76 in the second round to make the cut, her only in an LPGA major, but withdrew from the tournament. After failing to regain her card at qualifying school, Bastel retired from professional golf.

Coaching career
Bastel served as assistant coach for Duke Blue Devils women's golf team of Duke University during the 2009–10 season.  During her one year at Duke, the Blue Devils finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and tied for eighth place at the 2010 NCAA championship.  She accepted the open assistant coach position under Florida Gators head coach Jan Dowling for the 2011–12 season.  After returning the Lady Gators to national contention at the NCAA Championship in 2012, Dowling announced her resignation as Gators head coach after only three years in May 2012.

The University Athletic Association announced a nationwide search to replace outgoing Gators coach Dowling, athletic director Jeremy Foley and his search committee held exactly one interview for the open job – with assistant coach Bastel.  The committee had intended the interview to be a courtesy, but the committee members were so impressed with her interview, background and coaching philosophy that Foley promptly cancelled the nationwide search and offered her the job.

Bastel married in December 2012, and has used her married name, Emily Glaser, since then.

In her first two seasons as the Gators' head coach, Glaser's golfers finished 17th at the 2013 NCAA Championship, and 18th at the 2014 NCAA Championship.

Personal
Bastel married Christian Glaser in December 2012, and now uses her married name professionally.

Playing achievements

Amateur wins
1991 Ohio State Women's Amateur
2001 Ohio State Women's Amateur
2003 Ohio State Women's Amateur

Futures Tour wins
2007 Jalapeno Golf Classic, Michelob Ultra Duramed Futures Players Championship

U.S. national team appearances
Amateur
Curtis Cup: 2002 (winners)
Espirito Santo Trophy: 2002

See also

 Florida Gators
 History of the University of Florida
 List of Michigan State University people
 University Athletic Association

References

External links
 GatorSports.com – Gators sports news from The Gainesville Sun.
 GatorZone.com – Official website of the Florida Gators.

American female golfers
Michigan State Spartans women's golfers
LPGA Tour golfers
Michigan State Spartans women's golf coaches
Duke Blue Devils women's golf coaches
Florida Gators women's golf coaches
Golfers from Ohio
People from Upper Sandusky, Ohio
1980 births
Living people

Emily Glaser


Mervyn Wilfred Susser (26 September 1921 – 14 August 2014) was a South African activist, doctor and epidemiologist.

His career was closely interwoven with that of his wife, Zena Stein. He is considered as one of the pioneers of epidemiology in the twentieth century.

Biography
Mervyn Wilfred Susser was born on 26 September 1921 in Johannesburg, South Africa to Solomon and Ida Rose (née Son) Susser. His family moved to Mokopane in Limpopo Province, where he learned to track game in the wild. His mother committed suicide when he was a young boy. His parents enrolled him in a Catholic girls' school because it was the best education available before later switching to an unspecified boys' school several hundred miles away.

Susser married Zena Stein in 1949. Susser and Stein had three children: Ezra Susser, Ruth Susser and Ida Susser.

Susser, Stein and colleagues began their careers at a clinic in Alexandra Township, where they developed ties with members of the anti-Apartheid Movement including Joe Slovo, Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela.

In this work they were influenced and mentored by Sidney Kark. In 1955, Susser and Stein left South Africa for political reasons, taking positions at Manchester University. While there the couple published a paper on the epidemiology of peptic ulcers and Susser coauthored an early textbook on Medical Sociology, among other contributions.

In 1965, Susser and Stein moved to Columbia University to lead the Division of Epidemiology. Ideas from a series of lectures given at Columbia were published in the book Causal Thinking in the Health Sciences. At Columbia, Susser founded the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, where he was named a chair.

Towards the end of their careers, Susser and Stein became increasingly concerned about the HIV epidemic both in New York and in South Africa. They helped to organise a conference in Maputo in April 1990, which aimed to alert the African National Congress about the HIV epidemic in South Africa, sadly with limited effect. Susser, Stein and colleagues, worked on building scientific capacity in Southern Africa to deal with the HIV epidemic and Susser and Stein served as early directors at the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, a research centre in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.

He died on 14 August 2014 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Legacy
On learning of his death, aged 92, Section27 issued the following statement:

References

External links
 Giants Among Us: Mervyn Susser, a 2011 profile.
 Nigel Paneth (2003). A Conversation With Mervyn Susser, Columbia University

1921 births
2014 deaths
People from Johannesburg
South African Jews
South African public health doctors
South African expatriates in the United States
Columbia University faculty
Members of the National Academy of Medicine

Mervyn Susser


Nathaniel Jermund Pousette-Dart (né Pousette; 7 September 1886 – 17 October 1965) was a painter and an art writer from St. Paul, Minnesota. The son of Swedish immigrants Algot Elias Pousette and Mathilda Nilson, he studied painting at the Art Students League in New York City  Philadelphia under the painter Robert Henri and at the Academy of Fine Arts.

After he returned to St. Paul he became known for his depictions of Minnesotan landscapes and subjects. His art was described as "Wholly and progressively modern it is, and impressionistic to a degree, yet at bottom it is sane and conservative.". He also wrote articles on art and edited books on the same.

He married Flora Louise Dart on April 16, 1913. Miss Dart was rather progressive in her ideas on marriage and refused to use the conventional vows promising to love, honor, cherish, and obey. She believed marriage should be one of mutual esteem and wrote her own vows reflecting this. After their marriage they combined their last names to form Pousette-Dart.

The couple had moved to Valhalla, New York by 1920.

Their son Richard Pousette-Dart became a famous artist in his own right.

References

External links
 Biography (Vern Carver and Beard Art Galleries)

1886 births
1965 deaths
Students of Robert Henri
20th-century American painters
American male painters
People from Valhalla, New York
20th-century American male artists

Nathaniel Pousette-Dart


Huang Xingguo (; born October 1954) was the Mayor of Tianjin, and, between 2015 and 2016, the acting Communist Party Secretary of Tianjin. Huang is originally from Zhejiang province, and previously served as party chief of Ningbo, and the party chief of Taizhou. In 2016, he was investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and subsequently expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for breaking party regulations. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison upon being convicted on charges of bribery.

Early career
Born in October 1954 in Xiangshan County, Zhejiang Province, he joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1973. Between 1983 and 1987, Huang served as the party chief in Xiangshan County. He went to Taizhou in July 1987, taking the office of deputy party chief and prefecture commissioner. During his time in office, he advocated for Taizhou to become a "prefecture-level city" and Huang earned the title of "Mayor". Taizhou's economy developed rapidly during Huang's term. It became one of the most affluent cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

He was appointed to be the secretary-general of the Zhejiang provincial government. In January 1998, he was named vice governor of Zhejiang Province, then became the party chief of the city of Ningbo. During this time he also entered the ranks of the provincial party leadership, with a seat on the provincial Party Standing Committee, working directly under then-Zhejiang Party Secretary Zhang Dejiang and then, in 2002, under Xi Jinping, who later became party General Secretary. In November 2003 Huang was transferred to work in the coastal city of Tianjin as vice mayor.

Tianjin
In November 2003, Huang became the executive vice mayor of Tianjin, overseeing the economy and statistics collection. During his term as vice mayor, he was known for his cooperation with other city departments.  In December 2007, he was named acting mayor of Tianjin, and confirmed a few months later by the municipal People's Congress, replacing Dai Xianglong. In 2009, Huang oversaw the transformation of the districts of the Binhai region into the Binhai New Area. In December 2014, Huang, after serving as mayor for some seven years, became the acting party chief of Tianjin, replacing Sun Chunlan, who was transferred to work as head of the United Front Work Department in Beijing. However, Huang was not confirmed as official party chief for unknown reasons.

Under Huang, on April 21, 2015, Tianjin's first free trade experimental zone opened. Huang attended its inauguration.  The trial of Zhou Yongkang, the highest-ranked official to go on trial since the Cultural Revolution, also took place in Tianjin between April and May, 2015, under Huang's watch.  The 2015 Tianjin explosions took place during Huang's tenure. Several days after the explosion, Huang was named head of the response committee. He told journalists that he "takes inescapable responsibility" for the incident as he was the main official in charge of Tianjin.

He was among the finalists for the 2010 World Mayor prize.

Investigation
On September 10, 2016, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Huang was undergoing investigation for "serious violations of regulations". The announcement was shocking to political observers, as Huang had maintained a positive reputation throughout his career and was not widely known to be subject to any kind of controversy. In addition, Huang had been named by some observers as a political ally of Xi Jinping. Huang himself apparently did not anticipate his sudden downfall; on state television footage, Huang said that when CCDI officers came to Tianjin for a "second look" (huitoukan) at the city's progress in combating corruption, he thought it was a routine exercise. In fact, Huang's troubles seem to have begun long prior - during the 2014 inspection of the city's party organization by central inspection teams, and the "second look" confirmed the seriousness of Huang's "political and economic problems".

The inspection authorities alleged that Huang had not taken the correct political stance on major issues, superficially adhering to the policies of the party's central authorities but in fact carrying out a different direction. On certain issues, he was said to have substantially altered major policies decided upon by the party's central authorities. In addition, he was said to have perpetuated a culture of cronyism, trusting and showing favoritism to those from his home province.

The removal of Huang from the posts of mayor and acting party chief meant that, remarkably, both party and government leadership positions in Tianjin, considered a highly political important municipality, fell vacant – the first time this has happened in a direct-controlled municipality since the end of the Cultural Revolution. Immediately after the announcement, Tianjin deputy party chief Wang Dongfeng convened the local party organization to declare fealty to the decision and make other obligatory political pronouncements to stabilize the situation.  Huang was the first sitting mayor of a direct-controlled municipality to be investigated by the CCDI since the 18th Party Congress, and the longest "acting" Party Secretary since Chinese economic reform in 1978, having held the position for 21 months without assuming the post in an official capacity. Wang Dongfeng would eventually take over as mayor, while Li Hongzhong would assume the Tianjin party secretaryship in an official capacity in September.

Trial and sentencing
At the conclusion of the internal investigation, the party assigned Huang with a litany of offenses, accusing him of "violating political discipline and political rules, trivializing the directives of the central government, undermining party unity, paid lip service to party policy but did not actually adhere," obstructed the investigation into his own wrongdoing, improperly assisted associates in the promotion evaluation process, let his son take advantage of his position to seek economic gain, did not carry out proper "supervision of his staff". The party said that Huang's "egregious behavior led to very bad influence" to those around him and "poisoned the Tianjin political environment". Huang was summarily expelled from the Communist Party on January 4, 2017, and sent to judicial authorities for processing.

On September 25, 2017, Huang was convicted on charges of bribery by the People's Intermediate Court in Shijiazhuang, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was additionally fined three million yuan. Court documents showed that he had taken bribes amounting to some 40.03 million yuan, which began during his term as party chief of Taizhou. The court noted Huang's cooperative attitude during the judicial process.

References

External links
 City Mayors profile
 Information from China News
 Profile of Huang Xingguo
 Some comments

Politicians from Ningbo
1954 births
People's Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang
Regional leaders in the People's Republic of China
Living people
Mayors of Tianjin
Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party
Political office-holders in Zhejiang
Alternate members of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Alternate members of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Chinese politicians convicted of corruption
People from Xiangshan County, Zhejiang

Huang Xingguo


Christopher Scott Washburn (born May 13, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player.

College career
A 6'11" center, Washburn was one of the top three high school recruits in the country in 1984, along with John Williams (LSU) and Danny Manning (Kansas). He signed with North Carolina State University, along with future NBA players Vinny Del Negro and Nate McMillan to form one of the best recruiting classes in the nation on a team that also included Spud Webb. A gifted athlete, Washburn combined size with speed for a big man and soft hands.

During his time at N.C. State, he was caught stealing a stereo, which resulted in his being sentenced to 46 hours in jail, a five-year suspended prison term and five years of probation. During his trial, the Wake County district attorney introduced as evidence Washburn's SAT scores, which were below 500 (out of 1600, with 400 being the starting score). "The coaches over there told me, 'You already signed, you're already in school, you just have to take the test just to get into college,' " Washburn said later. When they told me it didn't matter what score I was getting, I went in for about 22 minutes. I just marked down [answers] … mark, mark, mark."

His work ethic was also called into question. Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons claimed that Washburn was "never as good as his reputation," even as a high-school All-American. Gibbons was blasted by many N.C. State fans for suggesting that Washburn was going to break the Wolfpack basketball program, in response to coach Jim Valvano's claim that Washburn would make the program.

In the full season Washburn played with the Wolfpack, he averaged 17.6 points a game and 6.7 rebounds, sharing time in the front court with future NBA players Charles Shackleford and Chucky Brown. Washburn's best outing was against future top NBA draft pick Brad Daugherty and UNC on February 23, 1986. Before a nationally televised audience, Washburn scored 26 points as the Wolfpack upset the then-ranked #1 Tar Heels 76-65.

Washburn's case was one of many detailed by Peter Golenbock in his book, Personal Fouls, that effectively ended Valvano's career in 1990. While several errors in the book eventually led publishing house Simon & Schuster to drop the book (it was finally published by Pocket Books), no one disputed that Washburn was a poor student. In January 1989, Richard Lauffer, a former chair of the physical-education department at N.C. State, claimed Washburn's grades had been altered to maintain the player's eligibility. Both the university counsel and two members of the physical education department subsequently said they had reviewed Washburn's file and found no evidence to support Lauffer's allegations.

NBA career

Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks (1986–1988)
Washburn left N.C. State after the 1985-86 season and was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the third overall pick of the 1986 NBA draft. He was the third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference player taken in that draft, following North Carolina center Brad Daugherty (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Maryland forward Len Bias (Boston Celtics).

The Warriors brought in center Joe Barry Carroll to help Washburn's development but to no avail. The highlight of Washburn's career might have come in an October exhibition game in his rookie season against the Knicks. In a 23-point loss, he scored 16 points. Tendinitis in his knee led Washburn to taking anti-inflammatory medicine, which led to a kidney infection in January 1987. On January 28, he checked into a Van Nuys, California drug rehabilitation clinic, admitting to having a cocaine problem. After returning to the Warriors in late March, the player remained ineffective.

Washburn played 72 games over two seasons (1.5 seasons with the Warriors and part of another with the Atlanta Hawks), averaging 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Washburn received a lifetime NBA ban in June 1989 after failing three drug tests in three years. He is widely considered one of the biggest busts in NBA draft history. In 2005 Sports Illustrated named him the second-biggest NBA draft bust of all time.

In the mid-1990s, Washburn would play in minor basketball leagues, playing for a few years in the Continental Basketball Association and the U.S. Basketball League. He also played overseas in Argentina, Puerto Rico, Greece, Spain, Switzerland and Colombia.

Post-playing career
Washburn moved to Houston after his basketball career, where he was destitute and says he lived in abandoned buildings and crack houses and ate out of garbage containers. He eventually kicked his drug habit and reached out to others trying to overcome drug addictions.

Washburn later resided to Hickory, North Carolina. He and his girlfriend, Monique Richardson, started a fried chicken business, Washburn's Wings and More, in his hometown of Hickory in 2011, but the business was closed in 2013. In May 2014, Washburn was arrested for obtaining property under false pretense when a passenger in his SUV allegedly failed to pay for gasoline. The charges were later dropped.

Washburn's third son, Julian Washburn, played for the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) in college, later becoming a professional basketball player. Washburn's younger son Chris Washburn Jr. also played basketball for UTEP before transferring to Texas Christian University (TCU) in 2013.

References

External links
College & NBA stats @ basketballreference.com

1966 births
Living people
African-American basketball players
American men's basketball players
Atlanta Hawks players
Banned National Basketball Association players
Basketball players from North Carolina
Centers (basketball)
Golden State Warriors draft picks
Golden State Warriors players
McDonald's High School All-Americans
National Basketball Association players banned for drug offenses
NC State Wolfpack men's basketball players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
People from Conover, North Carolina
People from Hickory, North Carolina
Tulsa Fast Breakers players
United States Basketball League players
Doping cases in basketball

Chris Washburn


The Deccan sultanates is the name for five Islamic kingdoms which existed in the Deccan Plateau, in the Middle Ages. They all had at least a part of the territory on the Deccan Plateau.  The sultanates came into existence when the Bahmani Sultanate broke up. Much like the Bahmani Sultanate, these kingdoms regularly fought against the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in South India but also commonly and most fought amongst themselves for territory.

16th century in India
15th century in India

Deccan sultanates


Van Lanschot is the name of a Dutch patrician family.

Christiaen Jan Maessone who lived in Zundert at the end of the 15th century is the earliest known member of the family. The family was involved in different industries such as banking, brick-making and brewing. In 1737, the family founded the Van Lanschot Bankiers. Some members lived on the castle and estate Zwijnsbergen in Helvoirt.

Notable members
 Cornelis van Lanschot (1699-1757), was a Dutch banker and founder of the bank Van Lanschot
 Franciscus van Lanschot(1768-1851), was a Dutch entrepreneur and banker
 Frans Johan van Lanschot (1875-1949), was a Dutch jurist and Mayor of 's-Hertogenbosch
 Cees van Lanschot (1897-1953), was a Dutch banker
 Willem van Lanschot (1914-2001), was a Dutch banker. He was married to Jonkvrouw Louise Marie van Meeuwen
Antoinette Sandbach (1969-present) is a British politician and the Member of Parliament for Eddisbury. She is a daughter to Anne Marie Antoinette of the Dutch Van Lanschot family
Reinier van Lanschot (1989-present) is leading the pan-European party Volt Europa as one of its two co-presidents (2019-present)

Literature
 Nederland's Patriciaat 80 (1997), pp. 182–227.

Van Lanschot Kempen

References

Van Lanschot (family)
Surnames
Dutch patrician families

Van Lanschot (family)


Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ores began, but by the end of the 2nd millennium BC iron was being produced from iron ores in the region from Greece to India, and sub-Saharan Africa. The use of wrought iron (worked iron) was known by the 1st millennium BC, and its spread defined the Iron Age. During the medieval period, smiths in Europe found a way of producing wrought iron from cast iron, in this context known as pig iron, using finery forges. All these processes required charcoal as fuel.

By the 4th century BC southern India had started exporting wootz steel, with a carbon content between pig iron and wrought iron, to ancient China, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Archaeological evidence of cast iron appears in 5th-century BC China. New methods of producing it by carburizing bars of iron in the cementation process were devised in the 17th century. During the Industrial Revolution, new methods of producing bar iron by substituting coke for charcoal emerged, and these were later applied to produce steel, ushering in a new era of greatly increased use of iron and steel that some contemporaries described as a new "Iron Age".

In the late 1850s Henry Bessemer invented a new steelmaking process which involved blowing air through molten pig-iron to burn off carbon, and so producing mild steel.  This and other 19th-century and later steel-making processes have displaced wrought iron. Today, wrought iron is no longer produced on a commercial scale, having been displaced by the functionally equivalent mild or low-carbon steel.

Meteoric iron

Iron was extracted from iron–nickel alloys, which comprise about 6% of all meteorites that fall on the Earth. That source can often be identified with certainty because of the unique crystalline features (Widmanstätten patterns) of that material, which are preserved when the metal is worked cold or at low temperature.  Those artifacts include, for example, a bead from the 5th millennium BC found in Iran and spear tips and ornaments from ancient Egypt and Sumer around 4000 BC.

These early uses appear to have been largely ceremonial or decorative. Meteoric iron is very rare, and the metal was probably very expensive, perhaps more expensive than gold. The early Hittites are known to have bartered iron (meteoric or smelted) for silver, at a rate of 40 times the iron's weight, with the Assyria in the first centuries of the second millennium BC.

Meteoric iron was also fashioned into tools in the Arctic when the Thule people of Greenland began making harpoons, knives, ulus and other edged tools from pieces of the Cape York meteorite. Typically pea-size bits of metal were cold-hammered into disks and fitted to a bone handle. These artifacts were also used as trade goods with other Arctic peoples: tools made from the Cape York meteorite have been found in archaeological sites more than  distant. When the American polar explorer Robert Peary shipped the largest piece of the meteorite to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1897, it still weighed over 33 tons.  Another example of a late use of meteoric iron is an adze from around 1000 AD found in Sweden.

Native iron

Native iron in the metallic state occurs rarely as small inclusions in certain basalt rocks.  Besides meteoritic iron, Thule people of Greenland have used native iron from the Disko region.

Iron smelting and the Iron Age

Iron smelting—the extraction of usable metal from oxidized iron ores—is more difficult than tin and copper smelting. While these metals and their alloys can be cold-worked or melted in relatively simple furnaces (such as the kilns used for pottery) and cast into molds, smelted iron requires hot-working and can be melted only in specially designed furnaces. Iron is a common impurity in copper ores and iron ore was sometimes used as a flux, thus it is not surprising that humans mastered the technology of smelted iron only after several millennia of bronze metallurgy.

The place and time for the discovery of iron smelting is not known, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing metal extracted from nickel-containing ores from hot-worked meteoritic iron.  The archaeological evidence seems to point to the Middle East area, during the Bronze Age in the 3rd millennium BC. However, wrought iron artifacts remained a rarity until the 12th century BC.

The Iron Age is conventionally defined by the widespread replacement of bronze weapons and tools with those of iron and steel. That transition happened at different times in different places, as the technology spread. Mesopotamia was fully into the Iron Age by 900 BC.  Although Egypt produced iron artifacts, bronze remained dominant until its conquest by Assyria in 663 BC. The Iron Age began in India about 1200 BC, in Central Europe about 800 BC, and in China about 300 BC. Around 500 BC, the Nubians, who had learned from the Assyrians the use of iron and were expelled from Egypt, became major manufacturers and exporters of iron.

Ancient Near East

One of the earliest smelted iron artifacts, a dagger with an iron blade found in a Hattic tomb in Anatolia, dated from 2500 BC. About 1500 BC, increasing numbers of non-meteoritic, smelted iron objects appeared in Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Egypt. Nineteen meteoric iron objects were found in the tomb of Egyptian ruler Tutankhamun, who died in 1323 BC, including an iron dagger with a golden hilt, an Eye of Horus, the mummy's head-stand and sixteen models of an artisan's tools. An Ancient Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah as well as a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze shaft were both found in the excavation of Ugarit.

Although iron objects dating from the Bronze Age have been found across the Eastern Mediterranean, bronzework appears to have greatly predominated during this period. As the technology spread, iron came to replace bronze as the dominant metal used for tools and weapons across the Eastern Mediterranean (the Levant, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, Anatolia and Egypt).

Iron was originally smelted in bloomeries, furnaces where bellows were used to force air through a pile of iron ore and burning charcoal. The carbon monoxide produced by the charcoal reduced the iron oxide from the ore to metallic iron. The bloomery, however, was not hot enough to melt the iron, so the metal collected in the bottom of the furnace as a spongy mass, or bloom. Workers then repeatedly beat and folded it to force out the molten slag. This laborious, time-consuming process produced wrought iron, a malleable but fairly soft alloy.

Concurrent with the transition from bronze to iron was the discovery of carburization, the process of adding carbon to wrought iron. While the iron bloom contained some carbon, the subsequent hot-working oxidized most of it. Smiths in the Middle East discovered that wrought iron could be turned into a much harder product by heating the finished piece in a bed of charcoal, and then quenching it in water or oil. This procedure turned the outer layers of the piece into steel, an alloy of iron and iron carbides, with an inner core of less brittle iron.

Theories on the origin of iron smelting
The development of iron smelting was traditionally attributed to the Hittites of Anatolia of the Late Bronze Age. It was believed that they maintained a monopoly on iron working, and that their empire had been based on that advantage. According to that theory, the ancient Sea Peoples, who invaded the Eastern Mediterranean and destroyed the Hittite empire at the end of the Late Bronze Age, were responsible for spreading the knowledge through that region. This theory is no longer held in the mainstream of scholarship, since there is no archaeological evidence of the alleged Hittite monopoly. While there are some iron objects from Bronze Age Anatolia, the number is comparable to iron objects found in Egypt and other places of the same time period, and only a small number of those objects were weapons.

A more recent theory claims that the development of iron technology was driven by the disruption of the copper and tin trade routes, due to the collapse of the empires at the end of the Late Bronze Age. These metals, especially tin, were not widely available and metal workers had to transport them over long distances, whereas iron ores were widely available. However, no known archaeological evidence suggests a shortage of bronze or tin in the Early Iron Age. Bronze objects remained abundant, and these objects have the same percentage of tin as those from the Late Bronze Age.

Indian subcontinent

The history of ferrous metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent began in the 2nd millennium BC. Archaeological sites in Gangetic plains have yielded iron implements dated between 1800 and 1200 BC. By the early 13th century BC, iron smelting was practiced on a large scale in India. In Southern India (present day Mysore) iron was in use 12th to 11th centuries BC. The technology of iron metallurgy advanced in the politically stable Maurya period and during a period of peaceful settlements in the 1st millennium BC.

Iron artifacts such as spikes, knives, daggers, arrow-heads, bowls, spoons, saucepans, axes, chisels, tongs, door fittings, etc., dated from 600 to 200 BC, have been discovered at several archaeological sites of India. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote the first western account of the use of iron in India. The Indian mythological texts, the Upanishads, have mentions of weaving, pottery and metallurgy, as well. The Romans had high regard for the excellence of steel from India in the time of the Gupta Empire.

Perhaps as early as 500 BC, although certainly by 200 AD, high-quality steel was produced in southern India by the crucible technique. In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in a crucible and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon. Iron chain was used in Indian suspension bridges as early as the 4th century.

Wootz steel was produced in India and Sri Lanka from around 300 BC. Wootz steel is famous from Classical Antiquity for its durability and ability to hold an edge. When asked by King Porus to select a gift, Alexander is said to have chosen, over gold or silver, thirty pounds of steel. Wootz steel was originally a complex alloy with iron as its main component together with various trace elements. Recent studies have suggested that its qualities may have been due to the formation of carbon nanotubes in the metal. According to Will Durant, the technology passed to the Persians and from them to Arabs who spread it through the Middle East. In the 16th century, the Dutch carried the technology from South India to Europe, where it was mass-produced.

Steel was produced in Sri Lanka from 300 BC by furnaces blown by the monsoon winds. The furnaces were dug into the crests of hills, and the wind was diverted into the air vents by long trenches. This arrangement created a zone of high pressure at the entrance, and a zone of low pressure at the top of the furnace. The flow is believed to have allowed higher temperatures than bellows-driven furnaces could produce, resulting in better-quality iron. Steel made in Sri Lanka was traded extensively within the region and in the Islamic world.

One of the world's foremost metallurgical curiosities is an iron pillar located in the Qutb complex in Delhi. The pillar is made of wrought iron (98% Fe), is almost seven meters high and weighs more than six tonnes. The pillar was erected by Chandragupta II Vikramaditya and has withstood 1,600 years of exposure to heavy rains with relatively little corrosion.

China

Historians debate whether bloomery-based ironworking ever spread to China from the Middle East. One theory suggests that metallurgy was introduced through Central Asia. In 2008, two iron fragments were excavated at the Mogou site, in Gansu. They have been dated to the 14th century BC, belonging to the period of Siwa culture, suggesting an independent Chinese origin. One of the fragments was made of bloomery iron rather than meteoritic iron.

The earliest iron artifacts made from bloomeries in China date to end of the 9th century BC. Cast iron was used in ancient China for warfare, agriculture and architecture. Around 500 BC, metalworkers in the southern state of Wu achieved a temperature of 1130 °C.  At this temperature, iron combines with 4.3% carbon and melts. The liquid iron can be cast into molds, a method far less laborious than individually forging each piece of iron from a bloom.

Cast iron is rather brittle and unsuitable for striking implements. It can be decarburized to steel or wrought iron by heating it in air for several days. In China, these iron working methods spread northward, and by 300 BC, iron was the material of choice throughout China for most tools and weapons. A mass grave in Hebei province, dated to the early 3rd century BC, contains several soldiers buried with their weapons and other equipment. The artifacts recovered from this grave are variously made of wrought iron, cast iron, malleabilized cast iron, and quench-hardened steel, with only a few, probably ornamental, bronze weapons.

During the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), the government established ironworking as a state monopoly, repealed during the latter half of the dynasty and returned to private entrepreneurship, and built a series of large blast furnaces in Henan province, each capable of producing several tons of iron per day. By this time, Chinese metallurgists had discovered how to fine molten pig iron, stirring it in the open air until it lost its carbon and could be hammered (wrought). In modern Mandarin-Chinese, this process is now called chao, literally stir frying. Pig iron is known as 'raw iron', while wrought iron is known as 'cooked iron'. By the 1st century BC, Chinese metallurgists had found that wrought iron and cast iron could be melted together to yield an alloy of intermediate carbon content, that is, steel.

According to legend, the sword of Liu Bang, the first Han emperor, was made in this fashion. Some texts of the era mention "harmonizing the hard and the soft" in the context of ironworking; the phrase may refer to this process. The ancient city of Wan (Nanyang) from the Han period forward was a major center of the iron and steel industry. Along with their original methods of forging steel, the Chinese had also adopted the production methods of creating Wootz steel, an idea imported from India to China by the 5th century AD.

During the Han Dynasty, the Chinese were also the first to apply hydraulic power (i.e. a waterwheel) in working the bellows of the blast furnace. This was recorded in the year 31 AD, as an innovation by the Chinese mechanical engineer and politician Du Shi, Prefect of Nanyang. Although Du Shi was the first to apply water power to bellows in metallurgy, the first drawn and printed illustration of its operation with water power appeared in 1313 AD, in the Yuan Dynasty era text called the Nong Shu.

In the 11th century, there is evidence of the production of steel in Song China using two techniques: a "berganesque" method that produced inferior, heterogeneous steel and a precursor to the modern Bessemer process that utilized partial decarbonization via repeated forging under a cold blast. By the 11th century, there was a large amount of deforestation in China due to the iron industry's demands for charcoal. By this time however, the Chinese had learned to use bituminous coke to replace charcoal, and with this switch in resources many acres of prime timberland in China were spared.

Iron Age Europe

The earliest smelted iron object from Europe is a knife blade from the Catacomb culture in Ukraine, dated to c. 2500 BC. During most of the Middle and Late Bronze Age in Europe, iron was present, though scarce. It was used for personal ornaments and small knives, for repairs on bronzes, and for bimetallic items. Early smelted iron finds from central Europe include an iron knife or sickle from Ganovce in Slovakia, possibly dating from the 18th century BC, an iron ring from Vorwohlde in Germany dating from circa the 15th century BC, and an iron chisel from Heegermühle in Germany dating from circa 1000 BC.

Iron metallurgy began to be practised in Scandinavia during the later Bronze Age from at least the 9th century BC. In the 11th century BC iron swords replaced bronze swords in Southern Europe, especially in Greece, and in the 10th century BC iron became the prevailing metal in use. In the Carpathian Basin there is a significant increase in iron finds dating from the 10th century BC onwards, with some finds possibly dating as early as the 12th century BC. Iron swords have been found in central Europe dating from the 10th century BC, however the Iron Age began in earnest with the Hallstatt culture from 800 BC.

From 500 BC the La Tène culture saw a significant increase in iron production, with iron metallurgy also becoming common in Scandinavia. The spread of ironworking in Central and Western Europe is associated with Celtic expansion. Celtic smiths produced steel from circa 800 BC as part of the production of swords, and the production of high-carbon steel is attested in Britain after circa 490 BC. By the 1st century BC, Noric steel was famous for its quality and sought-after by the Roman military.

The annual iron output of the Roman Empire is estimated at 84,750 t.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Archaeometallurgical scientific knowledge and technological development originated in numerous centers of Africa; the centers of origin were located in West Africa, Central Africa, and East Africa; consequently, as these origin centers are located within inner Africa, these archaeometallurgical developments are thus native African technologies. Iron metallurgical development occurred 2631 BCE – 2458 BCE at Lejja, in Nigeria, 2136 BCE – 1921 BCE at Obui, in Central Africa Republic, 1895 BCE – 1370 BCE at Tchire Ouma 147, in Niger, and 1297 BCE – 1051 BCE at Dekpassanware, in Togo.

Though there is some uncertainty, some archaeologists believe that iron metallurgy was developed independently in sub-Saharan Africa (possibly in West Africa).

Inhabitants of Termit, in eastern Niger, smelted iron around 1500 BC.

In the region of the Aïr Mountains in Niger there are also signs of independent copper smelting between 2500 and 1500 BC. The process was not in a developed state, indicating smelting was not foreign. It became mature about 1500 BC.

Archaeological sites containing iron smelting furnaces and slag have also been excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria in what is now Igboland: dating to 2000 BC at the site of Lejja (Eze-Uzomaka 2009) and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi (Holl 2009). The site of Gbabiri (in the Central African Republic) has yielded evidence of iron metallurgy, from a reduction furnace and blacksmith workshop; with earliest dates of 896–773 BC and 907–796 BC respectively. Similarly, smelting in bloomery-type furnaces appear in the Nok culture of central Nigeria by about 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier.

There is also evidence that carbon steel was made in Western Tanzania by the ancestors of the Haya people as early as 2,300 to 2,000 years ago (about 300 BC or soon after) by a complex process of "pre-heating" allowing temperatures inside a furnace to reach 1300 to 1400 °C.

Iron and copper working spread southward through the continent, reaching the Cape around AD 200. The widespread use of iron revolutionized the Bantu-speaking farming communities who adopted it, driving out and absorbing the rock tool using hunter-gatherer societies they encountered as they expanded to farm wider areas of savanna. The technologically superior Bantu-speakers spread across southern Africa and became wealthy and powerful, producing iron for tools and weapons in large, industrial quantities.

The earliest records of bloomery-type furnaces in East Africa are discoveries of smelted iron and carbon in Nubia that date back between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, particularly in Meroe where there are known to have been ancient bloomeries that produced metal tools for the Nubians and Kushites and produced surplus for their economy.

Medieval Islamic world
Iron technology was further advanced by several inventions in medieval Islam, during the Islamic Golden Age.  These included a variety of water-powered and wind-powered industrial mills for metal production, including geared gristmills and forges. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Muslim world had these industrial mills in operation, from Islamic Spain and North Africa in the west to the Middle East and Central Asia in the east. There are also 10th-century references to cast iron, as well as archeological evidence of blast furnaces being used in the Ayyubid and Mamluk empires from the 11th century, thus suggesting a diffusion of Chinese metal technology to the Islamic world.

Geared gristmills were invented by Muslim engineers, and were used for crushing metallic ores before extraction. Gristmills in the Islamic world were often made from both watermills and windmills. In order to adapt water wheels for gristmilling purposes, cams were used for raising and releasing trip hammers. The first forge driven by a hydropowered water mill rather than manual labour was invented in the 12th century Islamic Spain.

One of the most famous steels produced in the medieval Near East was Damascus steel used for swordmaking, and mostly produced in Damascus, Syria, in the period from 900 to 1750. This was produced using the crucible steel method, based on the earlier Indian wootz steel. This process was adopted in the Middle East using locally produced steels. The exact process remains unknown, but it allowed carbides to precipitate out as micro particles arranged in sheets or bands within the body of a blade. Carbides are far harder than the surrounding low carbon steel, so swordsmiths could produce an edge that cut hard materials with the precipitated carbides, while the bands of softer steel let the sword as a whole remain tough and flexible. A team of researchers based at the Technical University of Dresden that uses X-rays and electron microscopy to examine Damascus steel discovered the presence of cementite nanowires and carbon nanotubes. Peter Paufler, a member of the Dresden team, says that these nanostructures give Damascus steel its distinctive properties and are a result of the forging process.

Medieval and early modern Europe
There was no fundamental change in the technology of iron production in Europe for many centuries. European metal workers continued to produce iron in bloomeries.  However, the Medieval period brought two developments—the use of water power in the bloomery process in various places (outlined above), and the first European production in cast iron.

Powered bloomeries

Sometime in the medieval period, water power was applied to the bloomery process.  It is possible that this was at the Cistercian Abbey of Clairvaux as early as 1135, but it was certainly in use in early 13th century France and Sweden. In England, the first clear documentary evidence for this is the accounts of a forge of the Bishop of Durham, near Bedburn in 1408, but that was certainly not the first such ironworks.  In the Furness district of England, powered bloomeries were in use into the beginning of the 18th century, and near Garstang until about 1770.

The Catalan Forge was a variety of powered bloomery.  Bloomeries with hot blast were used in upstate New York in the mid-19th century.

Blast furnace

The preferred method of iron production in Europe until the development of the puddling process in 1783–84. Cast iron development lagged in Europe because wrought iron was the desired product and the intermediate step of producing cast iron involved an expensive blast furnace and further refining of pig iron to cast iron, which then required a labor and capital intensive conversion to wrought iron.

Through a good portion of the Middle Ages, in Western Europe, iron was still being made by the working of iron blooms into wrought iron. Some of the earliest casting of iron in Europe occurred in Sweden, in two sites, Lapphyttan and Vinarhyttan, between 1150 and 1350. Some scholars have speculated the practice followed the Mongols across Russia to these sites, but there is no clear proof of this hypothesis, and it would certainly not explain the pre-Mongol datings of many of these iron-production centres. In any event, by the late 14th century, a market for cast iron goods began to form, as a demand developed for cast iron cannonballs.

Finery forge

An alternative method of decarburising pig iron was the finery forge, which seems to have been devised in the region around Namur in the 15th century.  By the end of that century, this Walloon process spread  to the Pay de Bray on the eastern boundary of Normandy, and then to England, where it became the main method of making wrought iron by 1600.  It was introduced to Sweden by Louis de Geer in the early 17th century and was used to make the oregrounds iron favoured by English steelmakers.

A variation on this was the German forge.  This became the main method of producing bar iron in Sweden.

Cementation process

In the early 17th century, ironworkers in Western Europe had developed the cementation process for carburizing wrought iron. Wrought iron bars and charcoal were packed into stone boxes, then sealed with clay to be held at a red heat continually tended in an oxygen-free state immersed in nearly pure carbon (charcoal) for up to a week.  During this time, carbon diffused into the surface layers of the iron, producing cement steel or blister steel—also known as case hardened, where the portions wrapped in iron (the pick or axe blade) became harder, than say an axe hammer-head or shaft socket which might be insulated by clay to keep them from the carbon source.  The earliest place where this process was used in England was at Coalbrookdale from 1619, where Sir Basil Brooke had two cementation furnaces (recently excavated in 2001–2005).  For a time in the 1610s, he owned a patent on the process, but had to surrender this in 1619.  He probably used Forest of Dean iron as his raw material, but it was soon found that oregrounds iron was more suitable.  The quality of the steel could be improved by faggoting, producing the so-called shear steel.

Crucible steel
In the 1740s, Benjamin Huntsman found a means of melting blister steel, made by the cementation process, in crucibles.  The resulting  crucible steel, usually cast in ingots, was more homogeneous than blister steel.

Transition to coke in England

Beginnings
Early iron smelting used charcoal as both the heat source and the reducing agent. By the 18th century, the availability of wood for making charcoal was limiting the expansion of iron production, so that England became increasingly dependent for a considerable part of the iron required by its industry, on Sweden (from the mid-17th century) and then from about 1725 also on Russia.
Smelting with coal (or its derivative coke) was a long sought objective. The production of pig iron with coke was probably achieved by Dud Dudley around 1619, and with a mixed fuel made from coal and wood again in the 1670s. However this was probably only a technological rather than a commercial success. Shadrach Fox may have smelted iron with coke at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire in the 1690s, but only to make cannonballs and other cast iron products such as shells. However, in the peace after the Nine Years War, there was no demand for these.

Abraham Darby and his successors

In 1707, Abraham Darby I patented a method of making cast iron pots.  His pots were thinner and hence cheaper than those of his rivals.   Needing a larger supply of pig iron he leased the blast furnace at Coalbrookdale in 1709.  There, he made iron using coke, thus establishing the first successful business in Europe to do so.  His products were all of cast iron, though his immediate successors attempted (with little commercial success) to fine this to bar iron.

Bar iron thus continued normally to be made with charcoal pig iron until the mid-1750s.  In 1755 Abraham Darby II (with partners) opened a new coke-using furnace at Horsehay in Shropshire, and this was followed by others.  These supplied coke pig iron to finery forges of the traditional kind for the production of bar iron.  The reason for the delay remains controversial.

New forge processes

It was only after this that economically viable means of converting pig iron to bar iron began to be devised.  A process known as potting and stamping was devised in the 1760s and improved in the 1770s, and seems to have been widely adopted in the West Midlands from about 1785. However, this was largely replaced by Henry Cort's puddling process, patented in 1784, but probably only made to work with grey pig iron in about 1790. These processes permitted the great expansion in the production of iron that constitutes the Industrial Revolution for the iron industry.

In the early 19th century, Hall discovered that the addition of iron oxide to the charge of the puddling furnace caused a violent reaction, in which the pig iron was decarburised, this became known as 'wet puddling'. It was also found possible to produce steel by stopping the puddling process before decarburisation was complete.

Hot blast

The efficiency of the blast furnace was improved by the change to hot blast, patented by James Beaumont Neilson in Scotland in 1828.  This further reduced production costs.  Within a few decades, the practice was to have a 'stove' as large as the furnace next to it into which the waste gas (containing CO) from the furnace was directed and burnt.  The resultant heat was used to preheat the air blown into the furnace.

Industrial steelmaking

Apart from some production of puddled steel, English steel continued to be made by the cementation process, sometimes followed by remelting to produce crucible steel.  These were batch-based processes whose raw material was bar iron, particularly Swedish oregrounds iron.

The problem of mass-producing cheap steel was solved in 1855 by Henry Bessemer, with the introduction of the Bessemer converter at his steelworks in Sheffield, England. (An early converter can still be seen at the city's Kelham Island Museum). In the Bessemer process, molten pig iron from the blast furnace was charged into a large crucible, and then air was blown through the molten iron from below, igniting the dissolved carbon from the coke. As the carbon burned off, the melting point of the mixture increased, but the heat from the burning carbon provided the extra energy needed to keep the mixture molten. After the carbon content in the melt had dropped to the desired level, the air draft was cut off: a typical Bessemer converter could convert a 25-ton batch of pig iron to steel in half an hour.

In the 1860s development of regenerative furnaces and higher temperature refractory lining allowed to melt steel in an open hearth. That was slow and energy intensive, but allowed to better control the chemical makeup of the product and recycle iron scrap.

The acidic refractory lining of Bessemer converters and early open hearths didn't allow to remove phosphorus from steel with lime, which prolonged the life of puddling furnaces in order to utilize phosphorous iron ores abundant in Continental Europe. However in the 1870s Gilchrist–Thomas process was developed, and later basic lining was adopted for the open hearths as well.

Finally, the basic oxygen process was introduced at the Voest-Alpine works in 1952; a modification of the basic Bessemer process, it lances oxygen from above the steel (instead of bubbling air from below), reducing the amount of nitrogen uptake into the steel. The basic oxygen process is used in all modern steelworks; the last Bessemer converter in the U.S. was retired in 1968. Furthermore, the last three decades have seen a massive increase in the mini-mill business, where scrap steel only is melted with an electric arc furnace. These mills only produced bar products at first, but have since expanded into flat and heavy products, once the exclusive domain of the integrated steelworks.

Until these 19th-century developments, steel was an expensive commodity and only used for a limited number of purposes where a particularly hard or flexible metal was needed, as in the cutting edges of tools and springs.  The widespread availability of inexpensive steel powered the Second Industrial Revolution and modern society as we know it.  Mild steel ultimately replaced wrought iron for almost all purposes, and wrought iron is no longer commercially produced.  With minor exceptions, alloy steels only began to be made in the late 19th century.  Stainless steel was developed on the eve of World War I and was not widely used until the 1920s.

Modern steel industry

The steel industry is often considered an indicator of economic progress, because of the critical role played by steel in infrastructural and overall economic development. In 1980, there were more than 500,000 U.S. steelworkers. By 2000, the number of steelworkers had fallen to 224,000.

The economic boom in China and India caused a massive increase in the demand for steel. Between 2000 and 2005, world steel demand increased by 6%. Since 2000, several Indian and Chinese steel firms have risen to prominence, such as Tata Steel (which bought Corus Group in 2007), Baosteel Group and Shagang Group. , though, ArcelorMittal is the world's largest steel producer. In 2005, the British Geological Survey stated China was the top steel producer with about one-third of the world share; Japan, Russia, and the US followed respectively.

The large production capacity of steel results in a significant amount of carbon dioxide emissions inherent related to the main production route. In 2019, it was estimated that 7 to 9 % of the global carbon dioxide emissions resulted from the steel industry. Reduction of these emissions are expected to come from a shift in the main production route using cokes, more recycling of steel and the application of carbon capture and storage or carbon capture and utilization technology.

In 2008, steel began trading as a commodity on the London Metal Exchange. At the end of 2008, the steel industry faced a sharp downturn that led to many cut-backs.

See also
 Bintie, a type of refined iron
 History of steelmaking
 Iron Age
 List of alloys
 Nok culture
 Non-ferrous extractive metallurgy
 Roman metallurgy

Citations

Bibliography

 Ebrey, Walthall, Palais (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

 Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Part 2; Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Part 3.

Further reading
 Knowles, Anne Kelly. (2013). Mastering Iron: The Struggle to Modernize an American Industry, 1800–1868 (University of Chicago Press) 334 pages
 Lam, Wengcheong (2014). Everything Old is New Again? Rethinking the transition to Cast Iron Production in the Plains of Central China, Chinese University of Hong Kong
 Pleiner, R. (2000). Iron in Archaeology. The European Bloomery Smelters, Praha, Archeologický Ústav Av Cr.
 Pounds, Norman J. G. (1957). "Historical Geography of the Iron and Steel Industry of France". Annals of the Association of American Geographers 47#1, pp. 3–14. .
 Wagner, Donald (1996). Iron and Steel in Ancient China. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
 Woods, Michael and Mary B. Woods (2000). Ancient Construction (Ancient Technology) Runestone Press

External links

4th-millennium BC establishments
History of metallurgy
Steelmaking

Ferrous metallurgy


In rail transport, a retarder is a device put in a classification yard used to slow down the speed of freight cars as they are sorted into trains. Each retarder has a series of stationary brakes around a short section of each rail on the track that hold and slow the cars' wheels through friction as they roll through them. Modern retarders are computer worked to have the perfect amount of pressure on the wheels so that cars rolling down a yard's hump are slowed to a safe speed for coupling with cars already standing on the yard's tracks.

Trains

Retarder


Massasoit  (c. 15811661),
was the Native American leader of the Wampanoag and "Massasoit" tribes.  His name means Great Leader.

Early years
Massasoit was born in a Pokanoket village at the site of today's Rhode Island. His village was near a spring of water which is named after him.  He was liked by seven leaders.  In March 1621, a Native American named Samoset entered Plymouth Colony and said to the Pilgrims in English, "Welcome Englishmen".  He had learned some words from the English fishermen and traders that had visited his tribe. He said he was sent by Massasoit, "the greatest leader of the country." After a few days, Massasoit came in person and was received with great friendship.

Massasoit made a treaty with the Pilgrims.  They promised to protect each other against unfriendly Native Americans. They  promised not to hurt each other.  They also promised to help each other as friends. Massasoit told the pilgrims that there was much sickness where the colonist were now living and that many had died. The treaty was kept as long as Massasoit lived.

Peace treaty

Massasoit helped the people of Plymouth Colony in many ways, including how to plant corn.  He became friends with the all of the colonial leaders.

Children
During this time, Massasoit had five children.  His oldest son, "Moanam" or Wamsutta, died within a year after his father, and his brother Metacom (Philip) became chief in 1662.

Alliance
There was some bad feeling for a time when the Plymouth leaders refused to give up Squanto to Massasoit.  He believe that Squanto had betrayed him.  This was settled when Edward Winslow visited him in March 1623. Massasoit was ill and Winslow took care of him.  After he got better, Massasoit said the English are my friends and love me. He also said that while he lives he would never forget the kindness they have showed me."

The Wampanoag and the English maintained a friendship until Massasoit's death. During this time, Massasoit sold lands to the English that they needed. When Roger Williams, was sent away from the Massachusetts colony, he spent many weeks with Massasoit. Massasoit was friendly and honest and always kept his word. He warned the pilgrims of any Native Americans who were not their friends.

Massasoit died as early as 1660.  When he died, his son Wamsutta became chief. When Wamsutta died Metacom (Philip) took his place. Of Massasoit's five children, the only child to survive King Philip's War in 1676 was his daughter, Amie, wife of Tispaquin.

References
"Native People" (page), "Massasoit (Ousamequin) Sachem" (section), MayflowerFamilies.com, webpage: MFcom-Native .

Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, New York 2006.

In fiction
Massasoit was a character in "The Mayflower Voyagers", a 1988 episode of the Peanuts television series, This is America, Charlie Brown.

At the beginning of the 1995 movie adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Massasoit dies and his tribe cremates him.

Notes

1581 births
1661 deaths
Native American people
People from Rhode Island
Plymouth Colony

Massasoit


A manometer is a device that is able to measure the pressure of a medium (a liquid, or a gas), it is also used to check the pressure of cylinder but it can only check the inner pressure not outer. In most cases, the relative pressure will be measured. A barometer can measure the absolute pressure, compared to a vacuum.A common simple manometer consists of a U-shaped glass tube filled with a liquid. It is a simple pressure gauge and it's measure difference in pressure exerted at the two ends of the glass tube. The name ("manometer") comes from Ancient Greek, μανός manós  -thin and μέτρον métron measurement, or ruler. Many animals have a tympanic membrane (or eardrum), which only reacts to changes in pressure similar to a manometer.

Tools

Manometer


Ypthima doleta, the common ringlet, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Uganda and north-western Tanzania. The habitat consists of humid areas, including farmland, forest margins and glades.

References

doleta
Butterflies described in 1880
Butterflies of Africa
Taxa named by William Forsell Kirby

Ypthima doleta


Another View is an outtakes compilation album by the Velvet Underground. It was released in 1986 by Verve Records and is composed of material recorded between 1967 and 1969.

Composition and collection
When the Velvet Underground moved from Verve Records (who had released their first two albums) to parent company MGM Records, they signed a two-album deal, releasing their third album The Velvet Underground in March 1969. Later that same year, however, there was a management change and MGM Records' new CEO, Mike Curb, was brought in to try to rescue the financially struggling label. He decided to purge the record company of its many controversial and unprofitable acts. The Velvet Underground quickly became one of the groups blacklisted and were released from their contract. The band had, however, in the meantime recorded fourteen tracks for possible release as their second MGM album. All of these were shelved and forgotten by their record company until the early 1980s.

As Verve (by then an imprint of Polygram) prepared to re-release the band's three Verve/MGM albums on vinyl and, for the first time, on CD, they found nineteen previously unreleased tracks: five Cale-era tracks and the fourteen "lost album" tracks, some of them in two-track mixdown format, some of them even on multitracks. The cream of the nineteen tracks was released in February 1985 on VU; the rest remained for the time being in the vaults.

In 1986, Polydor decided to prepare a vinyl box set for European release. Simply titled The Velvet Underground, this box, which was released in June, consisted of the band's first three albums, VU, and an untitled bonus album containing the remaining nine tracks from Polygram's vaults. That untitled album was later separately released on vinyl and CD as Another View.

An acetate-sourced alternative mix of this album's version of "Ride into the Sun", featuring vocals by Lou Reed, has appeared on bootlegs and on the Australian box set What Goes On.

As the Velvet Underground moved from MGM to Atlantic, they re-recorded two of the songs on Another View, "Ride into the Sun" and "Rock and Roll", for possible inclusion on Loaded. Only "Rock and Roll" made the grade, but two of the Another View songs would be recycled by Lou Reed during his early solo career: "Ride into the Sun" (on Lou Reed, 1972) and "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together" (on Street Hassle, 1978).

Track listing

Personnel
The Velvet Underground
John Cale – viola on "Hey Mr. Rain (Version I)" and "Hey Mr. Rain (Version II)", bass guitar on "Guess I'm Falling in Love"
Sterling Morrison – guitar, backing vocals, bass guitar on "Hey Mr. Rain"
Lou Reed – vocals, guitar, piano
Maureen Tucker – percussion
Doug Yule – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals

Technical staff
The Velvet Underground – producers
Bill Levenson – executive producer
J. C. Convertino – engineer

References

1986 compilation albums
Albums produced by Doug Yule
Albums produced by John Cale
Albums produced by Lou Reed
Albums produced by Maureen Tucker
Albums produced by Sterling Morrison
The Velvet Underground compilation albums
Verve Records compilation albums

Another View