Edward Calhoun King (September 14, 1949 – August 22, 2018) was an American musician. He was a guitarist for the psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock and guitarist and bassist for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 to 1975 and again from 1987 to 1996.

Strawberry Alarm Clock

King was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, California.  He was one of the founding members of the LA-based Strawberry Alarm Clock, a mid-1960s pop psychedelic rock band. The band's largest success was with the 1967 single "Incense and Peppermints", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. While with the band he played both electric guitar and bass guitar. The band's popularity waned considerably in the early 1970s. Faced with the loss of their recording contract with Uni Records and with internal conflicts over musical direction, Strawberry Alarm Clock disbanded in early 1972. King opted to remain in the South, inspired by an up-and-coming band called Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Lynyrd Skynyrd
King met the members of what was to become the Jacksonville, Florida-based Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd when an earlier incarnation of the band known as The One Percent opened for Strawberry Alarm Clock in early 1968. King was so enamoured with the band that he told vocalist and leader Ronnie Van Zant that if they ever needed his services, he would be happy to join. It was not until 1972 when bassist Leon Wilkeson left the band that Van Zant took King up on his offer and asked him to join Skynyrd as the band's new bassist. Wilkeson soon regretted leaving and rejoined the band, and King switched to lead guitar, creating with Allen Collins and Gary Rossington the triple-guitar attack that became the band's signature sound. The band referred to this unique new setup with King as the "Three Guitar Army".

King's guitar playing and songwriting skills were an essential element of Lynyrd Skynyrd's first three albums: (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), Second Helping and Nuthin' Fancy. King co-wrote one of the band's most recognizable hits "Sweet Home Alabama", and his voice counted the "one, two, three", before he launched into his famous riff to start the song. Other songs that King wrote or co-wrote for Lynyrd Skynyrd include "Poison Whiskey", "Saturday Night Special", "Whiskey Rock-a-Roller" and "Workin' for MCA". Guitarist Rossington noted years later that King was the most business-minded member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, relating a story of how King would stock up on food items during stops on tour and then re-sell the items to his bandmates at a 500% markup when they later got hungry on the bus.

Band biographer Mark Ribowsky wrote that King was an outsider in Lynyrd Skynyrd to some extent, as he was from Southern California and the only non-Southerner in the lineup, but that it was King who brought a level of professionalism to the fledgling band. King detailed his initial exit from the band in the documentary If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd, saying "Ronnie [Van Zant] and my guitar roadie who changed my strings were thrown in jail in Ann Arbor. They didn't arrive...until 10 minutes before we went on. I had to play on old strings and I broke two strings during "Free Bird". After, Ronnie was riding me, and a lightbulb went off and I said, "That's it." I went back to my room, packed up my stuff and left." King referred to himself as a peaceful "Southern California hippie" and the band's predilection for drunken brawling never sat well with him; the incident which led to his departure was merely the final straw.

King's departure in 1975 happened during a particularly difficult tour that the band dubbed the "Torture Tour", a tour that also claimed drummer and founding member Bob Burns weeks earlier due to a mental breakdown. The band continued with only two guitarists for a few months before discovering Steve Gaines in 1976. Gaines was killed in a plane crash along with his sister Cassie Gaines and Van Zant on October 20, 1977. Coincidentally, Steve Gaines was born on the same day as King, September 14, 1949.

King was one of the guitarists in the reunited Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987, and played a major role. He had to leave the band again in 1996 because of congestive heart failure. In 2005, Ed asked Mark Basile, a long time friend and guitarist from New York, to put together the remaining non-touring Skynyrd members, Artimus Pyle, Leslie Hawkins, JoJo Billingsley and Bob Burns for several shows from 2005-2006. That band, called The Saturday Night Special Band, played several shows that can be found on YouTube.

King, along with all pre-crash members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. His guitar playing influenced many subsequent musicians, including Metallica bassist Cliff Burton.

Personal life
In 2011, King underwent a successful heart transplant. In 2017, he appeared as a customer in the Discovery Channel docudrama Moonshiners, buying $30,000 worth of premium gin.

According to a Nashville news station WTVF, King had been battling cancer in the months prior to his death. King died in his Nashville, Tennessee, home on August 22, 2018, at 68 years of age. His death was announced through his personal Facebook page. Following King's death, former Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmate Rossington released a statement saying, "Ed was our brother, and a great songwriter and guitar player. I know he will be reunited with the rest of the boys in Rock and Roll Heaven. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

References

External links

1949 births
2018 deaths
Lynyrd Skynyrd members
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
Lead guitarists
Musicians from Glendale, California
Guitarists from California
20th-century American guitarists
Kidney transplant recipients
Strawberry Alarm Clock members
Blues rock musicians

Ed King


NACCO Industries, Inc. is an American publicly traded holding company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Through a portfolio of mining and natural resources businesses, the company operates under three business segments: Coal Mining, North American Mining, and Minerals Management. The Coal Mining segment operates surface coal mines under long-term contracts with power generation companies and an activated carbon producer pursuant to a service-based business model. The North American Mining segment provides value-added contract mining and other services for producers of aggregates, lithium, and other minerals. The Minerals Management segment promotes the development of the Company's oil, gas, and coal reserves, generating income primarily from royalty-based lease payments from third parties. In addition, the Company has a business providing stream and wetland mitigation solutions.

History

NACCO Industries originated in 1913 with the incorporation of the Cleveland and Western Coal Company. The name was changed to The North American Coal Corporation (NACCO) in 1925, and the company operated exclusively in the coal industry until the acquisition of Yale Materials Handling Corporation in 1985. This was followed in 1986 by creation of the holding company under the name NACCO Industries, Inc. NACCO Industries expanded into housewares with the purchase of Proctor Silex in 1988 and Hamilton Beach in 1990, and expanded its presence in the materials handling industry by adding the Hyster Company in 1989. Yale Materials Handling Corporation and the Hyster Company were combined to form Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, which was spun off in 2012. In 2017, NACCO spun off Hamilton Beach Brands and Kitchen Collections.

References

External links

Holding companies of the United States
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Holding companies established in 1913
Coal companies of the United States
Forklift truck manufacturers
Retail companies of the United States
Companies based in Cleveland
Conglomerate companies of the United States
1913 establishments in Ohio
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1913
Home appliance manufacturers of the United States
American companies established in 1913

NACCO Industries


The Cumberland Plateau is the southern Appalachian or Cumberland Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States.

The Plateau includes parts of Kentucky and Tennessee,  northern Alabama and northwest Georgia.

The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the heavily ridged plateau lands west of the main Appalachian Mountains. The terms come from historical usage. Two major rivers share the names of the plateaus, with the Allegheny River rising in the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland River rising in the Cumberland Plateau in Harlan County, Kentucky.

This was early coal-mining territory, and the area had some famous and tragic coal mining accidents.

As mentioned in the article Allegheny Mountains, the mountains are the low ground-down rock of a once huge mountain chain. The land ridges are difficult to cross SE to NW (or vice versa), and this lead to mountain folk being semi-isolated from the lower areas to either side of the mountains.

References

Landforms of the United States
Appalachian Mountains

Cumberland Plateau


Andres Mustonen (born 1 September 1953) is an Estonian conductor and violinist.

Biography
Mustonen was born in Tallinn on 1 September 1953. He graduated from the Tallinn Music High School in 1972 and five years later both he and Endel Lippus graduated from the Tallinn State Conservatory. Later on, he studied in Austria and the Netherlands and then became a music specialist in his native Estonia and overseas. When he became a conductor he played in such orchestras as Riga's chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Riga and Moscow-based Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra and Russian National Orchestra.

He also was a conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and was in cooperation with Lithuanian and Latvian Philharmonic Orchestras. In Estonia he conducted with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra along with Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra. Outside of the Soviet Union he participated in the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and many choirs in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.

He is well known for performing works of such composers as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Anton Bruckner, Manuel Cardoso, Dmitri Shostakovich, Georg Philipp Telemann and Heinrich Schütz. Besides playing classical music of foreign composers, he played such Soviet composers as Gia Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina and Valentyn Sylvestrov among others. He also worked in collaboration with such violinists as Sergei Stadler, Viktor Tretiakov and Oleg Kagan from Russia, Danish Michala Petri and French Patrick Gallois and Michel Lethiec among others.

In 1972 he became a founder of Hortus Musicus and worked with the ensemble as a director and conductor ever since. His ensemble performed in such festivals as the Bratislava Music Festival in Slovakia, Israeli Jaffa Festival and  Tallinn-Tel Aviv Festival in Tel Aviv, and Lufthansa Baroque Festival in London among other well-known festivals. Besides being a founder of Hortus Musicus he is also a founder of Hortus Music Academic Orchestra which recorded many albums for Warner Classics, Melodiya and many other labels. Somewhere in 2003 he participated in the Viljandi Folk Music Festival and the same year was honoured by the Estonian Music Council with a prize. In 1998 he received the Order of the White Star. Currently he gives concerts with such musicians as Tanel Ruben, Taavo Remmel, Jaak Sooäär and many others.

In 2014 he established the "Mustonenfest Tallinn Tel Aviv Festival" - an annual event, in which classical collectives from Estonia perform in Israel. He is the artistic director of the festival.

References

1953 births
Living people
20th-century conductors (music)
Estonian conductors (music)
Estonian violinists
Tallinn Music High School alumni
Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 4th Class
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni
Musicians from Tallinn
20th-century Estonian musicians
21st-century Estonian musicians
21st-century conductors (music)
21st-century violinists

Andres Mustonen


is a Japanese tarento, sports commentator and former professional baseball player. His father is Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima.

Biography
Nagashima was born in Tokyo, Japan, the oldest son of former Japanese national team manager Shigeo Nagashima and his wife Akiko. His brother, Masaoki, is a race car driver, and his sister, Mina, is a newscaster. Nagashima's wife is his business manager, and they have twin daughters.

Professional career
Nagashima entered Rikkyo University, following his father, and attracted much attention from professional scouts, being the son of Shigeo Nagashima. He was drafted in the first round of the 1988 draft by the Yakult Swallows, and his first professional hit was a home run against the Yomiuri Giants, and the pitcher was Bill Gullickson. He was touted as the next big star in Japanese baseball, after his father, but failed to live up to expectations. Nagashima did not hit or field well, and his playing time decreased as the years went on. In 1992, he spent a year with the Los Angeles Dodgers single-A team in the United States, but made little improvement.

He was about to be released from the Swallows in 1992, but was traded for money to the Yomiuri Giants, where his father was the manager. He did not play any better with the Giants, but his team won the league championship in 1994, and the father-son combination became a pet topic of the Japanese media. Nagashima suffered various injuries to his wrists and ankles during this period, and in 1993, he went to the U.S. to undergo surgery.

Nagashima's baseball career ended in 1996. The team demoted him to the minor leagues, along with a fine and a suspension, when he insulted coach Shozo Doi after he was told to practice bunting. Nagashima explained that he had no intention of insulting Doi, but pressure from the team and his own frustration increased when he yelled at Doi for telling him to bunt. Giants owner Tsuneo Watanabe was upset, and manager Shigeo Nagashima was forced to tell his son that he would not be offered a contract for next year. Several teams showed interest in signing Nagashima, but he announced his retirement, ending his nine-year career in the professional leagues.

Nagashima had poor relationships with many managers and coaches throughout his career. Former Yomiuri Giants manager Tsuneo Horiuchi and former Yakult Swallows manager Katsuya Nomura had particular problems with Nagashima. Horiuchi (a pitching coach while Nagashima was on the Giants) was irritated at Nagashima, who probably spent more time partying than taking batting practice. Nomura criticized Nagashima when he was cut from the Giants, since he was the only player that never took notes when Nomura held daily meetings with the team during spring training.

Post-retirement
Nagashima became a sportscaster after retiring, hosting several sports shows from 1997~2002. He appeared on an NHK drama series in 2000, and has starred in several movies since then. His acting is thought to be somewhat better than his ability on the baseball field.

Among his drama appearances was the role of Motorbike Cop Ken Nakajima in "You're under arrest "( Japanese -Taiho Shichauzo )in 2003. This drama was based on a long-running anime series of the same name. In the anime Ken Nakajima is a lovable but slightly oafish character. Nagashima's somewhat broad acting style perfectly suits this role.

He has also appeared as a commentator for K-1 broadcasts, owing to his experience with Kyokushin Karate. He was knocked unconscious when he was put into a mock matchup with former K-1 World Max champion Masato on a television show.

He also appears regularly on a quiz game show, and on other variety television shows. He is in several television commercials, including one when he appears alongside his father.

At the beginning of 2005, he was made the Yomiuri Giants special advisor, and the Yomiuri Shinbun sports advisor. He was given the position with a recommendation from Yomiuri Giants owner Tsuneo Watanabe, showing that the rift between him and his former team has healed over time. This is one of the only instances where a mediocre baseball player was given a high position in the Yomiuri organization. He also ran the first Japanese leg of the 2004 Summer Olympics torch relay.

Nagashima played the voice of "Kōichi", father of the human protagonist in Studio Ghibli's 2008 animated film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.

References

1966 births
Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States
Japanese television personalities
Living people
People from Ōta, Tokyo
Rikkyo University alumni
Baseball people from Tokyo
Vero Beach Dodgers players
Yakult Swallows players
Yomiuri Giants players

Kazushige Nagashima


The Grand Canal is the longest canal or artificial river in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its main artery, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang or BeijingHangzhou Grand Canal, is reckoned to extend for  and is divided into 6 main sections. The Jiangnan Canal runs from the Qiantang River at Hangzhou to the Yangtze River at Zhenjiang; the Inner Canal from the Yangtze at Yangzhou to the Huai River at Huai'an, which for centuries was also its junction with the former course of the Yellow River; the Middle Canal from Huai'an to the Nansi Lakes; the Lu Canal from the lakes past Jining and the present course of the Yellow River to the Wei River at Linqing; the Southern Canal from Linqing to the Hai River at Tianjin; and the Northern Canal from Tianjin to Tongzhou on the outskirts of Beijing. As such, it passes through the provinces and municipalities of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin, and Beijing. Since 2013 and 2014, the Chinese government and UNESCO further recognize the Eastern Zhejiang Canal from Hangzhou to Ningbo and certain sites along the former Tongji and Yongji Canals as official components of the Grand Canal.

The oldest sections of what is now the Grand Canal were completed in the early 5th century BC to provide supply routes for the states of Wu and Yue during the conflicts of China's Spring and Autumn Period. The network was completed by Emperor Yang of the Sui in AD 609, linking the fertile Jiangnan region in the south to his capital at Luoyang in the west and to his armies in the far north. His unsuccessful and unpopular wars and the massive amounts of conscripted labor involved in creating the canal were among the chief factors in the rapid fall of the Sui, but the connection of China's major watersheds and population centers proved enormously beneficial. Additional canals supplied Chang'an (now Xi'an) even further west under the Tang while the main course became the economic hub of the empire. Periodic flooding of the Yellow River threatened the safety and functioning of the canal while, during wartime, the rivers' high dikes were sometimes deliberately broken to delay or sweep away advancing enemy troops. Even so, restoration and improvement of the canal and its associated flood control works was assumed as a duty by each successive dynasty. The canal played a major role in periodically reuniting northern and southern China, and officials in charge of the canal and nearby salt works grew enormously wealthy. Despite damage from floods, rebellions, and wars, the canal's importance only grew with the removal of the capital to Khanbaliq under the Mongol Yuan and to Beijing under the Yongle Emperor of the Ming and the Manchu Qing. Despite the importance of railways and roads in modern China, the People's Republic of China has worked to improve the navigability of the canal since the end of the Chinese Civil War and the portion south of the Yellow River remains in heavy use by barges carrying bulk cargo. Increasing concern over pollution in China and particularly the use of the Grand Canal as the eastern path of the South-North Water Diversion Projectintended to provide clean potable water to the northhas led to regulations and several projects to improve water quality along the waterway.

The greatest height on the canal is an elevation of  above sea level reached in the foothills of Shandong. Ships in Chinese canals did not have trouble reaching higher elevations after the Song official and engineer Qiao Weiyue invented the pound lock in the 10th century. The canal has been admired by many visitors throughout its history, including the Japanese monk Ennin (794–864), the Persian historian Rashid al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318), the Korean official Choe Bu (1454–1504), and the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).

History

Early periods
In the late Spring and Autumn period, King Fuchai of Wu (whose capital was in present-day Suzhou), ventured north to attack the State of Qi. He ordered a canal to be constructed for trading purposes, as well as a means to ship ample supplies north in case his forces should engage the northern states of Song and Lu. This became known as the Han or Hangou Canal   Hángōu). Work began in 486 BC, from south of Yangzhou to north of Huai'an in Jiangsu, and within three years the Han Canal had connected the Yangtze with the Huai River utilizing existing waterways, lakes, and marshes.

The Han Canal is known as the second oldest section of the later Grand Canal since the Hong Canal (t s Hónggōu, "Canal of the Wild Geese" or "Far-Flung Canal") most likely preceded it. It linked the Yellow River near Kaifeng to the Si and Bian rivers and became the model for the shape of the Grand Canal in the north. The exact date of the Hong Canal's construction is uncertain; it is first mentioned by the diplomat Su Qin in 330 BC when discussing state boundaries. The historian Sima Qian (145–90 BC) knew of no historical date for it, placing his discussion of it just after the legendary works of Yu the Great; modern scholars now consider it to belong to the 6th century BC.

Sui dynasty

The reunification of China under the Sui dynasty (581–618) allowed both the thorough repair of existing canals and flood control systems and the construction of vast new canals subsequently considered to have established the Grand Canal. The primary consideration was the need to tap into the expanding economic and agricultural resources of the Jiangnan region in the southeast to supply the main Sui capital at Luoyang to the west and the Sui armies in the Goguryeo-Sui Wars to the north. The institution of the Grand Canal also obviated the need for army garrisons to become self-sufficient farmers while guarding the dry northern frontiers between China, Korea, and Mongolia.

A dike-building project in 587 along the Yellow River—overseen by engineer Liang Rui—established canal lock gates to regulate water levels for the canal. Double slipways were installed to haul boats over when the difference in water levels was too great for the flash lock to operate. Similarly, by the year 600, there were major buildups of silt on the bottom of the Hong Canal, obstructing river barges whose drafts were too deep for its waters. The chief engineer of the Sui dynasty, Yuwen Kai, advised the digging of a new canal that would run parallel to the existing canal, diverging from it at Chenliu (Yanzhou). The new canal was to pass not Xuzhou but Suzhou, to avoid connecting with the Si River and instead make a direct connection with the Huai River just west of Lake Hongze. With the recorded labor of five million people under the supervision of Ma Shumou, the first major section of the Grand Canal was completed in the year 605 and was called the Bian Qu.

The Grand Canal was fully completed from the years 604 to 609 under Emperor Yang, first by linking his southern capital Yangzhou northwest to Luoyang by the Tongji Canal   Tōngjì Qú). He then proceded to connect Yangzhou southeast to Suzhou and Hangzhou by the Jiangnan Canal and to connect Luoyang northeast to his wars with Korea by the Yongji Canal   Yǒngjì Qú). After this network's completion in 609, Emperor Yang was said to have led a flotilla of boats  long from the north down to his southern capital at Yangzhou. This process again involved massive levies of conscripted labor and was detailed at length in the Record of the Opening of the Canal   Kāihéjì).

At this point, the Grand Canal continued to use noncontiguous artificial channels and both canalized and natural waterways rather than presenting a single continuous manmade canal. However, running alongside and parallel to the course of the canals was an imperial roadway with stables maintained at regular intervals to support a rapid courier system. Enormous lines of trees were also planted along parts of the canal as windbreaks.

Tang to Yuan dynasties
Although the Tang dynasty (618–907) capital at Chang'an was the most thriving metropolis of China in its day, it was the city of Yangzhou—in proximity to the Grand Canal—that was the economic hub of the Tang era. Besides being the headquarters for the government salt monopoly and the largest pre-modern industrial production center of the empire, Yangzhou was also the geographical midpoint along the north–south trade axis, and so became the major center for southern goods shipped north. One of the greatest benefits of the canal system in the Tang dynasty—and subsequent dynasties—was that it reduced the cost of shipping grain that had been collected in taxes (caoyun) from the Yangtze Delta to northern China. Minor additions to the canal were made after the Sui period to cut down on travel time, but overall no fundamental differences existed between the Sui Grand Canal and the Tang Grand Canal.

By the year 735, it was recorded that about  of grain were shipped annually along the canal. The Tang government oversaw canal lock efficiency and built granaries along the route in case a flood or other disaster impeded the path of shipment. To ensure smooth travel of grain shipments, Transport Commissioner Liu Yan (in office from 763 to 779) had special river barge ships designed and constructed to fit the depths of each section of the entire canal.

After the An Lushan rebellion (755–763), the economy of North China was greatly damaged and never recovered due to wars and to constant flooding of the Yellow River. Such a case occurred in the year 858 when an enormous flood along the Grand Canal inundated thousands of acres of farmland and killed tens of thousands of people in the North China Plain. Such an unfortunate event could reduce the legitimacy of a ruling dynasty by causing others to perceive it as having lost the Mandate of Heaven; this was a good reason for dynastic authorities to maintain a smooth and efficient canal system.

The city of Kaifeng grew to be a major hub, later becoming the capital of the Song dynasty (960–1279). Although the Tang and Song dynasty international seaports—the greatest being Guangzhou and Quanzhou, respectively—and maritime foreign trade brought merchants great fortune, it was the Grand Canal within China that spurred the greatest amount of economic activity and commercial profit. During the Song and earlier periods, barge ships occasionally crashed and wrecked along the Shanyang Yundao section of the Grand Canal while passing the double slipways, and more often than not those were then robbed of the tax grain by local bandits. This prompted Qiao Weiyue, an Assistant Commissioner of Transport for Huainan, to invent a double-gate system known as the pound lock in the year 984. This allowed ships to wait within a gated space while the water could be drained to appropriate levels; the Chinese also built roofed hangars over the space to add further protection for the ships.

Much of the Grand Canal was ruined for several years after 1128 when Kaifeng's governor Du Chong  Dù Chōng, d.1141) decided to break the dykes and dams holding back the waters of the Yellow River in order to decimate the oncoming Jurchen invaders during the Jin–Song wars. Over a series of floods, this entirely shifted the river south of Shandong, capturing the course of the Si River and emptying the Yellow River into Hongze Lake and the East China Sea for centuries. The Jurchen Jin dynasty continually battled with the Song in this region. The warfare led to the dilapidation of the canal until the Mongols invaded in the 13th century and began necessary repairs.

During the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) the capital of China was moved to Beijing, eliminating the need for the canal arm flowing west to Kaifeng or Luoyang. A summit section was dug across the foothills of the Shandong massif during the 1280s, shortening the overall length by as much as , making the total length about  and linking Hangzhou and Beijing with a direct north–south waterway for the first time. As in the Song and Jin era, the canal fell into disuse and dilapidation during the Yuan dynasty's decline.

The Grand Canal as infrastructure has had influence on other architectural works in the west. The Erie Canal in North America is designed and draws inspiration from the Chinese architecture. Many saw the canal as an economic advantage that could bring economic prosperity, like the canal and its benefits. Matteo Ricci's Journals describes the canal in great detail documenting the economic prosperity. The pound lock is one of the more notable features of the Erie canal that is directly connected to the infrastructure of the Grand Canal as it is used in other similar bodies of water.

Ming dynasty restoration

The Grand Canal was renovated almost in its entirety between 1411 and 1415 during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). A magistrate of Jining, Shandong sent a memorandum to the throne of the Yongle Emperor protesting the current inefficient means of transporting 4,000,000 dan (428,000,000 liters) of grain a year by means of transferring it along several different rivers and canals in barge types that went from deep to shallow after the Huai River, and then transferred back onto deep barges once the shipment of grain reached the Yellow River. Chinese engineers built a dam to divert the Wen River to the southwest in order to feed 60% of its water north into the Grand Canal, with the remainder going south. They dug four large reservoirs in Shandong to regulate water levels, which allowed them to avoid pumping water from local sources and water tables. Between 1411 and 1415 a total of 165,000 laborers dredged the canal bed in Shandong and built new channels, embankments, and canal locks.

The Yongle Emperor moved the Ming capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1403. This move deprived Nanjing of its status as chief political center of China. The reopening of the Grand Canal also benefited Suzhou over Nanjing since the former was in a better position on the main artery of the Grand Canal, and so it became Ming China's greatest economic center. The only other viable contender with Suzhou in the Jiangnan region was Hangzhou, but it was located  further down the Grand Canal and away from the main delta. Even the shipwrecked Korean Choe Bu (1454–1504)—while traveling for five months throughout China in 1488—acknowledged that Hangzhou served not as a competitor but as an economic feeder into the greater Suzhou market. Therefore, the Grand Canal served to make or break the economic fortunes of certain cities along its route and served as the economic lifeline of indigenous trade within China.

The scholar Gu Yanwu of the early Qing dynasty (1644–1912) estimated that the previous Ming dynasty had to employ 47,004 full-time laborers recruited by the lijia corvée system in order to maintain the entire canal system. It is known that 121,500 soldiers and officers were needed simply to operate the 11,775 government grain barges in the mid-15th century.

Besides its function as a grain shipment route and major vein of river-borne indigenous trade in China, the Grand Canal had long been a government-operated courier route as well. In the Ming dynasty, official courier stations were placed at intervals of . Each courier station was assigned a different name, all of which were popularized in travel songs of the period.

Qing dynasty

The Manchus invaded China in the mid-17th century, allowed through the northern passes by the Chinese general Wu Sangui once the Ming capital at Beijing had fallen into the hands of a rebel army. The Manchus established the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), and under their leadership, the Grand Canal was overseen and maintained just as in earlier times.

In 1855, the Yellow River flooded and changed its course, severing the course of the canal in Shandong. This was foreseen by a Chinese official in 1447, who remarked that the flood-prone Yellow River made the Grand Canal like a throat that could be easily strangled (leading some officials to request restarting the grain shipments through the East China Sea). In 1855 the dikes of the canal were opened to flood advancing troops of the Taiping Rebellion's Northern Expedition.

Modern China
Because of various factors—the difficulty of crossing the Yellow River, the increased development of an alternative sea route for grain-ships, and the opening of the Tianjin-Pukou Railway and the Beijing-Hankou Railway—the canal languished and for decades the northern and southern parts remained separate. Many of the canal sections fell into disrepair, and some parts were returned to flat fields. Even today, the Grand Canal has not fully recovered its importance prior to the floods of the mid-19th century. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the need for economic development led the authorities to order heavy reconstruction work.

The Grand Canal played a major role during Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward as it provided an efficient way to transport grain. It was further refurbished following Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up, with improving economic conditions leading to greater infrastructure investment. The economic importance of the canal will likely continue. The provincial governments of Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang undertook dredging intended to increase shipping capacity by 40 percent by 2012. The central government has also made the main route of the Grand Canal the eastern path of the South-North Water Diversion Project, using enormous pumping stations to redirect water from the Yangtze Delta to the drier north.

The canal became greatly polluted during China's industrialization. By the 1990s, canal barge crews could tell when they neared Hangzhou by the stench of the visibly black water they passed through. Similarly, fishermen on Dongping Lake in Shandong objected to the introduction of water from the Yangtze as part of the South-North Water Diversion Project when they saw it noticeably killing fish and affecting their catch. During the 21st century, increasing efforts have been made to improve environmental conditions along the canal. Around Hangzhou, for instance, a $250 million restoration project begun in 2001 improved water quality to the point where it no longer produces a noticeable odor and is once again capable of supporting some fauna.

On 22 June 2014, UNESCO's Conference on World Heritage listed the Grand Canal as a World Heritage Site.

Historical sections

As well as its present-day course, fourteen centuries of canal-building have left the Grand Canal with a number of historical sections. Some of these have disappeared, others are still partially extant, and others form the basis for the modern canal. The following are the most important but do not form an exhaustive list.

Jia Canal
In 12 BC, in order to solve the problem of the Grand Canal having to use  of the perilous course of the Yellow River in Northern Jiangsu, a man named Li Hualong created the Jia Canal. Named after the Jia River whose course it followed, it ran  from Xiazhen (modern Weishan) on the shore of Shandong's Weishan Lake to Suqian in Jiangsu. The construction of the Jia Canal left only  of Yellow River navigation on the Grand Canal, from Suqian to Huai'an, which by 1688 had been removed by the construction of the Middle Canal by Jin Fu.

Nanyang New Canal
In 1566, to escape the problems caused by flooding of the Yellow River around Yutai (now on the western shore of Weishan Lake), the Nanyang New Canal was opened. It ran for  from Nanyang (now Nanyang Town, located in the center of Weishan Lake) to the small settlement of Liucheng (in the vicinity of modern Gaolou Village, Weishan County, Shandong) north of Xuzhou City. This change in effect moved the Grand Canal from the low-lying and flood-prone land west of Weishan Lake onto the marginally higher land to its east. It was fed by rivers flowing from east to west from the borders of the Shandong massif.

Huitong Canal
North of the Jizhou Canal summit section, the Huitong Canal ran downhill, fed principally by the River Wen, to join the Wei River in the city of Linqing. In 1289, a geological survey preceded its one-year construction. The Huitong Canal, built by an engineer called Ma Zhizhen, ran across sharply sloping ground and the high concentration of locks gave it the nicknames chahe or zhahe, i.e. 'the river of locks'. Its great number of feeder springs (between two and four hundred, depending on the counting method and season of the year) also led to it being called the quanhe or 'river of springs'.

Jizhou Canal
This, the Grand Canal's first true summit section, was engineered by the Mongol Oqruqči in 1238 to connect Jining to the southern end of the Huitong Canal. It rose to a height of 42 meters (138 ft) above the Yangtze, but environmental and technical factors left it with chronic water shortages until it was re-engineered in 1411 by Song Li of the Ming. Song Li's improvements, recommended by a local man named Bai Ying, included damming the rivers Wen and Guang and drawing lateral canals from them to feed reservoir lakes at the very summit, at a small town called Nanwang.

Duke Huan's Conduit
In AD 369, General Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin dynasty connected the shallow river valleys of the Huai and the Yellow. He achieved this by joining two of these rivers' tributaries, the Si and the Ji respectively, at their closest point, across a low watershed of the Shandong massif. Huan Wen's primitive summit canal became a model for the engineers of the Jizhou Canal.

Yilou Canal
The Shanyang Canal originally opened onto the Yangtze a short distance south of Yangzhou. As the north shore of the Yangtze gradually silted up to create the sandbank island of Guazhou, it became necessary for boats crossing to and from the Jiangnan Canal to sail the long way around the eastern edge of that island. After a particularly rough crossing of the Yangtze from Zhenjiang, the local prefect realized that a canal dug directly across Guazhou would reduce the journey time and thus make the crossing safer. The Yilou Canal was opened in 738 and still exists, though not as part of the modern Grand Canal route.

Modern course

The Grand Canal nominally runs between Beijing and Hangzhou over a total length of ; however, only the section from Hangzhou to Liangshan County is currently navigable. Its course is today divided into seven sections. From south to north these are the Jiangnan Canal, the Li Canal, the Inner Canal, the Middle Canal, the Lu Canal, the South Canal, the North Canal, and the Tonghui River.

Man-Made Lake Lianhu

Training Lake "Lianhu" was used to feed water to the Grand Canal section near Jiangnan. Since the canal was man-made there was not enough naturally flowing water to keep the canal at proper depth so that boats could travel through it. So a man-made lake was used to feed water to the Jiangnan section of the Grand Canal. It was protected by the Government from reclamation and any use of the lake water without proper taxation was deemed illegal. It was supposed to be protected from profitable exploitation, but because the government changed over the years, lake Lianhu had been reclaimed many times and it started to become more shallow. The government changed the lake to become more profitable farmland which led to reclamations and agricultural irrigation using the lake. This began to lead to Lake Lianhu not being able to properly feed water to the Grand Canal. Loss of depth due to reclamation and maintenance costs became too high for the lake to become practical to use. Even though it was a man made lake it was still a beautiful sight. Many different people praised its beauty and various poems have been written about the lake. In recent years recreational uses for the lake have become more popular and may lead to the lake being restored.

Jiangnan Canal

This southernmost section of the canal runs from Hangzhou in Zhejiang, where the canal connects with the Qiantang River, to Zhenjiang in Jiangsu, where it meets the Yangtze. After leaving Hangzhou heading north toward Beijing, the canal passes around the eastern border of Lake Tai, through the major cities of Jiaxing, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou before reaching Zhenjiang.

The Jiangnan (or 'South of the Yangtze') Canal is heavily utilized by barge traffic bringing coal, containers and construction materials to the booming delta. It is generally a minimum of 100 meters wide in the congested city centers, and often two or three times this width in the neighboring countryside. In recent years, broad bypass canals have been dug around the major cities to reduce 'traffic jams'.

The Suzhou section of the Jiangnan Canal flows through the western part of the city. It includes ten city gates and over 20 stone bridges of traditional design and historic areas that have been well preserved as well as temples and pavilions.

Inner Canal
The Inner Canal runs between the Yangtze and Huai rivers, skirting the Shaobo, Gaoyou, and Hongze lakes of central Jiangsu. This section connects the cities of Huai'an and Yangzhou. Here the land lying to the west of the canal is higher than its bed while the land to the east is lower. Historically the Shanghe region west of the canal has been prone to frequent flooding, while the Xiahe region to its east has been hit by less frequent but immensely damaging inundations caused by the failure of the Grand Canal levees. Recent works have allowed floodwaters from Shanghe to be diverted safely out to sea.  Like the Jiangnan Canal, the Inner Canal is heavily utilized by barge traffic bringing coal, construction materials and increasingly shipping containers around Jiangsu Province.

Middle Canal

This 'Middle Canal' section runs from Huai'an to Weishan Lake, passing through Luoma Lake and following more than one course, the result of the impact of centuries of Yellow River flooding. After Pizhou, a northerly course passes through Tai'erzhuang to enter Weishan Lake at Hanzhuang bound for Nanyang and Jining (this course is the remnant of the New Nanyang Canal of 1566 – see below). A southerly course passes close by Xuzhou and enters Weishan Lake near Peixian. This latter course is less used today. Canal is utilized by barge traffic bringing coal and construction materials around northern Jiangsu Province.

Lu Canal
At Weishan Lake, both courses enter Shandong province. From here to Linqing, the canal is called the Lu or 'Shandong' Canal. It crosses a series of lakes—Zhaoyang, Dushan, and Nanyang—which nominally form a continuous body of water. At present, diversions of water mean that the lakes are often largely dry land. North of the northernmost Nanyang Lake is the city of Jining. Further on, about  north of Jining, the highest elevation of the canal ( above sea level) is reached at the town of Nanwang. In the 1950s a new canal was dug to the south of the old summit section. The old summit section is now dry, while the new canal holds too little water to be navigable. About  further north, passing close by Dongping Lake, the canal reaches the Yellow River. By this point waterless, it no longer connects to the river. It reappears again in Liaocheng City on the north bank where, intermittently flowing through a renovated stone channel, it reaches the city of Linqing on the Shandong – Hebei border. Liangshan County is the northern terminus of the canal for barge traffic.

Southern Canal

The fifth section of the canal extends for a distance of  from Linqing to Tianjin along the course of the canalized Wei River. Though one of the northernmost sections, its name derives from its position relative to Tianjin. The Wei River at this point is heavily polluted while drought and industrial water extraction have left it too low to be navigable. The canal, now in Hebei province, passes through the cities of Dezhou and Cangzhou. Although to spectators, the canal appears to be a deep waterway in these city centers, its depth is maintained by weirs and the canal is all but dry where it passes through the surrounding countryside. At its terminus, the canal joins the Hai River in the center of Tianjin City before turning north-west.

Northern Canal and Tonghui River
In Tianjin, the canal heads northwest, for a short time following the course of the Yongding, a tributary of the Hai River, before branching off toward Tongzhou on the edge of the municipality of Beijing. It is here that the modern canal stops and that a Grand Canal Cultural Park has been built. During the Yuan dynasty, a further canal on the Tonghui River connected Tongzhou with a wharf called the Houhai or "rear sea" in central Beijing. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, however, the water level in the Tonghui River dropped and ships could not travel from Tongzhou to Beijing. Tongzhou then became the northern shipping terminus of the canal. Cargo was unloaded at Tongzhou and transported to Beijing by land. The Tonghui river still exists as a wide, concrete-lined storm-channel and drain for the suburbs of Beijing.

Eastern Zhejiang Canal

The Eastern Zhejiang Canal runs  across the coastal plain south of Hangzhou Bay in northern Zhejiang. It begins at the Qiantang River in Xixing, Binjiang District, Hangzhou; crosses the Cao'e River in Shaoxing; and connects to the Yong River and ports on the East China Sea at Ningbo.

This HangzhouNingbo canal began as the Shanyin Canal excavated in Shaoxing by the Yue official Fan Li in the early 5th century BC during China's Spring and Autumn Period. Despite the difficulty of connecting the route's various watersheds, the present route was completed with the construction of the Xixing Canal by the Jin official He Xun in the late 3rd century AD. The canal was an important artery of transport and supply for the region during periods of disunity in medieval China and was particularly prosperous and vital during the Southern Song, who established their capital at Lin'an within present-day Hangzhou. During the Yuan, Ming, and Qing, the canal diminished in importance but was kept navigable until the development of railways and roads in the 19th and 20th century. Renovation of the canal for use by modern barges began in 2002, was completed except for areas around Ningbo by 2009, and was fully completed in late 2013.

In November 2008, the Eastern Zhejiang Canal was added to the Grand Canal's UNESCO nomination and, in May 2013, was officially included as part of the Grand Canal and listed among the 7th group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the Chinese government. In 2014, it was included with the BeijingHangzhou and Sui and Tang canals as part of UNESCO's listing for the Grand Canal.

Elevations
Though the canal nominally crosses the watersheds of five river systems, in reality, the variation between these is so low that it has only a single summit section. The elevation of the canal bed varies from 1 m below sea level at Hangzhou to 38.5 m above at its summit. At Beijing, it reaches 27 m, fed by streams flowing downhill from the mountains to the west. The water flows from Beijing toward Tianjin, from Nanwang north toward Tianjin, and from Nanwang south toward Yangzhou. The water level in the Jiangnan Canal remains scarcely above sea level (the Zhenjiang ridge is 12 meters higher than that of the Yangtze River).

Uses

Transportation

From the Tang to Qing dynasties, the Grand Canal served as the main artery between northern and southern China and was essential for the transport of grain to Beijing. Although it was mainly used for shipping grain, it also transported other commodities and the corridor along the canal developed into an important economic belt. Records show that, at its height, every year more than 8,000 boats transported four to six million dan (240,000–360,000 metric tons) of grain. The convenience of transport also enabled rulers to lead inspection tours to southern China. In the Qing dynasty, the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors made twelve trips to the south, on all occasions but one reaching Hangzhou.

The Grand Canal also enabled cultural exchange and political integration to occur between the north and south of China. The canal even made a distinct impression on some of China's early European visitors. Marco Polo recounted the Grand Canal's arched bridges as well as the warehouses and prosperous trade of its cities in the 13th century. The famous Roman Catholic missionary Matteo Ricci traveled from Nanjing to Beijing along the canal at the end of the 16th century.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the canal has been used primarily to transport vast amounts of bulk goods such as bricks, gravel, sand, diesel, and coal. The Jianbi ship locks on the Yangtze are currently handling some 75,000,000 tons each year, and the Li Canal is forecast to reach 100,000,000 tons in the next few years. When first constructed, the canal served as a major source of transportation, linking northern and southern China. With the introduction of expressways, railways and high speed railways in modern China, passenger travel on the canal became far less common.

Currently, ships can only travel up to Jining. The section from Jining to Beijing is not available for transport due to the silt deposit buildup from the Yellow River and lack of water sources. There are plans for restoring transportation up to Tai'an.

South-North Water Transfer Project

The Grand Canal is currently being upgraded to serve as the Eastern Route of the South-North Water Transfer Project. Additional water will be pumped into the canal from the Yangtze at Jiangdu near Yangzhou using a  pumping station. The additional water will then be fed uphill by pumping stations along the route and passed under the Yellow River through tunnels, whence it can flow downhill to reservoirs near Tianjin. The project has been mooted since the 1960s and the Jiangdu pumping station was built in the 1980s but construction on the Eastern Route officially began on 27 December 2002. Clean drinkable water was supposed to reach Tianjin by 2012 but water pollution at the source and along the route has affected the viability of this project.

Notable travelers
In 1169, with China divided between the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in the north and the Southern Song dynasty in the south, the Southern Song Emperor Xiaozong sent a delegation to the Jurchen to wish their ruler well for the New Year. A scholar-official named Lou Yue, secretary to the delegation, recorded the journey, much of which was made upon the Grand Canal, and submitted his Diary of a Journey to the North to the emperor on his return.

In 1170, the poet, politician, and historian Lu You traveled along the Grand Canal from Shaoxing to the river Yangtze, recording his progress in a diary.

In the late 1200s, Marco Polo traveled extensively through China and his trips included time on the Grand Canal, then a major artery for shipping silk, porcelain, and wine.

In 1345, Maghrebi traveler Ibn Battuta traveled China and journeyed through the Abe Hayat river (Grand Canal) up to the capital Khanbalik (Beijing).

In 1488, the shipwrecked Korean scholar Choe Bu traveled the entire length of the Grand Canal on his way from Zhejiang to Beijing (and on to Korea) and left a detailed account of his trip.

In 1600, Matteo Ricci traveled to Beijing from Nanjing via the Grand Canal waterway to gain the support of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming dynasty with the help of Wang Zhongde, the Director of the Board of Rites in the central government of China at the time.

In 1793, after a largely fruitless diplomatic mission to Jehol, a large part of Lord Macartney's embassy returned south to the Yangtze delta via the Grand Canal.

In 1848, Robert Fortune reached Hang Chow Foo by the Grand Canal in his quest for tea plants.

See also

 History of canals in China
 Lingqu Canal
 Turpan water system
 Dujiangyan irrigation system
 Economy of China
 Economic history of China (1912–49)
 Economic history of China before 1912
 Economic history of China
 Hydraulic engineering
 History of Beijing

References

Citations

Sources

 Benn, Charles. (2002). China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press. .
 Bishop, Kevin (1997). China's Imperial Way.  Hong Kong:  Odyssey.
 Bowman, John S. (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.
 Brook, Timothy. (1998). The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China. Berkeley: University of California Press.
 Carles, W.R. (1900). The Grand Canal of China.  Shanghai: Journal of the North China Branch RAS, Vol. 31, pp. 102–115, 1896-1897 volume, but actually published in 1900.
 Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  (paperback).
 Fairbank, John King and Merle Goldman (1992). China: A New History; Second Enlarged Edition (2006). Cambridge: MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
 Gandar, Dominique (1903). Le Canal Imperial:  Etude Historique et Descriptive.  Shanghai:  Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique. Variétés Sinologiques No. 4.
 Garnett, J.W. (1907).  Report by Mr. J.W. Garnett of a Journey through the Provinces of Shantung and Kiangsu. British Parliamentary Papers, China No.1, CD3500.  London:  HMSO.
 Hinton, Harold C. (1956). The Grain Tribute System of China (1845-1911). Cambridge:  Harvard University Press.
 Liao Pin, ed. (1987). The Grand Canal:  An Odyssey. Beijing:  Foreign Languages Press.
 Martin, W.A.P. (1897). A Cycle of Cathay.
 Needham, Joseph. (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.
 New China News Ltd. (1984). The Grand Canal of China.  Hong Kong: South China Morning Post Ltd.
 Staunton, George (1797). An Authentic Account of an Embassy ...to the Emperor of China.
 China's Ancient Lifeline  published May 2013 National Geographic magazine
 ; China's Canal, Jing Fang and Du Jiaju eds, Jinling Book Society, 1997.

External links

 The Reinvigoration of the Grand Canal
 Hangzhou Section of The Grand Canal – EN.GOTOHZ.COM

Canals in China
Sui dynasty
Naval history of China
Economic history of China
Ship canals
Water transport in China
World Heritage Sites in China

Grand Canal (China)


Krøniken (English:  Better Times) is a Danish television drama which aired on Sunday evenings between January 2004 and January 2007. The 22-episode series relates the lives of two fictional families during the historical development of the Danmarks Radio television network from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Created by Stig Thorsbøe for the DR broadcast-television network, the series debuted on 4 January 2004. The program's first season set popularity records. Five of the episodes were listed among the ten most watched television programs since records began in Denmark in 1992. The first-season finale topped the list with 2,717,000 viewers. In 2004, the program was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Drama but lost to Waking the Dead.

The series concluded with the 22nd episode airing on 1 January 2007 and watched by 2.4 million viewers.

Plot
In 1949, the young Ida Nørregaard travels from Jutland to Copenhagen to enroll in a home-economics school and an evening-school programme. When she is told that she can not do both, she chooses the evening school.

Her parents are unhappy with her choice, but Ida is determined on making it on her own in the big city. She finds a job as a secretary at a radio factory. Erik Nielsen, the director's son, soon starts developing feelings towards Ida, which causes her to lose her job.

While Erik is trying to convince his father of the future of television, he also succeeds in attracting Ida's attention. Meanwhile, Søs Nielsen, Erik's lively sister, is engaged to a man she does not love. When he tries to rape her one night, she is helped by Palle From who is a working-class university student and lives next door to Ida. When Søs approaches him to thank him for his deed, an attraction starts to grow between them.

Cast

Anne Louise Hassing as Ida Nørregaard
Ken Vedsegaard as Erik Nielsen (2004–2005)
Anders W. Berthelsen as Palle From
Maibritt Saerens as Søs From (Søs From Nielsen since 2005)
Waage Sandø as Kaj Holger Nielsen
Stina Ekblad as Karin Nielsen
Dick Kaysø as Børge From
Pernille Højmark as Karen Jensen
Klaus Bondam as Lærer Arne Dupont

References

External links
Official site

2000s Danish television series
2004 Danish television series debuts
Danish drama television series
2007 Danish television series endings
Danish-language television shows
DR TV original programming

Krøniken


The nipple is a raised region of tissue on the surface of the breast from which, in females, milk leaves the breast through the lactiferous ducts to feed an infant. The milk can flow through the nipple passively or it can be ejected by smooth muscle contractions that occur along with the ductal system. Male mammals also have nipples but without the same level of function, and often surrounded by body hair.

The nipple is surrounded by the areola, which is often a darker colour than the surrounding skin.  A nipple is often called a teat when referring to non-humans. "Nipple" or "teat" can also be used to describe the flexible mouthpiece of a baby bottle. In humans, the nipples of both males and females can be stimulated as part of sexual arousal. In many cultures, human female nipples are sexualized, or regarded as sex objects and evaluated in terms of their physical characteristics and sexiness. Some cultures have little to no sexualization of the nipple, and going topless presents no barrier.

Anatomy

In mammals, a nipple (also called mammary papilla or teat) is a small projection of skin containing the outlets for 15–20 lactiferous ducts arranged cylindrically around the tip. Marsupials and eutherian mammals typically have an even number of nipples arranged bilaterally, from as few as 2 to as many as 19.

The skin of the nipple is rich in a supply of special nerves that are sensitive to certain stimuli: these are slowly-adapting and rapidly-adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors are identified respectively by Type I slowly-adapting with multiple Merkel corpuscle end-organs and Type II slowly-adapting with single Ruffini corpuscle end-organs, as well as Type I rapidly-adapting with multiple Meissner corpuscle end-organs and Type II rapidly-adapting with single Pacinian corpuscle end-organs. The dominant nerve supply to the nipple comes from the lateral cutaneous branches of fourth intercostal nerve. The nipple is also used as an anatomical landmark. It marks the T4 (fourth thoracic vertebra) dermatome and rests over the approximate level of the diaphragm.

The arterial supply to the nipple and breast originates from the anterior intercostal branches of the internal thoracic (mammary) arteries; lateral thoracic artery; and thoracodorsal arteries. The venous vessels parallel the arteries. The lymphatic ducts that drain the nipple are the same for the breast. The axillary nodes are the apical axillary nodes, the lateral group and the anterior group. 75% of the lymph is drained through the axillary lymph nodes located near the armpit. The rest of the drainage leaves the nipple and breast through infroclavicular, pectoral, or parasternal nodes.

Since nipples change throughout the life span in men and women, the anatomy of the nipple can change and this change may be expected and considered normal.

In male mammals

Almost all mammals have nipples. Why males have nipples has been the subject of scientific research.  Differences among the sexes (called sexual dimorphism) within a given species are considered by evolutionary biologists to be mostly the result of sexual selection, directly or indirectly. There is a consensus that the male nipple exists because there is no particular advantage to males losing the trait (this is called a spandrel).

Function

The physiological purpose of nipples is to deliver milk, produced in the female mammary glands during lactation, to an infant. During breastfeeding, nipple stimulation by an infant will stimulate the release of oxytocin from the hypothalamus. Oxytocin is a hormone that increases during pregnancy and acts on the breast to help produce the milk-ejection reflex. Oxytocin release from the nipple stimulation of the infant causes the uterus to contract even after childbirth. The strong uterine contractions that are caused by the stimulation of the mother's nipples help the uterus contract to clamp down the uterine arteries. These contractions are necessary to prevent post-partum haemorrhage.

When the infant suckles or stimulates the nipple, oxytocin levels rise and small muscles in the breast contract, moving the milk through the milk ducts. The result of nipple stimulation by the infant helps to move breast milk out through the ducts and to the nipple. This contraction of milk is called the "let-down reflex". Latching on refers to the infant fastening onto the nipple to breastfeed. A good attachment is when the bottom of the areola (the area around the nipple) is in the infant's mouth and the nipple is drawn back inside his or her mouth. A poor latch results in insufficient nipple stimulation to create the let down reflex. The nipple is poorly stimulated when the baby latches on too close to the tip of the nipple. This poor attachment can cause sore and cracked nipples and a reluctance of the mother to continue to breastfeed. After birth, the milk supply increases based upon the continuous and increasing stimulation of the nipple by the infant. If the baby increases nursing time at the nipple, the mammary glands respond to this stimulation by increasing milk production.

Clinical significance

Pain
Nipple pain can be a disincentive for breastfeeding. Sore nipples that progress to cracked nipples is of concern since many women cease breastfeeding due to the pain. In some instances, an ulcer will form on the nipple. One reason for the development of cracked and sore nipples is the incorrect latching-on of the infant to the nipple. If a nipple appears to be wedge-shaped, white and flattened, this may indicate that the attachment of the infant is not good and there is a potential of developing cracked nipples. Herpes infection of the nipple is painful. Nipple pain can also be caused by excessive friction of clothing against the nipple that causes a fissure.

Discharge
Nipple discharge refers to any fluid that seeps out of the nipple of the breast. Discharge from the nipple does not occur in lactating women. And discharge in non-pregnant women or women who are not breastfeeding may not cause concern. Men that have discharge from their nipples are not typical. Discharge from the nipples of men or boys may indicate a problem.  Discharge from the nipples can appear without squeezing or may only be noticeable if the nipples are squeezed. One nipple can have discharge while the other does not. The discharge can be clear, green, bloody, brown or straw-coloured. The consistency can be thick, thin, sticky or watery.

Some cases of nipple discharge will clear on their own without treatment. Nipple discharge is most often not cancer (benign), but rarely, it can be a sign of breast cancer. It is important to determine what is causing the discharge and to get treatment. Reasons for nipple discharge include:

 Pregnancy
 Recent breastfeeding
 Rubbing on the area from a bra or T-shirt
 Injury to the breast
 Infection
 Inflammation and clogging of the breast ducts
 Noncancerous pituitary tumors
 Small growth in the breast (usually not cancer)
 Severe underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism)
 Fibrocystic breast (normal lumpiness in the breast)
 Use of certain medicines
 Use of certain herbs, such as anise and fennel
 Widening of the milk ducts

Sometimes, babies can have nipple discharge. This is caused by hormones from the mother before birth. It usually goes away in two weeks. Cancers such as Paget's disease (a rare type of cancer involving the skin of the nipple) can also cause nipple discharge.

Nipple discharge that is not normal is bloody, comes from only one nipple, or comes out on its own without squeezing or touching the nipple. Nipple discharge is more likely to be normal if it comes out of both nipples or happens when the nipples are squeezed. Squeezing the nipple to check for discharge can make it worse. Leaving the nipple alone may make the discharge stop.

Nipple discharge in a male is usually of more concern. Most of the time a mammogram and an examination of the fluid is done. A biopsy is often performed. A fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy can be fast and least painful. A very thin, hollow needle and slight suction will be used to remove a small sample from under the nipple. Using a local anesthetic to numb the skin may not be necessary since a thin needle is used for the biopsy. Receiving an injection to prevent pain from the biopsy may be more painful than the biopsy itself.

Some men develop a condition known as gynecomastia, in which the breast tissue under the nipple develops and grows. Discharge from the nipple can occur. The nipple may swell in some men possibly due to increased levels of estrogen.

Appearance

Changes in appearance may be normal or related to disease.
 Inverted nipples – This is normal if the nipples have always been indented inward and can easily point out when touched. If the nipples are pointing in and this is new, this is an unexpected change.
 Skin puckering of the nipple – This can be caused by scar tissue from surgery or an infection. Often, scar tissue forms for no reason. Most of the time this issue does not need treatment. This is an unexpected change. This change can be of concern since puckering or retraction of the nipple can indicate an underlying change in breast tissue that may be cancerous.
 The nipple is warm to the touch, red or painful – This can be an infection. It is rarely due to breast cancer.
 Scaly, flaking, or itchy nipple – This is most often due to eczema or a bacterial or fungal infection. This change is not expected. Flaking, scaly, or itchy nipples can be a sign of Paget's disease.
 Thickened skin with large pores – This is called peau d'orange because the skin looks like an orange peel. An infection in the breast or inflammatory breast cancer can cause this problem. This is not an expected change.
 Retracted nipples – The nipple was raised above the surface but changes, begins to pull inward, and does not come out when stimulated.
The average projection and size of human female nipples is slightly more than .

Breast cancer
Symptoms of breast cancer can often be seen first by changes of the nipple and areola, although not all women have the same symptoms, and some people do not have any signs or symptoms at all. A person may find out they have breast cancer after a routine mammogram.
Warning signs can include:
 New lump in the nipple, or breast or armpit
 Thickening or swelling of part of the breast, areola, or nipple
 Irritation or dimpling of breast skin
 Redness or flaky skin in the nipple area or the breast
 Pulling in of the nipple or pain in the nipple area
 Nipple discharge other than breast milk, including blood
 Any change in the size or the shape of the breast or nipple
 Pain in any area of the breast

Changes in the nipple are not necessarily symptoms or signs of breast cancer. Other conditions of the nipple can mimic the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.

Vertical transmission
Some infections are transmitted through the nipple, especially if irritation or injury to the nipple has occurred. In these circumstances, the nipple itself can become infected with Candida that is present in the mouth of the breastfeeding infant. The infant will transmit the infection to the mother. Most of the time, this infection is localized to the area of the nipple. In some cases, the infection can progress to become a full-blown case of mastitis or breast infection. In some cases, if the mother has an infection with no nipple cracks or ulcerations, it is still safe to breastfeed the infant.

Herpes infection of the nipple can go unnoticed because the lesions are small but usually are quite painful. Herpes in the newborn is a serious and sometimes fatal infection. Transmission of Hepatitis C and B to the infant can occur if the nipples are cracked.

Other infections can be transmitted through a break of the skin of the nipple and can infect the infant.

Other disorders

Nipple bleb
Candida infection of the nipple
Eczema of the nipple
Inverted nipple
Staphylococcus infection of the nipple
Edematous areola
Herpes infection of the nipple
Reynaud phenomenon of the nipple
Flat nipple

Surgery
A nipple-sparing/subcutaneous mastectomy is a surgical procedure where breast tissue is removed, but the nipple and areola are preserved. This procedure was historically done only prophylactically or with mastectomy for the benign disease over the fear of increased cancer development in retained areolar ductal tissue. Recent series suggest that it may be an oncologically sound procedure for tumours not in the subareolar position.

Society and culture

Exposure

The cultural tendency to hide the female nipple under clothing has existed in Western culture since the 1800s. As female nipples are often perceived an intimate part, covering them might have originated under Victorian morality as with riding side saddle. Exposing the entire breast and nipple is a form of protest for some and a crime for others. The exposure of nipples is usually considered immodest and in some instances is viewed as lewd or indecent behavior.

A case in Erie, Pennsylvania, concerning the exposure of breasts and nipple proceeded to the US Supreme Court. The Erie ordinance was regulating the nipple in public as an act that is committed when a person "knowingly or intentionally, ... appears in a state of nudity commits Public Indecency." Later in the statute, nudity is further described as an uncovered female nipple. But nipple exposure of a man was not regulated. An opinion column credited to Cecil Adams noted: "Ponder the significance of that. A man walks around bare-chested and the worst that happens is he won't get served in restaurants. But a woman who goes topless is legally in the same boat as if she'd had sex in public. That may seem crazy, but in the US it's a permissible law."

The legality around the exposure of nipples is inconsistently regulated throughout the US. Some states do not allow the visualization of any part of the breast. Other jurisdictions prohibit any female chest anatomy by banning anatomical structures that lie below the top of the areola or nipple. Such is the case in West Virginia and Massachusetts. West Virginia's regulation is very specific and is not likely to be misinterpreted, stating: "[The] display of 'any portion of the cleavage of the human female breast exhibited by a dress, blouse, skirt, leotard, bathing suit, or other wearing apparel [is permitted] provided the areola is not exposed, in whole or in part.

Instagram has a "no nipples" policy with exceptions: material that is not allowed includes "some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too". Previously, Instagram had removed images of nursing mothers. Instagram removed images of Rihanna and had her account cancelled in 2014 when she posted selfies with nipples. This was incentive for the Twitter campaign #FreeTheNipple. In 2016, an Instagram page invited users to post images of nipples from both sexes; @genderless_nipples, which displays close ups of both the nipples of men and women for the purpose of spotlighting what may be inconsistency. Some contributors have circumvented the policy. Facebook has also been struggling to define its nipple policy.

Filmmaker Lina Esco made a film entitled Free the Nipple, which is about "laws against female toplessness or restrictions on images of female, but not male, nipples", which Esco states is an example of sexism in society.

Sexuality

Nipples can be sensitive to touch, and nipple stimulation can incite sexual arousal. Few women report experiencing orgasm from nipple stimulation. Before Komisaruk et al.'s functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) research on nipple stimulation in 2011, reports of women achieving orgasm from nipple stimulation relied solely on anecdotal evidence. Komisaruk's study was the first to map the female genitals onto the sensory portion of the brain; it indicates that sensation from the nipples travels to the same part of the brain as sensations from the vagina, clitoris and cervix, and that these reported orgasms are genital orgasms caused by nipple stimulation, and may be directly linked to the genital sensory cortex ("the genital area of the brain").

In business
Some companies and non-profit organisations have used the word nipple or images of nipples to draw attention to their product or cause.

Etymology
The word "nipple" most likely originates as a diminutive of neb, an Old English word meaning "beak", "nose", or "face", and which is of Germanic origin. The words "teat" and "tit" share a Germanic ancestor. The second of the two, tit, was inherited directly from Proto-Germanic, while the first entered English via Old French.

See also

Breast milk
Fleischer's syndrome
Nip slip
Nipplegate
Nipple piercing
Nipple prosthesis for breast cancer survivors
Pasties
Supernumerary (third) nipple
Udder

References

Citations

General bibliography

External links

Breast
Breastfeeding
Embryology
Exocrine system
Glands
Human sexuality
Mammal anatomy
Midwifery
Secondary sexual characteristics

Nipple


The Press Club was established in 1882 as a London gentlemen's club. For much of its history, it occupied premises in Wine Office Court, near Fleet Street. It still exists today, as a society for journalists, but no longer offers club facilities, which ended with its leaving Wine Office Court in 1986.

It was founded with an inaugural dinner at Anderton's Hotel, on Fleet Street, on 22 October 1882, presided over by the prominent journalist and cartoonist George Augustus Sala. The club is a founder member of the European Federation of Press Clubs. It has traditionally been considered much less formal, and even quite raucous, compared to most traditional London gentlemen's clubs – as exemplified by the club being the first to do away with a requirement for gentlemen to wear ties, in the early 1960s.

Notable members have included Lord Beaverbrook, John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever and the showbusiness journalist Peter Dacre.

See also
List of London's gentlemen's clubs
Charles Frederick Williams, founder of the London Press Club

References

External links

Gentlemen's clubs in London
1882 establishments in England
1882 in London

London Press Club


The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France during the French Revolution (represented by François de Barthélemy).

The first was with Prussia (represented by Karl August von Hardenberg) on 5 April;
The second was with Spain (represented by Domingo d'Yriarte) on 22 July, ending the War of the Pyrenees; and
The third was with the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (represented by Friedrich Sigismund Waitz von Eschen) on 28 August, concluding the stage of the French Revolutionary Wars against the First Coalition.

With great diplomatic cunning, the treaties enabled France to placate and divide its enemies of the First Coalition, one by one. Thereafter, Revolutionary France emerged as a major European power.

The first treaty, on 5 April 1795 between France and Prussia, had been under discussion since 1794. Prussia withdrew from the coalition that had been working on the impending partition of Poland and, when it was appropriate, withdrew its troops aligned against Austria and Russia. (See also the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.) In secret, Prussia recognised the French control of the west bank of the Rhine pending a cession by the Imperial Diet. France returned all of the lands east of the Rhine captured during the war. On the night of 6 April, the document was signed by the representatives of France and Prussia: François de Barthélemy and Karl August von Hardenberg. They were not face to face, each was in his own accommodation in Rosshof or the Markgräflerhof, and the papers were passed around by a courier. The treaty that ceded the left bank of the Rhine was in a secret article, along with the promise that of indemnifying the right bank if the left bank of the Rhine was covered in a final general peace in France. Peter Ochs drew up the treaty and served as a mediator for a significant proportion of these financial statements.

Prussia stuck to the agreement of the Treaty of Basel until 1806, when it joined the Fourth Coalition.

In the second treaty, on 22 July, Spain ceded the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola to France in exchange for keeping Gipuzkoa. The French also came at night to sign the peace treaty between France and Spain in which Spain was represented by Domingo d'Yriarte, who signed the treaty in the mansion of Ochs, the Holsteinerhof.

These treaties with Prussia and Spain had the effect of breaking the alliance between the French Republic's two main opponents of the First Coalition.

On 28 August 1795, the third treaty was completed, a peace between France and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, signed by Friedrich Sigismund Waitz von Eschen.

There was also an agreement to exchange the Austrian troops who had been captured in Belgium.

See also
Campaigns of 1795 in the French Revolutionary Wars
Cisrhenian Republic
List of treaties

Notes

References

Further reading
 Hargreaves-Mawdsley, W. N. "Conclusive Peace-Treaty between His Catholic Majesty and the French Republic, signed at Basel 1795." in Spain under the Bourbons, 1700–1833 (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 1968) pp. 175–176.

External links

Basel
1795 in France
1795 in Spain
1795 in Prussia
1795 in North America
Basel
Basel
Basel
Basel
Basel
Basel
Basel
France–Spain relations
Basel
18th century in the Colony of Santo Domingo
18th century in Haiti
War of the Pyrenees

Peace of Basel


Sycamore Row is a legal thriller novel by American author John Grisham published by Doubleday on October 22, 2013. The novel reached the top spot in the US best-seller list. It is preceded by A Time to Kill and followed by A Time for Mercy.

Plot

The title refers to a row of sycamore trees in the countryside near the fictional town of Clanton, in fictional Ford County, Mississippi. The trees play an important role in the book's plot, though the full significance becomes clear only in the end of the novel. It is suggested that these sycamores are very old, having been planted by Native Americans prior to the arrival of European settlers and their stolen, enslaved Africans in what would become the state of Mississippi.

The story begins three years after the sensational events in the trial of Carl Lee Hailey (A Time to Kill). An employee of wealthy recluse Seth Hubbard is instructed to meet his boss at a location by these sycamores one early Sunday afternoon. The employee finds Mr. Hubbard has hanged himself from the tree because his terminal lung cancer had become too painful. Accompanying the body are very specific funeral and burial instructions.

Jake Brigance, Carl Lee's former attorney, had gained much fame after the Hailey trial, as well as the respect of the black community and of many whites, but he has little to no money to show for it. During the Hailey trial, the Ku Klux Klan had tried to intimidate Jake by burning his home. Jake has yet to see any of the insurance money for the burnt house, which is tied up in litigation with his own insurance company.

Jake receives a letter sent by Hubbard just before he killed himself, containing a new holographic will that renounces a will he filed the year before in which he leaves all his assets to his daughter and son as well as his grandchildren. In this new will, Hubbard stipulates that his children will receive nothing. Instead, five percent will be given to the local church and another five percent will be left to his long-disappeared brother, Ancil Hubbard. The remaining ninety percent is to be given to his black housekeeper Letitia "Lettie" Lang. Further instructions stipulate that the will must not be filed for probate until after Hubbard's funeral so that his children, who rarely visited him during his bout with cancer, can put on a show not knowing that they will ultimately be left with nothing.

Hubbard notes that his children will certainly contest the new will because they are greedy and that Jake must do whatever it takes to make sure the new will is enforced. He says he chose Jake because of the admirable work that Jake did during the Hailey trial.

Soon, Jake finds out that Hubbard had earned more than $20 million in a lumber yard business, a fortune unmatched by any other individual in Ford County. As the executor publishes this sum, the entire town of Clanton shifts their attention to the case.

Hubbard's children attempt to contest their father's new will by claiming he was not capable when filing it, igniting a hotly contested court battle with many twists and turns. Jake's first concern is to prevent the trial from becoming a race issue of blacks vs. whites. Since Ford County has a white majority, the jury would almost certainly also be majority white. On the other hand, whites in Ford County are far from completely biased, as proven by the fact that voters had elected a black sheriff to two consecutive terms by an overwhelming majority. Jake believes that if the race issue is toned down, the jury might rule for Lettie on the case's own merits, i.e. that Hubbard made his money himself and had the right to leave it to whoever he wanted and that he knew what he was doing when changing his will.

First, Jake must get rid of a rabble-rousing black lawyer from Memphis who goes to Clanton and involves himself in the case while engaging in a series of provocative acts which risk the chances of winning the case. Then, Lettie's husband, with whom she is on bad terms, kills two teens while driving drunk, arousing great passions against the Lang family and hurting their chance of a fair trial. As a measure of damage control, Jake convinces Lettie to immediately file for divorce (which was on her mind anyway).

The trial finally begins and goes well. Jake builds his case, and Lettie's own testimony makes a good impression on the jury and Jake succeeds in discrediting the testimonies of Hubbard's children and their assertion to have been close to their father and deeply caring during his illness. However, the opposing lawyer manages to spring a surprise witness, whose testimony seems to show that Lettie had tried to influence an earlier ailing employer to leave her money in a will, creating a suspicion of her systematically preying on the weakness of elderly ailing people. Still another surprise witness, a former black female employee with whom Hubbard had sexual relations comes forward, implying that Lettie had also slept with Hubbard.

The trial looks lost for Jake, with even the two black jurors starting to strongly doubt Lettie's credibility. At the last moment, the trial is changed again by a sensational deposition given by Hubbard's long-lost brother Ancil. Ancil, who had a very traumatic childhood, had left Ford County and joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 17, vowing never to return. Since then, he had led an adventurous and often criminal life around the world under a variety of assumed names, until finally being located as a bartender in Juneau, Alaska.

The disbarred Lucien, Jake's friend and ex-partner who is an alcoholic but when sober still a sharp legal mind, goes to Alaska and manages to obtain Ancil's testimony. Ancil explains why Seth left the money to his housekeeper and the significance of the sycamore tree from which he hung himself.

In the 1920s, Lettie's grandfather Sylvester, whom she never knew, owned a considerable plot of land. His being a landowner was very much a rarity for a black person in the segregationist Deep South, and was greatly resented by racist whites in general and in particular by his neighbor, Cleon Hubbard, who laid a claim to Sylvester's land. Hubbard, an abusive man who was often violent toward his wife and two sons, Seth and Ancil, tried to go to court. However, Sylvester had an unassailable title to the land, registered by the family during the Reconstruction period when federal troops, present in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War, upheld the rights of blacks.

Having failed in court, Hubbard resorted to the alternative method available at the time to whites in the Deep South, i.e. lynch law. Sylvester was falsely accused of "speaking rudely to white women", which, together with resentment at his being a black landowner, was enough to mobilize a lynch mob. Several men dragged Sylvester from his home and hanged him from a sycamore tree. His sons, Ancil and Seth, who did not share their father's prejudice and sometimes played with the black children, secretly observed this scene with great horror. Subsequently, Cleon Hubbard intimidated Esther, Lettie's grandmother, who had just seen her husband being murdered with impunity, and forced her to sign away the family's ownership for a pittance – with a promise that she could continue residing on the property. However, the promise was promptly broken, and Cleon and the sheriff then expelled the entire extended family and set fire to their homes and small chapel, totally eradicating the small black community which had been known as "Sycamore Row". Esther, along with her five-year-old daughter (who would become Lettie's mother), had to escape with virtually no possessions. An older child, with whom the Hubbard boys sometimes played, drowned in a river during the final expulsion.

Years later, Seth Hubbard used the property gained by his father as collateral for a mortgage in order to build his lumber yard. Knowing that his success was partly owed to this mortgage and wanting to make up for the injustice caused by his father, he decided to give the majority of his capital to Lettie and in a final act hung himself from the same tree from which Lettie's grandfather was hung.

After hearing Ancil Hubbard's testimony, the jury unanimously upholds the will and rejects the claims against its validity by Hubbard's children. However, an appeal seems very probable, which might last for years and consume a large part of the estate in legal fees. Moreover, the judge's decision to let the jury hear Ancil Hubbard's testimony might be challenged on procedural grounds (it was a recorded testimony and opposing counsel could not cross-examine him). Therefore, Judge Reuben Atlee suggests the parties settle the case with reasonable conditions. As the judge suggests, after Ancil Hubbard and the local church get their promised share, $5 million would be given to a fund providing college education to members of Lettie's family, all of whom share in the terrible legacy of the 1930 lynching and expulsion. Such a fund would also help Lettie get off her back numerous relatives who had shown up since the news spread that she would become rich. Jake would be in charge of this fund, giving him steady employment but also a lot of headaches. The remaining $6 million would be divided equally between Lettie and Seth Hubbard's children.

The compromise is acceptable to everybody. Lettie is content to get back the land which belonged to her grandfather and build on it a nice house for herself, her children and grandchildren and does not mind Seth Hubbard's children getting at least some of his money. In the final scene, Ancil Hubbard arrives from Alaska and has an emotional meeting with Lettie and other protagonists under the sycamore tree, she asking him to let the past lie and look to a better future.

Reception
According to USA Today, "Jake Brigance returns to the courtroom in a 'dramatic showdown as Ford County again confronts its tortured history.'"

References

2013 American novels
Novels by John Grisham
Legal thriller novels
American thriller novels
Doubleday (publisher) books
Works about lynching in the United States
Sequel novels
Novels set in Mississippi
Fiction set in 1988
Third-person narrative novels
Hodder & Stoughton books

Sycamore Row


Billy Curtis Clark (December 19, 1928 – March 15, 2009) was an American author of 11 books and many poems and short stories, heavily influenced by his childhood growing up in poverty in Kentucky.

Biography
Clark was born December 29, 1928, and grew up in Catlettsburg in Eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression; He was a second cousin of writer Jesse Stuart. He had three brothers and four sisters, and was born to a mother who would wash clothes for extra income, while his father was a shoemaker who bragged of having made it to the second grade. He was living on his own by the time he was 11 years old, doing work to pay for high school, while living in a courthouse building. He would put out miles of trotlines and set traps to catch animals, drying the skins of the animals he caught on the courthouse's clock and selling the furs to make a living.

He enlisted in the military and served during the Korean War following his graduation from high school. After completing military service, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky, becoming the first member of his family to earn a college degree.

Writing
Clark claimed to have his first work published when he was 14 years old and a collaborative effort was underway at the time of his death to publish pieces he had written while in college together with the Jesse Stuart Foundation, to be called A Heap of Hills. The foundation has reissued eight of Clark's books that had been originally published by G. P. Putnam's Sons and Thomas Y. Crowell Co.

Reviewer Hal Borland in The New York Times describes the "ballad-like quality" of his 1960 autobiographical book A Long Row to Hoe, that tells the story of his life up to age 19, growing up in a community that "had more than its share of 'river trash', drunks [and] derelicts" in which the developments of electric lights and indoor plumbing did not "put an end to frontier crudeness and backwater characters". The review laments the structure of the book, but describes it as a "good story, rich in character and details, larded with anecdote and legend". The book was selected by Time magazine as one of its best books of that year, describing it "as authentically American as Huckleberry Finn". Many colleges and universities use the book to introduce students to the culture of Appalachia and its culture and the Library of Congress selected it to be recorded on a talking record for the blind. Mark Daniel Merritt composed the score of River Dreams a musical adaptation of A Long Road to Hoe. The play was written by Betty Peterson, an English professor who had been a student of Clark's at Somerset Community College in Kentucky, where Clark taught for a few years.

Platt and Monk included his Trail of the Hunter's Horn in a 1964 anthology of 30 Greatest Dog Stories that also included    Call of the Wild by Jack London as well as John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley. The Book of the Month Club offered as a selection his book The Champion of Sourwood Mountain.

A mule named Kate would follow Clark and his friends to school. After the mule was arrested for trespassing, he and his classmates collected enough money to get the animal released on bail. Walt Disney Studios purchased the rights to his book about the mule, titled Goodbye Kate, which has yet to be made into a film by the time of Clark's death.

The University of Tennessee Press published his novel By Way of the Forked Stick in September 2000.

Clark was selected as writer-in-residence at Longwood University, after spending 18 years at the University of Kentucky in that role as a full professor. He was the founder and editor of Virginia Writing.

Personal
The Billy C. Clark Bridge, which crosses the Big Sandy River on U.S. Route 60 to connect Kentucky and Kenova, West Virginia, was named for him in 1992.

Clark died at age 80 on March 15, 2009, at his home in Farmville, Virginia.

References

1928 births
2009 deaths
American military personnel of the Korean War
American male poets
Longwood University faculty
People from Catlettsburg, Kentucky
University of Kentucky alumni
University of Kentucky faculty
Poets from Kentucky
20th-century American poets
20th-century American male writers

Billy C. Clark


New Cush, historically known as Himan, is a community that lies between Lotukei and Natinga in Eastern Equatoria state of South Sudan.
It was the headquarters of the Sudan People's Liberation Army until it was moved to Rumbek.
New Cush lies in the Lotukei Mountains on South Sudan's border with Uganda.
Since 2006, the camp at Himan has been used for training the SPLA's special forces. The US State Department had provided funding for trainers including Western contractors and consultants and Ethiopian troops.
According to a spokesman, the "commando training conducted by the Ethiopians focuses on professional military tactics and specialized skills".

References

Populated places in Eastern Equatoria

New Cush


Rithubedam is a 1987 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by Prathap Pothen. The film stars Balachandra Menon, Thilakan, Geetha, Vineeth, Monisha Unni and Murali in the lead roles. The film has musical score by Shyam. Thilakan received the National Film Award  for the Best Supporting Actor in the year 1987 for his role in the film. The film was screened at 53rd International Film Festival of India.

Plot

The story revolves around an ailing aristocratic family Naduvancheril Nair Veedu with members infighting over the assets. A number of civil cases are ongoing in the court over the family assets with Mooppil Nair and his brother-in-law Karunakara Panicker on opposite sides. Kesu is a youngster returning from Chennai after an unsuccessful stint. He is the son of a deceased maid servant family of Nair Veedu. Rajan, a lecturer in the college arrives the village from southern town of Vaikom  and start renting a room in Kesu's house.

Rajan visits Nair Veedu for research on historical artefacts. He meets Mooppil Nair and his daughter Devaki who is in an unhappy marriage with drunkard Krishnanunni. Devaki and Rajan shares interest in Kerala history and poetry. They discuss the events around Tippu Sultan's invasion of Malabar. Rajan and Devaki comes closer to each other. Thankamani, younger sister of Devaki is a student of Rajan and is infatuated with him.

A receiver appointed by the court arrives and befriends Krishnanunni. He has ulterior motives over beautiful Devaki. However, Devaki rejects his advances angrily. But Mooppil Nair's second wife Subhadra is more than ready to cater all his needs in exchange of favours. He is interested in Thankamani too.

Rajan proposes to Devaki, but she rejects the idea for she has to take care of young Thankamani.

A forest land owned by the family was earlier acquired by the Government. The court directs the payment of  to the joint family to be divided among 16 family members. It turns out that one share belongs to Appu who is a mentally unstable orphan. The entire family plots to get Appu on their side to get his shares worth . Mooppil Nair and Subhadra goes further by arranging Appu to marry Thankamani.

To save Thankamani, Devaki pleads Rajan to marry Thankamani. On the same day, Kesu reveals Rajan that he adores Thankamani and wish to marry her someday. Rajan suggest the same to Devaki. But Devaki furiously rejects the idea which Rajan presumes is due to Kesu's lower social stature.

Mooppil Nair catches his wife cheating with the Receiver and expels her from the house.

On the day of Thankamani and Appu's wedding, a group of people lead by Krishnanunni, Karunakara Panicker and Rajan arrives and asks Thankamani's hand in marriage for Kesu. Mooppil Nair manhandles Kesu and reveals that Kesu is his own illegitimate son. On a moment of rage, Kesu kills Mooppil Nair with an axe.

Film ends on a positive note with Rajan, Thankamani, Krishanunni and Devaki visiting Kesu in the prison after 5 years. Rajan and Thankamani are married and have a baby girl.

Cast

 Balachandra Menon as Rajan Maashu
 Thilakan as Naduvancheril Achunni Nair a.k.a. Mooppil Nair
 Vineeth as Kesu
 Geetha as Devu
 Monisha as Thankamani
 Murali as Appu a.k.a. Aravindakshan
 Nedumudi Venu as Krishnanunni
 M. Chandran Nair
 Sankaradi as Karunakara Panicker
 Tony as Ravi
 Kuttyedathi Vilasini
 M. G. Soman as Receiver
 Manimala
 R. K. Nair
 Santhadevi
 Child actor (Baby Girl) - Divya Sachi

Soundtrack
The music was composed by Shyam.

References

External links

1987 films
1980s Malayalam-language films
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor National Film Award-winning performance
Films with screenplays by M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Films directed by Pratap Pothen

Rithubhedam