Williamsburg Pottery Factory is a large, multi-structure retail outlet store located in Lightfoot, Virginia, about  west of Williamsburg. It was founded in 1938 by James E. Maloney as a small pottery workshop. The Williamsburg Pottery Factory now markets itself as one of Virginia's largest tourist attractions.  Referred to by the locals as "the Pottery", the  attraction offers a selection of locally handmade articles, as well as imports from 20 countries. Williamsburg Pottery was once famous for its "bare bones" appearance; however, it underwent a multimillion-dollar redevelopment that reshaped its look in the spring of 2012.

History
In 1938, James E. Maloney founded Williamsburg Pottery, located near Colonial Williamsburg, making eighteenth-century salt glaze reproductions to sell at low prices. He purchased a half-acre property for $150 and built a kiln and simple workshop. As time passed, Maloney added china and glassware to his inventory, again with a focus on low prices. In addition to Maloney's famed salt glaze pottery, Williamsburg Pottery grew to include other artisans that sold a variety of handicrafts, like baskets and lamps.

As sales grew, the small structure mushroomed into many warehouse buildings. By the 1960s, Williamsburg Pottery was the largest U.S. importer of home goods from Asia. Originally located entirely on Route 60, Maloney expanded his business across the railroad tracks in the mid-70s. Williamsburg Pottery eventually added a campground and factory outlet stores, growing to over  and 32 buildings. By the early 1980s, Williamsburg Pottery was earning between $60 and $70 million a year in revenue.  However, it began a decline in the 1990s with the rapid growth of other shopping venues on Route 60 closer to Williamsburg, and struggled with the death of its founder in 2005. In 2008, reports claimed that the business was up for sale, although Williamsburg Pottery President Kim Maloney denied these claims.

Redevelopment

On August 31, 2010, Kim Maloney unveiled plans for a new $20 million,   retail development.  Construction began on the new Williamsburg Pottery in December 2010 at the original 1938 location on Richmond Road, following demolition of the old outlet buildings on that site. The new development has a much smaller footprint than before, with a more modern, sleek, and upscale look.  The renovation, which resembles a Dutch-inspired European Marketplace, only covers 19 acres. It includes three separate buildings that encompass nearly 160,000 sq. ft. of retail and restaurant space, as well as over 10,000 sq. ft. of office space.

The retail project was designed by Guernsey-Tingle Architects. Henderson Inc. was chosen as the General Contractor for the project, and AES Consulting Engineers was selected for the site plan work. All are local companies, as are most of the subcontractors.  Demolition began in September 2010, with a groundbreaking ceremony in the beginning of December. Construction was completed in spring of 2012, with a grand opening held on April 5, 2012, the date which would have been founder Jimmy Maloney's 100th birthday. There was a ceremonial ribbon cutting when they opened to the public.

Visitors
At one time, Williamsburg Pottery was a top tourist attraction in the Historic Triangle. During the mid-1990s, it became such a popular attraction that Amtrak made Williamsburg Pottery a regular stop for passengers, although this stop was discontinued around 1996.  It was estimated that more than 3,000,000 people visited Williamsburg Pottery on a yearly basis. As of 2010, visitors had dropped to 500,000 people a year.  The number of visitors are not yet available since the 2012 redevelopment.  However, even though the Pottery owners have expressed optimism for their long-term goals, they have stated that so far the development has not attracted as many new visitors as they had hoped.

See also
Williamsburg Soap and Candle Factory

References

External links

Home page

 http://williamsburgpottery.com/about-us/

Buildings and structures in York County, Virginia
Buildings and structures in James City County, Virginia
Shopping malls in Virginia
Shopping malls established in 2012
Companies based in Virginia
Tourist attractions in York County, Virginia
Tourist attractions in James City County, Virginia
American pottery
Ceramics manufacturers of the United States

Williamsburg Pottery Factory


Desktop Architect is a third-party replacement for the Desktop Themes control panel in Windows 95, 98, ME and 2000. It is also fully compatible with Windows XP and Vista. However, in Vista, the startup sound does not work, and the Network Neighborhood icon has to be changed manually. It is not known at this time if this program works with Windows 7.

On Windows 8.1 (Pro 64-bit) the fonts may be garbled to the point the system is rendered unusable.

Changing the desktop colors (windows borders, 3D object bevels, scrollbar, etc.) do work, but the problem with text display is hard to correct since all Windows' and its applications screens are affected, and even rebooting or rolling back to a previous system restore point may be difficult.

Caution is advised; since Desktop Architect allows the user to select which changes to apply, making small changes and testing the results in steps, like marking only the Colors checkbox, is recommended.

Features

Appearance
Appearance allows users to customize the Windows Classic theme by changing the colour of various objects, such as scrollbars, active and inactive windows, menu bar, message box, window borders, window frame, selected items, font colours, 3D objects, and a few other things as well.

Wallpaper
Users can change the desktop wallpaper image.

Sounds
Systems sounds can be customized and changed. Default sounds can be removed, or can be changed to a different sound file. When browsing for sound files users can preview the sound.

Icons
Users can change the system icons, or restore default icons. These include folder icons, printers, My Documents, My Computer, Recycle Bin, Network Neighborhood, and more. It can also import and install 3rd party icon packages.

Pointers
The mouse pointers can be changed with custom cursor files, or restored to default cursors. Animated cursors can be used, also.

Screen Savers
Screen savers can be changed or imported, and saved with the theme file.

Wizards
Desktop Architect has two wizards, the Theme Package Wizard, and the Theme Install Wizard. The Theme Package Wizard compresses the theme into a zip file for distribution. The Theme Install Wizard imports and installs themes downloaded from another source.

Theme Scheduler
This features allows user to have themes automatically set at a specific time of year.

Requirements
Desktop Architect requires version 4.2 or higher of the comctl32.dll, which is located in the computers system folder. It also requires 64MB of RAM and 16-bit  1024x768 Video graphics.

References

Windows-only proprietary software

Desktop Architect


Catherine Hanley (born 1972) is a writer and researcher specialising in the Middle Ages.

Biography
Hanley was born in Perth, Western Australia.  She gained a degree and a PhD at the University of Sheffield and was a postdoctoral researcher there on the Partonopeus de Blois project. While working as an academic she published a number of articles on medieval warfare and its portrayal in contemporary narrative literature; she also wrote War and Combat 1150-1270: The Evidence from Old French Literature which was published by Boydell and Brewer in 2003. She was as a contributor to the Oxford Encyclopaedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology (Oxford University Press, 2010).

After leaving academia she started to write historical fiction, and is the author of a series of medieval murder mystery novels featuring Edwin Weaver as the central character. The novels are set against the backdrop of the baronial war in the early 13th century, when the nobles of England rebelled against King John and invited Prince Louis of France to take the throne, before some of them changed their minds following John's death and the accession of his nine-year-old son Henry III. The books in the series, all published by The History Press, are:

 The Sins of the Father (2012) which was Editor's Choice in Historical Novels Review.
 The Bloody City (2013)
 Whited Sepulchres (2014)
 Brother's Blood (2016)
 Give Up the Dead (2018)
Cast the First Stone (2020)
By the Edge of the Sword (2021)

In addition to fiction, Hanley also began writing popular non-fiction history. Her book Louis: The French Prince Who Invaded England (a biography of Louis VIII of France) was published by Yale University Press in 2016. It was well received, reviews calling it 'a captivating account' (Publishers Weekly), 'a fast-paced biography' (The Times Literary Supplement), and 'serious history, as well as a gripping and poignant story' (BBC History Magazine). Hanley wrote a biography of the Empress Matilda, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior, which was published by Yale University Press in 2019. In 2022 she published Two Houses, Two Kingdoms: A History of France and England, 1100-1300, also with Yale University Press; the Times Literary Supplement noted that it was 'written with verve and based on impeccable scholarship'.

During the early 2000s, Hanley also worked as a cricket writer, publishing articles in the UK in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, Wisden Cricket Monthly and the website wisden.com, and in Australia in the magazine Inside Cricket and in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia. She made a brief return to cricket writing in 2013 with some articles for the Wisden India website.

References

External links
 Website of Catherine Hanley
 Partonopeus de Blois project
 War and Combat 1150-1270: The Evidence from Old French Literature (Boydell and Brewer, 2003) - Google Books preview
 Oxford Encyclopaedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology (Oxford University Press, 2010)
 Historical Novels Review
 Wisden.com
 Inside Cricket

1972 births
Living people
Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages
Writers of historical mysteries
British medievalists
Women medievalists
Cricket historians and writers
People from Perth, Western Australia
Alumni of the University of Sheffield
Australian writers
Women sportswriters
Women mystery writers
Women historical novelists
British women historians

Catherine Hanley


A ramrod (or scouring stick) is a metal or wooden device used with muzzleloading firearms to push the projectile up against the propellant (mainly blackpowder). The ramrod was used with weapons such as muskets and cannons and was usually held in a notch underneath the barrel.

Bullets that did not fit snugly in the barrel were often secured in place by a wad of paper or cloth, but either way, ramming was necessary to place the bullet securely at the rear of the barrel. Ramming was also needed to tamp the powder so that it would explode properly instead of fizzle (this was a leading cause of misfires).

The ramrod could also be fitted with tools for various tasks such as cleaning the weapon, or retrieving a stuck bullet.

Cap and ball revolvers were loaded a bit like muzzleloaders—powder was poured into each chamber of the cylinder from the muzzle end, and a bullet was then squeezed in. Such handguns usually had a ramming mechanism built into the frame. The user pulled a lever underneath the barrel of the pistol, which pushed a rammer into the aligned chamber.

Naval artillery began as muzzle-loading cannon and these too required ramming. Large muzzle loading guns continued into the 1880s, using wooden staffs worked by several sailors as ramrods. Manual ramming was replaced with hydraulic powered ramming with trials on  from 1874.

In some pistols from the 17th century, the ramrod is folded up in a small compartment at the end of the pommel.

References

External links

Firearm components

Ramrod


Ribes lobbii (known commonly by the names gummy gooseberry, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry or pioneer gooseberry) is a shrubby, deciduous, shade-intolerant perennial dicot found on the western coast of North America. It was first described in 1876 by Asa Gray. The specific epithet was a dedication to the English plant collector William Lobb.

Description
Ribes lobbii is a deciduous, loosely branched shrub, about half a meter to one meter (20–40 inches) in height. Its stems are spreading, finely hairy, generally having three slender nodal spines, 7–12 mm long. It has bark that starts out brown, changing to a deep greyish-red later.

Leaves
The leaves of R. lobbii are borne on smooth stalks. Each leaf is 1.3–2.6 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm wide, alternate, ovate, shallowly heart-shaped at the base, shallowly cleft and deeply toothed, with 3–5 rounded lobes. The upper surface is tacky and glabrous (or very sparsely haired); the lower surface is somewhat tomentous and glandular.

Flowers
Ribes lobbii develops its flowers in early summer.

They are arranged as inflorescences of one or two flowers in a nodding raceme on stalks that are shorter than the leaves. Each flower's stalk is 1.5–2 mm in length, densely bristled and glandular. The white or light-pink petals are 4–6 mm long, broad and fanlike, and curl back away from the flower-face, and towards the flower stem. The flower's hypanthium is typically 3.5–5.5 mm long, and shaped like a narrow bell. The anthers extend well beyond petals. The calyces are red and hairy, with 10–13 mm long lobes that are oblong and narrow, coming to a point. The styles are smooth, fusing to just below or just above the middle, about running equal to the stamens.

Fruits
The fruits of R. lobbii are 12–15 mm long, round to elliptic berries. They are reddish-brown, roughly bristled, glandular and edible.

Habitat
R. lobbii prefers mesic to dry streambanks, rock outcrops, open woodlands and forests in the lowland and montane zones. It is more frequent in the drier, Pacific portion of its range where it is often a characteristic plant, rather than in the wetter Cordilleran, where it can be locally rare. It thrives in the maritime to submaritime, cool mesothermal climates on very dry to moderately dry, soils of moderate nitrogen content. It is sporadic or scattered in early-seral communities and open-canopy Douglas-fir forests on watersheds.

Range and distribution
Gummy gooseberries are distributed sporadically throughout the Pacific Northwest region of the United States (Siskiyou Mountains, eastern Columbia Gorge, Crater Lake National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, Olympic National Park) and British Columbia in Canada preferring forests and meadows of foothills and subalpine zones.

In British Columbia, Canada, it is locally common on the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island (particularly in the southern half of the island).

It is found in the state of Washington in Wahkiakum, Skamania, Klickitat, Kittitas, Chelan, Pierce, Thurston and Clallam counties.

In Oregon it has been found in the coastal counties of Curry, Douglas, and Lane; and in the adjacent or nearby counties of Josephine, Jackson, Klamath, Benton, Linn, Jefferson, Marion, Wasco, Yamhill, Hood River, Multnomah and Columbia.

In California, it is native to the northern coastal coniferous and red fir forests in Del Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino counties; deeper inland to Siskiyou, Trinity to Shasta and Glenn counties. Few samples have been located in Lake, Colusa and Modoc counties.

References

External links
  Jepson Manual treatment: Ribes lobbii
 Pacific Northwest Flowers, Gallery of Ribes lobbii pictures

lobbii
Flora of British Columbia
Flora of the West Coast of the United States
Plants described in 1876
Flora without expected TNC conservation status

Ribes lobbii


John Edward Kassir (born October 24, 1957) is an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his work as the voice of the Cryptkeeper in HBO's Tales from the Crypt franchise. He is also known for his role as Ralph in the Off-Broadway show Reefer Madness and its 2005 movie adaptation. Kassir is the son of an Iraqi father from Mosul and a Syrian mother.

Other websites

1957 births
Living people
Actors from Baltimore

John Kassir


A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally either a firm stick designed for direct contact, or a flexible line requiring a specialized swing. The former is easier and more precise, the latter offers longer reach and greater force. A hunting whip combines a firm stick (the stock or handle) with a flexible line (the lash or thong).

Whips such as the "cat o' nine tails" and knout are specifically developed for flagellation as a means of inflicting corporal punishment or torture on human targets. Certain religious practices and BDSM activities involve the self-use of whips or the use of whips between consenting partners. Misuse on animals may be considered animal cruelty, and misuse on humans may be viewed as assault.

Use
Whips are generally used on animals to provide directional guidance or to encourage movement. Some whips are designed to control animals by imparting discomfort by tapping or pain by a full-force strike that produces pain compliance. Some whips provide guidance by the use of sound, such as cracking of a bullwhip. Other uses of whips are to provide a visual directional cue by extending the reach and visibility of the human arm.

In modern times, the pain stimulus is still used in some animal training, and is permitted in many fields, including most equestrianism disciplines, some of which mandate carrying a whip. The whip can be a vital tool to back up riding aids when applied correctly, particularly when initial commands are ignored. However, many competition governing bodies limit the use of whips, and severe penalties may be in place for over-use of the whip, including disqualification and fines. Improper overuse of whips may be considered animal cruelty in some jurisdictions.

Whip use by sound never or rarely strikes the animal; instead, a long, flexible whip is cracked to produce a very sharp, loud sound. This usage also functions as a form of operant conditioning: most animals will flinch away from the sound instinctively, making it effective for driving sled dogs, livestock and teams of harnessed animals like oxen and mules. The sound is loud enough to affect multiple animals at once, making whip-cracking more efficient under some circumstances. This technique can be used as part of an escalation response, with sound being used first prior to a pain stimulus being applied, again as part of operant conditioning.

Whips used without painful stimulus, as an extension of the human hand or arm, are a visual command, or to tap an animal, or to exert pressure. Such use may be related to operant conditioning where the subject is conditioned to associate the whip with irritation, discomfort or pain, but in other cases, a whip can be used as a simple tool to provide a cue connected to positive reinforcement for compliant behavior. In the light of modern attitudes towards the potential for cruelty in whips, other names have gained currency among practitioners such as whips called a "wand" or a "stick," calling the lash a "string" or a "popper".

Cracking

The loud sound of a whip-crack is produced by a ripple in the material of whip travelling towards the tip, rapidly escalating in speed until it breaches the speed of sound, more than 30 times the speed of the initial movement in the handle. The crack is thus a small sonic boom.  Whips were the first man-made objects to break the sound barrier.

Most stick type whips cannot make a crack by themselves, unless they either have a very long lash, such as a longe whip, or are very flexible with a moderately long lash, like certain styles of buggy whip. But any design can be banged against another object, such as leather boot, to make a loud noise. Short, stiff crops often have a wide leather "popper" at the end which makes a particularly loud noise when slapped against an animal, boot, or other object.

Types

Stockwhip

Stockwhips (or stock whips), including bullwhips and the Australian stockwhip, are a type of single-tailed leather whip with a very long lash but a short handle. Stockwhips are primarily used to make a loud cracking sound via special techniques that break the sound barrier, to move livestock (cattle, sheep, horses, etc.) away from the sound. It is generally not used to actually strike an animal, as it would inflict excessive pain and is difficult to apply with precision.

Australian
The Australian stockwhip is often said to have originated in the English hunting whip, but it has since become a distinct type of whip. Today, it is used primarily by stockmen. Unlike the short, embedded handle of a bullwhip, the stockwhip handle is not fitted inside the lash and is usually longer. A stockwhip's handle is connected to the thong by a joint typically made of a few strands of thick leather (which is called a keeper). This allows the whip to hang across a stockman's arm when not being used. The handles are normally longer than those of a bullwhip, being between . The thong can be from  long. Stockwhips are also almost exclusively made from tanned kangaroo hide.

The Australian stockwhip was shown internationally when lone rider Steve Jefferys reared his Australian Stock Horse and cracked the stockwhip to commence the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

Bullwhip

A bullwhip consists of a handle between  in length, and a lash composed of a braided thong between  long. Some whips have an exposed wooden grip, others have an intricately braided leather covered handle. Unlike the Australian stock whip, the thong connects in line with the handle (rather than with a joint), or even engulfs the handle entirely. At the end of the lash is the "fall" and cracker or popper. The fall is a single piece of leather between  in length. During trick shots or target work, the fall is usually the portion of the whip used to cut, strike, or wrap around the target. The cracker is the portion of the whip that makes the loud "sonic boom" sound, but a whip without a cracker will still make a sonic boom, simply not as loud.

Other

There are other variations and lengths of stock whips. The yard whip is a type of smaller stockwhip. The yard whip is used on ground in cattle yards and other small areas where speed and precision is needed. The yard whip is also used by younger children that are not strong enough to handle a large stock whip.

The cattle drafter (or drafting whip) is a cane or fibreglass rod with a handgrip, knob and wrist strap. The cane length is about  and the flapper length is about  long. These whips are used in cattle yards and also when moving pigs.

The bullock-whip was used by an Australian bullock team driver (bullocky). The thong was  long, or more, and often made of greenhide. A long handle was cut from spotted gum or another native tree and was frequently taller than the bullock driver's shoulder. The bullocky walked beside the team and kept the bullocks moving with taps from the long handle as well as using the thong as needed.

The Rose whip is another variation of the stockwhip that was pioneered in Canada in the early 19th century, though it largely fell out of use by the 1880s. The Rose whips were effective in animal yards and other small areas. It was pioneered by an American farmer, Jack Liao.

The Raman whip is a similar variation of the stockwhip which closely relates to the Rose whip. This variation was pioneered in the small Ontario city of Hamilton in the early 20th century, though it largely fell out of use by the 1920s. Raman whips were effective on horse farms, horse derbies, and in other rural areas. It was pioneered by the South African inventor, Delaware Kumar.

Cow whip
The Florida cow whip used by Floridian cowboys is a two-piece unit like the stockwhip and is connected to the handle by threading two strands of the thong through a hollow part of a wooden handle before being tied off. The cowwhip is heavier than the Australian stockwhip. Early cowwhips were made mostly of cowhide or buckskin.

Modern cow whips are made of flat nylon parachute cord, which, unlike those made from leather, are still effective when wet. Most cowwhips have handles that average , and thongs that average . A good cowwhip can produce a loud crack by a simple push of the handle. This can make it more convenient to use than a bullwhip in a thick vegetated environment with less swinging room. The Tampa Bay Whip Enthusiasts give demonstrations of the Florida Cracker Cowboy in costume at the annual Heritage Village Civil War Days festival, located in Largo, Florida every year in May.

Signalwhip

Signal whips (or signalwhips) are a type of single-tailed whip, originally designed to control dog teams. A signal whip usually measures between  in length. Signal whips and snake whips are similar. What distinguishes a signal whip from a snake whip is the absence of a "fall". A fall is a piece of leather attached to the end of the body of the whip. In a snake whip, the "cracker" attaches to the fall. In a signal whip, the cracker attaches directly to the body of the whip.

Snakewhip
Snake whips (or snakewhips) are a type of single-tailed whip. The name snake whip is derived from the fact that this type of whip has no handle inside and so can be curled up into a small circle which resembles a coiled snake. They were once commonly carried in the saddlebag by cowboys of the old west. A full sized snake whip is usually at least  in length (excluding the fall and cracker at the tip of the whip) and around one inch in diameter at the butt of the whip.

A pocket snake whip can be curled up small enough to fit into a large pocket, and ranges in size from  in length. The pocket snake whip is primarily a whip for occasional use, such as in loading cattle. Both of these types of snake whips are made with a leather shot bag running approximately three quarters of the length of the whip.

Blacksnakes are the traditional whips used in Montana and Wyoming. The blacksnake has a heavy shot load extending from the butt well down the thong, and the whip is flexible right to the butt.  They range in size from  in length.  Some types concentrate a load in the butt (often a lead ball or steel ball-bearing) to facilitate its use as improvised blackjack.

Equestrian

Horse whips or riding whips are artificial aids used by equestrians while riding, driving, or handling horses from the ground.  There are many different kinds, but all feature a handle, a long, semi-flexible shaft, and either a popper or lash at the end, depending on use. Riding whips rarely exceed 48" from handle to popper, horse whips used for ground training and carriage driving are sometimes longer.

The term "whip" is the generic word for riding whips, the term "crop" is more specific, referring to a short, stiff whip used primarily in English riding disciplines such as show jumping or hunt seat. Some of the more common types of horse whips include:

Dressage whips are up to  long, including lash or popper, and are used to refine the aids of the rider, not to hurt the horse. They generally ask for more impulsion, and are long enough that they can reach behind the rider's leg to tap the horse while the rider still holds the reins with both hands.  The shaft is slightly flexible and tapers to a fine point at the tip. A similar, but slightly longer whip is used in saddle seat style English riding.

Longe whips have a shaft about  long and a lash of equal or greater length. They are used to direct the horse as it is 'moved on a circle around the person standing in the centre, a process known as "longeing" (pronounced ) The whip is used to guide and signal direction and pace, and is not used with force against the horse. Taking the place of the rider's leg aids, the positioning of the longe whip in relation to the horse gives the horse signals. Occasionally, due to the long lash, it may be cracked to enforce a command.
Driving whips for carts, carriages, and coaches have a stock about the same length as a longe whips. The lash should be long enough to reach the shoulder of the forward-most horse from the driver's seat.
A crop or "bat" has a fairly stiff stock, and is only  in length, with a "popper" - a looped flap of leather - at the end. Because it is too short to reach behind the riders leg while still holding the reins, it is most often used by taking the reins in one hand and hitting the horse behind the rider's leg, using the crop, held in the other hand. Less often, it may be used to tap the horse on the shoulder as a simple reminder to the animal that the rider is carrying it. It is to back up the leg aids, when the horse is not moving forward, or occasionally as a disciplinary measure (such as when a horse refuses or runs out on a jump).  Crops or bats are most commonly seen in sports such as show jumping, hunt seat style English riding, horse racing, and in rodeo speed sports such as barrel racing.
A hunting whip is not precisely a horse whip, though it is carried by a mounted rider. It has a stock about the same length as a crop, except its "stock" is stiff, not flexible. On one end of the stock it has a lash that is ~1 m in length, on the other end it has a hook, which is used to help the rider open and close gates while out fox hunting. The hunting whip is not intended to be used on the horse, but rather the lash is there to remind the hounds to stay away from the horse's hooves, and it can also be used as a communication device to the hounds.
A quirt is a short, flexible piece of thickly braided leather with two wide pieces of leather at the end, which makes a loud crack when it strikes an animal or object.  They inflict more noise than pain. Quirts are occasionally carried on horses used in western riding disciplines, but because the action of a quirt is slow, they are not used to correct or guide the horse, but are more apt to be used by a rider to reach out and strike at animals, such as cattle that are being herded from horseback.

A show cane is a short, stiff cane that may be plain, leather covered, or covered with braided leather. Traditional canes are made from a stick of holly, cherry or birch wood, which is dressed and polished. They are rarely used now except in formal show hacking events.

Rudyard Kipling's short story Garm - a Hostage mentions a long whip used by a horseback rider in India to defend an accompanying pet dog from risk of attack by native pariah dogs.  This probably was a hunting whip.

In Victorian literature cads and bounders are depicted as being horsewhipped or threatened with horsewhipping for seduction of young women or breach of promise (to marry), usually by her brothers or father. Examples are found in the works of Benjamin Disraeli and Anthony Trollope who includes such a scene in Doctor Thorne. It is also mentioned, though not depicted, in comic novels by Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse. As late as the 1970s the historian Desmond Seward was reported by the Daily Telegraph to have been threatened with horsewhipping for besmirching the reputation of Richard III in a biography.

Cat o' nine tails

The cat o' nine tails is a type of multi-tailed whip that originated as an implement for severe physical punishment, notably in the Royal Navy and Army of the United Kingdom, and also as a judicial punishment in Britain and some other countries. The cat is made up of nine knotted thongs of cotton cord, about  long, designed to lacerate the skin and cause intense pain. It traditionally has nine thongs as a result of the manner in which rope is plaited. Thinner rope is made from three strands of yarn plaited together, and thicker rope from three strands of thinner rope plaited together. To make a cat o' nine tails, a rope is unravelled into three small ropes, each of which is unravelled again.

Melee weapons

The Bian (), also known as Chinese whip or hard whip, is a type of tubular-shaped club or rod weapon designed to inflict blunt damage with whipping motion. A typical hard whip is made with metal and has a length of around 90 centimetres. Bamboo node-like protrusions are attached to the weapon body at regular intervals to reduce the contact surface and enhance the striking effect. The whip is stiff and does not bend. It weighs 7 or 8 kilograms. The weapon is used mainly on horseback with one hand, sometimes with two whips in both hands.

The chain whip, also known as the soft whip, is a weapon used in some Chinese martial arts, particularly traditional Chinese disciplines, in addition to modern and traditional wushu. It consists of several metal rods, which are joined end-to-end by rings to form a flexible chain. Generally, the whip has a handle at one end and a metal dart, used for slashing or piercing an opponent, at the other. A cloth flag is often attached at or near the dart end of the whip and a second flag may cover the whip's handle.

According to the book The Chain Whip, a whip in Chinese historical text may refer to either the soft whip or the hard whip due to an ambiguity in the Chinese language. "Both the hard whip and the soft whip can both be referred to simply as whip (鞭) in Chinese."

Qilinbian

Qilinbian (麒麟鞭, literally meaning "unicorn whip") is a metal whip invented in China in the late 1900s. The 15 cm handle is made from a steel chain wrapped with leather. The lash is made of steel rods decreasing in size linked by progressively smaller steel rings. Lash varies between 150 cm and 180 cm and is attached to a fall and a cracker. Total weight is 1–2 kg. It is used for physical exercise and in performances.

Similar natural appendages
Some organisms exhibit whip-like appendages in their physiology:
Many unicellular organisms and spermatozoa have one or two whip-like flagella, which are used for propulsion. "Flagellum" is Latin for "whip".

The tails of some large lizards (e.g. iguanas and monitor lizards) are used and optimized for whipping, and larger lizards can seriously injure a human with a well-placed strike. The biological names of some lizards reference this with the terms Mastigo- or -mastix, which derive from the Greek term for "whip".

The whip snakes are so-called from their physical resemblance, and were associated with myths that they could whip with their body in self-defense, since proven false.

Uropygi arachnids are also known as "whip scorpions" due to the shape of their tails.

It has been proposed that some sauropod dinosaurs could crack the ends of their tails like coach whips as a sound signal, as well as a form of defense against any attackers. Newer, more sophisticated models, however, suggest that while the tails of some Diplodocid Dinosaurs could be used as whips, they likely would not have been able to break the sound barrier.

In popular culture
The whip is widely—if only situationally—portrayed across many avenues of popular culture.  Whips have appeared in many cartoons, television shows, video games (including a central role in the Castlevania franchise), and numerous feature films, ranging from the original Zorro (1919) to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Catwoman (2004). The depicted usage of whips is often dramatic and wildly exaggerated, showing users reliably tripping or disarming adversaries under extraordinary circumstances, breaking substantial objects with normal blows, and use as a grappling aid among others.

This last usage is particularly common and specifically involves wrapping the whip around a fixed overhead object and using the body to swing across an open space. While this is theoretically possible, the wrap must exhibit intense strength—enough to hold the user's body weight for the entire leap—but be made of material loose enough to smoothly disengage once the swing is completed. Thus actual use in this fashion is highly impractical; it would require not only a precisely balanced whip relative to the user, but also to the overhead fixture, which would not only compromise the whip's efficacy for any other use or context but require exceptional contrivance of circumstance. Even granted all of this, the strain of such a swing will damage or break most leather whips. In live-action fiction, the visual effect is achieved by braiding the whip over a steel or kevlar support cable and anchoring the tip permanently to a support such as a crane or scaffolding. In many instances the whip handle is also attached to a concealed body harness on the actor for safety, allowing more dynamic motions to make the swing appear more daring and graceful.

The popular investigative-entertainment program MythBusters tested the various capabilities of whips shown in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark during "The Busters of the Lost Myths" episode. With exact trained usage, the show demonstrated that it is possible to disarm a pistol-wielding opponent with a long whip strike. The episode also demonstrates that a wood log, with sufficient friction, could be used as an overhang to grapple with a whip, swing across a chasm and neatly disengage. Using a high-speed camera they were also able to verify that the tip of a whip can break the speed of sound.

In the Sherlock Holmes series of stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes occasionally carries a loaded hunting crop as his favorite weapon. (For example, see "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons".) Such crops were sold at one time. Loading refers to the practice of filling the shaft and head with heavy metal (e.g., steel, lead) to provide some heft.

See also

Bullwhip
Cat o' nine tails
Crop (implement)
Discipline (mortification)
Flagellation
Hard whip
Knout
Nagaika
Quirts
Scourge
Sjambok

References

Sources

External links

Horse tack and equipment
BDSM equipment

Whip


abOUT was a Toronto-based online biweekly lifestyles and current affairs magazine, serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities of North America.

abOUT was founded in Buffalo, New York, in late 2003 by four partners, including Canadian journalist Duane Booth. The first edition of the magazine was released on January 19, 2004. In 2006, Booth became majority shareholder when he acquired the shares of two of the business partners, and the magazine's operations were fully moved to Toronto at the same time. The magazine continued in print until February 2010, when it was changed to an online-only publication.

abOUT covered LGBT-related news and culture.

abOUT covered a range of topics relating to the LGBT community including politics, activism, pop culture, arts, entertainment, health, fashion, fitness and more. The magazine has become known for political stands that are often contrary to those seen in other gay press outlets as well as featuring celebrity interview with artists such as Mary J. Blige, Pussycat Dolls and Felicity Huffman.

The website closed in 2011.

External links

2003 establishments in New York (state)
2011 disestablishments in Ontario
Biweekly magazines published in Canada
LGBT-related magazines published in Canada
Defunct magazines published in Canada
LGBT culture in Toronto
Magazines established in 2003
Magazines disestablished in 2011
Magazines published in Toronto

AbOUT


Lahti (; ) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about  north-east of the capital city Helsinki,  south-west of Heinola and  east of Hämeenlinna, the capital of the region of Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme). It is also situated at the intersection of Highway 4 (between Helsinki and Jyväskylä) and Highway 12 (between Tampere and Kouvola), which are the most significant main roads of Lahti.

In English, the Finnish word Lahti literally means bay. Lahti is also dubbed the "Chicago of Finland" due to the early industries of both cities, when they were known as "slaughterhouse cities". Also, the troubled history of both cities in the field of crime has been seen as one of the similarities.

Lahti is a long-time pioneering city in environmental sustainability, dating back to as early as 1990 and before. The European Commission has named Lahti as the European Green Capital of 2021.

Lahti is the headquarters of the Salpausselkä UNESCO Global Geopark, one of 4 UNESCO Geoparks in Finland. Salpausselkä was added to the list of over 170 UNESCO Global Geoparks in the world in 2022.

The coat of arms of the city depicts a train wheel surrounded by flames. It refers to the Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway, which had a decisive influence on the birth of the city at its crossroads.

History
Lahti was first mentioned in documents in 1445. The village belonged to the parish of Hollola and was located at the medieval trade route of Ylinen Viipurintie, which linked the towns of Hämeenlinna and Viipuri.

The completion of the Riihimäki – St. Petersburg railway line in 1870 and the Vesijärvi canal in 1871 turned Lahti into a lively station, and industrial installations began to spring up around it. For a long time, the railway station at Vesijärvi Harbour was the second busiest station in Finland. Craftsmen, merchants, a few civil servants and a lot of industrial workers soon mixed in with the existing agricultural peasantry.

On 19 June 1877, almost the entire village was burned to the ground. However, the accident proved to be a stroke of luck for the development of the place, as it led to the authorities resuming their deliberations about establishing a town in Lahti. The village was granted market town rights by Emperor Alexander II of Russia in 1878 and an empire-style, grid town plan was approved, which included a large market square and wide boulevards. This grid plan still forms the basis of the city center. Most of the buildings were low wooden houses bordering the streets.

Lahti was founded during a period of severe economic recession. The Russian Empire was encumbered by the war against Turkey. The recession also slowed down the building of the township: land would not sell and often plots were not built on for some time. In its early years, the town with its meagre 200 inhabitants was too small to provide any kind of foundation for trade. At the end of the 1890s, Lahti's Township Board increased its efforts to enable Lahti to be turned into a city. In spring 1904, the efforts finally bore fruit as the Senate approved of the application, although it was another eighteen months before Tsar Nicholas II finally gave his blessing and issued an ordinance for establishing the city of Lahti.

At the end of 1905, the area that now comprises Lahti accommodated around 8,200 people of whom just under 3,000 lived in the city itself. All essential municipal institutions were built in just ten years, including a hospital and a city hall. At the same time, a rapid increase in brick houses was taking place in the centre of the city. The Battle of Lahti was fought in the 1918 Finnish Civil War as the German Detachment Brandenstein took the town from the Reds.

In the early 1920s, the city gained possession of the grounds of the Lahti Manor, an important piece of land previously blocking the city from the lake. Large-scale industrial operations grew rapidly in the 1930s as did the population; Lahti, at the time, was one of Finland's fastest-growing cities, and before the start of the Winter War its population was approaching 30,000.

Through the addition of new areas in 1924, 1933 and 1956, Lahti grew, both in terms of population and surface area. The increase in population was especially strong after WWII, when 10,000 evacuees from ceded territories were settled in the city, and then later in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of urbanization. The rapid population growth came to a sharp end in 1975 and the city has since grown significantly slower albeit more steadily, with the latest notable growth in population happening in 2016 when the municipality of Nastola became a part of Lahti.

In December 2018, Lahti became the first new university city in Finland after Rovaniemi in 1979 when the Parliament accepted a change in the university law. LUT University nowadays consists of two campuses, Lappeenranta and Lahti.

Geography

The terrain of Lahti is dominated by the first Salpausselkä ridge, a terminal moraine that cuts through the city from west to east. The city is located in the transition from the southern coastal area to the Finnish Lakeland; prominent to the north of the Salpausselkä are rocky hills and fragmented lakes, while its south side is dominated by forests and small rivers. The divide is also apparent in the soil, which mostly consists of till in the north and clay in the south. The biggest lake is Vesijärvi which also is a gateway to Central Finland via Lake Päijänne. There is also a pond called Pikku-Vesijärvi ("Little Vesijärvi") near the Lanu-puisto park.

Subdivisions
The area of the city of Lahti is divided in two ways: first, the 40 individually numbered districts (), and second, the 9 greater areas (), which are divided into 41 statistical districts () and further into 169 statistical areas (). The definitions of the districts and statistical districts do not necessarily match each other. Below are listed the districts:

 Keski-Lahti
 Kartano
 Paavola
 Niemi
 Kiveriö
 Kivimaa
 Mukkula
 Kilpiäinen
 Pesäkallio
 Kytölä
 Viuha
 Kunnas
 Ahtiala
 Koiskala
 Myllypohja
 Möysä
 Järvenpää
 Kolava
 Kujala
 Kerinkallio
 Ämmälä
 Renkomäki
 Nikkilä
 Laune
 Asemantausta
 Sopenkorpi
 Hennala
 Jokimaa
 Okeroinen
 Kärpänen
 Pirttiharju
 Salpausselkä
 Jalkaranta
 Villähde
 Nastola
 Uusikylä
 Seesta
 Ruuhijärvi
 Immilä
 Pyhäntaka

Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, Lahti is right on the boundary between being a humid continental climate (Dfb) and a subarctic climate (Dfc). Summers are usually warm in the city, with the average daily temperature in July exceeding over 23 °C (73.6 °F) and also having had the most 25 °C (77 °F)  (or more) days in the last two decades, alongside Kouvola. Winters are cold and long but as a result of the climate change, specially winters are becoming more and more mild and warm and it is progressively changing from the subarctic climate to humid continental climate, and could already have its climate classified as humid continental climate. During the heatwave of 2010, the temperature in Lahti reached 35.0 °C (95 °F).

Demographics

Population

The city of Lahti has  inhabitants, making it the  most populous municipality in Finland.  The Lahti region has  inhabitants, making it the fifth largest region in Finland after Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Oulu. Lahti is home to 2% of Finland's population. 8.6% of the population has a foreign background, which is close to the national average. However, it is lower than in the major Finnish cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa or Turku.

Languages

Lahti is a monolingual Finnish-speaking municipality. There are  Swedish speakers in Lahti, or 0.4% of the population. As English and Swedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.

At least 100 different languages are spoken in Lahti. The most commonly spoken foreign languages are Russian (2.6%), Arabic (1.1%), Estonian (0.8%) and Kurdish (0.6%).

Immigration

In 2022, there were 10,284 persons with a migrant background living in Lahti, or 8.6% of the population. The number of residents who were born abroad was 9,706, or 5.2 per cent of the population. The number of persons with foreign citizenship living in Lahti was 6,259. Most foreign-born citizens came from the former Soviet Union, Russia, Estonia and Iraq.

The relative share of immigrants in Lahti's population is close to the national average. Furthermore, the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin. This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years.

Religion

In 2022, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 62% of the population of Lahti. Other religious groups accounted for 2.9% of the population. 35% of the population had no religious affiliation.

Economy
The economic region of Lahti, which includes the surrounding municipalities, was strongly affected by the collapse of Finnish-Soviet trade and by the recession in the early 1990s. The value of production slumped, especially in the mechanical engineering industry and other manufacturing industries (e.g. the furniture industry). Production also decreased in the textile and clothing industry. In 1990, there were 90,370 jobs in the Lahti region. The number of jobs diminished over the next couple of years, so that in 1993 there were fewer than 70,000 jobs in the region. The number of jobs had slowly increased to 79,138 in 1999.

In 1995, R&D expenditure was FIM 715 per person, while Finland's average was about FIM 2050. The amount of Tekes (the National Technology Agency) funding in the Lahti Region grew 40% during 2004–2007 while the average growth in Finland was 60%.

Culture

Lahti harbors cultural ambitions, manifested notably in the construction of a large congress and concert centre, the Sibelius Hall (2000) by architects Kimmo Lintula and Hannu Tikka. Lahti has one of Finland's most widely known symphony orchestras, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra (Sinfonia Lahti ), based at the Sibelius Hall, which performs both classical and popular music, notably concentrating on music by Jean Sibelius. The orchestra has won several well respected international prizes, and is often heard on BBC Radio 3.

Lahti's annual music festival programme includes such events as Lahti Organ Festival, a jazz festival held in the city's market square and the Sibelius Festival.

In addition to the Sibelius Hall, other additional notable works of architecture in Lahti are the City Hall (1911) by Eliel Saarinen, the Church of the Cross (1978) by Alvar Aalto, Nastola Church (1804), the oldest church in the city, Joutjärvi church, the City Theatre (1983) by Pekka Salminen, the City Library (1990) by Arto Sipinen, the Piano Pavilion (2008) by Gert Wingårdh, and the Travel Centre (2016) by JKMM Architects. The City of Lahti has also acted as the host city for the international Spirit of Wood Architecture Award, established in Finland in 1999. Some of the prize-winners have received commissions to design small structures in the city; these include small works by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and Australian architect Richard Leplastrier.

Museums and galleries
 Lahti Ski Museum
 Historical Museum of Lahti
 Lahti Art Museum
 Poster museum
 Radio and TV Museum
 Finland's motorcycle museum
 The Museum of Military Medicine
 Taarasti Art Center

Sports

Winter sports
Lahti has a rich sporting tradition, especially in various wintersports. The city is well known for the annually held Lahti Ski Games (Salpausselän kisat) and the Finlandia-hiihto cross-country skiing contest. It is also the only city to host the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships seven times, doing so in 1926, 1938, 1958, 1978, 1989, 2001 and 2017.

Ice hockey
The Pelicans have competed in the top level of Finnish ice hockey, the SM-liiga, since 1999. Before the new millennium Reipas represented Lahti in top-flight hockey for 50 years. Many former NHL players, such as Janne Laukkanen, Toni Lydman and Pasi Nurminen, have started their careers in Reipas.

Association football
Historically the city's most successful association football club has been Kuusysi. In their golden years lasting from the early 1980s to the 1990s they won five Finnish championships as well as two Finnish Cup titles, with appearances in European competitions each year. Their greatest rivals, Reipas, won a total of three championships and seven cup titles from 1963 to 1978 but diminished in the early 1980s as Kuusysi got stronger.

In the 1990s both clubs ended up in such massive financial difficulties that a merger was executed in 1996, with the newly formed club adopting a new name, crest and colours. FC Lahti has played in the Veikkausliiga since 1999, excluding a season-long visit to the first division in 2011, having placed twice third and appearing in Europe three times.

Other events
The 1997 World Games and the 2009 World Masters Athletics Championships were held in Lahti. For the 1952 Summer Olympics, some of the football matches were played at Kisapuisto.

Lahti will host the 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship August 26-27, an annual event which rotates venue and is the 2nd most important event in long course triathlon after Kona World Championship held annually in Hawaii.

Transportation

Local transport
The city is served by 20 local bus lines, most of which are pendulum lines between two different areas via city centre. Bus transport in the Päijänne Tavastia region is organised by the regional transportation authority, known as Lahden seudun liikenne or LSL, and run by several private companies which have bid for the right to run their lines. LSL buses cover all urban areas at 10–20 minute intervals and most nearby municipalities at 30–60 minute intervals.

Lahti is served by VR commuter rail, the Z train to Helsinki and the G train to Riihimäki run hourly. Most services to Kouvola don't have a letter designation and are run every three hours aside from rush hours. There are plans for building two new train stops inside the city limits before 2020, Hennala and Karisto. A local service to Heinola has been proposed but renovating the old line has been deemed too expensive and unprofitable in the long term, unless the Finnish state reaches an agreement with regional councils to finance a direct rail link from Lahti to either Jyväskylä or Mikkeli.

Long-distance transport

The city's main transportation hubs are the market square (Kauppatori) and the travel centre (Matkakeskus), with local buses providing a non-stop service between the two. The travel centre, which replaced the old Lahti bus station that had been in use since 1939, was built between 2014 and 2016 around the Lahti railway station by building new local bus stops around the station, a long-distance bus terminal next to the station building and an automated parking facility for commuters.

All local and long-distance trains and buses stop at the travel centre, making it convenient to transfer from one mode of transport to another. The city council has sold the old bus station in the city centre and it will be redeveloped for other uses in the near future.

Lahti's proximity to Helsinki provides a fast and well-serviced operation between the cities. Long-distance and commuter trains service the city at least twice an hour in the daytime. There is also a commuter train service towards Riihimäki in the south-west and to Kouvola / Kotka in the east. All the east and north-east long-distance train services to and from Helsinki railway station call at Lahti. From Lahti, it is also convenient to travel to Helsinki airport. Travel time to Helsinki airport via Tikkurila station is between 49min to 65min.

In addition, as an international train service, a high-speed Allegro-train between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg, Russia calls at Lahti. The travel time from Lahti to Saint Petersburg is approx. 2,5 hours. There is also a night-train service from Helsinki to Moscow which calls at Lahti.

Additionally to the train connections, the long-distance busses are well-serviced in Lahti. Thanks to its geographical location, Lahti provides a hub-like possibility for busses too. From Lahti, the long-distance busses service routes to Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Jyväskylä, Mikkeli, Oulu, Rovaniemi amongst the other destinations.

Education

Comprehensive and private education
Lahti has 16 comprehensive schools and eight secondary schools. Comprehensive education is also available in English and Swedish. Lahden yhteiskoulu is the city's only private school offering both comprehensive and upper secondary education.

Upper secondary and vocational education
All four upper secondary schools in Lahti have a specialty: the Lyceum has expertise on subjects such as mathematics and biology, and sports (formerly in Salpauselkä), Tiirismaa focuses on music in association with the Lahti Conservatory, Kannas organises theatre classes and Lahden yhteiskoulu offers an economy-centered class.

Salpaus is an educational consortium owned by the municipalities in Päijänne Tavastia arranging most of the region's vocational education and trade schooling. The privately owned Dila and Lahti Conservatory educate students for healthcare and music-related professions, respectively.

Higher education and LUT University
Lahti's greatest educational assets are the Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT as well as also highly valued Institute of Design and Fine Arts, which is a part of LAB University of Applied Sciences.

LUT University offers education in engineering science as well as in business and management. The Institute of Design and Fine Arts has gained international recognition in particular for jewelry and industrial design, while other areas of expertise include metal, woodworking and furniture.

There are two national sports institutes in greater Lahti. The Vierumäki International Sports Institute based in Heinola is the most versatile centre of sports and physical education in the country, operating under the Ministry of Culture and Education. In addition the Pajulahti Sports Institute, located in the district of Nastola in Lahti, is one of the leading sports and training centres in Finland.

Furthermore one of Finland's six multidisciplinary university campuses is based in Lahti. The University of Helsinki's Department of Environmental Sciences is the university's sole science department located outside the Greater Helsinki area.

Trivia
The asteroid 1498 Lahti was named after the city by its discoverer, the Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä.

The radio masts on top of the Radiomäki are  tall.

Lahti won the European Green Capital Award of the year 2021.

Notable people from Lahti

International relations

Twin towns—sister cities
Lahti is twinned with:

 Västerås, Sweden (since 1940)
 Akureyri, Iceland (since 1947)
 Randers, Denmark (since 1947)
 Ålesund, Norway (since 1947)
 Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine (since 1953)
 Pécs, Hungary (since 1956)
 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (since 1987)
 Suhl, Germany (since 1988)
 Kaluga, Russia (since 1994)
 Narva, Estonia (since 1994, partnership agreement)
 Deyang, Sichuan, China (since 2000)
 Wuxi, Jiangsu, China (since 2011)
 Norberg, Sweden
 Tamsalu, Estonia

See also

Hollola
Lahti Highway
Lahti Summit
Launeen keskuspuisto
Nastola

Notes

References

External links

1952 Summer Olympics official report. pp. 62–3.
 City of Lahti – Official city website.
 Lahti Guide – information for visitors to Lahti.
 Lahti region - Living, business and travel information.
 Lahti info - News, events, business and other information.
 Lahti video - documentary about city of Lahti

Maps
Map Service

Media
Etelä-Suomen Sanomat – local newspaper in Finnish (translates as South Finland News)

Cities and towns in Finland
Municipalities of Päijät-Häme
Grand Duchy of Finland
Populated places established in 1905
Ski areas and resorts in Finland
Inland port cities and towns in Finland
Venues of the 1952 Summer Olympics
Olympic football venues
Populated lakeshore places in Finland
1905 establishments in Finland

Lahti


The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England near the M5 motorway. The A419 is managed and maintained by a private company, Road Management Group, on behalf of the UK Department for Transport.

Route
From the M4 to Cirencester it is a dual carriageway road, which generally follows the course of the Roman road Ermin Way, but dualling work completed in the late 1990s, and the bypass of Cirencester, has taken it off-course in some places. East of Cirencester the A417 continues straight ahead as the major road and the A419 separates through Cirencester and Stroud, becoming mainly single carriageway. West of Cirencester the road loses its primary status; it crosses the M5 at junction 13 close to a former Little Chef restaurant, then finishes  further west at a roundabout with the A38.

A419 Road Bridge

The A419 Road Bridge is a modern bridge carrying the Cricklade by-pass section of the A419 across the River Thames in the county of Wiltshire.

The bridge is just east of the town and is a concrete construction carrying a dual carriageway, built as part of the  £2.4m Blunsdon-Cricklade Improvement which opened in June 1988.

History
When it was first designated in 1922, the A419 ran from Hungerford, Berkshire, to Gloucester. Before the war, the section from Cirencester to Gloucester was renumbered the A417, and the A419 was extended from Cirencester to Stroud and then on part of the route of the former A434 through Stonehouse to a junction with the A38 at Hardwicke, just south of Gloucester.

Following the opening of the M4 motorway, the section from Hungerford via Aldbourne and Liddington to Commonhead was downclassified to the B4192. The old lay-bys remain, showing that this was once a major route south.  The road was extended south from Commonhead for  to the M4, on the route of the old A345.

When the M5 motorway was opened, the road was rerouted west of Stroud. A new alignment, known as the Ebley by-pass, was built south of the old route from Cainscross to a point just south of Stonehouse, and from there the road was rerouted on the former line of the A4096 to Eastington, and then to the M5 and the A38 at Whitminster.  The old route became the B4008.

Around 1971, a junction was created north of Cricklade with the newly built Spine Road (B4696) which runs west through the Cotswold Water Park.

The  £4m Stratton St. Margaret (Swindon) Bypass opened in October 1977, the  £2.4m Blunsdon-Cricklade Improvement opened in June 1988 and the  Latton Bypass opened on 24 December 1997.

A bottleneck in Swindon at Blunsdon traffic lights and the nearby Turnpike roundabout, where local traffic mixes with through traffic for the M4 and the Cotswolds, was addressed by construction of a dual-carriageway bypass in 2006–2009. A flyover at Commonhead, the main junction for southeast Swindon and another source of congestion, was opened to traffic in 2007.

Parts of the newly dualled sections of road are surfaced in concrete, which is relatively unusual in the UK. The high tyre noise generated by this surface is unpopular with nearby residents.

Management contract
The A419 is managed and maintained by Road Management Services (Gloucester) Ltd which receives income in the form of shadow tolls based on the volume of traffic. The 30-year contract expires in 2026. In 2018, the company made a profit before tax of £4.5 million on turnover of £17.8 million.

See also
 The Golden Valley Line – a railway line serving a similar route
 List of crossings of the River Thames

References

External links
Highways Agency pages:
 A419/A417 Route Management Strategy
 Blunsdon Bypass Scheme
 Commonhead Junction Scheme
 SABRE page on the A417

Roads in England
Transport in Gloucestershire
Transport in Wiltshire

A419 road


Motherfuckers Be Trippin' is a studio album by American rock and roll band Supersuckers. It was released on April 22, 2003, on the band's own label, Mid-Fi Recordings.

The album's title comes from the name jokingly announced by the New Bomb Turks as the title of their upcoming album while on tour with Supersuckers. When the Supersuckers went into the studio to record their next album, they put it down as a working title as an inside joke.

Track listing
 "Rock 'n' Roll Records (Ain't Selling This Year)" – 2:25
 "Rock Your Ass" – 2:39
 "Pretty Fucked Up" – 2:52
 "The Fight Song" – 3:40
 "Bruises To Prove It" – 3:26
 "Bubblegum And Beer" – 3:18
 "Sleepy Vampire" – 3:36
 "A Good Night For My Drinkin'" – 2:34
 "Damn My Soul" – 2:28
 "Someday I Will Kill You" – 2:35
 "The Nowhere Special" – 2:43
 "Goodbye" – 14:08

References

Supersuckers albums
2003 albums

Motherfuckers Be Trippin'


The Khofi Alayee was written by Zayn al-Din Gorgani  (1040–1136) also spelled al-Jurjani, after writing the first great Persian medical encyclopedia, the Zakhireye Khwarazmshahi also wrote  the Khafi Alayee in the Persian language as a  contracted form of the Zakhireye Khwarazmshahi. Khofe alaei becomes easier to read than the original Zakhireye Khwarazmshahi. The Khafi Alayee is a pocket book so that a reader can  easily carry it in a journey as manual of emergency medicine.  Khoffi Alayee, means Alayee Book, because it was dedicated to Alā ud-Dīn Atsiz, - Alayee, the young prince of Khwarazmian dynasty (died 1156).

Contents

The Khoffi Alayee was originally written in two parts so that physicians could put each part in one of his boots while he was on traveling by horse. Therefore, this book is a prototype of what is today called a pocket book. The first part has two articles: the first containing sixteen chapters and the second seven chapters.  The second part has seven articles with 23 chapters. The second part is about etiology of diseases, treatment as well as personal hygiene.

Gorgani in the introduction of this book announced that the contents would be the essential practical emergency topics. Gorgani wrote that medical knowledge can be divided into two parts: theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge.

Practical  knowledge further divides into branches but the most fundamental is personal hygiene.  Gorgani wrote that another important task of the physician is to predict and identify the disease (prognosis), the diagnosis of the patient's condition and course of the disease and the patient's life expectancy. Gorgani wrote that the theoretical science must be evidence based and helps to distinguish  the normalities and abnormalities of the  patient. Also, if someone was sick, then the duty of physician is to start the medical procedures for treatment of the patient with the: prescribe directives, regulation of nutrition till proper cure. The scientific part of the book itself.

Linguistic study

As a frequently used scientific Persian medical textbook of its own time, the text also has socio-linguistic peculiarities that are attractive for linguistic researchers. For example, in Khofe Alayee in the case of a patient that has mild fever it states "To release patient from temperature, the home must be cooled down and the patient would be worn a dresses which allows the cold air can reach into his lungs, not reach  to his body." The word of the home and the patient both are in passive form, but the cold air is active and can reach into his lungs. From the viewpoints of a linguistic researcher the above-mentioned sentence reflects the writers vision and shows how the patient is objectified. The words of the home and the suitable dresses of the patient is a reflection of the socioeconomic situation of the patient. In fact the correct name of this book is "Khofe alaei" because in Arabic language khof means boot and khofe means related to boot. As mentioned above, physicians and other readers would put the books in their boots while traveling so that the books be near their hands (such as pocket book of our time).

Present day

The Late Professor Dr. Mahmoud Najm  Abadi, with the cooperation of Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati, edit this book and added explanations and commentaries to it for publication.

References

Sources

 C.A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey. Volume II, Part 2: E.Medicine (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1971), pp 207–211 no. 361.
 The article "Djurdjani" by J. Schacht in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, ed. by H.A.R. Gibbs, B. Lewis, Ch. Pellat, C. Bosworth et al., 11 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960–2002)  (2nd ed.), vol. 2, p. 603.
 A Research Conducted on the Life and Works of Hakim Sayyid Esmail Jurjani, Mohammad Reza Shams Ardekani, Fariborz Moatar. Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, Vol 4, No 7, April   2005.
http://www.elib.hbi.ir/persian/TRADITIONALMEDICINE/JORJANI/JORJANI_KHOFE_ALAEI_EBOOK/JORJANI_KHOFEALAEI1.htm

Medical works of medieval Iran
Medical works of the medieval Islamic world
Persian encyclopedias
Persian literature
Works about the history of medicine
Iranian literature
Iranian books
Encyclopedias of medicine

Khafi Alayee


Norman Adolphus Mozley (December 11, 1865 – May 9, 1922) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri's 14th congressional district.

Born on a farm in Johnson County, Illinois, Mozley attended the common schools.
He moved to Stoddard County, Missouri, in 1887 and taught school.
He studied law.
He was admitted to the bar in 1891 and practiced in Bloomfield, Missouri.

Mozley was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897).
He was not a candidate for renomination in 1896.
He resumed the practice of law in Bloomfield, Missouri.
He served as commissioner of the State supreme court in 1919–1921.
He moved to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and continued the practice of his profession.
He served as delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1921 and 1922.
He died in Bloomfield, Missouri, May 9, 1922.
He was interred in Bloomfield Cemetery.

References

1865 births
1922 deaths
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri
People from Johnson County, Illinois
People from Bloomfield, Missouri

Norman Adolphus Mozley


Charles Turner  (31 August 1774, Woodstock, Oxfordshire – London 1 August 1857) was an English mezzotint engraver and draughtsman who specialized in portraiture. He collaborated with J. M. W. Turner (to whom he was not related) on the early plates of the same's Liber Studiorum.

Life

Turner was born at Woodstock in Oxfordshire. His father, also named Charles, was an excise officer, and his mother, Jane was a former paid companion to the Duchess of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace. Following his father's death, his mother returned to the Duchess's service, with the result that Turner had access to the gallery at the palace. He moved to London in about 1789,  where he worked for John Boydell, a major print publisher, and  enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools.

He made his first mezzotint in 1795, working from a portrait of  John Kirby, the keeper of Newgate, painted by his friend John James Masquerier, and immediately afterwards produced a stipple engraving after a portrait of Joshua Reynolds. Turner's biographer, Alfred Whitman, dismisses a tradition in the artist's family that he was apprenticed to George Jones, who was in fact younger than Turner, but suggests that he may have come under the influence of George Jones' father John Jones, who was a notable exponent both of mezzotint and stipple, without making any mention of any formal apprenticeship. In 1798 he was employed by the publisher Edward Orme to  produce the first plates for his "transparencies", a new type of varnished and coloured print designed to be illuminated from behind.

In 1801 he issued, with great success, a print of Napoleon, apparently based on a portrait by Masquerier painted on a visit to Paris, and was involved in the exhibition of a gigantic painting, Bonaparte Reviewing the Consular Guards, also ostensibly by Masquerier. Turner's annotated copy of the exhibition catalogue, however, indicates that there was an element of deception to the enterprise, and that Masquerier had never in fact seen Napoleon. Turner himself had executed much of the painting.

While a student at the Royal Academy, he had become a friend of J.M.W. Turner (to whom he was not related), and in 1806 he made a mezzotint of his Shipwreck. This ambitious plate – 82 cm across. – was the first individual print to be made after  one of the artist's paintings. In that year he also began work on the Liber Studiorum, working in mezzotint over outlines etched by J.M.W. Turner. After the issue of the first part he also took over as publisher. The two men worked closely on the plates, J.M.W. Turner adding new ideas to the proofs as the work progressed. Charles Turner continued to work on the project until 1809, when a quarrel over money led to the end of the arrangement: according to his own account, the two men did not speak for the next 19 years. He did however engrave and publish a plate after J.M.W. Turner's Vesuvius in Eruption in 1815, and engraved five plates for the artist's Rivers of England from 1823 onwards. The relationship seems eventually to have been mended, and Charles Turner was one of the executors of J. M. W. Turner's will.

Although predominantly working in mezzotint, Turner also produced stipple engravings, aquatints, and etchings. The mezzotints themselves were worked over an etched background.
Although his work covers a wide range of genres, his main interest was portraiture; Whitman lists 637 portraits, out of a total of 921 prints. He was exceptionally prolific, his ability to produce work quickly allowing him to successfully exploit the market for images of people were currently attracting public attention.

He was appointed "Mezzotinto Engraver in Ordinary to his Majesty" in 1812 and was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1828. Up to that point he had only exhibited paintings and drawings at the Academy, but from then on also showed prints. From about 1836 his output declined, and he exhibited no more mezzotints  after 1843.

He died at his home on, Warren Street, London, on 1 August 1857 and was buried on the western side of Highgate Cemetery.

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

Tate Collection
Royal Academy Collection

1774 births
1857 deaths
Burials at Highgate Cemetery
English engravers
Associates of the Royal Academy

Charles Turner (engraver)


The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, most commonly acronymed as POV-Ray, is a cross-platform ray-tracing program that generates images from a text-based scene description. It was originally based on DKBTrace, written by David Kirk Buck and Aaron A. Collins for Amiga computers. There are also influences from the earlier Polyray raytracer because of contributions from its author, Alexander Enzmann. POV-Ray is free and open-source software, with the source code available under the AGPL-3.0-or-later license.

History

Sometime in the 1980s, David Kirk Buck downloaded the source code for a Unix ray tracer to his Amiga. He experimented with it for a while and eventually decided to write his own ray tracer named DKBTrace after his initials. He posted it to the "You Can Call Me Ray" bulletin board system (BBS) in Chicago, thinking others might be interested in it. In 1987, Aaron A. Collins downloaded DKBTrace and began working on an x86 port of it. He and David Buck collaborated to add several more features.

When the program proved to be more popular than anticipated, they could not keep up with demand for more features. Thus, in July 1991, David turned over the project to a team of programmers working in the "GraphDev" forum on CompuServe. At the same time, David felt that it was inappropriate to use his initials on a program he no longer maintained.  The name "STAR-Light" (Software Taskforce on Animation and Rendering) was initially used, but eventually the name became "PV-Ray", and then ultimately "POV-Ray" (Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer), a name inspired by Dalí's painting, The Persistence of Memory.

Features of the application, and a summary of its history, are discussed in a February 2008 interview with David Kirk Buck and Chris Cason on episode 24 of FLOSS Weekly.

Features

POV-Ray has matured substantially since it was created. Recent versions of the software include the following features:

 a Turing-complete scene description language (SDL) that supports macros and loops
 a library of ready-made scenes, textures, and objects
 support for a number of geometric primitives and constructive solid geometry
 several kinds of light sources
 atmospheric effects such as fog and media (smoke, clouds)
 reflections, refractions, and light caustics using photon mapping
 surface patterns such as wrinkles, bumps, and ripples, for use in procedural textures and bump mapping
 radiosity
 support for textures and rendered output in many image formats, including TGA, PNG, and JPEG, among others
 extensive user documentation
 support for custom output resolutions (This includes extreme resolutions such as 16K)
 two types of SSAA Type 1 is an adaptive, non-recursive, super-sampling method. It is adaptive because not every pixel is super-sampled. Type 2 is an adaptive and recursive super-sampling method. It is recursive because the pixel is sub-divided and sub-sub-divided recursively. The adaptive nature of type 2 is the variable depth of recursion.

One of POV-Ray's main attractions is its large collection of third-party-made assets and tools. A large number of tools, textures, models, scenes, and tutorials can be found on the web. It is also a useful reference for those wanting to learn how ray tracing and related 3D geometry and computer graphics algorithms work.

Current version
The current official version of POV-Ray is 3.7. This version introduces:

 support for symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), to allow the renderer to take advantage of multiple processors
 support for high-dynamic-range imaging (HDRI), including the OpenEXR and radiance file formats
 improved bounding using BSP trees

Some of the main introduced features of the previous release (3.6) are:

 extending UV mapping to more primitives
 adding 16- and 32-bit integer data to a density file
 improving 64-bit compatibility

In July 2006, Intel Corporation started using the beta version of 3.7 to demonstrate their new dual-core Conroe processor due to the efficiency of the SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) implementation.

Primitives

POV-Ray, in addition to standard 3D geometric shapes like tori, spheres, and heightfields, supports mathematically defined primitives such as the isosurface (a finite approximation of an arbitrary function), the polynomial primitive (an infinite object defined by a 15th order or lower polynomial), the julia fractal (a 3-dimensional slice of a 4-dimensional fractal), the superquadratic ellipsoid (an intermediate between a sphere and a cube), and the parametric primitive (using equations that represent its surface, rather than its interior).

POV-Ray internally represents objects using their mathematical definitions; all POV-Ray primitive objects can be described by mathematical functions. This is different from many computer programs that include 3D models, which typically use triangle meshes to compose all the objects in a scene.

This fact provides POV-Ray with several advantages and disadvantages over other rendering and modeling systems; POV-Ray primitives are more accurate than their polygonal counterparts: objects that can be described in terms of spheres, planar surfaces, cylinders, tori, and the like, are perfectly smooth and mathematically accurate in POV-Ray renderings, whereas polygonal artifacts may be visible in mesh-based modeling software. POV-Ray primitives are also simpler to define than most of their polygonal counterparts, e.g., in POV-Ray, a sphere is described simply by its center and radius; in a mesh-based environment, a sphere must be described by a multitude of small connected polygons (usually quads or triangles).

On the other hand, script-based primitive modeling is not always a practical method to create certain objects, such as realistic characters or complex man-made artifacts like cars. Those objects can be created first in mesh-based modeling applications such as Wings 3D and Blender, and then they can be converted to POV-Ray's own mesh format.

Examples of the scene description language
The following is an example of the scene description language used by POV-Ray to describe a scene to render. It demonstrates the use of a background colour, camera, lights, a simple box shape having a surface normal and finish, and the transforming effects of rotation.

 #version 3.6;
// Includes a separate file defining a number of common colours
 #include "colors.inc"
 global_settings { assumed_gamma 1.0 }

// Sets a background colour for the image (dark grey)
 background   { color rgb <0.25, 0.25, 0.25> }

// Places a camera
// direction: Sets, among other things, the field of view of the camera
// right: Sets the aspect ratio of the image
// look_at: Tells the camera where to look
 camera       { location  <0.0, 0.5, -4.0>
                direction 1.5*z
                right     x*image_width/image_height
                look_at   <0.0, 0.0, 0.0> }

// Places a light source
// color: Sets the color of the light source (white)
// translate: Moves the light source to a desired location
 light_source { <0, 0, 0>
                color rgb <1, 1, 1>
                translate <-5, 5, -5> }
// Places another light source
// color: Sets the color of the light source (dark grey)
// translate: Moves the light source to a desired location
 light_source { <0, 0, 0>
                color rgb <0.25, 0.25, 0.25>
                translate <6, -6, -6> }

// Sets a box
// pigment: Sets a color for the box ("Red" as defined in "colors.inc")
// finish: Sets how the surface of the box reflects light
// normal: Sets a bumpiness for the box using the "agate" in-built model
// rotate: Rotates the box
 box          { <-0.5, -0.5, -0.5>,
                <0.5, 0.5, 0.5>
                texture { pigment { color Red }
                          finish  { specular 0.6 }
                          normal  { agate 0.25 scale 1/2 }
                        }
                rotate <45,46,47> }

The following script fragment shows the use of variable declaration, assignment, comparison and the while loop construct:

 #declare the_angle = 0;

 #while (the_angle < 360)
 	box {   <-0.5, -0.5, -0.5>
 		<0.5, 0.5, 0.5>
                texture { pigment { color Red }
                          finish  { specular 0.6 }
                          normal  { agate 0.25 scale 1/2 } }
 		rotate the_angle }
 	#declare the_angle = the_angle + 45;
 #end

Modeling
The POV-Ray program itself does not include a modeling feature; it is essentially a pure renderer with a sophisticated model description language. To accompany this feature set, third parties have developed a large variety of modeling software, some specialized for POV-Ray, others supporting import and export of its data structures, including the free and open-source 3D creation suite Blender.

A number of additional POV-Ray compatible modelers are linked from Povray.org: Modelling Programs.

In 2007, POV-Ray acquired the rights to Moray, an interactive 3-D modeling program long used with POV-Ray. However, as of December 2016, Moray development is stalled.

Software

Development and maintenance
Official modifications to the POV-Ray source tree are done and/or approved by the POV-Team. Most patch submission and/or bug reporting is done in the POV-Ray newsgroups on the news.povray.org news server (with a Web interface also available). Since POV-Ray's source is available there are unofficial forks and patched versions of POV-Ray available from third parties; however, these are not officially supported by the POV-Team.

Official POV-Ray versions currently do not support shader plug-ins. Some features, like radiosity and splines are still in development and may be subject to syntactical change.

Platform support
POV-Ray 3.6 is distributed in compiled format for Mac, Windows and Linux.
Support for Intel Macs is not available in the Mac version, but since Mac OS X is a version of Unix the Linux version can be compiled on it.

The 3.7 versions with SMP support are officially supported for Windows and Linux. Unofficial Mac versions for v3.7 can be found.

POV-Ray can be ported to any platform which has a compatible C++ compiler.

Licensing
Originally, POV-Ray was distributed under its own POV-Ray License. Namely, the POV-Ray 3.6 Distribution License and the POV-Ray 3.6 Source License, which permitted free distribution of the program source code and binaries, but restricts commercial distribution and the creation of derivative works other than fully functional versions of POV-Ray.

Although the source code of older versions is available for modification, due to the above 3.6 and prior license restrictions, it was not open source or free software according to the OSI or the FSF definition of the term. This was a problem as source code exchange with the greater FOSS ecosystem was impossible due to License incompatibility with copyleft licenses.

One of the reasons that POV-Ray was not originally licensed under the free software GNU General Public License (GPL), or other open source licenses, is that POV-Ray was developed before the GPL-style licenses became widely used; the developers wrote their own license for the release of POV-Ray, and contributors to the software worked under the assumption their contributions would be licensed under the POV-Ray 3.6 Licenses.

In 2013, with version 3.7, POV-Ray was relicensed under the Affero General Public License version 3 (or later). Thus POV-Ray is since then free software according to the FSF definition and also open source software according to the Open Source Definition.

See also

 Blender – a free and open-source software program for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering
 Kerkythea – a freeware ray-tracing program with enhanced Sketchup compatibility
 Sunflow – an open-source rendering system for photo-realistic image synthesis, written in Java
 YafaRay – a popular free open-source ray-tracing engine

References

External links

3D graphics software
Amiga raytracers
Articles with example code
Cross-platform software
Domain-specific programming languages
Free 3D graphics software
Free graphics software
Free software programmed in C++
Global illumination software
Rendering systems
Software using the GNU AGPL license

POV-Ray


5-MeO-MPMI (also known as 5-Methoxy-N-methyl-(α,N-trimethylene)tryptamine) is a tryptamine derivative that is a psychedelic drug. It was first developed by the team led by JE Macor in 1992, and subsequently investigated by the team led by David Nichols from Purdue University in the late 1990s. This compound produces psychedelic-appropriate responding in animal tests with a similar potency to the amphetamine-derived psychedelic DOI, and has two enantiomers, with only the (R)-enantiomer being active.

See also
 5-MeO-pyr-T
 5F-MPMI
 4-HO-MPMI
 4-HO-pyr-T
 CP-135,807
 MPMI

References

Psychedelic tryptamines
Designer drugs

5-MeO-MPMI


Vada pav is a vegetarian fast food dish native to the state of Maharashtra.The dish consists of a deep fried potato dumpling placed inside a bread bun (pav) sliced almost in half through the middle. It is generally accompanied with one or more chutneys and a green chilli pepper.

Etymology
Batata vada in Marathi literally means "potato fritter".Pav is a derivative of the Portuguese word pão, which means bread.

Preparation
Boiled potato is mashed and mixed with chopped green chilli and garlic, mustard seeds, and spices (usually asafoetida and turmeric). The mass is then shaped into a ball, dipped into gram flour batter and deep fried. The resultant fritter is served by placing inside a bread bun, accompanied with one or more chutneys and fried green chilli.

Breads
Fast food
Indian food
Sandwiches
Snack foods

Vada pav


Anandamide (ANA), also known as N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA), an N-acylethanolamine (NAE), is a fatty acid neurotransmitter. Anandamide was the first endocannabinoid to be discovered: it participates in the body's endocannabinoid system by binding to cannabinoid receptors, the same receptors that the psychoactive compound THC in cannabis acts on. Anandamide is found in nearly all tissues in a wide range of animals. Anandamide has also been found in plants, including small amounts in chocolate. The name 'anandamide' is taken from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means "joy, bliss, delight", plus amide.

Anandamide is derived from the non-oxidative metabolism of arachidonic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid. It is synthesized from N-arachidonoyl phosphatidylethanolamine by multiple pathways. It is degraded primarily by the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) enzyme, which converts anandamide into ethanolamine and arachidonic acid. As such, inhibitors of FAAH lead to elevated anandamide levels and are being pursued for therapeutic use.

Anandamide is also being explored for its role in diabetic neuropathy/neuropathy, as cannabinoids as well as exogenous or endogenous anandamide, demonstrate broad-spectrum antinociceptive properties in a model of painful diabetic neuropathy, mediated through peripheral activation of both cannabinoid receptors, i.e. CB1 and CB2, beside involvement of transient receptor vanilloid type-1 (TRPV1) channels in the pain modulation, as endovanilloid signalling modulates local pain, as well as in reduction of inflammation associated with renal injury.

Physiological functions

Anandamide's effects can occur in either the central or peripheral nervous system. These distinct effects are mediated primarily by CB1 cannabinoid receptors in the central nervous system, and CB2 cannabinoid receptors in the periphery. The latter are mainly involved in functions of the immune system. Cannabinoid receptors were originally discovered as being sensitive to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC, commonly called THC), which is the primary psychoactive cannabinoid found in cannabis. The discovery of anandamide came from research into CB1 and CB2, as it was inevitable that a naturally occurring (endogenous) chemical would be found to affect these receptors.

Anandamide is also important for the implantation of the early stage embryo in its blastocyst form into the uterus. Therefore, cannabinoids such as Δ9-THC might influence processes during the earliest stages of human pregnancy. Peak plasma anandamide occurs at ovulation and positively correlates with peak estradiol and gonadotrophin levels, suggesting that these may be involved in the regulation of anandamide levels. Subsequently, anandamide has been proposed as a biomarker of infertility, but so far lacks any predictive values in order to be used clinically.

The acute beneficial effects of exercise (termed as runner's high) seem to be mediated by anandamide in mice. Anandamide is the precursor of a class of physiologically active substances, the prostamides. Anandamide was found in 2007 to inhibit the proliferation of certain human breast cancer cell lines in vitro.

Anandamide is found in chocolate together with two substances that might mimic the effects of anandamide, N-oleoylethanolamine and N-linoleoylethanolamine.

Additionally, anandamide and other endocannabinoids are found in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly), although no CB receptors have been found in any insects.

Effects on behavior
Both the CB1 and CB2 receptors (the bonding site of anandamide) seem to play a role in the identification of positive and negative interpretation of environment and setting. In animal models, anandamide mediates the interpretation of stimulus; specifically, optimism and pessimism in the presence of an ambiguous cue. Anandamide has been shown to impair working memory in rats, while THC (the compound in cannabis that binds to the CB1 and CB2 receptors) also shows a deficit in working memory.

This binding relationship of anandamide and the CB1/CB2 may affect neurotransmission of dopamine, serotonin, GABA, and glutamate. There is currently encouraging, albeit embryonic, evidence for medicinal cannabis in the treatment of a range of psychiatric disorders. Supportive findings are emerging for some key isolates, however, clinicians need to be mindful of a range of prescriptive and occupational safety considerations, especially if initiating higher dose THC formulas.

Anandamide injected directly into the forebrain reward-related brain structure nucleus accumbens enhances the pleasurable responses of rats to a rewarding sucrose taste, and enhances food intake as well. Increasing anandamide seems to increase the intrinsic value of food, not necessarily by stimulation of appetite or hunger.

Anandamide may affect hunger, sleep, pain modulation, working memory, identification of novelty, and interpretation of environment.

Synthesis and degradation
In humans, anandamide is biosynthesized from N-arachidonoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE). In turn NAPE arises by transfer of arachidonic acid from lecithin to the free amine of cephalin through an N-acyltransferase enzyme. Anandamide synthesis from NAPE occurs via multiple pathways and includes enzymes such as phospholipase A2, phospholipase C and N-acetylphosphatidylethanolamine-hydrolysing phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD).

The crystal structure of NAPE-PLD in complex with phosphatidylethanolamine and deoxycholate shows how the cannabinoid anandamide is generated from membrane N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines (NAPEs), and reveals that bile acids – which are mainly involved in the absorption of lipids in the small intestine – modulate its biogenesis.

Endogenous anandamide is present at very low levels and has a very short half-life due to the action of the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), which breaks it down into free arachidonic acid and ethanolamine. Studies of piglets show that dietary levels of arachidonic acid and other essential fatty acids affect the levels of anandamide and other endocannabinoids in the brain. High fat diet feeding in mice increases levels of anandamide in the liver and increases lipogenesis. Anandamide may be relevant to the development of obesity, at least in rodents.

Paracetamol (called acetaminophen in the US and Canada) is metabolically combined with arachidonic acid by FAAH to form AM404. This metabolite of paracetamol is a potent agonist at the TRPV1 vanilloid receptor, a weak agonist at both CB1 and CB2 receptors, and an inhibitor of anandamide reuptake. As a result, anandamide levels in the body and brain are elevated. In this fashion, paracetamol acts as a pro-drug for a cannabimimetic metabolite. This action may be partially or fully responsible for the analgesic effects of paracetamol.

Endocannabinoid transporters for anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol include the heat shock proteins (Hsp70s) and fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs).

It is found that anandamide prefers cholesterol and ceramide more than other membrane lipids, and cholesterol can behave as a binding partner for it, and following an initial interaction mediated by the establishment of a hydrogen bond, the endocannabinoid is attracted towards the membrane interior, where it forms a molecular complex with cholesterol after a functional conformation adaptation to the apolar membrane milieu, and from there, the complex is further directed to the cannabinoid receptor (CB1) and out.

Research and production
Black pepper contains the alkaloid guineesine, which is an anandamide reuptake inhibitor. It may therefore increase anandamide's physiological effects.

Low-dose anandamide has an anxiolytic effect, while in one study, high doses injected directly into the cerebral fluid of the brain of mice shows evident cell apoptosis (programmed cell death) in vitro as opposed to necrosis. That being said, another study conducted under similar conditions demonstrated neuronal growth both in vitro and in vivo.

Endocannabinoids may disturb homeostasis in several ways: by enhancing  hunger sensations, encouraging increased food intake, and shifting energy balance towards energy storage. A resultant decrease in energy expenditure is observed.

Another study with rats found that reductions in AEA signaling through FAAH overexpression within the basolateral complex of amygdala (BLA) appeared to reliably reduce measurements of anxiety and overall levels of corticosterone, a primary glucocorticoid in animals like birds, rodents, reptiles and amphibians responsible for energy regulation,  immune and stress responses. This is similar to the main glucocorticoid cortisol in humans. Reduction of AEA in the BLA has been shown to suppress fear behavior and promote fear extinction. This suggests possible involvement of AEA intervention in the future for the treatment of psychological disorders. However, further work in this area of study is needed, as reduced anandamide signaling is believed at this moment to involve CB1 receptors as well as GABAergic and glutamatergic interactions.

Cortical glutamatergic transmission may be modulated by endocannabinoids during stress and fear habituation. Glutamatergic interaction in the BLA believed to be responsible for changes in anxiety, appears to normalize stress-induced anxiety-like behavior. A study indicated that infusion of the GluK1 receptor agonist ATPA into the BLA enhanced GABAergic neurotransmission, which is currently believed to have a large role in the reduction of anxiety symptoms.

Additionally, the ECs, along with AEA, have been highlighted for their potential involvement in obesity development and harmful effects on lipid and glucose metabolism, which may contribute to insulin resistance and deficiency, both of which are major risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Blockade of CB1 receptors was found significantly to improve lipid resistance and lipid profile in obese subjects, but also has potential to increase fat accumulation through increased food intake, favored lipogenesis and reduced energy expenditure. This may affect downstream systems like the pancreas, liver, adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle, with inflammation and apoptosis in the case of the pancreas. CB1R inhibition with peripherally restricted antagonists and inverse agonists may aid in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy and neuropathy. CB2R agonists may show promise for the treatment of inflammation, which contributes to renal injury.

AEA was associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and liver fibrosis. Data suggests AEA as a marker for cardiometabolic disease and NAFLD severity. NAFLD can progress to more severe diseases, like NASH, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

A Scottish woman with a rare mutation in her FAAH gene that resulted in elevated anandamide levels was reported to be immune to anxiety, unable to experience fear, and insensitive to pain. The frequent burns and cuts she suffered due to her hypoalgesia healed more rapidly than was expected.

Topical Anandamide was found to reduce peripheral neuropathic pain by interaction with peripheral cannabinoid receptors.

The American Academy of Dermatology has named topical Anandamide a promising therapy for cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

See also
 Virodhamine

References

External links

 Could anandamide be the missing link to "runner's high"? Accessed 2015-10-31

Endocannabinoids
Neurotransmitters
Fatty acid amides
Biomolecules
Primary alcohols
CB1 receptor agonists
CB2 receptor agonists
Glycine receptor agonists
Glycine receptor antagonists
Euphoriants
Arachidonyl compounds

Anandamide